“The purpose of Hiil Ummadeed Organization is to uncover the lost history, norms, traditions, and cultures of this beloved nation”
On Friday night, 11th December, 2015, an enticing, well-organized and beautifully arranged ceremony took place in Burao, second largest city in Somaliland. Hiil Ummadeed Organization in collaboration with Addis University College, one of the leading universities in the country demonstrated this remarkable event at the university’s upstairs hall. This occasion was quite different one from previous ones as hundreds of students across Burao were on the forum to exceedingly gain more knowledge on some specific areas – astronomy and Somali calendar.
Students from Burao generally and Addis university particularly were all keeping their eyes on the area and to keep their eyes at the alluringly presented lessons on astronomy and Somali calendar. The forum was both learning and teaching forum – Somali had a sophisticated calendric system earlier than previous thought according to the new research that Hiil Ummadeed revealed. The discovery which was previously known seems to have been secretly hidden by the Gregorian calendar. The most enticing event was related to the name give to the demonstration “Oday-Ka-Sheekee!”Similarly, the spokesman of Hiil Ummadeed, Mr Musa has dashed the real purpose behind creating this unique organization and said, “The purpose of this organization is to uncover the lost history, norms, traditions, and cultures of this beloved nation.” Likewise, Gulaid Mohammed Yassin(Dalha) – the editor-in-chief of The Independent Post presented the topic under the title “Astronomy in the Light of Qur’an and Authenticated Hadith.”
Gulaid Mohammed Yassin ‘Dalha’ pointed out how science and education come into existence. “Scientifically speaking, the Greeks, particularly Athenians started their first teachings but Muslims from 750 to 13th century added more and invented more. They led the world through science and through amazing discoveries. What Muslims contributed to the world is countless.” Mr Gulaid also dashed on Muslims contributions on different fields of science such as physics, chemistry, mathematics branches, and pharmacology, astronomy and medicine. Speaking about the modern science, he said, “Today, science works under the phrase ‘scientific method’. This means that a theory must be driven from the its theoretical way to practical and more experimental method. If the theory is agreed upon its truthfulness, then scientist say it is an established fact of science. This was said by the renowned Muslim scientist abu-Hassan al-Haytham one thousand years ago.” Finally, Gulaid concluded on the long-awaited topic: Astronomy in the Qur’an and the Authenticated Hadith.
Mr Gabah, a famous poet, has also read an enticing poem on Somali culture and how our Somali ancestors gave respect to the females. All the students cheered and applauded. Hiil Ummadeed also offered an interesting lecture on the challenges of using Gregorian calendar. Mr Nasir Ahmed, a writer and a member of the organization widely spoke on the issues pertaining calendar. Mr Nasir reiterated the need to change the previous calendar as it has clear errors. He supported his argument with evidence and finally named the new name for the Somali Calendar which will be ‘kal-tirsi’.
Playing his role, the great Somali astronomer, artist, poet, and the famous writer of Shandaraley, Mr A.A.Garas popularly known as Ma- qal’oshe explained the calendar to the students. A.A.Garas offered detailed analysis on an accurate data. Mr Ma-qalo’she has been working on the field for the last 17 years and he still stays on task. Then answer question-session started. To abridge, the group of scholars who were supervising the task Mr Abdi Timo, Mr Lo’doon and Abdi Addil have remarkably thanked for the students, professors and Hiil Ummadeed lecturers.
By Gulaid Mohammed Yassin (Dalha)
