Dualism in Somali Notions of Power

Bibliographic Data

ID4169805
AuthorsI M Lewis (corresponding author)
Year1963
Volume93
Issue1
Pages109
Publication date1963-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0307-3114 • E-ISSN: 2397-2556
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2844336
OpenAlexW20757850
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited5

EXCEPT IN ITS POETRY, Islam in Somaliland is not rich in esoteric symbolism. Thus almost inevitably one is driven directly to examine the relationship between religious beliefs and cults, and between these and social structure. The purpose of this paper is to consider one wide issue here, that of the distinction which Somali draw between secular and non-secular power, and to examine how this is related to ecological and social factors and to the local interpretation of Islam. The first point to emphasize is that the Somali have been Muslims for many centuries, Islam having been introduced on the coast at least as early as the tenth century. Indeed they are orthodox Sunnis and follow the Shafi'i code of Muslim law. Not surprisingly, however, the segmentary lineage structure of their society strongly colours the content and character of the local practice of Islam. Thus it seems perfectly logical that Sufism and saint veneration-the mystical movement in Islam-should be highly developed amongst the Somali. For Sufism which lays such stress on the powers of intercession of saints seems peculiarly well-adapted to local Somali lineage ancestor cults. Indeed, a large proportion of those saints who now occupy a prominent place in Somali Islam are in fact the ancestors of lineages. Not all the saints venerated by Somali, however, fall into this category. A second and smaller group of locally venerated saints are those Muslims from other lands who founded the Dervish Orders or 'brotherhoods' which the Somali follow and to one of which every Somali is at least nominally attached.' Finally, there is a third category of locally venerated saints consisting of Somali and immigrant Arabs who are venerated, neither as lineage ancestors nor as the founders of Muslim brotherhoods, but for their personal blessing and miraculous works alone. Saints in all these three categories are regarded similarly by Somali, although as individuals they are not all equally powerful. To-day, whatever may have been the case in the past, Somali venerate these saints but do not worship them. There is no 'ancestor worship' in Somaliland, nor are the saints 'refractions' of God; rather they are intermediaries through whose piety and blessing (baraka), as in Catholicism, men seek to bridge the gulf which separates them from God. Above all the saints are not ends in themselves, but only a means by which man's appeal to the mercy and blessing of God through the Prophet is strengthened. Their general religious status is clearly indicated in the dogma held by the Ahmadiya brotherhood that their founder Sayyid Ahmad ibn Idriis al-Faasi2 'is in the door of the Prophet, and the Prophet is in the door of God'. These saints then, of whatever category, are venerated, not worshipped, and the respect shown to them which is explicitly based upon their intercessory role in no way eclipses or abrogates the power of God and His Prophet. God, 'The Creator', 'The Bestower', 'The Everlasting', etc.,3 is 'without need, or want', is all-powerful, and his unique character and position is in a sense enhanced rather than detracted from by the

Dualism · Epistemology · Linguistics · Physics · Power (physics · Sociology · Somali · African history and culture analysis · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Islamic Studies and History · Philosophy

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