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Early Persian-Shiite prayer
(title, author unknown)(found in Madagascar) (after 818)
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 In manuscript 5 of the arabico-malgache (=Madagascar) manuscripts of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris Gabriel Ferrand found the following prayer. It is written in very defective Persian, every line has at least one mistake. Only the last part is given. Title and author unknown. This small anecdote is rather important for East-African history as it gives some information about immigration in the Indian Ocean.

A page of this ms 8 in Arabico-Malgache in defective Persian.


This drawing left from Mallet in 1683 shows the two main ethnic groups in Madagascar; the Africans and the Indonesians. The Arab element in society from which this text comes is very small.

Taken from: Gabriel Ferrand: les Migrations Musulmanes et Juives a Madagascar in L’Histoire des Religions 1905
TEXTES MAGIQUES MALGACHES: D'APRÈS LES MSS. 5 ET 8 DE LA BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE Gabriel Ferrand ; Revue de l'histoire des religions Vol. 56 (1907)

…in the consideration of (on account of) Abu Bakr as-Siddik (1), Omar ibn al-Khattab (2), Othman ibn Affan (3), Ali al-Mortada (4), Sa’d ibn Abi Uakkas (5), Sa’id ibn Zaid (6), Talha (7), Zubair (8), Abd ar-Rahman (ibn Auf)(9), Abu Obaida (ibn al-Djarrah)(10), Hasan (11), Hosain (12),of Zain al-‘Abidin (13), of ‘Ali akbar (14), Dja’far as-Sadik (15), Musa (Kazim)(16), of (Imam) ar-Kida (17), Mohammad Bakir (18). In the consideration of our lord Jean (?); that God be satisfied with all of them.

 

The first ten names are the asara mubassara the ones that were formally promised paradise by the Prophet. The ones that follow are all shiite imans; the oldest ones) the last one succeeded as iman in 818 AD (Ali ar-Kida) Gabriel Ferrand concluded from this text that the people who immigrated to Madagascar and wrote this text (because of the very defective language it must have been their descendants who wrote it) must have been orthodox shiites. Who arrived in Madagascar some time after 818 AD.

 

(1) Abu Bakr: (573 CE – 634 CE), was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam.

(2) Caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab: also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, reigning from 634 until his assassination in 644.

(3) ʿUthman ibnʿAffan ibn Abi al-ʿAs; c. 573 or 576 – 17 June 656) was the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruling from 644 until his assassination in 656.

(4) Ali was a cousin of Muhammad. He was raised by Muhammad from the age of 5 and accepted Muhammad's claim of divine revelation by age 11, being among the first to do so. Ali played a pivotal role in the early years of Islam while Muhammad was in Mecca and under severe persecution. After Muhammad's relocation to Medina in 622, Ali married his daughter Fatima, becoming Muhammad's son-in-law. Ali fathered, among others, Hasan and Husayn, the second and third Shia Imams.

(5) Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas also known as Saʿd ibn Malik, was one of the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a military conqueror of Sasanian Persia and the founder of Kufa.

(6) Saʿid ibn Zayd, (c. 593-671), was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a brother-in-law of Umar.

(7) Talha: great-nephew of Abu Bakr. He saves the prophet at the battle of Ohod.

(8) Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, a prominent companion and first cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

(9) Abd ar-Rahman (ibn Auf): one of the Muslims who emigrated to Ethiopia.

(10) Abu Obaida (ibn al-Djarrah): Early companion of the Prophet who really esteemed him.

(11) Hasan ibn Ali: (625 – 2 April 670) was a prominent early Islamic figure. He was the eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

(12) Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Ṭalib was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad's daughter Fatima.

(13) Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin: (659 – 713AD) was an Imam in Shiʻi Islam after his father Husayn ibn Ali, his uncle Hasan ibn Ali, and his grandfather, Ali ibn Abi Talib.

(14) ‘Ali akbar: Ali the first born. Son of Hussein and half-brother of Ali Zain al-Abidin.

(15) Dja’far as-Sadik: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAli al-Sadiq (702 – 765AD), was an 8th-century Shia Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian. He was the founder of the Jaʿfari school of Islamic jurisprudence and the sixth Imam of the Twelver and Ismaʿili denominations of Shiʿa Islam.

(16) Musa (Kazim): seventh Shia Imam, (d800AD)

(17) (Imam) Ali al-Kida: eight Shia Imam, (d818AD)

(18) Mohammad Bakir: Muḥammad al-Baqir, or Abu Jaʿfar, or simply al-Baqir (lit. 'the one who opens knowledge') (c. 676 – c. 732) was the fifth Imam in Shia Islam.