Somalian Religion

The Somalian society has a population of about 8.4 million people in which more than 60 percent of them are active pastoralist as of today. The name Somali originates from the Arabic word for “wealthy”. The Somalian “wealth” comes from their livestock which they take very good care of because without it they would have a hard time surviving as a society. As pastoralists, they rely on their livestock to increase the production of their crops in areas where it may be harder to farm. The Muslim religion plays a big role in Somalian society as well and before the 1960’s religious leaders were heavily involved with political matters. Somali law came from the Quran which was a religious book that covered most of the ethical, spiritual …show more content…
Somalians believed in Muhammad as the prophet from God (Allah). From his journey to Somalia Muhammad brought with him the five pillars of faith in which was installed in the Somalian society. They believed that Those five pillars where give to Muhammad by God as well as the Quran which they based their early teachings and Somalian laws off. Muhammad’s journey of converting Islam to the Muslim religion was not an easy one. He made the political decision of leading his Somalian followers to battle against the Koraysh army in Mecca who was out to prosecute him for his teachings. Muhammad believed so strongly that the Muslim religion should be more apart of Islam’s beliefs, morals, and laws that he fought for it and won. Shortly after winning he went back and took control of Mecca and turned the temple that was once pagan into Muslim beliefs which influenced the societies teachings and prompted political people such as ambassadors to go around and spread the word of this new religion and it changed the way they lived life. The Shaping of Somalian society written by Cassanelli, Lee V says “In the early twentieth century, many Somalis responded to the call of the dervish hero Muhammad Abdullah Hassan to shed their clan loyalties and oppose the colonial invaders in the name of Islam. Somali religious leaders also figured prominently in …show more content…
The Sharia came from the Quran which Muhammad brought to the Islamic people as something to follow religiously. It has now been turned into something that deals with economics, crime, politics, trade regulations, marriage contracts, and religious prescriptions. All of which you need to govern a society. The Sharia is the main source of legislation in Somalia and when laws from is are broken it can result in beheading, flogging, and stoning administered judicially. It is followed so closely by Somalians because they believe it to be the infallible law of God. Their whole judicial system being based off what they believe to be the law from God shows how much they value their religion. The Shaping of Somalian society written by Cassanelli, Lee V says, “As power devolved to local leaders, Sharia’atic law dominated political relations at the local level.” He helps illustrate here how the Sharia started to take over the political functions in Somalia. Muhammad was the main leader that brought the Muslim religion to Somalia. Having such devoted followers to help him spread the Muslim religion impacted the way that they politically ran the society as well. By Muhammad bringing the Quran to Somalia and showing them that is the explicit word of God caused Somalian society to base their political function off called the Sharia. Their prophet Muhammad created