Arabic Writing Tablets (1 results)

3 wooden tablets with handles, approx. 150 x 350 mm. Arabic manuscript on wood, written on both sides. Black ink in Maghribi script. Three writing tablets (alwah) of the type used throughout Islamic West Africa, where they are traditionally used to aid memorization of the Qur'an and to teach students penmanship. Most similar examples are created among the Hausa of northern Nigeria, where the city of Kano is the traditional centre of both Islamic learning and Hausa culture. The tablet is held from the handle at the top, with the curved base braced comfortably against the body for writing. - The text on all three tablets begins with a tidy Bismallah followed by a line of text, perhaps written by a teacher in Maghribi script for students to copy below. The copied lines vary from tidy script to somewhat slapdash. While these are likely students' working tablets, in use in a madrasa, similar tablets were widely used among 19th century Hausa Muslims for Islamic folk medicine. Traditionally, the ink used to write Qur'anic verses on similar tablets was considered to have protective or healing power; it could be written and then rinsed off with water, with the ink and water then consumed as a form of spiritual medicine. Students' tablets would similarly be scrubbed down and reused, though in a less sanctified context; they were an important teaching tool, used and re-used by students as they mastered their education. - Worn through use, small chips to handles. In good condition. - Mustapha Hashim Kurfi, "Hausa Calligraphic and Decorative Traditions of Northern Nigeria", Islamic Africa 8 (2017), pp. 13-42.