What do somalis worship

When a child is born, the new mother and baby stay indoors at home for 40 days, a time period known as afatanbah. Female relatives and friends visit the family and help take care of them. This includes preparing special foods such as soup, porridge, and special teas. During afatanbah, the mother wears earrings made from string placed through a clove of garlic, and the baby wears a bracelet made from string and malmal an herb in order to ward away the Evil Eye see Traditional Health Practices below.

Incense myrrh is burned twice a day in order to protect the baby from the ordinary smells of the world, which are felt to have the potential to make him or her sick.

At the end of the 40 days there is a celebration at the home of a friend or relative. This marks the first time the mother or baby has left the home since the delivery. There is also a naming ceremony for the child. These ceremonies are big family gatherings with lots of food, accompanied by the ritual killing of a goat and prayers. Breastfeeding is the primary form of infant nutrition.

It is common to breastfeed a child until 2 years of age. Supplementation with animal milks camel, goat, cow early in the neonatal period is common. This is especially true during the first few days of life, as colostrum is considered unhealthy. A few Somalis use bottles, but more commonly, infants, including newborns are offered liquids in a cup. Most Somali women are uncomfortable with the Western idea of pumping breastmilk. Diapering is not common in Somalia.

When the baby is awake, the mother will hold a small basin in her lap and then hold her baby in a sitting position over the basin at regular time intervals. The bedding and plastic are cleaned daily. Adulthood is considered to begin around the age of 18, though it is acceptable to marry and have children around the age of Mothers begin to prepare girls to run a household when they are between seven and nine years old.

At this time, girls are expected to accept considerable responsibility around the house. There is a great difference between rural and urban life. In rural areas, it is typical to follow a family trade. Some children may be able to attend school for a few years and then join the family trade. Impoverished people work hard to gain financial security and seek the most profitable employment.

If a family lives in an urban center, they are more likely to have received more education. The civil war in Somalia has completely decimated the educational system. Now the focus is on survival. Before the war, the educational system was similar to that of the U. Children started school around the age of five or six and attended four years of elementary school, four years of middle school, and four years of high school.

Before the war, there were both public and private schools, but now only private schools are available for those who can afford it. College or higher education can be pursued after the age of 17, if affordable. Prior to the war, higher education was free. Somalis feel that it is good to keep the mind and body active, so they will work until they are no longer physically able. Those with government jobs can retire after 25 years. However, because the economy is based on individual entrepreneurship, it is essential for most to keep working to maintain their businesses.

Social security, welfare, and elderly-care institutions do not exist in Somalia. When elderly parents stop working, it is usually a daughter that cares for them in her home.

If there is no daughter, other children or extended family will care for them. Though elders may live with a daughter, other children will contribute to the care of their parents, both financially and by providing other types of assistance, such as taking them to medical appointments. Elders are highly respected, so they receive the best of care. Elders expect to be sought out by other members of their community for advice on personal and community matters.

Those living in the U. It can often be difficult for elders to come to the U. Grown children often depend upon their elder parents to care for grandchildren, due to the necessity for women to work.

Some elders express feelings of isolation and this can contribute to poorer health. Breastfeeding is the predominant form of nutrition for children under the age of 2 years. Southern Somalia has a large agricultural and international trading component to its economy, thus, in southern Somalia diets are richer in green vegetables, corn, and beans.

Southern Somalis, especially those in the cities are more familiar with Western foods such as pasta and canned goods. Diets there also have a large component of rice, which is obtained through trade. For beverages, there are black and brown teas largely imported from China and a coffee drink that is made from the covering of the coffee beans rather than from the beans themselves. It is derived from fresh leaves from the catha edulis tree.

When the leaves are chewed, the active stimulant ingredient, cathinone, is released. Qat is felt to make ones thoughts sharper and is often used in conjunction with studying. Qat historically has been listed by the DEA as a schedule IV drug unrestricted , however recently it was changed to a schedule I drug most restricted due to concerns for potential abuse.

Almost all Somalis are Sunni Moslems. For those who practice Islam, religion has a much more comprehensive role in life than is typical in the Americas or Europe.

Islam is a belief system, a culture, a structure for government, and a way of life. Thus in Somalia, attitudes, social customs, and gender roles are primarily based on Islamic tradition.

For example, the Islamic calendar is based on the lunar month and begins numbering from the year Mohammed arrived in Medina; both this and the Julian calendar are officially recognized and used. Islamic theology and religious practice is complex, and is the object of intense study and scholarship within the Islamic community.

The prophet Mohammed is central among these, though other respected prophets include the Biblical patriarch Abraham and Jesus. Moslems are quick to point out that while Mohammed is revered and his teachings form the core of Islamic thought and practice, he is not worshipped as God in the way that Christians worship Jesus.

Ramadan is the 9th month of the lunar calendar. During the 30 days of the holiday, people pray, fast and refrain from drinking during the day and eat only at night.

An important aspect of this holiday for medical providers to be aware of, is that medications will often be taken only at nighttime. Pregnant women, people who are very ill, and children usually interpreted as under 14 years old are exempted from the fast.

Some religious observance of Ramadan extends the fast for an additional 7 days. Immediately following Ramadan is the holiday of Id al-Fitr which marks the end of the fast. This celebration involves big family gatherings and gifts for children. Id Arafa also called Id al-Adhuha is the most important holiday of the calendar year. This is the time for making pilgrimages hajjia to Saudi Arabia.

Moulid is another important holiday, occurring in the month after Ramadan. The federal government is reviewing and taking steps to standardize the national curriculum, in part to regulate Islamic instruction.

Non-Muslim students attending public schools may request an exemption from Islamic instruction, but according to federal and regional authorities, there were no such requests. Federal and regional governments maintained bans on the propagation of religions other than Islam, but there were no reports of enforcement. According to federal and regional government officials, there were no cases of individuals charged with apostasy, blasphemy, or defamation of Islam.

The government reportedly did not strictly enforce the registration requirement for religious groups opening schools for lay or religious instruction.

Many religious groups did not register, but some religious groups said that the government did not pursue adverse actions against them. The Somaliland government neither banned unregistered religious groups nor imposed financial penalties on any religious groups.

In October Somaliland authorities allowed the reopening of a Catholic church in Hargeisa. The authorities said they had closed the church for several years because of the danger Christians faced in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. On October 4, the minister of religious affairs and endowment said the ministry wanted to "create spaces for non-Muslim and religious minorities" to worship, but the current security environment undermined those efforts.

He added that the ministry also contended with what he stated was Wahhabi influence from some Gulf countries. Al-Shabaab continued to impose violently its own interpretation of Islamic law and practices on other Muslims.

Violent conflicts continued between al-Shabaab and the federal government and its allies. Al-Shabaab retained control of some towns and rural areas, from which it regrouped to strike into urban areas using a wide variety of tactics.

The group recaptured towns, including Tiyeglow, El-Alif, and Halgan, after Ethiopian forces withdrew from areas in southwestern and central Somalia.

Al-Shabaab forces targeted and killed federal government officials and their allies, calling them non-Muslims or apostates. Al-Shabaab spokesperson Abdulaziz Abu Muscab said the group targeted the base as a symbol of foreign forces' occupation of their Muslim country.

The attackers stated "the attack [was a] message to the Kenyan Government that. Al-Shabaab continued to threaten to execute anyone suspected of converting to Christianity.

In the areas it controlled, al-Shabaab continued to ban cinemas, television, music, the internet, and watching sporting events. It prohibited the sale of khat a popular stimulant drug , smoking, and behavior it characterized as un-Islamic, such as shaving beards. It also enforced a strict requirement that women wear full veils. Al-Shabaab continued to harass secular and faith-based humanitarian aid organizations, threatening the lives of their personnel and accusing them of seeking to convert Somalis to Christianity.

Almost all towns have a mosque where men attend special prayer services every Friday. The extremist militant group controls many areas in south-central Somalia and continues to carry out deadly terror attacks both in Somalia and surrounding countries.

The majority of their large-scale bombings take place in Mogadishu, usually targeting civilians and government facilities. Al-Shabaab has also killed or harassed individuals suspected of failing to adhere to their strict interpretation of Islam or converting from Islam.

The violence and insecurity brought by Al-Shabaab has displaced many Somalis. It is important to recognise that the views of Al-Shabaab and other extremist groups do not represent the average Somali Muslim. Members of minority religious groups are commonly immigrants and foreign workers, mainly from East African countries.

Conversion from Islam to another religion is socially unacceptable in all areas. Those suspected of conversion may face harassment by members of their community and be subjected to extreme danger in regions controlled by Al-Shabaab. Sufism is having a resurgence as some Somalis are becoming disaffected with Salafism over the actions of offshoot militant groups such as Al-Shabaab.

Some see Sufism as a non-political spiritual alternative. Another 50, people died in the fighting. As of the late s, United Nations' efforts to reestablish a stable central government had failed. Burton, Richard F. First Footsteps in East Africa. Paul, Cassanelli, L. The Shaping of Somali Society. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, Hassig, Susan M.

Somalia, Cultures of the World. New York: Marshall Cavendish, Jardine, D. The Mad Mullah of Somaliland. West-port, Conn. Loughran, Katheryne S. Somalia in Word and Image. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, Metz, Helen Chapin, ed. Somalia, A Country Study, 4th ed. Washington, D. World Travel Guide, Somalia. Toggle navigation. User Contributions: 1. It gives all kinds of great information on anything and everything!

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