The 1975 family law and the execution of ten religious scholars

What happened, in order

• 11 January 1975. President Mohamed Siad Barre announced the Family Law at a stadium in Mogadishu. Its best-known rule gave sons and daughters equal shares of their parents' estate (Abdurahman Abdullahi (Baadiyow), "Remembering Scholars of Islam Executed in 1975", WardheerNews, 16 January 2023). Baadiyow writes that this contradicted the Qur'an, which gives a son twice a daughter's share (Qur'an 4:11).
• 16 January 1975. Scholars criticised the law from the pulpit of the Sheikh Abdulqaadir Mosque in Mogadishu. Baadiyow writes that the protest was begun by Sheikh Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed, a jurist from the north (same source). The Library of Congress study says 23 religious leaders "protested inside their mosques" (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study, 1992).
• 18 and 19 January 1975. The National Security Court tried them. It sentenced ten to death, six to 30 years in prison and 17 to 20 years. Hundreds of other activists and supporters were detained (Baadiyow, WardheerNews).
• 23 January 1975. The ten were executed at the Police Academy in Mogadishu (same source; Hiiraan Online, "Today in history: ten sheikhs executed", January 2023).

The charges

The Library of Congress study says they were charged with "acting at the instigation of a foreign power and with violating state security" (Library of Congress, 1992).

Who they were

Hiiraan Online lists the ten executed scholars as (Hiiraan Online, "Today in history: ten sheikhs executed by Siad Barre gov't for opposing secular family law", January 2023):

1. Sheikh Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed Haji Osman (Walaaleeye)
2. Sheikh Ahmed Iman
3. Sheikh Hassan Isse Jilibey
4. Sheikh Mohamed Siyad Hirsi
5. Sheikh Ali Jama Hirsi
6. Sheikh Ali Hassan Warsame
7. Sheikh Yasiin Elmi Awil
8. Sheikh Adan Ali Hirsi
9. Sheikh Suleyman Jama Mohamed
10. Sheikh Muse Yusuf

Spellings differ between sources. Wikipedia's article on Islam in Somalia also names a Sheikh Hassan Absiye Derie among those executed, a name not on the Hiiraan list (Islam in Somalia, Wikipedia).

What the government said

On 26 February 1975, Siad Barre told students at Halane: "The resolution was political in nature and it was passed for the benefit of the people." He said: "We liberated our religion from the strangle hold of the devil", and that "no one who thinks this should expect clemency from us". The speech was printed in 1977 by the Ministry of Information and National Guidance in My Country and People: Speeches of Jaalle Siyad (Somali Archive, Faisal Ali, 15 December 2023). The same post quotes a government official, Colonel Ahmed Suleiman, telling The New York Times: "They were not sheiks but criminals, and they called for a holy war against the Government."

The Library of Congress study describes the government's wider position: Siad Barre said his "scientific socialism" was compatible with the Qur'an and condemned atheism, but told religious leaders to keep out of politics and economics (Library of Congress, 1992; same study).

Responses

• Most religious leaders stayed silent, and the government kept running training courses in scientific socialism for sheikhs (Library of Congress, 1992).
• The Islamic movements. Baadiyow, a historian and a leader of the Islah movement, writes that the executions intensified public shock, made worse because two MiG-17 jets clashed over Mogadishu that day (WardheerNews). See Islamic movements since 1950 and his PhD thesis (Abdullahi, The Islamic Movement in Somalia, McGill University, 2011).
• 1990. About 60 prominent Somalis, writing as "Islamic Call", published a manifesto telling Siad Barre that he had broken the laws of Islam and calling on him to step down (Islam in Somalia, Wikipedia, citing Massoud, Shari'a, Inshallah, 2021).

How it is remembered

Somali outlets such as Hiiraan Online and WardheerNews mark the 23 January anniversary. The Family Law itself is published in Somali by UNHCR's Refworld library (Sharciga ku saabsan Qoyska, 1975). The 2012 constitution says no law may go against the general principles of sharia (Constitution of Somalia, Article 2).

See also the Siad Barre era, 1969 to 1991 and Siad Barre.