SUFI POETRY IN SOMALI

her locality (Hargeysa). Khadiija told me that Somali
women who devote themselves to ~orship have always used

the Somali poetry in order to praise God and honour the

Prophet and the saints. She explained that the reason

why Somali women have resorted to the use of Somali poetry

for religious expression was their lack of adequate know-

ledge of Arabic. Traditionally, among the Somali pastor-

alists, a woman was not provided with as good an oppor-

tunity as that which was given to her male counterpart to

acquire a fairly broad knowledge of theological literature

in Arabi~. According to Khadiija, very few Somali women

ever had the chance to go to Quranic schools when they

were young; and even those who attended Quranic schools

at an early age discontinued as they grew up and prepared

5.5 •

themselves for the pursuit of domestic life. Consequently}

the majority of Somali women have a very limited knowledge

of Arabfc. They know enough to understand the most commonly

used prayers and may sometimes memorize the shortest Suras

of the Quran. But this knowledge is obviously inadequate

as, a means of expressing intense religious feelings and

thought's. According to Khadiija, as the need to articulate

their religious sentiments intensified, the Somali women

who practiced Sufism ultimately decided to use Somali

poetry. Thus they .. introduced. ... " a special form which is

commonly known as s itaad,· I but which at a closer look, one

finds it to be a religious version of the buraanbur,

a genre which is sometimes accompanied by clapping and

drumming and which is almost exclusively composed by women.

When this genre was first employed as an artistic medium

of religious poetry by Sufi women still remains unknown.