Waaq

For the former WAAQ-FM radio station in Big Rapids, Michigan, see WYBR. For the former WAAQ-FM radio station in Onsted, Michigan, see WAQQ.

Waaq (also Waq or Waaqa) is the name for the sky God in several Cushitic languages, including the Oromo and Somali languages.^[1][2][3][4]

Waaqa (Oromo pronunciation: [waːkʼa]) still means 'God' in the present Oromo language.^[5] Other Cushitic languages where the word is still found include Konso Waaqa; Rendille Wax; Bayso Wah or Waa; Daasanach Waag; Hadiyya Waaʔa; Burji Waacʼi.^[6][7]

In the present-day Somali language, the primary name of God is now the Arabic-derived Allaah.^[8] The term Waaq survives in proper names and placenames. The Somali clan Jidwaaq (meaning ‘Path of God’) have derived their name from Waaq.^[9] Names of towns and villages in Somalia that involve the word Waaq include Ceelwaaq, Caabudwaaq and Barwaaqo.^[10][11]

Waaq is also a word in Arabic for protector ( واق ) and occurs in the Quran.^[12][13] Some traditions indicate Waaq to be associated with the Harari region.^[14] The Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi mentions in his Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya that Waaq used to be a generic name for God, in comparison to the Turkic people’s tenets of Tengri.^[15]

In Oromo and Somali culture, Waaq, Waaqa or Waaqo was the name of God in their pre-Christian and pre-Muslim monotheistic faith believed to have been adhered to by Cushitic groups.^[16] It was likely brought to the Horn by speakers of the Proto-Cushitic language who arrived from North Sudan in the Neolithic era.^[2] In more recent times, the religion has mostly declined since the arrival of Islam and Christianity to the Horn of Africa.^[17]

See also

• Somali mythology, including pre-Islamic culture
• Waaqeffanna, traditional Oromo religion

References

1. Thomas, Douglas; Alanamu, Temilola (2018-12-31). African Religions: Beliefs and Practices through History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-61069-752-1.
2. Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia, (Greenwood Publishing Group: 2001), p.65.
3. Samatar, Said S. "Unhappy masses and the challenge of political Islam in the Horn of Africa". Horn of Africa. 20: 1–10.
4. Ali, Aweis (2021). Understanding the Somali Church. Kenya Projects Organization [KENPRO]. ISBN 978-9914-9929-2-2.
5. Adam, Hussein Mohamed; Ford, Richard (1997). Mending Rips in the Sky: Options for Somali Communities in the 21st Century. Red Sea Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-56902-073-9.
6. Sasse, Hans-Jürgen (1982). "Consonant Phonemes of Proto-East Cushitic". Afro-Asiatic Linguistics. 7 (1): 42.
7. Sasse, Hans-Jürgen. An Etymological Dictionary of Burji. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. p. 186.
8. Lewis, I. M. (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-56902-103-3.
9. Lewis, I. M. (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-56902-103-3.
10. Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia, (Greenwood Publishing Group: 2001), p.65.
11. Lewis, I. M. (1956). "Sufism in Someliland: A Study in Tribal Islam–II". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 18 (1): 145–160. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00122256. ISSN 1474-0699.
12. Samatar, S S. (2002). "Unhappy masses and the challenge of political Islam in the Horn of Africa". catalogue.leidenuniv.nl. pp. 1–10.
13. SearchTruth. "Search Quran - waq in Quran القران الكريم in English translation by Mohsin Khan". SearchTruth.com. Chapter: Ar-Ra'd. Verses: 13:34 and 13:37.
14. Mohamed-Abdi, Mohamed (1992). Histoire des croyances en Somalie : Religions traditionnelles et religions du Livre. Annales Littéraires de l'Université de Besançon. Vol. 465. doi:10.3406/ista.1992.2545. ISBN 978-2-251-60465-7.
15. Ibn Arabi (1240). كِتَابُ الفُتُوحَاتِ المَكِّيَّة [The Meccan Revelations] (in Arabic). p. 1123.
16. Lewis, I. M. (2017-02-03). Islam in Tropical Africa. Routledge. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-315-31139-5.
17. Mire, Sada (2020-02-05). Divine Fertility: The Continuity in Transformation of an Ideology of Sacred Kinship in Northeast Africa. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-76924-5.

Further reading

• Cerulli, Enrico (1948). "Les noms personnels en somali". Onomastica. Revue Internationale de Toponymie et d'Anthroponymie. 2 (2): 139–142. doi:10.3406/rio.1948.1044.
• Etefa, Tsega (2012). "The Indigenous and the Foreign". Integration and Peace in East Africa. pp. 127–167. doi:10.1057/9781137091635_6. ISBN 978-1-349-29788-7.
• Gascon, Alain; Hirsch, Bertrand (1992). "Les espaces sacrés comme lieux de confluence religieuse en Éthiopie" (PDF). Cahiers d'études africaines. 32 (128): 689–704. doi:10.3406/cea.1992.1533.
• Geda, Gemechu Jemal (2013). "Irreecha: An Indigenous Thanksgiving Ceremony of the Oromo to the High God Waaqa". In Cox, James L. (ed.). Critical Reflections on Indigenous Religions. Routledge. pp. 143–158. doi:10.4324/9781315575094. ISBN 978-1-315-57509-4.
• Abbas Haji (1997). "Pouvoir de bénir et de maudire : cosmologie et organisation sociale des Oromo-Arsi". Cahiers d'études africaines. 37 (146): 289–318. doi:10.3406/cea.1997.3515.
• Kelbessa, Workineh (2013). "The Oromo Conception of Life: An Introduction". Worldviews. 17 (1): 60–76. doi:10.1163/15685357-01701006. JSTOR 43809476.
• Mire, Sada (2015). "Wagar, Fertility and Phallic Stelae: Cushitic Sky-God Belief and the Site of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, Somaliland". The African Archaeological Review. 32 (1): 93–109. doi:10.1007/s10437-015-9181-z. JSTOR 43916848. S2CID 162114929.
• Mohamed-Abdi, Mohamed (1993). "Les anthroponymes Somalis". Collection de l'Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité. 495 (1): 177–184.
• Mohamed-Abdi, Mohamed (1993). "Villages-maisons-parcours ou la structuration Somalie de l'espace". Collection de l'Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité. 495 (1): 137–156.
• Prunier, Gérard (1997). "Segmentarité et violence dans l'espace somali, 1840-1992" (PDF). Cahiers d'études africaines. 37 (146): 379–401. doi:10.3406/cea.1997.3519.