Muhammadu Aliu Tyam’s Pulaar qasida (or “ode”), The Life of al-Hajj Umar was written in ajami (African languages transliterated with an Arabic alphabet), and it has long been performed in Pulaar, especially in Senegal. More than a hundred years after it was written, Tyam’s ode remains among the most significant works of ajami literature in Africa. Tyam’s poem was published in Pulaar and French in 1936 but composed not long after the death of al-Hajj Umar Taal, who brought the Tijaniyya order to West Africa in the mid-19th century. The original ode composed by Tyam, who was a foot soldier in the army of Shaykh Umar, is a long poem that is meant to be performed in oral-aural settings. Henri Gaden translated the poem into French and published it with extensive notes. Christopher Wise edited and translated the English version, including Wise’s introduction.