Latif (xuska9 LOOOOOOOOOOL@ganacsade- I thought I was dulaal! Xuseen moalin; xersi; the reed siid dynasty in mandera, fartaag; affey etc are somalis who opted to sleep with the enemy. To me they represent a bunch of people who were hired by the kenyan colonial government. I think we have had some progressive leaders; Ogle; cabdi khalif; biloow kerow; shacban, keinan etc- but what could they do when colonial kenya reacted to their every move to better things. Yes, I would love to rejuvinate a shifta movement; a peaceful one: somalis in the NFD and in down kenya have no commonalities with kenya. If you have been to kenya, you would have witnessed how somalis are treated in that country.

Ogun, a good description; but you forgot to add the hyenas. These are semi-warlords or warlords in the making. Hyenas have been living off the carcasses; are mainly below 40; and all they can is murder. later...

Somalia does not need people; but I think it is the people that need it. I think most of us are not aware of the magnitude of the problem facing somalis back home in somalia! To them any kind of a rule is a solution; dictatorship, petitioning, theocracy; munaafuq rule; etc. I peronally think that Nuradiin has the potential to make a good president: he was a victim of the afweyne era, did not participate in the civil war; has the intellectual grasp; famous outside somalia; condemns the concept of tribalism etc.

Dr. Che (not from bolivia but from somalia) waan gartay!

Kheyre, saaxib, I never thought that you could be so dogmatic. The quran and the hadith stipulate the items, things, actions etc that are xaraam. Although I agree that common sense prevails when it comes to new phenomena (including the use of cig)- and which renders it xaaram, what I am puzzled at is people jumping to conclusions. I have asked several muslim scholars about this issue and most of them are divided as to the penalty it carries. AND MIND YOU ALMOST ALL OF THEM ARE NON_SMOKERS! A majority of them take a prudent position and here is their message; "Anything that harms the individual, society etc could be xaaram". "There is no question that it is kiraahe, but only allah judges- and therefore, we can not equate tobacco with pork, alcohol" etc.

Some late breaking news; Nuradin farah although shortlisted for a fourth year running did not get the nobel prize in literature. It went to another african, south african born writer "Coetze".

In essence; smoking is xaaram; anyone who smokes is a sinner......he/she would burn in hell! Driving at 200KM/hour is xaaram ; you end up in hell! Is it that simple??????

Baashi, saaxib laakin qof waliba oo qoraa ah, wuxuu isticmaala imagination- points of references, theories etc. Tusaale, haddii aad qoreysid paper ku saabsan "microeconomics" waad isticmaalaysaa tusaale ribo........haddii aad qoreeysid mid cilmi nafsiga ahna Freud iyo gaalada kale.

Let me get this; abaayo, are you leaving the forums because some people wrote things you don't like? what do you mean by unislamic? Come on people, who would visit a site that is home to people with the same kind of opinion? differing opinions is not neccessarily a bad thing- nor is it unislamic to question religious statements.

Ogu.. an "aposate" to lead somalia? well, to be honest I really don't care who rules somalia as long as peace is established. Most somalis in somalia don't have the luxury of choice!

Waryaahe kii boodboode ahaa maxaa haaysta1

Ogun, I have also met Nuradin in Stockholm a few years ago- read some of his books. You are right about the contents of his books- it contains as most novels do a language that could not be "incompatible" with islam. You are also right about the comparison with Leopold Singor; But I think you are wrong in writing that he has "a western" mentality. His books are fictional and perhaps have nothing to do with his ability to lead a nation!

Opinion..... you raise an important point. I think most scholars give the impression that they are trying intepret devine words, while in the actual sense they pass on decisions! I am confused!

salaama, you could buy the book "The invention of somalia" on amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0932415989/avsearch-bkasin-20/002-6600654-5700020 p.s it is not the reinvention- but invention of somalia.

Rahiima; I think Nuradin is not westernized. He has spent most of his life in africa (India, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana and south africa) where he taught at universities. He might not be interested in becoming a president in somalia- I doubt that a man of his calibre would want to engage in politics. But I think we should think of anything that would salvage the sinking ship (somalia). Boqolson, sheikh aden sh cabdullahi and sheikh maxamed macalin are all dead- (I have a tape of sheikh boqolson- a great man- who condems tribalism- in the cassette he says that somali clans are not the ones that ALLAH mentioned in the quran). we have many religious leaders in somalia (but in my opinion many of them have not freed their minds from the cancer of tribalism). In xamar, for instance, sheikh cali introduced islamic courts; these were very popular in the early stages when the somalis thought that judgement would be passed on those responsible for criminal acts. The courts succeeded in cutting the hands of petty thieves (most of them stole to feed their families); spared warlords; stoning; lashes on cultural figures including aw kuku for setting a play....... most those sentenced during the reign of this terror were people from one particular tribe. In all over somalia, the wadaads are in the forefront to enhance their various tribes. They are quite when attrocities are committed- loud when their tribes are attacked. what we need is a somali who has an emancipated brain- and I think Nuradin poses such a brain!

Sagal, so you are basically saying that SMOKING IS XAARAM? That I could end up in hell with murderers, peadophiles, gaalos, munaafuqiin etc! Sister isn't this a rather drastic thing to say? I thought islam is a religion that tends not to be politically correct. Because the so called research on smoking is driven by political correctness and not enough scientific data! Brother Nuur, shed some light on this issue which has shaded my lungs!

Waaq- your name reminds me of a man called waaqo-guuto what is it that you don't understand saaxib? The message I wanted to get across was the double standards of our people. They are good at calling "others" gaalo, while some of our own practices could be described as "Gaalosim".

Mizz Unique, I admire Karl the man Marx for his philosophical views. Unfortunately, many politicians including Siad Barre; Stalin and subsequent soviet leaders, Kim Il sung and others have used his principles to oppress masses- they called it scientific socialism. Marxism according to Marx might not have anything to do with communism!

Malaika, the warlords would certainly not even accept the prophet! They would love to see somalia in shatters. That way they know they would make money and power. If you are going to read Nuradin's book, I would reccomend "a naked needle" which i think was his first book. It is a romantic thriller, with political and social ingrediaces!

Ibtilo is mucjiso, cajiib, yaab yaabkisa!

Ameenah, I don't recall the name of the editor. It was a book containing several articles by somali scholars. I remember the names of a few contributes; Kuusow, Jimcale, Mohamed haji mukhtar.

Salaama somalis; why don't we do as the Czech republic after the overthrow of communism and elect Nuradiin farah as president. below is an article about this author who I hope would be granted the nobel prize in litterature this year (I have nominated him to the nobel committee) Betty Caplan Nairobi Every country seems to have its own bete noir. For the Kenyan, he is the Somali. If there are illegal arms, it is because Somalis trade in them; if there is cattle rustling on the border, again they are blamed. But they are a tough, resilient people, resistant even to the US which got a bloody nose when it tried to intervene in 1993 and lost 18 soldiers. Somalia remains a deeply troubled and directionless country. All the more reason, then, to hear a different viewpoint. Yet when Somali-born author Nurrudin Farah recently gave a lecture at St Andrews, Nairobi, organised by the Ford Foundation and well-publicised in advance, not one of his books was on sale. Although he is a writer of world repute and winner of prestigious awards like the 1998 Neudstadt International Prize for Literature, said to be almost as coveted as the Nobel, local bookshops mounted no displays of his works either. Recipients of Ford Foundation grants were present in force as was Nairobi's community of "glitterati". Imagine how many books would have been sold! Like manna from Heaven for hungry intellectuals, his lecture "Africa and the Ten Commandments" was particularly timely, not only because the peace talks have just resumed here, but also due to Nation journalist Farida Karoney's excellent series of articles and TV programmes about the country which aroused great interest. Nuruddin Farah was exiled from his homeland for two decades, and a price put on his head as a result of his criticism of the Marxist regime of Mohammed Siad Barre. He was in Rome in 1976 when word that his second novel, A Naked Needle, had been deemed treasonable by the government, reached him. Sitting in a friend's apartment, he decided that "if I couldn't go back home, then I would systematically make the rest of Africa my country." He has written two major trilogies: Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship, and Blood in the Sun, as well as several works of non-fiction like Yesterday, Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali Diaspora, which includes interviews with refugees in Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Sweden. He now lives in Cape Town with his Nigerian wife, Amina Mama, who is director of the Gender Studies Institute at the University of Cape Town, and their two children. What was particularly exciting was the power and fluency of his English, and despite the title, his utter refusal to preach. His attitude, unusual for such a successful writer, was one of humility. Though he has not lived in Somalia for 23 years, he has never ceased to write about it and his perspective is all the clearer for its long-sightedness. After all, he is in a long tradition of literary exiles like Joseph Conrad, Samuel Beckett, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and James Joyce who, Farah informed us, went back to Ireland only once and that was to bury his mother. The picture of Somalia he paints is, like Farida Karoney's, one of terrifying anarchy co-existing with surprising pockets of normality. "It is not a clan conflict," he claims; because of the lawlessness, there is no real way of finding out, but his sense is that it is due to social injustice. Peace talks should be taking place in Mogadishu, not Naivasha. Yet, despite the chaos, 15 newspapers are published in Mogadishu. He contrasted this situation with neighbouring Ethiopia where the press is not free to speak about the mis-management that leads the country to beg for food time and again, giving it a pitiful image on the world stage. Where there is democracy, there is no famine. Why did coups d'etat go on happening even into the 21st century? he was asked. Because there are chronic shortages of basic necessities and people are not at liberty to express themselves. Switzerland does not have coups: where the government delivers, people don't demand change. His themes are those of the modern writer: loss, displacement, exile. The lasting pain inflicted by colonial regimes on their subjects and the failure to make reparations. Had Germans ever apologised for the genocide of the Herero people? Jews had been compensated, but not blacks. Had Britain said sorry for its regrettable record? "We are damaged goods, not wanted anywhere. Africa is an alienated territory." However, it is rare, I believe, that any government admits wrongdoing. "Sorry" isn't part of the lexicon. Furthermore, even if it was, what meaning would it have? Only actions to restore inequality would make sense. But it was the plight of Somalis in Kenya that aroused his greatest ire: 1.5 million of his fellow countrymen were being treated as second-class citizens and forced - like the blacks in apartheid South Africa - to carry passbooks. He had even been shocked to find Somalis chained to policemen." "Kenyans are not friendly," he complained, though as an honoured guest, he had of course been welcomed. I couldn't help wondering to myself which country nowadays is eager to receive foreigners? Has xenophobia not become a mark of the human species in the modern age? And where so many are struggling with poverty and illness, is it surprising that they are reluctant to take on the problems of others? Where it is possible to distinguish others as "aliens", is it not convenient to blame them for all our ills? The loss of self-respect and a sense of identity kept re-emerging, yet Farah was careful to stress that tradition, per se, was not necessarily a good thing. "FGM - is that part of our culture? If so, it's not one I'd like to keep." We must retain what is helpful in a changed world. Polygamy and the practice of taking partners from different age and class background did not meet his approval either. "It is hard enough to keep one wife happy," he mused, "let alone six!" We must insist on monogamy and proper sex education so that our children are not frightened by the myths and half-truths that circulate among peer groups. Nuruddin Farah has had to endure many hardships in order to survive as a writer. Forced to cut himself off from his original home and family lest they be persecuted on his behalf, he is dedicated to his work and has been extremely productive. Ms Caplan is an author and freelance journalist.

Salaama, Baashi; I agree 100%. The waan daadshe attitude is not neccessarily a bad thing. Afterall somalis are generally enlighted in world affairs. I have also "capitalised" on the waan daadshe mechanism on several occasions with a huge pay off! Che-gevara; saaxib, I don't want to engage in the age long debate on what is universal "truth". My aim with this piece was not to debate the epistemelogical metaphysics of "truth". You probably misintepreted my response to Bee when I said "observation" (it was a joke). By the way CHE, saaxib, I get this feeling that you love western idealism of "high science". I am not a follower of the weird world of western philosophy

geedi-murux LOl.... some kind of collective nickname change excercise on SOL?

Bee? Holly dameer what has happened to abundance? An element of truth? well, MI NO RAAYT LAAYS! Everything I wrote above is nothing but the truth. these are based on my observations of the waandaadshe nation!