Imported Islam

[Ms DD]

Salaam aleykum

 

Many times I have read that the Islamic Courts imported different Islam to Somalia. But as far as i am aware no one has defined the aspects of Islam that was imported nor have they explained how it differs from the one Somalis previously practised.

 

Do these people have a legitimate concern or is it case of reluctance in abandoning their forefather's practices.

 

This is not a political post.

[Abu-Salman]

Many of the courts' detractors are oblivious of basic Islamic teaching, ethics or even the most fundamental principle of Tawhid as can be expected from Western influenced minds; hence their whole paradigm vis-a-vis humankind raison d'etre and priorities is corrupt.

 

Have you not noticed how many incoherences, intellectual dishonesty and typical Western stereotypes, besides their utter ignorance of Islam, they display in their writings?

 

Little wonder then that they mock regularly the Tawhid fundamentals depicted as "Wahabism" according to neo-cons and Christians extremists terminology.

 

Frankly, one can hardly be in a more desperate situation, not knowing what he believes in, what he talks about and what are his priorities and how to achieve them...

[AYOUB]

^^^It may come as a surprise, but, the term "wahaabi" has been used by some Somalis to portray some "wadaads" - decades before the present neo-cons . Here Casayr Cali using the term more that 60 yrs ago.

Wadaadyohow magaalada adaa, waalayoo rogiye

Weli baannu kuu haysanniyo, Waalli soo degaye

Wacdaan adiga kaa eegayiyo, waano aakhiro'e

Wareer gelisey uunkii sidaad, tahay Wahaabkiiye

Is waraarintaada iyo qoortanaad widhif ka siinayso

Wanaag adiga waa kula tihiyo, war iyo moog-mooge

"Wadaadyohow" - Casayr Cali Aadan

 

 

It all boils down to vested interests - be they political or financial because most out-spoken critics of the "wadaads" are people with a lot to loose.

I've only ever met one person who had some negative experience of "wadaad" rule who expressed legitimate fear of their rule. He claimed to have witnessed some behaving like Saudi "morality police" when they took over Gedo in the 1990's.

 

Personally, I haven't seen or heard something to scare me off yet, but who knows what's around the corner?

[Blessed]

Salaams,

 

This is an odd little topic. I'd ask people who make such claims to tells us when has anything Islamic come about as a result of an intellectual effort at local level?

 

All the Islamic methodologies from sufism to 'wahabiya' and all that's in between, past, present and I dare say future have been and will continue to be imported!

 

Any concerned Muslim would question the validity of the Islamic practices that are pravelant and those that are supposedly being introduced in light of the Quran and sunnah.. and take it from there!

[Caano Geel]

AYOUB_SHEIKH, I completely agree with you, and your point on incentives.

Maybe i'm pessimistic, but who ever rules will rule on some set of incentives, what those are who knows.... what we can be sure of is that they are aligned with their pay masters.

 

wrt to wahabism, lets not confuse political ideology with religion. Its refered to as wahabism, because it conveys as certain type of thinking. It has supporters and defectors, and you cannot say it value, with out looking at what those at top have to gain. The usual reason for the saudi-somali wahabism argument used to be influence and access to resources, i.e. put your people, in power, they support u're interests. Do you see that as a problem... depends on what you have t loose

 

For me though there are two problems with all this (1) the revisionist ideology and is its focus on rediscovery. i.e. they were right in the past. Sometimes this is true, most of the time is says more about disenfranchisement with society and given somalia's current state, rightly so.

 

(2) the idea that thoughts are set in stone, and societies are constant and never changing and so their rules must be cast iron....

 

Hey, the evangelists pioneered it with their african runs (how many devout african evangelists have you seen compared to whites..),

 

so why cant the muslims use it 'ey..

[Nur]

Cambaro sis

 

Word has it that Siad Barre summoned many Sheikhs during his adoption of Marxisim - Lenninism campaign, aka Sceintific Socialism.

 

Siad Barre said that the Islam that is being practiced by the wadaads is not in tune with the Somali culture, therefore he asked them to prepare a new version of domestic consumption Islam.

 

The attendees, some of whom may still be alive to verify this strange occurance even said that the President asked them to write a new Quraan instead of the IMPORTED Quraan from Arabia.

 

 

Cambaro sis

 

Ironicaly, the Isam we practice today in Somalia is indeed imported, not from Arabia, its from the Heavens, landed initially in Makkah, then carried to Somalia on hearts of pious men and women, for your happiness in the next life and the current.

 

 

Nur

[Caano Geel]

Nur, what about the islam our parents, grandparents and ancestors practiced in their day, where was that imported from?

[Nur]

Caano Geel bro.

 

You ask:

 

Nur, what about the islam our parents, grandparents and ancestors practiced in their day, where was that imported from?

 

 

Precisely brother, the Islam we want applied is our great grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grandfathers Islam.

 

You see, we have A SLIGHT DIFFERENNCE, You want to go back couple of generations back only, as that may expediently fit your current taste, on the otherhand, we are trying to go back all the way to the time of the Prophet SAWS to relearn and re-apply the authentic form of Islam again.

 

Why?

 

Well, as an analogy, Communications Engineers use repeaters to strengthen a weak signal during transmission, there are many protocols to rebuild a fainting signal back to its original and most accurate waveform so it can deliver the true meaning the transmitter intended.

 

Similarly, Hydraulic Engineers also guide water from mountains and wells to housing projects and reservoirs using gravity, but they make sure that there are pumps in these canals to regulate water flow, while at the same time filtering the impurity that water picks up on its downstream course, so we drink pure clean water.

 

Likewise Saaxib, Islam is being delivered once more with the original purity, reconstructing the original message using a host of Islamic scineces known as Cilmul Xadiith, Jarx wa Tacdiil, Maqaasidul Shariiacah, Fiqhul Usuul, etc...the problem is that people used to drinking dirty water have hard time gulping pure water, it takes time to get used to, but rest assured we are patient, soon , you too Caano Geel, will enjoy the same original taste inshAllah.

 

 

Nur

[Ms DD]

Salaam aleykum

 

Caano Geel: You have raised very valid question there. The Islam our parents/granparents were practising has evolved over the centuries. Many local cultures were fused with Islam and it became something different to Islam alltogether. I recall speaking to my uncle. I saw him shaking the hand of a lady. I told him that wasnt accepted in Islam. he replied "our generation have been doing this year and now you want to change Islam". I told him that this was Islam. All this hugging and shaking hands were frowned upon. He couldnt accept it. Same with grandparent. They are set in their ways. Now many of us are learning Islam from books and from our scholars. We have different of opinions. We can no make informed decision as we have access to Islam in its purity. This is what they call imported Islam. Nowadays you can not say to some people "please stop going to siyaaro and sacrifing for sheekhs". You are called extremist and inaad wax cusub la timid.

[Caano Geel]

Thank you nuur iyo cambarro. So we can accept that:

 

1. the way islam is practiced today has evolved over the years.

 

2. that some have concluded that the current state is no longer satisfactory and it needs to be changed.

 

 

So my questions then are:

 

1. Why should the current change be seen as any different to all that have come before it?

 

If we assume that those people that come before us practiced in good faith, and adapted to their need and knowledge, then why is practice any less worthwhile. Conversely what makes the current revival worthwhile.

 

2. If the aim to go back, how do you distinguish religion from the cultures that you find references in?

[N.O.R.F]

CG,

 

One must always be optimistic/hopeful of getting things right. Getting the principles right will lead to a more harmonious coexistence (at least that’s what is hoped for). However, getting a population with a clan system and mentality (whereby the clan always comes first) to adhere to true Islamic practices is a very difficult task indeed. Perfecting the perfect religion is never easy but throw in Somalis and their mentality as well, then your task has just become a lot harder.

 

Not one nation has what I would call a truly Islamic state. The Arab countries like to think they have but that can be easily rebuffed.

 

We are always in search of a perfect legal and governmental framework and Somalia is the new front.

[Caano Geel]

North,

That's just it. the search, and it goes well beyond government/administrative format. the perfect religion exists in many forms from Turkey to China, each adhering to a common faith and each infusing it with its local dilect.

 

Now do these perfect forms all agree? Well they all agree to the basic tenants of worship. Pretty much everything else is up for debate.

 

So how we choose between them, why must we choose between them and on what basis.

[Johnny B]

Good cincere questions there CG.

 

Despite the surrouding reality of Islam ( the evolved one, the old one and the yet to come ones ) beeing really imported to the Somalis.

 

Sheikh Nur's hint of heavenly Islam and Mecca barely as a spot undermines the real identity of Islam to be imported in the first place, a Religion that in turn imported alot from Christianity and Judaism ,blended with the Arabic Badouin culture to tease a sneazing of a delicious theological Muffin in Arabic, targetting the arabic culture of 7th Century at first hand.

 

If we hold that as it is , then that Islam really is RE-imported will have a wider perspective, seen in that light that is.

 

That the new Somali 'Wadads' claiming to have gone back to the real pure Islam, "reconstructing the original message" as Sheikh Nur puts it and Cambarro agrees with , is a missleading righteousness at best and a futile attempt at beeing a better Importer to be exact.

 

I've always wondered the chances of the early Somali Pagans to import from the sources of the sources, namely Judaism .

[N.O.R.F]

I believe its easy to achieve so long as everyone knows what being a Muslim entails. But thats where the problem lies. The lack of knowledge and practice of deenul Islam. It all goes back (as Nur pointed out) to adhering to the Quraan and Sunnah. We are too busy calling each other names to concentrate our efforts in restoring 'Islam'.

 

There can never be a nation/people who are fully in agreement but having the right framework will help immensely.

 

Now do these perfect forms all agree? Well they all agree to the basic tenants of worship. Pretty much everything else is up for debate.

 

So how we choose between them, why must we choose between them and on what basis.

But what are the tenets of faith? Is it only in our daily prayers that we would call 'faith' and all agree on? What about having patience, having good manners, not stirring trouble, are they not tenets of faith?

 

Again, going back to the Sunnah and conducting ourselves in the best way possible (we already have an example) is the only way. That is the choice we have to make on an individual level and then on a govnt/admin level.

[Ms DD]

Hello JP

 

See..I had a tuhun, and this post above just confirmed it for me. You are neither Somali nor a Muslim...am i correct? Please forgive me if i got it wrong or if i am being too personal.

 

 

Originally posted by J B:

 

Sheikh Nur's hint of heavenly Islam and Mecca barely as a spot undermines the real identity of Islam to be imported in the first place, a Religion that in turn imported alot from Christianity and Judaism ,blended with the Arabic Badouin culture to tease a sneazing of a delicious theological Muffin in Arabic, targetting the arabic culture of 7th Century at first hand.

If one puts it like that, then it would make Islam a whole seperate deen. There was ever one messege from God. I know that i dont need to explain this but all these Abrahamic religion had one source. One was the continuation of the one before in its purer form. So one can be forgiven in thinking that it was imported and fused with the Arab paganism.

 

If i give you an example: Normally the orientalists point out that Hajj was a pre-islamic pagan ritual. Yes, Hajj pilgrimage was in existence prior to the appearance of Nabi Muhammad (on whom be peace). The Hajj worship came into existence among the Arabs during the time of Nabi lbraheem (on whom be peace). From this angle it will be correct to conclude that the Hajj of the present-day Muslims "is of an earlier pre-Islamic congregation". By "pre-Islamic" will mean the era prior to the advent of Muhammad (on whom be peace).

While the actual worship of Hajj among the Arabs came into existence during the time of Nabi lbraheem (on whom be peace), the Arabs who later abandoned the true religion of lbraheem (on whom be peace) introduced many pagan and idolatrous rites into the Hajj pilgrimage.

 

Sorry to digress but I had to connect the dots for you JB .

 

 

Originally posted by J B:

If we hold that as it is , then that Islam really is RE-imported will have a wider perspective, seen in that light that is.

Islam was imported to Somalia. That is for sure. I also can not tell you in the form it was imported originally. Whether we had purer form or a one that already evolved. But now we have no excuse in identifying the true messege that God intended for us, shown to us by the best example of Mohamed (pbuh). Many Somalis back home need t be aware and study their deen in order to filter the cultural Islam from the Islam of the prophet (saw).

 

Originally posted by J B:

That the new Somali 'Wadads' claiming to have gone back to the real pure Islam, "reconstructing the original message" as Sheikh Nur puts it and Cambarro agrees with , is a missleading righteousness at best and a futile attempt at beeing a better Importer to be exact.

To be honest, I am not talking about the waddaads per se. I am talking about those people who claim that Somalia isnt in need of an imported Islam. That what our forefathers have practised is sufficient. You dont have to look further from these boards to notice that the terms 'gardheer, surwaalgaab' are used in a derogatory manner. Havent they read the seerah of the Nabi (as) and his companions (ra)? This is not being a better importer than others but the quality of the Islam that imported based on the Quran and Sunnah.