UNIVERSITY of the WITWATERSRAND JOHANNESBURG POPULAR ISLAM AND LIMITS OF SECULAR STATE ON THE SOMALI PENISULA Abdirizak Aden Muhumed Student Number: 739839 Principal supervisor: Professor Keith Breckenridge Co-supervisors: Prof. Hlonipha Mokoena Dr. Ayesha Omar Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by research in Political Science Graduate School for Humanities and Social Sciences UNIVERSITY of the WITWATERSRAND 15th March 2019 Declaration I do declare that this dissertation is my original research work. It has never been submitted by one for the award of other degree. Moreover, to my best of knowledge, it contains no other material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of the dissertation. Full Legal Name: Abdirizak Aden Muhumed Signature_____________________ 15th March 2019 ii Dedication To my abti (maternal uncle), Maxamad Cabdidaahir who eighteen years ago, in his own wisdom discovered that I would be introduced to written letters instead of committing oral poetry to memory in camel kraals. iii Acknowledgement Ingratitude is perhaps the greatest fault of man, but conveying gratitude in prose is, in the words of Sayid Maxamad, a “boring task while an amateur poet inadequately belabours the point.” Between the blurring lines of a “boring task and belabouring a point,” let me state that I would not have registered for this dissertation if I had not received Andrew Mellon Foundation for Postgraduate Masters Scholarship under Professor Hlonipha Mokoena. I would not have also completed the dissertation in time if not the guiding hands of my supervisors. My principal supervisor, Professor Keith Breckenridge, the Deputy Director of Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) has introduced me with extensive readings and academic debates that challenge conventional theories about the continent and state crisis. From his postgraduate course: The State in Africa: Democratisation and Crisis to the completion of the last chapter of this dissertation, his strictness on academic evidence, has enriched my knowledge. Demarcating the border between history and anthropology, Professor Hlonipha Mokoena also at WISER, has not only recommended me invaluable readings but also “pushed me into telling” an African narrative of which I have fallen short. Dr, Ayesha Omar at the Department of Political Studies in Wits has offered me inestimable advice on the navigation through the intricate contours of Islam and politics. Above all, I’m indebted to them (supervisors) for their quick and consistent feedback without which the final submission of the dissertation would have undoubtedly been much more chaotic. I cannot name all, but I’m also grateful for the direct or indirect contribution of the staff, fellows and researchers at WISER whom I attended their presentations in the weekly seminars. Finally, while I have greatly benefited from the interdisciplinary expertise of my supervisors, all flaws and inaccuracies in this dissertation are solely mine. iv Preface The primary objective of this dissertation is to explore the mismatch between Islam as a distinct, “ethnicised” Somali identity and the character of the postcolonial secular state in Somalia, a phenomenon at the heart of the prolonged political instability, but often understudied. To illustrate the role of Islam in Somali identity, and explore aspects of pre- colonial pastoral authority, city-caliphates and the traditional conceptualisation of autocracy, leadership and the Somalis general world view, I have used oral poems, a few of which are already published in English while I inadequately translated others for the first time. From the onset, all Sayid Maxamad Cabdille Xasan’s “poetic polemics,” used in chapter three are written in Aw Jaamac Cumar Ciise’s book: “Diiwaanka Gabayadii Sayid Maxamad Cabdille Xasan, the most comprehensive anthology of Somalis’ greatest poet of all time, but I have largely adopted Said Samatar’s English translation of some of these poems. On reading names and terms written in Somali, consonants X, C, and Dh are rendered in English as following: h instead of x, a instead of c and d instead of dh. On oral literature, the poems used in this dissertation are issue-oriented and are not less accurate in illustrating historical events or political upheavals than the written literature. Furthermore, there are three Somali scholars who share one surname, “Samatar,” so, to indicate whose work I’m quoting; I have used their first names together with the surnames. Where I have quoted from work written in Somali, I retain the authors’ names in Somali, therefore, Halane is written as Xalane and Aw Jama’a is written as Aw Jaamac, otherwise I have italicised Somali terms. Where a poem has been translated, I have indicated the translator and where no translator appears in the dissertation before the verses, I have translated the poem for the first time. Given the length of Somali oral poetry, no poem is adopted in its entirety. Therefore, no translation is adequate or corresponds to the original version. I have only utilised a portion or a few stanzas of a specific poem or song to illustrate a particular event or historical rupture. Lastly, not all the oral poetry used in this dissertation is written in books, some are preserved in memory from generation to generation while others are recorded in cassettes or published online websites of which the most comprehensive is www.doollo.com, a site that collects classical genres of Somali poetry. v Table of Content Declaration………………………………………………………………………………...ii Dedication…………………………………………………………………………….…...iii Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………..….…iv Preface………………………………………………………………………………..…….v Abstract …………………………………………………………………………….…..…vi Table of Content……………………………………………………………………………vii Chapter One: The global misconfiguration of the Somali conflict.......................................1 1.1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................1 1.2. Research questions...........................................................................................................6 1.3. Method and limitation......................................................................................................8 1.4. Literature review...............................................................................................................9 Chapter Two..........................................................................................................................14 2. The intersections of History and Myth..............................................................................14 2.1. The Somali identity.........................................................................................................15 2.2. Traditional governance on the coastal towns...................................................................22 2.3. Imam Axmed Gurey and the Awdal Caliphate..............................................................28 2.4. Traditional Governance in the Hinterland.......................................................................35 2.4.1. Village egalitarianism and “order in chaos”................................................................36 Chapter Three........................................................................................................................48 3. European rivalry over the Somali coast and the expansion of Abyssinia: 1830s-1920s.....48 3.1. The partition of the Somali peninsula from 1830 – 1897.................................................50 3.2. Rebellion and religious storm: 1895-1900........................................................................55 vii 3.3. The era of pan-expeditionary forces and the Dervish state 1901-1905............................62 3.4. The tossing out of the Empire from the interior and the stalemate 1906-1910...............70 3.5. Sayid Maxamad’s political legacy and Africa’s first aerial bombardment 1911-1920...74 Chapter Four..........................................................................................................................89 4. The curse of secularism on the Somali peninsula................................................................89 4.1. Political disorientation 1927-1943....................................................................................90 4.2. The Road to Independence and Democratic Disorder 1943-1969....................................94 4.3. Marxism Disaster............................................................................................................104 4.4. The staunch myth of clan Narrative................................................................................113 Chapter Five.........................................................................................................................120 5. Political Islam post-Siad Barre 1991-2006........................................................................120 5.1. The Revival Period (Al-itihad)........................................................................................121 5.2. The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and the Somali Spring............................................127 Chapter Six...........................................................................................................................134 6. Foreign intervention........................................................................................................134