I had my doubts but the political turmoil in Ethiopia seem to have swayed the EPRDF to the bossoms of Afwerki. Maakhiri remember that this guy Abiey Ahmed belongs to the deep state. He was the one who was behind the jailing of the Nadwatul Ulama, the muslim community in Ethiopia. His origins within the murky state security of Ethiopia is well known. It is not a coincidence that the Tigrayan TPLF reached the conclusion that they need their kindren Eritrea when they are now today in their weakest point. History repeats itself. It was the EPLF of Eritrea that armed and galvanized the TPLF in the beginning. Kolley Waxaan rajaynaa in dadka la mid ah Jawaad Ahmed iyo oromo kale in ey culeys saaran Abiey Ahmed.

Many parts of Somalia are like that. Its about time somalis ate what they produced instead of galaaay cadaan soo nacay.

Sunday July 8, 2018 ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethio­pian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed traveled Sunday to Eritrea, once a bitter rival, for an unprecedented summit with its longtime leader, Isaias Afwerki. State Eritrean television showed an Ethio­pian Airlines plane landing at the sparse airport in the Eritrean capital of Asmara, where a brass band was drawn up to greet the prime minister for the first such visit in two decades. The two Horn of Africa neighbors have been sworn enemies for the past 20 years since fighting a brutal ground war from 1998 to 2000 that saw at least 70,000 killed. In the intervening years, the two sides have clashed repeatedly and supported rival rebel movements. Abiy was greeted by Isaias himself at the airport and they strode past the uniformed band and honor guard, occasionally smiling and laughing together — a marked contrast to the Eritrean president’s normally stone faced public appearances. The two men were welcomed by women in traditional dress waving palm fronds as well as rows of officials before they retired to the airport VIP lounge and sat beneath portraits of themselves sipping juice. Before departing from the airport, Abiy waded into the crowd of welcoming women and exchanged hugs. As the convoy of vehicles carrying Abiy passed through downtown Asmara, crowds lined the street and cheered loudly, spilling into the road and slowing the cars to a crawl. The change in relations between the two countries has stunned observers. For the first time in decades, Ethio­pian flags adorned the streets of Asmara and other cities in preparation for Abiy’s visit, according to photos tweeted by Natalie Brown, the U.S. chief of mission in Asmara. The rumored visit was confirmed by Abiy’s chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, on Sunday morning. “Abiy Ahmed has left to Eritrea, Asmara today to further deepen efforts to bring about lasting peace between the people of Ethiopia & Eritrea,” he tweeted. “Our two nations share a history & bond like no other. We can now overcome two decades of mistrust and move in a new direction.” Nearly 30 years ago, the future leaders of the two countries were comrades in the struggle against Ethiopia’s communist dictatorship. But after its overthrow and Eritrea’s declaration of independence, relations soured despite close cultural and linguistic ties. Ethi­o­pia’s new reformist prime minister, Abiy, broke the deadlock between the two countries on June 5 by accepting the 2000 peace agreement that ended the war, which would involve ceding territory still held by Ethi­o­pia. Events moved quickly after that, with Isaias accepting the overtures as a “positive” move and sending a delegation led by his foreign minister to Addis Ababa a week later. Now there has been talk of reopening long-closed air links between the two countries this year. The summit will probably involve negotiations on how to begin the complex process of returning territories to each other and separating populations as well as restoring ties. Under Abiy, Ethi­o­pia appears to be embarking on a new path of reform, but Eritrea has been characterized as one of the most authoritarian states in Africa. For much of the last 20 years, Eritrea has been focused on its conflict with Ethi­o­pia with substantial spending on its military and indefinite mandtory military service that has sent hundreds of thousands Eritreans seeking to immigrate to Europe. The meeting “heralds a new era of peace & cooperation,” Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Meskel tweeted Sunday. In interviews broadcast live on Eritrean state television interviewed, people praised the visit and welcomed peace between the two countries. “Peace is everything,” said an elderly man wearing a turban and sunglasses.

A few men might have chosen to live amongst the baajunis, but everyone in Somalia knows that this is the heart land of the baajuni community.

Talaabo that could be work but what your missing is that most of the so called "liyu force" are compromised of defected onlf rebel soldiers. Ironic isnt it?

Why accept the Colonial definition of the white-man gaalka when it is not clearly to your advantage? Talaabo, when those colonialists used to a rename an area they did it with a specific agenda. Divide and rule

Thats a valid question that that they need adress, overcome and finally lay it to rest. Even if some of those so called "intellectuals" can understand the the logic behind the name the question that begs to be asked is: With the trauma that somalis gas gone through the 90-ties can the masses accept such a divisive tribal name? Amxaaro Ayaan la dagalaamo, magac qabiilna waa sitaa , soomali na in ey i soo racaan aan rabaa waa bilaa xikmad.

The noose around Abdi Ileys neck has been tightened by his own master. It seems that those who he tortured and maimed under direct orders from the TPLF has now been legitimized. I wonder what he is thinking of at this very moment. The events are unfoulding and those somalis from region 6 need to come together and agree upon a common stance. The Oromos have united and they seem to have achieved their goal. The least the ONLF could do is to learn from their grave mistake they made in 1994. They need to understand that their political demands are at odds with current political narrative of "etiopia tikdem" (Unified Ethiopia). In a nutshell they should not trust the political gestures made by Abey.

Its not often that you see real changes of any worth happening in the murky waters of Somali politics. The discovery of oil in Soomali-galbeed might be one shift that will radically change the lives for Somalis in those areas. Its important to note that the Xabashida has allways seen the soomali-galbeeed as somekind of a a desert buffer state. While the discovery of oil and its production has now begun its only a matter of time when thousands of desperately poor xabasho will begin to move to those areas. As always, somalis in those areas are sidelined and to divided to form a united stance against these great threats.

Ethiopia Launches Test Crude Oil Production Share Tweet Email Share Friday, June 29, 2018 Poly-GCL Petroleum Investment Limited today officially kick start crude oil production test in Ogaden Region of Ethiopia. The test production came after the heads of the company have met with Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed yesterday. The two have talked about the prospect of commercial quantities of crude oil in the region. The news comes at a critical time Ethiopia is battling with a foreign exchange shortage. If all goes well the country expects to earn about one billion dollars annual hard currency from export of the oil, according to Prime Minister Abiy, who stressed that his government will not allow oil production to distract the nation from focusing on the existing economic sectors, such as agriculture and industrial development. The company has also been working to start gas production and is expected to commence in the coming two years after the pipeline between Ethiopia and Djibouti will be completed. The company has taken over the project from Petrons Company of Malaysia, which was working on the project since August 2007 till it has left after a dispute with Ethiopian government. The project location is also remembered for the death of 74 Ethiopian and Chinese, who were victims of the armed group Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) attack of April 2007. Along with a few rebel groups operating in Ethiopia, the ONLF, which was named by Ethiopian government as terrorist group is now welcomed by the new administration led by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed to be engaged in peaceful talks. meanwhile the ONLF opposes the commencement of crude oil production int the region with its statement that followed the news. “…The party expressed its disapproval of the starting of oil production testing in Ogaden. ONLF demands a referendum and then negotiation with the government of Ethiopia before any exploration or production. This announcement poses a serious challenge to the PM’s calculus in transforming the conflict and political repression in the Somali region,” Mesfin Negash, exiled journalist who was one of the founders of Addis Neger newspaper, commented on FB. Poly-GCL Petroleum Investment Limited is Chinese Company with a subsidiary company named Poly Central Africa Petroleum Company, registered in a tax haven British Virgin Island some three years ago, according to the offshore leaks database of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).\ Oil exploration in Ethiopia has about a century old history. The first exploration license for the then Harrarge province was granted in 1915 and subsequently transferred the Anglo American company, a London subsidiary of Standard Oil Company, ultimately incorporated into Esso. The first oil seep in Ethiopia was reported in 1860 and by the 1920s the prolific seeps of oil in the Red Sea coast were widely known. Early reports refer to oil seeps in the Ogaden basin: in the Gara Mulatta mountains near Harrar, in the Fafan and Gerger river valleys and near Jijiga. Including Africa Oil, which also operating in other African countries, currently several companies are engaged in oil exploration in different parts of the country. With blocks in the North East, South East and South West of the country, Africa Oil Ethiopia operates those in Adigala and the Rift Basin Area and is Joint Venture partner in both South Omo and the Ogaden.

Always amazing to see a an african reiterating the holyness of a a few lines drawn by a few white mean whose sole intention was to colonise and extract wealth from africa and in this case from Somalis.

Whats so wrong with designating a day to national forgiveness. Lets not be so cynical.

Good news. Despite of his release I see no changes coming to Ethiopias politics. Lets face it, a regime change comes with the freeing of all political leaders so they can only be put in pison again once the the rulers honey moon is over,. When Haile Selasse was toppled the first thing that the DERG did was to free all prisoners, same could be said with Mengistu.

So finally the mythical man is out of the shadows and dares to to sit in a obcsure somali regional meeting. A relative of mine (who has been Deep into the murky Waters of somali politics) got to know this man in 2004 during the reign of the late president Abdullahi Yusuf (AUN). He told me that he speaks some somali and is well aware of somali costums. That is one of his distinctions. I asked him if he knew where this man became so "educated" in to Somali costums. The source said that during 70-80 he was liason officer for the TPLF. In 1991 with tha fall of Mengiste, He was sent by Meles to "weed out" and gather intelligence of viotile Somali region. Its important to note that one of the best armed guerillas at that time were the Somalis and Meles feared that the region would slip out of his controll. He received gods blessing when Somalia became engulfled in a civil war. The ghost Gabre was at that time stationed in Dire Dawa. For 14 years he was the man who pulled the strings in Harar, Dire Dawa and Jig Jiga. The source told me that the guy simply "loved" Somali Culture. In 2004 he had obvious reasons to pull the strings behind the scenes but as the saying goes " today is never like yesterday". He sits today in a regonal office his minions and all of the minions despeately to geto close to him . For those northerner/North Eastern somalis who are quick to say "well this does not happen in my region". I wish they could think in another manner. Hey! If the ghost can pull the strings in Mogadishu why not Garoowe and Hargeisa? Without being sentimental, I' would say that this is a disgrace, but many intellectual somalis warned about this. "Federalism" a code Word for sub-sub-clan borders is a recipe for disunity and not regional stability as some are quick to say. The "practical application" of federalism is not even defined. No one even knows how its going to be applied. Thats why we today see clan-warlords waking up from coma and trying to pinch out an enclave. Imagine seeing a somali military offical in the state of Tigray deciding which "weyanes" minions should dance in the regional office of Mekelle or Bahdri-Dar. That would be eye opener for the xabashi nationalist.

Epic picture that captures a part of our history and in a general sense post colonial "African" politics", notice how all men were part of the small elitist clique of the early somali military establishment, meaning in a sense that concepts like "strength" and "development" and of course without a doubt "ambition" were only with those with a military rank. I think that this part of our history can be applied to other african nations. Anyways AUN dhamaantood and by the way MMA thanks for sharing this pic.

I heard the news from a friend Safferz.. He was professional and made the unique somali culture and its huge collective oral litterature available to english speakers. His humble nomadic background as a camel herder as a boy and then a professor in a prestigous university (Rutgers) truly showes that what ever social standing you are born into, you still can make a diffirence with a pure heard and a good education. He has also some what shaped the somali youth diaspora (those 30-40 plus) who wanted a intellectual understanding regarding the culture of pastoral-nomadism, spread of islam in the horn of africa and the urban-city state culture of southern Somalis. I still do rely upon his well written books when making historical references, so my condolances goes to his family and friends. He was also a brave man who intellectualy challenged the well established theory of Lewis regarding somalis being only "nomads". With Said's contribution, the academica has fully accepted his ideas regarding the existense of semi-nomadism and more importantly , the big role that urban city state commmunities had in shaping the collective somali pshyche . He was also one of the few intellectuals who dared to challenge Barre's regime through a well known international media outlet. We lost a great man but his ideas will live on. My personal condoleances goes to his family and friends.

<cite> @galbeedi said:</cite> . Yesterday, I met one of our local sheiks who is a well respected in the city. He helps our community bury the dead through the local mosques and government agencies and he regularly visits prisons for Somali youth. After few chats , I began my usual Al-shabab condemnation and other issues in Somalia. I told him that while Al-shbaab is defeated militarily , the religious and political infrastructure that created the environment must be also eliminated in order not to allow them to come back. At the same time the ideological leaders of the movement who physically didn't take the gun but nurtured these people must be exposed and pushed out from the public sphere unless they repent the destruction their Wahabi ideologies caused the Somali people for the last eight or more years. He agreed with me about these thoughts, but when I mentions about this book written by Scholar A/saciid ismacill, he said " Adeer nin wanaagsan baad tahay oo wax badan fahmaya, laakiin waxaan ku odhan lahaa yaan lagaa maqlin ninki galbeedi ahaa ayaa bugaas amaanaya ama qoraagan ku raacsan waxa uu qoray'. basically he said do not mention that book if you want to be taken seriously by your community. besides his family who are in gaalkacayo will kill him as soon as they see him ". After few exchanges I told him ' sheikh read the book before you judge'. I would like to tell everyone of you to read the book before you judge. . I also would like to thank brother Nuune for uploading the book in sol. Having almost read the whole book , I could say that I have gained a great deal of knowledge and insight about Islam and our culture. Through this book I realized how little I knew about the science and the vast Islamic literature collected by scholars throughout centuries. I realized how rich is the Islamic justprudience and literature as compared to others. When extremists talk about Islamic Sharia, all you hear is chopping hand from a poor who stole something or a woman stoned in the land controlled by them. You don't see reasoning, mercy or the conditions that created the problem. We don't have real Ullema who have the interest of their communities and their nation , what we have is robots who want to have power over others and want to punish people. It seems the most ruthless sociopaths carrying " qori iyo Kitaab". DR. C/saciid explained the taboo subjects that Arabs and others wouldn't like to discuss. it shows the brilliance and philosophical thoughts of early scholars like Immam Shafici, Sufian al-Towri, hanafi and others. Sifting through this fourteen century years old knowledge is needed specialized scholars of great knowledge. decently it is not something UMmal, or Sheikh Idris and others who are " Bayd gaab' warmongers could handle. By accepting his argument , they will be exposed to answer the blood they spilled in Somalia while backing war against Somali state. The idea of the Amir using religion to punish or reward people were in my mind for a long time. I discussed with few people of knowledge. it is difficult to find a place to exchange ideas in our culture. Look at the latest example of al-shabaab. The Amir killed or put in prison everyone who had different reasoning than his. In order to save these man from ruthless Sheikhs like Ummal , who already created a hostile environment for this scholar and his family we must speak out and urge people to read the book and make their mind. I wish we could invite him in North America so we can gain some knowledge from him and expose the liars who are spreading mischief. Galbeedi well said. Your discussion with the respected Somali scholar showes how our society is vulnerable or not equipped with the right tools to engage in a intellectual debate. The respected scholar that you met and took the firm stance to distance you for saying read the book before making a judgement is a clear example that radical wahabi clerics, with no tradition in Somali culture has completely hijacked our society. During the mid 70-ties when "communism" was on the rise in Somalia, we somalis were the only nation where you could find the most hardline leftist in the streets of mogadishu engaging in debates but who hurried to the mosque when the prayers of "maqrib" were called. Our spritual connection to the deen can not be broken Alhamdulilah. A relative of mine who was sent to Sovietunion for further education ended up in Baku Azerbajan. He told us as soon he landed with fellow three other fellow somalis they went to the town square and engaged in partying. Who can blame them? Seeing blue eyed girls with a bottle of vodka? After sobering up they saw the most beutifull mosques in the city but they were mystiorusly empty of folks. They simply went in and prayed salat in the mosque to the astonishment of the Azerbajanis. Police arrived on the spot and my poor relative and his two friends got the punishment by having additional boring courses on how degenanartive religion is. He later found that people indeed prayed but the rituals were done in the homes. The point here is that spirituality and Islam is deeply attached to our cultural identity but what needs to be understood and discussed is how did we peacefull muslim Somalis end up with a supposedly "islamic organisation" that carries out suicide attacks against medical students on their graduation day. How did these supposedly "muslims" justify the gruesome acts of murder on fellow muslims?. No one dares to speak about this becouse of the risk of alienation. I will come back to this question but before I do so: See what happend to the poor Shaykh that wrote this book. He was brutally attacked with false allegations and a well known cleric openly tried to stigmatise him as "atheist, or munharif". Our un-literate society values oral statements and that oral buzz have a huge impact. If no Somali shaykh comes out and clearly defines in a truthfull manner what the book is all about I am very sure that his life is at risk. It's disgracefull that the BBC's Somali service team has declined in the terms of quality. Open questions that are still in the air is why they chose to interview that specefic man that is known to have flip-flop positions, sometimes his a extremist and sometimes he is not. Why did they not ask Umul that he himself declared a fatwa of Jihad against the late Abdullahi Yusuf (aun) while he himself lived in a non-muslim organisation and openly signed a peace-agreement (al-itihaad or UWSLF) with the Ethiopian government. If I do recall it correctly he even made a offical visit to Jigjiga after signing the peace agreement. When his students objected to the flip-flop he simply qouted some verses and "voila" he sucsessfully escaped the mouse-trap that he had sat up for his fellow mice. Galbeedi correct if I am wrong on this. But I do remember this incident. <blockquote>At the same time the ideological leaders of the movement who physically didn't take the gun but nurtured these people must be exposed and pushed out from the public sphere unless they repent the destruction their Wahabi ideologies caused the Somali people for the last eight or more years That's one of the most wisest and clearly naked truth that no one can deny. If I go back to the earlier question how we ended up with suicide-bombers and murders all in the name of Islam. We need to go back to the enermous change that the islamic ummah has gone through. I've often said on SOL that Sufism is on the decline in Somalia, specially in the north despite that it played a vital role in the history of the spread of Islam as an instution in the horn of Africa. It connected the existing culture with sprituality and belifs of Islam. The only viable documented multi-clan settlements that were known in Somalia were Baardheere and in other southern regions. Same settlements could be seen in the north and in the Somali regional state of Ethiopia. Desperate nomads that became poor becouse of starvation would settle down in these communities and attach themselves to sufi orders. Even the social fabric our society were divided. The Wadaad was the spiritual non-materialistic often poor economically. He was a knowledge seeking individual that had a free-pass ticket to all regions of the Somali peninsuala. His clan orientation was never a issue. The city of Merka has today the grave of a very well known Shaykh that originates from Puntland and Baardheere likewise. The wadaad read the holy book and prayed to god and teached the kids the Quran. The only "social welfare instution" that existed during those days were those of the community of sufi-order or "xerta" If someone was hungry he simply went to the community and had a free meal. If he chose to stay their forever he bound to swear an oath of bay'a (allegiance) and become a wandering dervish and if not he was a free man to go. The wadaad sometimes settled disputes between feuding clans. Some clans were only known to be wadaads and their "job" was to settle disputes. The Waranle were the ones engaged in what we would today label as "al-shabaab" activities, meaning that he killed and engaged in blood-shed all in the name of power. A wadaad with spear was a big taboo. During the colonialism most missionaries in Somalia failed to convert masses of Somali clans as it had done in other african nations. Sufism's big attachement to the social fabric of Somalia was a clear obstacle to their missionary activities. Some individuals indeed became christians but religon was a private matter. They were never repulsed or stigmatised (compared to these times) and becouse of this and the economical boom and self-confidence that Somalia felt during the 70-ties most of them converted back to Islam. The families of the nationalist that fought against the colonialists, Maykal Marymana was a christian but most of his family are today muslims. So what happend? Wahabism and it's holy trinity of Abdul-Wahabs invented "uluhiya rububiya" etc that Khayr mentioned and the oil boom of Saudia Arabia would be a game-changer. If the saudis would not have found oil the sect that allowed the house of Al-Saud to power would probably be today a small and obscure sect found only in the deserts of najd. He, Aali-Sacuud was drawn to Ibn-Abdul-Wahab ideas: Mainly that only those who heard his call were muslims and those who rejected it were pagans. In order to gain power you first need to have valid arguements for shedding his blood. What's more attractive idea while fighting fellow muslims is that your party are warriors on jihad, fighting pagans just as the prophet did during his defence of the small poor community of the devoted saxaba (ra). Takfirism opended the doors chaos. The poor Turks who were busy defending their empire from the hands of the colonialists suddenly found themselves all alone and on top of that being called pagans! During the 60-80 ties when the kingdom, or the house of Saud were terrefied of the spread of Socialism & Ba'thism and even politicised Islam (the muslim brother hood) poured billions of dollars on spreading their version of Islam. These three ideologies have one thing in common: Kingdom or monarchy belongs to the scrap-yard of history. They (the saudis) saw the fall of King Faisal in Iraq and the near collapse of Jordan in the hands of the leftist organisations of PFLP and Fatah, the saudi masses tuned in to the attractive ideas of nasserism and arab nationalism. While socialism & ba'thism has become a minor threat in our days the enermous growth of the muslim brotherhood has made Saudi Arabia the biggest donor to Egypt's sisi. The man who toppled a democratic elected government. The radio-waves of Saudi-Arabia reached Somalia and it did so when our society were very vulnerable. The collapse of every instution and even our government, massive starvation and a brutal civil war with bloody warlords made wahabism an option. The slogan "quran & sunnah is enough for us" became popular as if the Quran and the Sunna did not exist in Somalia and indeed how can you argue with a man who says those words?. Redlines will be crossed, if you do not raise your questions in a proper manner. The point is Galbeedi, wahabism is a pandoras box. With Takfirism and politicised Islam, using islam to gain power (in the form of wahabism, not turkish-erbkanism) comes brutality. An organisation that claims only legitimacy from God and who labels those outside the organisation as non-muslims makes you vulnerable and that is what exactly happend in Somalia. I remember an old maqaal-article written by Prof Said S Samatar. He said that the fragmental clan society of pastoral nomadism makes it impossible for Somalia to become a stronghold for al-qaeda like organisations. While I read the maqaal, with all due to respect to him. I noticed that he was somehow not updated in how much sufism had declined in Somalia. If it had not declined his hypothesis would probably been correct. The years went on and the young lads, al-shabaab grew stronger and so did the pandoras box. The old leaders of politicised Islam were themselves ex-communicated by the young lads. A bizarre situation arose when Xassan Daahir Aweys and Cali Warsame, The oldest ideologues of the new wahabi-elite were made gaalo by their own students. Such is the face of takfirism and xagjirnimo. Ironically Sheekh Xassan Daahir Aweys had to flee by a boat from his own students and Sheekh Cali warsame was publically humiliated in Hargeysa when he tried to reconcile his mistakes. We today have brothers like ditoore Kennedy who proudly echoes the words of "everything will be fine if we are ruled by the shariica" but when you explain that 99% of all somalis use the Shariica in civil matters the spectrum becomes dizzy. I spoke to a friend of mine who has a masters degree political science. He lived in Germany and came to visit me. To my astonishment at the airport, my friend had become a salafi, with a full grown beard and a arabic khamis. He resembled those old somalis that you usally see in Xawaala. I wonder why all the Xawaala guys grow a beard? We engaged in the most broad ranging discussions and I loved him for his humility. He had the best aqlaaq. I asked him, "hayeee, XXXX maxaad noo haysaa, what kind of government is suitable for us, federalism iyo iska daba wareegiisa waaba ku waashay". He answerd in a way that implied that he wanted an islamic government. I said to him that the somali constitution says that all the laws must be derived from the islamic shariica. He spoke of the ideal societies during times of our beloved prophet scw and the ever blessed four caliphs. I then asked him, XXX, It's very easy to claim an islamic government but a few countries have openly declared themselves to be so, choose from these alternatives!. I gave him these following options, and when ever you see someone lurking for power by using our beutifull religion healthy realistic questions showes his true intentions. Anyway the options I gave him was following: a) Wilayah Faqih system, Aka Khomenei shi'i style of government where a single cleric has the final say on every issue, and if your not with him your in a hidden prison somewhere in the dungeons of Teheran (Advanced Persian culture has overcome clanism, this system is not suitable in Somalia, qabiilkee ayuu noqon doona "ayatollaahiga" Soomaliya) b) Saudi style of system: A king with a bunch of clerics that supports him (of all the systems that exists in the would. Nomads will never accept a king or a monarchy.K ingship is impossible in Somalia. We had a dictator during 21 years and we all know what happend, and by the way islam does not promote monarchies. c) Pakistan- They call themselves the Islamic republic of Pakistan but I really do not know the politics of pakistan. It somehow resembles a british style of government but with the ideals of islam. (NO COMMENT) d) Taliban way of system- (Ban TV and everything modern, mix islamic values with hard core afghan pashtunwali culture. This system is simply to extreme for Somalia. Women in a pastoral society have allways had a strong character in our society and we are not pashtuns. e) Sudan ( A simple Siyaad Barre military dictatorship that uses islam to unify it's diffirent ethnic group but their is some great diffirences. Sudan have had a great cultural ex-change with arabic countries. Despite clanism being strong, the strong intellectual class with close ties to Egypt have completly transformed Sudan. It's unique becouse of it's the only arab/african nation where sufism has not declined, on the contray it has become stronger. If only democracy or some kind power-sharing system existed I belive that Sudan is a prime example. They are near us and close to our way of thinking. f) Turkey- A pro islamic party with a pro buisness and modern outlook with a functioning democracy (I wish we could reach this state, but lets face it, we are busy with fencing a few patches of clan-hebellands instead of intergrating and sharing our great wealth. g) Med-evil style ISIS style- A bunch of arab tribes men met in a hut in the desert and chose the caliph of 1,6 billion muslims. Obey him, if not your head is literally served in the table, by the way, the arab caliph must be from a qurashi clan. (Absolutely no comment) So what did my friend answer? He was to clever to be cornerd into a trap and said neither. He humbly said that he wanted true islamic ideas of mercy, justice and equality. I happily agreed with him and asked him to pray to Allah for our nation. We had a great dinner and went to our local mosque.

Galbeedi and Kennedy good inputs. I' have not read the book but I radically changed my approach to the book when I read Hiiran.com's introduction of the author behind the book. I do not trust those mentioned Culomo so called "islamic scholars" but at the begenning I felt that this book might have been written by frustrated missionary or a controverisal starter. Fame to day is today to trash Islam, just join the caravan of Ayaan Xirsi. Dr Abdi Sa'id is a well known islamic intellectual and all that he has done that I can say is that he is trying widen our understanding of ridda (apostasy) during the time of our prophet (pbuh) and reconciling it our times. Khayr said it before me, He is trying open the gates of ijtihad. Islam is a religion of peace, and it spread mostly by peace. The Qur'an clearly states that their is no compulsion in the religon but the penalty for apostasty is death. So how do we reconcile these polarised issues?. Just as brother Kennedy stated their is no confusion. Sprituality (Imaan) belif in god etc is hidden in it's pure form. God clearly says that he is the only one who knowes what lays in our hearts and it is to him/her/it (pronouns does not describe Allah) that final judgement lies upon. This is Bâtini or the meta-physical aspects our religion. No tool, no machine, can enter your soul and tap in too your nearness to God. The Axkaamlayta for apostasy (gaalnimo) must be understood in the context of time that the messenger lived. As every messenger, he was persecuated and his own nearest kin were ready by blood to wipe out the poor and marginalised followers of Xabiika (jacaylkeena) scw. In those harsh times betrayal could have a devestating effect. My limited understanding is that the author simply tried to create a discussion, a intellectual one and BTW many before him have done this, Tariq Ramadan, Shaykh Qaradawi and even Nasaradin Albani (the albanian who said that the gates of ijtihad were open). These intellectual theological discussions are needed, for every century God has promised as a mujadid (renewer). If you de-compile the word "renewal" you will see that one has to argue with the old, a pracrical example is during chaotic time of Mu'tazila in islamic history. Theological wars ranged and chaos prevailed. Greek philosophy made it's entry into the intellectuals/theologians of that time. A star, and bright one, Abu hamid al Ghazali, famously refuted and reconciled philosopgical arguements with Islam. After his demise, alle ha u naxariisto, Orthodoxy returned to the diffirent muslim civilisations. The point here is that al-Ghazali met stiff resistance during his time before they were widely accepted. So who are we to judge this Somali Islamic scholar for taking the pencil and with a respectfull tone writing his thoughts. MMA and Nuune and Galbeedi, what I dont understand is why did the BBC Somali choose one of the most radical preachers that today exists within the Somalis? Umul is famous for being a fire brand preacher of Jihad during the days of the late president Cabdullahi Yusuf. He even encouraged war during those times. His speaches are archived in youtube for those who doubt him. The poor, from rags to multi-millionaire preacher Umul's succses in Nayroobi is like seing the rise of a Nigerian TV-evangelist. Those famous for ramblings and claiming to be God's represantives on earth. A year ago, Umul claimed a famous somali Shaykh (the preacher on the state somali tv) for being a Sh'iite. The news spread and the poor wadaad come out and denied the accusations. Lies and envy are only confined to the common people. Let's be more close to time, 2 months ago, a more fire-brand, a rags to riches somali scholar, Shibili said in TV that he saw with his own eyes 700 girls somalis girls in the same roof in hospital getting treatment for Aids. When a reporter made some re-search and found these allegations to be false, Shibili was famously to be found no-where. The BBC-Somali service is to blame for causing confusion of a simple book by making the author simmilior to our kind of Salman Rushdie, after doing this they went to the most radical fire brand preacher and presented him as the only represeantive of Somali scholars.

-Johnny Your correct, The verdict and the outcome does not lie with him. The "holier thent hou" mentality are for the ego-centric ones. I for sure do not have anything against critical minds as long it's done with respect. What Xabad wrote, and in those words are certaintly not of respect. It's simply offensive. It's agressive and demonizing.

Xabad- Life will come to an end, love it or not, you will be raised and atoms weight of good and vica verse will be recounted. Qur'aan ha lu saaro. Hadaad saan ku sii socoto naar ku bishaareyso. The Admins need to ban this man.

Galbeedi, you nailed the truth. For every tree it has it's roots and before the root's it has it's seed. I have made some posts regarding "wahabism" how it has influenced our society. Islaam is a religion of peace, a instution that unites us when we are divided. The Wadaad, in the meaning of the word, was before the advent of wahabism, the barrier between the spiritual and the material in the eyes of the Somalis. The wadaad was the one who roamed free in the semi-deserts of Somalia, teaching the childreen the words of God, the qur'aan and he would rejoice with his fellow wadaads in the xerta,They read the quran and teach us morals and then in secluded areas dance in spiritual ectasy. Their aim was to find Allah and in their hearts. That was harmonius way. A taboo, and a great one was the wadaad caught in clan-warfares and killings. Now it's the opposite. The clan warriors are those chained in the house and the claimers to wadaads are those who are killing in the name of God. The known Somali Ulema, who spread islam were all sufis. The oromos in the deep heartland of of Ethiopia were made muslims by Shaykh Cabdirxmaan Saylaci. Then came Shaykh Uweys who spread islam to the southern frontiers. Then came the 80-ties and the boom of oil in Saudi Arabia. A somali youngsters who had lived the harsh heartlands of Saudia Arabia would comeback to Somali and have audacity to say that his fellow somalis were not muslims, they were infact mushriks (like those of pre-islamic arabs) why? Becouse of a theoligical diffirence he was ready to say that who ever did not share his thoughts was a non-muslim. The beginning and the saga of Takfirism begun.

<cite> @Khayr said:</cite> Do these companies even keep Financial Statements and Annual Reports? Scary right? Reminds of a Xawaala that everyone invested in and then some guys just robbed it by taking out large amounts of Us dollars in Dubai. Thousands of Somalis lost their life savings, and here we have a chap saying that these xawalas are our banks. I Agree with you that they are a form a bank, they do some bank services like remittance and they are far better on that then western-union but they are far from being a "bank" By the way, What happend to Dahabshiil in the UK? Did not Barclays refuse to work with them and they were therefore under threat to close all xawala offices`?

Khayr 1+! I hope that this thread creates an honest discssion regarding Somalis rankings. Some people when confonted with harsh facts are quick to arm themselves with the argument "well, somalia with no functioning state has the best and cheapest telecommunications in Africa, better then Egypt or Ethiopia". After the reply comes picturs on some bizarre non-urban planned buildings with weird colors as proof on the prosperity that Somalia gained despite the civil war. These replys eases the inferioty complex and eases the anxiety when seeing your countrey being on the bottom of every index of misery. A couple of months of ago, or a year MMA posted a survey about corrpution in the World and guess what? Somalia was one of the most corrupt nations in the world. That did not come as a shock but what was more intresting is how dismissive we were on that report. I have to be honest, I too was one of those people who used to buy that bullshit that Somalia, despite the mountanious political social and economical challenges it's facing- they were still better of then other black african nations. Why should they not be so? After all, remember that reality in Somalia is like scene from a mad-max movie, a non-regulated free for all free-market with no taxes and no nothing- A place where an investor can do what ever he wants. Economy is not my field of study but I guess that the above mentioned recipe is good. A somali guy who has masters in economy and now pursuing Phd explained the hoax during a conferance, most of the attendes of the conferance were Somalis with a few cadaan. I still remember how grim the faces of the listeners became when the speaker said the truth. I do not remember the details but a quick summary is: a) Yes, it is true that Somalia has the cheapest tele-communication in Africa, but a well keept secret is that the private somali companies buy something called "airwaves" from a satellite. The mad-max situation with no tax also makes the calls cheap but the good economist said the revenues lost from the taxes hurts the society in the long run. No taxes means indirectly not a penny to the "good will of society". Egypt and Ethiopia does have a more expensive rate but the tax revenues means more good will to the society and in the long run better national economy. b) Local X-lands can jump and puff but the truth is that since 1991 no major infrastacural projects have been completed. Like it or not, all major roads, all docks were built by state. Bad infrastacture means lesser investments. c) Energy- Somalia is the only nation in Africa that has a river but does not have a powerplant. Energy used is imported. Our neighbors allready have dams but are now planning more as the population grows, in a bigger since, while our neighbors have a central fixed planned economy aims, Somalia does not. Qaxwada hala cabo, caraftiisana hala ursado (lets make coffe and smell it) lol.