Against the Saudization of Somaliland

[Tony_Montana]

Against the Saudization of Somaliland

By Bashir Goth, a journalist in the Middle East

 

The following article is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Annalena Tonelli, 60, humanitarian worker and founder of hospital and school for the deaf in Borama, Richard Eyeington, 62, headmaster of the Sheikh Secondary School, and his wife Enid, 61, who were all slain in cold blood in Somaliland.

 

 

Recently, I came across news reports on the activities of a group of clerics calling themselves “the Authority for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” trying to impose draconian moral codes on Somaliland citizens in general and residents of the capital Hargeisa, in particular. The following article is therefore, a reaction to this issue. I can ignore, though grudgingly, when such clerics impose dress codes and other punctilious rituals on Somali men and women in the West because these are in the free world where they can express their opinion and seek legal protection against such abuse, but to import this demented thinking to my homeland and the heart of the capital city is quite unbearable to me. I cannot sit back and watch these people humiliate our women, destroy our beautiful culture, hijack our religion and denigrate the reputation of our country worldwide.

 

 

I cannot find a better start than to relate an incident that occurred in my home village, Dilla, 60 miles west of Hargeisa, in the early 1990s. It was Friday and the residents of the little farming village of Dilla, western Somaliland, were looking forward to a normal weekend day. The only worry that the villagers had in mind on such days was the crowds of farmers and nomads that descended on the village to attend Friday prayers, thus swelling population to a breaking point. Fridays, however, were bustling days for business. Teashops and shopkeepers sold more than they could sell for the whole week and mothers had the luxury of abundant choice for milk and ghee from the hordes of countryside men and women coming to sell dairy products to buy weeklong provisions instead. Children also looked forward to special lunches with meat, rice or spaghetti instead of the bland, single menu local hadhuudh (millet).

 

 

The whole village carried an aura of sweetness as the shopkeepers, teashops and mothers all burned frankincense to greet the Islamic weekend, perfumed themselves and adorned the best of their clothes for the Friday sermon.

 

No one had the slightest expectation of how this particular Friday would be any different from the thousands of Fridays that they had lived through. But it was and the people were in the offing of a strange phenomenon that would put the wisdom and patience of villagers, particularly the Ulema (clerics), to unprecedented test.

 

 

After Friday sermon, a man stood up in the mosque to address the worshippers. Everybody knew him. He was the headmaster of the school, a respected man, a dedicated teacher and a devoted Muslim. A man of no vices; he never smoked, never chewed Qat and led an ascetic life away from women and other worldly luxuries. The general guess was that he was going to lecture about the needs of the school or complain about children’s behavior.

 

 

“You all know me,” he said “but what I am going to tell you today is something that you have never expected to hear from me. I am a new prophet”. The people were frozen. The teacher said that he was told by God to reform the Islamic religion and that anyone who believed that Mohammed (PUH) was the last prophet should read the Quran again.

 

 

“It is here,” he emphasized, raising the Quran book that was in hand, “I am not fabricating a new thing. My name is mentioned here in the Quran and all you have to do is to read it carefully.”

 

 

The worshippers left the mosque dumfounded, but the Ulema decided to have a word with the teacher. They had two things in mind, to assess his mental condition and to judge how adamant he was on his claim of prophethood. Founding that he was mentally sound after a few hours of discussions, the Ulema asked him to promise two things only if they had to leave him in peace. First he should not preach his new gospel in the village’s two mosques and second that he should not try to spoil the faith of school children. If he accepted to fulfill these two conditions he was free to do whatever he wanted with his “message”. He accepted the terms. Two years later, the teacher was spotted praying in the mosque and when the Ulema questioned him his answer was that he returned to his faith and had given up his infatuations.

 

 

This is not an imaginary tale. It is a true story that all the people in the area know very well. My point in bringing it up, however, is to raise a question: Imagine this taking place in Saudi Arabia or any other place where Wahhabism or religious extremism prevailed! What the fate of this teacher would have been is anyone’s guess. He would have been hanged mercilessly. However, it is amazing to see how the Ulema of the little farming village of Dilla had dealt with the issue with the sagacity and tolerance that are the long lost faculties of Islam. By simply patronizing the teacher’s claim, they had proven that Islam was too strong and too entrenched in the hearts of people to be shaken by bogus prophets. They also set an excellent example for tolerance and compassion in giving the poor teacher the grace to come back without any fear of reprisal.

 

 

The Ulema of Dilla represented a generation and a time when Islam and the Somali culture lived together in perfect harmony when Islam was natural and neatly interwoven into our people’s social fabric, when being Somali and a Muslim was an indivisible whole. Islam back then was like a crystal glass that takes on the color of any liquid that was poured into it. The crystal was so clear that one could see the inside liquid with unmistakable clarity. It was a time when the message of tolerance and peace prevailed, when Islam meant Islam in the true meaning of the word – submission to God and living in a state of mental and physical peace with others. Islam was a bond between the worshipper and the worshipped; an internal harmony whose radiance reflected on one’s face and was felt in one’s humility and generosity towards his fellow (fallible) human beings.

 

 

Depending on your view of history, since Somalis embraced Islam at the time of the Prophet or shortly after his death, it never clashed with the local culture in terms of clothing, eating and going about their ordinary life. Once it settled in the heart, it made there its home and never bothered about how a person looked on the outside. The guiding principle in worshipping God was measured on one’s purity of heart as the Qur’an says “Qalbun Salim” (soundness of heart) or wa libaasu Ataqwa (“..the raiment of righeousness...”). Consequently a Somali woman would travel with a single man or even a group of men on long trips, spending nights and days in their company with neither the men nor the woman having any sinister thoughts about their togetherness. The heart was clean and nothing else had mattered much. These Somalis were unknowingly abiding with the prophet’s hadith, which says: “Verily in the body there is a piece of flesh. If it is sound, the body is all sound. If it is corrupt, the body is all corrupt. Verily, it is the heart.”

 

 

Somali people continued to wear the qaydar, the dhuug, the Maro Somali, the dhacle and darayamuus, the guntino and Islam was always there where it should belong: to their heart, and not to their clothes. Somali girls had traditionally braided their hair with such style that made foreigners sing their proverbial beauty and Islam lived in perfect amenity with it. Somalis recognized unmarried girls by their uncovered hair “guudley” and married women by their hair cover “gambooley”. This was the time that our traditions and heritage were the identity of the Somali people as expressed so eloquently by one of our lyrics:

 

 

“Reer guurayiyo

 

Gabadh tima tidcani,

 

Waa waxa dhulkeena u gaar ahee

 

La inagu gartaa… “

 

 

One of the aspects to discover the cultural history of any people is to trace the change of fashion in clothing and jewelry in addition to folklore dances and other traditions. Adult Somalis may relish remembering the journey that the Somali attire went through. Islam found Somali men wearing the dhuug and later qaydaar. For the longest time the Somali man was well-known for his acacia-like hair style, his naked torso, and his gunti, covering the private parts of his body up to the knees, his stick tooth brush (cadday), his barkin, and his three piece weapon, bullaawe (dagger), waran (spear) iyo gaashaan (shield), in addition to his gudin iyo hangool. Then came the time when the Somali man adorned himself with laba-go’ (two sheets, one wrapped around the waist and the other thrown on shoulders) before he learned the macawis and garbagale (longie and shirt) and kabo carabi or kabo faranji (Arab and European shoes). It was the colonial powers that introduced the daba-xumeeye (shorts), the surwaal (trousers) and koodh (coat).

 

 

Women’s clothes also went through similar or even more vivid metamorphosis. It went through the maro with the dacle and daraya-muus, the toob-shanan ah (short blouse) and googorad dheer (long skirt) and the daba-gaab (mini-skirt), remember “ninkaan daba-gaabi, daadihinayn, ama aan dibitaati daaya lahayn…” during the colonial time to the Diric and hagoog of modern times. The head cover and the hairstyles also went through similar changes along the lines of other costumes. I remember when Somali girls had fooshad (frontal hair collected together in a ball shape) and were called Fooshadley in late sixties and early seventies, and later when Somali women styled their hair like mountains on their heads. The general belief was that many of them used to place a glass cup on the head and built the hair around it to give them the mountain-like shape that was conspicuous in every major town in the seventies.

 

 

This was, however, in the past when Islam lived in ideal co-habitation with the local culture, when fashion changed according to time and age. This was the time when one could pray occasionally, or never prayed at all, fasted in the month of Ramadan or never fasted at all, made pilgrimage to Mecca or never did at all; but would forever consider oneself a true follower of Islam, knowing that to be a Muslim is a bond between man and God and that one’s faith is not answerable to anyone else. Just mentioning the name of the prophet or singing a religious hymn would bring one to emotional ecstasy; no one ever doubted the truth of their faith, simply because Islam was synonymous with being a Somali. It was not something to show off but something entrenched deep in one’s heart. One didn’t need to advertise the color of one’s faith; one was simply a Muslim and never ceased to be one.

 

 

(The Current Situation

 

 

Nowadays, it is sad to see that perfect co-habitation; that ideal harmony between Islam and Somali culture swept aside by a new brand of Islam that is being pushed down the throat of our people. Wahhabism. Anywhere one looks; one finds that alien, perverted version of Islam that depends on punctilious manners more than it depends on deep-rooted faith. A strange uniformity, only known in the desert and uncreative cultures of Arabia, has crept into the social manners of our people. The unique fashion and identity of our people has changed forever. We have become a people without fashion, without culture and without identity. Our women, whose beauty has allured the eyes of every traveler, have been brainwashed by the prophets of Wahhabism into adorning the black cloak of ignorance. Instead of being native, Islam has become alien and instead of being a faith well guarded in the heart, it has become an outside façade that had to be advertised through strange attire and physical looks; black overflowing cloaks for women and white, ankle-length Arabian gowns and long unkempt beards for men.

 

 

It happened that I was reading a report about the opening of an exhibition on African hairstyles over the centuries in Paris, called “Parures de Tjte (literally, head costumes). The report said that at the Musie Dapper headdresses, masks, statutes and hair accessories, some 100 pieces from tribal groups hailing from approximately 20 countries, show the primordial role of the hair in ancient African societies. It continued to say that given that black people have been perfecting the art of hair since long before Africa wore the political boundaries that it does today, it was probably a natural outcome that their tresses now have an impact on hairstylists the world over. I asked myself, yeah. How much contribution do my people have in this? May be some pictures from the good old days, before modern fanatics reduced Islam into a jealous guardian of Harem’s (women) hair, cheeks, arms, shins, feet, voice and smile.

 

 

It is a pity and anachronistic of sorts to see that at a time when Saudi Arabia, the home of Wahhabism, is reassessing the damage that Wahhabism and extremism had done to their country’s name and to the reputation of Islam all over the world, at a time when “scales fell from the eyes of the Saudis” according to one American official, at a time when the events of Sept. 11 and terrorist explosions in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Morocco, East Africa and other parts of the world have made many Moslems revisit their history and re-read their doctrinal beliefs; that Wahhabism has to find a save-haven in our country.

 

 

Anyone who followed recent press reports from Somaliland would have read that a group of Saudi-oriented clerics, calling themselves the “Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” an offshoot of its Saudi counterpart, has been demanding the enforcement of a draconian rules on what the Somalilanders wear, say and do in their private lives.

 

 

Before we proceed further it may be helpful to have a quick look at Wahhabism and how it is so alien to our culture.

 

 

Wahhabism

 

 

Wahhabism is an austere and closed school of thought promulgated by Mohammed Inb Abul Wahhab Najdi in the 18th century. Discarding Islam’s all four legal schools as corrupted versions, Ibn Abdul Wahhab demanded his followers a confession of faith a second time to Wahhabism. In his attempt to eradicate other schools of thought, Mohammed Ibn Abdul Wahhab conspired with the British for the destruction of the Ottoman Caliphate, which he saw pursuing a decadent and an unethical Sunni Islam as mentioned by one of the British spies in a book titled “Confessions of a British Spy.”

 

 

While traditional Somali religious scholars read all four schools of thought (madahib) with equal respect and an open mind, Wahhabis view the cannons of Islamic jurisprudence and the colossal work of scholarship left by generations after generations of the Muslim Umma as an apocrypha. Hence, the schools of Shafi’i, Hanbali, Hanafi, and HhMaliliki should go with the wind, while the masterpieces of Sufism scholars such as Al Ghazali’s Ihya Ulum ad-Din (The Revival of the Religious science), the most referred book of Islam after the Quran and the Hadith, al-Munqid min ad-Dalal (“the savior from Error”), the Mishkat al-Anwar (“The Niche of Lights”) and Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi’s Alam al-Mithali (Ideal world) are counted by Wahhabism as nothing more than infatuations of demented men.

 

 

“The Wahhabis consider, or previously considered, many of the practices of the generations which succeeded the Companions as bid’ah (“objectionable innovation”),” writes the Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam, Stacy International Cyril Glasse, Second Edition, 1991, not even giving the least thought to Shafi’i’s ingenious classification of Bid’ah into Bid’ah hasanah (“good innovation”) and bid’ah siya’ah (“bad innovation”).

 

 

With tolerance being the norm for all other Madhabs, Wahhabism, is the only school that compels its followers strictly to observe Islamic rituals, such as the five prayers, under pain of flogging, and for the enforcement of public morals to a degree unprecedented in the history of Islam.

 

 

Sufism, however, which was the Somali way of Islam and which Wahhabism condemns as a heresy, reaches out to the heart and good sense of all mankind without distinction. Instead of shunning all other faiths and branding them as bogus religions, Sufism sees all faiths as equally valid, following directly God’s words “wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of God.” Where Wahhabism sows hatred and rancor even among Moslems, Sufism preaches sulh-e kull (universal peace) and Mahabbat e-kull (universal love).

 

 

The most conspicuous foot soldiers of Wahhabism are the moral police known as Mutawi’un, who roam in the streets like riot police and force people to perform rituals or adhere to Wahhabism’s code of decency in dressing and other mannerisms.

 

 

Waking up to the monster that Wahhabism had become, the Saudi Authorities had started cracking down on the religious police. Too little too late, one may say. But at least they are acting at last. Thousands of Mutawi’un have been fired, while other thousands have been sent to re-orientation centers. The curriculum of schools has been revised and Saudi students have started the 2003/2004 academic years with new curriculum that takes the new world that emerged after Sept.11 into account. Saudi children are being re-educated to see human beings as human beings and not as infidels and Wahhabis.

 

 

A Saudi Journalist Turki al-Hamed wrote in the Asharq al-Awsat “Saudi culture belongs to a past age. It is not appropriate for the age of globalization. People’s minds were stuffed with bad concepts.”

 

 

A more blunt criticism came from former Bosnian Interior Minister Mohammed Basic who accused the Saudis of “poisoning our youth” with their teachings (read Wahhabism).

 

 

Wahhabisim’s best example of humanism is “the harsh religious police that forced a group of school girls to their deaths by forcing them to go back to an inferno that had been their school. Their crime? Forgetting the head coverings in their haste to save themselves.” (Time Magazine, 15 Sept. 2003).

 

 

This is the Wahhabism that the Saudi-oriented clerics want to impose on Somaliland. This is the sect that produced 15 of the 19 suicide bombers of Sept. 11. This is the mentality that the Saudis are today taking pains to change.

 

 

It is a closed mind sect that turned Islam into a fragile creed that lives in constant fear of children’s toys and games such as Barbie dolls and Pokemon. It is a school of misinformation and ignorance that rebuked an Egyptian doctor for publishing an article on epilepsy because it challenged against the prophet’s statement that epilepsy was caused by Jinn (look at the September 15, 2003 edition of the Time Magazine).

 

 

It is heart warming though to mention that as I was writing this article, 300 people including 51 women, have submitted a petition to the Saudi Royals, calling on them for a radical reform to tackle the growing extremist Islamic influence.

 

 

Wahhabi encroachments into Somaliland

 

 

This is the brand of distorted Islam that the neo-Muslim clerics want to enforce on our people. They want to tell us that over the LAST 14 CENTURIES, our people have been practicing the wrong religion; that since the dawn of Islam, Somali people had lived in vain, worshipped in vain and died in vain. God help them, they all will be burned in hell because they did not follow the correct path - Wahhabism.

 

 

These people are out to eradicate our culture, our traditions, our songs, our poetry and our folklore dances. They brand our traditional children stories of Diin iyo Dacawo (dawaco), arrawelo and dheg-dheer as bawdy literature that has no place in the puritanical society that they aspire to build. Forget about Ina Xagaa Dheere’s satirical anecdotes, which the fanatics want to discard from our people’s memory. For these fanatics, the breast of the countryside mother who suckles her baby while selling milk in the streets of Hargeisa is a sin, not motherhood as many of our ordinary souls would see it. It is this obsession with sex, this concept of viewing women only as an object of sex, created for man’s libido relief, that turned women’s body into a thing of shame. The concept is that just like one cannot display sex organs in public, women as objects of sex, not human beings with intelligence and rights, should always remain under cover. Hence, we shall never have models and beauty queens to publicize the beauty of our women down the catwalks of Paris, New York and London. It may be worth to mention here that on the several occasions that the name Somali caught international media, other than civil wars and Black Hawk down, were associated with women. It was Iman, that Somali model, who made the name Somali synonymous with such exotic, unique and Cushitic beauty. Weris Deiria is now making headlines despite the daily curses and ridicule she receives from die-hard fundamentalists. It is also since that astute and clear-headed lady, Edna Adan Ismail, has become Somaliland’s Foreign Minister, that the international community is lending an ear to Somaliland’s case.

 

 

If we let them have their way, these prophets of “purity” would soon be on a mission to destroy what has remained of our culture. The melodious voices of Zahra Ahmed, Khadra Dahir, Hibo Mohammed, Amina Abdillahi, Sada Ali, Magool, Maandeeq, Farhiya Ali, Zainab Egeh and many others of our women singers we will be history. The cassettes of their songs will be burned in the streets. Just remember Taliban. They want to edit, re-write and censor the treasures of Somali oral literature. Future generations will not be able to enjoy our beautiful folk dances, particularly women’s heelo yar-yar. Even traditional religious gatherings of our people such as siyaaradii Aw Barkhadle, Ramadan hymn chanting sessions in teashops and the dhikr/xadro circles of sufi tariqas, will be brandished as devil worshiping rituals of the infidels. It has been a strange déjà vu that while I was working on this article, I came across a news item that Saudi Arabia’s moral police had arrested expatriate workers practicing Sufism in their private house in the town of Sakaka, capital of the north Al Jouf region. Sufism in may parts of the Moslem world is a healthy spiritual communion with God, a combination of enchanting hymns and ritual dances that allows the individual to let out pent up stresses of life.

 

 

These fanatics are on a mission to eliminate co-education schools, shroud young girls and deprive them of their healthy childhood social interaction with boys. They want to bury them alive and teach them from an early age that the female body is an eyesore to public decency. A girl should either be in the grave or under a man’s custody. I have to mention here that when I step out into the street in the morning I see groups of girls waiting for school buses; all of them Arabs except for two Somali girls. All the Arab girls of all nationalities look bubbly, tossing their beautiful uncovered hairs and showing off their latest hairstyles. Even those with head covers threw it lightly on the shoulders or barely on the back of the head. They even sometime waved hello for me or for my son. The two Somali girls, however, were fully shrouded with black from head to toe. One could barely see their eyes and they even wore black heavy socks on their feet. Their unique Somali features wrapped into a shapeless form, their shy and modest smiles buried and a kind of heavy footed, reptile shuffling replacing their elegant, Somali-only, rolling hip-walk. The black veil and the black skin also make a very sad and unwelcome combination, while the contrast between a black veil and a fair skin at least mitigates the gloomy impact for Arab women. I wonder: when did my people become more Arab than Arabs? When I met some of the Arab girls later in life, we often recognized each other and exchanged smiles, hellos, how-are-yous and pleasant good byes.

 

 

What about the Somali girls? Well, would I even recognize them? Did they have a face? Even if they recognize me through their shrouds and dare to say hello to me, how would I know who they were. I could only pass them without glancing at them lest they accuse me of blasphemy, silently remembering Abdillahi Abdi Shube’s

 

 

“Shaydaan aanad arkayn,

oo shaambinaaya agtaada,

waa naag shaadhir hagoogan.”

 

May God give him peace in his abode, because had he lived until today, Abdi Shube would have probably been stoned to death.

 

 

The question is how far can we allow these fanatics to use OUR religion for THEIR own political goals? How long can we tolerate our identity to be ripped into pieces in the name of alien ideas? How much of our culture, our heritage and the reputation of our country and our religion are we ready to sacrifice before we act?

 

 

These people love to live in the dark. They thrive on the silence of the unwilling intellectuals and the gullibility of the ignorant majority. They hide under the cloak of religion and scare people with their indiscriminate use of terms such as blasphemous, infidels, apostates, sacrilegious, atheists, westernized minds and many others. They use the available democratic atmosphere to herd us towards the abyss. One pertinent question that begs for an answer all the time is why is it that it is always those who fail in school or in life who turn to such religious extremism? One may wonder if the problem is one of lost self-esteem, an internal urge for revenge and a desire for power and domination. No wonder that women bear the brunt of their onslaught for enslavement, for what better way to regain their lost self-esteem than suppressing women and denying them the success that they themselves had failed to achieve. In this way they could exercise power not only on their women but on the women of the whole community, thus bringing those successful guys who despised them for their failure under their mercy- hitting them at their Achilles heel, while hiding under the cloak of religious sainthood.

 

 

It is time to tell these sick men that the bare breast of the woman suckling her child is not about pornography, but about motherhood. The girls and boys sitting next to each other in class are not indulging in a sex orgy, you demented paranoiacs, but enjoying a healthy educational environment. The girl walking in the street without a headcover and wearing a big smile is not about flirting; it is about beauty of life. The woman holding a lively conversation with a male friend in a coffee house or a shopping mall is not about illicit affairs; it is about a much-needed human relationship and a healthy exchange of intellectual ideas. The woman wearing the traditional diric and hagoog and regally strolling in the street is not about indecency but about culture. The nightingale voices of our female singers are not about eroticism, you philistines, but about art, music and enjoyment of one of God’s marvelous gifts. The Awra (private parts) and indecency are not about what you tell us, you sex maniacs, but about deep-rooted manners handed down through the centuries. Sufism is not about heresy but about breaking the monotony and adding passion and music to religion. Visiting graves is not about idolatry, but about remembering and giving due respect to the dead whose souls live among us. The foreign humanitarian workers in our country are not infidels whose killing guarantees one to go directly to heaven but angels of mercy and enlightenment without whom we would be doomed to hell and darkness. We know right from wrong and proper from improper. We don’t need or want you to teach us YOUR way of Islam.

 

It is time we have to speak out. If we don’t do it today, we won’t be able to do it tomorrow. Because there will be no tomorrow as our country descends into 7th century Arabia

[Medley of extemporanea]

Bashir Goth mixed up many things in this article that have nothing to do with each other. Seems to me just another propaganda attack on the religion disguised as an attack on “Wahabism”.

[Nur]

Tony Bro.

 

Our Indiginous Somalilander/German poet Mr. Bashir Goethe whose article you've posted without any comment of your own, needs a mew pair of Nurtel Glasses, please look up at the imaginary discussion @ Nurtel Opticians thread.

 

In the introduction of that thread I wrote:

 

Many Somali Nomads who have migrated to the west since the great Nomadic uncivil wars found themselves confined in a three dimensional world comprising of walls and apartments, living like birds in contrast with the open green savaanah pastures, camels and the blue skies, instead, these Nomads are placed in boxes known as apartments, hooked to TV and the Wide World of Walwal, staying up all night blinded with the glitter of lights emanating from the automobiles, TV Computer terminlas, street lights and the list goes on and on. Add to this the amount of reading a Nomad is turtured with on a daily basis which took the place of the Nomads pure oratory curriculum. All these new changes in the lives of these Nomads have caused a severe vision problems that severely impaired their perceptions, and forced many Nomads to use the wrong glasses and frames of reference to view the world around them and as a result added to their misery and pain as they aimlessly go through life without a definite purpose.

 

And although these wrongfully prescriped eye glasses make some of them look very scholarly and sophisticated from the outset, deep inside, these camel herders, are suffering from a spilt personality as a result of the double vision their current glasses offer, a love of this worldly glitter and a yearning to their faith and maker, conflicting requirements indeed.

 

so in recognition of this myopic mess, Nurtel Corporation has embarked on developing

a unique product line for this market segment, and as a result Nurtel (A Single Nomad owned and operated Holding Company based imaginatively in the Garas Baalley Technology Corridor) is opening a new business line, on-line @ Somaliaonline to cater to this growing market segment.

 

 

Courtesy of:

 

Nurtel Opticians

To Believe, is to be able to see.

 

Nur

[Baashi]

I shall refute Bashir's thesis at once Insha'Allah when I come back this Monday.

[Khayr]

I agree and disagree with some of the authors view.

When I have time to write properly, I'll add

my 3 cents.

[hukri]

what's “Wahabism"? :confused:

 

The artical was a little too long!!

[Nur]

Salaams Nomads

 

 

The following is a rendition I posted on another thread, as a light hearted answer to Mrt. Bashir Goethe.

 

Bashir is not a bad guy, just religiously challenged who needs vision correction, so be kind nto him.

 

As promised, This thread provides a treatment clinic for Nomads who have lived in the west for too long, to the point of believing that western and pagan lifestyles to be closer to Somali culture than Islam is. A case in point is an article posted here on these pages by Tony Montana and written by Bashir Goethe ( Somali German Poet?)

 

 

Scenario:

 

 

Nurtel Opticians Examination Room.

 

 

Nur: Good morning Bashir

 

Goethe: Good Morning Nur

 

Nur: I understand that you are suffering from vision problems, that you can not reconcile the fact that Somalis are Muslims without having any need to pray, fast or go to Hajj, You also seem sympathetic to Sufis, you think that Sufi Music is great, specially if we mix a little bit of Jazz and bluies, from Lousiana. Look like black babtis church choir to me.

 

Bashir: That is right Nur, let me add to it that I am very furious about womens plight in Somaliland, that our women have to wear this medieval rags on their heads when they can wear the latest fashion from Paris and London, dresses designed by Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and diplayed by beautiful women like our great Somali Model iimaan ( you see Nur, she has iimaan without wearing anything at times). I also have problem accepting this brand of islam that I have never knbown that came from Saudi Arabia, because I feel our indiginous homegrown Islam to be far better than this cut throat vicious Islam that allows no fun at all, like dating girls, dancing and drinking foaming camel milk, I mean I am annoyed at these neo Muslms who have changed my religion that tolerated me even if I claim to be a God , as long as I do not preach it in public ( although that is also against freedom of expression), because, too much Camel Milk can make you feel like you are a God of sorts, you know caano ciir iyo qaad what they can do to a fun loving guy like me. Nur, I miss the good old days, before the Waxda guys came to our corner grocery shop near daanta Reer Qudhac of Kalabaydhka, and started their march to win over the hearts of our women, now, most beautiful women are all hijaabified, you cant't sit outside your balcony to enjoy looking at the body curves of our beatiful women, they wear Abaya from Saudi, it is too bad.

 

You see Nur, religion back then was great, we used to date girls and still had great faith in Allah, we never prayed , but we were ideal Muslims, because Islam, was ingrained in our blood, we had no need of showing it in public, so we only had fun in public, and once in a blue moon we prayed at funerals, because that was the only time we feared Allah.

 

 

Nur: OK Bashir Goethe, so do you think that Somali Islam was better than Wahaabi islam?

 

Bashir Goethe: You see NUR, " Depending on your view of history, since Somalis embraced Islam at the time of the Prophet or shortly after his death, it never clashed with the local culture in terms of clothing, eating and going about their ordinary life. Once it settled in the heart"

 

You see Bro, Arabs have threatened our culture, like the Dirac, and the three piece suits, so, women wear abaya, and some crazy wadaads wear saudi Thawb and Ghutrah and Cigaal. what a shame. why can't they wear Cerruti suits?

 

 

Nur:

 

So, you think that Somali culture is the epitome of Islam in its purest form, since our culture and Islam are the same thing?

 

Bashir Goethe: That is correct Bro, in our Somali culture, Islam is part of our culture, and the only measure of our faith is the QALB, the heart, so no action is needed to show our faith, just inside beleif, it is the wahhabis who added deeds to islam, Islam according to Somali culture needs no deeds. because like I say " The heart was clean and nothing else had mattered much " and in my opinion, mixing with girls is no orgy although we called it in Hargeisa "Geeresh" and fashion is good even if a girl has to wear a transparent dirac, showing her breast which she needs to show so her child can easily find ger breast, because these transparent Kaneebo Brand Dirac manufactured in Japan and imported in Jabouti to be sold in Hargeisa are 100 Islamic compliant, because Islam encourages beauty, am i correct bro?

 

 

To Be continued........

 

 

2003 Nurtel Oprticians

Powered By Quraan and Sunnah

[Baashi]

Nur,

I like your approach very much. I for one hold back my refutation and read along with other nomads this imaginery dialogue you and Bashir are having. I trust you will touch all the basis with him.

[Tony_Montana]

Originally posted by Nur:

Salaams Nomads

 

 

The following is a rendition I posted on another thread, as a light hearted answer to Mrt. Bashir Goethe.

 

Bashir is not a bad guy, just religiously challenged who needs vision correction, so be kind nto him.

 

As promised, This thread provides a treatment clinic for Nomads who have lived in the west for too long, to the point of believing that western and pagan lifestyles to be closer to Somali culture than Islam is. A case in point is an article posted here on these pages by Tony Montana and written by Bashir Goethe ( Somali German Poet?)

You have misunderstood me brother. I do not agree with every thing in this article.

 

I found this article on hiiraan.com and wanted

to share it with my follow somalis on somalionline.com

 

[Nur]

Tony Bro.

 

I was not sure, but thanks for clarifying, it is good that you have shared with us, it sure will create a healthy discussion.

 

 

Baashi bro.

 

This is my way of correcting issues, I magnify them so that all can see the fallacies involved, inshAllah, wait and see how the mock dialogue between me and Bashir Goethe turns out to be, i intend to turn it into an educational journey, so tighten up your belts, this trip will be breathtaking.

 

Nur

[Maymuunah]

can't wait

[Tony_Montana]

Perverted and Malicious

In Response to Goth's Article

I was stunned to read the misguided and corrupted article written by the person Bashir Goth "Against the Saudization of Somaliland" and posted on Somali Websites. This article was drafted by Mr. Goth with mischief and evil intentions in mind against Islam and its followers. There isn't any truth and logic in what he says and its crystal clear that this person is outside the fold of Al-Islam and here is the evidence of why it is so:

1. Authentic religion like Al-Islam and man made traditions are two different things

2. Wearing of 'Xijaab or Headscarf' by mulsim women is a mandatory command of Allah in order to safeguard them from evil minded people and keep them in good faith and chaste

3. Islam is a religion based on moderation, justice, purity and good manners

4. Sheikh Mohamed Abdi-wahab was a great scholar of Islam and never contradicted the four Imams of Islam or schools of thought

5. Islam liberated women, gave them dignity and never oppreses or exploites them for any purpose; be it financial or sexual as happens in many parts of the world

6. Somali girls are better off with taking Islam as a whole and you see the dignity and radiance on their faces

7. It is obligatory in Islam to kill someone who foresakes his religion Al-Islam unless he/she comes back into the fold of Islam on the spot and repents honestly

 

Hence Mr. Goth's article is at war with Islam and its followers around the globe but Islam and its followers are here to stay and prosper and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it because Allah the all powerful promised to safeguard Islam and its followers till the day of judgement. Also Islamic Scholars, intellectuals, dutiful soldiers of Islam are ever ready and watchful to propagate and protect Al-Islam.

 

Therefore, Mr. Bashir Goth, has bargained for a far cheaper price, whatever that price or material gain is !! Because he is campaigning for women nudity in Somalia and the destruction of Islam in essence. He is glorifying Westernism, pornography, materialism, social slavery and immorality. His article has no meaning and is bascially complete with lies, hatred against Islam and muslims and no one who is a muslim should believe his trash article for a second. His whole article seems to be drafted by 'Satan' and no doubt whatsoever that Mr. Goth is an evil person who has lost all hope and honour with regard to Islam and its followers. He is agent of an alien culture and must be expelled from Somali society.

 

Finally, Islam and its philosophy will grow and prosper in Somalia and Somali women will not take lecture from somebody who is perverted and misguided. Mr. Goth is hopeless person who is attempting to take on mighty Islam and its followers but he is totally deluded and possessed by the charm of Satan's devilishness. In the eyes of muslims, Mr. Goth, you are a laughable cow !!

 

K. Majiid ( Kaligii Jabhad )

E-mail: docol85@yahoo.co.uk

[Coloow]

Assalamu calaykum,

 

I have read the article by Mr. Goth (is this a somali name?" and was somehow disturbed by the first few sentences (did he write several articles on the death of the many somalis who died as a result of terrorism by afweyne? by the warlords? .

 

The timing of the article appears to be inline with contemporary discourse!

 

In regards to the other contents, Mr. goth appears to be confused... he equates arab culture with the principles of islam. He also suffers from an intellectual bias by blaming wahabism (I have no idea what it is!).

 

I have seen several somalis discussing this article. I think we tend to forget that islam allows its followers to engage in a free and intellectual debates (SEE BAASHI's article). If Bashir Goth's aim was to condemn the arabic culture (which he calls wahabism) it is ok.... but again, reading the article, one gets the impression that his main motive is to tell the world that this italian aidworker(I have seen TB clinics that she built in wajir NFD)was killed in the name of islam which is not true!

[NinBrown]

This clearly a man trying to spread badness amongst the muslim ummah and to hide behind culture is wrong.

Nur i like the way your doing it...so i will just follow your clinics.

 

This for sister Shukri and others who r not sure about who Sheikh Muhammad Bin Abdul-Wahaab was.

 

All about Wahabism

All Praise is due to Allaah who sent his Messenger with guidance and the true religion so that it may become manifest over all other religions. May the Salaat and Salaam of Allaah be upon the last and noblest of All the Prophets, Muhammad , on the family of the Prophet and upon the noble companions and on all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day.

 

It is the habit of the people of today that they label as anyone who calls to Tawheed and warns against all forms of shirk a Wahabbi. So since this has become prominent amongst some of the Muslims, who call themselves Sunnis then we should refer back to the Qur'aan and the Sunnah upon the understanding of the first three generations in order to ascertain what is the truth.

 

Firstly Al-Wahabb is one of the beautiful names of Allaah meaning the all-giver and so how can anyone twist this beautiful name, Aoudhoubillah.

 

The usage of 'Wahabbi' comes from a scholar who lived some time ago by the name of Muhammad Bin Abdul-Wahaab, who called to Tawheed and defended it and warned against Shirk and fought its people. So if these people were truthful they would use the term 'Muhammadi' since Abdul-Wahaab was the name of his father.

 

Allaah has prohibited us from insulting using nicknames as He says (which means):

 

"And do not insult by nicknames" [surah Al-Hujurat (The Dwellings) Verse 11]

 

The people of the past accused Imaam Shafiee of being a Rafidee and he replied with:

 

If Rafd is loving the Family of Muhammad

 

Then the humans and Jinns witness that I am a Rafidee.

 

So we refute with what a poet said:

 

If the follower of the Prophet is a Wahabbi

Then I affirm that I am a Wahabbi.

 

It is the duty of the Muslims to call to Tawheed and warn against Shirk:

 

Allaah says (which means): "And we have sent to every nation a Messenger saying Worship Allaah alone and avoid the Taghoot " [surah An-Nahl (The Bee) Verse 36]

 

The Taghoot is anything that is worshipped besides Allaah .

 

The call to Tawheed is the call of all the Messengers:

 

Allaah says (which means): "To Aad (We sent) their brother Hud. He said: 'Oh my people, worship Allaah, you have no other Illah except Him, will you not fear (Allaah) " [surah Al-A'raf (The Heights) Verse 65].

 

And He says: "To Thamud we sent their brother Salih. He said: O my people worship Allaah You have no other Illah except Him " [surah Hud (Prophet Hud) Verse 61].

 

So see how the dawah to Tawheed is the dawah of all the Prophets and the battle between Tawheed and Shirk is long standing.

 

But today if you make this call you are labelled a Wahabbi. But this call existed long before Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahabb was born. The evidences of Tawheed existed long before the birth of Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahabb. The collection of hadeeth like Bukhari and Muslim existed hundreds of years before even the great great grandfather of Muhammad bin Abdul Wahaab was born. So if we quote hadeeth from Bukhari and Muslim as evidences for Tawheed and we are Wahaabis then was Imaam Bukhari a Wahaabi or Imaam Muslim.

 

(1) If you read the ayat in the Qur'aan:

 

"You alone do we Worship and you alone do we seek help from " [surah Al-Fatihah (The Opening) Verse 4]

 

Then are you a Wahabbi?

 

(2) If you mention the hadeeth narrated by Ibn Abbas found in An-Nawawis Fourty Hadeeth:

 

The Prophet said (which Means): "When you ask, then ask Allaah, and when you seek help seek help from Allaah alone" Are you a Wahabbi?

 

(3) Or maybe if you mention the hadeeth of the Prophet :

 

"Whoever dies while calling upon other than Allaah shall enter the Hell fire " [bukhari]

 

(4) Or maybe you are a Wahabbi if when told that the Awliyah know the unseen you say But Allaah says (which means):

 

"With him are the keys of the unseen, none knows them but He" [surah Al-An'am (The Cattle) Verse 59].

 

(5) And perhaps you are a Wahabbi if you expose Ibn Arabi for his kufr statements such as:

 

"The Lord is the Slave and the Slave is the Lord

Oh I wish I knew who was the one in authority"

 

(6) Or maybe you are a Wahabbi if you deny that the Prophet was made from light and that he had and still has the power to bring good to us:

 

Allaah says (which means):

 

"Say O Muhammad I poses no power to benefit or hurt myself except as Allaah wills. If I had Knowledge of the unseen , I should have secured for myself an abundance of wealth, and no evil should have touched me. I am but a warner , and a bringer of glad tidings unto people who believe " [surah Al-A'raf (The Heights) Verse 188].

 

(7) Or maybe you're a Wahabbi if you don't celebrate the birthday of the Prophet or Praise him highly elevating him above his being a Prophet:

 

The Prophet said (which means): "Do not exaggerate in praising me as the Christians exaggerated in praising the Son of Maryam (Eesaa) (alaihis-salaam), for verily I am only a slave, so say slave of Allaah and His Messenger " [bukhari].

 

(8) Maybe you are a Wahaabi if you don't call upon Abdul Qaadir al-Jeelaanee to remove some harm from you and you mention the ayah:

 

"If Allaah touches you with harm, none can remove it except He " [surah Al-An'am (The Cattle) Verse 17].

 

Was the Scholar who said the following a Wahabbi ?

 

"Ask Allaah and do not ask other than Him,. Seek help from Allaah and do not seek help from other then Him. Woe to you, with which face will you meet Him tomorrow? You contend with Him in the world, turning away from Him, and approaching His creation thus associating partners with Him. You submit your needs to them and rely on them in your important matters. Increase the ways and means between yourself and Allaah, for verily, if you stop that, then it is foolishness. There is no king, or authority, no self-sufficiency and no might except with Allaah, The Mighty, The Majestic, turn towards Allaah without the creation"

 

He seems to meet the criterion, who was he, he was none other than the one some people call upon, Abdul Qaadir al-Jeelaanee, he said this in Fath ur Rabaanee.

 

Or maybe the one who said the following was a Wahabbi:

 

" I hate to ask Allaah, by other than Allaah"

 

This man was Imaam Abu Haneefah, reported in Daar ul Mukhtaar.

 

They (the so called 'Sunnis') say the Wahabbis don't love the Prophet since we don't call upon him or make intercession through him, they claim that they are lovers of the Prophet , and we reply with the saying of a poet:

 

"If your love was true you would have obeyed him,

Verily the lover is to the beloved obedient"

 

In Conclusion:

 

It seems that they call people a Wahabbi who

 

(1) Worship Allaah alone, love Tawheed and hate Shirk

(2) Make duaa to Allaah alone

(3) Rely in Allaah alone

(4) Follow the Sunnah of the Prophet , and hate and avoid innovations.

(5) Adhere to the path of the companions

(6) Read the books of the Imaams and take from them.

 

And our final call is to Allaah Lord of all the Creation.

 

Taken From: The Clear Path

[Gediid]

Originally posted by Nur:

Gadidd Walaal

 

I have just noticed how my words can be misinterpreted, I am extremely sorry and I apoligise, wallahi, that was not my inetntion at all, althought you are right that it may be understood as such, so I exten a sooriyo and to show how well I respect your opinion, May I ask the hand of of the muslim sisters from the area for marriage as atoken of my respect, that is the best testament to prove my utmost respect. But again, I blew it, and there is no second chance for a first impression.

 

 

Extremely Sorry

 

Foot in mouth

 

Nur

You already have my respect Nur and I'm sure the respect of many on SOL.Keep doing what you need