Qabil....Who cares about it anyway?

Dearest TNP members and poets :)

The past few days I have been receiving an email from someone named Yasin Ahmed who claimed the way Somalia TNP posted poems were very bias and often impartial towards a group of people mostly from the tribe that my family is, my friends and finally my family members. I ignored Yasin’s email altogether because I found it to be quite stupid. He sent me another email last night saying his accusations were true and I was embarrassed and therefore did now want to write back. Finally today I decided instead of sending brother Yasin an email back I would post a note here for everyone to see so the question never raises again. Hopefully.

First and foremost I am the most anti-qabil (anti-tribe) person you will ever meet on the face of this earth. I do not embrace or celebrate something that has destructed my nation and in general the continent I am from. Many might argue qabil was not the source behind Somalia’s failure and their argument might be valid but to me seeing two Somalis fight and literally kill each other in foreign land because of the different tribe they subscribe to is a failure in itself. The fact that a group of Somalis will send charity based money to people who are of their tribe rather than those who are desperate in need of it is a failure. The fact that the Somali politics is structured with tribal ideology is a failure. The fact that we have to assume each activists will ONLY advocate for those from their tribe is a failure. And above all discriminating against another Somali who speaks and shares the same values, culture, tradition and often religion because of some mythical story of how the tribe they subscribe to came about is beyond failure. It is morally repugnant and haram. And, I for one do not embrace failure – and for that matter I do not embrace tribe. On a lighter note – How the hell does this person knows the tribes of the 50+ poets of this page? I have been communicating with each one of them for the past year – and I personally do not give two cents about any Somali tribe including my own and I am sure the same is true for the poets of this page. And, most importantly I have never posted a pro-tribal poem..Never. Anti-tribal poems are quite welcome on the other hand :)

The other issue this person raised was I post poems of my friends – this might be true. A lot of the TNP poets are people I call friends, many I love and respect dearly. However, I met them all (except for three) through Somalia TNP and that is what gave birth to our friendship J People in this group are talented, great poets, wonderful individuals and they for one do not need a friendship pass or for that matter even tribal token to have their work posted and celebrated. They are beyond that!!

Aha, family....You might see a lot of people with “Ali or Ahmed” as their last names on this page but I ensure you the only family member who thinks highly of this page lol is my sister (Fatima). And, trust me although we live in the same room she emails her poems to me or tags me if she posts them on FaceBook and that is how they get published. And, most important in the past year and few months she has only sent me 5 poems of hers.

So in conclusion, Yasin Ahmed (we share the same last name btw and you are far from being a family member to me) please know the reason why I ignored your emails were not because I was embarrassed but rather because I find it irksome and stupid that a talented person like yourself would waste their time in accusing someone of tribalism when they could very well use that time to accomplish something beneficial.

Regards,
-Halima Ahmed.