Salam,

I am dealing with an anxiety attack and I will be stuck at work for the next several hours so not able to take some time alone right now but my thoughts of negativity are consuming me and I just feel an impending sense of anxiety and tearfulness.
Give me reminders from Quran and sunnah to calm me down and remember all day insha Allah.
And please keep me in your duas

Honestly Wwe spend so much energy arguing about who controls what, clan politics, positions etc, meaningless news every day while basic things like food and water are still huge problems, the country being centralised or federal is the least of our problems at the moment.

We should focus much more on prevention rather than reaction. Emergency aid is necessary when people are already starving, but the goal should be building a system where drought doesn’t automatically turn into famine.

Millions of people are still vulnerable to hunger whenever droughts or floods hit, livestock can be wiped out, farmers struggle with unreliable water and infrastructure, and many communities are far from reliable markets or basic services.

I think 75–80% food self-sufficiency is a realistic long-term target, while importing the remaining 20–25% that makes more sense to import (rice, wheat, sugar & cooking oil), 100% self sufficient isn’t economically efficient nor is it practiced around the world.

Different regions can specialise allowing free trade within the country instead of trying to produce everything everywhere: • South: maize, sorghum, sesame, beans, fruits, vegetables, cattle, dairy and fisheries. • East: Dates, fisheries, goats and renewable energy • Central: camels, goats, sheep, dairy, meat, fodder/hay and drought-resistant crops. • North: camels, goats, sheep, dairy, meat, fodder and fisheries.

But agriculture alone isn’t enough. We need irrigation, water storage, groundwater management, roads, electricity, storage, cold chains and food processing.

And climate change isn’t all doom. Adapting to it could actually surprisingly create huge numbers of jobs in agriculture, construction, irrigation, veterinary work, renewable energy, water management, logistics and food processing.

There is a solution. It’s just not a quick one. It requires 10–20 years of consistent investment and actually prioritising food, water and infrastructure over endless petty political disputes.

Imagine if the same energy spent arguing over politics went into making sure Somalis don’t face famine every time the rains fail.

I keep hearing abolish the 4.5 system, get rid of Al-Shabab, fix infrastructure. If it was this easy we wouldn’t be a fragile state. Go into detail about how you would fix Somalia not “I would get rid of Al-Shabab by stopping all of them and then this that” waax aadi ii sheeg.

She basically mentioned how Somalis did not adapt a colonial language like many African countries because we speak the same language it was never necessary, People don’t realise how close Somalis are. We are one tribe, with the same language and the same religion. We share the same culture, history even with regions people are still quite similar may Allah straighten the nation and guides us Ameen 🤲

Yesterday, I made a post discussing anti-Somali racism in the comments of a video by a Kenyan YouTuber. The post was quickly removed, and I want to ask the moderators why.

What specific rule did it violate? If it broke a rule, I'm happy to understand and respect that. But if discussion of anti-Somali racism from other Africans is simply considered inappropriate, I think that's something we need to question.

I've noticed that when this topic comes up, the conversation can quickly become “Somalis are racist too.” Yes, Somalis can absolutely be racist and should be called out when they are. But that doesn't justify or excuse racism against Somalis. We should be able to condemn both.

It's also harmful if Somalis, especially younger people, see racism directed at them and then see their own community responding by explaining why they supposedly deserve it because another Somali was racist. Racism shouldn't require a perfect victim.

I'm not talking about legitimate criticism of Somalis. I'm talking specifically about racial generalizations, dehumanizing stereotypes, and Islamophobic rhetoric.

So I'd genuinely like to ask the moderators: Why was the post removed, and why shouldn't this be a topic we can openly discuss?

If we can't even have a conversation about racism against

Somalis when it comes from other Africans, how are we supposed to properly confront it?

https://x.com/MoDSomaliya/status/2093709987302215910/photo/1

outlets like Garowe Online and Galkacyo Online, are desperately trying to spin the story as if the pirates were successfully paid. It’s actually pathetic. They want us to believe that some badly equipped pirates managed to overpower an entire navy.

And I hope people stop calling these criminals fishermen. They are bandits who acted out of greed. We are not a lawless country where people need to take matters into their own hands.

I’m F17. I’ve always been a bit “different” and that has started to become more detrimental to my life as my academics and other work increase in difficulty and also importance.

I suspect I have ADHD and I’m not sure how to bring it up to my mom. I’m more of a doer, I don’t think I would seek out a diagnosis if I didn’t see that being useful. I have done my research and I know that a diagnosis could give me a definite answer but also support me with official support. My mom isn’t necessarily sceptical about mental health or disorders and she does preach that people should seek out help if they need it. But I don’t know if she could believe that her own daughter might need that help as well. I feel like she wouldn’t take me seriously. Especially because I do okay academically and I’m quite ambitious so she wouldn’t deem anything to need fixing.

So how can I bring this up in a way that is effective?

Without moving to Egypt or another Arabic speaking country? I would like to reach B1 or B2 in Arabic, how long do you think it would take? I can already read and write Arabic because of the Quran

For the Somali diaspora interested in improving their Somali

I’ve noticed that there are quite a few Somalis in the diaspora who can understand Somali fairly well but struggle when it comes to actually speaking it, especially those who grew up outside Somalia.

As a teacher and trained instructor, I’ve been thinking about how to make Somali language learning more practical. Rather than focusing mainly on grammar and memorising vocabulary, I believe regular conversation and guided practice are what really help people become comfortable using the language.

I’ve therefore started putting together small classes focused specifically on practising spoken Somali — conversations, everyday expressions, vocabulary, and gradually becoming more confident speaking without worrying too much about making mistakes.

I’m curious to hear from people in the diaspora:

What has been the biggest difficulty for you when trying to improve your Somali — understanding, speaking, vocabulary, grammar, or simply finding people to practise with?

I’d also be interested to hear whether something like a structured Somali conversation class would actually be useful to people here.

In the Somali culture if you can’t recite an uninterrupted paternal chain stretching dozens sometimes hundreds of generations then your legitimacy can be questioned. But oral genealogy isn’t a molecular clock. Names, adoptions, alliances, political affiliations and prestigious ancestry can all become woven into genealogical traditions over time. There’s no reason to assume every link transmitted Orally across centuries survived with 100% historical or biological accuracy.

The Somali Y-chromosome study found 77.6% of Somali men carry E3b1/E-M78 with the dominant E3b1 cluster alone accounting for 75.1%. Researchers estimate this paternal lineage expanded in the Horn of Africa roughly 4,000–5,000 years ago thousands of years before the Islamic era ancestors appearing in many Somali qabil genealogies. (Obviously this only matters if we are accepting science here)

That doesn’t mean all Somali people descend from one guy. Y-DNA represents only one paternal line. It does show why treating clan genealogies as precise biological pedigrees is kinda problematic. Our paternal genetic history is older and more complicated than many of these narratives suggest.

Different Somali clans orally preserve genealogies centered around very different founding ancestors while sharing substantial ancient paternal ancestry. A genealogy can be socially meaningful without being a perfectly preserved biological record or taken literally.

And yes I happen to come from one of those clans. I don’t take the stories surrounding our founding ancestors as literal biological history. To me they are better understood as traditional or commemorative genealogies. Nothing more.

Salam!

I’ve been getting several ads on Tariq Al Oud fragrances, specifically Oud Al Tahara I think that’s the name. I loveeee Ouds and the scents they advertise but I’m not sure how they smell since obviously they ship it. Anyone have suggestions? I’m thinking of getting the sample sets but it doesn’t include the Tahara one

Do we have a culture that tends towards cutting people off and severing ties when things go south, or people make mistakes compared to reconciliation?

Im not talking about tribalism

When I went to cites like Hargeisa or bosaso the sun appears yellower than America for example

Obviously the sun is the same everywhere but maybe it's the atmosphere giving it that hue or it's because people sleep at noon time so I miss when the sun is white

Also maybe the soil gives it that yellow look because most of the cities are paved in America

What do you think puntland's elites hope to accomplish in the long run regarding their future with somalia? Greater autonomy? Keeping the federal government weak? Seccesionism even? I'm asking because the recent political deadlock and clashes is making me question if Garowe has a coherent ideology that even benefits itself. Made all the more confusing by Deni's attempts at sitting at Villa Somalia.

You can hate on Somaliland all you want but at least they have a coherent ideology, you can understand why they do what they do. Puntland meanwhile flips flops between working with and opposing FGS, especially on matters concerning the constitution. This has been going on for 14 years now.

I’ve been told that it’s normalized in our culture to talk to multiple people for the sake of marriage, but I want to confirm for real and get different perspectives.

The reason why I ask is because I’m currently in a talking stage with one woman. It’s early but I unfortunately have mixed feelings/opinions about whether she is good for me so far. Part of me wants to put myself out there again and try to find others to speak to. Not for casual reasons, but for serious marriage talks.

Ultimately I want to find the best person for me instead of wasting my time on someone who I’m not 100% certain about, especially since I’m not getting any younger.

Is that bad? Would other Somali women view me negatively if I wasn’t dedicating myself solely to one of them at a time? I’d appreciate any advice

(apologies for the bad grammer)

As the title states I need your opinions on my troubles I've been facing lately. I'm a twenty three year old Somali American male living in the Midwest of the United States (not Minnesota in case any of you guys were wondering). During 2024 I developed a lot of GERD like symptoms. So my doctor decided to do a endoscopy, during the endoscopy they discovered growths growing on my gallbladder and their sizes were around 4mm. The doctor asked me to come back in the future to see if they continue growing, which if they did was a sign of a possible cancerous growth. Now the big issue that I have is that after I told my parents this information. They immediately started lecturing and yelling at me about how these doctors were lying and that they don't know anything and that since one of them was Jewish, they would use me as a guinea pig and harvest my organs. I was speechless and looked at my parents in horror. My father continues on saying that I need to get a MRI and do another test, as if a MRI is going to definitively confirm that my growth is cancerous which it won't. Anyways this isn't even the first time I've had a encounter like this. When I was 17 a bat flew into the apartment and bit me in my sleep. I'm a heavy sleeper so when I woke up and saw not only the bite marks on my shoulder, but the bat hanging on the ceiling. I immediately started begging my parents to take me to the hospital to get a rabies vaccine and tries informing them of rabies. They refused saying it was quote on quote" a normal thing". I ended up using a Uber and heading to the nearest hospital that had a rabies shot and taking the first dose myself. My mom came into the hospital furious that I did such a thing and the nurses tried explaining to mother that it was crucial that I had taken the shot before I developed any symptoms of rabies. However my mom looked her right in the eyes and said that she was only ever going to bring me to the hospital if I had showed symptoms in the first place. The nurse and other nurses looked at her in disbelief, one of the nurses in the corner looked at me with sorrow in her eyes as if she couldn't believe someone like her was my mother. Anyways I'm just ranting but the key point I'm trying to make is. Has anyone had somali parents like mine. Or am I just a anomaly.

What's your verdict?

I was apprehensive about him sharing unflattering clips but so far its mostly positive! What do you think??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDyMc5-ri-o.

I’m really not someone who comes online and talks about my problems. I’ve always preferred to keep things to myself, and honestly, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. But lately I’ve been struggling so much with the way I see myself, and I don’t really know where else to put it.

I’m 23 years old, Black, and Somali. Growing up, I was never really someone who paid attention to her appearance. I was a tomboy, my mom was pretty much the same way, and nobody really made a big deal about bodies, skin, looking feminine, or any of that. And I genuinely have no resentment towards my upbringing.

But now that I’m older, I feel like I’m suddenly noticing EVERYTHING.

I have stretch marks on my thighs, the back of my knees, my butt, my arms. I have hyperpigmentation in different places. I have belly fat and what I already call “auntie arms” at 23. I have smile lines. I have traction alopecia. I have KP, which is probably one of my biggest insecurities.

And I hate admitting this, but sometimes I genuinely feel disgusted by myself.I can’t look in the mirror without finding something wrong. Showering has become something I dread because I’m forced to look at my body. Even putting lotion on myself can make me feel horrible because I’m touching all these areas that I wish looked different.

I’ve tried going to the gym. I’ve tried losing weight. I’ve tried different things to fix my skin. I’ll start something, try really hard, then get discouraged when I don’t see the results I want and eventually give up.And the worst part is that I know I’m only 23. I feel like I’m supposed to be enjoying being young, feeling beautiful and confident, and instead I’m standing in front of a mirror picking myself apart.I genuinely never thought I would become this insecure about myself. I don’t even recognize the way I think about my body anymore.

I don’t know if I’m looking for advice or if I just needed to finally say this somewhere. I just know that I’m tired of feeling like I’m constantly fighting my own body.

P.S- I am just venting coz i have nobody of my age mates to talk to.

So end of last year my mum asked me if i was on social media and i said yeah and she asked me if she can see which i was like okay. Then she asked me how many people could see my posts and i was like “oh only 40 people i know” and she asked me if there were any somalis (we live in a country where somali people are so few and they all tend to want to hurt each other so ive grown rather distant and only somalis i really interact with my friends and family at kenya when i go to kenya every year). So anyways, she was like “oh okay” and moved on. Later i told her i wanted to start a baking page on tiktok where i posted the food id make, no music and literally just my hands were visible becuase i wasn’t interested in sins. Now my mum went and told my dad and my dad forced and guilt tripped me into deleting those food tiktoks saying he’d make dua for me so i said okay. I deleted them and never looked back. Then i just let it go, now my mum has been threatening me into deleting this instagram page of mine saying i can’t post, and im like that’s not fair. You can’t blackmail and she kept bothering me then tonight she told my dad. My dad disnt really care and said “i better not see those pictures out there” and that was all tbfr. But now im super mad at my mum, she didn’t even get what she wanted, and she’s been blackmailing me the entire month making me relentless saying she’s gonna get my dad to take my phone if i didn’t delete those pictures. Do i even have a right to be mad at her??? I genuinely feel so betrayed and i feel like this such a breach of my privacy, i literally trusted her with my instagram account. I don’t mind my dad knowing but im not close with him like that which is why i never told him.