Prophecy, Boqolsoon, and The Saga of Somali Politics

[Alle-ubaahne]

Boqolsoon: Prophecies in the Saga of Somali Politics

 

Somalia has fallen but with many great giant leaders. Some of them were old, others in the middle, but this man was in the heyday of his youthfulness when he was silenced. He was a powerful voice, uncompromising and critical to the military government, to the, then, countable warlords, to the elites of major tribes, and even to the religious authority, but with a just principle that all Somalis had agreed to. He was a Sheikh, a preacher per excellence, and the best orator ever to surface in the contemporary history of Somalia. In the long but shorted struggle he led, Sheikh Sherrif Abdi Nur, the renowned scholar in the field of Islamic traditions, would call him the backbone of Da’wah in the region. Others as far as Egypt would say Boqolsoon as the beacon of hope in Islamic propagations in Africa.

 

Some critics who were complicit to the status quo described him a controversial who spoke up in the most controversial era of the nation. Nevertheless, he was an accepted man of the people, of the truth, who exactly died on its path. Today, millions of Somalis listen back to his numerous soul-enriching speeches with passion, and yes, one of those tapes - passed to me by a friend - has paused me with spellbound!

 

The man was talking about today - a time he unfortunately never reached to observe - in an accurate prophecy. He pointed out with an unambiguous terms that the civil war would continue for many years, and in the midst of it, foreign troopers from the U.N. would arrive, creating more unrest and conflicts. “Regional disintegrations will follow,†he specified to the tribes of "I" , "H" and "D" . In addition, and to my amazements, he added that the war will finally come down to religion, Somali Muslims vs. Somali Christians, (hypocrites, too)!

 

His past audience was right for not understanding the wild calculations he was warning about to happening in the near future in Somalia. From that serious foretelling, I could hear about some frequent starvations hitting the country that I witnessed, about fleeing masses to the West I was part of, and about constant tragedies that would visit every family, including mine, in Somali society. He was talking to a people who have longed in sleep and more than many times have ignored his compelling view of tomorrow. “Whether it pleases, or provokes your anger,†he said repeatedly, “I would not hesitate to mention that your enemy is busy at crafting the tools that are going to bring about your destructions, and then inserting your affairs on the hands of foreigners.†Again, more surprisingly, he switched to another issue, (and this speech was presumably recorded in early of 1991), of some secret documents he unearthed, pertaining to Western companies that dumped high radioactive chemicals and nuclear waste in the open seashores of Somalia!

 

Of the fears he expressed for his people, I shed tears, (the manly ones), for my people in year 2006 that we have seen his chilling predictions, and the worst are yet to come, willingly, I wish, after my youthful death. When a society becomes colorful with major sins, of wrongly shedding the blood, of corruption, of indecency, and the dearth of moral obligations, surely their existence is bound to vanish. My brother Boqolsoon has seen our elders irresponsibly sawing the seed of hatred, and our youth harvesting eventually the bitter consequences of it. In that social state, Boqolsoon believed, nothing is more unfortunate than the intellectuals and the good people within the society becoming more so inactive and passive towards the pressing issues.

 

The Hero has enlightened us to understand an enemy that is two-pronged, one from within and the other from the outside. Given the sad fact of our people engaging in a vicious tournament against each other, of which none of them was quite cognizant of the schemes of the outside enemy. Our strong social unity, then, died down, because of the trivial fronts we chosen over the important ones.

 

Brother Boqolsoon, may Allah have mercy on him, has shown us something of great leadership quality, that fear of the enemy is the greatest impediment of our social progress. Though I had never seen Boqolsoon, his voice reveals a true sense of valor coming from the depth of an unpretentious soul. An unmerited sketch of fact-finding about life says that he was physically slim, gentle, humble, pious, and financially strapped, but unflinchingly dedicated his entire life for the revival of his people.

 

A great leader should not only understand his time, but for the time ahead as well. Our time, however, is marked with many fictitious leaders that are only promoted in the news of the BBC-Somali. They are indeed contrasting from the quality of leadership embodied in Boqolsoon. In my juxtaposing of the two, I think, lies an offense, for they are the most incomparable examples in the world.

 

When we endorse the reckless, the reckless must work hard to suppress the responsible from rising. And the reward of that endorsement to our despicable warlords has to come in the form of colossal detriment, the one that is dragging us for 16 long years. The Sheikh stood up to answer the call of duty, especially, at a time when standing alone equals the diametrical end of your life. The web of impossibilities he embarked to operate under had obviously earned him the unprecedented legacy that we always fail to match. Of course, he was one of us, but duplicating some of his fine traits in discipline, values, intellect, knowledge, and the great courage that geared him up to the height and benchmark we cherish for ourselves, is posing us significant challenges.

 

Now, that our brother was stored below us, in the graveyard that awaits us all, we must look for directions from his ever-lasting inheritance for all of us, because it best advices to the listening ears. To be cautious of the enemy, to feel unwavering on the truth, and to never get unprepared before the Magnificent Court of Allah. The theme of his message has ended with a beautiful remark, of which you and I are naturally imposed to undertake, and that is the fear of Allah, the one-step that is conditioned in the help we desperately need today from Allah, the most exalted.