Судан и Большой Ближний Восток

297 Nikolai A. Dobronravin. New sources on the Tijānī Emigration from West Africa... Finally, the study of the manuscripts in Dublin was made possible thanks to a fellowship at the Trinity Long RoomHub in January 2012. 1 It turned out that none of the manuscripts were written in Hausa, except a few medical prescriptions and glosses. At the same time, some manuscripts were in fact typical kundi , that is, collections of various texts, mainly, but not only of medical or magic content. One of these kundi , TCD MS 3335, came to the library of Trinity College somewhere before 1953. According to the catalogue description of custodial history, this manuscript was “found in Classing Room, March 1953”. The catalogue describes the content of TCD MS 3335 as “Arabic fragments”. At first glance, the description in the catalogue was satisfactory, although far from exhaustive. It was only after a while, that I was able to notice a few texts of obvious historical value. None of these texts could be easily recognized, being written on a small sheet of paper with traces of folding, and without any seal on it. Most prayers and amulets in a kundi would have the same appearance. All the texts in question are letters. 2 Except one letter, the handwriting is Sūdānī , either close to the Kano variety of it (no. 3 and 8) or more “Sokoto” or Western Sudanic style (no.1–2, 4–6, 9–10). One letter (no. 7) was written in a more Mashriqī-like style (Eastern fā’ and qāf , final yā’ with two dots below), although it would be rather difficult to describe it as Naskhī . This “mixed” (with elements of both Sūdānī and Naskhī ) style of writing can still be found in today’s Sudan. The writers and addressees of the letters in TCD MS 3335 are as follows: 1) Sulaymān ibn Mu ḥ ammad Tuqur to ‘Abd al-Qādir ibn Mu ḥ ammad; 2) Sirē ‘Āli (sic) to Mu ḥ ammad al-Hāshimī; 3) Mu ḥ ammad, khātib of the Friday mosque, son of the imam of Hadejia Ibrāhīm ibn mu‘allim Abya ḍ (perhaps a partial translation from 1 I am grateful to all colleagues, first of all to those from the Trinity Long RoomHub and Trinity College Library, without whose kindly help this study could not be possible. Of course all mistakes are mine. 2 A more detailed description of these texts is also being prepared for publication.