I agree with Ameena and say you are rite sista Waris is ceeb to all Somalis and I dont like even to hear her name I would not say she does that because she is reer baadiye but because she lack any self-esteem infact she is the lowest person on this earth. I was horrified to see her sitting in front of television in a daylight attacking her father calling him words that I cannot mention it. But worst came when she was asked how old is she her reply "I do not know my age as in common with most Somalis...we were born in baadiye and therefore we do not know our ages..all what we say is a guess" Our nomads in baadiye are not anything near her, indeed they are geeljire in lifestyle but they are the most dignified and would never put their country and people down On the issue of Iman, though I do not agree with her career as a model but I must say that she has the highest respect for her people and her country and I respect her for that

Which book about Ibn Batuta did you read? Is is the original book in which he talks about his whole trip in which he first stayed in Zeila then sailed to Muqdisho to meet the Sultan. It is a detailed book unless you read some few quatation from his writings. There are plenty of writings though most of them are in Arabic languages since the writers both Arabs and Somalis wrote in Arabic languages

I hope that it will be differen from the previous one but I am more pessimistic than optimistic. We all know the background of most African leaders and that they are not there with the will of their citizens. Furthermore, most of those leaders are yes-men to their former colonial masters and have to obey whatever cost otherwise they are out of the space. untill Africa gets patriotic leaders things will not change

I disgree brother Nurudin with you; you are partially right to say that we did not have a written Somali then But there were many other languages that is used to write. For example in Europe also there werent many people who could write and had access to the education. Only clergymen and aristocrats could read and write. While this era was the golden age for muslims but in Europe was in the contrary and they refer it as the dark ages. Coming back to the issue of Somali history; there are many written transcrpits about Somalia which dates back to the 3500 BC. For example Chinese manuscripts are mentioned in Somalia as an important commercial centre as it imported ivory, cloths and spices. Also Hatsepshut who was the first Pharaoh queen established close commercial links with northern coast of Somalia. After the spread of Islam, Horn of Africa was the first place outside Arabian Peninsul that Islam reached before it even spread to the most of the Arabs. Furthermore, Somalia is mentioned in many arabic writing by the most renowned historians, thinkers and philosophers of their time such al-Masudi 935 AD, Al-Bakri 1067 AD, Al-Idris 1154 AD. Ibn Batuta who is not doubt the world's greatest traveller mention in his book When he visited Mogadishu reported seeing cloth being exported from Mogadishu to places as far off as Egypt and China. For the time being I will stop my research here and carry on from there another time insha allah. However if anyone is interested where to read let me know and I will try to suggest to the some of the most informing books. ---------------------------------------- Aduunkaan weerarka ah walaa xoowlaan ka iri

Good topic sista I believe it is allowed to have dogs for only beneficial reasons. For example it is permitted islamically to use dogs for hunting purposes while it is even halal to eat the animals that they hunt. Also the Mailki madham is the nearest madhab that allows the usage of dogs for variety of purposes. To come back to the original point. though I am not a scholar I believe he would come under the category of the usage of beneficial reasons however it would even be better if he (or you) could ask a scholar to get appropriate fatwa Wasalam

Since most of us who use Somaliaonline came to the diaspora at a young age I wonder how many of us do know our history. We all know that we are very well familiar with the histories of the countries we live whether it is Europe or North America. Speaking from my experience, in this country children are thought their history from the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 led by William of Normandy to the present day. I guess most of us are subject of learning similar histories. Off course I believe that learning the histories of other peoples os useful but what worries me sometimes is our lack of knowledge in our own history. I believe that it would be good idea if we use this wonderful website (somaliaonline) for exchanging what we know about our history and enlightening each other of our knowledge. I am sure we have a better history but the problem is that it was not given an academical attention and explored throughouly