By Abdulghani Sheik Mohamed
The narrator of the following short story is a little chimp by the name Daar who, if not from the beginning of his entire life at least for the last twenty years or so, seem to be so confused about what makes his people so passionate about tribalism. Here is his story.
Before I go further I want to remind you friends that I am a chimp and we are in an Chimpland. So when ever you come across the words (man, women, boy, sister, mother) you should always remember the kind of society the story is about. I know for sure that you will not mix up with the proper meanings of those words.
Ever since my childhood I found it common for my people to fight one another according to predefined lines – reer xagar Vs reer sogsog. Lines though senseless to me no doubt appear very sacred to all other members of my people. Every time I attempted to know from my relatives whether it was not wrong to behave the way they assigned themselves to behave I was always reminded that I am reer sogsog period (no further comments); that the only thing I needed to be passionate about was my tribe and that I should never let myself worry about the calamities, misfortunes and tragedies that sometimes may befall upon reer xagar even though it may be true that xagar and sogsog were two brothers.
It was not unusual for me to find my mother (who happen to be reer xagar) weeping alone and when I approach her for the reasons of her weeping she tells me of bad things meted on to her relatives by my tribe. Every time I sought advice from my father and my cousins as to whether it is not reasonable for me to feel for my mother who, though she might not express her feelings in front of her husband and her sons, finds it natural for her to feel for her own brothers and cousins whenever any misfortune happens to them, I was suspected of having some form of idiocy in my conscience.
One day my younger brother Sagal, who was not yet experienced as to where he is supposed to look for water if he gets thirsty or as to where it might be dangerous for him to be at a particular point of time and where he must not trespass, got very thirsty while travelling alone from the little town to our village. He thought he might die of thirst if he continues travelling and decided to find ways and means of reaching water. He went on top of a small hill, looked around and saw something that looked like a small traditional chimpland hut. He went to the front yard of the hut and asked if he could have water to drink. A middle aged kind woman came out of the hut and saw the young man. She told him to sit down and gave him a large mug full of cold water and asked him whose son he is and how he ended up here. While this short Q & A was going on her two boys who are both camel herders and who themselves happen to be thirst, left the camel somewhere that is not far from their village and came for water. The two brothers were both older than Sagal. They greeted Sagal and asked him almost every question their mother asked him and he answered to them like he did to their mother.
Sagal knew it is time for him to continue his travel and he thanked the mother and the brothers for their hospitality and wished them goodbye. He started to go back to his route so that he may not get lost. The two brothers who happened to know the fact that Sagal belongs to their enemy decided to perform the deed. Besides they were absolutely certain the deed, once done, will not only add up to the well-being of their tribe in terms of virtue, but it will make them – the two brothers- heroes in the eyes of their tribesmen.
The two brothers lied to their mother who at the time was in the hut that they started their way back to the herd. They went after Sagal who in his mind has no doubt that very soon he will reach his village unharmed. The brothers maintained their distance from Sagal and made sure to not let him suspect them until he arrived back to his original route. Deciding there to be proper place to kill Sagal the brothers attacked him from the back, and started stabbing him until he collapsed. They thought he is dead and ran back to the direction they came from frequently looking their back to make sure no body is following them. When they reached in the midst of their herd they lied on their backs, took deep breath for few minutes, gave thumps up to each other and felt proud of what they have done. It was as if they freed from themselves a despicable dishonor that was certainly hovering over their heads. They have never given a second thought to the possibility that saving Sagals’ life would save the lives of hundreds of others.
My poor unlucky young brother Sagal who was dying from the painful wounds on his body was found by a group of reer sogsog who were returning back from the little town. They learned the culprits from him in his last breath.
As usual when one is passionate about something one always promises oneself to do whatever it takes to win what one is passionate about. My tribe is passionate about the virtue of our tribe just like the other tribe is passionate about the virtue of their tribe. And each tribe does not only seem to believe in but actually believe in the idea that the virtue of their tribe depends not only on whether the number of casualties in their tribe is less but also on which tribe grabs the most loot. Each tribe acknowledges the fact that the virtue of their tribe depends on the weakness of the other tribe. That reality makes war in between tribes not only imaginable but also desirable. Each tribe is always praying to God Almighty to let allow causes that for sure lead to war.
In our current case the death of my poor brother became the cause of that desirable war. It is not my intention to lose your time in who killed whom, which sister became a widow and which mother lost all her beautiful sons but I tell you for sure that incident became the start of a very long war. Both sides lost hundreds of their youngsters and both sides made almost similar grabs. Both sides found their lives meaningful until some foolish numskull elders from both sides thought that none of the sides was winning and decided to transfer a number of their beauties for compulsory marriage to some of the teenagers of the other tribe- a customary sign of ending the fight for the time being.
I know the question every one of you has in his mind is what role did I – being one whose brothers’ death is the cause of that long war – play in that war. Be certain that I did not play any part what so ever and I am not regretful of my act in any shape or form. I refused to take any part though I know deep down in me I lost my only brother. I know every one of you has no doubt that I was born coward and will always remain coward. So be it. I know none of you will be me nor will I be one of you. I know some of you who seem to me to be sensible want to know what I was doing during the entire show. My answer to you is you are entirely wrong if you thought that I was praying to God Almighty to help stop the death and destruction that has become the daily normal life of my people. Was I enjoying then? Not that either. Then what?
Here comes my idiotic nature. For the entire time I was pestering God Almighty to let me know why did He create me? Why did He bring me to this stupid place where a man is not shy of slaughtering his brother-in-law; where a brother is proud to make his sister a widow and where it is normal for a mother to weep over her beheaded mutilated dead boys? But at least if He found it necessary to create me, which I doubt because I know He knows before I know that I am of no use to anybody or anything, why did He create me a chimp? Why not a little tiny corner of a stone, a branch of a magnolia or even a piece of a drop of water for everybody acknowledges the use of either of those things? But if He found it necessary to create me a chimp, at least why did He create me from within the Chimpland nation? Why not from with in some other land where the people has the ability to use their minds for good-will? In my entire life those questions and some others that are alike were roaming in my nonsensical head.
One night I slept while doing the same kind of pestering which, as every one of you knows now, became my practice. It was one of the nice nights if not the nicest night in my life. Why? You will know the answer very soon. The air was very fresh. It suited my temperament to the extent that I thought it to have come from outside the borders of our land. It is impossible to find such a fresh air in our land. All one can find in Chimpland is a foul air. Who knows! May be the air was fresh before the land became Chimpland. And if that is the case then the question is what made it foul? What else do you think could have made it foul if not the dead bodies? I don’t like to believe that the air we are breathing out is foul enough to have the capacity to taint the entire air of our land. May be we are born foul and everything we come in contact with becomes foul. Actually that later point I think is sensible because it is usual whenever one of us travels to a foreign land the air of that foreign land also becomes foul. As you can realize this I think is not something that can easily be discussed without a scientific research. Let me carry on with my story to you. It was about midnight when somebody who appeared to me to be Archangel Gabriel came to me from beyond the seven skies. I cannot define him to you how he looked like for in our faith we are not allowed to define supreme personalities. All I know is I thought him to be Archangel Gabriel. He asked me if he could have a dialogue with me and, although I happen to be very frightened of him for I could not imagine how could some stinky being like I am have a dialogue with a supreme being like him, I accepted his wish. Here is the dialogue I had with the archangel Gabriel.
Archangel Gabriel said, “It is very clear that in your whole life you are wary of something, could you share with me some of those matters that are depressing you.”
I said, “Archangel it is nothing. May be there is nothing. May be that is just the way I was born.” Archangel Gabriel said, “But I find you pestering God Almighty for something you only know. What is it?” I said, “It is just nothing. It is just difficult for me to accept how and why I was created. Think about when your luck becomes bad and you find yourself dejected and ask why shouldn’t it become good instead of bad? You might think I am an envious person who is not ready to accept his luck whether it is bad or good. But I am not an envious person. You know my lifespan is very limited and you know one who needs to make his life meaningful must perform everything that could help him make it meaningful. You also know that space and means are the first things one needs to have in order to make his life meaningful. If I leave the means aside, which I think you can agree is neither available to me, I don’t have the space which I consider is the most important thing that could help me make my life meaningful. All I could see in this land is vicious chimpanzees who found it unfeasible to give chances to each other.”
Archangel Gabriel asked, “What exactly are you worried about?”
I replied, “Tribalism.”
Archangel Gabriel asked, “What is wrong with Tribalism?”
I replied, “It is our main problem. It is the thing that leads us to be who we are. It separates us into unions that are not disposed to peace at all. Unions that are always ready for confrontation.”
Archangel Gabriel said, “Whether you are peaceable chimpanzees is something that we can talk later but let us first discuss Tribalism. Isn’t it the way God Almighty created you? Do you suspect any occurrence of imperfection in Gods’ creation?”
I said. “God forbid. It is not me who can suspect Gods’ creation for any sort of imperfection. All I am trying to know is why are we allowed to separate ourselves into tribes in order to kill each other.”
Archangel Gabriel asked, “Be more specific. Share with me! How do you personally assign yourself to your tribe?”
I said, “Let me give you an example of how I identify myself from the boy of another tribe. Here is my genealogy. Daar-Qansax-Qutur-Qardaf-Qodob-Qofal-Sosog-Saluug-Samakab. The other boy in xagar tribe has this genealogy. Makhtal-Moran-Madfac-Murjis-Maraboob-Margi-Xagar-Saluug-Samakab.”
Archangel Gabriel said, “Why have you highlighted Sogsog and Xagar. What is special about those two personalities that are in both of your genealogies?”
I said, “Now you asked the exact question I have been asking myself since my entire life. I just don’t understand what is special about them but I know for sure there starts the line that makes us different from each other. That exactly is the line where hostility starts.”
Archangel Gabriel said, “Now I understand. I know there is nothing wrong with how God Almighty created you into tribes; however I think your problem is how you interpret Gods’ text. Think about the harmony other creatures in this place are living in. compare yourself to other lands. Try as much as you can to learn from them. Wait not from others what you can do for yourselves. Remember that there were times in other lands when they used to behave the same way you are behaving. If not Europe you can look Asia for a solution. Think about what they have done for themselves in a short period of time. Know it was yesterday when they were in the dark. Know that Tribalism exists everywhere, but in everywhere other than Africa and Arabia it has been managed in a proper fashion. Those are the advices I could wish you to convey to your people. The other advice I could give you is if you wish Gods’ grace to happen upon you prohibit yourself from taking part of any sort of animosity. Don’t ever let yourself down. Do whatever you decide suits God Almighty and chimpanzity (A word synonymous to humanity in meaning but since we are in Chimpland I feel happy to have coined for our purpose), release yourself from disappointments that might have been led by the disunity of your people and always hope for the better. As far as your head and your hands are clear of the bad things that you mentioned happening in your land you are of great use to this place. Good bye and Gods’ grace be upon you.”
I wish to have little more time with the Archangel Gabriel but that in short is how he made me learn from my mistakes; how he saved me from my idiocy and how he let me know it is up to me what I wish for myself and for my land.
Please know that I don’t want you to get annoyed, frustrated, or even depressed. There is nothing that makes you depressed. If you find it funny so be it. But if you find obnoxious consider it a fairytale and enjoy it as such. No matter whichever interpretation you assume from my story know that all I wish for my land is to see it competing with other lands in terms of development, science, mathematics, philosophy etc.
abdulghani1157@hotmail.com

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