Why is Arabic one of our official languages?

[Shimbiris]

Historically, this is the same with muslim western africa such as timbuktu which used arabic manuscripts. Argubly it isn't a specific thing to somalis, but it also applies to a lot of muslim countries.

Arabic was English-ing before English. The sheer spread of its use is absolutely mind-boggling to think about considering it didn't benefit from modern radio, television, the internet, and modern sea navigation. I mean from parts of India and China all the way to Spain and Morocco. From as deep in West Africa as Nigeria to all the way on the other side of the continent in Somalia or Tanzania then onward into the Indian Ocean world as far flung as the Philippines and Indonesia. Subxanallah...

 

[Doctorabdi]

Arabic was English-ing before English. The sheer spread of its use is absolutely mind-boggling to think about considering it didn't benefit from modern radio, television, the internet, and modern sea navigation. I mean from parts of India and China all the way to Spain and Morocco. From as deep in West Africa as Nigeria to all the way on the other side of the continent in Somalia or Tanzania then onward into the Indian Ocean world as far flung as the Philippines and Indonesia. Subxanallah...

Indeed, the arabic that came to the maghreb was mainly the result of the banu hilal migrations which varied in their genetic effect on maghrebis. My maghrebi side does have some arabian, but some people further down the sahara have up to "45 Arabian" because arabians tend to stick to their original climate. Darija became very distinct after having limited contact with the "east", plus the pronunciation of the words coupled in with very old arabic words (due to said migration) makes it quite foreign for eastern speaker to understand.

Say what you will about arabs, but they had impacted the world so much. Even the concept of "europe" was due to the rise of islam, and europeans made themselves distinct from their maghrebi and middle eastern neighbors previous to that they were quite close in culture and religion with of course their own native traditions.

 

[Doctorabdi]

Segment of Sultan Farah Guled of the Isaaqs letter to Sultan Saqr of the Qassimis of the UAE in the 1820s:

Segment of a Majeerteen Sultan's treaty letter to a ruler in Yemen from the 1870s:

Segment of manuscripts by a Leelkase Qadi from either 1694 or 1727:

Segment of a letter by Sayyid Mohammad Abdullah Hassan from 1905:

An account of Xamar's 1331 "Barbara" (Somali) Sultan:



Can't find the quote now but Battuta also noted him at one point sending letters that were ostensibly in Arabic.

An example of Far Wadaad in use in 1933:



Arabic is part of our heritage, walaal.

Timbuktu Manuscripts - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The mali empire is truly a fascinating piece of history

 

[The alchemist]

It was used for centuries as the written language of Somalis. Sometimes, like with Far Wadaad, people wrote Somali or a mix of Somali and Arabic using the Arabic script but a lot of the time Arabic was straight up the language of commerce, record keeping and communication. Most historical manuscripts, elite written letters of correspondence and so on we have from the last 300-400 years are in Arabic but written by Somalis. Most of the politicians of the Somali Youth League could speak Arabic and write in Arabic and frequently read Arab newspapers. It was sort of the medieval Latin in Western Europe of our culture. Very much a second language if you were a merchant, judge, ruler or any sort of traveled and learned man. Somalis are also a deeply religious and proudly so lot and given Arabic's inseparable connection to Islam that only helped seal why our founders would want to enshrine the language.

You write this today, tomorrow someone will ask the same question again. This place is Groundhog Day.

 

[Doctorabdi]

There are quite weird parallels to the sahelians and somalis, they are quite the "western" parallel.

Although their architecture is very unique and distinctive

 

[johnsepei5]

Somalia and Somalis could intergrate so well with the globalist business world if English was a mandatory language in schools

imagine every Somali being able to speak English

 

[Shimbiris]

@Shimbiris
I do have to ask in regard of clothing is this what somalis wore as in the everyday man?
View attachment 327343
And are the "elites" wearing turbans etc, or is it more widespread for example.
View attachment 327344

Kekekkekek. I was just in a discussion with another member in another thread about this:

Assembly Chamber of Somali parliament (1956)

Idk why the art resembles ancient Egypt art style but this still looks beautiful 🙏

www.somalispot.com

 

[Doctorabdi]

Kekekkekek. I was just in a discussion with another member in another thread about this:

Assembly Chamber of Somali parliament (1956)

Idk why the art resembles ancient Egypt art style but this still looks beautiful 🙏

www.somalispot.com

Oh, thank you very much sxb

 

[Idilinaa]

Although Somalis are Somali and not Arab. Arabic was a second language in Somalia for many centuries and we share deep rooted cultural ties with the Arab speaking world. It's apart of our heritage.

Beyond the shared ancestry as both members of the Afro-Asiatic language family. The Somali language and Arabic language has had continued sustained contact with each other since before Islam and which has translated to similar language evolution.

Social and Economic Developments in Pre-Islamic Somalia:​

A new study which is to be revised reveals that the relationship between Somali and Arabic is far deeper than that usually expected in the lexical, phonological, morphological, and grammar comparisons.

The Somali language did not lose contact with Arabic and Egyptian as it was not exposed to antedate or stronger culture. Residence in a wide peninsula and within the interior border surrounded by relatives helped it to sustain a relative closeness to Proto-Afroasiatic.

Don't fall for the dumb arabophobia, You can speak English and it can be used as an official language in a lot of countries without so much of an allegation of them trying to be English.
You can accept the cultural significance and usage of Latin in western world without it taking away from those non-latin European speakers.

There is a bias and racialized prejudice towards Arabic, were people doesn't allow for it. Even though the spread of it is very comparable to the spread and use of Latin.

Arab/Arabic is so racialized that they don't see that most people in Arabia Pre-Islam spoke various languages that wasn't Arabic. And that Arab today is more or less a language identity and not a race. It refers to people who speak Arabic as their first language

 

[Idilinaa]

Wouldn't the "shared ancestry", be as much with nilotes. Both divergent parts of our ancestries, are of course distinct to both nilotes and arabs but we share more "ancestry" (ancestral east african) with nilotes. Sorry just a bit of a tangent

Somali and Arabic languages share language ancestry. They both are part of the Afro-Asiatic language family. But they occupy seperate branches of it, Somali cushitic branch and Arabic is semetic branch

Somali language is not related to nilo-saharan languages it's a seperate language family.

 

[محمود فارح]

Segment of Sultan Farah Guled of the Isaaqs letter to Sultan Saqr of the Qassimis of the UAE in the 1820s:

Segment of a Majeerteen Sultan's treaty letter to a ruler in Yemen from the 1870s:

Segment of manuscripts by a Leelkase Qadi from either 1694 or 1727:

Segment of a letter by Sayyid Mohammad Abdullah Hassan from 1905:

An account of Xamar's 1331 "Barbara" (Somali) Sultan:



Can't find the quote now but Battuta also noted him at one point sending letters that were ostensibly in Arabic.

An example of Far Wadaad in use in 1933:



Arabic is part of our heritage, walaal.

Segment of Sultan Farah Guled of the Isaaqs letter to Sultan Saqr of the Qassimis of the UAE in the 1820s:

Segment of a Majeerteen Sultan's treaty letter to a ruler in Yemen from the 1870s:

Segment of manuscripts by a Leelkase Qadi from either 1694 or 1727:

Segment of a letter by Sayyid Mohammad Abdullah Hassan from 1905:

An account of Xamar's 1331 "Barbara" (Somali) Sultan:



Can't find the quote now but Battuta also noted him at one point sending letters that were ostensibly in Arabic.

An example of Far Wadaad in use in 1933:



Arabic is part of our heritage, walaal.

the oldest manuscript written by a Somali is Al-Wadad, isn’t it? @Shimbiris , I think the theory of cultural erasure is not something concrete. Somalis have been writing in the Arabic alphabet for centuries as a basic matter, and even the sheikhs and princes among them know the language. However, there is no "erasure" as they say. If we look at the bigger picture, the number of Arabic speakers is 400 million. There are so many opportunities and cultural outreach that we can do with them

 

[Doctorabdi]

the oldest manuscript written by a Somali is Al-Wadad, isn’t it? @Shimbiris , I think the theory of cultural erasure is not something concrete. Somalis have been writing in the Arabic alphabet for centuries as a basic matter, and even the sheikhs and princes among them know the language. However, there is no "erasure" as they say. If we look at the bigger picture, the number of Arabic speakers is 400 million. There are so many opportunities and cultural outreach that we can do with themView attachment 327346

I do agree, but if i'm not wrong we have lost a lot of our own traditions that may be seen as quite foreign by most somalis today. I believe shimbiris talked about how islam reached us, and we intergrated it with our beliefs and customs. The trial by fire being one of them very very foreign to everyone somali today

 

[Idilinaa]

I do think the "arabophobia" is more linked with people claiming to be arab despite the fact that we are well somali. Even the term "ana arabs" refer to this, i have no issue with our common history and closeness with the arabia. Arabia itself intriguingly enough had a lot more genetic and linguistic impact on our neighbors shifting their mostly cushitic genetics and language. We are still impacted by them but not to the degree, traditionally we still had our own unique traditions such as the trial by fire as shimbiris talked about.

There could very well be a Somali who grew up with Arabic as their first language in an Arab environment who feel he is more Arab. I don't see a problem with it and the fact that you think it's should be speaks to what i was saying.
Similarly you can find Somalis who feel more American because they grew up in America and don't feel tied to their people or culture. The same could apply to an Arab American.

But an Arab by definition refers to a group/people who speak Arabic as their first language. Somalis speak Somali, the vast majority of Somalis just claim Somali, even if they speak Arabic as a second language.

 

[Idilinaa]

I didn't actually meant somalis raised with their first language being arab. Arabic itself is merely a linguistic identity as you said. If you were born and raised somewhere, of course you can claim such a place as your own identity. I simply meant a specific fringe of somalis.

I still don't see a problem with it. Also if they are as you say fringe , let that person claim whatever. It's doesn't really matter cos the majority makes up the norm.

 

[محمود فارح]

I do agree, but if i'm not wrong we have lost a lot of our own traditions that may be seen as quite foreign by most somalis today. I believe shimbiris talked about how islam reached us, and we intergrated it with our beliefs and customs. The trial by fire being one of them very very foreign to everyone somali today

Well, I heard about that, but I'm not deep into this topic, but is it Islamic?

 

[Arma]

Kkkkk lol OP can you even speak a lick of Somali?

 

[trucel]

Beautiful language , you should strive to learn it.

 

[The alchemist]

Kkkkk lol OP can you even speak a lick of Somali?

 

[TheSayid]

somalia is apart of the arab league and thats one of the requirements

 

[Vapour]

We need that Vocaroo thread.