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Somalia

From Bahaipedia
 Somalia
Bahá’í Summer School of Mogadishu, 1964.
Location of Somalia
National AssemblyN/A
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 17,065,581
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 1,776
History:
Firsts
 -  Local Bahá'í 1955, Abdullahi Abdi 
 -  Pioneers 1953, Suhayl Samandarí 
 -  Local Assembly 1955, Mogadishu 
Related media
Categories: Somalia • People

The Federal Republic of Somalia is a country in East Africa. Somali and Arabic are its official language and Sunni Islam is the official religion.

The region was an important economic centre for trade in ancient times and was ruled by several Sultanates in the Middle Ages. In the late 19th century the Italian and British Empires colonized the region establishing Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland. In 1960 the area became independent as Somali Republic, however the government was overthrown in 1969 and the Somali Democratic Republic was established. The nation collapsed into a major civil war in 1991 and remained in a state of turmoil until 2012 when a new Federal Government was formed.

The Bahá’í Faith was established in Somalia in 1953 with a community forming in 1955. Civil unrest in the country damaged the Bahá’í community along with the majority of its population and as of the early 1980's the community had been largely disestablished.

History[edit]

At the opening of the Ten Year Crusade in 1953 Italian Somaliland was designated a goal territory for the establishment of a Bahá’í community. Suhayl Samandarí pioneered to the country in March, 1953, being possibly the first person to settle in a goal territory of the Crusade and be named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh. He was joined by his Aunt and Uncle, Mehdi and Ursula Samandari in November who were also named Knights.[2]

Mehdi secured a position at the Ministry of Health and was assigned an interpreter to assist him as he did not speak the local language with Abdullahi Abdi receiving the position and in 1955 Abdi became the first Somalian Bahá’í.[3] Abdi immediately began teaching his friends the Faith with the Samandari's and in April, 1955, the Local Spiritual Assembly of Mogadishu was established,[4] and a Bahá’í Summer School was held in the city the same year.[5] In 1956 the National Spiritual Assembly of North East Africa was formed and it assumed responsibility for administrating the Faith in Somalia.[6]

In 1956 Muslim clerics in Somalia began to publicly criticize and oppose the Faith,[4] despite this the Bahá’í Summer School continued to be held in Mogadishu into the 1960's.[7] As of 1963 Mogadishu remained the only Local Assembly in Somalia although Bahá’ís had settled in additional four localities.[8]

In 1974 the Universal House of Justice made establishing a National Spiritual Assembly of Somalia by 1979 a goal of the international Bahá’í community,[9] and in 1975 the North East Africa Assembly became the National Spiritual Assembly of Ethiopia being relieved of the responsibility of administrating the Somalia Bahá’í community.[10] The goal of an independent Somalian National Spiritual Assembly was not achieved due to local circumstances in the country,[11] which also prevented mass teaching from taking place.[12]

As of the start of the 1980's international pioneers had settled in Somalia and found the Bahá’í community needed to be almost re-established.[13] The Promise of World Peace message from the Universal House of Justice was indirectly conveyed to the Head of State of Somalia in January 1986 through being sent to the Somalia Mission in New York.[14]

In June 1992 Mohamed Musa, among the earliest Somalian Bahá’ís and a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Mogadishu, was murdered when armed gunmen stopped a bus he was traveling on and killed all passengers.[15]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 48
  3. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 49
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 50
  5. ↑ Baha'i News (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 303, Pg(s) 13. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1954). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 285, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ Baha'i News (1959). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 338, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1970). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 13 (1954-1963), Pg(s) 1011. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 112. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 144. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 86. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 141. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 170. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ Baha'i News (1988). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 683, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1993). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 21 (1992-1993), Pg(s) 275. View as PDF.
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