“Bismillah”

This Arabic eulogy formula means “in the name of Allah, the most merciful, the compassionate.” It is known as basmalah in Arabic and written as “bismillah” in English to say bi-sm Allāh, “in the name of God”.Recitation by Bi Ridhai, poetess from Pate island. This one-second vocal excerpt is taken from her layman recording of Kisa cha Mtume Musa na Kozi na Ndiwa 'The Poem of the Prophet Moses, the hawk and the dove'

A common feature of the prologues of many Swahili Islamic manuscript poems is the opening praise in the name of God “bismillah”. The act of praising God or other formulaic sentences invoking Allah and his prophet Muhammad is usually expected at the beginning of a Swahili Islamic work and typically extends over quite a number of stanzas which are also attested in the Quran and/or adaptations of Quranic phraseology, from which they originate. The Swahili Bismillahi Awali, pweke asio mithali that you see here (second line of the manuscript), for instance, is recited in sura 96:1, proclaiming the name of God and his oneness.

Similar occurring formulas are invested with authority, since they are attested both in the noble Quran as well as in the everyday life of Muslims, who utter the name of God before any important activity. By adopting and weaving the formulas between the lines of his poem, the Swahili poet-narrator endows the text with symbolic value, which in turn foreshadows the authority of the narrative he is about to tell.