...

The point, France was hard pressed to grant Djibouti its independence due to united Somalia, especially when Syad Barre assumed AU leadership, and the Arab league which was gaining proeminence with the oil boom (France has not yet developed nuclear energy and was thus highly vulnerable). But even assuming that filling one's belly is the actual priority insted of unity, how could you do so if you are exposed due to lack of economic integration or hostile threats coupled with military weakness? That is why it is so simplistic to argue that we have failed in the field of economic development when in addition to that, every economic step is taken to hamper it from trade agreement to corrupting pseudo Aid ect. By the way, are you aware that the EU is now finally realizing that progress is linked to unity even in East Africa (not just within Western countries), and hence has devised a new "Aid" program supposed to reward efforts toward this direction. Why are India and China or even Brazil have developed with relatively unsignificant aid and little ressources?

one inspiring and eye-opener book: Against All Odds: A Chronicle of the Eritrean Revolution With a New Afterword on the Postwar Transiton

The problem with some of the fatwa is that it lacks credentials laid by Sheikh Ibn Qayim Al Jawzia in His famous masterpiece book " Iclaamul Muwaqiciin" in which he set two main conditions for any fatwa to be correct: 1. Knowledge of Sharia 2. Knowledge of Facts on the ground Very informative, bro Nur. This very fact of "compartmentization of knowledge" is more relevant than ever as it seems hard to find ulemas competent in both Shariah and other worldly sciences. However, one reasonable premise is to give precedence to those most learned in Shariah sciences. Indeed, I was very pleased when I have read the collection Fatawa Islamiyah, Islamic Verdicts of Bin Baz, Al Uthaimin and Al-Jibreen edited by Darussalam in which many dark areas are clarified and "progressive" thinking is apparent; eg Bin Baz seems to encourage Islamic Media to actively engage in Da'awa ect. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that as long as a scholar is well-versed in his field and intelligent enough to grasp World realities, both your aforesaid premises are satisfied. Somali refugees have yet to be given a refuge in an y country in which these fatwas has emanated, yet the hundreds of thousands have been given homes in places as far as New Zealand, providing these refugees with all the humanitarian needs they require It would be immensely unfair to compare Western ageing country who prey on cheap labour to exploit to developing countries whose recent boom is precarious and totally artificial Although this is altogether another topic but just one fact among so many others: when the USA adamantly oppose to comply with the UN recommendations to allow at the very least 0,50% of their GDP to Aid, countries starting from scratch like Saudi Arabia where routinely dedicating 10% of their fragile resources to help needy countries without any conditions, not mentioning private donations who set new generosity standards in the World. At any rate, Somalis in the West are hardly the most deserving of need to use an euphemism and an "open doors" policy, if ever realistic, would certainely signal the vacation of wholes Muslims lands nearby. Nevertheless, that by no means entitles us to live among kuffars and the huge majority could relocate in other Islamic countries if they can not stand their peaceful Hargeysa, booming Bossaso and the new Eldorado Xamar has become...

Very informative MMA; maybe I should switch to you for my Somali history & affairs lessons instead of the superficial and biaised works of Lewis and co. But did not the former governments, especially the Kacaan outlawed outright discrimination in the case of Reer Maay? How could they be isolated if they are integrated, even among clan lines?

Well, Muslims' awakening in the West has not yet materialized spiritually even though some are valuing again their identity. More prcisely, there is a world of difference between the quest of an identity or political consciousness and an authenticate retur to the roots, ie the Salafs way of living in every sphere: spiritual, social, economy ect As for living among Kuffars in the hope of generalized conversion or Western Caliphate, It is not that I lack of optimism but is not a fact that Ulemas vehemently condemn the very fact of living among them ? Should we not separate therefore between the Islamic elite supposed to deliver Da'awa and the masses who are themselves in great danger? Obviously, many Islamic countries fail to actually implement the Shariah and nationalism is compounded by cultural Globalization which is synonym of Americanization. Nevertheless, the fact remain that they are still considered as Muslims and statistically Somalis families, for instance, are much more likely to behave Islamically there than say in Toronto...

Bro Nur, the demography factor here is heavily mitigated if not irrelevant sometimes, ie Muslims in France generally hardly promote a positive image of our faith or prove to be as coherent as other Muslims in the West even though they represent approximatively 10% of the population. How could they convince their hosts if they are living themselves in a moral vacuum characterized by readily assimilated Western materialism, deep-seated inferiority complex and the concomitant acculturation ? More fundamentally, is not living among kuffars strongly condemned by Islam and pose a formidable challenge to even the most pious of us who can not accept to compromize their ethics?

Well, our Somalis bantous brothers have suffered a lot of unjustices, even more than say the barawaneses or others, and I naturally expect the UIC to implement urgently their policy vis-a-vis the so-called "minorities" (as if we weren't all Muslims and Somalis). Now, I've never heard of enslaved reer May. I do admire their tolerance, peacefulness and work ethic which makes them unvaluable to other Somalis. Nomads used to exchange their production with the crops of these hard-working peasants while negociating pastures rights. Obviously, ignorant as they were, the former were perplexed by these settled, tribally mixed farmers who valued manual labour as agriculture, much unlike them. Yet, every civilization has thrived on such productive manual dexterity and mixing, certainely not on irrational pride in one's ancestors or most primitive disdain for agriculture. At any rate, mixing and agriculture are definitely the way forward and Shariah implementation will force the unruly nomads to adopt higher moral values, hence ensuring their own dignity and prosperity (not least through self-sufficiency)...

Eid moubariik Duke. PS: I've just received my feedback on you, from reliable source...

S/cal Nur, Eid mubarak all.I'd chose the posts number 1 and 17. PS: are not anniversaries kuffar traditions that we are encouraged to challenge, especially when they are based on their own calendars?

In fact, I can't agree more with you brother Nur, and your method is precisely the one I do use regularly, not least when convincing people sceptic about the ICU. Indeed, by arguing gently and adressing seriously people's concerns, you are more likely to be credible. Personaly, I was used to Carnegie and others Western psychologists or theoricians concerning comunication and education methodology but I'm increasingly considering now other Islamic references, not least through our prophet SCW. Not only is the battle of hearts and minds a central priority but mastering it will also greatly facilitate ICU herculean task to counter hostile threats and propaganda. However, stimulating one's sense of critical thinking has its limits as some people are not intellectualy mature enough to transcend emotions and prejudices or deep-seated paranoia not to mention other hidden agendas. That is why, I've also mentioned that some concrete change to our people's daily life will also go a long way towards easing our Islamic revolution; Islam also recognize this fact through the concept of mu'allafaat al quluub (missionary work). So, I'm still pondering on the whole subject of education/communication/Da'wa rationalization. However, one practical proposition of mine: setting up one radio programe catering for our Muslims brothers in Ethiopian, the program could be relayed through mobile radios as the SNM did it. Another one could follow: a weekly TV/Radio program whereby our leaders could justify their latest decisions as Venezuela's leader do (no doubt that Sheikh Sharif have more potential than Chavez here). Most definitely, a coherent communication strategy for could make a great difference, specially if its internal part is not neglected...

Somalis are already well used to autonomous housing. Technically, this seems easily feasible and cost-effective under frugal living conditions. Why needing power, for instance, if a solar panel could suffice for homework?

All right Che, I was thinking of Hargeysa-Borama-Wajale area in Woqooyi Galbeed and Xamar-Afgooye-Baidoa in Koonfur area as the most productive agricultural regions while covering the rest with palms for date production alongside the rationalization of camel husbandry without negliging our great fishing potential, albeit seriously damaged. Besides food self-sufficiency through sustainable farming and environment protection, education is also the top priority; the challenge being to adapt and prioritize scientific and general knowledge to our needs and requirements. Pratically, model farms/ agricultural research centers should be dissiminated througout the country for reference. It seems Hargeisa University produces agronomy technicians and that is encouraging. Now, the critical issue is to test wind-powered pumps and others alternative ways of supplying water while locating more perennial sources through geological surveys ect...

JZKallah khayran for the nasiixa bro Nur. To explicit my position, it was only about frankness and I shall try not to sound "self-righteous" in my writing (my French influenced English may not help). Let me sum up my view on the critics adressed to the UIC, if this is the purpose of this thread: 1-Criticism should be directed by Islamic values regardless of any other consideration: is the UIC the only Islamic movement? 2- Given that no human enterprise is perfect, we should separate between constructive criticism and the purposeless one: am I helping the UIC through my criticism if it is indeed the only Islamic coalition in Somalia? Having these requirements in mind, we should also assess the wider environment, which is full of hostilities: tribal pride and mistrust, lack of resources and experience, unprecedented humanitarian crisis, Western propaganda, CIA-warlords-TFG-Tigre TPLF axis of crime ect. Then, we should look at the big picture and not obsess ourselve with natural minor points of disagreements: have I taken into consideration the numerous and formidable challenges facing the UIC? Not only every reasonable mind could understand this logic, but it should be all the more clearer for any Muslim; this is indeed a matter of basic self-coherence. However, my last post replied to the specific accusations aforementioned, namely that the UIC , despite its highly educated officials, somehow snobbed expertise (provided, of course, it could afford it in such circumstances)...

To help you here are couple of complaints against the UIC that I personally received from disgrunttled customers of the UIC. Look, Nur, you dont know what these people are doing, they have no respect for diversity of opinions, they listen, but they only do what they want. Also, they are not utilizing the expertise of the old guard, so many old experts in everyfield that were so happy when they came to power have been knocked out of their places by new wadaads, they are not going to win over people with that kind of attitude. To be honest, I perceive both these critics as quite misplaced since the UIC implemented a very progressive social agenda very quickly. Such lucid and courageous measures as protecting our agriculture against Aid dumping, safegarding public health by monitoring food imports and movements or rehabilitating infrastructures ect were taken by UIC experts. Likewise, the urgently implemented laws to salvage our highly damaged environment, a crucial necessity given desertification compounded by human greed and short-term vision, not mentioning waste dumping, pollution, and resources plunder. All this criticals steps towards our well-being and those of coming generations were enacted by experts and are unthinkable under many governments across the world. What more expertise could be asked from a resources deprived popular uprising in its first months? Did not the UIC made clear from the beginning their willingness to include every qualified Somali in the Islamic revolution? Who was rebuffed as a volunter in an assigned role or are some "experts" more concerned by their ego than sheer efficacity? At any rate, no amount of expertise is relevant without clear Islamic guidelines to supervize it, as our faith is all-encompassing. And that is why we need to swallow our excessive pride and ambition if we are to remain coherent with ourself; indeed this is a most noble Jihad...

Once the war over, we'll still have to unite the Somalis, strenghten our economy and good-governance while building credible forces and promoting the ressucitation of the Ummah starting from East Africa. What a challenge indeed but is it not striving or very raison d'etre? On a personal note, I'd like to cross-check my ideas and an Islamic think-tank woud be such a great idea (no "democracy" or "women rights" ect a la Western but efficiency in the application of our Islamic program). In a Material perspective, I was always dreaming of a "model farm" whereby sustainable agriculture would be promoted to reach self-sufficiency for our East African Emirat. To sum it up, I want the new Somalia to be a showcase of a prosperous Shariah-based society and hope to take part in the process...

Inspired and inspiring, brother Nur masters how to captivate his audience and keep on attracting more.JZKallah khayran

There is this fundamental rule in Islam: inama al a'amaal bi niyaat (actions are judged according to intentions). So wet dream is clearly unvolontary unless the "stimulation" is provoked. Of course, Kufaar countries are full of unwanted stimulis but one should avoid them as far as possible and recite the Sunnah invocations before going to bed. However, given that even for unvolontary fast's breakings, some sort of compensation may be asked; I need more time...

As for economic development, it is largely recognized that Foreign Direct Investments as well as equities are the most efficient financial tools comparing to interest-based bonds or commercial loans through the benefits of risk-and-profit sharing compounded by Ideas' circulation. Therefore, it is clear that Shariah promotes economic well-being by chanelling most efficiently available savings towards productive investments. Previously, we have seen that Western economic paradigm is nothing but a catastrophic delusion failing to take into account environmental as well as ethical concerns at the fundamental level, which is the brainwashed consumer, unable to resist an unhealthy consumerism (both in terms of physcal as well as psychological health). Likewise, investors, pressed by interest-based commercial banks for short-term profitability, unvarably fail to behave ethically, even according to the qute laxist Western norms which are necessarily dictated by compromises with ruthless capitalits unaware of their broader social role. All these observations are corroborated by never-ending hard evidences througout history; evidence for which humankind's overwhelming majority or entire nations paid the awful price and will continue to endure undefinitely the consequences through the planet destructon. Nevertheless, denouncing is not enough and implementing Islamic economic and Finance in a generalized, holistic and systematic way is long overdue specially when we can benefit of the unprecedented Petrodollars manna and Muslims pioneered modern banking by introducing cheques and others innovations. In practice, this means promoting economic integration and solidarity within Islamic nations, attracting Arab excessive capital by setting up local Islamic equity portfolio markets, liberalizing and encouraging people and capitals movements which have spread Islam across continents (and which gave birth incidentally to Somalis) ect. Accelerating and enhancing the coherence of existing initiatives is the sine qua non condition of strenghtening the Ummah, hence protecting our independance...

Of course, modern Islamic finance as a reaction to Western banking seems a bit blurred when it comes to consumer goods. However, my point was that, in this particular perspective, it has a somewhat artificial flavour and focused too much on offering an alternative to Western institutions. More broadly, the need of such financial services to support consumption is debatable...

Of course, modern Islamic finance as a reaction to Western banking seems a bit blurred when it comes to consumer goods. However, my point was that, in this particular perspective, it has a somewhat artificial flavour and focused too much on offering an alternative to Western institutions. More broadly, the need of such financial services to support consumption is debatable...

Khayr, to sum it up simply and without financial jargon, here is what I've understood so far: When I ask Northerner or the bank to lend me money for buying my house, in fact the bank or Northerner buy the house and lease it to me. However, besides the rent, I'm supposed to pay a regular "supplement" each month Finally, at the end of the contract, the house is mine and I stop paying rent. This is somehow similar to what we call location-vente or renting-selling (through litteral translation). Now the problem arise when I decide to accelerate things if my income augment during the contract's period, ie I pay the rent plus 2 "supplements" instead of one each month. Obviously, I want the house to be mine as early as possible and I have no incentive to continue paying rent . In this case, this is clearly not in Northerner or the bank's financial interest since they stop receiving rents earlier than expected. So the bank may ask for penalties for breaking the agreement, hence the misgivings in a Islamic point of view. The car's loan follow the same pattern, and I highly doubt wether it is allowed to ask for a fixed fee in return of the loan. PS: my point was that trying to copy Western financial system, or more broadly Western economic paradigm based on the assumption of individual immediate satisfaction optimization, was besides the point so to speak. Not only are we copying unhealthy consumerism for both the individual as well as the environment but we are also showing some inferiority complex since economic is a matter of basic assumptions about Human nature and priorities. So how could we copy them if we have very different assumptions on both Human nature and our priorities? Likewise, the current mushrooming of "Islamic" Financial institutions which reveals at best an exagerated admiration for the Western World despite their blatant failures to alleviate human suffering and unjustices, even within their own societies...

Here is the issue: Buying consumer goods on credit is not an activity that has the potential to earn a profit. So the collateral offered against the loan for the house or the car is the asset itself. And that asset will be repossessed on non-payment. This is exactly the same as western banks. In the above scenario, what is the risk that the Islamic finance house is taking? And how is different again? Little doubt that consumerism is a quintessential evil of our "modern times" Western economic paradigm's inherent fragility is revealed. Moreover, readily available and aggressively marketed credit only add insult to injury. Beyond the economic sphere as well as the obvious catastrophic consequences on our planet, experts are also worried about the psychological effects of consumerism, shopping addiction being assimilated to other forms of addiction in a recent article in The New Scientist. Unfortunately, the constant stress assosiated with ever-increasing amounts of debt starting from the teenage years in many countries will do little to remedy the overall picture. Therefore, one have to look transcendally at this issue by adopting a holistic approach, thus coming to somewhat similar conclusions as those of some Western prominent thinkers; the philosopher Peter Singer, for instance, vigorously denounced the essence of materialism/consumerism based societies while prescriving a frugal "economic diet" whereby human basic needs would be sustainably satisfied. Nevertheless, given the lack of coordinated and coherent State and private sector schemes facilitating home ownership for the poor masses in most countries through creative and affordable projects, it may be postulated that credit towards consumption is part of the solution in this exceptional case, albeit a debatable one. At any rate, this credit- based approach has every ingredient of an ad-hoc patch ignoring the root causes, namely an inconsistent and unsustainable economic paradigm diverting resources away from productive investment and the needy masses, while focusing on the symptoms. So to answer your question, the difference is that in the case of islamic mortgage, the bank basically lease the home whereas you progressively augment your participatory share following a pre-agreed patterny, thus transfering progressively the house to the consumer...

What I am worried about is the heftiness of what awaits them and whether they understand it or are capable to manage it. There is neither a point in worrying nor does it makes sense to let few people bear what should be a collective burden, albeit a most noble one. Are we not fully conscious that they represent the only Islamic force striving for reconciliation and security, their actions being dictated by mere necessity if not emergency, not least regarding our hard-won sovereignity now in peril? While I can not agree more with Xiin and Nur, especially when they remind us that we are now harvesting the fruits of 16 years of laborious Da'wa, we have also some reasons to be optimistic given the Islamic monopoly on charities and national solidarity. Indeed, this last fact was recently recognized by the creation of a governmental agency in Djibouti to coordinate Da'wa and welfare programs, among others roles...

More explicitely, the founding principle of Islamic Finance is risk and profit sharing in-lieu of arbitrary usury regardless of the actual results of the business or borrower's solvability. To illustrate it simply, an Islamic bank may lend you the funds for starting Thepoint cattle export company but you become de facto associates, in the sense of benefices as well as losses are distributed in function of the participation. Alternatively, the bank may purchase the trucks needed to transport the camels and lease it to you, though you may finally acquire the lorries by paying regularly an additional fee. Likewise the controversial "Islamic mortagage" programs, which may imply that you'll be asked penalty fees even if you decide to repay earlier your loan (not mentioning the scenario whereby you fail to honor the initial agreement). Consequently, such schemes seems to be highly controversial, especially when "Islamic Financial services" are offered by the mainstream interest-based Banks. More fundamentally, Islamic Finance can not be dissociated of an Islamic economic environment, hence the urgency of a paradigm shift in this important field. However, it is noteworthy that many non-Muslims plebiscited Islamic Banking in Malaysia (according to an article of The Economist), the reason being that it do guaranty nevertheless a much more ethical use of their money... PS: sorry for the simile in my previous post