“You must understand the difference between Islam and Arabism-Something which is difficult for African people to understand. The Arab did to Islam what the European did to Christianity, he subtracted the spirituality, and made it a political instrument to conquer the African. But when it comes to the African, he accepted the spiritual aspect of it, and forget the political.”
Dr. John Henrik Clarke.
Before we dive into this discussion, I must grace you with my usual set of disclaimers. 1) This is a discussion on why/if Somalis (and to a larger extent, contemporary Africans) hold a belief that Islam can only be accessed vis a vis the appropriation of linguistic and cultural norms of the Arabian peninsula, which loosely means that this conversation isn’t an attack on Islam, religiosity or traditional values, but an inquiry into the changing religious/cultural climate of post-1991 Somalia, and whether these developments are the precursors to an imminent cultural genocide. 2) I’m really not interested in having this conversation with the mouth-breathers of Somalia-The ones who proudly boast of our ‘Arabness’, and spend beaucoup hours on facebook conducting fatwa’s and policing hijab styles. No, mate, you’re not invited to this discussion, as we’ve already seen the fruits of your intellectual legacy-banned bras, Hyena sandwiches and an unjust war against samosas. To you lot, I say, a Wahhabi plague upon your houses and hope that welfare state become a thing of the past.
Now onto the quote above-If you’re unfamiliar with Dr. John Henrik Clarke, I strongly encourage you increase your standard of living by indulging in his body of work. This man was a brilliant historian and an outrageously gifted orator who had a way of challenging our contemporary understanding of African spirituality and our relationship as converted peoples to Christianity and Islam-An unpopular topic amongst the African intelligentsia. In this discussion, I’m particularly fascinated by this quote, as it puts an emphasis on the distinction between Islam and Arabism-the latter being a paradigm that borrows inspiration from the Arabian peninsula in matters of culture, language, and spiritual guidance, the former the chosen religious path of most Somalis.
It must be stated that the history of Islam in Africa, particularly in regions like Somalia is as old as the religion itself, and while history points to a troubling relationship between African and Arab peoples, there is also a powerful historical link that predates Islam in the form of trading, conquest, and movement of tribes between these regions. I state these obvious facts in anticipation of critics who will readily dismiss the signs of an aggressive Arabization of contemporary Somalia by pointing to our historical ties to this region. They argue that we’ve always had this knack for plagiarizing Arabia and that this seemingly new phenomenon is nothing but a divisive tactic, conjured in hopes of straining the love affair between Arabs and Somalis. Now look, we know, we had/have ties to the Arab world, but there’s a distinction between loose political ties and a metamorphosis of an entire culture in the span of two decades. Basically, this is my fancy way of asking, when the hell did we go from this…
to this…
I’ve really struggled with using these images of Somali women, as its easy to reduce this entire process to women’s clothing of choice, and believe this process is much more complicated and nuanced. But one can’t deny that the aesthetic transformation of Somalis is reminiscent of other regions, I’ll let you guess where, and that this change is largely connected to this idea that a ‘good muslim/Somali woman’ has a specific uniform-I’ll also let you guess the geographical origin of this uniform (I’ll give you a hint, not from Malaysia, Sudan nor Turkey). But yes, this is the physical representation of what many Somalis are witnessing.
So far I’ve pieced together that conflict and abject poverty are often the close cousins of religious fundamentalism, and understand that the conflict in Somalia has done a number on our collective cultural memory, and it’s only natural that people turn to religious devotion in times of grave despair. I get it, I really do.
But there’s a problem, umm…this discussion isn’t only limited to Somalia and its contemporary political turmoil, but also an epidemic in the Diaspora. One can easily argue that this process of arabization is more pronounced in the diaspora than in Somalia. From the Somali-dominated environs of West London to Toronto to Stockholm to Minnihopeless Minneapolis, one can witness a seismic cultural shift that is often traumatizing to any Somali with vivid memories of our distinct culture and traditions. We’ve been relegated to the world of nostalgia filled with youtube clips of our Waberi musicians and Fadumo Qasim in secreracy for fear that the religious gestapo may revoke our ‘Somali card’, and dismiss us as western infidels.
We’re bombarded with more jilbabs and niqaabs than gabisars, more Abu-somethings than Libans and Ragehs. A friend once said, ‘gone are the days of ‘subax wanagsan’ (good morning in Somali) and areligious greetings now replaced by traditional Arabic greetings. It’s really okay to say good morning in your language, I promise no piety points will be lost during this process. The self-appointed religious police scrutinize and attack any remnants of our secular past, police our cultural singers, and ostracize anyone (especially if you have a vagina) who dares to reflect on this changing environment, often charging them with heresy and declaring them person non grata.
What happened? Where did it go wrong? and did it go wrong? We went from a secular society in possession of an unique and indigenous link to Islam to a society that…well…quite frankly, a society that resembles what happens when self-hating negros get a hold of religion; they become Saudi Arabia. But to be fair, perhaps this trend is a good thing? Brain-dead miscreants Some Somali would argue that this cultural shift is a positive thing, and that Somalis are on a righteous path towards spiritual enlightenment, and through this paradigm shift, Somalia may begin to transform from a tribalistic, corrupt, and morally bankrupt society to a theocratic utopia. Now granted most of the people that argue this often possess a strong aversion to books and women, but their perspective is equally valid and deserves a seat at the ‘what to replace tribalism with’ conversation.
I think these are the type of conversations in need during this redevelopment period, and I understand it is in the interest of certain individuals to promote the idea that dialogue in Somalia is dead, and wahhabism has won. Wrong. Many Somalis are outraged, bewildered, and in a state of trepidation, and believe we’re on the cusp of culture wars in the coming years as we begin to restructure and stabilize this region. Speaking of culture wars, I once accused a friend of yielding to Arabism after witnessing his Saudi-style Al-defeh outfit, and he replied, “You’ve chosen the West, and I, the Arabs,” a poignant social commentary on the various forms of cultural imperialism that left me thinking, ‘where’s Somalia in all this?’. So, I’m asking this uncomfortable question, ‘what the hell happened to Somalia? – Enquiring bloggers wanna know, and particularly interested in your insight to the following questions.
1) Is there a process of ‘arabization’ currently underway in Somalia? If so, is this a good thing?
2) A wise man once said, ‘The African; more Arab than the Arab’, which points to a tradition of black Africans appropriating and exalting anything foreign in lieu of anything indigenous and black. True of False?
3) What’s the status on the permissibility of Hyena consumption, now that Kismayo has fallen? I’m asking for a friend :/
4) Fellow Africans Muslims or Africans from African states with a sizable Muslim population, do you also notice a similar trend of appropriating Arabism? I’m thinking Mali, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea might have something to add to this discussion.
P.S. This is the Somalia, many are aiming to erase.
Disclaimer, I am a Somali agnostic, so all this make a lot of sense to me.
I had an argument with my aunt just yesterday about halal meat. I bought some chicken which she kindly threw out because it is “baqti” (dead aka haram) I’m like WTF, people are hungry and here we are, feeling oh so sanctimonious about petty things.
In summary, YES Somalis we have been mentally enslaved for decades in the promise of lands with flowing rivers of honey and beer. I have my bias an reservations about this whole ideology. I just wish Christianity and Islam did not rob us off our souls and identities.
PS:I think you would like this site Idilay: http://vintagesomalia.tumblr.com
PPS: I want to learn how to shake my booty like those ladies,,,,(so hot! lol)
PPPS: mac mac! from your original secret admirer .
Thanks for visiting sis, and absolutely love that site. I agree that the way many Africans relate to religion is extremely problematic, but think its possible to be muslim/christian without all the self-hate. The moment one believes he/she must sacrifice his/her identity in order to be accepted by the greater religious community is the moment a community ceases to exist. The trauma of converted peoples is real. At least I think so. But also, more perverse is this idea that everyone must subscribe to this Arabist dogma, and or else, the powers that be will kick you out of ‘Somalinimo’….smh
P.S. love the vintage Somalia blog. one of my nostalgia relics. Thanks again for stopping by
LOL another commentator just had a nervous breakdown because you dared to speak of a different narrative
than the Somalis are ‘all unyielding and devout’ muslim. I love this diversity. Thank you for this!
Thanks Idilay for voicing questions many are thinking. While I agree with most of what you have written, I disagree that there is only one set of clearly definable “Somali culture.” The Somalis of Af-madow definitely prefer the Diisow dance to the the Niiko. As for dress, the Somali Barawan women have for generations worn the ‘abaya’ and considered it their culture. Oh the politics of identity vis-a-vis the politics of culture!
Cultures are neither static nor sacred. The amalgamation of what we call Somali culture evolved over centuries borrowing/appropriating from neighboring countries – are our canjeero and bun Ethiopian influences? Is our hate/love/hate relationship with Ethiopia any less pricky than than the one with the Arabs? There are many questions that seek answers.
Dear Idilay, I’ll attempt answers to your questions tho:
1- No, there is not a process of “arabization” underway. I believe it is more sinister than that! It a battle for the souls of folks rather than their identity.
2- Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngugi Wa Thiongo.
3- The Hyena Pepper Sandwich is No. 5 on the Makdonaal Menu in Kismayo. w/ or w/o bacon?
4- What about Malaysia, Indonesia, Philipine, Revert-land, USA?
You are a courageous woman who is not afraid to bring issues that need dialogue to the fore. Keep it going sister.
Globalized Somali
Thank you for your feedback! Your juxtaposition between influences from Ethiopia and Arabia is extremely poignant.
You’re right, culture is always an ongoing process. Damn, your message totally complicates my conclusions, and
definitely forces me to evaluate some of my premises. For one, the complexity of tribal/regional differences
amongst Somalis-I’ve posited this argument without dissecting the nuances of ‘Somalinimo’ as if that’s one stagnant
unyielding thing. But i’m curious, what would you call this current phenomenon, what do you feel is problematic about it?
Oh, and Somali after my own heart. You had me at Ngugi!
Hi i do agree same of your statement about arabazation of the somali people and whole muslim world but i dissagree same generasilization you make about somali culture and how somali people changed as you aware the world is changing as so as somali people. After the civil war somali People emigrated all over the world and they have mixed with different cultures some of them gain knowledge and some of them gone closer to arabs because we have some religion and closer cultural background that closeness some people take too far they dress like arabs they have named their children arab names as you mention your report i agree, but i disagree when you take post card picture of 1970′s and you compared al-shabaab picture not all somalis are alshabaab this group are terroriste and they not reperensenting somali people.
You also show a picture a group of ladies who showing their hair and their flesh our religion tell us women to cover their hair and their flesh not the arabs. I am against purkha but i would like to see somali women to dress reasonable and not to display their boobs and flesh of their body. I also blieve we gone too far trying too close to the arabs but arabs don’t want us the danger is we forget our roots which is we are africans not arabs. I am very happy to be african and proud of it.
I am sorry i write this reply rushing
Eng:Ahmed mukhtar
Email:ahmedfaaf@hotmail.co.uk
Hi Ahmed,
thank you for stopping by. I think you raised some valid points, and you’re right my juxtaposition of images from the past with contemporary Somalia maybe problematic, but I used these images to point to the drastic change in paradigm. Also, I don’t think there’s an issue with Somalis or Africans finding a more potent relationship to Islam, but just find the attraction to wahhabism or Arabism quite alarming. And this isn’t some fictitious theory, our current education system in the region is being fuelled with petrodollars, here’s an interesting article a friend posted…
http://mobile.france24.com/en/20120929-how-saudi-arabia-petrodollars-finance-salafist-winter-islamism-wahhabism-egypt
What do u think we can do to reverse this process? Is it possible to be a muslim nation without arabism?
Also, you spoke of your concern with women’s clothing, and I think that is an issue that should be left to women, and women only…
1) Is there a process of ‘arabization’ currently underway in Somalia? If so, is this a good thing?
Yes a process of arabization is underway in Somalia, and ever since the collapse of Somalia, these wahabists have pretty much done whatever they´ve wanted to do in Somalia. There was no one there to challenge their doctrine and compete for the hearts and minds of the masses. Those who were there and who might have tried to compete with them didn´t have enough resources to do so. How do you compete with arab petro $$$$?? Most mosques and dugsis in Somalia since the beginning of the civil war are funded by Saudi Arabia or other institutions who promote the wahabi discourse. And as we know, who ever controls the money, controls the curriculum and the agenda. And no,
it´s definetely not a good thing because with this wahabi arabization comes a way of thinking which lead us to hate ourselves and work against our own interests, seemingly by our own free will. For instance, it teaches us that were “naked, borderline pagan negroes, who knew nothing of Islam” and that our current state of collapse is punishment from Allah because we didn´t follow Wahabism. It teaches us that, because we are not Arabs, more importantly not Qurayshi arabs, we´re automatically far removed from the grace of God and that we therefore need to take all kinds of measures to overcompensate for this innate shortcoming of ours. There is nothing about wahabism that is spiritually enlightening. There is no room for spirituality, because it´s all about policing vices and women and maintining a status quo of injustice and in-equalitities, not just between genders, but also between cultures and ethnicities, Saudi Arabia and it´s draconian culture and rule is put on a pedestal whereas everyone else, non-arabs in particular are looked down upon.
The same thing happens in the diaspora, because like in Somalia, most major masjids in Europe are funded with Saudi money, which usually means that they have one or a few Saudi princes in their boards, influencing the agenda and the curriculum. Even mosques with seemingly liberal public image (like the Reagents Park mosque in London) have Saudi financiers, and wahabi discourse is communicated throughout the mosque, the dvd/ bookshop is where you finds all kinds racist and misogynistic stuff, or one can attend some of their evening classes to see what they´re all about.
The only good thing that can and will come out of this satanic wahabi arabization is that we now have young Somalis who have completely seen through this religious semi-literacy and corruption.
2) A wise man once said, ‘The African; more Arab than the Arab’, which points to a tradition of black Africans appropriating and exalting anything foreign in lieu of anything indigenous and black. True of False?
This is true, I have met Somali mothers who insist on being called Umm-Hebel iyo Heblaayo because they believe it´s Sunnah that will earn them ajar. The cultural aspect of the whole Um-hebel business is completely lost one them. The thing is, young arab mothers their age who live in the same community don´t even call themselves Um XYZ, but these Somali ladies insist on it. Indeed, “The African; more Arab than the Arab’
Excellent points…I think your raised an important issue regarding how Somalia’s current educational system has been overhauled by Saudi petrodollars….Education in Somalia now means wahhabi books….Dugsi is the new teacher…Unbelievable…When did Islam become Arabism? When did Somalia become a bastion of irrationality and educational darkness?
Do you think there’s any hope in reversing this process or even manipulating as to use this cultural trajectory to deal with some of the other legacies of the conflict like tribalism?
In many ways Somalia has always been a bastion of irrationality, before wahabism and even before Islam. As much as I detest this current trend of arabism, I believe it´s important to not fall into a cultural amnesia and over-romanticise the pre-wahabi/pre-war Somalia. There are many elements in our indigenous culture (which we nostalgically and selectively think so highly of) that are ignorant, irrational, and destructive and our nomadic culture of ancient history of tribal violence is what ultimately lead us to destroy our country. Example of ignorant practices that pre-dateIslam are: the belief that burning of the skin cures hepatitis and all sorts of other illnesses . FGM, sexism, patriarchy, clanism. Before the war the vast majority of the people were nomads and not urbanized, which means that those practices were not fringe, but rather mainstream. So when we look at old youtube videos of people dancing in discos in Mogadishu, and photos of old beachfront villas, it is equally important to remember that only a privileged few enjoyed those things.
Another important thing to remember is the failure of Somali seculars. Yes Al Shabaab made us hate Islamists, but et us not forget that it was trigger happy secular warlords that brought Somalia to her knees, and when they failed to make peace between themselves the Islamists came along and offered people a different narrative to the secular clan warfare. All Islamist groups, be they Al Shabaab, Al Ithihad, Al islah, Ahlu Sunnah Waa Jamaa, Hizbul Islam, have one thing in common: they are not limited by clan. The Somali secular society, can´t make the same claim.
I think this current trend is reversible, but inorder for that to happen, the seculars need to take lessons from the Islamists: lessons in organizing and marketing.
I disagree with you notion about Pre-Islamic Somalis and attributing medival adopted cultural aspects that came during the same time as Islam as indigenous.
Patriachy, Misogny, Socail clans were all adopted form the Eastern world. Ancient Somalis like most black Northeast Africans were a matriachal culture.
The more i learn about our Pre-Islamic religion, the more i favor it. Our religion was more about maintain a balance in society, our ancient traditions were highly sophisticated and stressed the balance of feminine and masculine, young and old, spiritual and physical where Eebe-Waaq creates and regulates the existence of all animate and inanimate, material and non-material nature and places them in a well-balanced cosmic order. The interdependence of the dominant and the liminal is considered a precondition for peace and prosperity in both metaphysical and practical sense.
A matriarchal culture where society balanced based on virtues, being one with nature and paying high tribute to the feminine aspect of everything within God’s cosmic order. We are based on a mystical ethics.
That’s why for the most part we have been very liberal in Islam for the past millennia. We were predominantly Sufi and most our traditions were ingrained(Spiritual dances, aspects of God) In fact for a Nomad, Islam played little to no significance to daily life. We never fasted, prayed the Arab way or even ever implemented Shariah, our customary law always took precedence over Shariah.
But slowly gradually, The Eastern influence was too great to bear as we were virtually so rounded by a whole new faith. so to trade and various institutions, Patriarchy, clans and a lenient form of misogyny started to grow.
We were always traditionally a secular society, never segregated sexes, always had dances and art, poetry, We had a well established trading network with Persia, China, Arabia and over time culture enriches itself and grows with the time. We also have a very long maritime sea-faring tradition, textile industries flourished more than 3000 years and entrepreneurial spirits that linked the East and Western worlds through trade and commerce.
But unlike religion, Culture can be reformed and enriched while staying indigenous, FGM was a pgan tradition taht stemmed from Egypt but with more education it can be utturly reduced. Somali culture and traditions are beautiful and can grow with the times. Patriarchal clans will soon be dropped as the concept of Somalinimo and nationhood thrives. But Religion will keep us in the dark ages and living through 7th century ideology because of it’s lack of critique, an expansionalist religion like Islam/Christianity tends to destroy all culture that stems from Pre-ceding it that contradicts it’s strict ethics(Music is haram anyone? absurd)
Let Somalinimo and Somalic culture thrive and be saved from extinction before
Somalis turn into arabized states like Sudan devout of their historic and cultural traditions to a society based on licking Arabia for acceptance.
wow fascinating narrative. Man, thats why we need more Somali anthropologists archaeologists who can really
get to the heart of these discussions. Much of our cultural history is a question mark, and that amplified
by a contemporary environment that seeks to convince us of Islam as the beginning of our history as a people also
contributes to this climate. Will look up more on Waaq. What do you think of what’s happening in other african nations in
comparison to our own, any comparison? i’m thinking of northern mali for example.
Inshallah we will never ever leave Islam talking about praying like an Arab! Its like a Muslim if you have abandoned your religion for culture that is up to you but inshallah that will never happen to somalia. Our culture and religion is tied together you you can keep your culture make your baris and basto dont forget the moos, wear the dirac and do the buranbur. But wearing the Hijab is something prescribed by Allah having names like Abdirahman and Abdullahi the slaves of allah what is better than that and I would take Peace be upon you over subax wanagsan any day. Being Muslim is far more important than culture when your in front of Allah the questions wont be why have your forsaken your culture it will be why have you forsaken me. So remember guys your Muslim first culture second!!!
CULTURAL GENOCIDE, you call it! But then again, language is arguably the most important component of culture and the fact that you, claimer of Somali Culture Lover, decided to write this article in a language that is not yours defeats your whole argument and makes it seem like hypocritical. You certainly didn’t intend to generate a dialogue among the people this issue concerns since the majority of them speak Somali….I wonder who were your target audience??
Dear Xalimo,
That’s actually a very valid point, but unfortunately your concern tells me you haven’t read the article….Why did I come to such conclusion? well because if you read the article, you would’ve seen that I also discussed this issue in its greater African context(in fact it starts with a pan-africanist quote), and invited my fellow Africans to also chime in (not all Africans speak Somali, and English is an universal language)….
But here’s my question to you….Why concern yourself with my motives? This isn’t about me, but rather a discussion on a phenomenon I think is of concern..Your job as a reader is to dismiss this theory with evidence or defend the thesis with evidence. Now judging by the emotional tone of your response, I suspect you may have an issue with my position, and would like to ask that you offer us your experience and your analysis of our current cultural trajectory. Again, this is not about me, stick to the topic and maybe you have something to teach us all….Thanks for stopping by
There is no authentic Africa anymore my dear…….Most of them lost their culture long ago. Go to the streets of Accra or Nairobi and you will see what I am talking about. So to me to advocate for Pan Africanism (who could only communicate to each other the so called universal language of English) is more like advocating to join a lost cause…..
Btw you are giving too much credit to Arabs, here. I don’t think todays Arabs have what it takes to influence anyone. They themselves are victims of americanisation and going through identity crisis.
Anyhow, I think your blog will be more useful to Somali Youth if it advocates for Pan Islamism (no, not Arabism)…. After all, Islam is a way of Life
I am not Somali but I found this article interesting. I saw it from Tumblr and I just have to comment.
I know I may be banned from this site by saying this, but I personally believe Islam in itself is a propagator of Arab supremacy. This is why you can often witness the deprecation of indigenous cultures and identities within non-Arab Muslim communities the world over. Think about it. You are directed to pray formally in Arabic as if Allah does not view every human language as equal value. You are told to read the Holy Book, the Quran, in Arabic. When you pray facing Mecca, you are praying toward the heart of Arab land. Allah chose an Arab, the Prophet, to be the quintessential figure in the religion. Despite Islamic teaching stating Arabs are no better than non-Arabs, there still lingers the idea that the “Children of Ishmael” are a “special people” for they were the medium through which the world encountered the teachings of Islam and they were the descendents of Abraham afterall. The religion implies Arabic is the language of Heaven and that God is more empathetic to Arab cultural norms. From this, parents start naming their children Arab names, while Imams encourage the adoption of Arab dress. Non-Arab ethnic groups then often feel it’s important to claim descent from Muhammad, no matter how unlikely it is. It’s interesting to observe how often the Muslims outside the Arab peninsula are often more religious than the ones that live inside it.
I am from West Africa, and it’s interesting how in my region of Africa, Arabism is not as palpable as other regions with significant Muslim populations. One of the reasons for this is the fact that the vast majority of West African Muslims are quite nominal in their practice of Islam. Many are syncretists, who mix their traditional religious beliefs with Islam to make the religion more relatable to their people. It is not too uncommon for a Yoruba Muslim to still pray to the Orishas every once in a while before heading out to Friday prayer. That is another thing. There is a growing revival of African Traditional Religions in West Africa, particularly of the Yoruba religious tradition (called Santeria, or Condomble in the Americas.)
But this idea of cultural genocide is not new to the region of North Africa where attempts to eradicated ancient cultural traditions of the indigenous Amazigh populations have nearly won.
I think Somalis and other non-Arab Muslims need to be able to be Muslim without losing their identities to an imperialistic Arab one.
Wow!! Tall Tale, I totally love your post. I respect and admire how many West African communities have successfully maintained their unique identities despite foreign influences.
I agree with your post. My parents were born in the 1950´s and the Islam they were raised with and saw their parents and grandparents practice is completely different from the one we see in the Somali community. Our forefathers used to practice an apolitical sufi Islam, which emphasized spirituality and which did not undermine our cultural identity. The wahabism we see today is a tragedy, best described as a cult of arab supremacy.
Are you Muslim?
I think you raise some very legitimate concerns, and issues most Africans would not touch with a ten foot pole….The mere mention of ‘Islam’ or ‘Arabia’ and an army of Africans zealots standing in-front of the Arabs are ready to slice your head. But this is our continent, our heritage, and we’re allowed to challenge the narrative that we’re all a bunch of dogmatic, easily engulfed by cultural imperialism. I think the history of Islam in Africa is rich, and while it was a history brought by colonialism and slavery, in many parts, it is also as old as the religion itself. Infact in West Africa, one can see a animist father married to a muslim mother with a christian child…I think Africans before the onset of Arabism, promoted the spiritual and encouraged multi-faith communities..There was an insistence on promoting indigenous customs, and many did not see their faith of choice as a barrier to their cultural customs, but that has changed. African muslims are insecure about their blackness, and will adopt Arabic names, and promote Arabism as to not be marginalized with the greater Islamic world.
But I agree with you! We cannot ignore the mental and cultural genocide inflicted upon converted peoples…Now how to navigate this is more problematic. We can all agree that Africans will throw gang signs in defence of Islam and Christianity for the foreseeable future, so the question is, how can we as multi-faith (some without faith) societies promote our national interests, cultural heritage and Blackness in midst of a wahhabi apocalypse?
First of all, I was disappointed that no attempts have been made to “draw” a distinction between Islam and Arabic culture in this article, Question 1. Is that because there isn’t any? Personally, I am of the opinion that Islam and the Arabic culture are inter twinned and couldn’t possibly be separated. I challenge anyone in support of that argument to tell us where line is drawn. It would be interesting discussion.
Also, the discussions articulated in this article has its foundation on liberal ideals that questions organized religions and even demonises it..The ideals being advocated for being Somali traditions i.e the contrast between the first set of pictures against the second set, however, I think there is a third set of pictures missing in this, the tank top wearing, cigarette-smoking heavy-drinking Somali girl in streets of western cities that has shunned both the Somali culture and Islam. Are the latter (influenced by west) less guilty of abandoning Somali traditions in ways the former are not, if so, what criteria has that decision been made on? Answer: Liberal ideals, one that puts the western value system in a pedestal above all “others”. There are aspects of this “Arabinisation” that I personally feel uncomfortable with, but, equally, there are aspects of western influence that I also think are equally deplorable, and no serious attempts were made in this article to tackle that and brings up the uncomfortable question of MOTIVE. My POINT: Somali culture has been abandoned for Arabic and Western ways of life that we all agree are foreign to us. We are all in agreement that this influences have detrimental effect on our culture. What we don’t agree on is the approach that we scrutinise one in ways that we don’t with the other. There is a process of Arabinisation in Somalia currently, and it is not GOOD for us.
The wise man that says “Africans are more Arabs than Arabs” Could he be confusing Islam with the Arabic culture (which happens quite often) Could it be that these Africans were actually practising Islam and not being excessive with the Arabic culture as this supposed wise man (who I suspect is an outsider) has observed?
Also, Somalis have been killing and maiming each other since the beginning of time based on clan rivalry. The religious dimension of the Somali conflict has been on for how long? Last six or seven years. In scrutinising all the three paradigms (Arabinisation, Somali culture and westernizing ) has the Somali culture itself been always free of baggage? Infact, clan rivalries (which has basis in Somali culture) has been responsible for over 15 years of the two decade conflict in Somalia, so with all due respect, Idilay, Arabinization is being scrutinised here because you have an axe to grind with Islam.
Oh Baba Wa Baba I wonder how other African Muslims and Somalis feel about your assertion that Islam cannot be divorced from Arabism…I also find it refreshing that you equate any critique of Arabism and Wahhabism as a slight against Islam, suggesting that all these paradigms cannot be divorced. I think you just made Hirsi Ali’s case for her….Come on now….your deflecting here…….Who said I was in defense of western imperialism or that I don’t find fault with Somalis who’ve embraced western cultural norms, and more importantly the jury is out on what you call western imperialism is really that and not some attempt by an Arabist Somali to discredit things like feminism, human rights (what many from your circles would call western)? Somali women have never worn the hijab, and is that western? Infact I would argue my curly hair without a scarf is as indigenously Somali as it gets, but you would declare that western as the world is simply arab vs white man in your eyes…LOL@your assertion that liberal practices are limited to the western world, again, we can’t have this conversation when your source reference point for all culture material is anything deviating from Saudi customs…The Japanese drink and smoke, are they western? People drink and smoke in Brazil, in Congo, and there indigenous forms of alcohol, are they western? Do the people of Argentina cover their hair? come on now….this is what Arabism has done to your psyche…..The world is simply a battleground between white infidels and righteous arabs……Your assumption that because I criticize Arabism, I must hate Islam is equally disturbing and slanderous, and makes my case very beautiful. Many African muslims cannot divorce their faith from Arabism, and will make an enemy out of you in defense of the Arab world…Just admit you hate blackness and get on with it… its easy to slander me, you can’t deny that there are alot of Somalis who’ve experienced similar sentiments and have issues with arabization, are you also suggesting they hate Islam? Don’t worry about the messenger, there’s an important message here that needs addressing…and wondering is your solution to dismiss all critics of this process as Islam hating, chain smoking, alcoholic westerners? Thank you for your input, and more importantly for being the living personification of my thesis…
I agree with you 100 percent!!!
Thank you so much for this article Idil!
Excellent and very important points you have raised.
I share your concerns and I do believe Somalis, from all Somali territories and ESPECIALLY those in the diaspora, are indeed in the process of committing cultural suicide. This is not only reflected in our dress code or the names we give our children to but even in the way we decorate our homes. Somalis travel to Arabia to buy their furniture and gold when they are getting married, while there is a huge market in Djibouti where you can find everything African – arts, crafts, furniture and clothing. But every household wants to have Saudi style home furniture. I don’t want a fadhi sucuudi! Where is my ganbadh??
More importantly, our Somali indigenous names are in danger of disappearing because more and more Somalis are giving Arabic names to their children, including parents from younger generations. 9 out 10 of my immediate nieces and nephews have Arabic names. Usually Somalis have 2 or 3 first names each and less and less of these names contain our African indigenous names. My father named me ‘Zaynab’ after Prophet Muhammed’s daughter. I have no problem with that. I totally appreciate that faith and religion play an important part in someone’ identity. However, I believe a name should reflect all aspects of one’s identity/culture and we should certainly not confuse our faith with our ethnicity. Just like language is the pillar of culture, yet waxeynu ku fannaa, how well we speak Arabic! My mother, on the other hand, gave me a second name, ‘Habon’ which is a typical Somali name. As the second daughter of my family, the men of my clan, started teasing my father with, ‘Where is the boy Mahamud? Two daughters? When will the boy come?’. In response to that, my mother said, ‘Iska daaya, wey igu Haboontahay’ (Leave her alone, she suits me well). Hence, my name Habon – the one that suits someone or something. Yet, Zaynab became my official name! Bless mum as she just would not call me any other name but Habon. I started appreciating my Somali name after I have learned my African history and identity.
In my opinion, Somalis in the diaspora are much more affected by this Arabisation than those back home. They resist western culture but turn to another alien culture which is actually anti-african just because we pray to the same God? Such a delusion! I look around London streets and see Somali women wearing Arabic attires which to me make more sense in the desert of Arabia than in the west. I am amazed with this new way of wearing the head scarf – rolled high up so big on the head like dundumo! I was told it is a style straight from Kuwait and Dubai! It has nothing to do with piety if you ask me, as it attracts the very attention one is supposed to avoid.
One other revealing example: I have recently been told about a new Somali internet radio and I checked out their website. It has every section under the sun including a section on Arab news and music, but NO AFRICAN section, or African related affair section. I emailed the producers and asked why there was no African section and I was told it has been in the pipeline for a year and will be introduced in a year’s time. I thought, are you kidding!?! It seems as if our entire psyche and terms of reference is geared towards Arabia. I cannot reconcile this love for all that is Arab with the treatment that Somalis, like other Africans, get from these Arabs. Even after 30 years in Arab countries, Somalis are never allowed to adopt national citizenship!
And those of us who talk about these issues, especially when we happened to be women, are accused of all sorts of crime including dissing Islam and becoming too westernized. Waa gaalo iska weel some say? Would that bother or stop us? Obviously NOT!
We can be Muslim or Christian without substituting our African culture to an Arab or European one! Another 20 years going on this path and Somaalinimo may just completely vanish! Chasing dhaqan carbeed will lead us astray unless we revive Somali culture. Mental slavery and colonialism will be with us for generations to come. Allow sahal amuuraha!
I’m Soomaali, although not I’m not Muslim, and I have also seen this insanity increase exponentially of late. It’s as though the entire population has gone mad – from my perspective. You no longer see Somali people, you see brain dead Arab bots who have become known as Gypsies of Africa – and rightly so in many respects. If you even question any of this madness – propagated by the big beardos – you are called all the names in the world, except it has nothing to do with Somaliness. You see, the debate about being Somali is completely gone from the national discourse. It’s about how Islamic you are, more precisely, how Arabic you are that matters now.
Somali people are now known as the gypsies of Africa because they dawn seventh century Arabian attire in the West. Africans claim we’re making them look bad – especially the Ethiopians. Somalis have extreme hatred in them, especially for the West. But nothing matters, we have Islam, or so the thinking goes.
Arabs now complain that Somalis made Islam look primitive and disgusting. For Arabs Islam is a national identity and they don’t want black negros emulating them, at least not to the extent Somalis are.
Somali and not muslim? You just gave the nomads a collective heartattack lol. To them religion and arabism
cannot be divorced from Somalinimo. That’s an interesting discussion we need to have. When did arabist slam
become a national identity?
I believe some of these people are not really Somali they are trolls some indian guy as actually posting this blog every where!
t is too hypocritical to question the basic tenets of the Islam while apparently describing them as part of an Arabization project.One of the admirers of the article even questioned above why her aunt asked her not to eat “Haram” chicken.Spoiled child? or the next Ayaan Hirsi in the making?
This is purely part of the wider project to vilify Islam and Hijab as Non-Somali cloth and alien to the Somali culture.
Apparently, neither trousers nor the suits common in Somalia at the moment have been a Somali dressing code and I hope the author will next time question the westernization of Somalis too.
There’s too many conflated issues-Again, do not try that to change the course of this discussion
by claiming I’m attacking Islam. You know nothing of my religious beliefs, and I suggest you stick to the conversation
at hand. So here are some of the problems with the issues you raised.
1) You’re assumption that because one is critiquing Arabism, one is attacking Islam is problematic. Either you’ve misread the article, or
you believe the two cannot be divorced. If its the latter, then explain your position, don’t derail the conversation
2)Who said anything about the hijab? the women in the first picture wore head covering. Are you trying to assert
that Arab influenced forms of Islamic wear are the only permissible method for covering one’s head? And also, when did covering one’s hair
become a prerequisite for Somalinimo. The nomadic somali women did not dress conservatively, and in fact the guntiino is all one needs
to be authentic to our indigenous customs. Don’t try to position Arabism as Somalinimo, and religiosity as Somalinimo. There’s nothing wrong
with being a devout muslim or choosing to wear the niqaab, or growing a beard.That’s not the discussion. THe discussion is taking these
iconographic symbols and arguing that Somalinimo cannot be divorced by this particular cultural aesthetic.
3) Your assumption that one must be a devout muslim to be Somali. No, Somalia is muslim majority country, but there are
religious minorities who are christian, and some non-practicing. You cannot dismiss someone’s ethnic heritage because they don’t
subscribe to the dominant religion. This is a discussion on culture and how other cultures complicate our own, assuming they do, and how we relate to our most prevalent faith of choice, Islam. Did Somalis exist before Islam? Do we just pop out of thin air after the 7th century? So why this idea that if you critique any aspect of Arabism, one is rendered out of the fold of Somalinimo?
4) who said trousers and suits were the uniform of the west? The Chinese wear pants, Brazilians wear pants, Mexicans wear pants. Are they all western? are the Arabs and the Somalis the last remaining authentic cultures in the world? Is any woman without head covering a westerner? How did nomadic Somali women dress? Does your cultural memory exist outside of post-1991?
5) and assuming the answer to the above questions are yes, who said we don’t take issue with western cultural imperialism?
Your argument follows, ‘So what, some of you act western, so let the rest of us appropriate arabism’,is that it? Is that the gist of your argument? So for arguments sake, I reject all forms of western cultural imperialism, now do you reject Arabism?
“Somali to discredit things like feminism, human rights (what many from your circles would call western)?”
“The Japanese drink and smoke, are they western? People drink and smoke in Brazil, in Congo, and there indigenous forms of alcohol, are they western?”
“The Chinese wear pants, Brazilians wear pants, Mexicans wear pants. Are they all western? are the Arabs and the Somalis the last remaining authentic cultures in the world?”
Ok by looking at your above comments and arguments, one could easily see your position and how you take things out of context and justify everything that is western as universal (did you forget all these people were colonised by the west and forced to adopt western cultures??)….Idilay, I would suggest that you take few minutes to reflect yourself and certainly you will come to realisation that you DON’T actually reject all forms of western cultural imperialism as you claimed but indeed admire and embrace it.
I don’t think anyone other than you calls feminism and human right as Western values, far from it…Their records in these areas are appalling. I believe the prophet of Islam (Sorry, he was an Arab) and the religion he brought have a good record in both of these areas but obviously you wouldn’t give him or Islam a credit for it because it will defeat your silly argument.
I really would love to hear Idilay’s come back on this one…
Deeq, this discussion is not a tit for tat war with the blogger, and did not respond because one, this is not a discussion on western imperialism and feminism. There will be a time and place for this, I promise you, but today its on arabization. Now one is encouraged to employ terms like feminism and western imperialism to make an argument for and against the standing thesis-i.e, ‘Somalia, and many African muslim societies are suffering from cultural imperialism through Arabism.’ But what I’ll ignore is attempts by certain readers to derail from the discussion by pulling the ‘but what about the West?’ card. Of-course there’s western cultural imperialism, but today is not the time for that discussion. Just because I take issue with apples, does not mean I’ve selected oranges. Do you follow? 2) But I’ll respond to her at your request.
“I don’t think anyone other than you calls feminism and human right as Western values, far from it…Their records in these areas are appalling.”
huh? who said they’re western values? Your entire premise is faulty because you’re responding with such emotional vitriol youve missed out on actually reading my sentences. I said that human rights and feminism are what fundamentalist would define as western and reject it on that basis. Civil liberties, female autonomy and human decency do not belong to the west, this is a human thing. Pay attention please.
“Ok by looking at your above comments and arguments, one could easily see your position and how you take things out of context and justify everything that is western as universal (did you forget all these people were colonised by the west and forced to adopt western cultures??)”
again, you’re not paying attention. the point of that statement wasn’t to render these specific societies as ones impervious to colonialism. The gentleman attempted to construct a caricature of western culture and reduce it to smoking, un-covered hair, pants and alcohol (all these things are not western, I suggest you google the history of smoking, early records of the first people to wear anything resembling pants, and perhaps pictures of non-western women and i’m confident you’ll find woman without scarves, some even without clothes) I took issue with his assertion that because a Somali woman refuses to cover her hair, she must be mimicking the west. Umm no, we’ve never covered our hair, and the ratio of covered women to uncovered Somali women was on our side till 1991- Also, most indigenous cultures do not subscribe to clothing, as defined by religion. You do realize that the hijab, for example pre-dates Islam. What you perceive as a marker of Islamic culture is really a marker of Arabic customs. They wore head-coverings, niqabs, jilbabs before the 7th century too (you can google this). So your attempt to discredit the previous practices(smoking, un-covered hair, pants) as western, and our contemporary aesthetic as authentic is ahistorical and without any merit. Now one can argue that both the chain smoking Somali and the jilbab-clad Somali are not authentic and foreign, but neither of you did that. You both shifted the entire argument to indict both I and your perceived ideas of what the Western world is.
“I believe the prophet of Islam (Sorry, he was an Arab) and the religion he brought have a good record in both of these areas but obviously you wouldn’t give him or Islam a credit for it because it will defeat your silly argument.”
LOL what are you talking about? Don’t do that. Don’t try to make this about your assumptions and slander me with a belief that I’ve attacked Islam. I’m now definitely convinced you did not read this article-only saw Al-Arabiya, and assumed any sign of criticism coupled with arabic iconography is an attack on Islam. Oy vey. Did you really just bring the prophet into this? Did I make declarative statements denouncing all people originating from the Arab world? I’m addressing arabization of Somalia, and Muslim Africa through cultural/economic imperialism and not denouncing Arab peoples as not deserving of respect. The Arab world has produced majestic civilizations, and have strong and beautiful customs. But they’re not our customs, and attempting to ignite a discussion about why Africans have a propensity for valuing anyone/anything un-African. Sigh. I feel like i’m in the matrix, trying to un-package and navigate your argument when it’s just so incoherent and absurd. Then as a last ditch effort, you turned to religious preaching and encouraged that I preach the same to the ‘youth’. You’re more than welcome to suggest pan-islamism as a remedy for our cultural vacancy (great if its backed with actual evidence and not religious rhetoric) but the muslim guilt trip will not work here. My job is not to convert people to an particular idea, but to present my ideas and let the readers dissect, disagree/agree, deconstruct, and then if possible, offer another remedy. I don’t know what your point is, other than arguing that Islam will save all, and I suppose that’s fair. But this is a discussion on arabism, i’ll keep you in mind if we tackle the subject of the value of religion.
And to lastly to Deeq, I’m assuming you jumped on this argument to express your concern with feminism? if so, yeah, not the time and place mate. Perhaps you can give your take on the topic at hand. Do you think there’s arabization occurring? is it problematic? is it beneficial? Thanks for stopping by
My my my, what an interesting discussion. I was listening to Haile Roots and Teddy Afro all day, writing and thinking about the onset of Islam on to our land and how it could have changed the landscape..and then decided to check out Afrolens and what do I find but pure joy. Xalimo’s arguments are pretty much what is holding Islam up. Defensive jaahiliya, if I may coin a phrase for it. I seriously cannot add anything further. Idilay, walaaley, bravo for bringing these issues up. For my sisters and brothers who brought up all of these wonderful conversations, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you reminding me that you all exist and I hope that the cosmos can bring us together one day. There are Somalis who think about this every day. Not all of us are Muslims. I am a kaafir but not a gaal. I love Waaq but I dont know much…, all that I know is that I love nature, I love life; preserving it, dignifying it and exalting it. I wrote a very crudely written poem that I thought I’d share with you all, I am sorry to have missed the conversation by so many months.
When you ran out of words, ideas and influence
you came to ‘Ethiopia’ and attempted to subvert us through the king
He denied your faith, exposed you as a madman with his silence
and so you begged Bilal
The man you called a slave
who was the real ‘amiin’
an honest and open man
who’s voice testified to his beautiful attributes
the man who’s voice you stole and placed
on a high tower, hiding the true composers
of your faith
You said that your people were barbaric and that you,
of course
oh mohammed
brought them to the light
you prided yourself on tearing them from their faith
and testified that even your kin will burn in the hell
for not following
a mad man
blindly
and I say oh…who are you trying to fool
was it us that you were after all along
spreading your righteous seed,
the ‘Sharifs’ and your bones are all that is left of you on this earth
oh Mohammed
But who are they to say that we did not have honour
without your seed
if faith really is about god and the unseen
why is your legacy so wicked, unclean,
when our legacy is removed from it
not that it was perfect
but it was ours
oh mohammed
the so called redeemer
who could not redeem himself
and begs for us to pray for him
in every setting and in every practise
you did not fool me
I remained tied to my spirit
It could not be broken by your divisive male ego
the same ego which claims to be ego-less
and tied to the future so tight that it could predict it
all at once
an ego which claimed to have a direct link with god
but could not see further than its own nose
I reject you
and refuse to mimic you
it was my grandmother who fitted me with my left shoe first
I walked upright with them, with her hands to steady me
and her songs to guide me
there is more than one god
there are 7 billion of them
and there will be more
each of them with a will, a parable of their own
and they will be my teachers
“we’ve never covered our hair, and the ratio of covered women to uncovered Somali women was on our side till 1991″
Really?? Since you are so big into defending your so called Thesis with evidence, give us some concrete data to back your ratio up?
Plus, are you honestly too daft to understand that it is not actually Arabic culture which demands you to cover your hair, it is simply Islam and you can do it with your own cultural garments.
Darling, just admit that it is actually Islam that you have problem with. Even if that is the case, I think It is ok and healthy to question about things in the religion and have dialogue about it but stop disguising it as Arab imperialism nonsense…. The issues you have are very transparent but the way you are going on about them make you look phoney
Waad isku yara buqsan tay ayaan u malay nayaa (Hmm I wonder if you have the cultural capital to make sense out of that sentence, probably not
)
WORD!!
actually covering hair and body part for women is islamic, the way and style covered has nothing to do with islam though. these peopled covered like that way before christianity and judaism.
you’re right! the arabs and many none arab muslims or even somalis have been using islam and religion like a method to control the minds of people. it’s less of a hustle and causes nothing to have people on your side and fool them around under false religious flag. everybody does it and it does work well!!. the problem is within these communities. it’s very hard for us to see the point you’re trying to make, because ideas like that are crafted deep in our mind and were blown wind into our ears from birth. no matter how hard we try to stand against arabs or anyone who brainwashed us and hid behind our religion will have the upper hand all the time, our moral, pride, strength and to reason like a norma human beings have been beaten to death and very hard to revive.
You make very good points. Many Islamic religious requirements, though, were pre Islamic Arab cultural norms. In fact, Islam is 80% Christianity and Judaism, the rest is Arab culture. But the discussion never gets going as it should because many people cannot fathom even questioning Islam; you’re supposed to just follow what you have been told without factual basis whatsoever.
I think the answer to this madness is education. Education is the enemy of religion.
Soomaalinnimooy xaal qaado waa lagu xumeeyaye.
‘Education is the enemy of religion’
I have always wanted to know what irony was in Somali…yes for indeed education is needed here.
Subhanallah Education and religion can be synonyms we can have our culture and our religion it is possible!
”Umm no, we’ve never covered our hair, and the ratio of covered women to uncovered Somali women was on our side till 1991”
My mother came to England in ’82 and gradually began wearing a hijab after the war because it awakened a renewed sense of spiritual devotion in her. She had lost many members of her family. So please Afrolens spare us this reductive tone, we are not all cut from the same thread, and so sheepish as you make out. I am a born and bred British Muslim woman who has chosen to wear the Hijab as its prescribed to me by my faith. If women in our home country choose to wear and adopt a heavier veiling than your casual muslim, maybe try and accept the diverse nature and interpretation shared among our people. We cant always remain locked in this romantised memory of a ‘true’ Somali. Its unfair. This whole discussion is a little redudant if you ask me and sadly I see where the need to have these discussion arise from. Because we are sadly in an intellectual stalemate, that still manages (no matter how we dress it with in all these jargons) arguing the same things. I understand how you have actually managed not to share your religious opinion on the matter, but is that helpful? Maybe there is some truth into how everyone bar none have some way or another expressed quite honestly their religious or nonreligious position before making a point.
I will sign off with ‘Salaam’, our Beloved Messenger (peace and blessing be upon him) universalised this expression of endearment so that we may know and love one another, plus being reward for it is awesome too
Thanks for stopping by Sis. Again, nothing wrong with the hijab, and kudos to the sisters
who wear it, especially in hostile environments where covered women are ostracized.
But that’s not the discussion, the discussion is the assumption that one must be covered not only
in a hijab, but in a particular style that has little to do with Islam and more about appropriation.
I’m challenging the ‘one must be a jilbabi to be a Somali woman’ paradigm. By your own admission, it took
coming to Britain for your mother to wear the hijab, suggesting that she didn’t before this. You used the
term ‘awakened’ suggesting a new process in the post-conflict period-wondering how
my argument contradicts your narrative? There were covered women in Somalia before the war (in fact some
brave women used the hijab as a way of protesting against Barre’s regime), but it was routine and normal
to see a diversity of women’s clothing and experiences. None theres none. Do you take issue with that?
And Salaam to you too. Nothing wrong with Salaam, but it doesn’t mean good morning, and okay to say good morning
when its morning
Firstly, I wanted to show some love for this amazing blog! Its about time there was a forum for Somalis/Africans to be intellectual!
In a lot of the comments I notice the eternal struggle, a battle that I have come to tire of witnessing and taking part in. The liberals versus the conservatives, Islam vs West, western ideals vs Islamic ideals, Arabization vs westernization. Somalia, and Somali culture [like many other cultures and peoples that are outside the dominant discourse] simply get lost in this struggle or just have to choose in order to survive [or so they think]. I think we need to stop succumbing to destructive and false dichotomies. We need to stop seeing it as black and white. I agree that Somalia has lost touch with itself because of hopelessness and a need to feel safe and make sense of a world crumbling around them. This is especially so in the Diaspora, because many Somalis find themselves in countries that are not only alien but often times hostile to their ways of being. So what do you do? Either you assimilate or differentiate yourself to the extreme. The latter takes the form of extremism in Islam. Not enough Somalis can find a middle ground. In either case, Somalis just need an alternative to fill that inner void. So I guess I’m taking a more psychological and emotional approach to this identity crisis, I think its very important not to leave that out of the equation. Yes its ideological and political, but that seems to overshadow what I think is at the heart of this: Inner turmoil and trauma.
I love your point here….but wondering is the dichotomy really west vs east? did the traditional
somali nomad represent western values with her aesthetics? and do influences from both worlds
yield the same consequences? did our forms of dance also represent that?
But i agree with you that much of this is a reaction to a culture vacuum, a people lost after a war,
and grabbed the only hand that reached back, unfortunately its a violent and problematic hand.
Wow. This article hits home for Somalis who are losing their AFRICAN IDENTITY
Afrolens: You´re criticizing arabism yet you still lament that “Subax Wanaagsan” is no longer in use? That´s odd, because Subax is a loanword from the arabic Sabah (morning). I disagree with the slander you recieve some other posters, but they did raise some valid points about your lack of “cultural capital”. Your knowledge about the pre 1991 Somalia is very reductive and fetischized. It seems as if it´s based on youtube videos of women doing ratchet dance moves. You talk about “Somalinimo” as if it were stagnant and fixed, and not dynamic and susceptible to current political/social/religious trends. What is pre 1991 Somalinimo to you? Is it only guntiino clad women humping the ground? Or is is it Somalis labelling other Somalis Midgaans (untouchables) this is a very Somali tradition. Or is Somalinimo calling other Somalis “jareer” (hard hair)or adoon (slave)? Notice how our derogatory terms for our fellow Somalis are not borrowed from other languages? Appearently Somalis had issue with blackness before Arabism became a trend.
Here comes the straw-man. Your entire argument is nothing but an attempt to
derail and deflect the current discussion. oh man, still hoping someone from your side of the argument
can actually come in and actually remain on topic….Here’s why…
1) Your ‘Subah’ comment…Sigh….Did i argue that Somali culture isn’t fluid? and free from any influences?
or did i not say in this article, that our relationship to the region in question is complex, and has a history that runs deep. (do u guys read the blog or just see the title and spew some reactionary rhetoric?). Those of us from Mogadishu eat pasta too, but I would hardly
use that as an example of how the Italians have left us with remnants of western imperialism. There’s italian in our language,
there’s words/customs influences from the Indian sub-continent, there are english words, and arabic words. It’s a malaise of cultural influences
here and there. Yes, no one has denied this, other than your assumption one has….and also, what is your point exactly? that because subax wanagsan has a borrowed arabic word, that our current trajectory is legitimate? I don’t get it..or were u hoping to challenge the extent of my cultural capital with this ‘gotcha’ comment? I also posted a video of niiko (the one u just called ratchet lol. typical somali-anything blackness-problematic), and that dance has little to do with the nomad narrative, and is Bantu-influenced, so why didn’t you pick on that? Because you’re agenda here is to draw a strong link between us and the arab…The macaawis is not ‘indigenous’ but it as Somali as it gets…Cultural markers do not necessarily mean they are free from influences, but evaluated on how prevalent and deep they run. The Macaawis, subax wanagsaan runs deep, so if they’re suddenly replaced and shunned, we’re allowed to ask questions…
2) you assume because I take issue with apples, then I must be ignorant of the issues with oranges, and therefore possess no legitimate
critiques against oranges. Who said Somalinimo isn’t problematic or exclusive? what does that have to do with anything? Unless your arguing that because Somalinimo is problematic, pan-arabism is the way to go, I don’t follow your point here. First you need to decide
if my thesis is incorrect or correct, i.e the arabization of somalia, taking place yes/no/kinda. Once you’ve taken a position, then you
can proceed to make arguments in defence of this process with the ‘culture is ongoing’ argument, or you can dismiss my thesis as flawed because
there is nothing new occurring that hasn’t occurred before. But I’m gonna need you to address the topic first, then you
shoot the messenger.
3) pre-1991 is all that and more….Guntiinos, ‘ratchet’ dances, poetry, internalized racism, jazz era influences with the likes of Hilowle,
islamists who used political islam to challenge the dictatorship, tribalists, on and on…It was diverse, problematic, and exciting. Now,
its a wahhabist wasteland with absolutely no diversity, and anyone who dares to criticize this trend (just read the comments of your cohorts) is ridiculed, insulted, and at worst, killed. You deny that our schools are littered with wahhabist text from Saudi Arabia? Do i need to give you a lesson on the influence of petrodollars in our region? Where do u think Al-Shabaab originates from? Have you been back home yet? For example,
Gabisaars are no longer considered sufficient ‘islamic gear’, and now one must be covered in a jilbab (assumption here, arab influenced hijabs-islamic, others-not)…Why even pick on Somalia, this is trend is self-evident in the diaspora. Just walk through any Somali-dominant environs in the west, and the evidence is clear. The graves of our Sufi elders desecrated, pastoralists accused of paganism, and a plethora of other disturbing trends in the post-1991 era, Somali christians marginalized and killed. The Somalis had issues with blackness, and arabism has proliferated and gave voice to that insecurity in a powerful way. Speak arabic, wear abayas, name your kids Mubarak and Haifa , and you too, can buy your way out of blackness vis a vis Arabist Islam…
4) If you respond, please, answer the question first, and then give your analysis of what’s going on-maybe you can school us. This ‘let’s dissect the writer’ is so boring and a waste of time. The entire comments section is dominated by those in agreement with me, surely you can’t dismiss them as well (infact would like to see some of you respond and engage the other readers rather than come here guns blazing) . i wish this were the ranting of one blogger, even though I stand to gain little by promoting a disturbing cultural climate. This is a prevalent concern amongst many Somalis,so address it as such, and not waste your time
dissecting the writer, because i’m just one of many who hold similar concerns and sentiments. Is arabization taking place? do you see a transformation in how we practice Islam? is this transformation influenced by the region in question? is it problematic or effective? why or why not….Thank you for stopping by.
Greetings my dear sister!
You are doing great work and I commend you for your efforts. Along with the eradication of the Somali culture comes with lobotomy-like lack of critical thinking on the part of the brainwashed masses. They’re simply incapable of reasoning or thinking critically and resort to anger and emotional tirades that have absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter. Debating isn’t part of the change but opposing all discussions is. You have already mentioned many of the changes that have come with the eradication of our culture.
Many of us simply shake our heads at how Somalis have been brainwashed and this totally alien way of behaving. We’re aghast at people who think with such self righteousness and contempt for all things non Arab. I have actually moved from a Somali area because I couldn’t take this new phenomenon, this new transformation.
Wahabbism made our own people alien to our culture and history – our culture and history are a sin apparently and we have to become all things Arabic, through Islam, or we’ll be punished by the Arab god – Allah. (Wixii aan ahaan jirnay oo dhan waa xaaraan, abkeen iyo isirkeen waa xaaraan.)
And then there are these girls wearing jawaan and look like Afghans who think that is appealing, I avoid them like the plaque and specifically look for more modern, modesty Somali females and if there are none I go for other races. I can’t imagine walking down the street with a talking tent and attracting all sorts of undesirable reactions. I mention this because I have met girls who think being totally like the ancient Arabs makes them more appealing.
Religions are man made and gods are imaginary.
Waad mahadsan tahay walaal, boqolkiiba boqol.
Thanks for insulting the Hijab wats wrong with naming your kids after sahaba and Important people of Islam and still having your culture. I think some of you somalis came here just to insult Islam. Somalia is a Muslim country and will forever be a muslim country so I am guessing you want be visting our country inshallah since there are tents walking around!
the weakest somali clans are the easiest one to leave their culture.
jilbab & the taliban cloth is widely popular among the hawiya people.
Ps i live in finsbury park aka east london which has a largest somali & eritrean populations, most of the somali woman even those from the younger ones wear jilbab it really puts tears in my eyes.
“most of the somali woman even those from the younger ones wear jilbab it really puts tears in my eyes.”
I totally agree with you. I actually wish that this utterly backward religion of Islam had never come to our country. Imagine what our people would be like if Islam didn’t come? We’d probably be in a better situation; probably a proud and vibrant African nation like any other African country on the continent. Now we are the shame of the continent, and beyond.
What’s worse than the atrocious attire is the mind set behind it; they’re highly incorrigible and so brainwashed that it mirrors mental retardation on so many levels. Yet they think they know it all, they think they are the smartest people on Earth. It’s an illusion to hide a sense of severe inferiority complex underneath all the head games.
Most big bearded men who enforce these archaic rules are the least education among the population yet wield the most power. Being “Wadaad” is the fastest way for society’s dregs to rise up and accumulate power, usually over subdued and terrorized population. I know one guy who was a total miscreant, only to become a “Wadaad” in a few months at the mosque and now is invited into homes and community places as a guide and moral police in domestic disputes. So this also serves a segment of the population that has failed at life, it’s their interest to sustain it. How often do you see those types? Quite often.
insulting Islam again may allah guide you to the right path or destroy you the only backward people I see are the ones defaming our religion Somalia= Muslim country and Hijab will be the symbol of somali women so go cry me a river!
for the ‘culture is ongoing’ crowd….This is what we’ve become….
Waad salaaman tahay walaal!
I take the view that religion is based on emotion rather than intellect and therefore it’s not worth debating with someone whose views stem from emotions. There is no winner in that situation. There is no debate with people who think there are two invisible angels on their shoulders, placed there by the all-knowing Allah, to spy on them. In fact, when I presented some Islamic aspects from the Quraan I was accused of making it up to make Islam look bad, and when I presented the evidence, it was dismissed and the conversation went elsewhere, you can guess where.
Nonetheless, Somalis are only just now finding out political/militant/extremist Islam whereas other nations have somewhat evolved.
the attack on arabism as shown in this ost us an explicit attack on islam. To lament over somali females covering up what all four maddhabs and in particular the shaafici madhab dictates indiccates that the intended target in islam. The same accusatins are made about niqaab whilst in reality in su nni legal thought the only difference is on it bein sunnah or wajib. i urge you to stop conflating issues and call a spade a spade. You dont want traditional islamic law dominating somalo culture. you can refer it to as arabism but we all know its what modernists term medieval practices
I’m going to re-type my response. Typing on your phone is not the best way.
Attacks on arabism and arabs most often than not are attacks on Islam. The person putting their negative points of view often point towards more conservative clothing such as Jilbaabs, niqaabs, pants above your ankles etc as reflective of the deteriorating nature of Somali culture and the ascendancy of Arabism. The reality of the matter is that these practices are rooted firmly in Islamic law and practice.
My questions to the author. You lamentably described how Somali females went from wearing traditional Somali clothing to more Arab style of dress. You then said that you aren’t attacking Islam. I want to ask, do you know what the status of Ijmaac (consensus) has in Sunni Islamic thought? If so, do you know what the Ijmaac is on female clothing? I’d wager that you don’t or you simply do not care.
There are legitimate critiques surrounding the spread of Arabism ie the preference of red cimaamads over koofiyads, but issues surrounding female clothing are a mute point. The clothing shown in the images above are in clear violation of Islamic law, and as i mentioned previously, to lament over the change either indicates that you are ignorant on the matter or you have no affinity to Islamic law. There is no other answer.
Funnily enough, a lot of Somali centric, anti arab personalities point to wahhabism as the cause of this change. Wahhabism it is argued is an alien form of Islamic practice that has replaced the traditional, shaafici, sufi way of living in Somalia. What is in interesting is that what is deemed “wahhabi” has strong basis in the Shaafici Madhab, the same school that these people supposedly support. Wahhabism is simply an escape goat, for people who have a distaste for traditional Islamic law. They can’t digest the fact that some of the practices that Somalis engage in under the guise of “culture” are in direct violation of Traditional Islam.
My only advice is, before resorting to cheap rhetoric like Wahhabism, one ought to study traditional Islamic law and then make a final decision on the difference between arabism and Islam.
http://afrolensdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/somali_nomad_girls.jpg
^How can you suggest that this is somehow ok Islamically, and that somehow Jilbaabs are Arabism?
Somalis traded with ancient Egyptians with thousands of years. That was five thousand years ago. Therefore Somali history is as ancient as that of Egypt and other Cushitic groups of East Africa. Somalis worshiped Waaq far more than they have worshiped Allah, in the history of world religions Islam is a fairly new religion, and this is evidenced most by its current state of affairs in which the religion of Arabia appears to be in its medieval era. It fights hard against time and yearns a return to the 7th century Arabia from which it spread from. Everything about Islam comes down to living like the 7th century Arabs, that is what Allah prefers for all Muslims regardless of ethnicity or geographical location.
The fundamental difference between Allah and Waaq is that the latter was particularly for Somalis, the former for Arab people. Allah considers Arabs the best people and for Waaq Somalis were the best. Waaqism was steeped in Soomaaliness; it’s ethos, culture, language, deeds, blessings, and every day life of the religion focused on improving Somali. Waaqism was utterly peaceful and tolerant, it propagated mysticism and lacked the crude elements of Islam or Allah; there was no hell in the same way Muslims spend their entire lives trying to solicit favors from the seemingly irrational Allah, there was only heaven for Waaq and it was for Somalis and their kinship – Cushitic people who still consider Waaqifinnaa best god. Waaq was always pleasant and fear was never part of the religion. He came down from the sky to help Somalis in every way possible.
The tolerant and peacefulness of Waaqism was no match for the abrasive Islam and the sword-wielding Arabs who came to our shores and conducted massive transformation, systemically erasing all local cultural identity and spreading Arabism in any way possible. Consequently the Somalis have never been the same and the entire nation’s psyche changed dramatically, the Somalis you see today are nothing like the proud and happy people they used to be, today they are people who suffer Arab mental enslavement through Islam. Today they are different from other Cushitic people who have becoming seemingly alien to the Somalis after the conversion. Somali people spend their lives trying to become Arabs even denying their own ethnicity and loathing it, they grew hateful toward all that isn’t Arab and that continues to this day. (Wherever Christianity spread to the pattern has been similar but less potent, therefore there is less confusion among those people in comparison to Soomaali people.)
During Waaq times life was celebrated, there was no vice police dictating to the masses, there was no oppression. Poetry, dancing, etc were part of daily life. This was a sharp contrast to the pagan religions of Arabs who worshiped several hundred gods including Allah, the ancient moon god of the pagan Arabs. The pendulum swung far out when Allah’s religion came to Somalia. Now people look forward to death and strife to avoid life itself, they display cognitive dissonance and palpable mental problems emanating from associated religion of Arabia. It’s like in the Lord of the Rings when the dark lord Sauron spread darkness to Middle Earth – that is the best comparison to the transformation.
Nobody ever asks; how could our god, the god of our ancestors, be false and the god of the foreigners be true? The two are incomparable, it’s literally like day and night, darkness and light, life and death. Our ancestors weren’t Muslims and now our people are Muslims and the difference is for all to see. Questioning this seemingly crazed-cult of the Middle Easterners is most unwelcome. Today Islam survives through violence, intimidation, coercion, brainwashing and demands a degree of ignorance the likes of which the world hadn’t seen in recent history. The challenges facing Muslims are vast and caused by Islam itself, however they seek answers from Islam itself!
The point got from your rant is you are an enemy of Islam and Allah stop pretending to care about somalia people for we are nothing without Islam!
1. What exactly is Somali culture, our language for example has many foreign words ( and Arab) that we sometimes do not realise what words are actually Somali and what words are Arab. The so called dirac that we wear is made of material imported from India and is worn in Yemen too, the laxoox that we eat is eaten in Yemen and Ethiopia, the Macawiis that Somali men also has its origins in South Asia, the niiko video that you posted was brought to Somalia by Somali Bantus, the halwa that we eat is from Oman these are only a few examples, my point is that we have a diverse culture and Arab factors play a big role (not suprise since Yemen is about 100 miles across) Nevertheless we Somalis are not completely arabized since we have retained some of our indigenous heritage, We speak our own Cushitic language, have our names, our own dances, our own clothes (guuntiino) , Somalis are unbelievable proud people and the diaspora is also trying its best to keep our traditions, go to Somali events and you will see youth who can dance buraanbur and dhaanto and perform poetry. And if the girls cover their hair and wear hijabs or jilbaabs what is wrong with that? At the end of the day many of these women choose to do that themselves and that is what matters.
2. I have to agree with Hodan that people are using Wahhabi as a scapegoat. Many of our social ills comes from our own culture, the cause of the civil war tribalism, racism and xenophobia comes from Somalis themselves, Why were we killing each other because one person belonged to that clan. Why are Midgaans and Yaxar or Boons or Yibirs treated like outcasts? The funny thing is that some people on here are mentioning that we should be proud of our own indigenous African culture and yet Somalis are extremely xenophobic towards their darker skinned African brothers EVEN if they are fellow Muslim, do the words Adoon, Jareer, Dhagax or Sangaduudhi sound familiar? And please before someone says that this is because of Arabs ( because we all know they can be racist too); this is a problem within many east African groups, Christian Amharas or Oromos would also look down on other Africans.
Hoodi hoodi , asalaamu aleykum , greetings countrymen! First of all i would like to say ‘great job with the blog’ its really really hard for young somalis to come together and construct something so beneficial to the mass public without falling apart ! Now to the point i have read most of these topics on the blog and i felt i could relate to everyone of them. I live in a household where my parents were the only educated children from the barre regime , my mom is an economics major from kremlins itself! And my dad is an agronomist from the university of copenhagen! This is the baffling part , i clearly have pictures of i as a baby where my mom is bareheaded , 12 years later after veing seprated after the war we finally reconnect and my mom has a ‘qamaar’ on !!! So after close naturalistic observation in my youth and random analysis of the modern day somali mothers i have come to the conclusion what our somali females are going through is a cycle called
‘REDEMPTION’ they are repenting , they are meditating they are in a state of ‘cibaado’ we all were young , wild and careless but when you start to read the scriptures carefully and our self conscience haunts us and we see our own age group hitting the mosque and praying that 5 times a day daily we become obliged to and we adhere to our prophets pbuh ways! Coming to your argument dear blogger , may i sound cliche by saying we were close to paganism but islam saved us! I believe it did , this is where we need to divide islam and cultural heritage apart i am from janaale in south somalia 50kms away from mogadishu birthplace and home to our first president mr.aden abdulle ! We have more juju , black arts , dark magik and voodoo in the whole of east africa after tanzania and zanzibar!!! But look at janaale today after the barre regime the mass public looks like the jalabeeb crew in technicolor!! I dont even think we adhere to the dress code properly its supposed to be covered inside and outside of your jalabeeb what i cant understand why a bra is a huge bother when u can wear josephs multicolored batcape? When i raised that question in kenya i was told why wear a bra saahib? I am a virgin how else would the men know i am not married and that my mangoes arent saggy and over-ripe!!!! <—- jaws just dropped to the floor. Somalis love to imitate alhamdullilah i dont claim the arabs because i know they dont claim the somali persona nor they want to see us 'waryas' in existence! My point is lets be covered decently like the mid 60's era elegantly and beautifully like rabindranath tagore's poem 'the nightingale'
Nabadiino , wa aleykumu salaam , ciao!
The paradigm shift in society that alienates Islamic practices and embraces cultural (more like anti-Islam) values seems like the emergence of another class of Somalis in sheep’s clothing. I totally disagree with the collective labeling of Somalis practicing Islam as culturally eroded and more like Arabs. It is just the same rhetoric that the anti-Islam ‘pundits’ use. Attack their tradition and then devalue their practices. It is actually sickening and disturbing to see the anti- alshabab movement labeling Islamic values as cultural dispossession. I am not in favor of Al-shabab or any of their affiliates but the notion that Somalis didn’t use to wear Hijab (or rather conflicts with cultural practice) is baseless. As you pointed out, Somalis were Muslims since the beginning of the revelation to prophet mohammed (pbuh). Somalis have a lot of cultural and traditional value in common with Arabs. And if you didn’t know, there are Somalis of Arab origin (refer back to 4.5) that have relatives both in Somalia and their respective Arab countries. Please don’t use the erosion of Somali culture among the youth as a platform to attack Islamic values. If you are against the penetration of Islam among Somalis, that is something else. Or you could be as frank as possible to point out why you think Somalis should stop embracing Islam. Basically that is what you are trying to imply…
Dhamaantiin waan idin “Bariidiyey ”
Bariidin = Salaamay in arabic
Aroor-wanaagsan = subax’wanaagsan in arabic
Iska’warama , sideed tihiin , mala faayo/mala fiicanyahay = Asalaamu calayku waraxmatulaah in Arabic
Eebe = ilaah or God in arabic
Waaq = Allah or Yhwy in Arabic
Qoraal Maanso ah = Al-kitaab Al-Quraan
Tuduc = Suurad in arabic
Tix = Aaayad in arabic
Wad’aad = Sheekh in arabic
Islam and quran are for the arabs , Dhaqan-Eebe waaq and Maanso is for the Somalis blogger keep up the good work may the power and the Blessing of Eebe Waaq be on you Amon -Ra ,
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Assalaamu alaykum walaalo, I do not even know how I ended up on this blog, but this particular post drew my attention…I know it was posted a while back, but here goes:
You speak of african and somali heritage, and how you want us to back to our original roots/culture, yet you speak very similiar to those of the west, using terms as ‘wahabism’ and ‘arabisation’, like really? No one complains when we adopt arabic words in our language, adopt clothing from some parts of the arab regions i.e. diraacs, macawiis from yemenis, adopt food from middle eastern countries, yes because this is our culture and just like we adopt from India (macawiis also), Ethiopia and so on, this is ok. But when it is things that people say is in the name of religion, then all hell breaks out! Firstly the pictures of somalia post war are beautiful, and somali women are just as beautiful, but just because those days when men had fros and women wore their hair out and guntiino, or in other parts a diraac with all on display. This may appeal to some, like yourself and others as I have gathered from the posts. But know that no matter what culture you come from, be it somali, west african, south asian or arab, if you adopt islaam (and I use islaam because it is what you speak about and majority of somali people follow) you have to follow it according to how it was revealed. Yes, we have a rich culture, but it has things that are acceptable and not acceptable, like for example a brother spoke about hijaab (and you asked him not to speak about it as he is a male) we as muslim women are to cover ourself, not for man, not anyone but Allaah, yes Allaah has commanded us to. And just as you have made the decision not to follow this commandment, others have, and Alhamdulillaah this is not arabisation. And if you state otherwise, what is your proof? Look across the middle east, what you find is everyone adopted the hijaab according to their culture but i.e. in the khaleej you find most women adopting abayas (be it sparkly, designer, dress-like) but this is not the legistlated hijaab. So now going back to somalia, you find women wearing jilbaabs, in all materials, colours etc, how is this arabisation???
Also, that video you posted, this is or was only found in certain parts of somalia, my mothers generation frowned upon that and this was in their days of ignorance with very little knowledge of islaam. If that video alone was what you would sum up of our culture, you have indeed poorly displayed it. I am not a wahaabi (by the way did you know Al-Wahaab is one of Allaah’s names), neither do I support Al-Shabab, but to show pictures of women in somalia today wearing jilbaabs and compare it to a video of women dancing for men- how is the portrayal of Somali women before and now?
Is there anyway we can set up a new Somali fashion trend? For example, give away clothes for Charity and promote a more modern (not soo primitive) Islamic dressing. Put up posters and advertising. we have to help them. I can understand why the ladies cover up. Maybe, there is sexual attacks and rape and they want to hide.
Wow, this was pretty ignorant. You used the term wahabbi like a few sentences in, and I was about to stop reading it right there and then. First of all, ‘wahabbi’ is a derogatory term both on Allah Subhannahu wa ta’ala who, among his attributes is Al-Wahhab, and secondly it implies that Sheikh Muhammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab was some sort of crazy fundamentalist when he in fact, dedicated his life to spreading the Qu’ran and Sunnah. So. if that’s a wahabbi, I, and the majority of Somalis, are proud ‘wahabbis’.
Okay, so now I’ve got that over and done with..
You seem to imply that we have gone backwards simply because we decide to dress like we should do as Muslims, which btw means covering up appropriately, not necessarily donning a niqab and using more Arab phrases and whatnot. As someone who was born and bred in Europe, and yes, does wear a hijab and abaya, refuses to listen to music and so forth, I (and my fellow European Somalis) are all against these brain dead kids who go by the name of Al-shabaab. You imply that being more practicing as a society equates losing our Somali roots. Fact for you, the Qu’ran is written in Arabic, Arabic is the language of the Muslims, and every single Muslim is advised to learn it. This doesn’t mean that we stop speaking in af Somaali, that we all move to the gulf (we’re not stupid enough to believe that we would ever be accepted as Arabs, and quite frankly why the hell should we?), or that overnight we suddenly transform into an Arab. Why is it so negative that these things are happening? What are you so threatened about? Arab culture and customs doesn’t mean Islam either. You, however, seem to believe that the two are mutually exclusive.
Okay, so I’ve digressed from the point I was attempting to make, but I just need to call you out on why you seem to believe that becoming a practicing Sunni society (that doesn’t include the madaxduub sufis) will hinder us in some way. I don’t know where you live, but where I’m from Somalis are the proudest people around, and shout it from the rooftops. Somalis are too stubborn to ever lose their culture or our language, so you can stop worrying about that.
Also I’d rather live under Siad Barre than be called a kalb and pretend to live in peace under and Arab anyday.
I just read this on tumblr and I really felt the need to comment.
The thing is, I think you are wrong , not completely but still wrong. I just moved to Somalia more than a half a year ago. How can you compare those pictures to what happened to Somalia right now? Do you really think these women WANT to wear the jilbaabs? You can’t just write an entire article if you don’t know how these women feel and what they have been through. I don’t even know what they have been through. These women have been completely brainwashed, it might sound weird but this is actually true. And obviously they have been told to be covered at all times or you might be thrown in prison or worse, to be killed. This is a serious issue and it cannot be erased that quickly.
You should also know that these women don’t wear veils for religion nor Arabism. There are many many reason why they cover up.
1- Because they feel safe and no men come near to them. This is also the reason why little girls even younger than the age of 4 wear long jilbaabs. The change of getting raped is very high at this moment.
2- The second reason is when they own people money. When they pass someones neighbourhood they wear to veil, as not to be recognized and not be asked for money or other things of value
3- They wear a veil for a small period, so that they can make themselves ‘beautiful’ in the time being. This can include bleaching and doing other stuff to their faces.
4- Men have become completely wild, and by this I mean the younger generation. I think this is because these young men grew up being without girls in their environment. They have never even talked to a girl let alone touch one or ”see” one. Now that Al-shabab is ”gone” they think that they have every right to feel up a women if sitting next to them in a bus. Or even ask for their phonenumbers. It feels like a whole new game to them. By wearing a veil women won’t show their faces.
There are way more reasons why women cover up. But let me tell you this, if Somalia was to be safe and I mean really safe , and women would have the right to speak up then they would GLADLY take off those jilbaabs. Maybe even walk around in a baati alone. Who knows?
I know that this might sound very negative, but there are also postive things happening. In Mogadhishu women go to the market with a baati ! Even though they still wear jilbaabs the concept of wear thick long skirts is slowly going away. They wear shorter jilbaabs, when I came here in Septmeber for instance they wore it up till their knees, and now it covers till their under their buts. So that is a plus. Also no more socks, no more hand covering.
But the thing about Arabism? It has become a part of us Somalis. We will always and always be influenced by Arabs and quite frankly I don’t mind. Because they have done a lot of goods to us. We are not Arabs and we will never be but we just cannot repeat our past, women cannot go parade in their guntiino’s with men around or wear a diirac. What I mean by that is women cannot show their skin because that is haram. And if we believe in Allah (swt) we should follow his path because one day we will die.
Oh yeah and by they way, funny story. No one cares about Arabs anymore here in Mogadishu haha. It is all about India now. You actually see small changes in what they wear,and they love love their culture and everything that has to do with it. I even know some people who are even prepared to learn their language!
So this means that if ”we” are passed the ”Arab stage” we won’t go in the ”somali stage” because every single Somali in this city is sick and tired of everything that has happened and there is no hope in ourselves. Why do you think we start loving other cultures because it seems to us that they are in peace and they love who ever they are. We are not loving ourselves.
Sorry this might be a way too long of a comment and sorry for any grammar mistakes , English is not my mother language.
ps; Parents are naming their children Turkish names like Bader and stuff, because they love everything that Turkey has done for us.
I would like to ask, from an atheist point of view, whats wrong with a woman covering from head to toe? , please explain
I agree with Hodan. ^^^^^^
Before I start let me just apologize for my bad English, don’t let that bother you.
My beloved brothers and sister. This is a very important discussion that you are having and it’s so nice to see people making their case calmly and without name-calling, wonderful!
I’d argue from an economic perspective. Africa’s greatest enemy is lack of education, poverty and hunger. Hunger makes our backs bend and our knees kneel. I don not know all African cultures (we really need to stop pretending as if knew all african cultures), but I’ll talk about the one I know. I come from a christian orthodox family in central Eritrea. My language is Tigrinya, which is a semitic language, that people misstake for Arabic, it’s not. Where the Semitic languages originated is still a subject that needs to be studied (My guess is the horn of Africa).
If you have ever been in a desperate situation, you know that the only thing that will keep you going is hope, hope that there is someone that sees your suffering, hope that there is a just god. Therefore you’ll see that some of the most religious people are poor (that god gave nothing to). That’s why christ said that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go through the gates of heaven. The rich were not so easily convinced by Jesus. He wanted to give the unfortunate a voice. Although there are many things I don’t like about christianity, Islam and other religions, there are somethings I prefer in those two religions than the indigenous African traditional belief in witchcraft, superstition and other harmful practices, such as Female genital mutilation etc.
I think our Idea of Africanism is too shallow, because it’s only based on skincolor and that we are the outcasts of the earth. Automatically if we’re black, we’re the same. I think the reason why we have not made the effort to get to know each other on a deeper level is because, most of the African nations are poor and backward, therefore we rather turn our heads towards those parts of the world that are prosperous and try to emulate their culture in order to advance, which is good in some ways (Education, science,Technology) but not in other ways (environmental destruction, capitalism, imperialism, individualism, racism). So my fellow Africans come with an open mind and let’s get to know each other, trade with each other, exchange experiences and knowledge.
getting back to the subject
I don’t want any Arab person reading this to get insulted, some of the nicest people I have met have been of Arab origin, this is just about the survival of Africa. Before we face the same fate as the Amerindians.
You can look up Berberism in Morocco and Algeria as a counter movement against Arab cultural imperialism in North Africa. Sudan, Chad, Mauritania, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Lebanon, Syria are all arabized nations.
In general I think nations that are majority muslim tend to keep their language and culture better than those that are divided. The Somalis are actually much better at this than muslims from my ethnic group, called Jeberti (I know there is a similar term in Somalia, but I don’t think it’s the same people). Language and ethnicity in Eritrea is not the same thing if we look at historical migration patterns. Some of my ancestors came from central Ethiopia to Eritrea about 500-600 years ago. So people from the same ancestry can be found all over Eritrea and speak different languages . Some are Jeberti (muslim Tigrinya), Tigrinya, Tigre, Beja or Bilen.
Some Jeberti are in serious identity crisis, they promote arabic as their language and see themself as a separate ethnic group. Just because of their desire to distinguish themselves from their christian brothers, they claim to descend from the followers of Mohammed that were granted Asylum in Abyssinia. People we look exactly the same and if we go back a few generations our forefathers name was “HAILE” My basic question is what if I decided to convert to Islam. Do I have to change Ethnicity too? Do I call myself Jeberti muslim or Tigrinya muslim?
In the christian community I see a big western influence, names like Tesfay, Berhane, Kidane are being replaced by western names and I hate it. There’s also a corresponding trend to wahabism in Islam. Evangelical christianity, a disgusting form of Christianity that makes otherwise good people, empty headed bible quoters that want to shove their belief down your throat.
In conclusion let’s find the good parts of our identity and throw away the bad.
Thank you for your patience.
(Kkkkkk, my opinion of that video being ratchet doesn´t mean that I have problems with blackness. Why do you assume that everyone who disagrees with you has a problem with blackness? I also find pole dancing and belly dancers in shisha bars quite ratchet as well. I´ll leave it to you find a way to translate that into “a problem with blackness”.) Now, back to the topic.
1) Yes, there is a negative trend in Somalia right now in which Islam is corrupted and used as political instrument by various parties in the conflict, Al Shabaab is by far the most extremest group.Islam is just one of the long lists of things which has been used as a political instrument by sectarian men to serve their own interests. But how is this arabization? And what exactly is arabism? Arab culture in Morocco is different from the one in Qatar, which is different from the one in Lebanon which, in turn, is different from the one Yemen, Saudi and so on and so forth .Which arab culture are you talking about? I´m not dissecting your person nor your motive here, I´m asking in all sincerity, what “arabism” (in the context of contemporary Somalia/Somali lives) is and which arabiya are we chasing? The usage of arabic names is not an argument for “arabism”, arabic names have always been common and mainsteam in Somalia. For example, you mentioned the iconic Hilowle music family in your comment. What were their given names? Faduma Qasim Hilowle ((Somali for Fatima), and Muslimo Qasim Hilowle and of course their father Qasim. But what concrete evidence or data is there to support the claim that Somalis no longer name their kids Somali names? I personally have never met a somali youngster named “Haifa” but I know many youngs Somalis named Nimco, Haweya, Ayaan, Ubah, Ladan,Roble, Libaan, Mahad. There are also Muhammads, Omars, Mustafas, Fatimas, Hibas, Qasims and Fowziyas. Who says the two are multually exclusive? What evidence is there to verify that popular Somali names are declining in popularity due to “arabism”? I would also like to know what the % of young Somalis (born just before or during the Chasing Arabia period) born and/or raised in Somalia or the West that are actually fluent i Arabic? My guess is that a minority is fluent in arabic. I have been in Somalia a number of times during the past 4 or five years and most young people are not fluent in Arabic, Somali is still their first language. Arabic dominates the theological lingo. The same thing goes for western young Somalis, they don´t speak arabic. They usually speak the language of their new countries better than they speak Somali. Why am I bringing up the arabic language? Because, if there is some pan arabist discourse in Somalia, how do people take that in fully without the lingua franca of “pan arabism”, the arabic language? Perhaps the tone of hyperbole and disparaging language in the article is intentional, and perhaps I´m reading more into it than I should.
2) Al Shabaab, despite their arabic name, affliation with al qaida and their arabic noms de guerres, originates from Somalia. The men in their highest ranks are Somali. The last name of their supreme leader is Godane. Most of their fighters are Somali, they do have a number of foreign fighters, some arab jihadists, some white ex-convict converts. Is Al Shabaab not a radical off-shoot the Union of Islamic courts ( a very homegrown Islamist organization which our current president Hassan Sheikh Muhammad worked with at one point)?
3) I´m also going to need a definition of what Wahabism is in this specific article? In everyday lingo and in news articles it has become a rather generic term for radical/political sunni Islam. But the truth is that Al Shabaab is not a Wahabist organization. They are Qutubists (Sayid Qutub was Bin Laden´s favourite philosopher) and qutubists despised salafists and/or wahabists and as we know Bin Laden himself was an opponent of the Saudi Arabian regime. Could Al Shabaab be recieving funds by some rich ass saudi arab who shares their Qutubist ideal? Perhaps. But does that make them Wahabi or Salafists? If you really want to know what a Qutubist Shabaabi thinks of wahabism, then read the litterary mess that is the Autobiography of Omar Hammami a.k.a Abu Mansoor Al Amriki. It´s on Scribd. You´ll hear it from the horse´s mouth. Qutubists were the grave looters, not your average non-militant Somali who may or may not lable him/herself a salafi. Most Somalis, including the jilbaab/anke lenght trousers wearers were disgusted by the desacration of the graves. And what is so “arab” about vandalizing graves? The people in those grave were also followers of an arabic religion.
4))do you see a transformation in how we practice Islam?
No, but I do see a transformation in external ways of expressing religious affliation. I know women in Jilbaabs and Abayas who don´t fast and pray. They live in western liberal democracies and are not forced by their parents or siblings to wear such attire but the jilbaab or abaya becomes a way to mark their identity.
5) is this transformation influenced by the region in question?
Arabiya is a big region, but if you´re talking about Saudi Arabia, then no, not neccessarily. Ppl in Saudi Arabia dress the way the dress because of the laws in their society, but once they are outside of Saudi Arabia, they dress and live as they wish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozCeiDGoNQk. Al Shabaab would tell you that wearing make up, tweezing your eyebrows and wearing a bra are abomination that warrant public flogging. Appearently that´s not the case in Saudi. Now, can you tell me an arab country where the bra is banned? With the exception of Saudi Arabia, can you name me one arabic country where the jilbaab is the norm or even a pre-requisite for Arabness? There´s a huge difference between how arabs practice Islam and how Somalis have come to practice it in recent times.
Despite the arabic names of various Islamic organizations in Somalia, and the arabic nom de guerres of many Islamists and despite the standardization of the jilbaab, I still believe that the current situation in Somalia has more to do with internal factors, such as a great deffeciency or a massive vaccuum of “Somalinimo”, poverty, mass-illiteracy, political corruption, and anarchy, than “arabisation”…which is starting to sound more and more like a convenient scapegoat for.
@ Somali for Waaqism
Do you have any references to any books on this Waaqism business? I´ve heard about it, but would like to read more. If you have some ISBN numbers please post them.
1)you compared your dislike for niiko to your dislike for pole dancing and belly dancers, which assumes that there’s something perverse or morally bankrupt about both. If you said ‘I find pecan pies ratchet’ then point taken. But you didn’t, you compared it to industries traditionally looked down upon as a vulgar to compare your revulsion for niiko. So yes, I think you have a problem with blackness.
2) What exactly is arabization/Arabism? Firstly the arab world is diverse, dynamic (the redundancy is getting old), but the particularly region we continue to emulate is the gulf nations,The countries u just gave examples of like Morrocco and Lebanon have minority like the Berbers, Assyrians, Chaldeans who hate Arabs and distance themselves from pan-afrabist influence (google language politics in Algeria, Morocco, the political turmoil in Mali, Tunisia, Libya, the ethnic turmoil of the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, many ethnic groups also suffer from a pan-arabist hegemonic influence) So there exists at the root of arabism a particular set of cultural/political norms, as its encroaching on other non-arab peoples throughout the muslim world/arab world…Infact I grew up Lebanese people, and if you’ve ever met a Lebanese, they will say they’re Lebanese before they’re Arab. Do you know what happened in the 7th century? Much of contemporary arab states were colonized and forced to accept Islam and arab culture. So when we’re speaking of Arabism, you can bet we’re not talking about Lebanon or Algeria (although the dominant communities in these regions carry the banner of Arabia), we’re talking about the remnants of folks that spread this faith and language (which can be found everywhere in the arab world, but dominant in the gulf). Now in this discussion particularly, arabization of islam (biggest issue here, unfortunately we’re not mimicking arab spring secularist movements, so islam is where we’d see the most influence of this process, infact none of us would be sounding alarms if the influence was limited to shawarmas and shisha pipes). This process through its use of wahhabism( our connection is largely to the gulf nations, due to proximity, so no, not speaking of Lebanon) and that’s the influence of wahhabism (there’s a joke that you can tell whose a wahhabi but their questioning of what a wahhabi is lol) ….Your attempt at trying to difference btw qutbist and wahhabism is absolutely hilarious…The only difference btw a wahhabi and a qutbist, is that the latter is a more violent (yes its possible to be more extremist than a wahhabi, I know right?) version of it the former. And the only people who would argue the nuance btw these groups are these two groups. Both believe in an objective, literal, and fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that is inspired, funded and born out of a need to monopolize any interpretation of Islam and the muslim world. Qutbists believe in offensive jihad, and believe in a very violent and political process to spread Islam, wahhabist do the same, but with petrodollars and Islamic school books, and some instilling in their house negros (Somalia, Pakistan, Nigeria for example) that there is salvation in their brand of Islam….hence why your confusion as to how Al-Shabab, inspired by Qutbists could be funded b wahhabist…..wait for it…wait for it….ahhhhhh they have the same goal in mind, irrationality and mayhem, but if you’re a fan, then I suppose righteous living! Your attempt to differentiate btw the two as if there’s some pressing nuance may point to your political and religious agenda. Also, how did we get into a discussion about the nuance of islamists? Is modern day Egypt not an Arab society? So you argue that Al Shabab is influenced by the Muslim brotherhood and financed by Saudi petrodollars, and dare I ask, how does that reject my thesis? That’s a Somali brand of Islam with Saudi dollar signs over it and influences from Qutb. Then you argue Al Shabab is an offshoot of Islamic courts, both who are wahhabist organizations, and while the people running it may look like you and I, their mentality belongs in Jeddah. They’re ethnically Somali, but serve foreign interests. Who said there were Arabs in Somali practicising fundamentalism? What are you talking about again? Your logic here that because there are fundamentalists with Somali faces, that it must still be indigenous form of Islam is flawed.
3) I really think you have an issue with context, and I guess that’s my problem, as I assume that the reader will be able to read between the lines, and not every single statement explained with footnotes and citations. If I did that, not even a dissertation can get to the heart of this matter, as there’s so much conflated issues, so there’s a lot of assumption on the part of the writer that the reader is well versed in this topic, and doesn’t need to have all the nuance explained in disclaimers-i.e. that I don’t hate arabs, that i acknowledge the arab world is diverse, that I Acknowledge we’re muslims, that I acknowledge, we have communities with ethnic ties to the Arab world, etc, That i know where Lebanon is, that i know every Somali is not a terrorist. This discussion is on the proliferation of influence, and a process of arabization of our culture through wahhabist Islam. For example, you keep asking what is Arabism, and thats where the disconnect is. I assume the reader, and visitor to this blog is well versed in political discussions and would understand my usage of arabism, especially when I tied it to a discussion of wahhabism, what I could possibly mean. If i mention wahhabism in conjuction with arabism influence on Somalia, i’m not talking about Northern Mali. But that’s largely my fault, but in my defence, It’s a blog and being succinct is of paramount importance. Of course there isn’t a generation of Somalis who speak Arabic, most of us are in the Diaspora, and the process is not complete, we’ll revisit this trend in a few decades. And yes many Somalis in the region do not speak Arabic, but I bet you they can regurgitate all religious text in Arabic (beyond the quran) before they could explain the meaning to you in Somali or tell you the history of their nation (which points to a process that excludes Somalis from any meaningful ownership of the religious experience, and are merely passive audience). Just like in Pakistan, you have children being brainwashed through Saudi books, regurgitating fundamentalist drivel like zombies…The education system is broken, and there will never be any real attempt to integrate Somalis into Arab culture fully by the Arabs (even though we wish they would take us in), because our status is and will remain that of a subservient role, to engulf the bullshit and follow orders…So just because you know an Ayan doesn’t mean there isn’t a plethora of a new generation subscribing to Arabic iconography and cultural trademarks. I know plenty of Haifas, and judging by the comments here, I suspect most do too, But all this anecdotal evidence, this is the beauty of interpretation, what I see as a wahhabist encroachment is seen by you as a normal process. By your own admission, you stated that you know girls who wear the jilbab but partake little in Islam, and yet their argument is that they’re trying to maintain their identity. What identity? You just proved my case for me…Here you just give an example of a group of girls who’ve taken the spiritual out of islam and taken the political (visible signs of islam) all with the hopes of maintaining their identity (which is what? Somalinimo means jilbabs now?)
4) Your Hilowle example, oh man, I feel like a discussion with you requires footnotes to explain every nuance to you. Did I say that we do not have any Arabic influences? Of course there’s Arabic inspired names, my argument-→proliferation of this trend…Unfortunately don’t have any quantitative studies to back my claims of the increase in arabic-inspired names, but its an observation and largely based on anecdotal evidence, just like you observed the contrary, discussion ensues. But its like I gotta do a quick tutorial on arguments. If I had said, we now have Arabic names, then your argument stands, but I said there’s a proliferation of Arabic inspired names, meaning there was previously examples of Arabic names (some I listed) and now a proliferation of this…
5) Then you went onto argue that Saudis don’t dress that way, and only do so out of compulsion (I’m gonna need you to goggle the history of pre-Islamic Arabia, and google images of what they wore), and i an argument I don’t follow. What does the hypocrisy of Saudis have to do with Somalis? This is exactly why we find fault with this perversion, because like the quote, we are more Saudi than the Saudi, and have allegiances to his culture more than he does…Everyone understands the political, except us. Thats the point. That’s hypocrisy of empires…Its why Catholicism in West Africa is more potent than in France, its why Islam in Africa is more potent than the Arab world (the Arab world only uses their version of Islam for politics, to us- it’s a way of life that engulfs and takes precedent to ones own culture, even if that means sacrificing ones own culture)
6) I think you fail to understand what the discussion here is. Instead you’ve attempted to convey the nuance of the Arab world, and that skittle bags is filled with different colors, forgetting that its still skittles bag.
8) your comment about the grave diggers was just a mind numbing. Your argue because your average Somali is not an active terrorist on duty, that there’s no cause for alarm. What are you talking about? and then your comment that the people in the grave practice an arabic religion, well in that case then you’ve just made the argument for those that believe all this stems from Islam, the original source of Arabism lol..you made that argument, I didn’t. We had indigenous sufi orders, and elders that infused the religion with influences from other muslim societies, and mixed with an indigenous feel (look at how we conducted prayer circles, the form of recitation for example), and you can see hints of Somalinimo.
7) I’m still perplexed as to what your position really is. You spent an entire essay explaining away the nuance of the arab world, and the complexity of this region, and then pointed to examples of our people subscribing to their customs…what exactly is your point? Then you finished off with a thesis that read like “yes there’s wahhabism, well kinda, sort of, and maybe Saudis are funding it, and yes we wear jilbabs, but its more complicated than that, and thats because there’s a vacuum of Somalinimo”, Umm, isn’t that what we’re arguing? Unless your ‘its more complicated’ points to a new theory. that was your essentially your argument..and I waited for the meat of it, for the ‘more complicated’ part to reveal itself, and instead I got a tit for tat war on whose more knowledgable on Arab history. So where does the religious fundamentalism stem from where? The emphasis here is on proliferation, and you’ve spent the majority of this discussion trying to argue that there was always arab influences, as if anyone denied it.. Anyway thank you for your input, and while this war of words has been fun,bored of a discussion about the diversity of the Arab world, you’ve just succeeded in luring me into a discussion between Qutbist vs Salafist lol. Also, advice, this conversation would be more conducive if it were inclusive, i would also encourage you to engage other commentators, even those in agreement with you. These are issues that involve All Somalis, and Africans to a larger extent…Thanks for engaging…
Greetings, again.
I enjoy your blog immensely. I think there is more to be said here but not necessarily by and with the above individual (Hodan). The whole debate has taken on meaningless banter which is unproductive and useless. I strongly suggest you ignore this person so that we may engage in fruitful discussion, one lacking vagueness and hallow talking points.
Muslims constantly introduce evidence of being inherently incapable of constructive criticism or discussions. The very idea of discussing Islam’s fundamentally flawed doctrines and its violent and oppressive nature is out of the discussion. Muslims muddy the water and consider that a success.
If they had their way we’d all be slaughtered like lamb, nevermind discussing issues. That is the way it was during Mohamed’s time and that’s how they’d like the world to be today. Just look at his actions; the holy man of Arabia had nothing holy about him. He was involved in blood and treasure seeking and sought instant gratification, there was nothing saintly about him. How could you reason with people who emulate such an individual?
Just today, a little girl survived an attempted assassination by the Taliban for going to school. There was an unprecedented uproar regarding the matter, not because the Taliban is despised, but because the girl comes from the larger Pashtun tribe. Nothing is said of the daily killings of smaller tribes and non Muslims alike.
Waxay had iyo goor muujiyaan dhalanteed dhabta ka fog. Dhalanteedku waa midab oo wuxuu ku tusaa meel madow oo cad. :=)
Guulayso!
Greetings brother,
Thank you for stopping by. I’m glad someone else shares my frustration with Hodan’s analysis,
and found myself navigating illogical arguments and straw-mans. Not to deny her narrative
and find many of her points valid, but the conflating of issues was problematic for me. The
‘because you speak of this, you must mean this’ narrative is also cause for alarm.
I think this is why I find many of their arguments disingenuous. The speak of this process
like its some harmless trajectory akin to that of Afros in 70s Mogadishu. Michael Jackson
tunes did not come equipped with a violent and political agenda that sought to demonize
all those who reject its claims, and lay claim to all forms of Somali life. Atleast there was
diversity back then, we had hijabis, nomads, secularists, nationalists, now we have a wahhabi
wasteland, and their disingenuous arguments like ‘culture is ongoing’, but ‘what is really arabism’
points to a group of folks trying to silence dissent and critique. One sister commented that
the jilbab trend stems out of personal autonomy and to silence this is to employ patriarchal constraints.
I call bullshit on that narrative.. Unfortunately I wish choice were the only perquisite to women’s liberation, many women freely chose paths that are hostile to their autonomy and favor a patriarchal landscape, because the greater social climate is patriarchal. What choice is there really, when the larger Somali community believes that a woman’s piety exists between her legs, and her clothing? So yes, technically one can choose in favour of the jilbab or against it, but to really evaluate the autonomy of said women in this group, we would need to evaluate the patrachial influences in that particular environment, and how supportive it is of women’s autonomy. Can these same sisters choose to walk around in short skirts and still remain active members of their society? Can they choose to live in same-sex relationships and still engage and access Somalinimo? I think we both know the answer to that. Another issue- they presuppose that because we take issue with this particular cultural trajectory, that we must be uncritical towards Somalinimo predating its recent transformation. That’s a logical fallacy, and not conducive to a discussion. Just because one doesn’t like apples, doesn’t mean one enjoys and promotes oranges.
This process is of concern because of its violent and threatening nature. Somalis are being policed by the vanguards of Somali wahhabism. I’m a non-hijabi, and routinely called a whore and other choice epithets walking down, not the streets of Mogadishu, but right here in the heart of Diaspora communities.There is no diversity in this trajectory; there is no tolerance, but rather religious extremism in its most nefarious and potent form. One critic responded to my article that I must be an infidel and to not concern myself with Somalia, if I knew what was good for me. My inbox is filled with death threats and every conceivable insult levied against me because I dared to pose the question of arabization, and yet there are those voices that look the other way. I wish this were isolated anecdotal evidence, but unfortunately those who dare to critique our cultural and religious trajectory would narrate some stories. I think that’s more revealing than any critique I could conjure. His assumption was that, Islam (in its uncompromising and stagnant wahhabist) form cannot be divorced from Somalinimo-I find this phenomenon oddly new and scary, and as do many elders. We had Christian Somali communities who lived in Somalia without anyone questioning their ethnic heritage, and now teenagers reared in the Diaspora are routinely policing elders who have more cultural capital than they do, but believe through arabist islam, that they now hold the key to Somalia’s future. Al Shabaab did not grew out of some vacuum, but from a post-1991 culture that nourished this brand of Islam, and while many Somalis did not anticipate the severe consequences of Al-Shabaab brand of Islamic justice, those same voices defended the Islamic courts with fervor (assumption here that wahhabism is fine, as long as they’re not banning samosas and bras). Young boys from Minneapolis felt compelled to travel to Somalia and spread terror, because of a cultural climate that tolerated this trajectory (Most somalis are non-violent, yes, but their mentality is very friendly to a violent form of religious extremism).
and rather dealing with this issue, instead a got an essay length response attempting to school me on the difference
btw qutbist and salafist…..Never seen some much derailing and deflecting in my life….Sheeko yaab!
Well Miss apple/orange issues,
The fact that this post didn’t even get an answer on your part shows exactly where you stand on Islam and what this post is exactly about.
Thank you
It’s frustrating but the best thing to do is to just ignore. I have seen it time and again and learnt to just ignore them, you have to accept that they cannot be reasoned with. Everything comes down to the West, it’s their favorite boogeyman, regardless of the subject matter. All discussions conclude to the West being bad, all day is spent figuring out how the West is against them and their, ahen, beautiful religion. In truth they are failures at life and need a scapegoat to make sense of something completely irrational. They think about excuses when they should be seeking solutions to their miserable existence.
These people lead a sadistic life. They spend their lives avoiding life since practically everything in life is deemed xaaraan in their silly little cult. I have seen youth who lead a horrible life all because of what they have been brainwashed with. Islam harms Muslims more than any other group, they ought to be delegated to mentally handicapped status. That’s what happens when you take the religion of the cave dwellers too seriously.
I don’t think Allah exists but assuming he does his first major flaw is making Muslims brain dead losers, apparently he forgot to give them common sense and critical thinking skills. The most uneducated people who know very little about this life are ironically experts on an afterlife that begins when they die. It would be funny for the not so sadistic aspects of it.
why cant there be a conversation without someone insulting our religion that disgusting man up there who keeps talking about our prophet Mohamed does not care about Somalis his just another kuffar who seeks to demonize Islam. Let me give you some sad news brother Hijabs will stay Islam will expand and Somalia will be peace with help from Allah so we may worship him in our lands and I am afraid people with that kind of mentality pleasedont bring it to Somalia it is a muslim country and will stay a country we wont even built churches like Ever!
Greetings walaal,
But here’s the thing…is this an issue of Islam or how influences from other regions shift how Somalis relate to Islam..Perhaps, I’m naive in my outlook,but I don’t think its Islam, but something more nefarious and deeply problematic. Look at Turkey, a muslim state with a proud culture, a region leader, and a bastion of ingenuity. Are they free from any social problems, no, but what society is? what society is impervious to criticism, but they understand that their identity should not be compromised by their faith of choice and that one can have a healthy relationship between both. Ataturk saw the encroachment of arabism, and reversed this process, and while many of his critics would argue that he looked to Europe for influence, one cannot deny that he was a passionate nationalist, and much of modern day Turkey has him to thank, at least in my opinion.
I think to attack Islam as a religion presupposes that the human condition is one of perfection, and that it is religion that has perverted this process, I understand that frustration but is it fair? Are we also not guilty of employing emotional rhetoric? The fundamentalists dismiss others as infidels, and the secularists dismiss others as brain dead zombies, oy vey….whose gonna sit at the table then?
Also, I must admit I find your attacks against muslims and Islam troubling, but as a fellow Somali, I understand your frustration, and many of us feel fed up with the lack of discourse, and marginalization, but wondering how employing Islamophobic rhetoric can be conducive to this discussion? Do you really believe islamic societies have failed to add value to the human narrative. I disagree, and I think there was a good run, and right around the 12th century with the decline of Itjihad, combined with the emphasis on Taqlid made for a deadly cocktail of crazy. All form of ideology can be susceptible to irrationality if independent thinking and critique are denounced. Do you believe that Somalis can relate to Islam in a holistic way that is conducive to their spiritual/national growth without wahhabism? Also, if we take islam out of the way, will we then have a perfected culture? what about pre-islamic Somali society, is it without its issues?
I’m interested in this discussion so much, because I don’t really fault Islam for it, but many critics on both side (wahhabis think i’m an infidel with an axe to grind with Islam) and think the real issue in this discussion is Islam, and i’m conflicted. I guess I can understand that narrative when our only example of muslim societies are the gulf nations, but come on, surely there’s hope…surely we can do better than Saudi texts…
Lastly, while I understand your frustration in this conversation, there are many professed muslims who share your sentiments and outrage, and those who disagree but with valid arguments, and is it fair to offend them by disparaging their faith? Again, I believe in freedom of speech,and not policing your opinions brother, and in agreement with your concerns, but also want this discussion to involve all Somalis, and hope that you give us your analysis without the ‘they’re idiots and screw their prophet’ narrative. Thats all the ammunition they need to silence discourse, and leave this discussion. Its why they’re always quick to denounce everyone as an agent of the west or Islamphobic, let’s not give ammunition to that voice, and engage without offence.
One hr later——
Actually, I take back my request….I have no intentions of engaging anyone who can’t take criticism and not fair that I seek to silence you when this is probably one of the few places one can speak freely no matter how uncomfortable the statements make me feel, and I think my cowardice is showing in yielding to their hysteria (its cowardice because I can hear their bullshit now, she allows Islamophobic comments on her wall, and let the cruxification begin, fuck them). Perhaps the only way out of this madness is to show them that they cannot silence dissent, even if in its most offensive form. I stand corrected! Proceed freely and only take my advice if you find it valuable.
@Xaalimo… Ofcourse I responded. He’s entitled to his opinion, and because I refuse to censor him doesn’t mean I must also agree. It seems you still can’t understand the apples/oranges metaphor. I found alot of your comments to be nothing but useless slander and unproductive, yet I let you come in here and allow even your trolling ( why you here again, constantly refreshing this website if its nothing but an anti-Islam site?) If you take issues with his comments (like I did and responded) then respond to him, tell him how wrong he is, instead you run to me like a disgruntled child, expecting that I reprimand an adult for his opinions. The likes of your kind and your obsession with yours truly is very telling. There are 40 plus comments, all from Somalis (these aren’t westerners but your own countryfolk, why not engage them?) Lastly, your rhetoric is getting old and boring…Next silly comment from you that fails to address the topic will be blocked. Go find another corner of the internet to stalk. I’ve given enough attention to your slanderous antics.
Thanks for your response, I would like to adress some of your points.
1) My stating that there are diaspora young adults who wear abaya, jilbaab or khimar, but don´t neccessary practice ( by practice I mean praying and fasting ) does not stand in agreement with your thesis that “Somalinimo now means jilbaab”. Who says that the identities of these young women consists of “Somalinimo” only (whatever that means these days)? Who is to claim that their identities can´t be multi-layered, and that “Somali” is just one of many things that these young women can be: First generation Swedes/British, Immigrants (non whites who are born in the west don´t lose the immigrant tag despite being born here), Muslims, Somalis…just to name a few? We can´t assume that every Somali woman who wears jilbaab, abaya believes that Somalinimo has been reduced and confined to the jilbaab. In the context of the diaspora, I´ve seen Somali women wear the hijaab for different reasons. Some Somali women (who are either born here or came here when they were very young) who´ve never worn the hijaab before have chosen to wear it as a protest against the increasing Islamophobia and xenophobia post-9/11. When you talk to them they´ll tell you that it´s all about re-defining what it means to be a Swede or Norwegian or Dutch, and widening the scope and making room for “Others” in the Swedishness, Norwegianess and etc.
2) You state in your article that we are bombarded with Jilbaabs and niqaabs and you mention a number of European and North American cities. I haven´t lived in most of those cities but I have lived in Stockholm and I can tell you that we are not bombarded with Niqaabs there. Infact, it is estimated that there are about 200 niqaab wearers in Sweden, out of which a great number are ethnic white swedish women who have converted. I don´t know what the idea that the Niqaab is a “prerequiste to “Somalinimo”" is rooted in, but the evidence speak against it.
3) You also suggested that the jilbaab is not only prerequisite to “Somalinimo” but it´s the only accepted way for a woman to cover herself, and that Somalis don´t borrow Islamic fashion from Turkey or Malaysia. Not entirely true, while you have women who wear jilbaab or abaya, you also have women whose choice of covering resembles that of Emine Erdogan, Turkey´s First Lady:
http://bilgi5.com/emine-erdogan-kiyafetleri-uzerine-bir-degerlendirme/
A Somali-Swede who is a student or a professional is more likely to look like this:
http://www.samaaltv.com/?p=799.than being in jlbaab or a niqaab.
Or this:
http://www.varaviljakunna.se/assets/images/inspirationsbanken/ikram_hassan_2.jpg
or they might be without any head covering than being in jilbaab and/or niqaab.
4) In my personal opinion, it´s counter-productive and even dangerous to write people of as “self-hating negroes who have gotten hold of religion” or as “Arab House Negroes” because they have chosen to wear clothes which you consider arab, or because they have chosen a political discourse which you oppose. It is just as counter-productive as it is to say that a Somali individual who doesn´t wear hijaab, dresses in “western fashion” and who embraces the rights of the hbtq-community” is a western field negro, and brainless uncle tom sell out, who seeks to undermine “Somalinimo” and promoting western ideals and interests. Both narratives exist and they are equally destructive and misguiding, because they take away the agency of the individual who holds those views. Why can´t we accept that a Somali who decides to become a Qutubist may have done so independently and consciously? Moreover, even IF it is true that Saudi Arabia is funding shabaab, does it mean that the Somali Shababists and their Somali supporters in and outside of Somalia don´t believe in what they´re doing or that they don´t act on conviction and principle? Foreign funding doesn´t make it less “Somali”. They are Somalis and this is what they believe in, give them some agency and hold them accountable. If anyone who articulates a poltical opinion while being sponsored by a non-Somali agent is considered an agent of foreign interests, then what do we make of Wayaha Cusub? I´m personally a huge fan, I think Falis and Shine are brave and fabulous, BUT they recieve funding from the US State department via the Embassy of Nairobi ( this is true and well documented, google it). Should I write them off as a mouthpiece for foreign interest, or should I accept the fact that the actually believe the words they are singing? I choose the latter, both in the case of Shabaab and Wayaha Cusub.
5) The idea that Qutubist Shabaab is being actively supported by Saudi Arabia is quite outrageous and conspiratorial. Why would Saudi Arabia actively support Qutbist who
believe that Saudi Arabia is heretic construct, and that Mecca and Medina and other saudi religious institutions are just as destructive as the greatest enemies of Islam? Why would Saudi Arabia sign her own death certificate? It is more plausible that they´re getting funds from Iran.
Anyway, the “You´re a Wahabi, because I say so”-rhetoric doesn´t hold. Qutubist ideals are real among Somalis, so are Salafi ideals and all sorts of other ideas and views. Essentializing eachother´s discourses and taking a reductionist approach will get us no where.
The mysterious and elusive “Wahabi Boogey Man” has aliented us from the the romantic and beautiful Somali culture and Somalinimo. Of course, Jah forbid, that we should acknowledge the fact that “Somalinimo” itself played an important role. Were the militants and the warlords of the 90´s, who introduced clanism to machine guns, AK47 and landmines “Wahabi” as well, or were those men and their female cheerleaders secular Somalis?
You may call muslims brain dead idiots, but keep in mind that they are the braindead idiots which Somali seculars consistently fail to position themselves over. If muslims are as braindead as you claim, shouldn´t it be easy for you to walk in and sell these braindead muslims whatever you want, since they are completely void of cognitive abilities?
I think you, like many Secular Somalis ,have a problem with holding secular Somali agents responsible for their huge contribution to Somalia´s downfall. Instead you create this wahabi boogeyman as the source of all Somalias problems. This is where agents of political Islam win over you, say what you wish about the product they are selling (political Islam) but their sales pitch is superior to yours. It goes something like this:
“Yes, yes, we´re in a messed, we screwed up and WE LET IT HAPPEN and this is how we can reverse it” * ENTER SAYID QUTB*, or Hassan Al Banna
These Islamists give agency to themselves and their followers and they offer a plan of action. The seculars don´t. Even Ayaan Hirsi Ali gets this when she argues that secular agents and non muslim secular agents have let muslims down by failing to compete for their hearts and minds. I don´t agree with much of Hirsi´s conclusions and analysis, but on that specific point she is right on the money.
I guess this is my long way of saying the “Muslims are brain dead”-rhetoric won´t halt Islamism, as entitled as you are to those views.