"Somalis lost their culture" "Somalis were Arabised"

the problem with the US and the UK is that over there its so damn big you got to carve out your own identity whereas in London without even calling someone I basically know where they are all the times this level of closeness means you adopt the mannerisms of the people close to you and arabs and south asians outnumber us so much, this is the reason you see the way the somali community moves online and irl i could get into it if you want but it may take long.
 
When I say that, I mean in the west. Diaspora somalis especially in the UK highkey act like sheep for arabs and south asians. I don't blame them we are a minority with in a minority but it's sad how somalis here have no sharaf and allow these people to boss us around.

When some other people say this, they mean that Somalis back home no longer wear any of the cultural clothing you stated and just wear abaayas and thobes/khaamis now.
Somalis in the UK do not act like sheep’s for Arabs or Asians 😭. It’s the opposite I would say. Ofc there’s the incel community on Twitter but I wouldn’t say it’s reflective of life. I think UK Somalis are a bit too open with our language and culture, they’re too welcoming and loud. But as far being leef leefs, it’s very rare. We have a lot of pride
 

Taintedlove

Shaqo la'an ba kuu heysaata
Somalis in the UK do not act like sheep’s for Arabs or Asians 😭. It’s the opposite I would say. Ofc there’s the incel community on Twitter but I wouldn’t say it’s reflective of life. I think UK Somalis are a bit too open with our language and culture, they’re too welcoming and loud. But as far being leef leefs, it’s very rare. We have a lot of pride
They absolutely do. We don't even have many somali owned mosques. It's only south asia or arab run. I see so many somali men hop on that Moroccan thobe train for eid. I wanted to wear a guntiino for eid but all the habaryars called it foolxumo amd to just get and open abaayas like the other women. I rarely see somali people rocking our cultural clothing. It's open abayas and thobes.

I wouldn't say we've lost our pride as somalis, but we are still conformist to the dominant Muslim culture. But that's the nature of london
 
One thing I want to really see is somali anime which I think has real potential. I mean look at this somali gibli stuff I found in tiktok.



<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="" data-video-id="7492242415512816918" data-embed-from="embed_page" style="max-width:605px; min-width:325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@gaariyay" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@gaariyay?refer=embed">@gaariyay</a> <p><a title="somalitiktok" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/somalitiktok?refer=embed">#somalitiktok</a> <a title="somali" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/somali?refer=embed">#somali</a> <a title="fyp" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp?refer=embed">#fyp</a> <a title="viral" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/viral?refer=embed">#viral</a> <a title="foryou" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/foryou?refer=embed">#foryou</a> <a title="gaarida" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/gaarida?refer=embed">#gaarida</a> </p> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - 𝖦𝖺𝖺𝗋𝗂𝖽𝖺 🧚‍♀️" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7492242329806392086?refer=embed">♬ original sound - 𝖦𝖺𝖺𝗋𝗂𝖽𝖺 🧚‍♀️</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
Inshallah we’ll have more of our own tv shows, anime, movies etc. once we get our money up 😍 S-Drama/Sollywood come soon
 
They absolutely do. We don't even have many somali owned mosques. It's only south asia or arab run. I see so many somali men hop on that Moroccan thobe train for eid. I wanted to wear a guntiino for eid but all the habaryars called it foolxumo amd to just get and open abaayas like the other women. I rarely see somali people rocking our cultural clothing. It's open abayas and thobes.

I wouldn't say we've lost our pride as somalis, but we are still conformist to the dominant Muslim culture. But that's the nature of london
This is interesting.. why are british muslims different from american/scandinavian ones? The latter have their own mosques, businesses, schools/kindergartens etc
 
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Garaad Awal

Former African
Incorrect, social media is no where near a representative. Some north africans are indeed amazigh speaking, and in certain regions there is no arabic spoken so fairs for them. But at the same time, especially in the eastern maghreb folks have spoken arabic for thousands of years. Arab is simply just a linguistic identity ultimately, like hispanic it's nothing unique
There’s a distinction between being Arabophone and being ethnically Arab. Many Arabophones in the Maghreb identify with the Arab label, but that doesn’t necessarily make them ethnically Arab. For example, the Jebala Berbers of northern Morocco have lost their original Amazigh language over time, yet they still preserve key aspects of their distinct culture and remember that their ancestors once spoke a unique Amazigh dialect centuries ago.

“Arab” is indeed a real ethnicity, but the label has historically expanded beyond its original ethnic boundaries to include various other groups—such as Berbers, Egyptians, Levantine Aramaic speakers, Nubians, and others. Even Yemen, often seen as a historical center of Arab identity, has experienced Arabization, and there are still non-Arab Semitic communities in its southern regions maintaining their heritage.

On the other hand, being Arabophone is more about language use—just like being Francophone or Anglophone. A person can be a Black Francophone from Côte d’Ivoire, an Acadian from the United States, or a Somali born in the UK who speaks English fluently. In the same way, there are ethnic English Anglophones in Australia. Language doesn’t always equal ethnicity.
 

balanbalis

Soomaaliweyn ha noolato
They absolutely do. We don't even have many somali owned mosques. It's only south asia or arab run. I see so many somali men hop on that Moroccan thobe train for eid. I wanted to wear a guntiino for eid but all the habaryars called it foolxumo amd to just get and open abaayas like the other women. I rarely see somali people rocking our cultural clothing. It's open abayas and thobes.

I wouldn't say we've lost our pride as somalis, but we are still conformist to the dominant Muslim culture. But that's the nature of london
I have a Somali owned mosque near me and my family usually goes there instead of the Pakistani owned one 5 minutes away because they can be very r*cist
 

Taintedlove

Shaqo la'an ba kuu heysaata
I have a Somali owned mosque near me and my family usually goes there instead of the Pakistani owned one 5 minutes away because they can be very r*cist
They are, but when you bring it up they talk about how we're "ummah" or worse....they bring up bilal. Talking bout "it's impossible to be muslim and racist". And what makes me angry is when African muslims accept that and just let them get away with it.
 

Doctorabdi

A nomad with no true place
They are, but when you bring it up they talk about how we're "ummah" or worse....they bring up bilal. Talking bout "it's impossible to be muslim and racist". And what makes me angry is when African muslims accept that and just let them get away with it.
It's a bit ironic as they are treated horribly in the gulf and used as slave labour
 

Garaad Awal

Former African
Sure I agree, but arab even in the time of the prophet was often much more than that. There were "arabised arabs"
Those are just stories. This goes back to the idea that the original Arabs were Yemenis which we now know isn’t true.
for example in which the prophet himself and his family was. In the eastern maghreb certain regions especially tunisia,
Southern Tunisia has actual Arabs, same goes for Libya. Yes they admixed with locals but that just created a new sub-type of Arab identity.
have pretty much mixed with the arabians but since they were a minority they were absorbed and those regions have been speaking arabic for thousands of years and have identified as so. There's nuance in that
Tunisia hasn’t been speaking Arabic for thousands of years. In fact the dialects of the Maghreb are mostly from the Hilali invasion (alongside minor Arabs Ma3qil & Sulaym) from 1000 years ago. Prior to that Arabic was restricted to urban towns (most of these pre-Bedouin invasion dialects are extinct); meanwhile the majority of the Maghreb were Islamized Berbers. There’s a reason once the Umayyads lost control, it was the Berbers who were the dominant political & military force in the Maghreb.
 

cunug3aad

3rdchild · suugo dottore
This is interesting.. why are british muslims different from american/scandinavian ones? The latter have their own mosques, businesses, schools/kindergartens etc
Imean theres muslim institutions in uk aswell they are just asian owned so there is less of a need for somalis to develop their own institutions since they can just use the ones made by the asians
 

Doctorabdi

A nomad with no true place
Those are just stories. This goes back to the idea that the original Arabs were Yemenis which we now know isn’t true.

Southern Tunisia has actual Arabs, same goes for Libya. Yes they admixed with locals but that just created a new sub-type of Arab identity.

Tunisia hasn’t been speaking Arabic for thousands of years. In fact the dialects of the Maghreb are mostly from the Hilali invasion (alongside minor Arabs Ma3qil & Sulaym) from 1000 years ago. Prior to that Arabic was restricted to urban towns (most of these pre-Bedouin invasion dialects are extinct); meanwhile the majority of the Maghreb were Islamized Berbers. There’s a reason once the Umayyads lost control, it was the Berbers who were the dominant political & military force in the Maghreb.
Intriguing thanks for educating me, i'm curious who were said "original arabs" i've heard they seem to come from northern arabia but besides that not much.
 

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