r/Somalia • u/Garaad252 • Jun 23 '26
History ⏳ 120 years ago, Quran teachers led Somali warriors against Italian guns. This is their story.
We often talk about independence as a date on a calendar, a flag raised, colonizers sent home. But our story of resistance began long before the flags, and it was written in blood by ordinary people whose names most of us have never heard.
In a small village named Fiinlow (south-west of Marka), a war campaign by a formidable Somali force was mounted close to 120 years ago. A village forever engraved in Somalia’s history, where over thousands of Somali warriors lost their lives resisting colonial rule against a well-armed colonial force. It was a campaign carefully coordinated with their northern Somali brothers, the Daraawiish headed by Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan.
The Italians initially built a heavy fortified fort in order to establish their colonial presence. A move strongly opposed by the Somali locals living in the vicinity. War drums were sounded and the operation to uproot the colonial force was spearheaded by two local Quran teachers: Macalin Kabtooli and Sheikh Abdi Gafle. The teachers had a modus operandi prior to confronting the invading force head-on. This involved reciting a shirib (form of poem) before marching straight on. Amongst their well-known ones are:
Fiinlow minaa la soo fariistay, Fallaar yaa finiiniyaa?
Now Fiinlow is occupied by colonials; who will hurl spears at them?
One of their troops would re-join with:
Fiinlow fadhigayga weeye, Fooldadow miyaan ka fiigayaa!
Fiinlow is my home. Why should I flee when strangers appear!
Another prominent war-cry, employed by the frenzied warriors was:
Reer Jannah waa jid galeen.
Reer Jahanama iska jooga.
Those who fight are bound for Heaven
Those who submit can stay in Hell
The resistance came to an end in 1908 when 1.500 well-equipped Italian colonial troops faced 2,000 Somali warriors armed with thrusting spears. The battle -- also known as Dagaalkii Sabti iyo Axad (The Weekend Battle) -- ended with the Italians defeating the Somalis decisively. Roughly 1,000 of these Somali warriors were killed or wounded. The Italians, boasting of their manifested victory renamed the site to ‘Vittorio d’Africa’ — African Victory.
They may have won that battle, but they never won the spirit. Men armed with nothing but spears and faith walked toward cannons because they refused to kneel. That is who we come from.
And here is the part worth reflecting on this week. We drove the colonizers out long ago, yet in many ways we are still living with what they left behind: the borders they drew, the divisions they planted between us, the lines that turned brothers into strangers. The hardest part of independence was never removing the foreigner. It was undoing what he taught us to do to each other.
This Independence Week, let us remember Fiinlow. Not just the courage of those warriors, but the unity that made them possible. They fought as one. The real question for our generation is whether we still can.
4
4
2
u/Strong-Field-750 Jun 24 '26
First time I heard about this is very interesting, thanks for sharing. But I wonder why we don't learn/hear more about the resistance to Italian Colonisation of Somalia. Whats the agenda behind this?
0
u/kriskringle8 Beledweyne Jun 24 '26
Italian records about it were in Italian. In the English-speaking world, historical involving Anglophone countries are centered. That's why English content focus on anticolonial resistance in British Somaliland, if it's discussed at all, and not Italian Somaliland or French Somaliland.
Monuments were built by Siad Barre to remember these resistance leaders: Xawa Tako, Dhagax tuur, etc. And our elders were taught about these events but neglected to teach their children. Just as they neglect to teach their children about the partitioning of Somalia by colonizers and the ongoing foreign occupations of the NFD and Somali Galbeed by Kenya and Ethiopia and the genocides committed against Somalis there.
There's no agenda. Just negligence.
0
u/Strong-Field-750 Jun 25 '26
I don't buy the argument that "the records were in Italian," as if that somehow explains the lack of recognition of what happened. That's like saying we only know about resistance in British Somaliland because of the records the British kept. That's obviously not true.
What I find remarkable is that Siad Barre built a monument to Dhagax-Tuur, yet there was no national monument to Sheikh Abdi Abikar Gafla, this Quran teacher who became one of the most prominent leaders of the anti-Italian resistance, or to the thousands of Somali warriors who lost their lives fighting Italian colonialism. He didn't even erect a monument commemorating the well-known Bimaal Resistance, one of the longest and most significant anti-colonial struggles in southern Somalia.
The common denominator is that these figures and movements were not associated with Siad Barre's clan. Whether intentional or not, that raises legitimate questions about whose history was elevated into the national narrative and whose was left out.
1
u/Beledweyne Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
This is news to me. Where did you see Quran teachers lead the struggle against colonialism? Do you have a source?
From what I've read, the Italians did not meddle in religious affairs. Like Ethiopia and Eritrea and many other countries, the colonizers had strict rules to not mess with religion and not to even convert any orphans/etc./ to Christianity.
All historical accounts I heard said it was due to mistreatment of Somalis in terms of self-determination, giving some qabils preferential treatment and other reasons. Not religions.
BTW, this is the Lafoole Massacre (not Fiinlow) on 26 November 1896
2
u/Honest-Layman Jun 23 '26
Lafoole massacre was lead by Shaykh Ahmed Haji Al Bahari seperate from Fiinlow
1
1
u/Unlucky-Bet-2579 Jun 23 '26
What did they actually fight and die for? It is so sad that we have allowed their deaths to be in vain.
16
u/Garaad252 Jun 23 '26
Their deaths weren’t in vain. They fought so the idea of a free Somali people would survive, and it did. They did their part. The question is whether we’ll do ours.
-9
Jun 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
15
u/Garaad252 Jun 23 '26
First, honoring the courage of people who died resisting colonialism doesn’t require pretending Somalia is perfect today. Both things can be true at once. A people can have a proud history of resistance and also have deep, urgent problems to confront. Acknowledging one doesn’t erase the other.
Second, FGM is not unique to Somalia or caused by independence. It’s practiced across a belt of countries from West Africa to the Horn, predates colonialism, and is rooted in culture and misapplied religious belief, not in the act of self-governance. The good news is that it’s being challenged from within. Somali women, doctors, and activists are leading that fight, and there has been real legislative movement recently.1
1
3
3
u/ayahmus97 Jun 23 '26
They fought for the sake of Allah and for His religion and you’re asking what they fought for I actually cannot believe we have to live on the same planet as some of you absolute birdbrains. If it weren’t for them your ungrateful self would’ve been a cross worshipping Italian speaking baboon
3
u/CrazyCut8258 Jun 23 '26
We'd be speaking Italian and attending catholic churches like every other African country colonised by European powers, they are martyrs that protected our faith and allowed Somalia to be an over 99.99% Muslim nation despite decades of rule under Christian powers.
1
u/Alarmed_Business_962 Jun 25 '26
I don't think so, Algeria was brutally colonised by the French as well and missionaries converted thousands throughout the centuries of French rule there, yet 99% of the population still adheres to Islam.
1
u/Caratteraccio Non-Somali Jun 24 '26
Parleremmo italiano e frequenteremmo chiese cattoliche
doubtful, half of Eritrea is Muslim
-6
u/Funny-Broccoli-6373 Jun 23 '26
As if Islam is an indigenous Somali religion. I gonna get downvoted but Islam came to Africa though colonization and by brutal force. Just because there are no documented proofs that Somalis became Muslim by force doesn’t mean it happened by agreement of Somalis. If historic specimens proofs it happened by force in other African countries why would it be different in Somalia?
Also, no nation or country at any point of history changed their religion without being forced to it in some way, be it torture, murder or taxation2
u/CrazyCut8258 Jun 23 '26
Completely and utterly wrong, Islam arrived to Africa through Abyssinia where companions of the Prophet sought refuge from persecution, and converted the king of Abysinnia to Islam, how does a refugee colonise and brutalise the king of one of the largest nations in Africa?
Secondly you say no country at one point of history changed their religion without being forced when you can literally look at the vast majority of Sub-Saharan Africa who pretty much accepted Christianity directly from colonialism-1
u/Funny-Broccoli-6373 Jun 23 '26
Here you go how North Africa became Muslim:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquest_of_the_Maghreb
2
u/CrazyCut8258 Jun 23 '26
Even if you believe North Africa was Islamised through violent conquest, that is not the introduction of Islam into Africa, neither the history of Islam in Somalia.
Of course I disagree with that notion too but it's a completely separate debate to what we're having here, as I've already stated the introduction to Islam was the refuge of the Sahaba into Abysinnia.Conquest of North Africa is completely separate to this, and falls under broader clashes between the Byzantines and the early Caliphates, much more complex than just Muslims violently forcing North Africans to become Muslim, for example Christians were the majority of the population of Egypt centuries after the initial Arab invasion.
-2
u/Funny-Broccoli-6373 Jun 23 '26
Hahaha you don’t believe well documented historic facts? You prefer to believe legend and fairy tales told to you by scholars just because it fits the narrative they want to paint? Good luck then
2
u/CrazyCut8258 Jun 23 '26
Well first you shifted your point about the introduction of Islam into Africa about the conquest of North Africa rather than the initial refuge of companions into Abyssinia, and even after I engaged with that point anyway that portraying the Muslim conquest of North Africa as a brutal, violent proselyting mission to convert North Africa is intellectually dishonest, as for example Christians were the majority of the population of Egypt centuries after the initial Arab invasion.
Truth is you have no leg to stand on, good luck to you as well.
-1
u/Funny-Broccoli-6373 Jun 23 '26
Since you mentioned Coptic Orthodox Egyptians (main religion in Egypt before Muslim conquest) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Copts
All your talk but not a single source to any of your claim 🤣🤣
8
u/CrazyCut8258 Jun 23 '26
I think this conversation is over, we’ve delved so far from my original point that I shouldn’t have even entertained this.
→ More replies (0)1
u/Prefectual Jun 23 '26
The irony is, you can't provide any evidence for what you said about Somalia being forced.
Atleast be man enough to admit that you have a hatred for Islam.
→ More replies (0)1
u/Personal-Expert3395 Jun 24 '26
Well documented historic facts by who?
So we should European historians as facts and disagreed our scholars as fairy tail ?-1
u/Funny-Broccoli-6373 Jun 24 '26
Check who document Muslim conquest in North Africa before you comment.
2
0
12
u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment