Dada Masiti’s contribution to Islamic literature during the era of slavery, by Gift Luckson Mana Sitti Habib Jamaladdin (c. 1810s – 15 July 1919), commonly known as Dada Masiti ("Sister Masiti"), was a Swahili poet, mystic and Islamic scholar from Somalia. She composed her poetry in the Bravanese dialect spoken in Barawa. Early Years Dada Masiti was born Mana Sitti Habib Jamaladdin in the 1810s in Tunda (Also spelt as Chundwa or Tchundwa), a coastal town in Pate Island, Lamu. Dada Masiti left Tunda for Brava at a very early age and, as such, is often wrongly presumed to have been born in...