¶ This chapter is written by Alessandro Gori

The 2003 publication of fascicle 3a of the series Arabic Literature of Africa (ALA) without a doubt marked a major turning point in the history of research on the Arabic-Islamic literary production of the Muslims of the Horn of Africa, and more generally in the study of the Islamic culture of that region.

That comparatively thin book (174 pages versus the 434 pages of ALA1, the 732 pages of ALA2 and the 814 pages of ALA4) had the invaluable merit of eventually bringing the literature produced in Arabic…