Siad Barre Was A Close Call

Yes exactly and that was in the middle ages. I think a better premise for your thread would be if Adal never fell apart and continued to rule the Somali lands as they were very Arabized and a centralized state would have spread the Arabic language among the masses. A centralized state is the next best thing in implementing a language shift as Arabic would be the lingua franca among the different ethnic groups under Adal rule.
100% agree. While reading Futah Al Habesh I was very surprised to see how arabized the Somali and Harla clans were. Seemed so alien to today
 
100% agree. While reading Futah Al Habesh I was very surprised to see how arabized the Somali and Harla clans were. Seemed so alien to today
Yeah the names of the Rulers were usually Arabic & likely only spoke Arabic as their Mother tongue. I believe the language of the Adal court was just Arabic.

There's a good chance we would have been speaking a Somali/Horner dialect of Arabic if Adal survived & consolidated their control over the HOA.
 
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Abaq

VIP
I doubt it, Barre came into power in the 70s and Colonialists didn't see us as Arabs. The Somali identity was already seen as distinct from Arabs and it's own thing by that point to the world.
When the British came across the OG in Jubbaland in they told them we are Arabs.
 
Yeah the names of the Rulers were usually Arabic & likely only spoke Arabic as their Mother tongue. I believe the language of the Adal court was just Arabic.

There's a good chance we would have been speaking a Somali/Horner dialect of Arabic if Adal survived & consolidated their control over the HOA.
Ahmed Ibn Hussein the Garrad of Habar Magaadle is a good example of a zoo ruler with a hella arab name :dead:
 
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