Breaking Barricades: A Wedding Restores My Hope in Somali Cultural Festivity by Bashir Goth

[Admin]

It was one of the most refreshing and reassuring weddings I attended for a long time, almost over a quarter of a century. Refreshing because since the grip of extremist trends of Ideologies that shun everything that appears, tastes and sounds genuine and indigenous in local cultures and replaces it with its narrow and sterile interpretation that deprives all kinds of enjoyment, music and beauty from life, it was the first time I saw an inclusive wedding where all community members regardless of sex and age celebrated together the delight and festivities of a real Somali wedding.It was refreshing because it was a joy to see family couples, sometimes with their children, coming to the wedding hall and taking their seats together. No walls divided between women and men, no barricades, no segregation; all well groomed and decently but elegantly dressed for the occasion with traditional Somali Diric and hagoog dominating the scene while the youth dressed trendy clothes to their taste in all fashion styles. Even elderly women who came were dressed in reminiscently Somali style without alien black shrouds.

It was refreshing because the bride and bride-groom made a grand entrance with young men and women as best men and women walking in front of them hand-in-hand. The whole audience fell silent to watch the beauty of youth strolling, a beauty that they knew the Somali people had, a beauty they knew was never meant to be depressed, stunted and denied to breathe and enjoy its prime. “This is the best wedding, I have seen for a long time,” said a friend sitting next to me. I also overheard similar remarks from other people both men and women, with a tone that underlined the nostalgia the Somali people have for their superior culture that they had lost due to the imposition of extremist ideologies on them; Ideologies that see sin mushrooming everywhere where even a teenage son has to police the behavior of his mother let alone his sisters lest they go astray as if the whole Somali community is devoid of moral values and had to be forced on it.

It was refreshing because the party opened with short speeches and poems by old generation men who gave tributes to the married couple and their courage and that of their parents to revive the genuine communal festivities of our culture. It was refreshing because the youth, men and women, danced together to all kinds of music, Somali, Arabic, Hindi and western to make the night memorable for the wedding couple. And the elderly joined the dance sometimes, gracing the occasion and embracing it as a truly community event.It was refreshing because the youth, both men and women, also joined their parents in performing traditional Somali folklore dances. Refreshing because it was a happy, inclusive, celebratory community event, a true picture of what a wedding should be, and not the austere, segregated and gloomy occasions that Somali weddings have become lately.The wedding was also reassuring because it proved that the Somali people have started to rebel against the recent trend of segregating women and men in social occasions and denying a common memory to the marred couple about their best day and the community at large.A wedding is a celebration of life, a celebration of a journey to begin for a young couple who would have their own children to preserve human existence, one of the noblest missions of a person’s life on earth; an occasion that demands a communal festivity in which all members of the society attend and contribute. And to Somalis, weddings were traditionally one of the most important community festivals where new poems were born, new dances improvised, new jokes and riddles weaved, collective memory invoked, romantic melodies enjoyed, decent courting incubated and new loves stories started.But since the encroachment of the extremist Salafist, and Wahhabist sects on the Somali culture, most of the weddings and particularly those in western capitals have become not places of joy and communal sharing but places of cultural doom, guilt, censorship and draconian rules of moral policing that ban music, singing, and interacting and sharing between genders, thus depriving the youth of experiencing the true culture and identity of their people.

Oddly enough also it is the Somali weddings that take place in American and European cities that wholeheartedly accepted such alien cultural austerity and it has to be a place like Abu Dhabi, in the heart of the Arab world, that Somali people find the mental freedom to invoke the true synergy of their culture and Islam in the way they knew it over the centuries. An Islam that seamlessly blends with their culture, an Islam that accepts and not shuns domestic culture, Islam that embraces life and the beauty of living, Islam that enriches people’s lives with arts, music , dance, and good artistic taste and passion for freedom of cultural imagination, Islam that binds together with love and brotherhood, and does not incriminate them for sharing a public space together to celebrate the wedding of their culture, Islam that enriches our culture and not stifles it, Islam that is a higher calling from a fair God that entails beauty, mercy, perfection, and freedom; and not a lowly edict from a tyrant demigod. For the Prophet told us that: “God is beautiful and loves beauty.” And no wonder with this in mind Somali women used to welcome the bride to her home while singing: “Hoy Nebow , Nuur Allow, Maxamad Nebi Magac Samow.”  (Oh Prophet, Oh light from Allah, Oh Muhammad, what a prophet of good name you are.)I have to conclude this piece by congratulating and saluting the wedding of Ayaan Omar Ahmed Barre hailing from Borama and Zakariya Abdulla Fadal Gabaxady hailing from Oodweyne held in Abu Dhabi on 11th September 2014, as well as their parents for their courage to reject the dictates of the cultural brainwashing and to revive the beauty of inclusive Somali communal festivities. Bashir Goth is a Somali poet, journalist, professional translator, freelance writer and the first Somali blogger. Bashir is the author of numerous cultural, religious and political articles and advocate of community-development projects, particularly in the fields of education and culture. He is also a social activist and staunch supporter of women’s rights. He is currently working as an editor in a reputable corporation in the UAE

http://www.somaliaonline.com/breaking-barricades-a-wedding-restores-my-hope-in-somali-cultural-festivity-by-bashir-goth-2/

[Coofle]

I am not a big fan of unrestricted intermingling of genders or indecency, but, I also don't enjoy a wedding without some joy and music.

 

one wedding I attended was all about the Aakhira and sheikh after sheikh preaching...No ceremonial spirit and that culture is expanding day bay day...Fortunately that was the last wedding of such kind I have been to, I also inquire about the nature of the wedding beforehand.

[Tallaabo]

^ Coofle it is not allowed in Islam to turn down a wedding invitation without a valid reason. It is better you attend the wedding, greet and congratulate the couple and attendees, have some refreshments, and then dash for the exit if you do not like the theme of the wedding.

[Coofle]

Xaaji tallaabo, I wholeheartedly attend every 'Meher' , 'Doonaasho' iyo waliba casuumadaha kale...But When it comes to the big bang wedding, I had quite terrible experience in Some weddings, Imagine a man preaching about Yawmul aakhira in a wedding , in another one, the fact that songs are haram were established but at the same time Arabic Nashids (with music) were being played....Although its not that much that I turned down (may be twice) but I always consider is it worth may be taking the time and energy to all the way for muxadaro diini ah which I also know many of the attendees are not happy with what is going on...

anyways, Waa danbi dhinacayga ah labadaasi, waanan ogahay, laakiin ilaahay ha na cafiyo.

[ElPunto]

For Bashir Goth, the less Islam the better. I don't care what people do at their weddings - and for the record - weddings like this one happen all the time - it's hardly a rarity. But this idea that he is advocating for some vanguard of Somalia culture is insulting.

[burahadeer]

Thank you Bashir, it has become a trend that local and indigenous customs be thwarted in the name of the new fundamentalist Islam.It was yesterday in the 80s when there was no niqab and islam wasn't an issue round the clock yet we were muslims.

Now we have Islamic ice cream,islamic bread and potato and more ova Islamic walk.The likes of Daish and Isil and unfortunately the lesser barbaric ones online that wana force feed you what limited and crooked ideas they have about Islam will soon be ovataken by sound reality and a public that have seen it all...the constant barrage of propaganda and the daily massacres.Fortunately thou as someone frequently travels back home things are changing back to pre fundamentalism and fast.

[Khayr]

<cite>

@ElPunto

said:</cite>

Bashir Goth is a sad loser. For him the less Islam the better.

 

Yeah, he is a colonialist loving

oldie with a serious identity crisis.

[Tallaabo]

<cite>

@Khayr

said:</cite>

Yeah, he is a colonialist loving

oldie with a serious identity crisis.

I see everyone has an identity crisis except you- the Arab wannabe.

[Che -Guevara]

<cite>

@Khayr

said:</cite>

Yeah, he is a colonialist loving

oldie with a serious identity crisis.

 

How is he colonialist loving?

[rudy-Diiriye]

Well, the truth is that every loser who does not graduated from college is become a mafia-sheikh and raping his community to survive. Thus the cultural confusions you see in large somali communities areas are mind boggling and astounding.

 

 

[DoctorKenney]

<cite>

@Che -Guevara

said:</cite>

How is he colonialist loving?

 

Bashir Goth frames his articles as well as his arguments through a Western/European paradigm. His arguments are not well-thought out and he's a staunch secularist who has an extremely defeatist mentality especially when it comes to Islam. Bro, I could go on and on. Read his articles saaxib

 

Bashir Goth is not someone to be taken seriously

 

 

[Che -Guevara]

You do understand Somali culture predated Islam. I have not seen anywhere where Goth championed Western culture over Islam but I have seen Goth trying to revive what he thinks Somali culture was or should be.

 

One needs to understand Somali pastoralist culture contain many elements that are contrary to Islam; elements which today's Somali Muslims label as Western. It is ignorance about Somali culture that confuses some people and many Muslims confuse Arab culture with Islam.

 

I had someone that argued with me one time, saying khamiis is religious garment,

 

Most importantly, people including Somalis have begun to view the world as West vs Islam. There is ENTIRE WORLD besides these two world views.

[ElPunto]

^If Somali pastoralist culture contains many things that are contrary to Islam - these should be discarded rather than labelled or mislabelled. I'm not sure you have your priorities sorted out there. Goth is championing white wedding dresses, western suits and mixed dancing - this is not Somali culture. This is the mental colonialism that was talked about. It isn't any better than Somalis who would dress up in shalwar khameez and do Bollywood dances. Oddly enough - the only Somalis who loudly proclaim they are preserving Somali culture are the ones who hold these western style weddings. Just give it a rest.

[Alpha Blondy]

<cite>

@Che -Guevara

said:</cite>

You do understand Somali culture predated Islam.

 

usheeg the islamists who want to destroy our way of life.

[DoctorKenney]

Che, you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. Bashir Goth is attempting to remodel Somali society as well as Somali politics into HIS image of what it should look like. And his ideal image of Somalia would be something resembling a Western-style society which contains some trace elements of nomad and pastoralist lifestyle.

 

This hypocrite "Bashir Goth" sees nothing wrong with that. He sees nothing wrong with Somalis imitating the Brits or the French, but for some reason it's all "evil" and "bad" for a Somali to wear a khamiis, even though I acknowledge that a Khamiis is just a cultural attire, and it really has nothing to do with our religion. But wearing a suit-and-tie has nothing to do with Somali culture either, yet Bashir Goth has NO PROBLEM with Somali men wearing suits-and-ties in cultural events and wedding ceremonies. His hypocrisy is unbelievable. And Bashir Goth is picking and choosing which parts of foreign culture Somalis should accept and incorporate into our own culture. For him, anything that is Islam=Bad. And anything that is Western=Good. Bashir Goth even attempted to blame Islam for many of the social ills which plague our country. Even though he's too hard-headed to understand that Islam is part of the SOLUTION, not the problem, to helping us overcome our social challenges. But in Bashir Goth's twisted mind, his "solution" is to have Somalis imitate the British or the French or the Italians.

 

He's an intellectual sell-out. Over and over again, he attempts to champion Western culture and tries to even sell it to Somalis. If you guys really cared about the preservation of Somali culture, then you should call him out for what he is. Substituting one type of colonialism with another type is not how we should be behaving. We're Somalis, behave like a Somali.

 

Read his articles saaxib. He's not what you think he is. There is no doubt Somali society has some serious problems, and I totally agree with you that we are Somalis and we shouldn't imitate the Arabs in their mannerisms and dress, but there's a limit. Especially when the person who's writing the article---Bashir Goth---is well-known for attempting to re-model Somalia into a "Western-style" society.