This is the first unabridged translation into Swahili of the Arabian Nights. This translation was made from English and German texts, two western languages in which Arabian nights were first translated by the orientalist Sir Richard Burton and published in the west.

The first Swahili translation was made in 1928, but parts of the original works deemed offensive by missionaries were expurgated from the texts. This volume is Book 4 of nine books; the full edition is the first and complete translation by a distinguished Tanzanian Swahili language scholar and writer, Hassan Adam, who has command of three languages, German, English and Arabic. Until recently Hassan Adam was for many years lecturer at the Institute of African Languages at the University of Cologne.