kashfa

Swahili

Alternative forms

• kashifa

Etymology

From Arabic كَشْف (kašf, “unveiling, uncovering”). The pejorative meaning comes from Godfrey Dale (1861–1941, Christian missionary in Zanzibar 1889–1925) publishing a translation of the Qurʾān into Swahili in 1923, widely suspected to be inaccurate.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

Noun

kashfa (n class, plural kashfa)

1. (archaic) uncovering, unveiling, exposing
2. scandal (incident that brings disgrace)
3. slander, libel, insult

   kashfa za dini ― religious slander

Related terms

• -kashifu (“to defame, slander”)

Further reading

• Lacunza-Balda, Justo (1997) David Westerlund, Eva Evers Rosander, editors, African Islam and Islam in Africa. Encounters Between Sufis and Islamists, London: Hurst & Company, →ISBN, page 95 seqq.