Genealogical Tradition Research Articles

Tafsīr and taʾwīl in Post-Classical Sufi Scholarship: The Study of Correspondences (taṭbīq) in Q. 10:90–92

Recent evidence from imperial archives suggests that in the sixteenth century Ottoman religious scholars were interested in Sufi modes of engagement with scripture along with mainstream, conventional forms of exegesis. This juxtaposition raises questions about the connections between these two very different types of engagement with the divine word. How might scholars at this time have thought about the relationship between Sufi forms of taʾwīl and mainstream forms of tafsīr? Were they complementary approaches to interpretation that were both necessary for a complete understanding of the divine word, or conflicting approaches to the study of scripture, of which only one was able to legitimately discuss its meanings? In this article, I present evidence from one tradition of post-classical Sufi scholarship that shows how Sufi commentators worked to overcome old challenges to the legitimacy of taʾwīl, and to reconceptualise tafsīr and taʾwīl as complementary forms of exegesis, both of which were necessary for a complete understanding of the Qur’an. This trajectory is marked out by the Taʾwīlāt al-Najmiyya of Najm al-Dīn Kubrā (d. 618/1221) and Najm al-Dīn Dāya Rāzī (d. 654/1256), the Taʾwīlāt al-Qurʾān of ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī (d. 730–736/1329–1335), and the Muḥīṭ al-aʿẓam of Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī (d. after 787/1385), which constitute a ‘genealogical tradition’ of post-classical Sufi scholarship. I further illustrate how this tradition imagined the complementarity between tafsīr and taʾwīl through a close reading of one Qur’anic episode – the crossing of the sea by Moses and the Israelites and the drowning of Pharaoh and his hosts (Q. 10:90–92) – from tafsīr to taʾwīl. I show specifically that the commentary on this episode instantiates a powerful methodology systematised

Anchoring Genealogy

Abstract The writings of both Hecataeus and Pherecydes focus on genealogies, but scholars have characterized their styles differently: Hecataeus is anti-traditional and idiosyncratic, while Pherecydes is an impartial recorder of myths. This contribution argues for a neglected side of each author: Hecataeus follows Homeric genealogical traditions, while Pherecydes constructed novel genealogies of his own. Both authors, then, used tradition to accommodate, or ‘anchor,’ their innovations in genealogical writing, a strategy which Herodotus, in turn, improves upon in his own use of genealogies.

Reconstruction of the early ethnic history of the Yakut tribe "Jarkhan" on the basis of ethnonymy, oral tradition and totemic ideas

The article is devoted to the early history of the Yakut tribe "Jarkhan", which was one of the main ethnic components involved in the formation of the Vilyui group of Yakuts. Previously, historical and genealogical information was transmitted orally with help of historical legends. The end of the XIX – the middle of the XX centuries marks a qualitatively new period in the formation of the written tradition of the genealogy of the Yakut people associated with the painstaking source studies, collecting and research work of G.V. Ksenofontov, S.I. Bolo, A.A. Savvin, G.U. Ergis, etc. We have made an attempt to show the process of segmentation of the Jarkhan clans and the formation of new tribal groups by compiling a nomenclature of the generic composition. The study of the generic composition allows us to imagine the processes of movement and settlement of genera, renaming, merging and formation of new ones. The purpose and objectives of the research are to systematize and interpret the materials of the oral genealogical tradition, legends and archival documents. The methodological basis of the research is based on the basic principles of historical science - the principle of historicism and the principle of objectivity. The principle of historicism is important for conducting genealogical research, as it allows us to trace the segmentation of large tribal groups into small ones. General scientific and historical methods (historical-comparative, historical-typological, source analysis) were used as additional research methods. The novelty of the research lies in the systematization of the tribal composition and the introduction into scientific circulation of previously unpublished documents of the National Archive of the RS(Ya) revealing the tribal composition. Based on the studied material, it is concluded that oral historical traditions and pedigrees represented the central core in the structure of historical knowledge among the Yakuts. Conceptually, genealogical traditions were formed from real genealogy and unreal, which is basically a structure-forming fictional genealogy (within the boundaries of tribal communities). The result of the work performed is the preparation of the nomenclature of the Yakut generic composition. We also found that the Yakuts had common, group and individual totems. Along with this, the practice of changing the historical totem to a new one associated with a new habitat has been revealed.

Problematising EU Cybersecurity: Exploring How the Single Market Functions as a Security Practice

AbstractThis article furthers the debate between European Studies and Critical Security Studies by demonstrating how European Union (EU) single market integration functions as a security practice in the area of cybersecurity. It explores how the EU has rendered digitisation as a security concern and cybersecurity emerged as an object of EU governance by developing an analytical approach based on problematisation. Situating the problematisation approach in the genealogical tradition of Foucault, it argues that it provides us with an analytical toolbox enabling inquiry into the conditions that make contemporary security problems possible, powerful and changeable. Tracing EU security problematisations of digitisation over four decades, it shows how the single market has come to function as a security practice and stresses the political implications of it. The final part of the article re‐problematises the findings to afford insights into how they can be rethought at the intersection of European Studies and Critical Security Studies.

Confronting Discrimination: Phenomenological and Genealogical Perspectives. Introductory Remarks

In this editorial for the special collection Confronting Discrimination: Phenomenological and Genealogical Perspectives, we discuss the productive aspects and limitations of discrimination as a concept for social criticism. Insofar as a proper understanding of discrimination must take into account both concrete experience and historical conditions, we propose to combine phenomenological and genealogical methodologies. While phenomenological analyses run the risk of individualizing discrimination, genealogical approaches are often suspected to reduce experiences of discrimination to their social-historical conditions. Dovetailing phenomenology and genealogy allows for mutual instruction and may herald a more comprehensive understanding of discrimination. To this end, we revisit formative phenomenological contributions to the study of discriminatory experiences and recall prominent motifs in the genealogical tradition for investigating discriminatory patterns. Finally, we show how the articles in this collection apply and critically reflect upon this proposal.

“NOTE” (“RISALA”) BY IBN FADLAN AND FEATURES OF THE EARLY STAGE OF THE VOLGA BULGARS FORMATION (X century)

The tribes mentioned in Ibn Fadlan’s “Note” before their migration to the Middle Volga lived on the territory of the Khazar Khaganate (the North Caucasus, the Volga-Don steppes). It was there that they began to move to a settled life, as well as to converge in language and culture. The main part of the tribes genetically belonged to the Turkic-Ogurs, the ancestors of the Bersils were Persian-speaking, and the Esegels were Ugrians. Consequently, their ethnonyms were constructed in a completely different form. During the formation of the state of the Volga Bulgars, the term as-Sakaliba meant not only a specific ethnic group, but a political unification of various northern tribes. From the 10th century its place was taken by the polytonym Bolgars (Bulgars), known in the Byzantine world since the end of the 5th century and meaning the Oghur-speaking heirs of the Huns. The process of interaction between the intraethnic groups of the Volga Bulgars of that time was based on the traditions, on the one hand, of migrants from the North Caucasus and, on the other, of the Bulgar ethnic groups from the Volga-Don steppes. The main leaders of these intraethnic groups in 922 were, as Ibn Fadlan described, Emir Almysh and a certain “imposter” from the Suvars, nicknamed “thief, robber, bandit” (Vărăh). The main reason for the public unrest was the official acceptance of the religion of Islam by the Bulgarian king, which was followed by oblivion of the traditions of the ancestors. The society was divided into two groups: traditionalists and passionaries. The cult of Muslim saints of the Volga Bulgars developed through the development of early genealogical traditions of the Oguro-Bulgar tribes. Over time, they merged with images from the Judeo-Muslim literature. The new ethnic consciousness of the Volga Bulgars since the 10th century began to function in a two-level mode. At the interstate level, the exoethnonym Bulgar is approved, and at the level of the region and the Bulgar ethnos – the endoethnonym Bulyar.

The reception of Jubilees in Greek catena manuscripts of Genesis

Several Greek catena manuscripts preserve material from Jubilees, offering valuable witness to the largely lost Greek version of the book. Yet how did material from this Second Temple composition become part of a late ancient Christian anthology? This article interrogates the transmission of Jubilees material in catena manuscripts of Genesis. Rather than offering direct witness to Greek manuscripts of Jubilees, this material had already been appropriated and restructured before the compilers of catena manuscripts collected and reorganized it around the textual frame of Greek Genesis. Two conduits account for the availability of this material: the use of Jubilees among late ancient chronographers and a widespread genealogical tradition, derived from Jubilees, that names the wives of biblical patriarchs. In late antiquity, the Book of Jubilees often circulated not as a unified composition but as individual units which were assimilated into other structuring frameworks, whether the schemata of chronographers or the (margins of) the Greek Bible itself. The late ancient reception of Jubilees thus foreshadows the atomism of modern text-critical appropriations. The conclusions of this article invite similar exploration for other Second Temple texts.

ФОЛЬКЛОРНЫЕ МОТИВЫ В КИРГИЗСКИХ ТРАДИЦИЯХ ГЕНЕАЛОГИЧЕСКОГО ЦИКЛА

The genealogical legends are permeated with numerous folklore motives that still await special research. The legends of the genealogical cycle, which in their content are at the intersection of the interests of historical science, ethnography, and folklore studies, are the object of preliminary consideration in this article. In the legends about the origin of the Kirghiz, folklore motifs of a fairy-tale-mythological and totemistic origin are clearly revealed. In this sense, the genealogical traditions of the Kyrgyz go back to a very ancient tradition. In general, the ancestors of a number of Kyrgyz tribes or their subdivisions turn out, according to legends, found under different circumstances in the cradle, and at first, a camel, a white horse, argali, or a roe deer was seen in this place, and then the animal disappeared and instead of it, they found a baby in the cradle. And here one cannot fail to see the echoes of totemistic ideas. Even the genealogies of some historical figures, the real ancestors of certain tribal divisions, sometimes become overgrown with legends, in which traditional folklore motives are easily found. In the legends about the origin of the Kirghiz, folklore motifs of a fairy-tale-mythological and totemistic origin are clearly revealed. In this sense, the genealogical traditions of the Kyrgyz go back to a very ancient tradition.

Genealogy of Experiential Frames: Methodological Notes on Arendt

This article seeks to add a new theoretical voice to the tradition of genealogical inquiry in political theory and beyond by offering a re-reading of the thought of Hannah Arendt. Going beyond the letter of her thought, in this article I propose that placing Arendt in the genealogical tradition of inquiry (particularly its Foucauldian strand) helps to make sense of what she was “up to” when she turned to history in her work, especially in the analysis of totalitarianism and the account of modernity presented in The Human Condition. I will specifically highlight the historical emergence of “process-thinking” that Arendt traces across her writings. The article seeks to sketch a unique approach to genealogical inquiry that can be taken up by anyone interested in critical analysis of our present age and its politics. Towards the end of the essay, I elaborate this approach methodologically by making a reference to frame analysis. Thus, I articulate a “genealogical frame analysis”, an inquiry into historical emergence of various metaphors and frames that organize our experience of the world. I also highlight the centrality of events for Arendt’s genealogy, as well as its role in a broader set of world-building practices.

About Ancestors

ABSTRACT Though regularly studied as different academic domains, Asian and Oceanian studies are deeply intertwined not only through longstanding political, economic, immigrant – and colonial – ties, but by questions about common ancestry. From popular commercial DNA testing to historical studies in linguistics, folklore, archaeology, biological anthropology, and sophisticated genome sequencing, deep histories of Oceanian Islander peoples have long been tied to ‘origin’ traditions and reconstructions of lineages from the Asian mainland, notably through the Austronesian diaspora. From 19th-century linguistic theories and Lapita sites, to 20th-century ABO blood groupings and contemporary mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA assays, scholars have proposed at times conflicting interpretations of Oceania’s possible Asian human heritage. These analyses have themselves been consistently challenged by Indigenous genealogical traditions such as Māori whakapapa and Islander assertions of origins based on ancestral and localized narratives decolonized of Western scientific practices.

The Challenge of Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry Within Leadership-As-Practice

Herein, I clarify my concern regarding Raelin’s Leadership-as-Practice (L-A-P) and argue that inconsistent moral philosophies undermine the veracity of leadership theory, especially more recent democratic, shared, collective, and practice oriented theories; that this problem seems to be proliferating in the social sciences, and that this is especially concerning in socio-psychologically oriented theories. I contend that the moral foundations of L-A-P remain philosophically disquieting, unless it is understood as excluding moral agents other than those of a genealogical tradition, and that such exclusionary consequences in practice may lead to moral disengagement, which might then lead to cognitive dissonance and even self-harm.

Hercules and the King of Spain: Icons of Masculinity and Nation in Calderón's Spain by Dian Fox

Reviewed by: Hercules and the King of Spain: Icons of Masculinity and Nation in Calderón's Spain by Dian Fox Lucas A. Marchante-Aragón Keywords Dian Fox, Lucas Marchante-Aragon, Hercules, King Sebastian Of Portugal, Phillip Ii Of Spain, Masculinity, Nation, Drama, Calderon De La Barca fox, dian. Hercules and the King of Spain: Icons of Masculinity and Nation in Calderón's Spain. U of Nebraska P, 2019. 303 pp. Dian Fox's book is a decidedly welcome addition to the growing corpus of studies about masculinity in early modern Spain. A very intriguing question explored in this volume is the connection between performances of masculinity on stage and the formation of a Spanish national identity during this period. One of the arguments is that the ubiquity of theatrical performances throughout the Iberian Peninsula, and the social transversality of the audiences that enjoyed them, played a role in the promotion of a national identity built on notions of appropriate masculine performance. The study contains excellent analyses of the different representations of masculinity, both ideal and unacceptable, that can be found in plays built around the figures of the classical demigod Hercules and King Sebastian of Portugal. After an introduction and a framing chapter, the first part of the book is devoted to the figure of Hercules in early modern Spanish theater (chapters 2–4). The classical hero is connected both to the ruling dynasty by genealogical traditions and to the mythical foundational narratives of many Spanish locales. Representations of a virtuous Hercules who can control his passions served as a local example to combat the perceived crisis of masculinity in seventeenth-century Spain. However, the plays analyzed by Fox show an uncharacteristically feminized Hercules. This representation responds to the genealogical anxieties inherent to the discourse of honor that pervaded the post-1492 period in the Iberian Peninsula and that was central to the dramatic conflict of early modern Spanish drama. As she notes, paraphrasing Américo Castro, "Whereas historically the Spanish male suffered a crisis if his membership in the pure cast was questioned, dramatically the crisis occurred when the Spanish male's honor was doubted" (43). [End Page 124] When discussing Calderón's Los tres mayores prodigios and El pintor de su deshonra, the author superbly analyzes how the theme of honor/lineage is adapted into the classical myths reenacted onstage. In her study of Manos blancas no ofenden and Fieras afemina amor, which deals with an episode in which the hero will be made to dress in female attire (89), Fox sees the hero as an example of the hombre esquivo. This is a man that avoids/abhors women and marriage and seeks honor through deeds. Such a man is, according to the author, more transgressive of social order than the mujer esquiva that Melveena McKendrick had described (95). Fox explains how in both of these plays, "transvestism allows Calderon to expound with some depth not merely on masculinity and effeminacy, but also on reproductivity and succession" (109). The author clearly shows how these examples are very pertinent for the consideration of the figure of King Sebastian in the following chapters; however, the question of their implications for nation formation are not fully answered. This very interesting issue is dealt with briefly in the last two pages of the section. The second part of the book (chapters 5 to 7) deals with the figure of King Sebastian of Portugal and his context. The opening chapter is devoted to the poetry of Francisco de Aldana, who was sent to the court of Lisbon by Sebastian's uncle, Phillip II of Spain. His mission was to dissuade the young king from his plans to invade Morocco and persuade him to stay in Portugal, get married, and ensure dynastic continuation. Aldana not only failed in his mission, but was eventually seduced by the young king's project, and would ultimately die with him at the battle of Alcazarquivir. Fox analyzes here the tensions in Aldana's poetry with regard to the manly exercise of war and the desire for retirement in peace with his friend Benito Arias Montano. In these tensions, the author sees an expression of...

Siberian Tatars of Knyazevs: historical and genealogical essay

This paper aims at reconstructing the genealogy of Siberian Tatars of Knyazevs (Western Siberia), identifying the origins of their surname, which is not characteristic of the Tatars, and at analysis of the influence of socio-political and socio-economical processes in Russia in the 18th through 20th centuries on the social transformation of the family. The sources were represented by the materials of the Inventory Revision Book of Tarsky District of 1701 and census surveys of the end of 18th through 19th centuries, which allowed tracing the Knyazev family through the genealogical succession and identifying social status of its members. In this work, recordkeeping ma-terials of the 18th–20th centuries and contemporary genealogical and historical traditions of the Tatars have been utilized. In the research, the method of genealogical reconstructions by archival materials and their correlation with genealogies of modern population has been used. The history of the Knyazev family is inextricably linked to the history of modern village of Bernyazhka — one of the earliest settlements of the Ayalintsy (a group of the Si-berian Tatars) in the territory of the Tarsky Irtysh land which became the home to the Knyazevs for more than three centuries. The 1701Inventory Revision Book cites Itkuchuk Buchkakov as a local power broker of the Aya-lynsky Tatars in the village. During the 18th century, this position was inherited by his descendants who eventually lost this status in the beginning of the 19th century in the course of the managerial reforms by the Russian gov-ernment. Nevertheless, the social status of the members of the gens remained high. In the mid. 19th century, the village moved — the villagers resettled from the right bank of the River Irtysh onto the left one. As the result, the village was situated nearby the main road connecting the cities of Omsk and Tara. At the same time, the village became the center of the Ayalynskay region. That led to the strengthening of the social status and property en-richment of the descendants of Itkuchuk Buchkakov. The Knyzevs’ surname first appeared in the materials of the First All-Russia Census Survey of 1897. Some of the descendants signed up under this surname later in the Soviet period. During the Soviet years, members of the Knyzev’s gens had different destinies: some worked in the local government, whereas the others were subjected to political repressions and executed. Knyazevs took part in the Great Patriotic War and seven of them perished. Presently there are no descendants of the Knyazevs in Bernyazhka as they spread over the villages of the Omskaya Region, some living in Omsk and other towns of Russia and abroad.

The Historical Background of the Popularity of Genealogies in Korea

The widespread trend for compiling genealogies in Korea is known to have emerged around the seventeenth century. To explain this, scholars have pointed to the influence of neo-Confucianism and similarities with Chinese genealogical traditions. However, this study focuses on the inclusionary and exclusionary forces within Korean genealogy with the former drawing more members into the genealogy and the latter resulting in fewer family members being included. In particular, this study draws attention to the selective recording of patrilineal family members and to the frequent inclusion of relatives-in-law in Korean genealogies. The social hierarchy system of premodern Korea appears to have been the most crucial factor in determining the particular features and popularity of Korean genealogies, and in this article, I draw attention to how this accounts for the differences between Korean genealogy and the genealogical traditions of other East Asian societies.

"Tree Thinking": The Rhetoric of Tree Diagrams in Biological Thought

Tree-like visualizations have played a central role in taxonomic and evolutionary biology for centuries, and the idea of a “tree of life” has been a pervasive notion not only in biology but also in religion, philosophy, and literature for much longer. The tree of life is a central figure in Darwin’s Origin of Species in both verbal and visual forms. As one of the most powerful and pervasive images in biological thought, what conceptual and communicative work has it enabled? How have the visual qualities and elements of the tree form interacted with biological thinking over time? This paper examines the pre-Darwinian history of tree images, the significance of Darwin’s use of such images, and the development of tree diagrams after Darwin. This history shows evidence of four separate traditions of visualization: cosmological, logical-philosophical, genealogical, and materialist. Visual traditions serve as rhetorical contexts that provide enthymematic backing, or what Perelman calls “objects of agreement,” for interpretation of tree diagrams. They produce polysemic warrants for arguments in different fields. The combination of the genealogical tradition with the cosmological and the logical changed the framework for thinking about the natural world and made Darwin’s theory of evolution possible; the later materialist tradition represents the “modernization” of biology as a science.

An Illustrated Genealogy between the Ottomans and the Safavids

Abstract This paper focuses on an early seventeenth-century illustrated genealogy (Museum of Ethnography Ankara, No. 8457), which is stylistically attributable to Baghdad, and is iconographically and textually pro-Safavid at a point when Baghdad was under Ottoman rule. Taking the format of the illustrated genealogy, which was widespread in the Otto­man realm from the mid-sixteenth century onwards, the Ankara manuscript adapts the Ottoman genealogical tree tradition with a particularly Safavid tenor. In its immediate visual graspability and use of the genealogy as a methodological tool to claim legitimacy, this manuscript represents contested identities in the frontier province of Baghdad.

From Persianate pasts to Aryan antiquity. Transnationalism and transformation in Afghan intellectual history, c.1880–1940

This essay forms a case study of the transnational dimensions of Afghanistan's modern intellectual history through a focus on the practice of history. It traces the development of Afghan historical writing between around 1880 and 1940, with an emphasis on the revolutionary historiographical transformations of the 1930s. Prior to this decade, Afghan historians broadly continued the dynastic and genealogical traditions of the Persianate tarikh (‘chronicle’). After discussing several such texts, the focus turns to the new intellectuals associated with the Kabul Literary Society (Anjuman-i Adabi-yi Kabul) in its role as a crossroads for the importation and adaptation of European intellectual disciplines. Drawing on Anglophone and Francophone scholarship in their Dari-Persian publications, the Society's historians forged radically new conceptions of collective identity by adapting European linguistic and archaeological methods. An examination of the writings of two such historians, Ya‘qub Hasan Khan and Ahmad ‘Ali Kuhzad, documents the subsequent rise of the new historical ideology of Aryanism by which Afghanistan and its peoples were linked to the ancient Aryans and their homeland of Bactria qua Aryana.

Ethnic Consciousness of Pashtun Tribal Rulers in Pre-Modern Times

The article examines statements on Pashtun ethnicity from the original Pashto prose texts written by the Khaṯak tribal rulers Khūshḥāl Khān (d. 1689) and Afżal Khān (d. circa 1740/41) and included in the corpus of the historiographical compilation Tārīkh-i muraṣṣa‘ (The Ornamented History). Under discussion are conceptual roots of the Pashtun ethnic identity in tribal genealogical traditions and ethical regulations (Code of Honour) of the Pashtun customary law, main hierarchal levels (national, tribal, clannish) within the ethnic consciousness of the Khaṯak chiefs, and the early development of the concept of Homeland (watan) in Pashto literature. Textual material analysed in the article with reference to similar declarations from the national and patriotic poetry of Khūshḥāl Khān suggests that towards the beginning of the 18th century Pashtun tribes in the mass well recognised themselves as one people with common ethno-cultural heritage, and national self-identification was one of the key elements in their collective consciousness that provided necessary ideological ground for the creation of the Afghan national statehood in 1747.

The ‘Alids

How did the descendants of the Prophet, known as the ‘Alids, become the“one indisputable nobility in Islam” (p. 1)? What did they do to attain and extendtheir influence? Is ‘Alid-ness only for men? And, how did their status influencethe Jews? Teresa Bernheimer answers these questions, and more, inthis first detailed study on their sociopolitical history in early Islam.This study is distinguished by a cross-sectarian and holistic approach, inthat the author examines the ‘Alids independent of whether they were Sunnior Shi’i, rich or poor, or rebellious or quietist. While the study focuses on ‘Alidsfrom the Abbasid to the Saljuq eras, as well as those in the eastern part of theIslamic empire, she presents her conclusions in the light of this social phenomenonthroughout the Islamic world, both past and present. In doing so, Bernheimerhighlights how members of this group saw themselves and were seenby others as a single body that transcended sectarian or cultural boundaries.After introducing the main question – how the ‘Alids attained and extendedtheir influence – the author explores it from four angles, each in a separatechapter. She begins with chapter 2, “Genealogy, Money, and the Drawingof Boundaries.” Here, she argues that ‘Alid genealogies do not merely continuethe pre-Islamic Arab genealogical tradition. Instead, while those genealogieslooked to the past, ‘Alid genealogies focused on the present – namely,the need to determine inclusion in and exclusion from the group because of“tangible and intangible” benefits, such as gifts (p. 31), as recorded in an illustrativeaccount of a wealthy but stranded ‘Alid hajji. In that regard, she sees‘Alid genealogies as being more akin to the dīwān instituted by Umar ibn al-Khattab (which Tabari felt had origins in Byzantine custom) in that both practicesassigned social rank along with financial benefits based on tribe.Chapter 2 also addresses the topic of false claimants. Bernheimer does notattempt to sift out false ‘Alids on the grounds that “[w]hat matters is that […]the sayyids themselves as well as the rest of society believed that they were ...

The Riyadha Mosque Manuscript Collection in Lamu: A Ḥaḍramī Tradition in Kenya

This article focuses on the manuscript collection currently located in the Riyadha Mosque in Lamu, Kenya. From its foundation in the late nineteenth century, the Riyadha has had a close connection to the Ḥaḍramī-ʿAlawī scholarly network of the Indian Ocean, through family and intellectual links. The article investigates the impact of the ʿAlawī devotional, Sufi and genealogical traditions, as reflected in the manuscript collection of the Riyadha.