Nidar is a Somali feared deity even though Nidar was the avenger and justice. Nidar was the righter of wrong. He was considered the champion of those that were exploited by their fellow human.
NIdar the punisher my favorite Somali deity
- Thread starter 𐒌𐒓𐒐𐒓𐒗𐒕𐒒_952
- Start date
It's a deity from our pre-Islamic days. Nidar was a lesser deity that was in charge of punishing evil. Waaq was the main God in the belief. Though I do feel some sensible levels of concern when some Somalis go a little too deep in our past faiths. It's one thing to be knowledgeable of our history, it's another to just abandon our actual faith and stuff.Who?
Never heard of that. We don't have deities in Islam, I think you're losing it.
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I don't know about Nidaar as a punishing deity but i defiantly know of Bidaar. That ole demon ravages through Somali mens hair.
No wonder we are all struggling with loss of hair.. surely this deity should first focus on finding a solution for this pandemic before becoming fearless champion of the unwashed Neanderthals geeljire!
The Somali Waaq is gone long time ago, you better go to Oromo and start worshipping their version of Waaq
It’s incorrect Wikipedia nonsense you rock-headed Amhara. Nidar isn’t a god, it’s the Somali version of Karma.
Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi goes into him a bit in his book "Culture and Customs of Somalia":
Not a diety. More like some sort of spirit or equivalent to an "Angel" or "Karma" that rights wrongs. Waaqism is very much monotheistic, as far as I know. Waaq is the only true God spoken of and the creator of everything. There are other deity like figures but I don't recall any of them ever being called "Gods", per say. So they're clearly just forces of nature beneath him on the totem poll and created by him.
Culture and Customs of Somalia
Somalia, the Horn of Africa nation, is finally recovering from recent wars and famine. Written by a native Somali, Culture and Customs of Somalia gives students and interested readers an in-depth look at the land and people, past and present. It is the only accessible, comprehensive, and...
books.google.ae
Culture and Customs of Somalia
Somalia, the Horn of Africa nation, is finally recovering from recent wars and famine. Written by a native Somali, Culture and Customs of Somalia gives students and interested readers an in-depth look at the land and people, past and present. It is the only accessible, comprehensive, and...
books.google.ae
Not a diety. More like some sort of spirit or equivalent to an "Angel" or "Karma" that rights wrongs. Waaqism is very much monotheistic, as far as I know. Waaq is the only true God spoken of and the creator of everything. There are other deity like figures but I don't recall any of them ever being called "Gods", per say. So they're clearly just forces of nature beneath him on the totem poll and created by him.
The people who existed in our land before the Somali ethnogenesis weren’t waaqists, though they were related to them, they called god Eebe. Waaq in Somali means heaven/sky , not god.Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi goes into him a bit in his book "Culture and Customs of Somalia":
Culture and Customs of Somalia
Somalia, the Horn of Africa nation, is finally recovering from recent wars and famine. Written by a native Somali, Culture and Customs of Somalia gives students and interested readers an in-depth look at the land and people, past and present. It is the only accessible, comprehensive, and...books.google.ae
Culture and Customs of Somalia
Somalia, the Horn of Africa nation, is finally recovering from recent wars and famine. Written by a native Somali, Culture and Customs of Somalia gives students and interested readers an in-depth look at the land and people, past and present. It is the only accessible, comprehensive, and...books.google.ae
Not a diety. More like some sort of spirit or equivalent to an "Angel" that rights wrongs. Waaqism is very much monotheistic, as far as I know. Waaq is the only true God spoken of and the creator of everything. There are other diety like figures but I don't recall any of them ever being called "Gods", per say. So they're clearly just forces of nature beneath him on the totem poll and created by him.
Eebe/Waaq is basically the same concept as far as I know. All Somali linguists seem to agree on this and they most certainly were, saaxiib. They even showed the same clear traditions as other known pre-Islamic Waaqists like Oromos and Afars like a belief in sacred trees, in crows being a vessel for prayer, in trials by fire and using cultural implements like this. It pervades in the language to this day itself like how "pray" is "Tuko" which is close to "Tuke" (crow) and of course words like "Barwaaqo". A lot of those traditions I mentioned still existed just 100 or so years ago right down to the trials by fire:
One really interesting tradition that now seems completely gone is the trial by fire tradition he mentions:
Funnily enough, this appears in the time of the Futux al-Xabasha 300 years earlier as well as something practiced by the Imam Axmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi. An Ethiopian scholar used this to theorize that he was an Canfar, at least maternally, but I think this scholar should have read the Futux more closely because he would discover that there were no Canfars involved.
They are only mentioned as a far away people to the north and the only groups fighting for the Imam are Somalis and the mysterious "Harla" who may have very well been some unique Somaloid group like the Raxanweyn. The "Malassai" he thinks are Canfars are actually just a mix of elite fighters, Somalis included, from across his army who make up the center of his army. Nevertheless, him displaying this custom does seem to imply a Cushitic, likely Somali, origin.
Around the same period as Burton a Majeerteen ruler all the way in the northeast also displayed this tradition:
Completely foreign to Somalis today but for 500 years at least it seems to have been a regular part of our dhaqan. Some of our brothers on this thread just seem shaken by how contrary some things from 100-200 years ago are to our current culture and seem to adopt some excess skepticism or even denial. A lot changes in a couple of centuries, especially after modernization, gaal influence, a horrific civil war and salafis running around proselytizing. But, as you say, in some ways Geeljires still Geeljire.
Calling the people who lived in our lands before somalis waaqists gives you the wrong impression, like saying that latins and Hindus were the same. There is a 3000 year gap between lowland east Cushitic langagues so we should expect a similar gap in culture and theology.
You're welcome.
