Yoruba was first reduced to writing around 17th century by Islamic scholars who introduced Ajami, an Arabic word for anything foreign or foreigners. Ajam in Arabic means “one who is illiterate in language” “silent” or “mute.” The term refers to non Arabs and people of Southern Persia, and as time went by, the derogatory Arabic term assumed a new meaning of arabized version of foreign languages and names. According to Wara Alma, Ajami is a system or method of writing other languages by adopting Arabic modified script.
