SUFI POETRY IN SOMALI

Lagjar Frenji niman baa akhriya, laawis iyo

beene

00 weli ba laasima intay, lib is ku moodaane

Anse waxan u laaqimahayaa, tixay ku luuqshaane

Mar h;.tdduu l i lla:::.hida ka baxo? I-faa lis aan j abane.

Some people recite words as foolish and nonsensical

as the European's 'lecture'

And still keep at it imagining themselves successful

But the lines which I intone wilJ. be taken up and

chanted after me

Once sincerity and honour are left behind, poetry

38.

is broken-tongued.

(Ibid., Poem 12, Lines 5-8)

Likewise, Cali Dhuux, who was a famous poet and an authority

on Somali tradition, repudiates a man who in his view

pretends to be pious in order to earn favours and respect

from the general public:

Allahu Akbar eedaanku waa, kaa afkiyo beene

Ashahaaday gaalkubase waa, ehelu naarkiiye

Ubbo-weesta waa kugu arkaa, agab salaadeede

Asaxaabihii 0101 ku dhacay, wow abtiriyaaye

Hadduu uurka kaa jiro werdigu, kaama orodneene.

Your proclamations of ALLNIU AKBAR in the call

to prayer are just empty words and falsehoods

The unbeliever acknowledges the faith but he

still is among the People of Hell~Fire

I see that you have a vessel for holding the

water of ablution; the means to prayer

I can trace the lineage of the hypocrite

Companions of the Prophet who have the blazing fallen into fire

We would not have abandoned you, if your WIRD~

devotions had dwelt in your heart

(Diiwaanka, Poem 11, Lines 1-5)