Anyone know what Somalis worshipped before Islam?

[Voltage]

Either you are a kid or you have serious stunted development.

[Navy9]

Either you are a kid or you have serious stunted development.

[Hyperactive]

You do know that languages borrow from each other, for instance, the word baraf (ice in Somali) was taken from (i guess) Hindi and also the word baraf in Farsi means snow.

Waaqi is an arabic word, the name format of it is Wiqaya.

In the second verse the word waaqi and waliy are synonyms, as a matter of fact if we even replace the word waaqi with hafiz it could yield the same meaning.

navy is right and by the way thank you for correcting, i was so cunfused when i read how people intrp. the word waaq in arabic or in that sentence.
i keep putting in different sentences in my head to make correct grammatic meaning.
waq as she said the word comes from : wa-qa[fa3ala], yowqa[yaf3al], waaqin [fa3il]!!

some times i use it as: hal jacket ma yowqini menal bard. it could be used as isti3aarah makniya as God is protecter but also house protect us from wind, cold and protect us from danger.

that was as a verb in that setence.
if it's name or noun is {al}waqi or {al}waqiyah and not waaq. doesnt make sense languistic or grammatic.

[Navy9]

Hyper,

How is your i3rab?

<<<meen wali wala meen waaqi>>>

meen: harf gar
wali: ism magrour bemeen wee 3alamit garih al kasra
waa: harf 3adf
laa: adat nahay
waaqi:xxx ism ma3douf 3alayeh(?)

sheebah jomlat meen wali waala waaqi:::eeh mawoqi3iah meen al-i3rab?

[Hyperactive]

if you looked the word waaqin/waaq in that jumlah:

first let us take is what the word is: men - waaqin/waaq.
khalina nowzin the ward: waqi= f3il.

so it's ma3doof in that jumalah.and in the end the tanween is li tamkiin.

[Navy9]

Thanks hyper and now alwaaqt kaa alsayef, in laam taqta-3ouh qadaa3ak. I am off to work, enjoy your day and week.













Salaam alaykum.

[Hyperactive]

Thanks hyper and now alwaaqt kaa alsayef, in laam taqta-3ouh qadaa3ak. I am off to work, enjoy your day and week.












Salaam alaykum.

now you're making me embarrased that im wasting my time here.lol

3olema al maqsad

[zulaika]

Gedoboy, waaq being sun-god and all these unholy things are things that have entered the market in the last couple years. I finally got around to asking Oromo what Waaq means in their language and they just said it means God, it doesn't mean any specific god but it is a general name for a higher being like God is in English. In English you could say the Muslim God, the Christian God, the Hindu God, etc because God does not mean anything specific. In the same way Waaq does not mean anything specific, it is God in old Afro-Asiatic.

In fact you are right Waaq is also a Semitic/Arabic term. Guess what it means? Waaq in Arabic means protector. One of God's attributes like merfiful, bountiful, etc is also protector which aids the fact Waaq has been misinterpreted by Somali circles in the past couple years.

You can it in the Arabic dictionary under واق (Waaq-protector) and place names in Somalia have this definition:

Caabud-waaq = worship of the protector

Ceel-waaq = the well of the protector

Jid-waaq = the path of the protector

Takal-waaq = tireless protector

Also, many of our religious connotations symbolism has waaq as a root furthering its own existence in our culture as meaning the general name for God as protector as used also in other Afro-Asiatic languages including Arabic:

barWAAQo = living in plentiful and content (Signify as something of god's doing)

garWAAQsan = to be convinced of something (cannotation implies testimony to the conviction of God), also is related to the dispensing of justice

WAAQdhaaco = sacrificial slaughtering (slaughter for the purpose of God)

caWAAQib = what happens to you (fate which is in the hand of God)

ku dhaWAAQ = announce or proclaim something (religious conotation implies proclaiming belief in God)

WAAQsasho = to get something lost back (testifying God's intervention in helping you recover)

Hope this helps the author.

very informative....thnx voltage!

[AbdiWahab252]

Zulaika,

Don't be mislead into believing Waaq as referenced by the Arabist seeking Voltage.

There is more basis for the term, Waaq in Afan Oromo/Somali than in Arabic with regards to its presence in Somali.

[zulaika]

Zulaika,

Don't be mislead into believing Waaq as referenced by the Arabist seeking Voltage.

There is more basis for the term, Waaq in Afan Oromo/Somali than in Arabic with regards to its presence in Somali.

really?

so you're saying you can elucidate better? by all means...warka soo daa.. i'd be intrigued to see your version.

[DamallaXagare]

Kramer, where did you get Waqadsiinye? There's no such thing. Don't make it up.

The Waaq name is a pure adoptation from the locals. Of course, Sheikh Daarood Ismaciil's sons have never been associated with Cushitic terms. The Kush was invented and it's biblical. The white colonialists marveled at the looks of Somalis, for they have oftentimes thought of the Bantu as the true race in the continent and hence their genetic features were taken to represent the common description of the people of the continent. Hence, by coining this term, they thought honestly that they had found the biblical people and hence the rule over the continent should be peacefully transfered to them.

I just can't believe that we are brainwashed and made to believe a biblical term.

[AbdiWahab252]

Zulaika,

If Waaq was a generic term for the word God, why did we abandon it for Illahey/Allah ? It makes no sense unless the term, Waaq, referred to a preIslamic Deity.

When the Somalis became Islamicized, they had to give up Waaq for Allah.

Other Deities in Somali:


Also strangely enough, the most important Sumarian deity, MARDUK, literally meant in Somali ‘The one who was once buried’.

Also according to the Holy Quran, WAD(the ancient Hamite god) was one of the five idol-gods worshipped during the time of Prophet Noah. There was now etymological evidence that WAD was a Somali deity as also was HOBAL and several of ancient Egypt’s gods.

OSIRIS, another of ancient Egypt’s gods who reportedly ruled the underworld after being killed by SET (Ed. Somali SED), was evidently a Greek distortion of ISIR and WASIIR in Somali. Today, Somalis sometimes refer to AB and ISIR in their denial of an accusation that was culturally horrendous. One usually says ‘I have neither AB nor ISIR for such an act’ – meaning I have neither the genetic probability nor the cultural or religious orientation to commit such a horrendous act.

The pair WALCAN and WASIIR, now on their way to oblivion, were also used in a similar but slightly varying context. In modern Somali, however, ISIR was commonly used as a female name.

NEPHDEYS and BES, two less prominent ancient Egyptian gods, also appear to have some affinity with the Somali language. While NAF in Somali meant ‘soul’, NEF meant ‘breath’. Hence NEPHDEYS literally would mean ‘The one who releases breath – a function more or less attributed to the ancient god. BES in Somali meant ‘One who was in his or her deathbed’ – also a function the latter god was associated with.

The ancient Cananite god, PAL, was still alive in Somali in the same sense but probably in only two words –UUR-KU-BAALE-LE and YABAAL. The rarely used UUR-KU-BAAL-LE meant ‘One who has BAL in him’. One would usually ask: “How do you expect me to know your intentions? Do you think I have BAAL in me?” In essence, this meant only one who had BAAL in him could foretell the hidden or the unknown. YABAAL, possibly an alternative name for BAAL, was usually associated with the voice, of an invisible being that told one what to do or not to do in time of crisis in the wilderness.

Finally, the ancient Mayan Sea god, MANYA, simply meant sea in the Somali dialect spoken in the old quarters of Mogadishu.


Source: http://boards.history.com/thread.jspa?t ... 0430174036

[zulaika]

abdi,

whoa...my head is spinning from all this waq/wad/nef...easy there now..break it down for me hon...

ok..call me crazy...but you and voltage are saying similar things... somalis use of ancient gods names have more linguistic implications then god/deity inclination. in your take, if waq was not a predecessor object of worship, then why the name change to Illaahey/Allah right?, well from what i understand it is not a replacement, waq was there then...waq is still around..and as voltage conveys, it was not abandoned but rather incorporated linguistically ...much like what you've presented for all these other "gods" you mention and their use in our language well past the arrival of Islam in Somalia. so then it makes sense that they may have been used as "generic" terms for god.

[AbdiWahab252]

Zulaika,

If Waaq was a generic term, why is it not used more often among Somalis ? My argument is that Waaq was a NonIslamic deity that was worshipped by the NonIslamic Somalis. Therefore using the term Waaq would not be allowed/compatible with Islam.

Look at the Indian Hindus who became Muslim over the centuries. You don't seem them calling God, "Krishna" because Krishna is a Hindu Deity and thus can not be used as a term for God among Indian Muslims.

[zulaika]

abdi,

in that case then how come the gods you presented here like NEF and others like WAD, RA are still being used in modern language, like NEF, for "naf" (soul), WAD for "wad'aad" (attendant of wad), RAC for "gowrac" (sacrifice, cut for RA)

how come those were not replaced by Allah. do you reserve a higher deity for WAQ as the ultimate god of worship for somalis back then?

in my opinion and concluding from what you both presented, these ancient gods may have been worshiped prior to Islam and when Islam dawn, Allah become the only God, however, these gods, though eliminated from the status of worship, have been re-branded for new use in the context of language.