| Revision as of 20:06, 20 August 2009 editAntonio Lopez (talk | contribs)Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers13,974 editsm attempt to create sections← Previous edit | Revision as of 21:13, 27 August 2009 edit undoThaddeusB (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users37,857 edits contest prod - subject is a tribe of people and it certainly notable - problems should be solved via editing, not deletion - flag for needing a rewrite for POV/toneNext edit → | ||
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| The '''Yibir''' (also Ibro) are a numerically small tribe of ]. They have traditionally been kept on the lower rungs of ] society. Some believe that the Yibir are descendants of ]s who arrived in the area long before the arrival of Somali nomads, and that the word "Yibir" means "Hebrew."{{Weasel-inline|date=August 2009}} Some view Yibirs with contempt yet fear their alleged supernatural powers and consider it unwise to provoke members of the tribe.{{Weasel-inline|date=August 2009}} | The '''Yibir''' (also Ibro) are a numerically small tribe of ]. They have traditionally been kept on the lower rungs of ] society. Some believe that the Yibir are descendants of ]s who arrived in the area long before the arrival of Somali nomads, and that the word "Yibir" means "Hebrew."{{Weasel-inline|date=August 2009}} Some view Yibirs with contempt yet fear their alleged supernatural powers and consider it unwise to provoke members of the tribe.{{Weasel-inline|date=August 2009}} | ||
| Yibirs are said to be descendants of King Mohammed Bin Haniif of ], also known as Boqor Bur Ba'ayr. It is said that he was a herbalist, priest, and astrologer who predicted many natural disasters. Folklore has it that newly wed women had to spend a week in his castle while he "ensured they were free from any sexual diseases", before they were released to their husbands.{{Citation-needed|date=August 2009}} Nomad Somalis objected to this practice and overthrew the king. Legend has it that Bur Ba'ayr used witchcraft, a myth that many nomadic Somalis believe that he could pass through a mountain.{{Citation-needed|date=August 2009}} A popular story is that Sheikh Yussuf-ul-Kownein, a Catholic Priest, also known as Colonel Joseph, It is believed by many historians that Somalis could not pronounce Colonel,and instead used Al-kawneen.{{Weasel-inline|date=August 2009}} Historians also know that Joseph Colonel was a white Christian (Catholic) and not a Somali, (generally black people from Africa, not Arabia) who was trying to spread the christian faith in Horn of Africa. There is an ongoing practice in Somaliland the every year around March or April on a Friday, (Good Friday in Catholicism), nomadic Somalis pay a special visit to Colonel Joseph's grave, in which every member marks his/her forehead with a Christian symbol, the Cross to celebrate the day, unfortunately, the miseducation of the nomads still continues to thinking that joseph colonel was a Muslim and not a Christian, and Mohammed Bin Haniif was not a Muslim. opponents of this idea criticize this as ignorance and question, if this is the case then why do people mark their foreheads with Cross-like symbol, celebrating Christianity, because Muslims will never do anything like that because they know what Christian cross is all about.{{Weasel-inline|date=August 2009}} | Yibirs are said to be descendants of King Mohammed Bin Haniif of ], also known as Boqor Bur Ba'ayr. It is said that he was a herbalist, priest, and astrologer who predicted many natural disasters. Folklore has it that newly wed women had to spend a week in his castle while he "ensured they were free from any sexual diseases", before they were released to their husbands.{{Citation-needed|date=August 2009}} Nomad Somalis objected to this practice and overthrew the king. Legend has it that Bur Ba'ayr used witchcraft, a myth that many nomadic Somalis believe that he could pass through a mountain.{{Citation-needed|date=August 2009}} A popular story is that Sheikh Yussuf-ul-Kownein, a Catholic Priest, also known as Colonel Joseph, It is believed by many historians that Somalis could not pronounce Colonel,and instead used Al-kawneen.{{Weasel-inline|date=August 2009}} Historians also know that Joseph Colonel was a white Christian (Catholic) and not a Somali, (generally black people from Africa, not Arabia) who was trying to spread the christian faith in Horn of Africa. There is an ongoing practice in Somaliland the every year around March or April on a Friday, (Good Friday in Catholicism), nomadic Somalis pay a special visit to Colonel Joseph's grave, in which every member marks his/her forehead with a Christian symbol, the Cross to celebrate the day, unfortunately, the miseducation of the nomads still continues to thinking that joseph colonel was a Muslim and not a Christian, and Mohammed Bin Haniif was not a Muslim. opponents of this idea criticize this as ignorance and question, if this is the case then why do people mark their foreheads with Cross-like symbol, celebrating Christianity, because Muslims will never do anything like that because they know what Christian cross is all about.{{Weasel-inline|date=August 2009}} | ||
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| This is a myth that many somalis do not challenge or will challenge due to lack of education or ignorance. | This is a myth that many somalis do not challenge or will challenge due to lack of education or ignorance. | ||
| == . == | |||
| It is still believed that if a pregnant woman does not pay the tax she will give birth to a stillborn or deformed baby. Yibirs are believed to know by witchcraft where there is a woman pregnant with a male child, and so go to seek the "compensation", he (always a male) is supposed to prove his identity by placing on his horizontally extended arm a forked staff which on its own begins to oscillate in convoluted movements along his arm. After he is given the money he gives a piece of knotted string as a "receipt" so if another Yibir visits the homes he knows he is too late for the baksheesh (though apparently his "witchcraft" cannot tell him that). Some modern Somalis believe that this is nonsense. | It is still believed that if a pregnant woman does not pay the tax she will give birth to a stillborn or deformed baby. Yibirs are believed to know by witchcraft where there is a woman pregnant with a male child, and so go to seek the "compensation", he (always a male) is supposed to prove his identity by placing on his horizontally extended arm a forked staff which on its own begins to oscillate in convoluted movements along his arm. After he is given the money he gives a piece of knotted string as a "receipt" so if another Yibir visits the homes he knows he is too late for the baksheesh (though apparently his "witchcraft" cannot tell him that). Some modern Somalis believe that this is nonsense. | ||
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The Yibir (also Ibro) are a numerically small tribe of Somalia. They have traditionally been kept on the lower rungs of Somali society. Some believe that the Yibir are descendants of Hebrews who arrived in the area long before the arrival of Somali nomads, and that the word "Yibir" means "Hebrew." Some view Yibirs with contempt yet fear their alleged supernatural powers and consider it unwise to provoke members of the tribe. Yibirs are said to be descendants of King Mohammed Bin Haniif of Hargeysa, also known as Boqor Bur Ba'ayr. It is said that he was a herbalist, priest, and astrologer who predicted many natural disasters. Folklore has it that newly wed women had to spend a week in his castle while he "ensured they were free from any sexual diseases", before they were released to their husbands. Nomad Somalis objected to this practice and overthrew the king. Legend has it that Bur Ba'ayr used witchcraft, a myth that many nomadic Somalis believe that he could pass through a mountain. A popular story is that Sheikh Yussuf-ul-Kownein, a Catholic Priest, also known as Colonel Joseph, It is believed by many historians that Somalis could not pronounce Colonel,and instead used Al-kawneen. Historians also know that Joseph Colonel was a white Christian (Catholic) and not a Somali, (generally black people from Africa, not Arabia) who was trying to spread the christian faith in Horn of Africa. There is an ongoing practice in Somaliland the every year around March or April on a Friday, (Good Friday in Catholicism), nomadic Somalis pay a special visit to Colonel Joseph's grave, in which every member marks his/her forehead with a Christian symbol, the Cross to celebrate the day, unfortunately, the miseducation of the nomads still continues to thinking that joseph colonel was a Muslim and not a Christian, and Mohammed Bin Haniif was not a Muslim. opponents of this idea criticize this as ignorance and question, if this is the case then why do people mark their foreheads with Cross-like symbol, celebrating Christianity, because Muslims will never do anything like that because they know what Christian cross is all about. The truth remains that Somali Hebrews are subjected to all kinds of injustices in Somalia, especially in Somaliland because of their Hebrew ethnicity. The non-Islamic practices of the Somaliland people who are filled with ethnocentrism and hate for Judiasm and Jews in general have put the yibir people in a dangerous and low status. Hebrew The world has moved on and Nazism has died everywhere, except in a tiny little place called "Somaliland" that practices apparatheid, segregation, discrimination, and violation of the simple principle of human rights.
The oppression of the Yibros has been going on for a long time in Somaliland . Yibir children are labled inferiors from early on in life by the majority of Somalis, and they are confronted with prejudice, hate, harassment and discrimination by almost all the people in Somaliland who claim they are Muslims, when in fact their actions towards the Yibros is far from Muslim.
History
Known as Aw Barqadle brought Fiqi Omar,also known as Omar al-Rida, to witness the event and as soon as the act started Fiqi Omar read verses of the Qur'an and Bur Ba'ayr was trapped in the mountain. Nomad Somalis agreed to settle the death of the king by giving money and other gifts to the Yibir tribe every time a male child was born. The custom of Yibirs visiting families with newborn children to be given money still continues in most of Somalia. Historians as well as other evidence obtained for the State Department shows that yibirs were the original inhabitant of Somliland, a that the yibir kingdom in Somaliland existed for many centuries. Unlike the nomad system, the yibir kingdom had a working system, a democratic system that collected taxes from everyone in somalia. The king Mohammed Bin Al Haniif and his followers ensured the collection of the taxes in order to maintain the society. After the death of the king, it was agreed upon that yibirs should continue the collection of the taxes from anyone who resides in Somalia, by giving every child who is born a "Birth Certificate" , in return people pay for the taxes they owe. Historians compare this type of taxation to the "Head Tax" that was imposed on foreign nationals who arrived in America in the early 19th century. The history of the yibir people in Somaliland is rich and many researchers continue to show interest in the original inhabitants people of Somaliland, and trying to understand their plight and their suffering under poor, undevelped nomadic regimes, yet regimes that are similar and capable of atrocities that Nazi Germany committed against jewish people. "Below is the typical miseducated Somalis views of the yibir and why yibirs collect taxes". Understand that this is a myth that every miseducated somali will say about the yibirs without knowing their historical backgrounds.
This is a myth that many somalis do not challenge or will challenge due to lack of education or ignorance.
It is still believed that if a pregnant woman does not pay the tax she will give birth to a stillborn or deformed baby. Yibirs are believed to know by witchcraft where there is a woman pregnant with a male child, and so go to seek the "compensation", he (always a male) is supposed to prove his identity by placing on his horizontally extended arm a forked staff which on its own begins to oscillate in convoluted movements along his arm. After he is given the money he gives a piece of knotted string as a "receipt" so if another Yibir visits the homes he knows he is too late for the baksheesh (though apparently his "witchcraft" cannot tell him that). Some modern Somalis believe that this is nonsense.
Yibirs may be pre-Somali inhabitants of Somalia. Most Yibirs today are Muslims though that does not prevent them from being despised and feared for their alleged witchcraft. The Yibir community live in Somaliland, parts of Puntland and a minority of them live among other Somali clans. Somalis do not intermarry with the Yibirs but the Yibirs have intermarried with other communities despised by Somalis of nomadic tradition, such as Mad-dibaans and Midgaans).
References
- Somalia's 'Hebrews'
- Schneider, R. "Deux inscriptions subaribiques du Tigre" Leiden, Netherlands: Bibliotecheca Orientalis, 30, 1973, 385-387 (quoted with explanation in Bernard Leeman "Queen of Sheba and Biblical Scholarship" Queensland Academic Press 2005, pages 95-97 ISBN 0-9758022-0-8)
- Kirk, John William Carnegie "A grammar of the Somali language with examples in prose and verse; and an account of the Yibir and Midgan dialects." Cambridge: University Press, 1905