Ajami script
Ajami (Arabic: عجمي, ʿajamī) or Ajamiyya (عجمية, ʿajamiyyah), is a term for a variety of Arabic-derived scripts used for writing African languages such as Songhai, Mandé, Fula, Hausa and Swahili, although multiple other languages are also written using the script, including Mooré, Wolof, Kanuri, and Yoruba. They are adaptations of the Arabic script to write sounds not found in Standard Arabic. Rather than adding new letters, modifications usually consist of additional dots or lines added to pre-existing letters.[1] EtymologyThe word Ajami comes from an Arab word meaning mute, referring to populations that didn't speak Arabic, hence the term Ajami script was used for foreign, non-Arab scripts. It generally referred to the use of Arabic script for non-Arabic languages. In Arabic tradition and in general scholarly research, the word Ajami has specifically referred to the literary traditions in Sub-Saharan Africa, which were further removed from the trade networks of the Mediterannean. Hence, Perso-Arabic, Aljamiado, Jawi and Pegon, among others, do not fall under the umbrella of Ajami alphabets. HistoryWest AfricaAfrican languages were first written in Ajami scripts between the 10th and the 16th centuries.[1] It likely was originally created with the intent of promoting Islam in West Africa.[2] The first languages written in the script were likely old Taseelhit or medieval Amazigh, Kanuri, or Songhay.[1] The oldest surviving usage of Ajami comes from 13th century tomb inscriptions in modern-day Niger, where Arabic inscriptions often contained individual Songhay words in titles or names, like in the example below where the Songhay word is highlighted.[3]
 The older examples of Ajami are all notes taken by scribes in the margins of books written primarily in Arabic.[1] Later, Fulfulde, Hausa, Wolof and Mandinke would use the script, with full books and poetry written in Ajami, and vast literary traditions emerging.[1][4] By the 17th century, the script was being used to publish religious texts and poetry.[4] Fulani poetry from the Futa Jallon region in Guinea was written in Ajami from the middle of the 18th century.[4] During the pre-colonial period, Qur'anic schools taught Muslim children Arabic and, by extension, Ajami.[2] After Western colonization, a Latin orthography for Hausa was adopted and the Ajami script declined in popularity.[4] Some anti-colonial groups and movements continued to use Ajami.[5] An Islamic revival in the 19th century led to a wave of Ajami written works.[1] Ajami remains in widespread use among Islamic circles[4] but exists in digraphia among the broader populace. Ajami is used ceremonially and for specific purposes, such as for local herbal preparations in the Jula language.[6] In some areas of Ghana, Ajami is still seen in newspapers, advertisements, and daily life.[7] East AfricaIn the 8th or 9th centuries, around the same time as West Africa, the coasts of Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique started to gain Muslim settlements, which brought Arabic writing into East Africa.[8] While these city states had been Muslim for centuries, it was only in the early 17th century that Swahili Ajami was first written. Hamziya is the oldest book written entirely in Swahili. For centuries, Swahili was written with no modification from the original Arabic alphabet, and was indistinguishable from Arabic in appearance.[9] After contact and later colonisation, the Latin alphabet greatly diminished the use of Swahili Ajami and the other East African languages with adopted Swahili conventions.[8] However in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries there were movements for the "Swahilization" of the script, and standards were adopted. While the Swahili dialects in Lamu and Zanzibar were the basis of Swahili heritage for centuries, scholars in Mombasa and even in Barawa were the first to suggest reforms, such as Mwalimu Sikujua, resulting in many competing standards between cities.[8][9] Today the most accepted form of Swahili Ajami is by Mu'allim Sheikh Yahya Ali Omar, based on Mombasa since it has historically been a crossgrounds for all dialects of Swahili.[8] Orthography While Ajami refers to a widespread, diverse practice, there are many universal similarities in West Africa. This is not the case in Ajami written for Comorian and Swahili scripts. This is mainly because of Islam in West Africa coming from the North African Maliki school, which authored texts in the Maghrebi script. Some universal features of Ajami include the following:[3]
It was also important in some contexts to distinguish characters that were used in an Arabic or Ajami context. In Wolof and Pulaar Ajami in the Senegalese/Guinean area for example, it was standard to write three dots in a noticeably smaller configuration to signify that the letter should be read in its non-Arabic equivalent.[3] TableA summary of the different alphabets of Ajami in some languages can be found below, however with several of the intricacies and dipthongs omitted.
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