A STROLL THROUGH SOKO MJINGA

Today I went downtown Karisa to pick up Eidd stuff for my children. After strolling for a while through the congested streets, finally, I ended up at Soko Mjinga aka Suuq Mugdi. Walking with a business lady I was to seal a business transaction, we evaded men pushing heavily loaded wheelbarrows, mkokotenis, ladies in Wahhabi attires, men in Kanzu, and rambunctious kids on their mid-term break.

The market is a haven for Garoobs selling various types of clothing, noisy hawkers from down Kenya, pickpockets, men in Qaadiro stages, reggae ragamuffins, ilbax-shaarres, braggadocios, youngsters devastated by the agonizing buufis, business magnates, decayed slatterns, mentally retarded youth, toothless baagamuundos, learned men and women and people of scary features.

Suuq Mugdi is the Wall Street of this historic town that is populated mainly by people of Somali decent. The general infrastructure resembles a makeshift camp (iska deg), the streets are horrifically narrow and nauseating especially the rainy season, while the entire scene is evocative of an IDP camp.

Regardless of its shape and appearance, it is a daily meeting place for the beautiful and the beastly human and of course, unbeknown to many, beneath the infrastructure, a resting place for saintly men who departed for the Afterlife before the markets' initial foundation. It is a Cafe Internazionale where when ten people meet for a conversation, nine talk and only one listens. It is a paradise for those who love to chatter like Orang Utans (upright man).

Almost all the products sold here have been imported. The only eye-catching Somali-made products are uunsi, alindi or al-Hindi ladies wear and idin or idan for burning frankincense. Everything else is foreign with Chinese products taking the lead. But wait, Kenya made products are plentiful here. In case you want to sharpen your Somali sword or spear such that the end product meticulously appears sharper than the Wilkinson Sword and Nacet blade combined, purchase a Jua Kali made utensil, get hold of any kind of seeds or grab a kilo of buunsho for your starving donkey, Soko Mjinga has it all.

This place is where supply and demand meet. Adept at selling and bargaining, you will never be discouraged when buying from a Waryaa. The place, regardless of its austere simplicity, design and shape, is a monumental economic giant second only to Nairobi's Somali dominated Eastleigh.

Should you leave this place discouraged for failure to wrest control of what you desire most, let it even be a woman of your choice, I can bet you have not gone into the unexplored depths of this majestic but monstrous market that harbors products beyond human imagination.

THE ORIGIN OF SOMALI EXPLAINED

The Egyptians during the succession of Pharaonic dynasties could not pronounce the letter 'cayn' in the Arabic alphabet and so they called their god Ra. A famous god they worshiped was called Amen Ra during the Theban Supremacy.

Somalis are a Cushitic people whose past history should not be taken lightly because Cushitic history predates Egyptian history. Before the introduction of writing, oral history had the upper hand in historical narrative.Brushing aside Somali genealogy is tantamount to historical deletion and a way of abandoning the beauty and existence of a unique race that left behind unique footprints worth pondering. Blindly believing in everything written by other races who denounced anything black is a gross miscalculation.

Where god was Raac in the Cushitic language, the Greek and Egyptian tongues could not pronounce the Cayn mentioned earlier. It is also worth mentioning that the Somali language itself has been undergoing changes for millenniums. However, we can get from other Cushitic languages what had been lost in Somali since these languages are identical in context.

The sun would have been Qoor Raac as in one particular African ethnic group that is very close to the Somali as both share linguistic and cultural similarities but not religious identity. The term Qoor Raac which is in reference to the sun means 'the overseer god who watches over us using his neck' or if you speak Somali it would mean, 'ka qoorta nala raaca ama na qooraansada'.

It has been estimated that the Somali language contains over 2,000 words of Hieroglyphics. In Somali, gowrac denotes to slaughter while in that unique language mentioned above it is Goy Raac which translates to 'cut or slaughter in honor of Raac'. So, Gooy Raac was and is a form of sacrifice to the god who is/was Qoor Raac or the overseer.

In conclusion, I find it outlandish for people who are revered in the West to demonize Black Africa by giving people of White color leverage over other races. Inconsequential articles and utterances by notable White figures laden with derogatory languages denigrating the African race must not be taken lightly. Arnold Toynbee, one of the most celebrated historian rebuked the black race for not making any “creative contribution” to the cause of civilization. Likewise, the demeaning tongues of Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, and Stuart Mills among others, were nothing but propaganda techniques meant to elevate eurocentrist thoughts and a harbinger for advancing their wanton practices.

KARISA POSTER WARS

While Karisa is already bleeding from poor containment of the dreaded black plastic bag that has become a nuisance everywhere and the plastic water bottle locally known as Gajacleey wrecking havoc on the environment, another dangerous scenario has evolved and that is the proliferation of political posters on billboards that have added insult to an already incurable existing injury.

Strewn everywhere by careless shoppers, for a long time, the common black shopping bag has been silently killing stray livestock that consume it on a wider scale. Known as Iskoris for their adeptness and survival tactics without owner's upkeep, cows, goats and sheep eventually suffer strangulation and instantaneous deaths.

Almost all of the commercial billboard advertisement messages have been replaced by political posters displaying photographic images and logos of potential candidates for the anticipated August general elections. With competition rising among competing political forces, a keen observation of poster displays reveal appalling political savagery never experienced before in this human forsaken town devastated by tribal sentiments since the introduction of multiparty democracy in Kenya.

Poster disfiguring, replacements by way of ripping off opponent posters, spray painting to taint images, or paste on top techniques have given hired hooligans a field day. This is sheer political hooliganism that is growing roots everywhere. Solar and electric light poles have not been immune either. Surprisingly, a poster that has been posted today, will not survive tomorrow. This form of jungle politics is contrary to modern democratic norms of political publicity.

Since we are vicegerents of the Creator Who entrusted with us a clean earth for our use, how dare we behave like animals having inferior faculties of thinking? No matter how many posters you display or destroy, one thing is clear: 8/8/2017 voters have already made up their minds and know who to vote for on that material day.

THE FIRST BRITISH COLONIAL FOOTSTEPS IN GARISSA DISTRICT

The first British colonial settlement in Garissa district was at a place called Mansabubu at the beginning of the nineteenth century, as recollected by Sultan Deghow. Fed by the meandering Tana River–a river that is 1,000km long and trickles from the Aberdare Mountains in central Kenya and drains near Kipini, the first colonial settlers were brought to Mansabubu by Sultan Sambul, Deghow’s grandfather, from Lamu that is located along Kenya’s maritime coast bordering Somalia. Regardless of Omani Arabs having heavy presence along the Eastern Africa coast, the British had the mandate to traverse the Indian Ocean because, though preceded by an agreement with the United States in 1833, the Sultanate of Zanzibar had signed treaties with European Powers such as France in 1862 and Germany in 1886 respectively. However, it was the 1886 agreement that made the Sultanate’s sovereignty unchallenged.[i]

With competition rising among the European powers on how to expand their influence in Africa, the British administrators felt it was time to venture into the hinterlands. As explained by Nene Mburu, Sultan Stamboul (Sambul), was a fully recognized traditional elder of the Ogaden clan–a man who was in the third generation among the Somalis who settled in NFD­–and so was the Borana Chief Haji Galma Dida who was the son of Dida Dayo–a senior chief who was the overlord of Wajir during the British Colonial Administration.[ii] By 1923 after the death of Dida Dayo and the coronation of his son, the territorial stretch of Borana land that previously included Wajir, Garbatulla, Isiolo and Marsabit was subsequently reduced after Somali scuffles with the Borana resulted in the Borana being pushed westward, as Mburu maintains.

There have been long and simmering tensions between the Borana and Somali over land accumulation for centuries with the Somali using sheer force to evict the Borana from their ancestral lands. Cattle rustling were other factors that contributed to tribal altercations. With their herds of livestock, Somalis have been in search of greener pastures and getting closer to the Ewaso Nyiro River would have been a natural delight. Though not a perennial water source that flowed permanently year-round, it was a temporary river that nourished the Borana and Samburu ethnic groups for years. Despite that, for Somalis, access to this water source would have been a natural resource that would give relief to their large herds and sustain human life. Somalis have long had a history of migration, and the determination to conquer new territories either from rival Somalis or from other stable ethnic groups such as agro-pastoral groups and hunters and gatherers living in thriving dense forests. Likewise, having been adept at the psychology of assimilation, no wonder, and conflict has been a thriving factor[iii] in their pastoral economy. As a superpower in their areas of influence at that time, it boggles the mind how Somalis emulated the psychology of warfare–a political trend that is practiced by modern superpowers of today, that war spurs the economy, reduces unemployment, and creates new opportunities while raising the rating of the leader only when victory is achieved over the rival enemy.

To further define the abstraction of Somali assimilation, the term implies intermixing, intermingling, integrating, incorporating, and amalgamating with other Somali clans or sub-clans or with other ethnic groups or allowing slaves and those seeking safety to be part of the Somali clan realm. However, not all Somali clans practiced the notion of assimilation. No wonder, according to popular opinion, the Ogaden that is part of the greater and populous Daarood clan are the most tolerant and welcoming of other besieged and mortified Somalis. In fact, many Somalis who are familiar with the Somali culture attest to the fact that the Ogaden exemplify a political organization where one can be a member of the clan, marry from, pay diya or mag (blood money) and quit when necessary. The connotation Sheegad, which many writers or researchers define as ‘pretenders’ could have been better interpreted as ‘to claim’, ‘be part of’ or be a ‘claimant’. Somalis living in northern Somalia regard the name Sheegad as dishonorable while in northern Kenya, it has been acceptable in the past.[iv]

British Colonial Chieftainship

The British creation of chieftainship in later years among the tribes that had strength and a strong presence in the former NFD was a means to usher in indirect rule–a political subterfuge defined in later years as a ‘divide and rule tactics’. The creation of imaginary lines by the colonial powers came to define geographical boundaries that would serve as maritime and specifically defined landmarks by their own surveyors, which in the end placed a wedge between people of close consanguinity. The covetousness of the colonial powers and their mistreatment of the black race were beyond divinely guided, rightly thinking human comprehension. It is the same land and maritime demarcation that is the source of contention among many African nations to this day. Intra and inter-state wars continue to undermine the way forward to progress for many Africans whose leaders were drawn from the legacies of colonialism.

At that time in history, in Wamo, an expansive land that stretched from Kismayu in southern Somalia and into some parts of Kenya’s Northeastern region, there were internecine wars among the various Ogaden sub-clans. With no reconciliation in sight and the prospect of peace and stability diminishing, and hunger and deprivation skyrocketing, some of the sub-clans decided to disperse to various destinations equal in enormity to a phenomenon in the year 1937–a perilous era Somalis dubbed ‘Sannadkii kala Carar’[v] which translates to the ‘Year of Pandemonium’. In that same year–1937–Somalis experienced abundance of milk and therefore they named it ‘Sannadkii Caana Arag.’ There was an outbreak of locust invasion in 1935, meaning Somali-inhabited areas or forcefully captured lands have been prone to natural disasters in the 19^th century and beyond.

Defining Afmadow

The main headquarter of the Ogaden clans before the Abdwak clan bid the rest goodbye, was a small settlement called Afmadow (Afmadu in English) in the middle of the current Lower Juba Valley of southern Somalia. Almost 110 kilometers (68 miles) from the Port City of Kismayu[vi], Afmadow cherishes to have a long history. The settlement had no reliable water source before Somali migration to the region. However, it had had a hundred and fourteen boreholes when the British Colonial Administration finalized the digging of water catchments and water wells in 1944–a year before the Second World War ended. This era is known as “Sannadkii Dhul Qod” in Somali which translates to ‘the introduction of dams’ and coincides with the Ogaden subclan Mohamed Zubeir and Bartire War.

Somali oral historians attribute Afmadow to have been the name of an Orma, Oromo, or Wardei woman while others give credit to a Somali woman. Both narratives will be taken into context. Once upon a time, the Talamogge and another Ogaden sub-clan decided to fight on a certain day and the venue would be under an acacia tree within Afmadow periphery. However, the war never materialized due to reconciliations among elders. Regardless, unaware that the war had been halted, a few warriors came to the designated battleground dressed in full battle gear. Instead, they found a dark-mouthed non-Somali girl. Thus, was born the name Afmadow.

In another narrative, at a time of immense suffering due to water shortages where people and their livestock were dying whole scale, a renowned Saint came up with a startling proposition. He proposed that the most decent, blameless, and untarnished woman–a woman of unspoiled character who is loyal to her husband to be brought before a convention of elders. People got bewildered, baffled, surprised, and appalled at the saint’s feigned premise. With mouths agape, wide-eyed, and able hearing ears directed at the saint’s announcement, a man from the Asharaf clan who lived among the Ogaden and was married to a woman whose name was Afmadow, raised his hand and promised to turn over his wife. After being handed over, the saint commanded the woman to undress before her husband in full view of the conveners. When she was about to untie the figure of eight  knot known to Somalis as Gareys or Garxir, he yowled at her to stop her indecent actions and fasten the knot. Instead, he gave her a spear and told her to dig between her feet exactly where she was standing. Immediately she hit the ground with the double-edged sharp spear–a spear that was sharper than Wilkinson Sword and Nacet Blade combined, a fountain of water from the Ewaso Nyiro River that runs underground started to sprout up like the Yellowstone Fountain of the U.S. in the state of Wyoming.

Thus, the name Afmadow (Dark Mouth)–an indication of beauty–is derived from the name of a woman from the Rer Mohamed sub-clan. Mohamed was the uncle of the Abdalla sub-clan who are collectively known as Samawadal.[vii] The two sub-clans have a great presence in the towns of Ijara and Masalani that are part of Garissa County. Samawadal and Abdiwak are cousins and are together called Talamogge. The Samawadal and Abdiwak have always lived together in peace, sharing water and pasturage, going to war as one entity, and engaging in intermarriages, though, at times, they would fight among themselves. However, in case of altercations, problems would be solved through the application of customary laws known as “Xeer”, where the elderly would deliberate under the shadow of a tree and finally come to conclusions.

Leaving no stone unturned, the Abdiwak Sultan in Afmadow, sensing impending dangers related to war, famine and drought, and diseases and death, sent his own two surveyors known as Sahan to search for water. After a month of absence they arrived at a place close to Sankuri known as Daloolo where their sights caught a mighty flowing River. On inquiring from the inhabitants who were mostly of the Wardei ethnic group–the same community who were evicted by the Somalis from southern Somalia, they were told it was called Ganana Maro. Rejoicing at the sight of the river, the two surveyors, after being hosted by the Wardei, set off to return to Afmadow. On returning to Afmadow, the two surveyors returned to the king with the goods news that caused jubilation among his subjects and consternation in others. It was here Abdiwak and their fellow kinsmen took the extraordinarily extensive trek of retracing the footsteps of the previous land examiners.

The forward trek to unknown destinations was never a free ride to a land of opportunities as it bore painful repercussions and beautiful fruits. The regions ahead were either devoid of humans, empty and isolated or heavily populated by formidable, irreconcilable and irrepressible men who fought tooth and nail to defend their territorial integrity from outside aggression and multitudes of ferocious and cunning wild beasts that devoured livestock and man at will. Regardless of the death and destruction encountered en route, the forward push to greener pastures materialized for the king and his followers–a heroic act of manhood later on to be emulated by other Ogaden sub-clans after the dust had settled. With most African tribes and wild beasts eventually subdued by the successive kingdoms of Abdiwak, it was time for rehabilitating the surviving, captured antagonists and a time for recuperation, reproduction and forging alliance with the most volatile of all humans–the Whiteman.

---

[i] Mwaruvie, John. "The Ten Miles Coastal strip: An Examination of the Intricate Nature of Land Question at Kenyan Coast." (2011).

[ii] Mburu, Nene. Bandits on the border: the last frontier in the search for Somali unity. Red Sea Press, 2005.

[iii] Farah, Ibrahim, Abdirashid Hussein, and Jeremy Lind. "Deegaan, politics and war in Somalia." Scarcity and Surfeit. Institute for Security Studies. Pretoria, South Africa (2002): 320-356.

[iv] Schlee, Günther. Identities on the move: clanship and pastoralism in northern Kenya. Vol. 5. Manchester University Press, 1989.

[v] http://cleanthehorn.blogspot.co.ke/2008/03/in-which-event-were-you-born-how-kenya.html

[vi] Distance Between Cities Places On Map Distance Calculator. www.distancefromto.net. Retrieved  June 14, 2016

[vii] Interview with Mohamud Abdi Kassim, Masalani, Garissa, 14 June, 2016

ISLAM ILLUMINATED

How many powerful queens and kings have come and gone and will never return to us? Where is the Pharaoh who claimed to be god? You will tell me he was drowned and that his body has never been found. You're wrong. His corpse was retrieved from the salty water, was embalmed and preserved in a sarcophagus and he will remain in that state until the Day of Resurrection for humanity to see.Go to Egypt and visit the pyramids. He is there. Where are his two famous confidants, Ammon (Haamaan) and Korah (Qaaruun)? Despite being dead, they are being tormented.

Tell me, where is the powerful Nimrod? If you believe in Charles Darwin's 19th century Theory of Evolution, why not believe in past revealed books and the Grand Qur'an that has been perfected and protected by Allaah, The Beneficent, The Merciful?

How many transgressing generations were destroyed by fiery winds, deafening blasts, deluge, violent earthquakes, hell spewing volcanoes, furious hurricanes, gales, typhoons and tornadoes and will never return to this world?

What do you know of what is happening to the occupants of the graves some of who are in deep slumber and others burning and suffocating till the Day of Resurrection?

Don't you understand the contents of the Qur'an? Don't you see? Don't you reflect? Don't you ponder? Don't you hear?

Take a heavenward flight approximately 12 miles fixedly for 8-hours, then return to earth. You will not land at your previous departure point because the earth has moved.

How comes the earth is suspended, revolving and rotating day and night, yet all the oceans and rivers don't spill over? By the Power of Allaah, the mountains are stakes.

Imagine a veil is removed from your eyes and instantaneously your new vision is exposed to new creatures you have never seen or imagined before. Would you be terrified or amused by their sight?

Can you recollect when you were in your mom's womb and the stages you've been through?

If you will agree with me that you were formed from liquid, then how can you dispute with me creation without a father or creation from clay without a father and mother to be impossible?

We calculate the distance of stars from earth by light years. Yet, they are a decoration for the lower heaven and ease of navigation for you. So, imagine what is above them?

Why do we have different times and not a universal one?

We have eyes, ears and brains, but there are those who are deaf, dumb and blind because they have diseases in their hearts and The Creator has increased for them the diseases afflicting their faculties of thinking.

Don't tell me The Creator has partners, that there are two gods or many gods. How could these gods agree on power sharing if humans cannot?

There is only One Creator and His Name is Allaah. His name was in the Psalms (Zaboor) of David (Da'ood), the Torah (Tauraat) of Moses (Moosa) and the Evangel (Engeel) of Jesus (Eesa), but were deliberately deleted by men. The messages that were contained in those books have not been lost and are still with us up to this day without adulteration. They have been incorporated into and preserved in the Only Living Testament-the Qur'an that was revealed to Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets (Peace and Blessing of Allaah Be Upon Him).

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN THE QUR'AN

Ibn Kathir and the early scholars of Islam state that the Ten commandments are reiterated in two verses from the Quran.

“Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited you from, Join not anything in worship with Him; be good and dutiful to your parents; kill not your children because of poverty- We provide sustenance for you and for them; come not near to shameful sins whether committed openly or secretly; and kill not anyone whom God has forbidden, except for a just cause. This He has commanded you that you may understand. And come not near to the orphan’s property, except to improve it, until he or she attains the age of full strength; and give full measure and full weight with justice. We burden not any person but that which he can bear. And whenever you give your word (i.e. judge between men or give evidences) say the truth even if a near relative is concerned, and fulfil the Covenant of God. This He commands you, that you may remember.” (Quran 6:151-152)