The Thinking Somali
By Mohamed Heebaan
August 28, 2009
I thank Abdullahi M. Adam and Ibrahim Yusuf Hawd for their articles (Wadaad Fekeraya, and Fulayada Fikirka) about the importance of ideas. I particularly thank Abdullahi Adam for introducing Sheikh Mohamed Idris and his ideas to the general public. Prior to reading Mr. Adam’s piece, I have never heard of Sheikh Mohamed Idris! And now, having read his uplifting and well researched piece titled “Hantiileyaash a Caydha ah” and the 9 or so segments he wrote about Malaysia’s development and its capable leaders, I found Sheikh Mohamed Idris to be indeed, as Mr. Adam put it, a thinking Sheikh, and very brilliant one at that! May Allah (swt) reward him for his efforts.
Now I would comment on the two articles (Wadaad Fekeraya, and Fulayada Fikirka) and then conclude the article on few thoughts about Somalia.
Mr. Adam is a bit harsh on the Islamists. Perhaps he had a run in with some hard-headed Sheikhs. Or perhaps he had a high expectation of the Islamists, and when they failed to deliver, out of disappointment, he started focusing only on their misdeeds and shortcomings. In either case, his expressed resentment against Islamists does not seem to be malicious, since he is openly touting one of their own as an example worthy of emulation and admiration.
Mr. Adam also criticizes Islamist leaders for the tendency to recording cassettes and videos, instead of writing books. Well, writing books is a form of sharing knowledge and information, and so are cassettes and videos. In the old days, books were the only proper format for sharing knowledge, aside from newspapers and magazines, but recording cassettes and videos have caught up with them.
And as far as sharing knowledge is concerned, the two critical factors are substance and access. Writing a book without much substance has no use, and that goes for the videos as well. But if the books and videos carry contents of equal importance, the critical factor, then, becomes the access. That is, how easy it is for the Somali public to access the knowledge in that book or that video. And given the revolution in the information technology and the internet, it is far much easier to share knowledge through video than through books, because every Somali with a computer can listen to the latest lectures by Somali intellectuals (religious or otherwise) on youtube, without incurring any extra cost! Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about getting hold of the latest book(s) by Somali authors. It is far more difficult to get the books, and they will cost you real money. Besides, not everyone can read, but nearly everyone can listen. So, as far as sharing knowledge is concerned, the Islamist leaders seem to be on the right track.
Here I would like to follow the footsteps of Mr. Adam and introduce another Somali Sheikh and a thinker who has been enlightening Somalis for many years now. His name Sheikh Musafa Harun, who is well known among Somalis in the diaspora, and particularly in Europe and North America. Sheikh Mustafa lectures on various fields from raising children in foreign lands to the importance of retaining the Somali Language(for those who have children, I suggest to get his lectures on raising kids in the West, for they are truly worthwhile).
One of Sheikh Mustafe’s recent lectures is about ‘The Fall of Muslim Spain’. And the clear analogy that he makes about the downfall of Muslim Spain and the destruction of the Somali nation on one side, and the fiefdoms of Muslim Spain that were controlled by their powerful Christian neighbour, and the fiefdoms of today’s Somalia that are controlled by their Christian neighbour, is a must see and listen for every thinking Somali!(This lecture, divided into several segments, can be accessed on youtube).
Among Sheikh Mustafe’s quotable quotes are the following:
--About raising children he says to Somali parents, “Don’t worry about building a house for your kids; instead invest the money and the time in the children, and the children will be able to build their own houses!”
---- About the destructive nature of Somali clanism he says, “The Somali clan would go to the enemy (enemy of its people and faith) not to get any benefit or resources for itself, but just to ensure the destruction of the neighbouring Somali Clan!”
----About the temperament of the leaders he says, (and I will paraphrase here)
‘As a leader, it is your responsibility to lead not only the good and the reasonable people, but also the sick-at-heart, the selfish, the envious, the opportunist, and the clanist…you have to lead all of those because that is what you got!....If every prospective leader retreats and leaves the field of the leadership after he is insulted and accused ‘Danaha qabiilkiisa ayuu wadaa oo u xaglinayaa’ then who is going to lead the people?’
Regarding Mr. Ibrahim ‘Hawd’s& #8217; article, I found it enjoyable to read. The importance of ideas, and that they are more powerful than standing armies, and ideas are the root of every brilliant discovery or development, and those who neglect them would pay a heavy price are all very true. What Hawd calls the fear of ideas, Malik Bennabi, the well known Algerian thinker, called ‘The inability to abandon that which is familiar’. And if one pays a close attention to it, he or she would discover that this phenomenon is, more than anything else, responsible for the Muslim people’s poverty and backwardness!
Since I agree with Ibrahim on the importance of ideas, I would not comment on those points, because repeating the points he already made wouldn’t add much to the debate.
But I would comment on three points:
--The tendency of the Islamists to reflect on the shortcomings of the west.
--Today’s extremism in the Muslim World
--Assessing the legacy of the pioneer Islamists
The Tendency:
As Ibrahim Hawd says, many Islamists have the tendency to focus on the shortcomings of the west such as drugs, sex and other moral decadences that are prevalent in the west.
I agree with him. This fixation on the shortcomings of the west is, to a certain extent, psychologically useful, because it deflects the attention from the misery of the Muslim peoples! If you are having a lot of problems, and you see others are also having a lot of problems, you tend to feel better about your situation. But this is a satisfaction based on self-deception, because you haven’t done anything to solve your own problems or improve your lot. Your problems are still there waiting for you to tackle. And the mere fact that you deflected your attention to other peoples misery and problems won’t do you any good.
Another misconception associated with Muslims is that by highlighting the shortcomings of the west, we make it appear as though the west is about to fall apart! If the west were only about drugs, and sex and other moral decadences that we never get tired of highlighting, it would have indeed collapsed long ago! But in addition to those bad aspects of their culture, the west also has some very strong cultural aspects that not only mitigate the negative aspects of its culture, but also continuously rejuvenate western culture as a whole. And it is that rejuvenation and continuous renewal that made western nations the most attractive of all countries, so much so that all peoples of the world, including Muslims, risk their lives and jump to high sees in order to make it to the west!
The time has come for us Muslims to focus and fix our own shortcomings, and God know they are so many! We should also learn from the west those strong cultural elements that the west has mastered, without any fear or inferiority complex.
Extremism:
Extremism of the suicide bombing variety is relatively new phenomenon. And as far as Islam and Muslims are concerned, it is generally invented one. I personally do not agree with exploding innocent civilians into pieces. But one thing is for sure: Young Muslims who end up exploding themselves are victims NOT victimizers. If one really wants to understand this problem, he or she needs to look at the root of the problem. In every place where young Muslims resort to suicide bombing, it has been the consequences of a devastating foreign invasion that wiped out their families, their villages and their towns. This is true of Somalia. It is true of Afghanistan. It is true of Pakistan. It is true of Iraq. It is true of Palestine. And it is true of Chechnya! Suicide bombing is poor man’s response to a deadlier and more devastating foreign invasion and its aftermath.(Prior to the Ethiopian invasion and American bombardment, I don’t think there was any suicide bombing ever reported in Somalia!) If Suicide bombing is truly heinous, the responsibility squarely falls on the foreign invaders who created it in the first place!
The Legacy:
In assessing the legacy of the leading Islamist pioneers such as Al-afghani, Mohamed Abdo, Rashid Rida, Hassan Al-Bannaa, and Al-Mowdoudi, Ibrahim Hawd believes their legacy was failure because, in his opinion, they embarked on the wrong direction, and were searching development and advancement in all the wrong places.
“Casriyeynta Dunida Islaamka in loo dhaqaajiyo dhan liddi ku ah dhankii ay caddaanku wax u dhaqaajiyeen waxaa lagu sheegi karaa jawaabcelin baqdin iyo canaadnimo ah oo ilbaxnimadaas loogu jilibdhigay”
Baqdin? NO. Jawaabcelin and jilibdhig? Yes indeed!
The task that the leading Islamist pioneers were dealing with was not only to advance Muslim peoples economically, but also to maintain and protect their Islamic Identity from the west’s cultural invasion (ghaz-wul-fikri) and cultural domination. In other words, their agenda was of two fold:
1—Repulsing the cultural domination.
2—Economically advancing the Muslim World.
In the early parts of the 20th century, cultural domination was going on full speed. Now cultural invasion, or culturally dominating a society is far more effective, far more enduring, and far more dangerous than militarily dominating a country. This is so because cultural domination uses ideas, whereas military domination uses force and the barrel of the gun. And as Ibrahim Hawd himself makes it clear, the domination with ideas is far more devastating.
How did the cultural invasion work? Cultural invasion used two fixed policies:
a—One policy constantly made western language, western habits, western dress-code, western religion, and western way of life very appealing and superior.
b—The other policy constantly looks down the native peoples’ language, habits, religion, and way of life, and makes them appear backward and unattractive.
The inevitable outcome of these two policies is that, overtime, the native people would start looking down on their culture and way of life, and start slowly adopting “The superior” western culture.
In the first part of the 20th century, westernization and cultural invasion had made significant gains in the Muslim World, of course at the expense of Islam and Islamic traditions. In our own country, during that period, Islam and those associated with it became the most despised in the towns and regions where the western influence had any presence. Even students in the school had a name for the teacher who taught religion,
“Macallin Dayyaane!” they called him, and he was considered as the most worthless among all teachers! Mind you, this antipathy had nothing to do with the teacher’s ability or his personal characteristics. Instead the teacher had become a victim of collateral damage: he was despised simply because the subject he taught (Islam) was despised that much by the students!
This new attitude of Muslims looking down on Islam and those who were associated with it didn’t spring up out of vacuum. It was the consequence of cultural invasion and cultural domination. And if the Somalis who were barely touched by westernization, nevertheless, became that hostile to their religion, imagine the ferocity of the hostility that Islam and those associated with it had faced in Egypt, Lebanon, Iran and Algeria!
Hence it was this climate of all out cultural invasion from the west that the pioneer Islamists decided to respond. So it was indeed jawaabcelin. It was indeed ujilib-dhig!
Now, after about 100 years, the legacy of the Pioneer Islamists is decidedly mixed. On the issue of repulsing the west’s cultural invasion, the legacy of the pioneer Islamists is an absolute success, in every measurable standard! This is so because Islam and the Islamists have won the cultural war in a very decisive manner. And today culturally dominating the Muslim World is a lost cause! It is a thing of the past. Islam, its message, and its symbols have become so popular and fashionable even among the once most westernized groups such as writers, journalist, actors and singers! The fact that Algeria, (perhaps the most westernized and assimilated Muslim country), after 130 years of relentless westernization (1831-1962), had in 1992 elected an entire Islamist leadership, in its first free and fair election, had put a nail into the coffin of Westernization. For good! The junk of the credit to this unparalleled success, naturally, goes to the pioneer Islamists who lifted the banner of Islam when they had to.
But as far as the issue of economic advancement of the Muslims is concerned, the legacy of the pioneer Islamists is failure, and the legacy of their successors is even much worse failure!
What is impeding the economic advancement of the Muslim World?
Two Issues:
1—Political Oppression.
2—Economic Strangulation.
These issues are connected. Political oppression mean Muslim live under political dictatorships. Economic strangulation means Muslims cannot effectively utilize their huge natural resources and markets, and hence cannot properly develop their economies.
Islamists old and new are not responsible for the political oppression and economic strangulation that is prevalent in the Muslim and Arab countries, because these conditions were there even before the pioneer Islamists arrived the scene more than hundred years ago. And these two conditions are still here even after the triumph over westernization.
But even though political oppression and economic strangulation preceded them, the Islamists are the natural leaders of the Muslim World. And as such, it is incumbent upon them find a solution for this problem. But so far success has eluded them.
The Muslim peoples are rich in both human and natural resources, and they control some of the most precious commodities in the world. So if the Muslims get to the point where they can effectively utilize their resources and markets, and use their selling power and buying power strategically, not only will they advance their economies, not only will they become masters of their own fate, but they will effectively become one of the real powers of today’s world.
But to get to that point, first certain reformist policies such as accountability, transparency, freedom of the press, fighting corruption and nepotism, must be implemented. And to get a real accountability, you would need to have a free and fair election, and peaceful transference of power. And to get to peaceful transfer of power, of course, you have to have a democracy! Even though few mindless Islamists would claim Islam and democracy are not compatible, the overwhelming majority of Islamists support the democratization of the Muslim and the Arab world.
However there is one problem: The democratization of the Arab World in NOT allowed!
By whom, of course, by the West. That is why even though democracy spread to the rest of the world, the entire Arab World is kept under dictatorship. Under a key and a lock!
This is the question that is facing the Islamists: How to solve the issues of political oppression and economic strangulation, while the road to democracy is completely blocked? This question has become a puzzle for the Islamists, because they really have no clue on how to tackle this issue. For more than 20 years, the Islamists have been sitting at the gate of the blocked democracy, and there is no indication they are getting any closer to finding solution. Is there a solution for this problem? Of course there is.
Every problem in the world has a solution. It is only matter of searching and finding the proper solution. If your enemy blocked your effort and placed you in box, it is incumbent upon you to come up with a strategy that is much stronger than his, and nullify all his schemes. But if you are afraid of trying new and bold initiatives, may be you are destined to be standing at the gate forever!
Looking ahead:
Despite all the mayhem that our people and our country went through, I believe the daybreak for Somalia is just around the corner. I believe not only our people will come together and rebuild our country, but I strongly believe Somalia will be a leading member, if not actually, the leader of the coming African Renaissance. But regardless of whether Somalia becomes a leading member or the leader of the African Renaissance, or whether she just manages to put the Somali house in order, there are and there will be some challenging problems and issues that the future Somali government must wrestle with. Here I would like to put for discussion two of the most intractable problems facing Somalia and its people and they are:
1—Discriminati on against certain Somali tribes and groups.
2—The Qaat epidemic.
The discrimination is of course based on myth, superstition and legends. But it is real and horrifying to those the mistreatment was subjected to for no fault of their own. Perhaps one of the rare silver-linings in the destruction of our country is that, since so many Somalis migrated to the West and experienced how wrong and awful it is to be discriminated against, we can finally put our efforts together to put an end to this inhuman treatment of our brethren.
So in the nutshell, I present this question for discussion. How to tackle the issue of discrimination against certain Somali groups in Somalia and how to put an end to it?
The Qaat epidemic is one of the most destructive issues facing our country perhaps as destructive as clanism, if not actually worse.
How to minimize the damage that Qaat inflicts on the Somali people, and how best to eliminate it gradually?
Any ideas?
Mohamed Heebaan
Email: mohamed19456@hotmail .com
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