Localising Islamic knowledge: acquisition and copying of the Riyadha Mosque manuscript collection in Lamu, Kenya

In Lamu, Islamic practice and intellectual traditions in the late nineteenth century were strongly marked by the foundation of the Riyadha Mosque, established by Ṣāliḥ b. ʿAlawī Jamal al-Layl, known in East Africa as Habib Saleh (1853-1936).² He was a descendant of early migrants from Ḥaḍramawt, Yemen, who settled in Pate in the late sixteenth century. From there, the Jamal al-Layl family branched out to the urban centres of East Africa, including Zanzibar and the Comoro Islands. Being not only of Ḥaḍramī (and thus Arab) origin, but also claiming Sharīfian descent (i.e. in direct patrilineage from the prophet Muḥammad), the