Religion:Waaq
Waaq (also Waq or Waaqa) is the name for the sky God in several Cushitic languages, including the Oromo and Somali languages.[1][2][3][4]
Waaqa (orm) still means 'God' in the present Oromo language.[5] Other Cushitic languages where the word is still found include Konso Waaqa; Rendille Wax; Bayso Wah or Waa; Daasanach Waag; Hadiyya Waaʔa; Burji Waacʼi.[6][7]
In the present-day Somali language, the primary name of God is now the Arabic-derived Allaah.[8] The term Waaq survives in proper names and placenames. The Somali clan Jidwaaq (meaning ‘Path of God’) have derived their name from Waaq.[9] Names of towns and villages in Somalia that involve the word Waaq include Ceelwaaq, Caabudwaaq, and Barwaaqo.[10][11]
Waaq is also a word in Arabic for protector ( واق ) and occurs in the Quran.[12][13] Some traditions indicate Waaq to be associated with the Harari region.[14] The Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi mentions in his Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya that Waaq used to be a generic name for God, in comparison to the Turkic people’s tenets of Tengri.[15]
In Oromo and Somali culture, Waaq, Waaqa or Waaqo was the name of God in their pre-Christian and pre-Muslim monotheistic faith believed to have been adhered to by Cushitic groups.[16] It was likely brought to the Horn by speakers of the Proto-Cushitic language who arrived from North Sudan in the Neolithic era[17] and may share roots with the Religions of the Book but is not derived from them.[18] The Cushites were similarly among the first people to have practiced circumcision, a central religious rite in the Abrahamic religions.[19] In more recent times, the usage of the term Waaq has mostly declined since the arrival of Islam and Christianity to the Horn of Africa.[20][21]
References
- ↑ Thomas, Douglas; Alanamu, Temilola (2018-12-31) (in en). African Religions: Beliefs and Practices through History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-61069-752-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2N5DwAAQBAJ&dq=waaq&pg=PA248.
- ↑ Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia, (Greenwood Publishing Group: 2001), p.65.
- ↑ Samatar, Said S.. "Unhappy masses and the challenge of political Islam in the Horn of Africa". Horn of Africa 20: 1–10.
- ↑ Ali, Aweis (2021) (in en). Understanding the Somali Church. Kenya Projects Organization [KENPRO]. ISBN 978-9914-9929-2-2. http://repository.anu.ac.ke/handle/123456789/683. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ↑ Adam, Hussein Mohamed; Ford, Richard (1997) (in en). Mending Rips in the Sky: Options for Somali Communities in the 21st Century. Red Sea Press. pp. 126. ISBN 978-1-56902-073-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=0m9yAAAAMAAJ.
- ↑ Sasse, Hans-Jürgen (1982). "Consonant Phonemes of Proto-East Cushitic". Afro-Asiatic Linguistics 7 (1): 42.
- ↑ Sasse, Hans-Jürgen. An Etymological Dictionary of Burji. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. p. 186.
- ↑ Lewis, I. M. (1998) (in en). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. pp. 136. ISBN 978-1-56902-103-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=P5AZyEhMtbkC&q=Eebbe+Waaq+venerated+.
- ↑ Lewis, I. M. (1998) (in en). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. pp. 137. ISBN 978-1-56902-103-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=P5AZyEhMtbkC&q=Jidwaaq+tagalwaaq.
- ↑ Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia, (Greenwood Publishing Group: 2001), p.65.
- ↑ Lewis, I. M. (1956). "Sufism in Someliland: A Study in Tribal Islam–II" (in en). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 18 (1): 145–160. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00122256. ISSN 1474-0699. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies/article/abs/sufism-in-someliland-a-study-in-tribal-islamii/F8695731BD8DB8F1199728587834BD2B.
- ↑ Samatar, S S. (2002). "Unhappy masses and the challenge of political Islam in the Horn of Africa" (in en). pp. 1–10. https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/discovery/fulldisplay?vid=31UKB_LEU:UBL_V1&tab=LeidenCollection&docid=alma9939087315802711&searchScope=lib_asc&context=L&lang=en.
- ↑ SearchTruth. "Search Quran - waq in Quran القران الكريم in English translation by Mohsin Khan" (in en). http://www.searchtruth.com/search.php?keyword=waq&translator=5. "Chapter: Ar-Ra'd. Verses: 13:34 and 13:37."
- ↑ Mohamed-Abdi, Mohamed (1992). Histoire des croyances en Somalie : Religions traditionnelles et religions du Livre. Annales Littéraires de l'Université de Besançon. 465. doi:10.3406/ista.1992.2545. ISBN 978-2-251-60465-7.
- ↑ Ibn Arabi (1240) (in ar). كِتَابُ الفُتُوحَاتِ المَكِّيَّة. pp. 1123.
- ↑ Lewis, I. M. (2017-02-03) (in en). Islam in Tropical Africa. Routledge. pp. 274. ISBN 978-1-315-31139-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=cEIiEAAAQBAJ&q=Waaq.
- ↑ Shillington, Kevin (2005) (in en). Encyclopedia of African History 3-Volume Set. Routledge. pp. 332. ISBN 978-1-135-45670-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=umyHqvAErOAC&q=Waaq&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=Waaq%20Sudan&f=false.
- ↑ Schlee, Günther; Shongolo, Abdullahi A. (2012) (in en). Islam & Ethnicity in Northern Kenya & Southern Ethiopia. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. pp. 58. ISBN 978-1-84701-046-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=s2h5Lb6obkkC&dq=Jewish+Travellers+zawilah&q=oromo+Monotheism#v=snippet&q=oromo%20Monotheism&f=false.
- ↑ Perry, Rufus Lewis (1893) (in en). The Cushite, Or, The Descendants of Ham: As Found in the Sacred Scriptures and in the Writings of Ancient Historians and Poets from Noah to the Christian Era. Willey & Company. pp. 58. https://books.google.com/books?id=ehhFAAAAYAAJ&dq=Jewish+Travellers+zawilah&q=+Immemorial+circumcision#v=snippet&q=Immemorial%20circumcision&f=false.
- ↑ Mire, Sada (2020-02-05) (in en). Divine Fertility: The Continuity in Transformation of an Ideology of Sacred Kinship in Northeast Africa. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-76924-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=J6nODwAAQBAJ&dq=Waaq+Islam+cushitic&pg=PA139.
- ↑ Ahmed, Akbar S. (2013) (in en). Islam in Tribal Societies: From the Atlas to the Indus. Routledge. pp. 127-128. ISBN 978-1-134-56527-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=WahTAQAAQBAJ&dq=info:G_WTwDY-R5cJ:scholar.google.com/&pg=PA127&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Further reading
- Cerulli, Enrico (1948). "Les noms personnels en somali". Onomastica. Revue Internationale de Toponymie et d'Anthroponymie 2 (2): 139–142. doi:10.3406/rio.1948.1044.
- Etefa, Tsega (2012). "The Indigenous and the Foreign". Integration and Peace in East Africa. pp. 127–167. doi:10.1057/9781137091635_6. ISBN 978-1-349-29788-7.
- Gascon, Alain; Hirsch, Bertrand (1992). "Les espaces sacrés comme lieux de confluence religieuse en Éthiopie". Cahiers d'études africaines 32 (128): 689–704. doi:10.3406/cea.1992.1533. http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/cea_0008-0055_1992_num_32_128_1533.pdf.
- Geda, Gemechu Jemal (2013). "Irreecha: An Indigenous Thanksgiving Ceremony of the Oromo to the High God Waaqa". Critical Reflections on Indigenous Religions. Routledge. pp. 143–158. doi:10.4324/9781315575094. ISBN 978-1-315-57509-4. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315575094-17/irreecha-indigenous-thanksgiving-ceremony-oromo-high-god-waaqa.
- Abbas Haji (1997). "Pouvoir de bénir et de maudire : cosmologie et organisation sociale des Oromo-Arsi". Cahiers d'études africaines 37 (146): 289–318. doi:10.3406/cea.1997.3515.
- Kelbessa, Workineh (2013). "The Oromo Conception of Life: An Introduction". Worldviews 17 (1): 60–76. doi:10.1163/15685357-01701006.
- Mire, Sada (2015). "Wagar, Fertility and Phallic Stelae: Cushitic Sky-God Belief and the Site of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, Somaliland". The African Archaeological Review 32 (1): 93–109. doi:10.1007/s10437-015-9181-z.
- Mohamed-Abdi, Mohamed (1993). "Les anthroponymes Somalis". Collection de l'Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité 495 (1): 177–184. https://www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_1993_act_495_1_2875.
- Mohamed-Abdi, Mohamed (1993). "Villages-maisons-parcours ou la structuration Somalie de l'espace". Collection de l'Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité 495 (1): 137–156. https://www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_1993_act_495_1_2873.
- Prunier, Gérard (1997). "Segmentarité et violence dans l'espace somali, 1840-1992". Cahiers d'études africaines 37 (146): 379–401. doi:10.3406/cea.1997.3519. http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/cea_0008-0055_1997_num_37_146_3519.pdf.
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