Somali literature
[1] The 19th-century British explorer Richard Francis Burton, who visited the Somali Peninsula, similarly recounts in his book First Footsteps in East Africa how: The country teems with poets... every man has his recognized position in literature as accurately defined as though he had been reviewed in a century of magazines - the fine ear of this people causing them to take the greatest pleasure in harmonious sounds and poetic expressions ... Every chief in the country must have a panegyric to be sung by his clan, and the great patronize light literature by keeping a poet.
[2]According to Canadian novelist and scholar Margaret Laurence, who originally coined the term "Nation of Poets" to describe the Somali Peninsular, the Eidagale sub-section of the Garhajis clan were viewed as "the recognized experts in the composition of poetry" by their fellow Somali contemporaries: Among the tribes, the Eidagalla are the recognized experts in the composition of poetry.
[5] Observing that "some say he was 'peerless' and his 'noble lines' .. are commonly quoted throughout the Somali peninsula", Samatar concurs with J. Spencer Trimingham's judgement that "Mahammad 'Abdille Hasan [Sayyid Abdullah Hassan] was a master of eloquence and excelled in the art of composing impromptu poems which so readily inspire and inflame the Somalis"—although Samatar dissents on its "impromptu" nature.
[6] One of Hassan's well-known poems is Gaala Leged ("Defeat of the Infidels"): Elmi Boodhari differed from the poets of his generation in that he eschewed the popular theme of Tribal war and vengeance in Somali poetry, instead wholly focusing on love and composing all his poems for the woman he loved, Hodan Abdulle, which was seen as highly unconventional and scandalous at the time.
While the poets of his day where addressing serious subjects such as war and feuds, Boodhari composed all of his poems for the lady of his affection Hodan, who was given in hand of marriage to a man much wealthier than him.
[7] A poem Elmi composed for Hodan: She is altogether fair: Her fine-shaped bones begin her excellence; Magnificent of bearing, tall is she; A proud grace is her body's greatest splendor; Yet she is gentle, womanly, soft of skin.
Her gums' dark gloss is like unto blackest ink; And a careless flickering of her slanted eyes Begets a light clear as the white spring moon.
Is it not as beautiful as a galool tree abloom?As the Somali Studies doyen Said Sheikh Samatar explains, a Somali poet is expected to play a role in supporting his clan, "to defend their rights in clan disputes, to defend their honor and prestige against the attacks of rival poets, to immortalize their fame and to act on the whole as a spokesman for them.
"[13] In short, a traditional poem is occasional verse composed to a specific end, with argumentative or persuasive elements, and having an historical context.
The veteran British anthropologist and Horn of Africa specialist I. M. Lewis recounts how in the latter days of the rule of General Muhammad Siad Barre, the political opposition often relied on oral poetry, either recorded on cassette tapes or broadcast through the Somali language service of the BBC, to voice their dissent.
Abdi Sinimo had his truck break down in a desert stretch in Awdal on route to Djibouti these words came out of his mouth and birthed the new form [17]
Qudhdhaydu ma jaclayn inaan Ku qasbee Qummaatigan Ebbe Kuu qoray iyo Waxay qaaday qaararkaa baxay Wuxuu qoray ruuxna Kaama qaado Oo qawadi maayo, qaybta i taal Myself I did not want to make you (love me) But the perfect way in which God sculpted you And your mature limbs overwhelmed me What He has shaped, no one will take from you I am not vexed with the share placed (here for) me Developed in Hargeisa and Mogadishu to be played on the radio stations Heellooy initially was a long series of short Balwo.
Abdullahi Qarshe was the first to bring the oud to play alongside while reciting these poems and under him the Heellooy would transition to a series of related verses forming one long continuous song.
British ethnologist Virginia Luling noted during her visit to Afgooye that poetry was to be conceived and recited simultaneously with no prior preparation.
The poets or Laashin relied on their wit and memory to construct beautiful poems and entertain the audience [22][23] The poem The law then was not this law was performed by the leading Laashins of Afgooye, Hiraabey, Muuse Cusmaan and Abukar Cali Goitow alongside a few others, addressed to the current leader of Afgooye Sultan Subuge in 1989.
Ganaane gubow gaala guuriow Gooble maahinoo Geelidle ma goynin Gembi iyo waran guraantiis aa loogu soo gayooday, Gooble Gacalkiisa guri curad aa looga soo guuray Haddana nin walba aa Soo gamgamohaayo, goofka beereed waa la goostay, gelgeshii Gaashada daaqeysana waa la goostay, gunta intee la geyn doonaa?
Gobroontii soo gaartay Gobroontaan ma ahayn, gargooye Ibraahim Cumar Xaaji goodaalka adunyada markii joogeen, Awow Gaduud Cali - Mahinoo - Awow Gaduud Cali Abukar, Yusuf Maxamuud iyo goodaalka Addunka markii joogeen, ganuunka ganuunkan ma ahayn, Awow Gudgudoome Cumar Adeerow goodaalka aduunka markii joogeen Ganuunka ganuunkan ma ahayn.
We endured war and the point of the spear For the love of Gooble we left our first home And now everyone crowds in here, they have taken our cleared farmland They have taken the pasture where the herds grazed - where will the people be led ?
They find themselves surrounded by friends that strike them as greedy, only to magically return to Ancient Somalia where they live out all of the popular Somali folktales for themselves.
[26] In this poem young women call for rain and tease elderly men for their baldness[27] Eebow roone roobey Ku raaxeeya noo keen Ku rays weyn leh noo keen Ku odayada bidaarta leh Bar naga laaya noo keen O Almighty Allah Send us rains blessing That would soon cause The goats milk much to yield That would soon destroy One half the bald-headed old men Old men would respond to the young girls with their own taunt[27]
Books such as From a Crooked Rib and Links are considered important literary achievements, works that have earned Farah, among other accolades, the 1998 Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
His most famous novel, Maps (1986), the first part of his Blood in the Sun trilogy, is set during the Ogaden conflict of 1977, and employs second-person narration for exploring questions of cultural identity in a post-independence world.
Farah Mohamed Jama Awl is another prominent Somali writer who is perhaps best known for his Dervish era novel, Ignorance is the enemy of love.
One of the better-known examples of Somali Islamic literature is Maja'mut al-Mubaraka, a work written by Shaykh Abdullah al-Qalanqooli and published in Cairo in 1918.
This Qasida by Uways Al-Barawi called the Hadiyat al-ʿAnam ila Qabr al-Nabi (Guidance of Humanity to the Tomb of the Prophet) extols Muhammad.
إذا ماشئت تيسير المراد فصل على رسولك خير هادى وقل مستنجدا في كل ناد صلاة الله مانادى المنادى على المختار مولانا الحماد حبيب الله افضل من ترقى وقبره فاق كرسيا ومرقى وكل مواضع الخيرات صدقا يفوح المسك والريحان حقا لقبر محمد نور الفؤاد تنور جميع ارجاء الحبيب - يرى الانوار قاصده بطيب ويلقاه البعيد مع القريب - يعم الال جيران الحبيب بعرف عبيره اهل البلاد Whenever you wish to make easy your objective then give a prayer to your messenger [Muhammad] the best of Guides And say, seeking aid in every circle blessings of Allah, as the crier cries on the Chosen, our master the praised
