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Somalia Samaal
Among the Samaal clans were the largest political units, most
of which had heads known as soldaan (sultan) or
bokor (concept derived from a belt binding people
together). With few exceptions, a nomadic clan head's functions
were honorary and ceremonial. The number and size of clans within
a clan-family varied; the average clan in the twentieth century
numbered about 100,000 people. Clans controlled a given
territory, essentially defined by the circuit of nomadic
migration but having unspecified boundaries, so that the
territories of neighboring clans tended to overlap.
A Samaal clan kept count of the generations between living
members of the group and the ancestor for whom it was named; the
greater the number of generations (which often implied
substantial internal segmentation into subclans or lineages) the
greater the clan's prestige. Some ancient clans dwindled and
found it necessary to attach themselves to other clans of the
same or another clan-family. Similarly, lineages detached from
the main body of their clan would ally with the clan in whose
territory they were then living.
Clans living in contiguous territories sometimes joined in
confederacies often marked by internal subgroupings. The
Majeerteen clan, for example, was part of the Kombe-Harti
confederacy, which was in turn part of the Kablalla. A
confederacy consisted of related clans, but the decision to enter
into a confederacy would be the consequence of history rather
than genealogy. The purposes of the confederacy would be
enumerated in a treaty or contract, often set down by a religious
figure in an early Arabic script version of Somali.
Clans were segmented into primary lineages whose genealogical
depth ranged from twelve to fourteen generations. These lineages
were in turn segmented into secondary and sometimes tertiary
lineages. The process of internal segmentation was continuous.
The political (and sometimes the economic) relevance of a clan or
lineage of a given genealogical depth varied with the context.
Somali lacked specific terms for different levels of
segmentation. According to anthropologist I.M. Lewis, an
authority on pastoral Somalis, there are three "points of unity
and division at which political solidarity most frequently
emerges . . . those of clan, primary lineage group, and
diya-paying group."
The
diya-paying (see Glossary) group was an alliance
formed by related lineages within a clan by means of a contract,
traditionally oral but filed in written form with district
officials during the colonial era, at least in British
Somaliland. The contract explicitly stated the rights and duties
of members of the group with respect to the burdens of payment
and the distribution of receipts of blood compensation, that is,
distribution of the camels or money received, when the parties
were members of the same or different diya-paying groups.
In the case of a homicide, the lineages of the group shared in
giving or receiving a specified portion of the compensation. A
smaller but still substantial portion (the jiffo) was
given or received by the relatively close kin of the killer or
the deceased, that is, by an agnatic group descended from a
common ancestor three or four generations back. In the case of
offenses requiring the payment of a smaller compensation, sharing
still occurred within the diya-paying group, but in minor
cases the jiffo-paying group alone might be involved.
The lineages constituting a diya-paying group were
often secondary; that is, the ancestors of each were fewer than
the twelve to fourteen characteristic of a primary lineage. If a
group with a remote ancestor lacked the numbers to constitute its
own diya-paying group, it might join with another such
group to form one, thus minimizing the financial burden.
Moreover, the ultimate traditional sanction was armed conflict,
and here again lack of manpower was clearly a liability.
Both diya-paying and jiffo-paying groups were
important units of social and economic organization aside from
their stated purpose. They functioned as mutual aid groups in
times of economic hardship or other emergencies. They established
and enforced regulations. In 1964 it was estimated that more than
1,000 such groups existed in the republic. Among the nomads,
membership ranged from 300 to more than 5,000 men and among the
sedentary Somalis from 5,000 to 100,000 men.
The political and economic business of any functioning
segment in Samaal society was managed by a council call a
shir, which included all adult males in the group. Each
member might speak and take part in deliberation. Age and
seniority of lineage took precedence in that an older man or one
from an older lineage would customarily be asked to speak before
others did, but the opinions of a persuasive speaker, whatever
his seniority, would be given added weight. A wealthy herder
might also have a greater say. The term oday (elder) could
be applied to any adult male, but those with more prestige and
experience might be asked to arbitrate disputes over a wide area
and act as ad hoc leaders in political matters.
In traditional society, most Samaal men lived as warriors and
herders; a warrior
(waranle--see Glossary) considered his
vocation nobler than any other except the religious life. A
religious person
(
wadad; pl., wadaddo--see Glossary) was
considered the equal of a warrior, but few Samaal
committed themselves to a religious life. Many who did so
retained their ties to clan and lineage, although in principle
they were supposed to avoid partisanship and armed conflict. This
rule did not pertain to jihad or religious warfare. A few
wadaddo settled in religious communities.
Cultivating groups of Samaal origin resided in various
places. These groups, which also kept livestock, were accepted as
fellow Samaal by the pastoralists but were considered to have
lost prestige, even if they had gained economically. Some Samaal
attached themselves as cultivating clients to stockraising Digil
or Rahanwayn in the riverine region; the Samaal usually ended
such relationships when they could resume their pastoral
activities or when the economic advantages of cultivation
diminished. The lineage pattern remained intact among Samaal
cultivators.
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