Hiiraan Online

“Nuruddin Farah is not only a man who tells stories

 and writes novels, but he is also a man about whom

many stories are told, a legendary man”. 

Prof. Charles Sugnet, University of Minnesota

by  Dr.Mohamed Abbas
Friday, November 25, 2011

Africa has produced many intellectuals with enormous talents, but unfortunately it became a long-established habit that people from the third-world countries usually forget their origin once they become famous and gained world recognition. Many of them write about other countries and pick up a new citizenship that is more appealing to their new fame. Contrary to this custom, Nuruddin Farah has never forgotten his homeland, but chosen it as his sole imaginative territory in all his novels. When he was asked about his mission? He replied: “To keep my country alive by writing about it.” More interestingly, he still holds his Somali passport at a time when this passport carries no value to its holders. (at the moment, holders of Somali passport are not allowed to enter any country in the world without visa except Malaysia. Thanks to the Malaysian government for its unwavering hospitality.) It was also said that Nuruddin Farah refused when some developed countries offered him a citizenship.  What a true son of Somalia!

Nuruddin Farah was born on 24^th November 1945 in Baidoa, Somalia. He wrote his first major work “From a Crooked Rib” in just few weeks from 19th March and 15th April in 1968 and it was published in London in 1970. He was only 23 years old undergraduate student at the University of Chandigarh in India. What a brilliant boy! In September 2011, he produced his latest novel “Crossbones” at the age of 66. His major works include:

1. From a Crooked Rib, 1970
2. A Dagger in Vacuum, 1970 (play)
3. The Offering, 1975 (play)
4. A Naked Needle, 1976
5. Tartar Delight, 1980 (radio play)
6. Sweet and Sour Milk, 1980
7. Sardines, 1981
8. Yussuf and His Brothers, 1982 (play)
9. Close Sesame, 1983
10. Maps, 1986
11. Secrets, 1998
12. Gifts, 1999
13. Yesterday, Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali Diaspora, 2000
14. Links, 2004
15. Knots, 2007
16. Crossbones, 2011 

I cannot remember exactly when I first heard Nuruddin Farah’s name, but I remember that it was Bashir, my childhood friend who introduced his name to me while we were sitting at a Qur’anic school in Mogadishu just few years before the civil war erupted. As boys in their early teens at that time, I cannot remember how his name came into our conversation. Later on when I reached the university-going age and reading became one of the things that I admire most in life, I became in touch with Nuruddin Farah’s work and admired it.

But there are two occasions that remain alive in my mind in which I felt so proud that Somalia has produced someone like Nuruddin Farah. (1) When I first stepped onto Malaysian soil as an undergraduate student in 1994, little did I know that students at the English Language and Literature department in my university are taught a course called “Topics in Islamic Literature” in which the university selected some novels written by Nuruddin Farah. These novels are taken as a course work with a view to providing insights into the social, political and religious experiences of contemporary Muslim societies. Along with Nuruddin Farah, there were also other Muslim authors such as Mohammad Iqbal, Tayyib Salih and Sheikh Hamidou Kane. (2) The second occasion was October1998 when Nuruddin Farah won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, which is widely regarded as the most prestigious international literary award after the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The uniqueness in Nuruddin Farah’s personality is that he favours nobody in his writings and doesn’t take things at face value. When it is time to speak and write about the truth, we can rest assure that he will speak and write about the truth both against his friends and foes alike. At the very young age, he raised his voice against the abuse of women in Somali society as well as the problems of the authoritarian government dominating individuals’ rights. And this is one of the reasons why he became persona-non-grata in Somalia and was forced into exile at the age of 31 after he angered the Somali military government in 1976 following the publication of his third novel “Sweet and Sour Milk”, which won the English Speaking Union Literary Award in 1980.

Nuruddin Farah is not only full of criticism, but also gives acknowledgements when necessary. For instance, when Somalia’s Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) defeated the US-backed Somali warlords in 2006 and took power in Mogadishu and most of the country, the whole international community became against the UIC, labeling them as a terrorist group. Opposing such stand, Nuruddin Farah praised the Union of Islamic Courts and gave them a credit in his famous article “My Life as a Diplomat” which was published in New York Times in May 26, 2007. He wrote and I quote:

“And, truth be told, I admired some of what the Islamists had accomplished. Indeed, they had done the impossible: in a series of fierce battles from March to June last year (2006), they had routed the warlords and pacified Mogadishu. For the first time in many years, the city enjoyed peace.”

To me and to many Somalis, Nuruddin Farah means to his country more than the words can convey. Somalia can be proud among other nations that it has produced an international literary figure and one of the greatest writers in the world.  

All sincere and honest Somalis cannot think of any other Somali intellectual who deserves to be named as Somalia’s sole intellectual ambassador than Nuruddin Farah. He invested his knowledge, time, and talents to keep Somalia alive by writing about it. May Allah give His blessings on him and his family. And we, Somalis owe to him an incalculable debt.

On this day (24^th November) which falls on Nuruddin Farah’s 66^th birthday, I am wishing him a Happy Birthday and many more to come.

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