TALES WHICH PERSIST ON THE TONGUE:

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Page 1

Sudanic Africa

, 9, 1998, 1-17

ARABIC LITERACY AND THE DEFINITION OF

COMMUNAL BOUNDARIES IN

SHAR F

fiAYDARÜS'S

BUGHYAT AL- M L

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`In 1928, when the Principe d'Piedemonte came to visit',

amüd Sokorow declared, `the governor ordered the

walls of Mogadishu pulled down'.

For urban Somalis,

known collectively as the Benaadiri (lit. `people of the

ports'), the dismantling of the wall represented the destruc-

tion of the last physical barrier between themselves and the

undifferentiated masses of what they regarded as a rural

pastoral `horde'. Its destruction,

Sokorow and others

contend, led to a sudden and unbridled pastoral invasion of

urban space which constituted a direct threat to what town

dwellers viewed as their distinctive urban way of life.

Deprived of their last physical tool for excluding the

undesirable rural rabble from the town, urbanites were forced

to seek more subtle devices aimed at insulating the urban

community from pastoral influences and, from the 1950s,

creating a space for themselves in the coming post-colonial

state. There existed a number of weapons in the Benaadiri

arsenal aimed at negotiating the boundaries of community.

Interview with

Abukar amüd Sokorow, 5 July 1994. Unfor-

tunately, a search of Italian archival sources has failed to uncover

any conclusive evidence that confirms

Sokorow's account.

However, since the Italian authorities carried out extensive urban

renewal projects in Mogadishu during the 1920s and the Principe

d'Piedemonte did visit the colony in 1928, the

's story is not

without merit.

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These included, most notably, exclusionary marriage

practices and political activism embodied in the founding of

the Hamar Youth Club in the mid-1940s.

However, the

most powerful tool deployed by Benaadiri townsmen in

defence of their community was the one over which they

held a virtual monopoly: literacy in the Arabic language.

Using the tools of literacy Somali urban elites sought to

execute at least two agendas. First, they looked to reinforce

their own particular town identity which held them as distinct

from their rural neighbours. In addition to demonstrating their

inherent distinctiveness, however, élite urbanites also hoped

to demonstrate that urban and rural peoples were closely tied

to one another through both their common heritage as

Somalis and their membership in that much more important

community, the community of Muslim believers, or the

umma

This dual agenda is clearly laid out by the Benaadiri

fi lim

sharif

fiAydarüs b. fiAli in his history of Somalia,

Bughyat al- m l fi ta rikh al- üm l

published in 1954.

Using the concepts of genealogy, sacred history and the

superiority of the written word, fiAydarüs sought to maintain

control over the definition of boundaries between his own

urban community and the encroaching rural population in an

effort to preserve their identity and social position in the

coming post-colonial state.

The urban communities

The negotiation and re-negotiation of communal boundaries

by Benaadiris in the twentieth century was hardly a new

phenomenon. Since at least the eleventh century,

the towns

`Hamar Youth Club', untitled document [n.p. n.d] detailing the

annual meetings of the Benaadiri political movement from 1952

to 1956.

fiAydarüs b.

al-Sharif

fiAli al-fiAydarüs al-Na iri al-fiAlawi,

Bughyat al- m l fi ta rikh al- üm l

, Mogadishu: M al-Id ra al-

waßiya fial üm liy 1374/1954.

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of the southern Somali coast, known as the Benaadir

(including Mogadishu, Marka and Barawe), were inhabited

by mercantile communities whose lives were centred around

the act of buying and selling. These merchants

acted

middlemen, mediating trade between the southern Somali

interior on the one hand and the broader

world of the Indian

Ocean

on the other. The Benaadiri regarded themselves as

ahl al-balad

', literally `people of the town', a community

that was culturally distinct from their rural Somali cousins

who they regarded as `

ahl al-b diyya

' (`people of the

countryside') and inherently `other'.

The key to Benaadiri success as a broker community lay

in the careful maintenance of boundaries between themselves

and their trade partners. By playing various social, religious,

cultural or genealogical cards townsmen could either draw

themselves closer to their trade partners or create a discreet

amount of social distance depending upon which served their

immediate needs. Benaadiris in the nineteenth century, for

instance, frequently used bonds of ethnicity, religion,

genealogy and even family, through the marriage of urban

merchants to rural brides, to draw themselves closer to their

rural brethren.

However, while various links with pastoral peoples were

considered integral to the success of their mercantile

ventures, the maintenance of a certain social distance was

considered equally, if indeed not more, vital. This was

especially true within the urban milieu itself, where particular

care was taken to maintain the nomadic population at arm's

length. Oral traditions, as well as the writings of numerous

nineteenth-century travellers, provide us with detailed

accounts of the restrictions placed on nomadic movements

For a fuller discussion of the development of the mercantile

lineages of the Benaadir towns see my doctoral dissertation, Scott

Reese, `Patricians of the Benaadir: Islamic Learning, Commerce

and Somali Urban Identity in the Nineteenth Century', University

of Pennsylvania 1996.

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within the towns. Numerous sources from the late nineteenth

century note that nomads were allowed into the towns only

when they had business to conduct in the market.

Furthermore, those who entered were required to leave any

weapons they possessed at the town's main gate as they

entered. In addition, no pastoralist was, in principle,

permitted to remain in any of the Benaadir towns after

nightfall. Traditions as well as early colonial reports indicate

that all rural outsiders were compelled to leave the precincts

of the towns after the

fiaßr

(afternoon) and before the

maghrib

(evening) prayers at which time the city gates were

closed for the night. As one early twentieth century observer

noted, every evening `after the

fiish

prayer, criers would go

throughout the town ordering all those who came from

without to leave. ...'

In order to ensure that no unwanted

rural visitors entered the city after dark, the towns were

patrolled nightly by groups of armed militia drawn from the

ranks of free male townsmen.

Having said this, however, it

is important to note that Benaadiris never sought to cut

themselves off from rural society. Instead, their intention was

to manage the urbanrural relationship in such a way as to

maintain their own social distinctiveness and economic

advantage. And, in fact, there were some notable exceptions

to these restrictions. For example rural business partners and

religious students were frequently allowed to reside in the

towns for varying lengths of time as long as an urban notable

sponsored their residency and vouched for their good

behaviour and accepted responsibility for any difficulties that

See for instance, Giorgio Sorrentino,

Ricordi del Benadir

, Naples:

Francesco Golia 1910, 401 & 433-4; Revoil,

Voyages au Cap des

Aromates

Paris: E. Dentu 1880, 101, and Gustavo Chiesi

, La

Colonizzazione Europea nell'Est Africa: Italia, Inghilterra, Ger-

mania

, Turin: Unione Tipographico Editrice Torinese 1909, 325.

Interviews with Abukar amüd Sokorow, 5 July 1994; Shaykh

Mu ammad Shaykh Abü Bakr, 2 August 1994;

jji

asan

Shaykh Mu ammad, 9 October 1994, and

jji

Mu ammad

Dheere, 2 July 1994.

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might arise.

With the advent of the Italian colonial state after 1890,

however, urban Benaadiris lost control over most of these

physical barriers to pastoral migration. With the introduction

of colonial troops, urbanites no longer had the right to patrol

the streets with their own militia, although at least for a time

the Italians continued the custom of prohibiting nomads from

remaining in the town overnight.

Before 1920 it appears that

few pastoralists succeeded in settling within the precincts of

Mogadishu. However, by the middle of that decade what

was only a trickle of rural-urban migration turned into a

flood. From the early 1920s, the fascist administration began

a military build-up, which brought thousands of pastoral

troops to the coastal population centres. Then, in 1927 Italian

authorities forcibly resettled the rulers of two previously

autonomous northern sultanates, along with hundreds of their

followers from the Majeerteen clan in the centre of

Mogadishu.

Given these sudden influxes it is hardly surprising that

the community of Mogadishu, which at the beginning of the

century was estimated to contain no more than 6,000-7,000

individuals,

felt itself awash in a pastoral sea. The senti-

ments of the Benaadiri population are probably best summed

up by

Sokorow: `Before the Majeerteen, the people of

Xamer ate their food in bed. After they came we had to sit

up. When the others [e.g. other nomads] came we began to

eat standing. And when the Ogadenis

arrived we began to

run.'

Sokorow clearly states, with the town wall-

Ibid

Sorrentino,

Ricordi del Benadir

, 433-4.

Cesare Maria de Vecchi,

Orizzonti d'impèro. Cinque anni in

Somalia,

Milan: A. Mondadori 1934, 224.

10 Luigi Robecchi-Brichetti,

Lèttere dal Benadir

Milan: Società

editrice `La Poligrafica' 1904, 58-9.

11 Nomads from the distant interior used extensively as Italian troops

and considered way beyond the pale of civilization.

12 Interview with

amüd Sokorow, May 1994.

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the last physical bulwark against this deluge-destroyed,

local inhabitants clearly felt themselves culturally `on the

run'. In response, Benaadiris were forced to turn to what

they may have regarded as their last best defence, the

language of God and the written word: Arabic.

Benaadiris and the language of God

By the 1920s, the Benaadiris of Mogadishu had clearly lost

the ability to control who could and could not live within the

boundaries of the town. However, while they lost the

capacity to determine who could live within Mogadishu, they

still had the power to decide who had a right to claim

membership in the urban community. They accomplished

this through a medium which carried with it the weight of

religious authority and was a virtual urban monopoly, Arabic

literacy.

Arabic has been the commercial lingua franca of the

western Indian Ocean, including East Africa, since at least

the eleventh century. This was no less true along the

Benaadir coast where, as Tomaso Carletti-an early

twentieth-century Italian official-noted, `Arabic in the

Benaadir is the language of religion, culture and

commerce'.

As Carletti so rightly pointed out, while Arabic

served as both a commercial and liturgical language, it was

also closely associated with urban culture and was viewed by

more educated Benaadiris as the only `proper' mode of

public expression.

More importantly, literacy in Arabic was

considered a virtual urban monopoly.

13 Tomaso Carletti,

I problemi della Benadir

, Viterbo: Agneosti

1912, 63.

14 Aside from Carletti's above statement evidence supporting this is

still rather anecdotal. For instance, minutes for the annual

meetings of the Hamar Youth Club during the 1950s indicate that

all speeches and addresses were delivered in Arabic and then

translated into Somali and Italian; `Hamar Youth Club'.

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While no statistical data exists, commentators of the

nineteenth and twentieth centuries (as well as local traditions)

indicate that Arabic was virtually unknown in the

interior outside a relatively small circle of religious

practitioners. Within the urban milieu, however,

knowledge of Arabic was disseminated much more

widely. In addition to the religious scholars,

fiulam

most merchants living in the coastal towns had some

knowledge of Arabic. As men of commerce, most

maintained at least a working knowledge of spoken Arabic

in order to communicate with their overseas associates. At

the same time, many urbanites also studied Arabic as part-

time students of the Islamic sciences under the tutelage of

more experienced, and largely professional, scholars.

Given its comparatively broad dissemination among

urbanites and its relative absence among nomads, Arabic

provided one of the few means of cultural production over

which town dwellers exercised almost complete control. As

such, it provided the perfect venue for the defence of urban

communal boundaries in the face of increasing rural-urban

migration.

The wide scale production of Arabic literature in the

Benaadir appears to have occurred in two phases. The first

extended from

. 1917 through the mid-1920s when a num-

ber of hagiographies of the lives of various nineteenth-

century Sufi figures began to circulate among the peoples of

the coast in manuscript form. The second took place between

1950-60 during the so-called UN Mandate period, a

transitional period during which the Italian government was

to prepare the Somali people for independence under UN

auspices. During this latter period a number of new

collections of hagiographies appeared in printed form, as

well as at least one of the manuscripts of the 1920s. At the

same time the first known locally compiled secular history of

15 Interviews with Mu ammad al-H di, 2 July 1994, and

jji

asan

Shaykh Mu ammad, 9 October 1994.

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the coast, the

Bughyat al- m l

, was published, ironically,

under the auspices of the Italian Mandate Authority.

Significantly, these two phases of production correspond

with periods of crisis among the urban population. The first

occurred roughly during the same period that the Italian

colonial regime began to exert increasing control over their

Somali colony and Benaadiris were losing control of the

urban sphere. The second phase took place on the virtual eve

of independence when urbanites once again found

themselves struggling, this time for a piece of the post-

colonial pie in a country which both the UN and Somali

nationalists were defining as a pastoral state.

From the Benaadiri perspective these crises posed grave

threats to the existence of their community. Having long

since lost the ability to physically define their urban

boundaries, it appears that the Benaadiris turned to the

written word in order to guard their communal frontiers and

guarantee their place in a soon to be independent Somalia.

Sharif

fiAydarüs and the creation of `History'

Both the hagiographies of the 1920s and those of the 1950s

served to delineate Benaadiri communal boundaries.

The

work under scrutiny here,

sharif

fiAydarüs b. fiAli's

Bughyat

al- m l fi ta rikh al- üm l

, is of a more secular nature. Its

origins are still rather obscure. Published under the auspices

of the Italian Mandate Administration in 1954, the book itself

provides no indication why it was commissioned by the

authorities, why the language of choice was Arabic or why

there is no Italian translation. It would appear that fiAydarüs,

a businessman, urban communal leader and classically

trained scholar of the Islamic sciences, was chosen as a result

of his close ties with the Italian authorities as well as his

16 For a discussion of these, see Reese, `Patricians'.

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erudition.

As the title of the work implies, and the brief Italian

preface flatly states, the

Bughya

was to be a `book on the

history of Somalia'.

However, even a quick pass through

the pages of the text or a rapid glance at the table of contents

reveals the clear urban bias of the work. The earliest chapters

of fiAydarüs's work dealing with Somalis concentrate on

exclusively urban topics. fiAydarüs provides detailed

accounts of town and clan origins, genealogies, and local

politics covering well over one hundred of the 291 pages of

the book (significantly these also happen to be at the very

beginning of the book, ranging from page 30-130). Only

between fifty and sixty pages are devoted to rural topics and

these are restricted to discussions of clan genealogies and

general geography. Again, significantly, these are among the

last pages of the book, running from p. 235-87, with a few

other odd pages scattered throughout the text. Much of the

rest of the work (including the entire first chapter) is devoted

to various religious topics. These include the life of the

Prophet Mu ammad, the history of the Caliphate as well as

the practice of

mawlid

s (celebrations of the Prophet's birth)

and Sufism throughout Islamic history and across the Muslim

world.

In terms of raw page numbers, fiAydarüs clearly devotes

far more space to a discussion of his own urban world than

to that of his rural cousins. In addition, he quickly informs

the reader that it is the literate, urbane world of the town

which is the crucible of Somali history as he writes; `this [is

a] historical collection which contains the most important

events and developments which have occurred to the Somali

people. It will not be based on the stories which persist on

the tongue about the history of the Somali people ... Rather,

it will be based on manuscripts and the writings of travellers

17 fiAydarüs,

Bughya,

`Tarjamat al-mu allif',

alif

d l

Ibid

., `Prefazione'.

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and historians about the history of these people.'

With

these few words, fiAydarüs in effect declared a hegemony of

the written (a primarily urban medium) over the oral. Oral

traditions existed only within the realm of `story', connoting

frivolity, invention and even falsehood. Historical `truth', he

implies, existed only within the written.

With such an ideological bulwark in place, fiAydarüs

sought to establish an urban monopoly over the definition of

the past and to define the boundaries of not only the urban

community but also those of the rural pastoralists through his

own particular literate lens. Through the discussion of topics

such as town origins, the development of Sufi orders and

local urban politics, for example, fiAydarüs carefully

delineates the boundaries of the urban coastal community by

defining exactly who had a long-standing physical presence

or political authority in the towns (and for how long).

However, nowhere does he draw these lines as carefully or

explicitly as in the area of genealogy, where he undertakes to

define not only the lineages and characteristics of urbanites

but those of pastoralists as well.

fiAydarüs devotes a great deal of space to the topic of

clan genealogies in his discussion of local society. However,

while he records the genealogies of both urban and rural

clans with equal detail and apparent rigor, he approaches

each in a significantly different manner. In his discussion of

pastoral genealogies (which occurs in the latter portion of the

work, long after his discussion of urban lineages), fiAydarüs

prefaces this section with a lengthy `declaration', in which he

explains his rationale for devoting space to their ancestry,

that is worth quoting at some length:

In this brief section, I have recorded the genealogies of the Somalis

and the reasons for their migrations to this region. I have collected

these from reliable authorized men [i.e., elders] and from ancient

Ibid

., 8.

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books which have never been printed.

I have taken upon myself the recording of their genealogies

because their ancestors and ours propagated together within this

African land of Somalia. ... It is my desire to

render definite

their

genealogies, providing blessings and teaching them with the science

of genealogy, the learning of which is a duty.

... The science of genealogy is that which examines the

descent of the tribes and clans of peoples, the succession of sons

from fathers and grandfathers and the profusion of branches from

the roots of the human tree in such a way that one knows for any

given successor from what predecessors they are descended and for

a given branch, what was its root.

This knowledge has many

theoretical and practical benefits, [as well as] legal, social and

cultural and material necessities, too numerous to mention

The science of genealogy is not [simply] an ornament for [one

attending] literary gatherings where people learn purely to show

their recondite knowledge; rather, it is a knowledge both

theoretical and practical, because it is necessary in order to

establish inheritance, whose provision to those entitled to them

depends on establishing the degree of the relationship between the

inheritors and the one inherited from. This cannot be, except with

knowledge of genealogy.

From here fiAydarüs proceeds to discuss numerous rural

lineages in considerable detail. However, with this statement,

fiAydarüs lays claim to being the final arbiter of pastoral

descent. Although he notes that his own sources are `reliable

authorized men' and `ancient manuscripts', it is he who

`renders them definite' through the act of writing. His motive

for doing so, he declares, is purely disinterested. He desires,

merely, to prevent them from becoming yet another `literary

ornament', a fate which awaits most other oral genres, and to

bring blessings upon them through the teaching of this noble

science `the learning of which is a duty'. By emphasizing

their place as one of the Islamic sciences, fiAydarüs's

intention is to render them immutable once committed to

paper. As such, the rendering of `definite' rural genealogies

Ibid

., 235. Emphases mine.

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made it difficult, if not impossible, for pastoralists to

claim an urban connection. The emphasis fiAydarüs

places on the importance of genealogy with regard to

inheritance may have been intended to serve a similar

function. As genealogy determines the degree of

relationship between inheritor and inherited it also deter-

mines who has social claims on whom.

However, the codification of such genealogies did not

create a complete firewall between urban and rural clans, nor

was it probably meant to do so. fiAydarüs, as he

demonstrates through many of his genealogical lists, was

well aware that a number of rural clans (such as the Hawiye)

had important urban ties while a considerable number of

urban clans (the Bendawow, for example) could point to

ancestors with pastoral origins. Such links were often

important elements in rural-urban commercial relationships

that were the lifeblood of the community. fiAydarüs's goal

was not to cut urbanites off from the rest of Somali society

but to make them a

distinctive

part of it; an agenda he reveals

in his discussion of urban genealogies.

In his preface to rural genealogies, fiAydarüs concen-

trates on establishing a basis for the definitive genealogy in

an apparent effort to prevent rural clansmen from laying

claim to unwarranted urban connections. In his discussion of

urban lineages, however, this topic is never even mentioned.

Instead, he focuses on what makes a clan a clan. In a section

entitled `The citizens of the clans of Mogadishu' fiAydarüs

puts forth another declaration, this one detailing the various

elements that a lineage must possess in order to be

considered a true Somali clan.

The provisions of a clan are seven: First, that there must be among

them an

fi lim

knowledgeable in the Sharifia with no need to go to

another clan. Second, they must have among them intellectuals of

some standing. Third, that there must be someone of sufficient

wealth to pay reparations of the clan [bloodmoney] quickly if they

need to do so. Fourth, that they must be peoples of trade and occu-

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pations. Fifth, there must be among them a doctor who can treat

the people. Six, there must be a spokesman among them to respond

to [provocations] by other clans. Seven, they must have among

them a brave and intrepid [leader].

If a clan does not have these seven it has a defect. And there

are four other things a clan may have which bring it adornment

and honour. First, that there is among them conformity and unity.

Second, their secrets must be kept amongst them, and they do not

reveal them to others. Third, there is amongst them zeal in

religious and worldly affairs. And fourth, their genealogy leads to

a single ancestor and they live within a single boundary.

fiAydarüs indicates that these are the elements that a lineage

requires in order to be an urban clan. Indeed, if they are

found to lack one of the first seven they are `with defect'.

However, his agenda is not simply to isolate urbanites from

pastoral society. Certainly, he cites a number of elements

which distinguish urbanites from their rural cousins.

Stipulations 4: that they must be a people of trades and

occupations, and 5: that there must be among them a

doctor who can treat the people, are attributes found

commonly only among urban clans. Others, however,

are elements common to all clans, rural or urban, such

as 1, 3, 6 and 7 relating to learning, bloodwealth, and

leadership respectively.

fiAydarüs's agenda here is not difficult to discern. Rather

than attempting to separate urban society from the pastoral

majority, his goal is to demonstrate the place of urban society

as an integral, but distinctive, segment of Somali society. As

noted earlier, urban Somalis traditionally followed a pattern

of maintaining close links with the rural community, but at

the same time closely guarding their own spatial and social

boundaries. Here we see an example of the same pattern,

only in a literate format. Within his discussion fiAydarüs

indicates that in many important ways, the social structure of

urbanites is the same as their more numerous rural

21 fiAydarüs,

Bughya,

73.

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neighbours (for example, they both possess Islamic learning,

pay bloodwealth, and are represented by articulate

spokesmen and brave leaders). However, he gives equal

weight to factors that are unique to Benaadiri clans including

the following of professions and the practice of `medicine'.

(Stipulation 2: each clan must have among them intellectuals,

may also be meant to distinguish urbanite learning and

scholarship from what were often regarded as less

sophisticated and pseudo-magical practices found in the

interior).

Finally, he notes that clans are defined not only by their

genealogical unity but also certain additional bonds. Clans

that present a united front, keep their `secrets' to themselves,

`... live within a single boundary', attain adornment and

honour. Thus, for fiAydarüs a true clan possesses not only

genealogical conformity but also a certain communal unity

that must be closely guarded. By stressing elements such as

these, fiAydarüs is able to put forward the argument that the

people of the Benaadir are fully members of Somali society,

but occupying their own unique position within the wider

culture.

fiAydarüs and the

umma

ideal

But what about the Islamic chapters mentioned above? At

first glance it might be tempting to dismiss these sections as

extraneous appendages attached to the text by a classically

trained scholar for the sake of form. Certainly, there are

numerous examples of classical Arabic texts which take a

universal approach to history.

In the case of the

Bughya

however, the purpose of such chapters is more than decora-

tive. Their presence is probably meant to place Somali

history within the context of sacred history and providing

fiAydarüs with yet another way to connect urban and rural

22 The works of Ibn Khaldün and al- abari, for example.

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Somalis.

fiAydarüs, as we have seen, introduces his work as a

`history of the Somali people'. However, the main body of

the text begins not with a discussion of Somali origins but

with a narrative history of the Islamic world. This starts with

a brief timeline of the most important prophets leading up to

the birth of Mu ammad. He begins, of course, with Adam,

who he notes lived `many centuries' before `our Prophet

Mu ammad',

and proceeds through the most notable

prophets including Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, the

last to emerge before the Seal of the prophets, Mu ammad.

Following this fiAydarüs embarks on a narrative of the life

and mission of the Prophet and a summarized history of the

expansion of Islam and establishment of the Caliphate or

Muslim political empire in the centuries following his death.

In addition, he makes honourable mention of other important

Islamic states, including the Ayyubids of Egypt and the rise

the Ottomans. This discussion extends over the first thirty

pages of text, after which he moves on to an extended

discussion of local history from the founding of the coastal

towns through the colonial period.

However, fiAydarüs's references to the wider Islamic

world do not end here. Some 120 pages later (p. 152), he

returns to a consideration of the larger Muslim community

when he devotes fifty pages to a discussion of

mawlid

celebrations in various Muslim countries and during different

eras of Islamic history. This is followed by a brief

examination of the roots of Sufism and a narrative of its

development in late nineteenth-century Somalia. With the

exception of this last topic, all of these chapters are largely

straight-forward narratives with virtually no commentary to

tie them to other parts of the text.

By prefacing his discussion of local history with a

lengthy outline of Islamic history, fiAydarüs sets the Somali

23 fiAydarüs,

Bughya

, 4.

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past solidly within the context of the sacred past. For him,

Somali history is defined by, and grows out of, the Islamic

past and cannot exist outside of that paradigm. A similar

agenda may be discerned with his inclusion of descriptions

mawlid

s and Sufism in the wider Muslim world. By

devoting considerable space to the practice of rituals and

institutions both of which hold a prominent place in Somali

society, fiAydarüs again reinforces their connection to the

umma

. In the case of Sufism his discussion of Somali mys-

ticism is presented (like his discussion of local history) as an

extension of the historical development of Sufi practice in

general. His discussion of

mawlid

s may be cast in a similar

light. While he does not discuss the practice of

mawlid

among Somalis, its celebration was an important part of the

religious calendar of most Muslim communities throughout

East Africa. Thus, his discussion of this practice in the rest of

the Muslim world seems designed to demonstrate to Somalis

that their own practice was in line with that of their co-

religionists throughout the world.

It might be tempting to dismiss these chapters as literary

window-dressing included by the author as a display of his

own piety. It appears, however, that fiAydarüs uses these

Islamic chapters towards the same ends as those on local

genealogy; to draw the lines of community. As mentioned,

fiAydarüs uses the science of genealogy to demonstrate that

while urbanites and rural individuals were distinct from one

another in important ways, they were essentially Somali.

fiAydarüs uses Islamic topics to emphasize an even greater

common heritage, their membership in the Muslim

umma

community of believers. This, it can be argued, may have

been for fiAydarüs the most important communal connection

of all. Somalis were linked not only by common blood and

heritage but also by the greater community of a common

faith.

Page 17

ALES WHICH PERSIST ON THE TONGUE

Concluding remarks

In many ways, fiAydarüs's attempts to define the urban-rural

relationship merely replicates a pattern of cultural interaction

and definition that had long characterized urban-rural

relations. As a result of the realities of colonial occupation,

however, fiAydarüs and others were forced to adopt a new

medium for mediating and defining rural-urban associations.

Through the codification of genealogy they sought to seal

previously porous communal boundaries but without

divorcing themselves from the Somali whole. Since they

could no longer define these boundaries physically, they

chose to do so intellectually.

The need to define themselves as a distinct but integral

part of the so-called Somali nation became particularly acute

in the 1950s with the immediate prospect of independence.

In order to carve out a piece of the post-colonial pie,

Benaadiris needed to lay claim to solid Somali credentials in

a state that was being increasingly identified as pastoral.

However, fiAydarüs was not satisfied with appealing to a

common Somali heritage. Instead, he also sought to evoke a

stronger bond, that of their common membership in the

Islamic community, in his quest to secure the place of

urbanites in the Somali state.