Muhammed Said Abdulla or Abdullah (25 April 1918 – March 1991), was a Tanzanian Swahili

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

who is often credited as a pioneer of Swahili popular literature.

Life

Muhammed Said Abdulla was born in

Makunduchi Makunduchi is a Tanzanian town, located the southeastern tip of Unguja (Zanzibar Island), south of Jambiani, in the South District of the Zanzibar Central/South Region. The town comprises two distinct settlements, about 2 km from each othe ...

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

to a Muslim family. He received his secondary education at a missionary school, and after graduating in 1938, began working for the state Civil Health Department as an inspector. While there he served as editor for the Department of Agriculture's ''Swahili Bulletin.'' Abdulla went into journalism and in 1948, he became

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of the newspaper ''Zanzibari''. He later became assistant editor of ''Al-Falaq'', ''Afrika Kwetu'', and ''Al Mahda''. From 1958 to his retirement in 1968 he served as editor of the agricultural magazine ''Mkulima''. In 1958

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

work ''Mzimu wa Watu wa Kale'' (Shrine of the Ancestors) won top honors at the Swahili Story-Writing Competition held by the

East African Literature Bureau The Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) is a publishing house and state corporation in Kenya founded in 1947. It is located in South-C off Popo Road in Nairobi. History The Kenya Literature Bureau was initially established by the "East Africa governme ...

; in 1960 the work was published as a novel. The novel was noted for breaking away from

folktale A folktale or folk tale is a folklore genre that typically consists of a story passed down from generation to generation orally. Folktale may also refer to: Categories of stories * Folkloric tale from oral tradition * Fable (written form of the a ...

traditions that were popular in Swahili literature at the time. ''Mzimu wa Watu wa Kale'' marked the first appearance of Bwana Msa, a

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

character that features in most of his subsequent works. The plots of Abdulla's later novels became progressively more and more complex and sophisticated. These plots usually involved a protagonist who must battle ignorance and superstition in order to resolve the conflict.

Works

* ''Shrine of the Ancestors'' (Mzimu wa Watu wa Kale), 1960 * ''The Well of Giningi'' (Kisima cha Giningi), 1968 * ''In the World There Are People'' (Duniani Kuna Watu), 1973 * ''The Secret of the Zero'' (Siri ya Sifuri), 1974 * ''One Wife, Three Husbands'' (Mke Mmoja Waume Watatu), 1975 * ''The Devil's Child is Taken Care of'' (Mwana wa Yungi Hulewa), 1976 * ''Bwana Msa's Mistake'' (Kosa la Bwana Msa), 1984

Awards

* Swahili Story-writing Contest (1957-8) ''Mzimu wa Watu wa Kale''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdulla, Muhammed Said 1918 births 1991 deaths Zanzibari people Tanzanian novelists Swahili-language writers 20th-century novelists