Spicy stuff and old dudes don't go together dude. Wisdom between the lines sort to speak appeals to them. And Johnny Cash has thrown couple of lines in this one with nice melody that goes smoothly with not so noisy tune that cought my attention. I take Zephy's upbeat optimism than ur over exageration The lady has spoken and that is the final answer Brown. Shax shax has its share of connotation too. Lil cyber drama in which faceless screen characters satisfy their ego and seek lil attention will count as being shax shax .

^ the comeback has something to do with time signore Xiin. I've been busy u kno...the big shots demanded more deliverables be completed half the time we normally used to have -(with equal load). On the subject, Awoowe remember Inna Kilwe Cawaale's memorable qoutes: Bil dhalatay ma tiibaa? Boholyoow ma ciil baa? Ninka baadi kaa maqan, Beylahshaa ma gacal baa? Nin begsaday ma fulay baa? Boqol aan u turihayn, Kan beegsadaa ma geesaa? Ninka bihinbis naageed, Isku baraq nugleeyaa, Bi'i waa ma door baa? How am I doing on Somali side of things now

^I know Bal ii waran awoowe, Maxaa la yiri? War iyo wacaale maxaad addigu haysaa?

Howdy fellaz, Maxaa la yiri? Has inna Yussuf consolidated power in "other" regions of the South yet? Has the old man exhausted the "terrorist" card or he is at it still? Has he learned to prepare speeches & interviews ahead of time so he won't allienate his target audience? Has Cadde figure it all out on his own? Has he learned the lesson at least? Have the lords of Mogadishu learned to be responsible for once and face the music? Have their cheerleaders ever asked why is the airport and the biggest seaport of the nation are not put in good use? Has the "Ethiopians are coming" rhetoric subsided yet or they are at it still? How is the secessionist day dream coming through? Are the elections held for the good of that corner of our land or are they held for foreign consumption? Will they ever let go, come down back to earth and talk sense? What will became of SSC? Can the secessionist pull another lie off this time around and have the so called "international observers" seal of approval stamp on SSC precint? How are the talks between the red short squad and black skin and muscle man of Bay going? Is it true the chozen Sherrif has glanzed over that direction and he intends to attend to his constituents looming disaster? Is it true the Barre of the South and Geddo boys are playing ball and contemplating peace among them so they can fend off the intentions of Bu'aale folks to declare a region of their own under auspices of Geedi? War awoowayaal Maxaa la yiri dee. **labada hore waa bigeys inadeer, kan sadexaad shaaha ii cadee**

Does sharing DNA guarantee loyalty & love? Yes, in some cases. FF, could it be that you know too well that helping out a criminal is a crime in the sense that you are accessory to the crime and hence your reason to stay clear from your loved ones once they are in that kind of trouble? My take on this is if the justice system is reasonably sound then one is obliged to help one's relative to own up his actions and be responsible and face justice.

Waxaan maqli jiray "Odayga habarta la saar" an expression often used to point out when someone gets picked on for no reason. Hadda! gabadhan Hibo ah heedhe maxaa waayadan loogu kacay oo lagu maagay. The fact that she is bit honest and sincere in her views is a good thing for forum discussion. Tone it down folks plz. Hibo, adeer remember it's ur screen character that's picked on so don't take it personal. I think ur character can take extra soft bunches even from male nomads whose swings are not...well that manly.

Awoowe Xiin, Waxaad uga hartaa loomaba baahne hay naga baxo. The game is on and I think Bush is onto something. Despite all the hate and hawkish politics applied on the region, he may be the one who gives Palestenians state of their own - a viable one. That would be the day! Buchanan is an interesting character. Far right conservative but has issues with the neocons and more interestingly with Christian Right!! Could it be he's Northern Catholic and Christian Right camp is dominated by Southern Baptists and Methodists? Makes you wonder?

Originally posted by Zephyrine: ^ Shax shax iyo nus. How are you, B ? Waa caadaas Zephy...just another day in paradise! And u? Great I hope. Originally posted by Sky: Al Green? Someone is reliving the 60s. Although his song "Let's stay together" is the best. It's called a comfort zone, Sky. Sixties is a familar territory to me

Check it out Right now I'm listening to Al Green's "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone" and before that it was Johnny Cash's "I walk The Line". Yes these are for the oldies but if you can spell the name of the artist you wanna listen then this stand alone player will play it for you. Sida kale waa shax shax soo ma aha...

^Right on the money. Is it me or there are other creative ways to get across the Message than to be combative and be imposing the Message on the target audience. Read this and Bingo the "caariyad" is challenged and reasoned with at the same time. Many thanks Ukhti, I will save this convo for my lil daughter. She will be needing a refined, creative subliminal literature that brings the point home without being combative, dismissive, or preachy. This line of dacwa appeals to me. I enjoyed reading it... Right on.

^ @ bajaq. These were the days Welcome back Shez. Xaax, how warm Lipton tastes!

I don't think you are listening each other. Stop and reread what Ngonge has just posted. Xiin, Viking, and Olol are looking the issue from the big picture point of view and the geopolitical conflict between those who are endowed with oil (mainly Muslims) and the Industrial powers who are seeking to control this indispensible commodity whereas Ngonge put his views in moralistic terms: can we afford to let the terrorists speak for and act in our name? The irony is Ngonge agreed time and again with Xiin, Viking, Olol, and other like-minded nomads but he pressed the question and asked for unequivocal position in condemning the terrorists who use the garb of Islam to commit these heinous crimes. On the other hand, nomads I mentioned did just that and reject terrorism as a tool to address our grievances against the West but coupled ifs and buts to explain the larger conflict and the two-faced nature of terrorism: one spearheaded by malcontents and another one sponsored by states. I see Ngonge and Jamal are kinda engaging unmanly underhand punches. Not good.

Nur, politicians are not only those who participate in the government. You seem to hold the view that politicians are folks who are either holding or seeking public office. You’re partly right. However, a better characterization would be anyone involved in politics is a politician. In addition, politics is a practice observed in all group interactions! For instance, activists, interest groups, watchdog groups, civic groups, think tanks, and preachers don’t hold government position. Yet, they all have agenda to advance and causes to champion for. Yes the terms and labels are many and government officials are the ones who bear the name but in reality, they are all players in the political game. One other point is that in the West this distinction is more pronounced than say in Africa. In our case, the existence of clan loyalties and the fact that clans make up the building blocks of the State complicates the whole discussion not to mention that the state and its awesome institutions have completely collapsed. Absent of legitimate and all inclussive government, personalities who are in the ring bounding each other in quest of power and control of the top seat, those wo are involved in community building one tuulo at a time, those who preach to reform and persuade the public in embracing Islamic government, the community elders who always try to extinguish the fires ignited by the incitements coming from the warlords, are all politicians in the true sense of the word! I’m of the opinion that many (unknown to the Diaspora) benevolent agents are in work all over Somalia but the scale and destructive nature of the warlords and their misguided militias are getting all the attention. Moreover, the folks who restrict politics to fighting and “warlording†hold the view that what other activists do for the public good is outside of what they consider political activities. As to the birth of the nation back in the colonial days and how things were, remember the fact that Somalis as a nation never had a centralized system of governence (center-to-periphery) where orders are dictated by men (from clan hebel and hebel). In the eyes of nomads, the president and his men (government bureaucracies) were always viewed as reer hebel and one can imagine how things get distorted when difficult decisions that affect one tribal community are made in a far way city by officials who hail from different clan. The politicians in the sixties were poineers in the frontiers of nomad-based politics! They made many mistakes. Some of the mistakes had far-reaching consequences. It’s said nepotism and corruption had reached all time high in late sixties. Yet, I still consider them good politicians! The reason being that the use of violence and other forms of aggression have been minimum. The mistakes committed (many) in that era had been the natural consequences of intrigues and political calculations; something inherent in human group interactions and in fact expected from the practice. Politics is a necessary and natural consequence of human interactions. Some politicians do have personal stake in the office they occupy and too often exploit it to advance their interest. Some do evil things. Yet, they have sizable following and in most cases, they get away with it. Does that ring complacency? And what does that fact alone say about human nature?

Nur, How about Adam Cadde, the former president? Abdirizaq Hajji Hussein, the former prime minister is another one. These two are as good as they come. Add the dozen or so unknown politicians who make a difference in their neck of the wood day in and day out. They are unknown to national public because they stay below the radar. These folks build schools, wells, and shelter for orphans. Folks who employ traditional means to achieve noble ends. If cyber advocacy groups are taken into account, I’m kind of inclined to include e-Nuri and its Nurtell Social Engineering subsidiary as benevolent cyber think-tank where one=army man takes the torch for change pushing new ideas by bundling them with eye-catching creative posts embedded with subliminal messages . Salax-u-diin, gotta run now, I didn't get time to read ur post but will come back tomorrow and read it.

FYI Somalia is not one of the 37 eligible countries that are invited to the AGOA forum. Just-in news item: Secretary Rice's speech to the 2005 AGOA forum. Somewhat related info: to see where Somalia is at in the economic activities that's taking place in the east Africa in relation to the import market, check this summary table out. Then contrast with the Ethiopians. These are pdf files just in case you don't have the acrobat reader.

Nur, I don’t have any reason to disagree with what you had to say about “Ijtihadâ€. My “cilmi-dhegood†confirms that able and knowledgeable scholars have limited leeway in resorting to “Ijtihad†where the other three (Qur’an, Sunnah, and Qiyaas) come short in providing clear-cut guidance. This much I know (from recollection). As you know, the human progress in science is opening new frontiers posing new and difficult ethical dilemmas. In the medical field, man is playing God and he now has both the intent and capacity to tinker with genetic blueprints of Allah’s creations. In this brave new world where human hearts are interchangeable, heart valves are replaceable with pig valves, organs can be donated, etc, how Muslims should deal with these new developments given that all the prerequisites that you have delineated in the post have not been satisfied? My knowledge in Islamic fiqh is limited and I don’t know if all the potential questions that may arise from the medical field can be addressed by the three primary sources. But, what if “Ijtihad†is in order? Should the ordinary Muslim sit back and hold his/her breath until Khilaafa comes to reign and regulations can be had from the center? Prof Sardar suggested the word “Alim†be broadened and redefined so that the title includes the knowledgeable scholars with credentials in other areas of science for they are better equipped to weigh problems in their specialty. Nur bro, it’s there where I agreed with the author. He rightly points out the self-defeatism mentality inherent in focusing on socio-political side of things all the while neglecting the economical and technological complexities of the age. Mind you I disagree with his main thesis where he dismissed the Sunnah as relics of bygone era as well as his call for “Reformationâ€. This is merely an opinion. I will stand corrected where I erred in advance. I don’t have credentials in Islamic fiqh.

^impressive. Politicians are the ones who ultimately determine who gets what, when, where, and how. They are astute observers and shrewd men with reputation to employ unquesionable techniques to acquire power. They are ambitious and strive to get to the top in order to exact obedience, to command, to determine, or to judge. Informed and educated people understand the importance of justice, authority, law, and freedom. These four important elements are said to fall under political domain. In this vein, one has to keep eye on political development in his neck of the wood. Politics are very important as its consequences effect our lives greatly. That being said, the art of politics as it’s parcticed in our neck of the wood fits well with our SOL’s sage description. Persuing power for powers sake by any means necessary including uprooting millions of fellow Somalis and destroying the infrastructure of the country is beyond the pale. Not to mention the mannet in which the wannabee politicians attain eminence! Even in this undesirable state, one must not let these corrupt “prostitutes†run away with our future without any challenge. Nur by posting this write-up of his is challenging the authority of these “prostitutes†indirectly. He’s making their very existence an issue and if any simpleton among us admired one of the current active leaders in Somalia, I’m sure he will think twice after reading this write-up. Let me urge SOLers to post their take on politicians in general and ours in particular. As you know, we have our playground when it comes practical politics. Nomads are thoughtful enough to update us with latest news from home. Even though they have their own agendas, the net effect is they saved us (those of us who think it’s important to keep in touch with the events as they happen in back home) energy for getting onestop shopping of news articles from dozen of news sites. Share with us how you view the politics section and whether you benefit in any way of what’s posted there.

This is a well-written and a well-reasoned piece by Professor Ziauddin Sardar. Of all the critics of Islam as a way of life, Prof Sardar is the only one that explained in detail why he thinks Islam needs rethinking. Reading the essay in its entirety, I followed the Prof’s terrain of thought and I think I grasped the crux of the article. As I read this write-up, I caught myself nodding in agreement most of the times. Upon concluding this interesting read, however, I find the gist of his opinion unhelpful to the target audience and, at minimum, misguided. As I understood him, Prof Sardar, as any astute observer would, saw monumental problems in Islamic world that need to be dealt by Muslims. However, unlike majority of Muslims, he implicitly and at times explicitly attributes the despotism, totalitarianism, and backwardness that has characterized Muslim countries to the Islamic worldview derived from Islam itself. He astutely observes three root causes in which he said underpinned the malaise: (1) Non-evolving laws (derived from Prophets sayings called Shariah), (2) Non-active jurists who avoid reinterpreting and remaking of what they see as Divine laws, and (3) Lumping Religion and the State. He calls them "three metaphysical catastrophes"! From the get go Prof Sardar started with the wrong foot by negating the central principle (namely Islam being a complete way of life in every aspect of human activity) of the very religion he intends to rescue from eternal doom. Having said that, he makes good points and he rightly points out where the Ummah has gone wrong. Here I wholeheartedly agree with him. For instance, the Prof makes the point that contemporary scholars abandonment of “Ijtihad†was wrong. He rightly explains how the “reductive approach†by some scholars leaves the nation in state where obscure and inconsequential matters trump the real issues of the day. However, instead of reclaiming the leading seat in steering Muslim nations to the right path he sets out to rethink the whole message and (if necessary) modify it to bring Islam in line with what he sees to be the modern world. The problem with this approach of “rethinking†or “remaking†an existing religion in search of relevancy to modernity is that the end becomes just that: catching up with rapidly evolving material world instead of worshipping and pleasing Allah which is the end all faithful are striving for. Had he sought to “reclaim†(here semantics mean a lot) the original message with understanding that by adhering its central pillars it will lead us to eminence his message would have gotten through. Muslims nations lack behind in all areas of human progress. They abandoned their religion and sacrificed their unity, and yet they failed to completely and affectively adopt the secular system they have embraced. Prof Sardar’s diagnoses are partly right but I don’t think his remedy as he outlined in this write-up leads these nations to either camp. All in all, one thing is clear and that is a meaningful discussion of how and where we go from where we are is a good start. my taano.

1. Maxay tiradu kow qura Bilow uga tafniiddaa? Waxay tiradu kow qura, Bilow uga tafniidaa, Tab weeye aadmigu, Kaga tagay madhanaha, Tu’ aan jidhan innuu, Tirsi ku biirsado! Taxannaha xisaabtana, Tobonka la tiigsadee, Tusmada loo igmaduu, Ka tirsan yahay kow oo, Horjooge loo tilmaamoo Deeqoow looga taam dhigay.

Belo awoowe see Alla kuu galay ma waxaad sheegeysaa berrigii colku naga soo galay dhankaa iyo Burco oo aanu wada difaaca ahayn War ninyahaw duubka xiran show waxa tahay hal nahaab ah oo dharka dhigtay. Maxaad ii keentay

FYI, I don't support the president. Never did. You just used the fuzzy logic and assumed that anyon who shares clan affilliation with him supports him. That being said, I do support the TFG don't have choice but to hope that Somalia stablizes and regains its place among the nations.

^ Common sense that fits in the fuzzy logic many nomads are known to susbcribe Yours is the typical and it goes like this: This report dismisses President of Transitional government of federal Somalia his Excellence Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed . However, it support the fight gainst Somali version of "terrorism". The president is known to exploit this for political gains. Ethiopia supports president Abdullahi. And Abdullahi and Baashi happen to share clan affiliation. Even though Baashi is Somaliweyn and differs president Abdullahi in principle on many issue among them how to go forward in the reconcilliation front, on how to deal with Islamist, how to advance Somaliweyn agenda, etc., nevertheless the fact that the two share clan affiliation Baashi must support president Abdullahi. It follows that Baashi must be joyous when report as this one comes out for it's on the same page with Ethiopia the adamant supporter of president Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed. Right on Suldaanka

Hibo it doesn't matter. All that matter is that u r gaari is nacday oo aan la quuri karin :cool: More like wannabee Abwaan...don't put me on the spot dee Waa ku sidee marwo Aamina.

So u reckon I support Ethiopian plans in Somalia and by extension the Col. Yey's quest for the seat?

Unfortunately No Aamina. Try to google it.