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Could you imagine trying to abduct Basra Butaceey? That itself is a mission.

I think you ppl are mixing things. What you referred to as kidnapping in the somali context is in fact a risk mitigation system.

The right word to use is “eloping” and not "kidnapping". Eloping has gone through an evolution and depends on the context;

1. In geeljire country, in the old days, eloping came in two shapes;
a) Where a girl is scouted but for several reasons, the doonis process cannot be undertaken ; could be due wars, family disputes, and/or previous rejections from the family of the bride. It could be also that the girl rejected the man.
b) Also, when the grooms family cannot pay the 100 camels. The camels are often paid in ex ante and once the nikaax is done, the value sinks.

2.In semi-nomadic/agrarian/urban. Eloping was a common phenomenon. There is a place called Cagaaran (on the outskirts of Marka Cadeey) where lovebirds could elope to and tie knot. Every Friday, hundreds of somalis from Mogadishu went there. It was kind of drive in just like Las Vegas. Usually, the main reason of going to Cagaaran was to avoid rejections.

So saaxibiyaal, kidnapping is the wrong word. The whole objective of eloping was to reduce risks; call it risk mitigation.

Today, this institution is under fire; the wahabis have crushed it; in the late 1980s when the wahabis first came to Somalia, many of their cadets claimed that they were bastards since their moms were "eloped".

Thuganomics wrote:

Rambie wrote:Does anybody remember that funny thread where Aisha's grandma was kidnapped along with her sheeps?

Nigga toke them sheeps!

Yeah! that's was hilarious

Sometimes it happens because the girl is promised to her cousin, and this outside geeljire comes and sees her with her sheep, he takes a liking to her, after informing him her father has already decided her husband, he gets mad, goes back to his camels and talks to his camels and cousins including his older and more experience cousin Axmed dheere, he tell him the girl comes from a strong family that they can't fuck with at this moment in time as they are far away from home territory, but the young geeljire decides the young girl is too valuable to let her get away, so he steals her and runs away with the sheep too and goes awol on his cousins.
After the girls father futile search drags on too long, he decides to give her hand in marriage to the geeljire in order to safe face.

Wrong thread.