Shaykh Ḥasan b. ʿĀmir al-Shīrāzī (Swahili form, Hassan bin Ameir, 1880-1979) was born in Makunduchi, Zanzibar into a distinguished family of religious scholars. (His nisba , al-Shīrāzī, appeared on the books he wrote; Zanzibari scholars used to write their names according to the supposed origins of their ancestors.) He studied and is said to have memorised the Qurʾān at a young age; he then began to help his teacher instruct his fellow students in the recitation and memorisation of the Qurʾān. He travelled to Dunga Kiangale, in the