Jiinleey! The poem that won the war

[Haaraahur.]

Background:

 

Betrayal

 

1904 the Dervishes suffered a terrible defeat at Jidbale at the hands of the british, which threatened the embryonic movement with annihilation.

 

Prof. Samatar narrates;

 

‘ Early in December, 1903 the Sayid [Mullah] established a strong force in the plain of Jidbale at Nugaal Valley at the north-eastern juncture of the British and Italian Somalilands.

 

The dervishes [had] retreated to this no-man’s land after they were cut off from the access to the Dulbahante-Warsangeli corridor, their traditional recruiting area, by the British and were menaced to the west by a combination of Anglo-Ethopian forces and to the south by a british naval expedition in cooperation with the Italians.

 

The only way out of the blockade was towards the ********* country to the north. But since the Sayyid had earlier incurred the displeasure of Sultan ‘Ismaan Mahmuud of the ******teens, he was not welcome in the latter’s territory.’

 

 

Betrayal

It was at this desperate juncture in the Dervish cause fortunes that ‘a gracious offer came from the Sultan ‘Ismaan Mahmuud, inviting the Sayyid to retreat the eastern ********** country under nominal Italian protection.

 

The British continued to cause the Mullah further headache by pressing their fellow imperialists , via diplomatic channels, to lean on their protected ********** chieftains. Giulio Pestalozza, Italy’s consul-general at Aden and chief envoy to the Somalias, in turned threatened the ********** with something he could only ignore at his peril – naval bombardment.

 

At the aghastly prospect of seeing his thriving coastal towns being reduced to smoldering ashes [as had happened many times before] by the long range heavy guns of the Italian warships plying waters of the Indian ocean, Osman Mahmud hurried to make war on the fleeing Dervishes as soon as they entered his territory. The Dervishes fought back with their last reserves of strength

 

To top the Mullah’s mounting troubles, ‘400 of his own ******** clan deserted [him]. Faced with hostility on all sides, deprived of livestock [and livelihood], his few survivors diminishing by the day, the Sayyid became a fugitive, and it seemed that the Dervish cause was on the verge of collapse.

 

At this point the Sayyid turned to his last resource, to the power of his mouth. The enemy defeated him in the battle-field but the Sayyid [latter] defeated them by his mouth!

 

According to Prof. Sa’d Samatar, ‘The clans are said to have become ‘disgusted’ and ‘horrified’ by turns at the dishonourable treatment of the Sheikh, a fellow Muslim and kinsman, was accorded… [And] a cry of shame was heard in the country.

 

For although many a great many Somalis had learned by bitter experience to hate and fear the Sayyid, the Sheikh’s charisma, his claim to supernatural powers, and the tacit conviction among most Somalis that he was in fact fighting the cause of Allah against an infidel power, instilled reverence in the minds of people.

 

Traditional scholars relate how clans were so shamed on hearing the heart-rending ‘Jiinley’ [which one scholar aptly calls ‘The lament of a kinsman’] and the Mullah’s frightful plight recounted, that they hurried to make amends.

 

‘Many of the ******** who who had earlier deserted him’, according to

Sa’d Samatar returned to him.

 

It is also said that ‘Ismaan Mahmuud faced rebellion by his morally affronted subjects. Reportedly, he sought to propitiate the Sayyid by proposing to marry his daughter his own daughter to him.

 

A year later when the Italian envoy G. Pestalozza visited the Mullah at his base at Illig, the Dervish leader seemed to his Italian visitor to be the best of health and prosperity and did not seem to be lacking in either manpower or material wealth.

 

So the Mullah’s self-serving arguments must have been ‘truly persuasive’, in Sa’is Samatar’s words

 

 

Jiinley

 

O Hussein there is no need to speak in riddles

As you are my playmate and confidant.

Only you remained by my side, while the ignorant fled.

Only you did not forsake me for the Janhoy.

Who cleverly stole my kinsmen from me.

He who does not harry the infidel

Belongs to the bowels of Hell,

That he [they] are destined for Jahanama

Is a certain as the word of God, by which I swear.

 

It was you, my comrade, who saddled by camel for me in the hour of despair;

while the rest deserted me for the English general.

 

As I spread the mat of prayer in worshipful meditation,

As I joined the other worshippers in the hour

of the Juma prayer in my Harun

 

As anything I desired was instantly brought to me-

 

A trickster has deprived me of my Johorad.

[For] I am a careless, and even a reckless man

who would not hesitate to scale a dangerous mountain

 

I am like a wild and stubborn he-camel

that knows no harness or bridle.

 

The chatter of the [deceitful] *********

Sounded like a welcoming jingle to my [trusting] ears

 

I was made curious to find out the meaning of that deceptive message.

[For] it must have been my to travel that weary way,

to traverse the forbidding jungle,

with its thorn-bushes, home for poisonous snakes.

 

How many times have I resumed my weary trek

in the dead of night [for fear of falling behind]

to brave perilous pitfalls [for lack of better sight]

and precipitous mountain paths;

how often have my wary senses detected

the stealthy motion of a man-eating lion,

stalking from close behind

[as I groped my way trough the engulfing darkness]…

 

How many times have I jumped in the nick of time

to avoid fatal fangs of a venomous snake

And how often a time have I actually stepped,

though miraculously escaping, on a coiled adder

 

And how many times have I heard the deadly ‘swish’

of a deadly snake as it slithered by me;

 

How many a night have I tossed and turned,

Sleeplessly, for the aches and pains of my journey

How often have I moaned in pain as

my stiff limbs refused to bend

 

How often have I swallowed hard [on my saliva]

to ease my pain in my parched throat

 

This much I would have not suffered,

had not a tantalizing message come to me from a sultan

 

Nor would I have sought the [alien] sea;

I would have happily remained where I was,

had he [the sultan] not implored me to come.

 

It was the boundless I bore for him

that compelled me to seek this sordid sea…

 

Now, I can only look to God for my just recompense.

 

Xuseenow jigraar lama hadlee jaalkay baa tahaye,

Adaan iga jadeer wicin markuu Jaahilkii didaye,

Jaanhooy adaan qaban markuu jiitay gacalkaaye.

Ragga gaalo jeefaafi waa ehel jaxiimaade,

Jahannama inay gelahayaan waygu jaamaca e,

Adaa jamalka soo raray markay janan u guureene.

Sagal jiidan caad jilicsaniyo jarar hillaacaaya.

Onkod jow leh daad soo jirmaday jahada oo xiintay,

Jowjowlihii xalay sidii jibin u guuxaayey,

Sidii jaawo dhane loo shubaan jeelka ka bi'ine,

Waxaan kugu jalbeebinahayaa jow*****i gabaye,

Jawiskayga maqal caawa waan jalalabaayaaye.

Anigoo jalaalada dhigtoo diinta jibanaaya,

Anigoo jameecada galoo jaarrun xaruntayda,

Anigoo wixii aan jantaba jimic la siiyo.

Jaanjaani baa iga khatalay johoraddaydiiye,

Hawo nimaan ka jigan baan ahoo jiiro dheer koriye,

Waxaan ahay nimaan jare aqoon sida jaguug awre.

Jawaabtii ********** kolkay jalawdii ii yeedhay,

Inaan joro ku sii dhaho hadday igaga jeebnaatay,

Jiidaha Ilaahay haddii la igu jeeraarshey.

Xaga jiqa jaleefaniyo qurac, jinow wax heeraaya,

Jiqtoolaha galooliyo sarmaan jarafku xiimaayo,

Jimbac surad leh, jiiqo isku baxay, jiica iyo siiqda,

Jillab xanafle jowdheer qallalan, jabi xanuun weyn leh,

Jirma qodax leh, jiiqjiiq wax mudi jeerin iyo yooco,

Jirda badan jiroon iyo qaroon, jaaluf iyo seeri.

Jafka hawka guuraha waxaan jar iska xooraayey,

Wuxuu jeeni calafow libaax igu jibaadaayey,

Raadkaan ku jiillaa wuxuu daba jadeemaayey,

Jilbis halaqa iyo good waxaan jaanta kala booday,

Wixii aan ku joogsaday abees jilifle oo duuban,

Maska jirirqleeyaa wuxuu jiiris igu dhaafay,

Jambareera dhicidii waxaan jiifka qaban waayey,

Hadba jimicsi iyo taah waxaan jilibka soo laabay,

Jidiindhowga qabatoon waxaan jiilka rogi waayey,

Waxaan jiidha waaberi kacoo jalafsadoo luuday,

Jarmaadada aroortii waxaan juhul madoobaaday,

Waxaan dhegaha jawgii ka baxay jibindhow moodaayey,

Wixii aan jajuub galay, waxaan jawray badankeyga,

Rabbi baygu jeefaye wxaan jululay ruuxayga,

Jaldhanka iyo baahida waxaan jalaqa heemaarshey,

Haddaan boqor jawaab iiga iman bad uma jeeleene,

Jeclaantaan u qabay baan jaankii badihiiye,

Jirku ima xanuuneen hadduu joog i leeyahaye,.

Jeer baa Ilaah ii qadaray jiirahaan maraye,

Jiidaha in meel loogu wado jaahil baan garane,

Waxse igu jirrabay waa ninkii jookha ii lulaye.

 

Jasadayda Eebbaan ka helin taloba waa jeere.

[xiinfaniin]

Jasadayda Eebbaan ka helin taloba waa jeere.

 

Nin diimeed hadalki soow maaha.

[Pujah.]

Does anyone know where I can find or order Buuga Daraawiishta, I used to own it and loved but lost it few years ago. I am actually looking for the somali version.....some how I can appreciate it better when its written in our mother tongue.

[Pujah.]

Does anyone know where I can find or order Buuga Daraawiishta, I used to own it and loved but lost it few years ago. I am actually looking for the somali version.....some how I can appreciate it better when its written in our mother tongue.

[Xoogsade]

I bought the Somali version(Diiwaanka Gabayada Sayidka) from one of the Local Halal somali shops. I also bought the Yibir of Las Burgabo by Mahmoud gaildon as well from there. Just ask the cashier even if you don't see the book on display. They have the tendency sometimes to keep it out of view unwittingly. Good luck.

[Som@li]

Jiqtoolaha galooliyo sarmaan jarafku xiimaayo,

Jimbac surad leh, jiiqo isku baxay, jiica iyo siiqda,

Jillab xanafle jowdheer qallalan, jabi xanuun weyn leh,

Jirma qodax leh, jiiqjiiq wax mudi jeerin iyo yooco,

Jirda badan jiroon iyo qaroon, jaaluf iyo seeri.

Jafka hawka guuraha waxaan jar iska xooraayey,

 

Jiinleey,on of Sayid's best poems,as there are lots of admirers for SAYIDS POEMS, i considering of recollecing the Sayid's poems into a new book, hope it will sell as hot cake.

[Xoogsade]

I like the poem "Dardaaran". Makes one feel sorry for him and proud at the same time that in the annals of somali history, there was a man who stood tall and refused to sell his soul and country. He wasn't perfect man but the best somalis ever had(after gurey) and will ever have(may be).

[Haaraahur.]

^ Dardaaran (The will) is one of a kind.