the town. In fact, Luuq was known by Somalis during the precolonial era as Luuq Ganaane and by Italian colonial authorities as Lugh Ferrandi, named after the Italian explorer Ugo Ferrandi. The ‘ civil ’ war that devastated Southern Somalia has destroyed and dis-placed a considerable number of Bantu Somalis, but it has also opened unique spaces for them to more freely express …
Somali Congress (Hayiwe Clan), The Somali Patriotic Movement (Ogaden clan), and the Somali salvation Democratic Movement (Marjaten clan). However, all those distinct groups could not join their forces because there was unrest in terms of leadership. To …
It emerged in 1991 as one of numerous warring militias; its aim was the establishment of an Islamic state Since the fall of the Somali government in 1991, warlords have feuded over territory, and today the current government controls only a portion of the capital, Mogadishu, and Somali pirates seize ships off its shore with impunity.
Practitioners of Islam first entered Somalia in the northwestern city of Zeila during the Prophet Muhammad's lifetime whereupon they built the Masjid al-Qiblatayn; as such, Islam has been a part of Somali society for 14 centuries. Practicing Islam reinforces distinctions that further set Somalis apart from their immediate neighbors like Kenya. Sunnism is the strand practiced by 90% of the …
Three Sufi orders were prominent in Somalia. In order of their introduction into the country, they were the Qadiriyah, the Idrisiyah, and the Salihiyya. The Rifaiyah, an offshoot of the Qadiriyah, was represented mainly among Arabs resident in Mogadishu .
In early January 1975, evoking the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Qur'an, Siad Barre announced a new family law that gave women the right to inheritance on an equal basis with men. Some Somalis believe the law was proof that the SRC wanted to undermine the basic structure of Islamic society. In Mogadishu twenty-three religious leaders protested inside their mosques. They were arrested and charged with acting at the instigation of a foreign power and with violating state security; ten were executed. Sheikh Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed Walaaleeye and Sheikh Hassan Absiye Derie were among them. Most religious leaders, however, kept silent. The government continued to organize training courses for shaykhs in scientific socialism.
The Qadiriyah, the oldest Sufi order, was founded in Baghdad by Abdul Qadir al-Jilani in 1166 and introduced to the Somali Adal in the 15th century. During the 18th century, it was spread among the Oromo and the Afar of Ethiopia, often under the leadership of Somali shaykhs. Its earliest known advocate in northern Somalia was Shaykh Abd ar Rahman az Zeilawi, who died in 1883. At that time, Qadiriyah adherents were merchants in the ports and elsewhere. In a separate development, the Qadiriyah order also spread into the southern Somali port cities of Baraawe and Mogadishu at an uncertain date. In 1819, Shaykh Ibrahim Hassan Jebro acquired land on the Jubba River and established a religious center in the form of a farming community, the first Somali jama'ah (congregation).
Non-denominational Muslim is an umbrella term that has been used for and by Muslims who do not belong to or do not self-identify with a specific Islamic denomination. Although there has never been a comprehensive census in Somalia that lists various Islamic denominations as an option, there have been some Somalis in the diaspora who have used the self-description of "just a Muslim" upon probes into their religious affiliation.
The Idrisiyah order was founded by Ahmad ibn Idris (1760–1837) of Mecca. It was brought to Somalia by Shaykh Ali Maye Durogba of Merca in Somalia, a distinguished poet who joined the order during a pilgrimage to Mecca. His supposed "visions" and "miracles" attributed to him gained him a reputation for sanctity, and his tomb became a popular destination for pilgrims. The Idrisiyah, the smallest of the three Sufi orders, has few ritual requirements beyond some simple prayers and hymns. During its ceremonies, however, participants often go into trances. A conflict over the leadership of the Idrisiyah among its Arab founders led to the establishment of the Salihiyah in 1887 by Muhammad ibn Salih. One of the Salihiyah's proselytizers was former slave Shaykh Mahammad Guled ar Rashidi, who became a regional leader. He settled among the Shidle people ( Bantus occupying the middle reaches of the Shebelle River ), where he obtained land and established a jama'ah. Later he founded another jama'ah among the Ajuran (a section of the Hawiye clanfamily ) and then returned to establish still another community among the Shidle before his death in 1918.
A Somali form of the Salihiya tariqa was established in what is now northern Somalia in 1890 by Ismail Urwayni. Urwayni's proselytism in northern Somalia had a profound effect on the peninsula as it would later prompt the creation of the Darwiish State. The primary friction between the more established Qadiriya and the newly established Somali Salihism in the form of Urwayniya was their reaction to incursions by European colonialists with the former appearing too lax by adherents of the latter. Five years later, another neo-Salihiya figure expedited Urwaynism or Urwayniya through proselytizing, namely Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, who would later become emir of Diiriye Guure and the Darawiish in a lengthy resistance to the Abyssinian, Italian and British colonialists until 1920.
Ibn Battuta in his travels to Zeila, in northwest Somalia, in the 14th century, described it as a town of Shiites. The Saudi invasion of Yemen in 2015 resulted in large amounts of Zaydi Shia Yemeni refugees seeking refuge in northern Somalia.
The Somali National Movement ( Somali: Dhaqdhaqaaqa Wadaniga Soomaaliyeed, Arabic: الحركة الوطنية الصومالية ) was one of the first and most important organized guerilla groups opposed to the Siad Barre regime in the 1980s to the 1990s.
The said communities composed primarily of students, activists, intellectuals and African communities, particularly Somalis in London, Cardiff, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool played greater role in raising funds and spreading awareness of the human rights violation under Mohamed Siad Barre regime.
The Regime's response to SNM activities. Main article: Isaaq genocide. As the SNM grew in strength and number throughout the 1980s, the Barre became increasingly repressive in the North of the country and systematically targeted those from Isaaq communities who were deemed to be supportive of the SNM.
Afraad's initial objective was to liberate Somalis living in Somali Region of Ethiopia, but its focus later shifted due to increasing abuses against Isaaq civilian population perpetrated by WSLF.
SNM fighters, late 1980's. In 1977, a group of Somali expats in Saudi Arabia hailing from the Isaaq clan begun to collect funds for the aim of launching a newspaper covering Somali affairs. The grassroots group has grown into a semi-political party unofficially referred to as Somali Islamic Democratic party (later Somali National movement) ...
Isaaq delegates received approximately $14–25 million in remittances which funded the supply arms of to the rural guerillas who helped overthrow the Barre regime. Copies of the Magazine of the Somali National Movement (SNM), 1987.
In this pre-emptive strike, approximately 3000-5000 men from the SNM routed the Somalian army from both cities. In Burao, the SNM led to the killing of many Somalian military leaders and the confiscation of valuable military equipment.