P85-86

(Noah) ….. divided the entire habitable earth into three parts, which he thus distributed among his three sons : To Sam [Shem] he gave Syria, Mesopotamia, Eraq (Irak), Persia and Khorasan (1), because he was the most intelligent of his children. To Ham he granted Africa, Ethiopia, Abyssinia, India, Sind (2) and the country of the blacks. Upon Yafuth [Japheth] he bestowed China the Slavonian countries and Turkestan (3). Accordingly, the inhabitants of the whole of Persia, Arabia and Greece, which countries are the center of the civilized world, are the descendants of Sam. The Turks, Slavonians, and the nations around the Caspian Sea who are noble and brave, are the children of Yafuth ; and all the blacks of India, Sind (2), Zanzibar, Abyssinia and the negro land are the offspring of Ham.

P96-97

RECORD OF HAM, THE SON OF NUH, U. W. B., ETC.

According to some chronicles, he is likewise considered to be a prophet, sent by the Almighty. Muhammad Bin Ka'b-ul-Fuzi states that the cause of the change of his countenance happened in the following manner: By the command of the Most High, w. n. b. e., all those who were in the ark of Nuh had been prohibited to have connection with their wives until the violence of the storm, the accu­mulation of the clouds, and the beating of the waves had subsided, and the ark had settled on dry ground. But the fire of Ham's lust blazed up whilst the deluge was at its height; he had intercourse with his spouse, and his com­plexion became changed (8). Some of the principal historians, however, have rejected this tradition, and even that of his having witnessed the nudity of Nuh and not covered it. At any rate, Ham separated from his father, and travelled until he arrived at the shores of the southern ocean, where he settled. There the Almighty-w. n. b. pr.-bestowed upon him nine sons, namely, Hind, Sind (2), Zanj, Nuba, Kana'an (4), Kush (5), Qabat (6), Berber, and Habsh (7); from these the negroes of Africa, the Abyssinians, Zanzibaris, and Hindus are derived. Among the children of Ham eighteen lan­guages originated, each tribe using its own idiom; but when they could no longer understand each other, they necessarily dispersed, and built towns. It is said that to the south of the equinoxial line the land is cultivated as far as the fourteenth degree of latitude, and inhabited by some of the children of Ham.

 

Khatimah (Appendix) to Rauzat us Safa

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Taken from: Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum; by Charles Rieu Vol I

Persian Literature, Volume 2, Part 1 By C. A. Storey 1972

 

I did not find a text of this work but the table of contents (given under) shows that East Africa might well be treated in this book.

Deals with (among others) with the creation, the wonders of the inhabited world, seas, lakes, rivers, springs, wells, islands, mountains, deserts, the seven climes, Shah Rukh’s embassies to China and Vijayanagar, wonders of the West, and the description of Herat.

(1) Khorasan: Afghanistan + Eastern Iran.

(2) Sind: now in Pakistan.

(3) Turkestan: also spelled Turkistan, is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang.

(4) Kana'an: The word "Canaanites" serves as an ethnic catch-all term covering various indigenous populations—both settled and nomadic-pastoral groups—throughout the regions of the southern Levant or Canaan.

(5) Kush: Kushites: ancient people of Sudan.

(6) Qabat: Qobt: Copts of Egypt.

(7) Habsh: Habash or Ethiopia.

(8) This is the curse of Ham which is repeated with variations by:

- Ibn Qutayba (880)

- Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qubi (897)

- Al-Kisa'i (d904)

- Al Tabari (922): collects all that was already written about the subject (including denials).

- Eutychius of Alexandria (940)

- Muhammad Bal'ami (10th)

- Grandson of Muhallib bin Muhammad bin Shadi (1126)

- Al Jawzi (1200): he denies the curse.

- Al-Qazwini (1283) in Atar al Bilad

- Al Rabghuzi (1300)

- Al Dimashqi (1325)

- Ibn Khaldun (1406): he denies the curse.

- al Maqrizi (1441)

- Mirkhond (1495)

- Alf layla wa Layla (15th)

- Suyuti (1505): in some of his books refutes it in others he just repeats it.

And many others.