Waaq (also Waq or Waaqa) is the name for the sky God in several Cushitic languages, including the Oromo language and Somali language. [1] [2] [3]
Waaqa (Oromo pronunciation: [waːkʼa]) still means 'God' in the present Oromo language. Other Cushitic languages where the word is still found include Konso Waaqa; Rendille Wax; Bayso Wah or Waa; Daasanach Waag; Hadiyya Waaʔa; Burji Waacʼi. [4] [5]
In the present-day Somali language, the primary name of God is now the Arabic-derived Allaah. [6] The term Waaq survives in proper names and placenames. The Somali clan Jidwaaq (meaning ‘Path of God’) have their name derived from Waaq. [7] Names of towns and villages in Somalia that involve the word Waaq include Ceelwaaq, Caabudwaaq and Barwaaqo. [8]
Some traditions indicate Waaq to be associated with the Harari region. [9] The Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi mentions in his Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya that Waaq used to be the generic word for Allah, comparing the term with the Turkic people’s tenets of Tengri. [10]
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. [11] It was likely brought to the Horn by speakers of the Proto-Cushitic language who arrived from North Sudan in the Neolithic. [2] In more recent times, the religion has mostly declined since the arrival of Islam and Christianity to the Horn of Africa. [12]
See also
- Somali mythology, including pre-Islamic culture
- Waaqeffanna, traditional Oromo religion
References
- ^ Thomas, Douglas; Alanamu, Temilola (2018-12-31). African Religions: Beliefs and Practices through History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-61069-752-1.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ 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). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-56902-103-3.
- ^ Lewis, I. M. (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-56902-103-3.
- ^ Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia, (Greenwood Publishing Group: 2001), p.65.
- ^ Mohamed-Abdi, Mohamed (1992). Histoire des croyances en Somalie : Religions traditionnelles et religions du Livre. Annales Littéraires de l'Université de Besançon. Vol. 465. doi: 10.3406/ista.1992.2545. ISBN 978-2-251-60465-7.
- ^ Ibn Arabi (1240). كِتَابُ الفُتُوحَاتِ المَكِّيَّة [The Meccan Revelations] (in Arabic). p. 1123.
- ^ Lewis, I. M. (2017-02-03). Islam in Tropical Africa. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-31139-5.
- ^ Mire, Sada (2020-02-05). Divine Fertility: The Continuity in Transformation of an Ideology of Sacred Kinship in Northeast Africa. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-76924-5.
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" (PDF). Cahiers d'études africaines. 32 (128): 689–704. doi: 10.3406/cea.1992.1533.
- Geda, Gemechu Jemal (2013). "Irreecha: An Indigenous Thanksgiving Ceremony of the Oromo to the High God Waaqa". In Cox, James L. (ed.). Critical Reflections on Indigenous Religions. Routledge. pp. 143–158. doi: 10.4324/9781315575094. ISBN 978-1-315-57509-4.
- 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. JSTOR 43809476.
- 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. JSTOR 43916848. S2CID 162114929.
- Mohamed-Abdi, Mohamed (1993). "Les anthroponymes Somalis". Collection de l'Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité. 495 (1): 177–184.
- 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.
- Prunier, Gérard (1997). "Segmentarité et violence dans l'espace somali, 1840-1992" (PDF). Cahiers d'études africaines. 37 (146): 379–401. doi: 10.3406/cea.1997.3519.
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