are also given in their Arabic forms and transliterated
accordinglj. In Somali alphabetical poems, in which the
letters of the Arabic alphabet are personified and expound
Islamic doctrine, the identity of .some of the letters is
obscured by Somali phonology. When this happens the
order of the lines in the poem always indicates, by
implication, the identity of the Arabic letter referred
to. In the English translatiDn the names of such
'obscured' letters are given in the form which is implied
in the order of the lines. Throughout the thesis, all
Somali personal names and place names are given in the
Somali orthography with the following exception: in the
bibliography and bibliographical references, the name of
the author is written or transliterated according to the
form it has on the title page. Arabic names are, on the
other hand, given in the Arabic transliteration with the
exception of some well-known anglicized names, such as,
Mecca and Medin~. All the names of persons and places
which occur in the main body of the thesis are given in
th~ Annotated Glossary of Proper Names, while the Islamic
terms are found in the Annotated Glossary of Islamic Ter~s.
III
Translation
17.I have attempted to translate the poetry as close to the
original as English usage and word-order permits; at the
same time, I have tried to retain, to the best of my ability,
the aesthetic appeal of tho originai. I have translated