Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0329/03292.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 31KB | 497 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03292}
$Pretitle{286}
$Title{Somalia
Chapter 2D.   Religious Life}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Irving Kaplan}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{religious
islam
leaders
somalis
socialism
islamic
order
somalia
orders
scientific}
$Date{1981}
$Log{Aerial view of Mogadishu*0329201.scf
}
Country:     Somalia
Book:        Somalia, A Country Study
Author:      Irving Kaplan
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1981

Chapter 2D.   Religious Life

     The vast majority of Somalis are Muslims. (Less than 1 percent of ethnic
Somalis are Christians.) Loyalty to Islam reinforces the distinctions that set
them off from their immediate African neighbors, most of whom either are
Christians (particularly the Amhara and others of Ethiopia) or adhere to
indigenous African beliefs.

     The ideal of Islam is a society organized for the implementation of
Islamic precepts in which no distinction between the secular and the religious
spheres obtains. Among the Somalis this ideal had been approximated only
occasionally-and less fully in the north than among some groups in the settled
regions of the south where religious leaders were an integral part of the
social and political structure. Among nomads, the exigencies of pastoral life
gave greater weight to the warrior's role, and religious leaders were expected
to remain aloof from political matters. Generally Somali belief and practice
has differed to some extent from that required by Islam, either because
ancient Somali ritual has persisted or because Somalis cannot or will not
submit to the rigors of Islamic practice. Whatever the discrepancies between
the requirements of Islam and Somali practice, their Islamic identity is
integral to Somalis' conception of themselves.

     The role of religious functionaries began to shrink little by little in
the 1950s and 1960s as some of their legal and educational powers and
responsibilities were transferred to secular authorities, but their situation
changed substantially after the revolution, whose leaders introduced an
ideology they called scientific socialism (see Siad Barre and Scientific
Socialism, ch. 1). These leaders insisted that their version of socialism was
not at odds with Islam but compatible with Quranic principles, and they
condemned atheism. Nevertheless they relegated religion to the moral sphere,
and religious leaders were warned not to meddle in politics.

     The new government instituted changes in law that some religious figures
saw as contrary to Islamic precepts. The regime reacted sharply to criticism,
executing some of the protestors (see Islam in the Colonial Era and After,
this ch.). Subsequently, religious leaders seem to have accommodated
themselves to the government, but their private views cannot be known.

The Tenets of Islam

     Islam, founded in A.D. 622 when the prophet Muhammad left Mecca and
marched with his followers to Medina, was brought to Somalia by South Arabian
merchants and seamen who founded settlements along the Somali coast 1,000 or
more years ago (see Coastal Towns, ch. 1). Before Islam reached the Somalis,
quarrels over the succession to leadership had led to a split of the Islamic
community into Sunnites (traditionalists) and Shiites (from Shiat Ali, or
partisans of Ali). All ethnic Somalis are Sunnites.

     Islam means submission to God, and a Muslim is one who has submitted. The
religion's basic tenet is stated in its creed: "There is no god but God
(Allah) and Muhammad is His prophet." Recitation of the creed, daily prayers
(of which the creed is always a part) performed according to prescribed rules,
fasting during the lunar month of Ramadan, almsgiving, and the pilgrimage to
Mecca constitute the so-called Five Pillars of the Faith. Four of these duties
may be modified by the situation in which believers find themselves. If they
are ill, they may pray without prostrations and reduce the number of times
they pray from the obligatory five to three. Fasting (going without food,
drink, tobacco, and sexual relations from two hours before dawn until sunset)
may be omitted during journey but should be made up for at a later time.
Almsgiving and the pilgrimage depend upon one's ability to afford them.

     The basic teaching of Islam is embodied in the Quran, believed to have
been given to Muhammad by God through the angel Gabriel. After Muhammad's
death his followers sought to regulate their lives scrupulously by his
divinely inspired works; if the Quran did not cover a specific situation, they
turned to the hadith (remembered doings and sayings of the Prophet). Together,
the Quran and the hadith form the sunna (tradition), a comprehensive guide to
the spiritual, ethical, and social life of Muslims.

     Islamic law (sharia) derives from the Quran, the hadith, and from a large
body of interpretive commentary which developed centuries ago. Several schools
of legal thought developed, among them the Shafii school, which is represented
in Somalia. The sharia covers a number of categories of behavior; obligatory
actions, desirable or recommended actions, indifferent actions, objectionable
but not forbidden actions, and prohibited actions. The Five Pillars of the
Faith would be in the first category; night-long prayer and watching in the
second, and many ordinary secular activities in the third. Divorce is in the
objectionable but permitted category, whereas adultery and other sins are
prohibited.

     Both settled and nomadic Somalis tend to conform to Muslim requirements
for ritual purity, e.g., washing after contact with unclean things and after
specific activities. Some settled Somalis, particularly in communities founded
by religious orders, are more likely to observe Islamic requirements than are
nomads. For example Muslims may omit (or put off) certain duties while
traveling, and nomads may take advantage of this permission, although their
laxity may arise from lack of instruction. Ordinary settled Somalis were also
likely to pay less attention to religious observance by the 1960s. Luling
(cited by David Laitin) states that only a few devout Somalis in Afgooye said
their daily prayers regularly. Devout Somalis (and others who value the title
of haji-pilgrim-for its prestige) may make the pilgrimage to Mecca, but many
more to go to the tombs of the local saints (see Religious Orders and the Cult
of the Saints, this ch.).

Religious Roles in Somali Islam

     In Islam there are no priests who are intermediaries between the believer
and God, but there are religious teachers, preachers, and mosque officials. In
Somalia religious training is most readily available in urban centers or
wherever mosques exist. These children learn to memorize parts of the Quran,
often without understanding what they have memorized, in part because many of
their teachers do not understand it either. It is customary for some teachers
to travel on foot from place to place with their novices, depending on the
generosity of others for their living. The teachers serve the community by
preaching, leading prayers, blessing the people and their livestock,
counseling, arbitrating disputes, and performing marriages. Few are deeply
versed in Islam, and they rarely stay with one lineage long enough to teach
more than rudimentary religious principles.

     In the absence of a wandering teacher, nomads depend on a person
associated with religious devotion, study, or leadership, called wadad
(pl. wadaddo). The wadaddo constitute the oldest stratum of literate people in
Somalia. They function as basic teachers and local notaries as well as judges
and authorities in religious law. They are rarely theologians; some are active
members of a religious brotherhood, or belong to a lineage with a strong
religious tradition. In the latter case they were not necessarily trained but
were nevertheless entitled to lead prayers and to perform ritual sacrifices at
weddings, on special holidays, and during festivals held at the tombs of
saints.

Religious Orders and the Cult of the