Coral Reef. Brava, Somalia Ask Somalis about tribalism and most would tell you it’s a curse, a destructive force, the embodiment of evil. Some call it a colonial invention, a modern phenomenon, a tool of governance. I say it wasn’t always like that. There was a time when tribalism meant something different. ‘Tribalism’ has been hijacked. The tribalism that we see today is a colonizedtribalism. In the same way that coral organisms colonize a rock formation and obscure it, people have attached loathsome forms to tribalism, to the point that all you see is the ugliness projected by those new forms. Humans organize in many different ways and tribalism is a form of social organization. One that requires each person to look out for the person/s closest to him. It’s a grounds-up type of social support. It is similar to a Neighbourhood Watch where every citizen secures what is closest to him. It prevents people from falling through the cracks. It is about weaving a social fabric that strengthens us, and the tighter the weave, the stronger the fabric becomes. This is compatible with the teachings of Islam, whose commandments tell us that charity begins at home and that we are responsible to those closest to us. Closeness (قرابة) is defined in two ways: proximity of blood and geographical proximity. Neighbours have considerable rights on us regardless of kinship ties or even religious beliefs. Somalis have a saying in this regard: Oodi ab ka dhow (neighbourly ties are closer than kinship ties). The Prophet (pbuh) was quoted to have questioned the belief of a person who eats his fill while his neighbour is hungry. When it comes to your disposable income, those closest to you must have priorityif their needs are similarto the needs of those who are more distant. If you find out that people who are not close to you have a greater need, thenit is your responsibilityto start with them first. So your priority should be your nuclear family, then the extended family and neighbours, close relatives, distant relatives, and the tribe. However, there isa caveat here. This applies only to what you own, that isyour own property. You cannot dispense of public property as if it is yours. If you do that, it is not charity. It is nepotism and jobbery. Public property is a trust and you will be held to account for it on the Day of Judgement. The provision of public services, appointment to public positions, and the awarding of public contracts, must all be based on merit. Today, Somalia lacks the social safety net that other countries have. There are no food stamps, school lunches, housing vouchers, food banks, and price subsidies. There is no employment insurance and there are no welfare cheques. There is no Medicaid, or free healthcare. With the individualism and selfishness that is prevalent today, it becomes more important to maintain healthy tribal links. We should not unravel that social fabric without providing an alternative safety net. Living in the West, we think that we are immune to the ugliness associated with tribalism. If you look carefully, you will notice the political tribalism that is polarizing society today. You will see sports hooligans wreaking havoc in the name of their ‘tribe.’ You will see the ‘tribe’ of men that bands together to deprive women of their dignity and humanity. Can we reclaim ‘Tribalism?’ Can we restore the original meaning? I believe not. It has been tainted beyond repair. It has undergone a semantic shift and has acquired a very negative meaning, and it’s best to cede it to the depths of darkness. We have an example of this in the Qur’an when God instructs the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) not to use the benign wordRa’ina(look at us), whose pronunciation was altered and was being used to malign the Prophet (pbuh). They are asked to instead use the word,Unzurna, which also means ‘look at us.’ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ لاَ تَقُولُواْ رَاعِنَا وَقُولُواْ انظُرْنَا ْ Believers, do not say [to the Prophet],‘Ra’ina,’but say,‘Unzurna,’… (2:104) Thus, a benign word has been abandoned to avoid an ambiguous connotation.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 20:09:40 +0000
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