Xeer (pronounced [ħeːr]) is the traditional legal system used by Somalis in Somalia, Djibouti, Somali Region of Ethiopia, and the North Eastern Province in Kenya. It is one of the three systems from which formal Somali law draws its inspiration, the others being civil law and Islamic law. It is believed to pre-date Islam. However, Islam influenced it, with Xeer incorporating many Islamic legal principles. Under this system, the elders, known as the xeer begti, serve as mediator judges and help settle court cases, taking precedent and custom into account. Xeer is polycentric in that different groups within Somali society have different interpretations of xeer.
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In this Dossier
Xeer in the context of Somali Civil War
The Somali Civil War (Somali: Dagaalkii Sokeeye ee Soomaaliya; Arabic: الحرب الأهلية الصومالية al-ḥarb al-’ahliyya aṣ-ṣūmāliyya) is an ongoing civil war that is taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta which was led by Siad Barre during the 1980s. From 1988 to 1990, the Somali Armed Forces began engaging in combat against various armed rebel groups, including the Somali Salvation Democratic Front in the northeast, the Somali National Movement in the Somaliland War of Independence in the northwest, and the United Somali Congress in the south. The clan-based armed opposition groups overthrew the Barre government in 1991.
Various armed factions began competing for influence in the power vacuum and turmoil that followed, particularly in the south. In 1990–92, customary law temporarily collapsed, and factional fighting proliferated. In the absence of a central government, Somalia became a "failed state". This precipitated the arrival of UNOSOM I UN military observers in July 1992, followed by the larger UNITAF and UNOSOM II missions. Following an armed conflict between Somali insurgents and UNOSOM II troops during 1993, the UN withdrew from Somalia in 1995. After the central government's collapse and the withdrawal of UN forces, there was some return to customary and religious law in most regions. In 1991 and 1998, two autonomous regional governments were also established in the northern part of the country: Somaliland and Puntland. In the south Islamic Sharia courts began proliferating in response to lawlessness. This led to a relative decrease in the intensity of the fighting, with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute removing Somalia from its list of major armed conflicts for 1997 and 1998.
Xeer in the context of Wadaad's writing
Wadaad's writing (Somali: كتابة وداد, lit. 'Scholar's Handwriting') is the non-standardized adaption of the Arabic script to write the Somali language. Originally, it referred to a non-grammatical Arabic featuring some words from the Somali language, with the proportion of Somali vocabulary varying depending on the context. The Somalis were among the first people in Africa to embrace Islam. Alongside standard Arabic, Wadaad's writing was used by Somali religious men (Wadaado) to record xeer (customary law) petitions and to write qasidas. It was also used by merchants for business purposes and letter writing.
Over the years, various Somali scholars improved and altered the use of the Arabic script for conveying Somali. This culminated in the 1930s with the work of Mahammad 'Abdi Makaahiil, standardizing vowel diacritics and orthographic conventions, and in the 1950s with the controversial proposal of Musa Haji Ismail Galal which substantially modified letter values and introduced new letters for vowels.