Abu Bakr Effendi’s "Bayân al-Dîn" written in a modified Arabic script and published in Istanbul in 1877, was the first substantive book printed in the Afrikaans language.
These are, AFAIK, the first ever digitized images of this rare book to have been placed online. 1/
These are, AFAIK, the first ever digitized images of this rare book to have been placed online. 1/
Arabic has been used to transliterate local languages almost everywhere Islam has flourished (as, for the same reasons, has Hebrew).
What's significant about Arabic-Afrikaans though is that its use PREDATED the codification and writing down of Afrikaans by Dutch speakers. 2/
What's significant about Arabic-Afrikaans though is that its use PREDATED the codification and writing down of Afrikaans by Dutch speakers. 2/
Abu Bakr Effendi's Bayân al-Dîn ['Uiteensetting van die godsdiens' or 'Exposition of the Religion'] was published by the Turkish Ministry of Education in 1877. The Afrikaans transliteration gives a good indication of the pronunciation of the language in the Cape at the time. 3/
![Abu Bakr Effendi's Bayân al-Dîn ['Uiteensetting van die godsdiens' or 'Exposition of the Religion']...](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsHs0qKWwAALtWq.jpg)
The book, totalling 254 pages, appears to follow the Hanafite law-school. It was divided into eight parts, each dealing with a specific part of Islamic law:
• ritual cleansing (pp. 2–66)
• ritual prayer (pp. 66–219)
• religious tax (pp. 219–258)
• fasting (pp. 258–284). 4/
• ritual cleansing (pp. 2–66)
• ritual prayer (pp. 66–219)
• religious tax (pp. 219–258)
• fasting (pp. 258–284). 4/
• slaughtering of livestock (pp. 284–302)
• religious prohibitions (pp. 302–344)
• drink (pp. 344–349)
• hunting (pp. 349–354). 5/
• religious prohibitions (pp. 302–344)
• drink (pp. 344–349)
• hunting (pp. 349–354). 5/
Here is Surah 67 verse 1 in Arabic-Afrikaans script. 6/
The transliterated Arabic here is VERY close to Afrikaans, something slightly obscured by the formal Afrikaans translation. The transliterated "°n vārlik Allah ta`ālā is bās fir aldī its" is clearly colloquial Afrikaans "en waarlik Allah ta`ālā issie baas van alle dinges". 7/
To put this into context: in 1877 when this was printed, there were no published Afrikaans translations of Christian texts at all, not even hymnals. The first printed Afrikaans translation of any portion of the Bible was in 1893, and it wasn't translated in full until 1933. 8/
There were no even ephemeral Afrikaans texts printed in Latin script until the 1860s, and until the first decade of the 20th century, even very informal written communication (letters from husbands to wives, soldiers' letters etc) was almost always still in Dutch. 9/
Apart from one isolated 16th century manuscript of German written in Arabic letters (a 1588/9 Lutheran hymnal [Cod. A.F. 437] as shown below), the 74 documented surviving Arabic-Afrikaans texts are the ONLY examples of any Germanic language written in Arabic script. 10/
Not all the Afrikaans written in Arabic script at the Cape was for religious purposes. This is an election pamphlet for the 1884 campaign of Anders Ohlsson, a famous beer brewer from Cape Town. The script is Arabic, the language though (in lines 2 and 3) is Afrikaans. 11/
Here is the transliteration and English translation of the Arabic text: Lines 2 and 3 are definitely in Afrikaans, line 1 is mainly in English, and lines 4-6 are in Arabic. 12/
A very useful paper on the subject - "Arabic Afrikaans – early standardisation of Afrikaans orthography: A discussion of The Afrikaans of the Cape Muslims by Achmat Davids" can de downloaded as a PDF here. 13/
researchgate.net
researchgate.net
It seems the whole print run of Abu Bakr Effendi’s "Bayân al-Dîn" was bound in Istanbul before copies were shipped to the Cape of Good Hope, Mozambique, and elsewhere. The distinctive reddish brown binding found on almost all known copies is, purportedly, camel leather. 14/
Abu Bakr Effendi’s assistant, Ömer Lütfi Efendi, wrote a travelogue entitled Ümid Burnu seyahatnâmesi, published in 1876. In it, he recounts two years of travels alongside Abu Bakr Effendi, and also reprints one of his letters, written in Arabic-Afrikaans, as shown here. 15/
Here is the letter transcribed in clearer script. 16/
And here is the letter transcribed into Afrikaans, and also translated into English. 17/
Only in recent decades have the true origins of the Afrikaans language come into focus: not as an isolated Dutch dialect, but as a coastal creole, developed by the Cape Muslim community (the descendants of enslaved persons), and first written in an Arabic Ajami script. 18/
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