By S. Anai Kelueljan
Listen!
You Mohamed and I
Are not brothers,
You’re the son of my aunt-
You’re my cousin!
Long ago your Arab father came,
Also he came with the Holy Koran
And his traditional ways,
But without a mistress or a wife!
Your father came to live among friends,
Not his slaves,
For the Africans are always generous
And useful friends
Until they are offended by despising
Their traditional ways…
So despise his colour, or creed,
Your father was free
To surround himself with lovely maids,
And then he began to study
The existing tribes and clans,
And concluded that Arab
Was culturally and racially superior
To the African Man!
So, he proceeded to propagate Islam
Along with his traditional ways.
Islam and Arabism
The jihad (holy war) men thought invincible!
But all the Africans,
Those men who were charcoal black
From every tribe and clan
Came and assembled,
They fixed their vision on gigantic idea
To survive collectively…
They said to themselves:
“If the Arabs have come to claim
This African Land,
No doubt they will have it pretty rough!”
But then,
Continuing their assault
The Arabs wiped out thousands of the African males,
And took the women as their slaves
With whom they freely mated!
This is the version of the story
Of conflict between the Africans and Arabs
The Arab historians do not tell.
And so,
You cousin Mohamed in the Northern Sudan
Are an offspring of my slave-aunt,
Who in her wretchedness stooped to conquer
By blood strength…
A reality as large as the Imatong mountain!
Your are no longer
A pure Arab, like your father,
You are the hybrid of Africa,
The generous product
Of many years of bloody wars
On the African Land
Your African Motherland!
My cousin Mohamed
Thinks he’s very clever…
With pride,
He says he’s an African who speaks
Arabic language,
Because he’s no mother tongue!
Again, he says,
It is civilized to speak Arabic!
Among the Arabs,
My cousin becomes a militant Arab-
A black Arab,
Who rejects the definition of race
By pigment of one’s skin.
He says,
If an African speaks Arabic language
He’s an Arab!
If an African is culturally Arabized
He’s an Arab!
My cousin claims
That Islamic region is a property
Of the Arabs!
He says,
God revealed the Holy Koran in Arabic..
And it cannot be translated
To other languages,
Because God has forbidden so!
He says,
Muslims must know Arabic
Because it is the language of the Holy Koran,
And the Holy Koran is the vehicle
For the Arab culture,
Because the Arabs are God-chosen people!
My cousin says,
The Africans have no culture!
The Africans have no history!
The Africans have no religion!
The Africans have no language!
The Africans are uncivilized!
He says, it is his duty to extend
The Arab sphere of influence
Into Africa!
He claims that,
Egypt is already Arab!
Libya is already Arab!
Tunisia is already Arab!
Algeria is already Arab!
Morocco is already Arab!
Mauritania is already Arab!
Somalia is already Arab!
Djebuti is already Arab!
Sudan is already Arab!
and soon,
Western Sahara shall be Arab!
Eritrea shall be Arab!
And if God’s willing,
Ethiopia shall be Arab!
Let the whole African continent,
Become an Arab continent,
So that its people can be civilized!
My cousin is deafened
By Orouba (Arabism):
To be an Arab is right!
To be a Muslim is right!
If an Arab/Muslim kills you during jihad,
He has secured his place in paradise!
If you kill him,
All the same, he goes to heaven
For furthering Islamic cause!
In other words,
My cousin wins both ways!
His opponent has no alternative,
But to submit!
And so,
Like Zionism, or Apartheid,
Orouba has become a racist ideology!
Poem taken from: Durmam Daxxel – Military Rule, Racism and Democratisation in Mauritania: Comparisons with Sudan
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