second of September 2015

 Cunugyahaw ayaamahan
curadkayga noqonee
aan sugaayay dhawr cisho


Cawa badan nasiibiyo
caafimaad laxaad liyo
cimri dherer wanaag liyo
caqli buuxa oo ladan
caadilkii ku uumaan
kaaga baryay caawee
cunugyahaw ogsoonaw

cibro qaado oo dhugo
cibaadada ha moogan
Rabbigaa ha caasiyin
caqiidada ogsoonaw.

Hooyadaadan ceeshkiyo
aad ka idlaysii calafkii
iyadana ha caaqinin.
Bilo bay ciqaabnayd
hurdadii ka caagnayd.

aduun kuu cayuubnayd.
Waligaa ciseeyoo

cindigaaga maqashii. 

People with two Gods! The cognitive dissonance

one day as I sat in the masjid, surrounded by pious souls, the imam preached; "Allah knows the Sinners among us". Earlier in the week, a  bombing in Mogadishu took the lives of hundreds of innocent bystanders. lives lived but extinguished in an instant. All "allegedly" by the name of God!. but which god? 

I wondered - cynically- "How many killers are among us in this blessed congregation?" 

A nation (Soomaalida oo dhan) riddled by decades of war, Hundreds of thousands killed by their kinsmen either directly Qori caaradii or indirectly by the mayhem that ensued, via lack of access to food, water, healthcare and or sheer starvation. How many were publicly stood trial for their transgressions? obviously none!. 

Many older Somalis are consumed by guilt, by screams from their past, nightmares of innocent people they shot point-blank and graves they lined with bodies. they work with us, go to the mosque and pray, they put up a visage to the rest of us, yet they remain tortured in their minds. 

Dhagar qabe dhulkaa u dhaqdhaqaaqa is a somali proverb. 

some others are astronomically worse, they capitalized on everything they have done, they rationalized hate and murder!. they are the fighters that brought "us" freedom, the defenders of "our" freedom or simply "some call themselves Mujaahid , Siyaasi, Halgamaa, Janaraal and similar pompous names are uttered for such damned souls.   

Both are a reflection of what has become of our nation, a whole nation living in collective denial. we mourn for the victims and celebrate the perpetrator. what is even worse is that the victims revere their assailants!. after all, memories are a tricky thing, yesternight's killer can become today's Hero. 

Dumarkuba Xublada foosha way xanaf wareeraane,
Balse inay xis daranyihiin , Xaylka kale mooge. 

when I was at school in Borama sometime between 1999-2000, there was an altercation between two local clans over a wretched piece of land, this has led to few deaths on both sides. one of my school teachers lectured us that day about how Somalis have two Gods, a small God they worship when then head off to the mosque or attend a funeral and another rather more influential God that helps them decide everything else in their lives. by the latter he implied Qabiil/Tribe!. 

curiously, as a young lad, I knew the Qabiil of everyone in that class including all our teachers, it was the norm, a testatement to the times.  but to this day I have no idea about that particular Teacher's Qabiil. All what I recall is his utter disdain with everything Qabiil related and to this day that analogy of his stuck with me....

A crisis of Qofnimo!

Runtu ma fantaa, Through the course of my life which have been tarnished by the ongoing somali civil

war forcing me to change countries and encounter different cultures, I have always been self-conscious about my identity. Truthfully being Somali is not fancy nor does it give moral or intellectual satisfaction of belonging, for the challenging mind its constant discourse and search of virtues in the light of abundant vices...Although I was drowning in a false sense of PRIDE (Geel-Jire mentality) implanted into me not by our abominable culture but my father's constant favorable and optimistic insight into the Somalis, somewhere deep down, I harboured an innate feeling that we were simply WRONG. That feeling grew with every time I became more worldly, it was not self-hate as I loved being Somali and more importantly -UNFORTUNATELY, ashamed to admit- inaan ahay ina-aabihii oo reer hebel ah. (OLD habits die hard)

I once heard this pun.. ""The Nations of the globe decided to devise and invest in the making of a Super-Computer , capable of computing minute data and performing complex calculations in super-sonic speed. After a panel of scientists, years of high-tech work and Billions of dollars, the Super-computer was finished, it was unveiled in the most neutral place possible, The UNITED NATIONS! and First question to be asked publicly was rather bold, Which country will rule planet EARTH after 500 years?! with slight certainty, the computer uttered, SOMALIA, silence ensued, ask again few dignitaries suggested to repeat the question,Alas! the answer was the same SOMALIA..........the chief scientist then asked , O' wise computer, Why would somalia rule planet earth after 500 years?...in a rather ominous monotony the computer replied; According to the data provided every country in the world has a positive progressive development going for them and due to the inevitable climate change which would render life on earth difficult to bare, Nations will devise cosmic posts outside earth for their people to reside, on the other hand Somalis will be left alone  to scrounge the lonely derelict  planet and thus will be Earth rulers by default; Said the wise (Wordly Incorportated & simulated Electronic)Computer""

 I slightly smiled, not because of the tasteless joke but because of the far-fetched reality, then I grinned meh! I am pretty sure there are others doing far worse than us.

I like Somali poetry (most of my cyber contributions are about Somali literature) and I admire the simple ways our ancestors survived the harsh environment they called home!! (Although not harsh as Arabian Sahara or Siberia)..My heart swells by the generosity of Fellow Somalis,their cordial demeanor and hospitality... Our culture was right once, but incompatible one in the contemporary world.Many are scrambling to shape the Somali peninsula to their own liking and agendas whether it is the illiterate tribal chieftains, the contracted narrow-viewed religious cultists, the rusting stomach-minded politicians or the recently emerging foreign-culture-saturated diaspora and at last and probably least the poor terribly aging fellows deep in the somali countryside keen to revive nomadic Somalia.

Other than the widely shared human trait of innate admiration of one's homeland and the nostalgic connections we have for what it embodies, our home peninsula! did not provide enough to qualify as the land that owes us a sense of nationalistic rhetoric or loyalty for that matter.A home should be place where you feel protected, wanted, fed and nurtured, for many the Somali peninsula was everything but a home, more like a lion's den, where the cubs leave as fast as they can fetch an antelope for themselves. Leave or die. Against all odds, I still consider myself one of the lucky lot that believe the Somali peninsula has invested in. That duty might keep me shackled to contribute and go back one day.  I say that but who knows!. Ilaahay baa og.