James Dahl

[Salahuddiin]

I was reading your site abtiris.com and there’s some very interesting information there. I would like to know more about the sources you used in your research. What was your primary source? Like did you use some western research, or read old books, or interview old Somali men who could talk about qabiil 24 hours without taking a breath? I’d appreciate if you could give some reference…

Going through it also made me interested about the background of the author, because it’s not usual that western person studies Somalis and especially qabaailkeena so deeply. It would be nice if you could give some background info about yourself, like what made you study our country that is relatively unknown and uninteresting in the world? Did you visit or live in Somalia before or was it some event that got you interested and do you speak the language?

Thanks for your contributions.

[James Dahl]

All of the above, some are in books, some are from websites and some are just from asking people.
My interest in Somalia started when I was reading about the Adal empire, there were some passing references to the Ajuuraan empire and I wanted to find out more about them but I couldn't, there's nothing. I was a bit baffled at how an empire that fought against the Portuguese and ruled half of Somalia could just be an unknown quality so I started looking around at other sources. Somali history is so complicated and intricate that I ended up fascinated.

Despite having learned a lot, I still have more questions than answers even today.

[Salahuddiin]

Ok thanks for the reply man. Keep up the good work and don't forget to put reference where ever you can. That way it's more beneficial for the readers.