Soedirman (Sudirman) (January 24, 1916 - January 29, 1950). First Indonesian military commander. General Soedirman taught at a Muhammadiyah primary school in Cilacap (1935-1943) until trained by the Japanese (1943-1945) as daidan-cho (battalion commander) of the PETA army in Banyumas. After the Japanese surrender, Soedirman was more successful than most PETA officers in equipping a local division of the new Indonesian army with weapons obtained from the Japanese. He was elected supreme army commander by his former PETA peers on November 11, 1945, though many civilian leaders, particularly those of the left, continued to distrust his emphasis on the autonomy and mystique of the army. Soedirman’s primary importance was as a symbol of military unity and heroism, particularly after the Dutch captured the entire civilian leadership (December 1948). Weakened by tuberculosis, he was carried about in a litter by the resistance. He accepted the settlement with the Dutch with obvious reluctance (July 1949) but died six months later.
Sudirman, also spelled Soedirman, was the military commander of Indonesian forces during the country's fight for independence from the Dutch in the 1940s.
Sudirman was born in Bodas Karangjati village, Rembang, Purbalingga, Central Java. He studied at the Dutch Native School in Purwokerto, and then at a Muhammadiyah teacher training college in Surakarta. He worked as a teacher at the Muhammadiyah school in Cilacap.
During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia during World War II, Sudirman trained to become a battalion commander in Peta, the "homeland defense" army promoted by the Japanese. When Japan surrendered and Sukarno proclaimed Indonesian independence, Sudirman organized his Peta battalion into a Banyumas-based regiment of the Republican army to resist Dutch reoccupation of its former colony. The first major battle that he led was the Battle of Ambarawa against the British and the Dutch (November-December 1945). On December 12, he led a "coordinated attack" against British positions in Ambarawa, driving the British all the way to Semarang. The battle ended on December 16.
On November 12, 1945, Sudirman was elected Commander-in-chief of the Army, a position he held until his death. During much of the next five years he was sick with tuberculosis, but led several guerrilla actions against the Dutch. He led the resistance to the Dutch attack on Yogyakarta, then the Republic of Indonesia's headquarters, in December 1948.
Sudirman died in Magelang on January 29, 1950 at the age of 35. He was buried in the Heroes' Cemetery in Semaki, Yogyakarta. He received the title of National Hero of Indonesia as an Independence Defender Hero. Sudirman was the first and the youngest General in Indonesia.
The legacy of Sudirman includes the following:
* There are a considerable number of statues and memorials to Sudirman in Yogyakarta and other cities
* Most Indonesian cities have a major street named "Jalan Jenderal Sudirman" (General Sudirman Street)
* A university in Purwokerto, Central Java is named after him: University of General Soedirman (Unsoed)
Sudirman see Soedirman
* Most Indonesian cities have a major street named "Jalan Jenderal Sudirman" (General Sudirman Street)
* A university in Purwokerto, Central Java is named after him: University of General Soedirman (Unsoed)
Sudirman see Soedirman
Soga
Soga. The Soga of Uganda are a Bantu speaking people of the Interlacustrine group. About fifteen percent of the Soga are Muslims.
The first Muslims to reach Busoga were the Arab and Swahili traders from the east coast of Africa. They arrived in the second half of the nineteenth century, but the Muslim traders did not leave any significant Islamic mark similar to that in Buganda. Their numbers were smaller due to the fact that Busoga was not as secure as Buganda, where the king was in absolute control of his territory. Besides, the traders were interested mainly in profit and not so much in the diffusion of Islam.
A second group who brought Islam to Busoga were the Sudanese troopswho were recruited by the British administration at the end of the nineteenth century, some of whom were stationed in the district. The Sudanese soldiers intermarried with Soga families and also proselytized their servants. Because of the prestige which the Sudanese soldiers enjoyed as part of the British rule, other Soga adopted their religion and a nucleus of a Muslim community developed around them.
A far more important factor encouraging Islam were the Ganda Muslims who arrived in Busoga as refugees in the wake of the religious wars in Buganda at the end of the nineteenth century. In these wars between the Christians and Muslims, the latter were defeated and many of them fled. Later, during the British colonial rule (1894-1962), some Ganda Muslims arrived in Busoga along with other Ganda Christians to serve as assistants and interpreters to the British officials. Muganda Ali Lwanga is a typical example. He came to Busoga as an interpreter of the British district commissioner and then was promoted to county chief. In this prestigious position, he was able to encourage the adoption of Islam. Some of the Soga converts were influential people, such as Munulo, the hereditary chief of Bugweri County, who was converted to Islam in 1896 and then imposed his new religion on many of his dependents and subjects. Christian missionaries who feared lest Islam be the dominant religion in Busoga induced the British to send Munulo into exile. Yet, Bugweri County remained (and remains) one of the most Islamized areas in Uganda. About 80 percent of its people are Muslims, and it has become a center for further diffusion of Islam in Busoga.
Indeed, the progress of Islam in Busoga alarmed the Christian missionaries and the British administrators. The missionaries pressed the government to block the expansion of Islam in Busoga, claiming that the Muslims were less loyal than the Christians and that they might endanger British rule. British officials at the beginning of the century, usually agreed with them. Thus, Sir Harry Johnston, the Governor of Uganda (1899-1901), assured the Christian leaders that the government was behind them in restricting the spread of Islam.
For a long period, the British avoided appointing Muslims to key posts in the administration, although as a whole the Muslims were loyal subjects. In 1897, when the Sudanese soldiers mutinied, only a few Soga Muslims joined them.
The vast majority of the Muslims in Busoga are Sunni, following the Shafi rite.
Soga. The Soga of Uganda are a Bantu speaking people of the Interlacustrine group. About fifteen percent of the Soga are Muslims.
The first Muslims to reach Busoga were the Arab and Swahili traders from the east coast of Africa. They arrived in the second half of the nineteenth century, but the Muslim traders did not leave any significant Islamic mark similar to that in Buganda. Their numbers were smaller due to the fact that Busoga was not as secure as Buganda, where the king was in absolute control of his territory. Besides, the traders were interested mainly in profit and not so much in the diffusion of Islam.
A second group who brought Islam to Busoga were the Sudanese troopswho were recruited by the British administration at the end of the nineteenth century, some of whom were stationed in the district. The Sudanese soldiers intermarried with Soga families and also proselytized their servants. Because of the prestige which the Sudanese soldiers enjoyed as part of the British rule, other Soga adopted their religion and a nucleus of a Muslim community developed around them.
A far more important factor encouraging Islam were the Ganda Muslims who arrived in Busoga as refugees in the wake of the religious wars in Buganda at the end of the nineteenth century. In these wars between the Christians and Muslims, the latter were defeated and many of them fled. Later, during the British colonial rule (1894-1962), some Ganda Muslims arrived in Busoga along with other Ganda Christians to serve as assistants and interpreters to the British officials. Muganda Ali Lwanga is a typical example. He came to Busoga as an interpreter of the British district commissioner and then was promoted to county chief. In this prestigious position, he was able to encourage the adoption of Islam. Some of the Soga converts were influential people, such as Munulo, the hereditary chief of Bugweri County, who was converted to Islam in 1896 and then imposed his new religion on many of his dependents and subjects. Christian missionaries who feared lest Islam be the dominant religion in Busoga induced the British to send Munulo into exile. Yet, Bugweri County remained (and remains) one of the most Islamized areas in Uganda. About 80 percent of its people are Muslims, and it has become a center for further diffusion of Islam in Busoga.
Indeed, the progress of Islam in Busoga alarmed the Christian missionaries and the British administrators. The missionaries pressed the government to block the expansion of Islam in Busoga, claiming that the Muslims were less loyal than the Christians and that they might endanger British rule. British officials at the beginning of the century, usually agreed with them. Thus, Sir Harry Johnston, the Governor of Uganda (1899-1901), assured the Christian leaders that the government was behind them in restricting the spread of Islam.
For a long period, the British avoided appointing Muslims to key posts in the administration, although as a whole the Muslims were loyal subjects. In 1897, when the Sudanese soldiers mutinied, only a few Soga Muslims joined them.
The vast majority of the Muslims in Busoga are Sunni, following the Shafi rite.
Solomon
Solomon (in Arabic, Sulayman ibn Dawud) (Suleyman) (Salomon) (Shlomo) (b. 1011 B.C.T., Jerusalem - 931 B.C.T., Jerusalem). In the Qur’an, the biblical king is frequently mentioned as a divine messenger and prototype of the Prophet. Among other things, he is said to have corresponded with Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba, who accepted his summons to Islam. He is an outstanding personality in Muslim legends, which lay special emphasis on his wonderful powers of magic and divination.
Solomon was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a King of Israel. The biblical accounts identify Solomon as the son of David. He is also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah split. Following the split, his patrilineal descendants ruled over Judah alone.
The Hebrew Bible credits Solomon as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem, and portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power, but ultimately as a king whose sin, including idolatry and turning away from God, leads to the kingdom being torn in two during the reign of his son Rehoboam. Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends.
Solomon, which is transliterated in English variously as Sulayman, Suleiman, Sulaimaan, appears in the Qur'an. The Qur'an refers to Sulayman as the son of David (Arabic: Dawud, Dawood, or Dawoud), a prophet and a great ruler imparted by God with tremendous wisdom, favor, and special powers (like his father). The Qur'an states that Sulayman ruled not only people, but also hosts of Jinn, was able to understand the language of the birds and ants, and to see some of the hidden glory in the world that was not accessible to most other human beings. Ruling a large kingdom that extended south into Yemen, via the Queen of Sheba who accepted Solomon's prophethood and religion. He was famed throughout the lands for his wisdom and fair judgments. In particular, the Qur'an denies that Solomon ever turned away from God.
According to Muslim tradition, when Solomon died he was standing watching the work of his Jinn, while leaning on his cane. There he silently died, but did not fall. He remained in this position, and the Jinn, thinking he was still alive watching them work, kept working. But termites were eating the cane, so that the body of Solomon fell after forty days. Thereafter, the Jinn (along with all humans) regretted that they did not know more than God had allotted them to know.
Sulayman ibn Dawud see Solomon
Suleyman see Solomon
Salomon see Solomon
Shlomo see Solomon
Solomon (in Arabic, Sulayman ibn Dawud) (Suleyman) (Salomon) (Shlomo) (b. 1011 B.C.T., Jerusalem - 931 B.C.T., Jerusalem). In the Qur’an, the biblical king is frequently mentioned as a divine messenger and prototype of the Prophet. Among other things, he is said to have corresponded with Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba, who accepted his summons to Islam. He is an outstanding personality in Muslim legends, which lay special emphasis on his wonderful powers of magic and divination.
Solomon was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a King of Israel. The biblical accounts identify Solomon as the son of David. He is also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah split. Following the split, his patrilineal descendants ruled over Judah alone.
The Hebrew Bible credits Solomon as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem, and portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power, but ultimately as a king whose sin, including idolatry and turning away from God, leads to the kingdom being torn in two during the reign of his son Rehoboam. Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends.
Solomon, which is transliterated in English variously as Sulayman, Suleiman, Sulaimaan, appears in the Qur'an. The Qur'an refers to Sulayman as the son of David (Arabic: Dawud, Dawood, or Dawoud), a prophet and a great ruler imparted by God with tremendous wisdom, favor, and special powers (like his father). The Qur'an states that Sulayman ruled not only people, but also hosts of Jinn, was able to understand the language of the birds and ants, and to see some of the hidden glory in the world that was not accessible to most other human beings. Ruling a large kingdom that extended south into Yemen, via the Queen of Sheba who accepted Solomon's prophethood and religion. He was famed throughout the lands for his wisdom and fair judgments. In particular, the Qur'an denies that Solomon ever turned away from God.
According to Muslim tradition, when Solomon died he was standing watching the work of his Jinn, while leaning on his cane. There he silently died, but did not fall. He remained in this position, and the Jinn, thinking he was still alive watching them work, kept working. But termites were eating the cane, so that the body of Solomon fell after forty days. Thereafter, the Jinn (along with all humans) regretted that they did not know more than God had allotted them to know.
Sulayman ibn Dawud see Solomon
Suleyman see Solomon
Salomon see Solomon
Shlomo see Solomon
Somalis
Somalis. The Somalis inhabit the Horn of Africa and form one of the most uniformly homogeneous populations of the continent. Somalis speak a common language, adhere to a single faith, Sunni Islam, and share a cultural heritage which is an integral part of their nomadic way of life. The very name, So Maal, when spoken in the imperative, is said to mean, “Go milk a beast for yourself!” -- a rough expression of hospitality. The Somali’s self-conception is inseparable from his flocks and his traditional grazing lands, although for some, urban life, too, is a new and irresistible trend.
In the early years of the Islamic era, the African coast facing Arabia became important as a place of refuge for the Prophet Muhammad’s early followers fleeing Mexican persecution. There followed a period of Islamization and Arab-African cultural exchange via commerce and colonization.
The Somalis are Sunni Muslims of the Shafi rite, with Sufism being an important religious experience for many. This includes ecstasy (induced by chanting or dhikr and by narcotics). The main turuq (Sufi brotherhoods) are the Qadiri and Salihi. Some are followers of the Ahmadiya sect.
The modern history of the Somali people is not unlike that of other peoples of the African continent, a history of Western domination, resistance and anti-colonialism. Following the footsteps of explorers and adventurers, a number of European powers concluded treaties with various Somali tribes along the coastline. In 1885, Great Britain made a protectorate of the northern Somali coast, the French created the French Somaliland or Somali Djibouti, later known as the French Territory of the Afars and Issas after the two major groups of inhabitants, the Issas being Somali.
With the voluntary withdrawal of Turko-Egyptian control from portions of northern Somalia, Menelik II of Ethiopia occupied the inland Islamic center of Harar in 1887, thus formally entering the colonial scramble for territory. Two years later, the Italians acquired a colony in southern Somalia. In 1910, Great Britain formally established the Northern Frontier District in Kenya Crown Colony, the majority of whose inhabitants then, as now, were Somali-speaking pastoralists.
In the north, Ethiopia continued to expand. Under the terms of the 1897 Anglo-Abyssinian treaty, Britain surrendered the Somali-occupied territories of the Ogaden and Haud, the latter being a loosely defined grazing area between Hargeisa and Harar, in 1948 and 1954, respectively.
Somali nationalism was fired by these multiple fractures, leading to resistance, sometimes violent. The most notable was by Mohammed Abdulle Hassan pejoratively known as the Mad Mullah, whose dervish fighters harried the British and other colonial forces from 1900 to his death in 1920. The Somali Youth League, an urban based political movement, eventually succeeded in leading two Somali-inhabited territories -- British and Italian Somalilands -- to union and independence in 1960. Two points in the star of the Somali national flag were accounted for; the other three points, representing French Somaliland, the Ogaden and the Northern Frontier District of Kenya, remained under foreign rule.
Believing it had a mandate to unite all Somali peoples, the new government embarked on a diplomatic campaign. Starting with the All-African Peoples’ Conference at Cairo in 1961, it presented its case to every African and non-aligned meeting of nations. The Somalis’ cry for reunification fell on deaf ears. In 1963, Kenya achieved independence and incorporated nearly 400,000 Somalis within its borders. In 1978, Somalia fought a devastating war over the Ogaden territory with Ethiopia and lost. In the meantime, in 1977, the Territory of Afars and Issas became the independent Republic of Djibouti, a further setback for Somali aspirations.
As a consequence of these setbacks, Somali politics turned inward, with a resurgence of virulent tribalism. Bitter feuding developed among such groups as the Marchan, who in 1982 were in power, and the Majertein, who were once in power. Both groups belonged to the Darod tribe, as opposed to the Dir, Hawiya, Ishak, and Sab, each of whom felt excluded from real power. The Majertein and other dissident groups waged a guerrilla war against Somalia’s central government, while the Somali regime in Mogadishu aided and abetted western Somali liberation fighters harrying the Ethiopian army in the Ogaden. Somalia and Ethiopia managed to continue their sputtering border war by proxy, while the majority of Somalis, whose political fate was in the balance, tensely awaited the uncertain outcome.
Somalia’s defeat in the Ogaden War strained the stability of the regime of Mohamed Siad Barre (Maxamed Siyaad Barre) as the country faced a surge of clan pressures. An abortive military coup in April 1978 paved the way for the formation of two opposition groups: the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), drawing its main support from the Majeerteen (Majertein) clan of the Mudug region in central Somalia, and the Somali National Movement (SNM), based on the Isaaq (Ishak) clan of the northern regions. Formed in 1982, both organizations undertook guerrilla operations from bases in Ethiopia. These pressures, in addition to pressure from Somalia’s Western backers, encouraged Siad to improve relations with Kenya and Ethiopia. But a peace accord (1988) signed with the Ethiopian leader, Mengistu Haile Mariam, obliging each side to cease supporting Somali anti-government guerrillas, had the ironic effect of precipitating civil war in Somalia.
Threatened with the closure of their bases in Ethiopia, the SNM attacked government forces in their home region, provoking a bitter conflict that left ghost towns in the hands of government forces. Ogaadeen Somali, who had been progressively absorbed into the army and militia, felt betrayed by the peace agreement with Ethiopia and began to desert, attacking Siad’s clansmen. Siad became preoccupied with daily survival and consolidated his hold on Mogadishu. Clan-based guerrilla opposition groups multiplied rapidly, following the example of the SSDF and SNM. In January 1991 forces of the Hawiye-based United Somali Congress (USC) led a popular uprising that overthrew Siad and drove him to seek asylum among his own clansmen. Outside Mogadishu, all the main clans with access to the vast stores of military equipment in the country set up their own spheres of influence. Government in the south had largely disintegrated and existed only at the local level in the SSDF-controlled northeast region. In May 1991 the SNM, having secured control of the former British Somaliland northern region, declared that the 1960 federation was null and void and that henceforth the northern region would be independent and known as the Republic of Somaliland.
In Mogadishu, the precipitate appointment of a USC interim government triggered a bitter feud between rival Hawiye clan factions. The forces of the two rival warlords, General Maxamed Farax Caydiid (Muhammad Farah Aydid) of the Somali National Alliance (SNA) and Cali Mahdi Maxamed (Ali Mahdi Muhammad) of the Somali Salvation Alliance (SSA), tore the capital apart and battled with Siad’s regrouped clan militia, the Somali National Front, for control of the southern coast and hinterland. This brought war and devastation to the grain-producing region between the rivers, spreading famine throughout southern Somalia. Attempts to distribute relief food were undermined by systematic looting and rake-offs by militias. In December 1992 the United States led an intervention by a multinational force of more than 35,000 troops, which imposed an uneasy peace on the principal warring clans and pushed supplies into the famine-stricken areas. The military operation provided support for a unique effort at peacemaking by the United Nations.
In January and March 1993 representatives of 15 Somali factions signed peace and disarmament treaties in Addis Ababa, but by June the security situation had deteriorated. American and European forces, suffering an unacceptable number of casualties, were withdrawn by March 1994. The UN force was reduced to military units mainly from less-developed countries, and the clan-based tensions that had precipitated the civil war remained unresolved. The remaining UN troops were evacuated a year later. Over the next few years there were several failed attempts at peace as fighting persisted between the various clans; the SSA and the SNA continued to be two of the primary warring factions.
In 1998 another portion of the war-torn country—the SSDF-controlled area in the northeast, identified as Puntland—announced its intentions to self-govern. Unlike the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, Puntland did not claim complete independence from Somalia—it instead sought to remain a part of the country as an autonomous region, with the goal of reuniting the country as a federal republic.
During the 1990s more than 10 peace conferences were held to address the warfare in Somalia, but they were largely unsuccessful. A 2000 peace conference held in Djibouti, however, sparked international optimism when it yielded a three-year plan for governing Somalia. A Transitional National Assembly, comprising representatives of the many clans, was established and later that year formed a Transitional National Government (TNG). But the TNG’s authority was not widely accepted within the country: the new government faced constant opposition and was never able to rule effectively.
Another series of peace talks began in 2002. These talks, sponsored by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and based in Kenya, eventually produced a new transitional government, known as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). A transitional parliament was inaugurated in 2004, and in October of that year the parliament elected Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed interim president for a five-year period. Somalia’s new government remained based in Kenya, however, as much of Somalia, especially Mogadishu, was unsafe. Also in 2004, a tsunami struck the Somali coast, killing several hundred people, displacing many thousands more, and destroying the livelihood of Somalia’s fishing communities.
In February 2006 the transitional parliament met in Baydhabo (Baidoa)—the first time it had met on Somali soil since its formation in 2004. Although not the Somali capital, Baydhabo had been selected as the meeting place because it was deemed safer than Mogadishu, where clan-based violence continued to escalate. Matters were further complicated when in June 2006 an Islamic group, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), took control of Mogadishu and southern regions of Somalia after defeating the militias of clan warlords. The ICU then challenged the authority of the TFG, and further hostilities ensued. In response, Ethiopia sent troops to Somalia to defend the beleaguered TFG. This action was generally supported by the international community, since the TFG was internationally recognized as the legitimate government of Somalia and there were concerns that the ICU had ties to al-Qaeda. Peace talks were held in an attempt to reach a compromise between the TFG and the ICU, but tensions remained. In December 2006 Ethiopian and Somali troops engaged in a coordinated air and ground war in defense of the TFG, and they were able to push the ICU out of Mogadishu in January 2007. (Ethiopian troops did not pull out of Somalia until January 2009, however, and ICU guerilla attacks continued.)
The Ethiopian intervention in the Somali crisis had an additional impact in regional affairs, as it heightened existing tensions with Eritrea, which had lent support to the ICU. However, fears that Ethiopia and Eritrea would use the Somali conflict as the arena for a proxy war began to subside as the initial crisis between the ICU and the TFG faded. In February 2007 the United Nations Security Council authorized a small African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, which, unfortunately, was extremely limited in what it was able to do. Unrelenting violence and warfare—as well as drought, flooding, and famine—continued to devastate Somalia.
In December 2008 Yusuf, who faced growing criticism for his handling of the peace efforts, resigned as president. A moderate Islamist, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, was elected president in January 2009. Also that month, the transitional parliament extended the TFG’s mandate for another two years. In April, the transitional parliament agreed to adopt Sharīʿah (Islamic law) for use throughout the country, a move viewed by many as an attempt to attract some of the support enjoyed by the ICU. Incidents of piracy off the Somali coast—a problem for many years—greatly increased in the first decade of the 21st century and aroused international concern.
Somalis. The Somalis inhabit the Horn of Africa and form one of the most uniformly homogeneous populations of the continent. Somalis speak a common language, adhere to a single faith, Sunni Islam, and share a cultural heritage which is an integral part of their nomadic way of life. The very name, So Maal, when spoken in the imperative, is said to mean, “Go milk a beast for yourself!” -- a rough expression of hospitality. The Somali’s self-conception is inseparable from his flocks and his traditional grazing lands, although for some, urban life, too, is a new and irresistible trend.
In the early years of the Islamic era, the African coast facing Arabia became important as a place of refuge for the Prophet Muhammad’s early followers fleeing Mexican persecution. There followed a period of Islamization and Arab-African cultural exchange via commerce and colonization.
The Somalis are Sunni Muslims of the Shafi rite, with Sufism being an important religious experience for many. This includes ecstasy (induced by chanting or dhikr and by narcotics). The main turuq (Sufi brotherhoods) are the Qadiri and Salihi. Some are followers of the Ahmadiya sect.
The modern history of the Somali people is not unlike that of other peoples of the African continent, a history of Western domination, resistance and anti-colonialism. Following the footsteps of explorers and adventurers, a number of European powers concluded treaties with various Somali tribes along the coastline. In 1885, Great Britain made a protectorate of the northern Somali coast, the French created the French Somaliland or Somali Djibouti, later known as the French Territory of the Afars and Issas after the two major groups of inhabitants, the Issas being Somali.
With the voluntary withdrawal of Turko-Egyptian control from portions of northern Somalia, Menelik II of Ethiopia occupied the inland Islamic center of Harar in 1887, thus formally entering the colonial scramble for territory. Two years later, the Italians acquired a colony in southern Somalia. In 1910, Great Britain formally established the Northern Frontier District in Kenya Crown Colony, the majority of whose inhabitants then, as now, were Somali-speaking pastoralists.
In the north, Ethiopia continued to expand. Under the terms of the 1897 Anglo-Abyssinian treaty, Britain surrendered the Somali-occupied territories of the Ogaden and Haud, the latter being a loosely defined grazing area between Hargeisa and Harar, in 1948 and 1954, respectively.
Somali nationalism was fired by these multiple fractures, leading to resistance, sometimes violent. The most notable was by Mohammed Abdulle Hassan pejoratively known as the Mad Mullah, whose dervish fighters harried the British and other colonial forces from 1900 to his death in 1920. The Somali Youth League, an urban based political movement, eventually succeeded in leading two Somali-inhabited territories -- British and Italian Somalilands -- to union and independence in 1960. Two points in the star of the Somali national flag were accounted for; the other three points, representing French Somaliland, the Ogaden and the Northern Frontier District of Kenya, remained under foreign rule.
Believing it had a mandate to unite all Somali peoples, the new government embarked on a diplomatic campaign. Starting with the All-African Peoples’ Conference at Cairo in 1961, it presented its case to every African and non-aligned meeting of nations. The Somalis’ cry for reunification fell on deaf ears. In 1963, Kenya achieved independence and incorporated nearly 400,000 Somalis within its borders. In 1978, Somalia fought a devastating war over the Ogaden territory with Ethiopia and lost. In the meantime, in 1977, the Territory of Afars and Issas became the independent Republic of Djibouti, a further setback for Somali aspirations.
As a consequence of these setbacks, Somali politics turned inward, with a resurgence of virulent tribalism. Bitter feuding developed among such groups as the Marchan, who in 1982 were in power, and the Majertein, who were once in power. Both groups belonged to the Darod tribe, as opposed to the Dir, Hawiya, Ishak, and Sab, each of whom felt excluded from real power. The Majertein and other dissident groups waged a guerrilla war against Somalia’s central government, while the Somali regime in Mogadishu aided and abetted western Somali liberation fighters harrying the Ethiopian army in the Ogaden. Somalia and Ethiopia managed to continue their sputtering border war by proxy, while the majority of Somalis, whose political fate was in the balance, tensely awaited the uncertain outcome.
Somalia’s defeat in the Ogaden War strained the stability of the regime of Mohamed Siad Barre (Maxamed Siyaad Barre) as the country faced a surge of clan pressures. An abortive military coup in April 1978 paved the way for the formation of two opposition groups: the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), drawing its main support from the Majeerteen (Majertein) clan of the Mudug region in central Somalia, and the Somali National Movement (SNM), based on the Isaaq (Ishak) clan of the northern regions. Formed in 1982, both organizations undertook guerrilla operations from bases in Ethiopia. These pressures, in addition to pressure from Somalia’s Western backers, encouraged Siad to improve relations with Kenya and Ethiopia. But a peace accord (1988) signed with the Ethiopian leader, Mengistu Haile Mariam, obliging each side to cease supporting Somali anti-government guerrillas, had the ironic effect of precipitating civil war in Somalia.
Threatened with the closure of their bases in Ethiopia, the SNM attacked government forces in their home region, provoking a bitter conflict that left ghost towns in the hands of government forces. Ogaadeen Somali, who had been progressively absorbed into the army and militia, felt betrayed by the peace agreement with Ethiopia and began to desert, attacking Siad’s clansmen. Siad became preoccupied with daily survival and consolidated his hold on Mogadishu. Clan-based guerrilla opposition groups multiplied rapidly, following the example of the SSDF and SNM. In January 1991 forces of the Hawiye-based United Somali Congress (USC) led a popular uprising that overthrew Siad and drove him to seek asylum among his own clansmen. Outside Mogadishu, all the main clans with access to the vast stores of military equipment in the country set up their own spheres of influence. Government in the south had largely disintegrated and existed only at the local level in the SSDF-controlled northeast region. In May 1991 the SNM, having secured control of the former British Somaliland northern region, declared that the 1960 federation was null and void and that henceforth the northern region would be independent and known as the Republic of Somaliland.
In Mogadishu, the precipitate appointment of a USC interim government triggered a bitter feud between rival Hawiye clan factions. The forces of the two rival warlords, General Maxamed Farax Caydiid (Muhammad Farah Aydid) of the Somali National Alliance (SNA) and Cali Mahdi Maxamed (Ali Mahdi Muhammad) of the Somali Salvation Alliance (SSA), tore the capital apart and battled with Siad’s regrouped clan militia, the Somali National Front, for control of the southern coast and hinterland. This brought war and devastation to the grain-producing region between the rivers, spreading famine throughout southern Somalia. Attempts to distribute relief food were undermined by systematic looting and rake-offs by militias. In December 1992 the United States led an intervention by a multinational force of more than 35,000 troops, which imposed an uneasy peace on the principal warring clans and pushed supplies into the famine-stricken areas. The military operation provided support for a unique effort at peacemaking by the United Nations.
In January and March 1993 representatives of 15 Somali factions signed peace and disarmament treaties in Addis Ababa, but by June the security situation had deteriorated. American and European forces, suffering an unacceptable number of casualties, were withdrawn by March 1994. The UN force was reduced to military units mainly from less-developed countries, and the clan-based tensions that had precipitated the civil war remained unresolved. The remaining UN troops were evacuated a year later. Over the next few years there were several failed attempts at peace as fighting persisted between the various clans; the SSA and the SNA continued to be two of the primary warring factions.
In 1998 another portion of the war-torn country—the SSDF-controlled area in the northeast, identified as Puntland—announced its intentions to self-govern. Unlike the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, Puntland did not claim complete independence from Somalia—it instead sought to remain a part of the country as an autonomous region, with the goal of reuniting the country as a federal republic.
During the 1990s more than 10 peace conferences were held to address the warfare in Somalia, but they were largely unsuccessful. A 2000 peace conference held in Djibouti, however, sparked international optimism when it yielded a three-year plan for governing Somalia. A Transitional National Assembly, comprising representatives of the many clans, was established and later that year formed a Transitional National Government (TNG). But the TNG’s authority was not widely accepted within the country: the new government faced constant opposition and was never able to rule effectively.
Another series of peace talks began in 2002. These talks, sponsored by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and based in Kenya, eventually produced a new transitional government, known as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). A transitional parliament was inaugurated in 2004, and in October of that year the parliament elected Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed interim president for a five-year period. Somalia’s new government remained based in Kenya, however, as much of Somalia, especially Mogadishu, was unsafe. Also in 2004, a tsunami struck the Somali coast, killing several hundred people, displacing many thousands more, and destroying the livelihood of Somalia’s fishing communities.
In February 2006 the transitional parliament met in Baydhabo (Baidoa)—the first time it had met on Somali soil since its formation in 2004. Although not the Somali capital, Baydhabo had been selected as the meeting place because it was deemed safer than Mogadishu, where clan-based violence continued to escalate. Matters were further complicated when in June 2006 an Islamic group, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), took control of Mogadishu and southern regions of Somalia after defeating the militias of clan warlords. The ICU then challenged the authority of the TFG, and further hostilities ensued. In response, Ethiopia sent troops to Somalia to defend the beleaguered TFG. This action was generally supported by the international community, since the TFG was internationally recognized as the legitimate government of Somalia and there were concerns that the ICU had ties to al-Qaeda. Peace talks were held in an attempt to reach a compromise between the TFG and the ICU, but tensions remained. In December 2006 Ethiopian and Somali troops engaged in a coordinated air and ground war in defense of the TFG, and they were able to push the ICU out of Mogadishu in January 2007. (Ethiopian troops did not pull out of Somalia until January 2009, however, and ICU guerilla attacks continued.)
The Ethiopian intervention in the Somali crisis had an additional impact in regional affairs, as it heightened existing tensions with Eritrea, which had lent support to the ICU. However, fears that Ethiopia and Eritrea would use the Somali conflict as the arena for a proxy war began to subside as the initial crisis between the ICU and the TFG faded. In February 2007 the United Nations Security Council authorized a small African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, which, unfortunately, was extremely limited in what it was able to do. Unrelenting violence and warfare—as well as drought, flooding, and famine—continued to devastate Somalia.
In December 2008 Yusuf, who faced growing criticism for his handling of the peace efforts, resigned as president. A moderate Islamist, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, was elected president in January 2009. Also that month, the transitional parliament extended the TFG’s mandate for another two years. In April, the transitional parliament agreed to adopt Sharīʿah (Islamic law) for use throughout the country, a move viewed by many as an attempt to attract some of the support enjoyed by the ICU. Incidents of piracy off the Somali coast—a problem for many years—greatly increased in the first decade of the 21st century and aroused international concern.
Songhay
Songhay (Songhai). From Timbuktu downstream to Goa, Niamey and Gaya, the Niger River flows through the Sahelian area of Songhay culture. In hundreds of hamlets, villages and towns of the hot and semi-arid region of West Africa, the name “Songhay” (also Songhoi, Songhai, Sonhrai) still evokes through popular legend and songs the epic days of migration, conquest and empire of long ago. The cycle of events, though at some points hazy, is clear in its main outlines.
Original congeries of riverine people, among them fishermen (Sorko) and hunters (Gow), moved from the “W” region upstream and settled in the Dendi area between Say and Bourem; eventually in the seventh century, they formed a rudimentary nation under the leadership of the house of Za (Dia). The Za resided at first in Koukya and later moved to Gao, a growing center of Sudanese trade and trans-Saharan traffic. The Za here embraced Islam (ca. 1010), even though his people remained faithful to the spirits which governed their relations with the river, the wild game and the soil. For centuries they lived simply as subjects of states ruled by others: first the Soninke (ca. 900-1077), later the Manding (ca. 1260-1400).
The decline of the Manding left a power vacuum. Rising to the occasion, Sunni Ali (Ali Ber, 1465-1492) audaciously set out to reclaim the Mali empire under Songhay rule and to control the routes of commerce and trade in the name of Islam. Songhay warriors took Timbuktu in 1468, Djenne in 1473, Mopti a few years later and Oualata, a Mossi outpost, in 1483.
Sunni Ali was a fierce leader and an astute politician, but he was no religious man, although Islam served his cause. He certainly was more feared than lauded by the Muslim notables. When he died in battle, the succession was settled by a coup in favor of a more pious servant of Allah, Mamadu Toure (1493-1529), who reigned as the first askia, soon enthroned as Askia el-Hadj Muhammad by the caliph of Egypt in Cairo. He and his successors ruled with luster over a vast, well administered expanse, the boundaries of which reached Agadez and Kano in the east, Djenne in the south, Oualata in the west and Taghaza in the north.
Ahmad ad-Dehebi, sultan of Morocco, attracted by mirages of gold and treasure, sent a mercenary force armed with muskets across the Sahara in 1590. Six months later the Askia was killed in flight at Tondibi, Bao was devastated and Timbuktu sacked and looted. In Morocco, the sultan, upon the sad reports of mud-brick settlements and arid spaces in lieu of fabulous cities and gold mines, soon decided to abandon the project.
The Songhai (also Songhay or Sonrai) are an ethnic group from western Africa akin to the Mandé. The Songhai language group, however, has been connected with the Nilo-Saharan language family, unlike their neighboring counterparts. The Somghai and the Mandé were the dominant ethnic groups in the Songhai or Songhai Empire which dominated the western Sahel in the 15th and 16th century. The Songhai are found primarily throughout Mali, in the area of Africa known as the western Sudan (not to be confused with the country).
It was from one of Mali's former conquests, the kingdom of Gao, that the last major empire of the western Sudan emerged. Although the city of Gao had been occupied by a Songhai dynasty prior to being conquered by Mansa Musa's forces in 1325, it was not until much later that the Songhai empire emerged. The empire saw its pre-eminent rise under the military strategist and influential Songhai king, Sonni Ali Ber. It began its rise in 1468 when Sonni Ali conquered much of the weakening Mali empire's territory as well as Timbuktu, famous for its Islamic universities, and the pivotal trading city of Djenné. Among the country's most noted scholars was Ahmed Baba—a highly distinguished historian frequently quoted in the Tarikh al-Sudan and other works. The people consisted of mostly fishermen and traders. Following Sonni Ali's death, Muslim factions rebelled against his successor and installed Soninke general, Askia Muhammad (formerly Muhammad Toure) who was to be the first and most important ruler of the Askia dynasty (1492–1592). Under the Askias, the Songhai empire reached its zenith.
Following Askia Muhammad, the empire began to collapse. It was enormous and could not be kept under control. The kingdom of Morroco saw Songhay's still flourishing salt and gold trade and decided that it would be a good asset.
Songhai society traditionally was highly structured, comprising a king and nobility, free commoners, artisans, griots (bards and chroniclers), and slaves. Marriage could be polygynous, cross cousins being preferred partners. Descent and succession are patrilineal. Cultivation, largely of cereals, is practiced intensively only during the rainy season, from June to November. Cattle are raised on a small scale, and fishing is of some importance. As a result of their advantageous location at the crossroads of western and central Africa, the Songhai have traditionally prospered from caravan trade. Many young Songhai have left home for the coast, especially Ghana.
Songhai see Songhay
Songhay (Songhai). From Timbuktu downstream to Goa, Niamey and Gaya, the Niger River flows through the Sahelian area of Songhay culture. In hundreds of hamlets, villages and towns of the hot and semi-arid region of West Africa, the name “Songhay” (also Songhoi, Songhai, Sonhrai) still evokes through popular legend and songs the epic days of migration, conquest and empire of long ago. The cycle of events, though at some points hazy, is clear in its main outlines.
Original congeries of riverine people, among them fishermen (Sorko) and hunters (Gow), moved from the “W” region upstream and settled in the Dendi area between Say and Bourem; eventually in the seventh century, they formed a rudimentary nation under the leadership of the house of Za (Dia). The Za resided at first in Koukya and later moved to Gao, a growing center of Sudanese trade and trans-Saharan traffic. The Za here embraced Islam (ca. 1010), even though his people remained faithful to the spirits which governed their relations with the river, the wild game and the soil. For centuries they lived simply as subjects of states ruled by others: first the Soninke (ca. 900-1077), later the Manding (ca. 1260-1400).
The decline of the Manding left a power vacuum. Rising to the occasion, Sunni Ali (Ali Ber, 1465-1492) audaciously set out to reclaim the Mali empire under Songhay rule and to control the routes of commerce and trade in the name of Islam. Songhay warriors took Timbuktu in 1468, Djenne in 1473, Mopti a few years later and Oualata, a Mossi outpost, in 1483.
Sunni Ali was a fierce leader and an astute politician, but he was no religious man, although Islam served his cause. He certainly was more feared than lauded by the Muslim notables. When he died in battle, the succession was settled by a coup in favor of a more pious servant of Allah, Mamadu Toure (1493-1529), who reigned as the first askia, soon enthroned as Askia el-Hadj Muhammad by the caliph of Egypt in Cairo. He and his successors ruled with luster over a vast, well administered expanse, the boundaries of which reached Agadez and Kano in the east, Djenne in the south, Oualata in the west and Taghaza in the north.
Ahmad ad-Dehebi, sultan of Morocco, attracted by mirages of gold and treasure, sent a mercenary force armed with muskets across the Sahara in 1590. Six months later the Askia was killed in flight at Tondibi, Bao was devastated and Timbuktu sacked and looted. In Morocco, the sultan, upon the sad reports of mud-brick settlements and arid spaces in lieu of fabulous cities and gold mines, soon decided to abandon the project.
The Songhai (also Songhay or Sonrai) are an ethnic group from western Africa akin to the Mandé. The Songhai language group, however, has been connected with the Nilo-Saharan language family, unlike their neighboring counterparts. The Somghai and the Mandé were the dominant ethnic groups in the Songhai or Songhai Empire which dominated the western Sahel in the 15th and 16th century. The Songhai are found primarily throughout Mali, in the area of Africa known as the western Sudan (not to be confused with the country).
It was from one of Mali's former conquests, the kingdom of Gao, that the last major empire of the western Sudan emerged. Although the city of Gao had been occupied by a Songhai dynasty prior to being conquered by Mansa Musa's forces in 1325, it was not until much later that the Songhai empire emerged. The empire saw its pre-eminent rise under the military strategist and influential Songhai king, Sonni Ali Ber. It began its rise in 1468 when Sonni Ali conquered much of the weakening Mali empire's territory as well as Timbuktu, famous for its Islamic universities, and the pivotal trading city of Djenné. Among the country's most noted scholars was Ahmed Baba—a highly distinguished historian frequently quoted in the Tarikh al-Sudan and other works. The people consisted of mostly fishermen and traders. Following Sonni Ali's death, Muslim factions rebelled against his successor and installed Soninke general, Askia Muhammad (formerly Muhammad Toure) who was to be the first and most important ruler of the Askia dynasty (1492–1592). Under the Askias, the Songhai empire reached its zenith.
Following Askia Muhammad, the empire began to collapse. It was enormous and could not be kept under control. The kingdom of Morroco saw Songhay's still flourishing salt and gold trade and decided that it would be a good asset.
Songhai society traditionally was highly structured, comprising a king and nobility, free commoners, artisans, griots (bards and chroniclers), and slaves. Marriage could be polygynous, cross cousins being preferred partners. Descent and succession are patrilineal. Cultivation, largely of cereals, is practiced intensively only during the rainy season, from June to November. Cattle are raised on a small scale, and fishing is of some importance. As a result of their advantageous location at the crossroads of western and central Africa, the Songhai have traditionally prospered from caravan trade. Many young Songhai have left home for the coast, especially Ghana.
Songhai see Songhay
Soninke
Soninke (Sarakole) (Seraculeh) (Serahuli). The Soninke, often called Sarakole, form a relatively large western African ethnic group, approximately 45 percent of whom are Muslim. Most live in Mali, Upper Volta and Ivory Coast, while smaller groups are found in Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania. According to their oral history, they are related to ancestors of the Caucasian race from the Saharan Mediterranean region, probably Berbers, who exercised considerable authority and power in the Sudanese Sahel, in Ghana, near Koumbi, in Ouagadougou until the end of the eleventh century and, later, at Diara, near Nioro.
The Soninke were forcibly converted to Islam by the Almoravids in the eleventh century and subsequently became fervent propagators of the religion. Today, their clerics are among the most learned Muslims and educated people of West Africa.
The Soninke are located in Senegal near Bakel on the Sénégal River and in neighboring areas of West Africa. They speak a Mande language of the Niger-Congo family. Some Senegalese Soninke have migrated to Dakar, but the population in the Bakel area remain farmers whose chief crop is millet. The Soninke were the founders of the ancient empire of Ghana, which was destroyed after the invasions of Muslim conquerors in the 10th century. Their social structure and organization are typical of the Mande peoples.
The Soninke were the founders of the ancient empire of Ghana (c. 750-1240). After contact with Muslim Almoravid traders from the north around 1066, the Soninke nobles of neighboring Takrur embraced Islam, being among the earliest sub-Saharan ethnic groups to follow the teachings of Islam. The Ghana empire dispersed, resulting in a diaspora which today finds Soninkes in Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. Among this diaspora were famous traders known as the Wangara who spread further afield from traditionally Mande areas, hence the term Wangara is used today in modern Ghana and Burkina Faso to describe the Soninke populations present in urban cities and towns. Today, the Soninke number around 1 million. They speak the Soninke language, a Mande language.
Sarakole see Soninke
Seraculeh see Soninke
Serahuli see Soninke
Soninke (Sarakole) (Seraculeh) (Serahuli). The Soninke, often called Sarakole, form a relatively large western African ethnic group, approximately 45 percent of whom are Muslim. Most live in Mali, Upper Volta and Ivory Coast, while smaller groups are found in Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania. According to their oral history, they are related to ancestors of the Caucasian race from the Saharan Mediterranean region, probably Berbers, who exercised considerable authority and power in the Sudanese Sahel, in Ghana, near Koumbi, in Ouagadougou until the end of the eleventh century and, later, at Diara, near Nioro.
The Soninke were forcibly converted to Islam by the Almoravids in the eleventh century and subsequently became fervent propagators of the religion. Today, their clerics are among the most learned Muslims and educated people of West Africa.
The Soninke are located in Senegal near Bakel on the Sénégal River and in neighboring areas of West Africa. They speak a Mande language of the Niger-Congo family. Some Senegalese Soninke have migrated to Dakar, but the population in the Bakel area remain farmers whose chief crop is millet. The Soninke were the founders of the ancient empire of Ghana, which was destroyed after the invasions of Muslim conquerors in the 10th century. Their social structure and organization are typical of the Mande peoples.
The Soninke were the founders of the ancient empire of Ghana (c. 750-1240). After contact with Muslim Almoravid traders from the north around 1066, the Soninke nobles of neighboring Takrur embraced Islam, being among the earliest sub-Saharan ethnic groups to follow the teachings of Islam. The Ghana empire dispersed, resulting in a diaspora which today finds Soninkes in Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. Among this diaspora were famous traders known as the Wangara who spread further afield from traditionally Mande areas, hence the term Wangara is used today in modern Ghana and Burkina Faso to describe the Soninke populations present in urban cities and towns. Today, the Soninke number around 1 million. They speak the Soninke language, a Mande language.
Sarakole see Soninke
Seraculeh see Soninke
Serahuli see Soninke
Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha (Tawil -- “the Tall”) (Sokollu Mehmed Pasha) (Mehmed-paša Sokolović) (Sokollu Mehmet Pasa) (Bajica Nenadic) (Bajo Nenadić) (b. 1506, Sokolovići, Bosnia Province, Ottoman Empire - d. 1579, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire). One of the most famous Ottoman Grand viziers. Born in Bosnia, he took part in several campaigns , and conquered Temesvar in Hungary in 1552. He was appointed Grand Vizier in 1568 and held the office until his death, being the real ruler of the empire, especially during the reign of Selim II. During his vizierate, the empire, and especially the capital, passed through the richest and most glorious period in its history. Soqollu maintained peace with Persia, assisted Muslim rulers in India, and the khans of Transoxiana against the Russians. With the support of France and Poland, he was on his guard against Austria and Spain. He had a new fleet built in less than a year after the disaster suffered by the Ottomans at Lepanto in 1571.
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha was taken away at an early age as part of the devshirmeh system -- the Ottoman collection of young boys to be raised to serve as janissaries. He rose through the ranks of the Ottoman imperial system, eventually holding positions as commander of the imperial guard (1543-1546), High Admiral of the Fleet (1546-1551), Governor-General of Rumelia (1551-1555), Third Vizier (1555-1561), Second Vizier (1561-1565) and as Grand Vizier (1565-1579) (for a total of 14 years, 3 months, 17 days) under three Sultans: Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III. He was assassinated in 1579, ending a near 15-year rule as de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
Mehmed Pasha Soqollo see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Tawil see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
The Tall see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Mehmed-pasa Sokolovic see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Bajica Nenadic see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha (Tawil -- “the Tall”) (Sokollu Mehmed Pasha) (Mehmed-paša Sokolović) (Sokollu Mehmet Pasa) (Bajica Nenadic) (Bajo Nenadić) (b. 1506, Sokolovići, Bosnia Province, Ottoman Empire - d. 1579, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire). One of the most famous Ottoman Grand viziers. Born in Bosnia, he took part in several campaigns , and conquered Temesvar in Hungary in 1552. He was appointed Grand Vizier in 1568 and held the office until his death, being the real ruler of the empire, especially during the reign of Selim II. During his vizierate, the empire, and especially the capital, passed through the richest and most glorious period in its history. Soqollu maintained peace with Persia, assisted Muslim rulers in India, and the khans of Transoxiana against the Russians. With the support of France and Poland, he was on his guard against Austria and Spain. He had a new fleet built in less than a year after the disaster suffered by the Ottomans at Lepanto in 1571.
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha was taken away at an early age as part of the devshirmeh system -- the Ottoman collection of young boys to be raised to serve as janissaries. He rose through the ranks of the Ottoman imperial system, eventually holding positions as commander of the imperial guard (1543-1546), High Admiral of the Fleet (1546-1551), Governor-General of Rumelia (1551-1555), Third Vizier (1555-1561), Second Vizier (1561-1565) and as Grand Vizier (1565-1579) (for a total of 14 years, 3 months, 17 days) under three Sultans: Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III. He was assassinated in 1579, ending a near 15-year rule as de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
Mehmed Pasha Soqollo see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Tawil see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
The Tall see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Mehmed-pasa Sokolovic see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Bajica Nenadic see Soqollo, Mehmed Pasha
Soso
Soso (Sosso) (Soussou) (Susu). The Soso of West Africa are often referred to as Susu, a word derived from written documents by Europeans who first came to the coast and met the Soso about the middle of the fifteenth century. The Soso people themselves, when speaking in the local language, or in French, the official language, refer to themselves as Soso.
The Soso live mainly in coastal areas of the Republic of Guinea and in the bordering northwestern part of Sierra Leone. The Soso are almost entirely Sunni Muslim and follow the Maliki school.
Traditions of the Soso origin would indicate that they were part of the thirteenth century empire of that same name led by Sumunguru Kante, located in the western Sudan somewhere around the present state of Mali. Upon the breakup of that empire, the Soso moved westwards to Jalonkadu, the mountainous region of which a part is today called Futa Jalon. It was from Jalonkadu that the Soso started migrating towards the coast in stages, reaching the Guinea littoral by the late fifteenth century. Over the years, the Soso spread to occupy what later became northwestern Sierra Leone.
It is maintained in some accounts that the early Soso migrants were animists and their conversion to Islam came with the advent of Muslim Fulani to Futa Jalon by the seventeenth century, especially the Fulani jihad there in 1727-1728 and the setting up of a Muslim theocracy. It is in fact suggested in the traditions that the Soso moved out of Jalonkadu in large numbers to avoid the Fulani, Mandinka groups were settling among the Soso on the coast even earlier than the Fulani jihad. These Mandinka were Muslims, and they helped to converts some of the Soso. The Portuguese Jesuit priest, Father Balthasar Barreira, visited the Soso country at Bena in 1607 and found Islam already established there.
The modern Sosso people trace their history to a twelfth and thirteenth-century Kaniaga kingdom known as the "Sosso." With the fall of the Ghana Empire, the Sosso expanded into a number of its former holdings, including its capital of Koumbi Saleh. Under King Soumaoro Kanté, the Sosso briefly conquered the Mandinka kingdoms of what is now Mali. These gains were lost at the Battle of Kirina (c. 1240) when Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita led a coalition of smaller states to soundly defeat the Sosso, thus beginning the Mali Empire. Sundiata marched on to the city of Sosso itself and destroyed it, marking the kingdom's end.
Sosso see Soso
Soussou see Soso
Susu see Soso
Soso (Sosso) (Soussou) (Susu). The Soso of West Africa are often referred to as Susu, a word derived from written documents by Europeans who first came to the coast and met the Soso about the middle of the fifteenth century. The Soso people themselves, when speaking in the local language, or in French, the official language, refer to themselves as Soso.
The Soso live mainly in coastal areas of the Republic of Guinea and in the bordering northwestern part of Sierra Leone. The Soso are almost entirely Sunni Muslim and follow the Maliki school.
Traditions of the Soso origin would indicate that they were part of the thirteenth century empire of that same name led by Sumunguru Kante, located in the western Sudan somewhere around the present state of Mali. Upon the breakup of that empire, the Soso moved westwards to Jalonkadu, the mountainous region of which a part is today called Futa Jalon. It was from Jalonkadu that the Soso started migrating towards the coast in stages, reaching the Guinea littoral by the late fifteenth century. Over the years, the Soso spread to occupy what later became northwestern Sierra Leone.
It is maintained in some accounts that the early Soso migrants were animists and their conversion to Islam came with the advent of Muslim Fulani to Futa Jalon by the seventeenth century, especially the Fulani jihad there in 1727-1728 and the setting up of a Muslim theocracy. It is in fact suggested in the traditions that the Soso moved out of Jalonkadu in large numbers to avoid the Fulani, Mandinka groups were settling among the Soso on the coast even earlier than the Fulani jihad. These Mandinka were Muslims, and they helped to converts some of the Soso. The Portuguese Jesuit priest, Father Balthasar Barreira, visited the Soso country at Bena in 1607 and found Islam already established there.
The modern Sosso people trace their history to a twelfth and thirteenth-century Kaniaga kingdom known as the "Sosso." With the fall of the Ghana Empire, the Sosso expanded into a number of its former holdings, including its capital of Koumbi Saleh. Under King Soumaoro Kanté, the Sosso briefly conquered the Mandinka kingdoms of what is now Mali. These gains were lost at the Battle of Kirina (c. 1240) when Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita led a coalition of smaller states to soundly defeat the Sosso, thus beginning the Mali Empire. Sundiata marched on to the city of Sosso itself and destroyed it, marking the kingdom's end.
Sosso see Soso
Soussou see Soso
Susu see Soso
South Africans
South Africans. The South African people are about seventy-five percent “black” and fifteen percent “white,” eight percent“Coloured,” and two percent “Asian.”
It was to the Cape of Good Hope that Islam first came in the seventeenth century. Muslims were introduced as slaves and political exiles by the Dutch, who first settled there in 1652. The latter required cheap labor to build up the new settlement of Cape Town and to work the surrounding farmland and, finding the indigenous Khoikhoi difficult to control, brought slaves in from Batavia (now Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).
The political exiles were prisoners of war who had led insurrections against the Dutch in the East Indies. Best known is Shaikh Yusuf (son-in-law of the Sultan of Bantam), who came to the Cape in 1694 with a retinue of 49 kinsmen and servants. He became an ancestral figurehead for succeeding generations of Muslims. His grave became one of several shrines which form an arc around Cape Town and commemorate the lives of seventeenth and early eighteenth century Muslim leaders.
The Muslims of the Cape became known as Malays or Cape Malays because Malay (together with Dutch) was their lingua franca. The use of Malay, however, gradually died out except for a few words and expressions retained in present day Afrikaans conversation. It is now widely, but erroneously, believed that these Muslims came from Malay or that, because they were sent from Batavia (the Dutch administrative center in the East), they were all Indonesian. The first generation Muslims were a more heterogeneous body of people mainly from India, several Indonesian islands and Madagascar, with a few from Ceylon and other areas on the Indian Ocean. In South Africa, they became more heterogeneous through exogamous marriage.
The community was held together by a common faith and set of social practices. The community was Sunni, mostly of the Shafi school. A few became Hanafi during the nineteenth century as a result of the influence of Abu Bakr Effendi, a mufti sent to Cape Town from the Ottoman Empire to give guidance on Islamic doctrine. His book, Bayan al-din, was one of the first books ever published in the Afrikaans language and is the more remarkable because it is printed in Arabic transliteration.
The number of Hanafis increased rapidly during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with the arrival of Indian Muslims, mostly as merchant traders. Many settled in Durban, where the Hindus were concentrated. Others went to Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The Indian Muslim community maintains a strong contact with Pakistan. In recent years it has imported substantial literature and invited Muslim scholars to South Africa for lecture tours. This connection has helped to promote a more fundamentalist and ascetic approach to Islam.
Durban Indians also have maintained close contact with a group of East African Muslims who arrived in South Africa in the 1870s and 1880s. These “Zanzibaris,” as they are now called ( they were actually from Tanganyika and Mozambique), live in an Indian residential area in Durban where they are exempted from the Pass Laws and other additional restrictions imposed on Africans.
Until recently, Islam has not had much appeal to most black Africans in South Africa. To them, Muslims have formed an urban elite, distinguished by their lighter skin color, their way of life, which was closer to that of the Whites, and by geographical distance from an essentially rural based African population. But the migration of Africans to towns (heavily thwarted as it is by influx control) has brought a growing number into contact with Islam, which presents them with an alternative to the Christianity of the Whites. This comes at a time when Muslims are identifying themselves more clearly with the oppressed in South Africa and beginning to proselytize their faith among urban Africans.
The number of African Muslims rose steadily during the 1960s and more dramatically in the next decade. The number is greatest around Johannesburg, where Muslims from Mozambique and Malawi, working as contract labor on the gold mines, form a nucleus which draws in converts. In Durban, the growing number of Zulu converts has made it worthwhile to translate the Qur’an into Zulu, a task completed in 1982. In Cape Town, where the African population is relatively small and isolated, the major Muslim groups have made a concerted effort to reach them. During the 1970s, a mosque was established in the African township of Langa, near Cape Town, to meet the needs of new converts.
The number of white Muslims has always been small, but is increasing. Most white Muslims live in Cape Town and Johannesburg. A few are South African or foreign whites who married Indian or Cape Malay Muslims before marriage between white and non-white was made illegal in 1949. But most are recent converts to Islam who live in white residential areas, as the law demands, but identify themselves socially and politically with one of the two major Muslim groups.
South Africans. The South African people are about seventy-five percent “black” and fifteen percent “white,” eight percent“Coloured,” and two percent “Asian.”
It was to the Cape of Good Hope that Islam first came in the seventeenth century. Muslims were introduced as slaves and political exiles by the Dutch, who first settled there in 1652. The latter required cheap labor to build up the new settlement of Cape Town and to work the surrounding farmland and, finding the indigenous Khoikhoi difficult to control, brought slaves in from Batavia (now Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).
The political exiles were prisoners of war who had led insurrections against the Dutch in the East Indies. Best known is Shaikh Yusuf (son-in-law of the Sultan of Bantam), who came to the Cape in 1694 with a retinue of 49 kinsmen and servants. He became an ancestral figurehead for succeeding generations of Muslims. His grave became one of several shrines which form an arc around Cape Town and commemorate the lives of seventeenth and early eighteenth century Muslim leaders.
The Muslims of the Cape became known as Malays or Cape Malays because Malay (together with Dutch) was their lingua franca. The use of Malay, however, gradually died out except for a few words and expressions retained in present day Afrikaans conversation. It is now widely, but erroneously, believed that these Muslims came from Malay or that, because they were sent from Batavia (the Dutch administrative center in the East), they were all Indonesian. The first generation Muslims were a more heterogeneous body of people mainly from India, several Indonesian islands and Madagascar, with a few from Ceylon and other areas on the Indian Ocean. In South Africa, they became more heterogeneous through exogamous marriage.
The community was held together by a common faith and set of social practices. The community was Sunni, mostly of the Shafi school. A few became Hanafi during the nineteenth century as a result of the influence of Abu Bakr Effendi, a mufti sent to Cape Town from the Ottoman Empire to give guidance on Islamic doctrine. His book, Bayan al-din, was one of the first books ever published in the Afrikaans language and is the more remarkable because it is printed in Arabic transliteration.
The number of Hanafis increased rapidly during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with the arrival of Indian Muslims, mostly as merchant traders. Many settled in Durban, where the Hindus were concentrated. Others went to Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The Indian Muslim community maintains a strong contact with Pakistan. In recent years it has imported substantial literature and invited Muslim scholars to South Africa for lecture tours. This connection has helped to promote a more fundamentalist and ascetic approach to Islam.
Durban Indians also have maintained close contact with a group of East African Muslims who arrived in South Africa in the 1870s and 1880s. These “Zanzibaris,” as they are now called ( they were actually from Tanganyika and Mozambique), live in an Indian residential area in Durban where they are exempted from the Pass Laws and other additional restrictions imposed on Africans.
Until recently, Islam has not had much appeal to most black Africans in South Africa. To them, Muslims have formed an urban elite, distinguished by their lighter skin color, their way of life, which was closer to that of the Whites, and by geographical distance from an essentially rural based African population. But the migration of Africans to towns (heavily thwarted as it is by influx control) has brought a growing number into contact with Islam, which presents them with an alternative to the Christianity of the Whites. This comes at a time when Muslims are identifying themselves more clearly with the oppressed in South Africa and beginning to proselytize their faith among urban Africans.
The number of African Muslims rose steadily during the 1960s and more dramatically in the next decade. The number is greatest around Johannesburg, where Muslims from Mozambique and Malawi, working as contract labor on the gold mines, form a nucleus which draws in converts. In Durban, the growing number of Zulu converts has made it worthwhile to translate the Qur’an into Zulu, a task completed in 1982. In Cape Town, where the African population is relatively small and isolated, the major Muslim groups have made a concerted effort to reach them. During the 1970s, a mosque was established in the African township of Langa, near Cape Town, to meet the needs of new converts.
The number of white Muslims has always been small, but is increasing. Most white Muslims live in Cape Town and Johannesburg. A few are South African or foreign whites who married Indian or Cape Malay Muslims before marriage between white and non-white was made illegal in 1949. But most are recent converts to Islam who live in white residential areas, as the law demands, but identify themselves socially and politically with one of the two major Muslim groups.
South Persia Rifles
South Persia Rifles. British controlled military force in Iran (1916-1921). The South Persia Rifles were organized to protect British interests in southern and eastern Iran during World War I, when German agents were successfully cultivating strong anti-British sentiments among the Iranians. Under the command of Sir Percy Sykes, the South Persian Rifles was comprised fo British and Indian officers and local Iranian recruits. By 1918, the force had retaken Kerman and Shiraz as well as smaller towns that had fallen under the control of tribal groups hostile to Great Britain..
The South Persia Rifles was a Persian military force recruited by the British in 1916 and under British command. They participated in the Persian Campaign of World War I. The British formed the South Persia Rifles in response to German influence in southern Iran in 1915 and early 1916. The German agents influenced tribal groups who were already in rebellion against the British. As a result, the British had to divert troops to Iran rather than Iraq. The South Persia Rifles was a measure to use locally raised troops rather than British troops, so the British troops could then be sent to the main fight against the Ottomans in Iraq. With the assent of the shah’s government, the British were allowed to form a military force of up to 11,000 men to quell the resistive tribes and maintain order.
Sir Percy Sykes was selected by the British to command the organization. In March 1916 he landed in Bandar-Abbas with a few British officers and NCO’s, a company of Indian soldiers, and plenty of weapons and ammunition to equip the troops he recruited. Most of his early recruits came from pro-British tribes. Sykes and his men spread out to cities in southern Iran such as Yazd, Esfahan and Shiraz, as well as Bandar-Abbas. Through the summer and fall of 1916 the South Persia Rifles conducted what to the British were mopping up operations. Sykes also gained formal recognition for the Rifles from the Iranian government.
By December 1916, the organization had brigades located at Shiraz, Kerman, and Bandar-Abbas. Sykes had about 3,300 infantry and 450 cavalry, as well as a few artillery pieces and a machine gun. Winter closed many roads and brought the Rifles relief from tribal attacks. Sykes used the time to train his forces. In 1917, Sykes reached an agreement with the Qashqai tribe, ending their raids, allowing him to focus on other resistive tribes. The Rifles went after the tribes in their strong holds as well as their crops and livestock, crippling them logistically so they could not continue to raid the British.
By June of 1917, the government that recognized the Rifles fell, and the new prime minister and cabinet would not recognize them. Iranian attitudes towards the Rifles changed, and by late 1917 there was intense hostility towards the Rifles and the British. The British even approached the United States with a proposal to take the Rifles over, but the United States declined due to lack of officers who could speak the language or were knowledgeable about Iran.
In 1918, the worsening situation on the Western Front in France affected the morale of the Iranians in the Rifles and many deserted. The tribes in southern Iran became bolder, attacking Rifle outposts. At this time the Rifles numbered about 7,000-8,000 soldiers. Iranian resentment towards the Rifles only increased over time. Shia mullahs played a role in encouraging resistance to the British. Eventually, the British had to send more regular British units to reinforce the Rifles. By October 1918, most tribal resistance had been broken.
After the war, the British continued to maintain the Rifles. In the years after the war, Iran was trying to recreate its armed forces and control internal unrest. While the British supported the development of a new army to keep out Soviet influence, they realized that in the long run, the Iranians would not accept an army based on the Rifles, an organization run by foreigners. Even so, the British were not willing to see it merged into the new Iranian Army. In 1921, they disbanded the South Persia Rifles. Many former officers and NCO’s from the South Persian Rifles later joined the new Iranian Army.
South Persia Rifles. British controlled military force in Iran (1916-1921). The South Persia Rifles were organized to protect British interests in southern and eastern Iran during World War I, when German agents were successfully cultivating strong anti-British sentiments among the Iranians. Under the command of Sir Percy Sykes, the South Persian Rifles was comprised fo British and Indian officers and local Iranian recruits. By 1918, the force had retaken Kerman and Shiraz as well as smaller towns that had fallen under the control of tribal groups hostile to Great Britain..
The South Persia Rifles was a Persian military force recruited by the British in 1916 and under British command. They participated in the Persian Campaign of World War I. The British formed the South Persia Rifles in response to German influence in southern Iran in 1915 and early 1916. The German agents influenced tribal groups who were already in rebellion against the British. As a result, the British had to divert troops to Iran rather than Iraq. The South Persia Rifles was a measure to use locally raised troops rather than British troops, so the British troops could then be sent to the main fight against the Ottomans in Iraq. With the assent of the shah’s government, the British were allowed to form a military force of up to 11,000 men to quell the resistive tribes and maintain order.
Sir Percy Sykes was selected by the British to command the organization. In March 1916 he landed in Bandar-Abbas with a few British officers and NCO’s, a company of Indian soldiers, and plenty of weapons and ammunition to equip the troops he recruited. Most of his early recruits came from pro-British tribes. Sykes and his men spread out to cities in southern Iran such as Yazd, Esfahan and Shiraz, as well as Bandar-Abbas. Through the summer and fall of 1916 the South Persia Rifles conducted what to the British were mopping up operations. Sykes also gained formal recognition for the Rifles from the Iranian government.
By December 1916, the organization had brigades located at Shiraz, Kerman, and Bandar-Abbas. Sykes had about 3,300 infantry and 450 cavalry, as well as a few artillery pieces and a machine gun. Winter closed many roads and brought the Rifles relief from tribal attacks. Sykes used the time to train his forces. In 1917, Sykes reached an agreement with the Qashqai tribe, ending their raids, allowing him to focus on other resistive tribes. The Rifles went after the tribes in their strong holds as well as their crops and livestock, crippling them logistically so they could not continue to raid the British.
By June of 1917, the government that recognized the Rifles fell, and the new prime minister and cabinet would not recognize them. Iranian attitudes towards the Rifles changed, and by late 1917 there was intense hostility towards the Rifles and the British. The British even approached the United States with a proposal to take the Rifles over, but the United States declined due to lack of officers who could speak the language or were knowledgeable about Iran.
In 1918, the worsening situation on the Western Front in France affected the morale of the Iranians in the Rifles and many deserted. The tribes in southern Iran became bolder, attacking Rifle outposts. At this time the Rifles numbered about 7,000-8,000 soldiers. Iranian resentment towards the Rifles only increased over time. Shia mullahs played a role in encouraging resistance to the British. Eventually, the British had to send more regular British units to reinforce the Rifles. By October 1918, most tribal resistance had been broken.
After the war, the British continued to maintain the Rifles. In the years after the war, Iran was trying to recreate its armed forces and control internal unrest. While the British supported the development of a new army to keep out Soviet influence, they realized that in the long run, the Iranians would not accept an army based on the Rifles, an organization run by foreigners. Even so, the British were not willing to see it merged into the new Iranian Army. In 1921, they disbanded the South Persia Rifles. Many former officers and NCO’s from the South Persian Rifles later joined the new Iranian Army.
Sri Lankans
Sri Lankans. Muslims of Sri Lanka are found throughout the island, particularly in the towns of the western coast and the agricultural regions of the east coast. They comprise a complex ethnic group of which three are officially recognized in the census: Sri Lanka Moors, Malays and Indian Moors. Their population increase is more rapid than for Sri Lankans as a whole.
Muslim Arabs came to Sri Lanka in the eighth century, shortly after they had settled in Sind and Kerala. According to tradition, they settled in Bentotta and married Sinhala women. By the tenth century, they controlled considerable trade, and in the thirteenth century, Ibn Battuta, the social historian, reported that Colombo was in the hands of a Muslim, while the Delhi sultanate for a time extended its influence to the tip of India. Muslim traders from Kerala, Mappilla, also came to settle, but most came from Tamilnadu, from such places as Kayal, mentioned by Marco Polo. The source of the hybrid Tamil Arabic culture of Sri Lanka Muslims is historically not clear. They developed an Arabized dialect written in Arabic script (not used today) and an epic of the life of the Prophet reminiscent of the Tamil version of the Ramayana.
The Malays were brought as laborers from Java, Sumatra and the Moluccas by the Dutch. Now they are known as Javar or Java jati. They are an urban population retaining their language and food preferences. Other Muslims regard them as rather irreligious, for Malays of the younger generation seldom attend mosque, and they also drink liquor, which other Muslims shun.
The Indian Muslims arrived during the British period, mostly as traders. They have been there since the 1800s, but like the Hindi Tamils of Indian origin, they are being sent back to India. Only a few are given Sri Lankan citizenship. Most are Tamils and Mappilla, but there are also some Gujaratis, who maintain a few mosques in Colombo. Some of these are Bohras from Bombay, after whom the name “Bohra” or “Borah” is locally given to other merchants from northwestern India, even to Parsees (Zoroastrians). The original Bohras were Shi‘a, the only ones on the island, and are now dwindling. There are small immigrant communities of Qadianis and Ahmadis, whose interpretation of Islam is regarded as aberrant.
Islam in Sri Lanka is practiced by a group of minorities who make up approximately eight percent (8%) of the population. The Muslim community is divided into three main ethnic groups: the Sri Lankan Moors, the Indian Muslims, and the Malays, each with its own history and traditions. The attitude among the majority of people in Sri Lanka is to use the term '"Muslim" as an ethnic group, specifically when referring to Sri Lankan Moors.
With the arrival of Arab traders in the 8th century, Islam began to flourish in Sri Lanka. The first people to profess the Islamic faith were Arab merchants and their native wives, whom they married after converting to Islam. By the 15th century, Arab traders had controlled much of the trade on the Indian Ocean, including that of Sri Lanka's. Many of them settled down on the island in large numbers, encouraging the spread of Islam. However, when the Portuguese arrived during the 16th century, many of their descendants- the Sri Lankan Moors- were persecuted, thus forcing them to migrate to the Central Highlands and to the east coast of the country.
During 18th and 19th centuries, Javanese and Malaysian Muslims bought over by the Dutch and British rulers contributed to the growing Muslim population in Sri Lanka. Their descendants, now the Sri Lankan Malays, adapted several Sri Lankan Moor Islamic traditions while also contributing their unique cultural Islamic practices to other Muslim groups on the Island.
The arrival of Muslims from India during the 19th and 20th centuries also contributed to the growth of Islam in Sri Lanka. Most notably, Pakistani and South Indian Muslims introduced Shia Islam and the Hanafi school of thought into Sri Lanka. However, most Muslims on the island still adhere to the traditional practices of Sunni Islam.
In modern times, Muslims in Sri Lanka are handled by the Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Department, which was established in the 1980s to prevent the continual isolation of the Muslim community from the rest of Sri Lanka. Today, about 8% of Sri Lankans adhere to Islam; mostly from the Moor and Malay ethnic communities on the island with smaller numbers of converts from other ethnicities.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established in Sri Lanka in 1915.
The Sri Lankan Moors make up almost 95% of the Muslim population and 7.2% of the total population of the country. They are predominantly Sunni Muslims of Shafi School. The Moors trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the eighth and fifteenth centuries. The Arabic language brought by the early merchants is no longer spoken, although various Arabic words and phrases are still employed in daily usage. Until the recent past, the Moors employed Arwi as their mother tongue, though this is also extinct as a spoken language. Currently, the Moors in the east of Sri Lanka use Tamil as their primary language which includes many loan words from Arabic. Moors in the west coast are fluent in Sinhala, an Indo-European language spoken by the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka, but use English within the community. Thus, the Moors are a multi-lingual ethnic and religious group, lacking linguistic cohesion.
The Sri Lankan Moors lived primarily in coastal trading and agricultural communities, preserving their Islamic cultural heritage while adopting many Southern Asian customs. During the period of Portuguese colonization, the Moors suffered from persecution, and many moved to the Central Highlands, where their descendants remain.
On the east coast, Sri Lankan Moors are primarily farmers, fishermen, and traders. Their family lines are traced through women, as in kinship systems of the southwest Indian state of Kerala, but they govern themselves through Islamic law.
Many Moors in the west of the island are traders, professionals or civil servants and are mainly concentrated in Colombo, Kalutara and Beruwala. Moors in Puttalam and Mannar predominantly make a living as prawn farmers, and fishermen. Moors in the west coast trace their family lines through their father. Along with those in the Central Province, the surname of many Moors in Colombo, Kalutara and Puttalam is their father's first name, thus retaining similarity to the traditional Arab and Middle Eastern kinship system.
The Malays of Sri Lanka originated in Southeast Asia and today consist of about 50,000 persons. Their ancestors came to the country when both Sri Lanka and Indonesia were colonies of the Dutch. Most of the early Malay immigrants were soldiers, posted by the Dutch colonial administration to Sri Lanka, who decided to settle on the island. Other immigrants were convicts or members of noble houses from Indonesia who were exiled to Sri Lanka and who never left. The main source of a continuing Malay identity is their common Malay language (Bahasa Melayu), which includes numerous words absorbed from Sinhalese and the Moorish variant of the Tamil language. In the 1980s, the Malays made up about 5 % of the Muslim population in Sri Lanka and, like the Moors, predominantly follow the Shafi school of thought within Sunni Islam.
The Indian Muslims are those who trace their origins to immigrants searching for business opportunities during the colonial period. Some of these people came to the country as far back as Portuguese times, others arrived during the British period from various parts of India. A majority of them came from Tamil Nadu and Kerala states, and unlike the Sri Lankan Moors, are ethnically related to South Indians and number approximately 30,000. The Memon, originally from Sindh (in modern Pakistan), first arrived in 1870. In the 1980s, they numbered only about 3,000, they mostly follow the Hanafi Sunni school of Islam.
The Dawoodi Bohras and the Khoja are Shi'a Muslims who came from northwestern India (Gujarat state) after 1880. In the 1980s, they collectively numbered fewer than 2,000. These groups tended to retain their own places of worship and the languages of their ancestral homelands.
Sri Lankans. Muslims of Sri Lanka are found throughout the island, particularly in the towns of the western coast and the agricultural regions of the east coast. They comprise a complex ethnic group of which three are officially recognized in the census: Sri Lanka Moors, Malays and Indian Moors. Their population increase is more rapid than for Sri Lankans as a whole.
Muslim Arabs came to Sri Lanka in the eighth century, shortly after they had settled in Sind and Kerala. According to tradition, they settled in Bentotta and married Sinhala women. By the tenth century, they controlled considerable trade, and in the thirteenth century, Ibn Battuta, the social historian, reported that Colombo was in the hands of a Muslim, while the Delhi sultanate for a time extended its influence to the tip of India. Muslim traders from Kerala, Mappilla, also came to settle, but most came from Tamilnadu, from such places as Kayal, mentioned by Marco Polo. The source of the hybrid Tamil Arabic culture of Sri Lanka Muslims is historically not clear. They developed an Arabized dialect written in Arabic script (not used today) and an epic of the life of the Prophet reminiscent of the Tamil version of the Ramayana.
The Malays were brought as laborers from Java, Sumatra and the Moluccas by the Dutch. Now they are known as Javar or Java jati. They are an urban population retaining their language and food preferences. Other Muslims regard them as rather irreligious, for Malays of the younger generation seldom attend mosque, and they also drink liquor, which other Muslims shun.
The Indian Muslims arrived during the British period, mostly as traders. They have been there since the 1800s, but like the Hindi Tamils of Indian origin, they are being sent back to India. Only a few are given Sri Lankan citizenship. Most are Tamils and Mappilla, but there are also some Gujaratis, who maintain a few mosques in Colombo. Some of these are Bohras from Bombay, after whom the name “Bohra” or “Borah” is locally given to other merchants from northwestern India, even to Parsees (Zoroastrians). The original Bohras were Shi‘a, the only ones on the island, and are now dwindling. There are small immigrant communities of Qadianis and Ahmadis, whose interpretation of Islam is regarded as aberrant.
Islam in Sri Lanka is practiced by a group of minorities who make up approximately eight percent (8%) of the population. The Muslim community is divided into three main ethnic groups: the Sri Lankan Moors, the Indian Muslims, and the Malays, each with its own history and traditions. The attitude among the majority of people in Sri Lanka is to use the term '"Muslim" as an ethnic group, specifically when referring to Sri Lankan Moors.
With the arrival of Arab traders in the 8th century, Islam began to flourish in Sri Lanka. The first people to profess the Islamic faith were Arab merchants and their native wives, whom they married after converting to Islam. By the 15th century, Arab traders had controlled much of the trade on the Indian Ocean, including that of Sri Lanka's. Many of them settled down on the island in large numbers, encouraging the spread of Islam. However, when the Portuguese arrived during the 16th century, many of their descendants- the Sri Lankan Moors- were persecuted, thus forcing them to migrate to the Central Highlands and to the east coast of the country.
During 18th and 19th centuries, Javanese and Malaysian Muslims bought over by the Dutch and British rulers contributed to the growing Muslim population in Sri Lanka. Their descendants, now the Sri Lankan Malays, adapted several Sri Lankan Moor Islamic traditions while also contributing their unique cultural Islamic practices to other Muslim groups on the Island.
The arrival of Muslims from India during the 19th and 20th centuries also contributed to the growth of Islam in Sri Lanka. Most notably, Pakistani and South Indian Muslims introduced Shia Islam and the Hanafi school of thought into Sri Lanka. However, most Muslims on the island still adhere to the traditional practices of Sunni Islam.
In modern times, Muslims in Sri Lanka are handled by the Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Department, which was established in the 1980s to prevent the continual isolation of the Muslim community from the rest of Sri Lanka. Today, about 8% of Sri Lankans adhere to Islam; mostly from the Moor and Malay ethnic communities on the island with smaller numbers of converts from other ethnicities.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established in Sri Lanka in 1915.
The Sri Lankan Moors make up almost 95% of the Muslim population and 7.2% of the total population of the country. They are predominantly Sunni Muslims of Shafi School. The Moors trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the eighth and fifteenth centuries. The Arabic language brought by the early merchants is no longer spoken, although various Arabic words and phrases are still employed in daily usage. Until the recent past, the Moors employed Arwi as their mother tongue, though this is also extinct as a spoken language. Currently, the Moors in the east of Sri Lanka use Tamil as their primary language which includes many loan words from Arabic. Moors in the west coast are fluent in Sinhala, an Indo-European language spoken by the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka, but use English within the community. Thus, the Moors are a multi-lingual ethnic and religious group, lacking linguistic cohesion.
The Sri Lankan Moors lived primarily in coastal trading and agricultural communities, preserving their Islamic cultural heritage while adopting many Southern Asian customs. During the period of Portuguese colonization, the Moors suffered from persecution, and many moved to the Central Highlands, where their descendants remain.
On the east coast, Sri Lankan Moors are primarily farmers, fishermen, and traders. Their family lines are traced through women, as in kinship systems of the southwest Indian state of Kerala, but they govern themselves through Islamic law.
Many Moors in the west of the island are traders, professionals or civil servants and are mainly concentrated in Colombo, Kalutara and Beruwala. Moors in Puttalam and Mannar predominantly make a living as prawn farmers, and fishermen. Moors in the west coast trace their family lines through their father. Along with those in the Central Province, the surname of many Moors in Colombo, Kalutara and Puttalam is their father's first name, thus retaining similarity to the traditional Arab and Middle Eastern kinship system.
The Malays of Sri Lanka originated in Southeast Asia and today consist of about 50,000 persons. Their ancestors came to the country when both Sri Lanka and Indonesia were colonies of the Dutch. Most of the early Malay immigrants were soldiers, posted by the Dutch colonial administration to Sri Lanka, who decided to settle on the island. Other immigrants were convicts or members of noble houses from Indonesia who were exiled to Sri Lanka and who never left. The main source of a continuing Malay identity is their common Malay language (Bahasa Melayu), which includes numerous words absorbed from Sinhalese and the Moorish variant of the Tamil language. In the 1980s, the Malays made up about 5 % of the Muslim population in Sri Lanka and, like the Moors, predominantly follow the Shafi school of thought within Sunni Islam.
The Indian Muslims are those who trace their origins to immigrants searching for business opportunities during the colonial period. Some of these people came to the country as far back as Portuguese times, others arrived during the British period from various parts of India. A majority of them came from Tamil Nadu and Kerala states, and unlike the Sri Lankan Moors, are ethnically related to South Indians and number approximately 30,000. The Memon, originally from Sindh (in modern Pakistan), first arrived in 1870. In the 1980s, they numbered only about 3,000, they mostly follow the Hanafi Sunni school of Islam.
The Dawoodi Bohras and the Khoja are Shi'a Muslims who came from northwestern India (Gujarat state) after 1880. In the 1980s, they collectively numbered fewer than 2,000. These groups tended to retain their own places of worship and the languages of their ancestral homelands.
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