| Hassan Sh Mumin حسن الشيخ مؤمن |
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|---|---|
| Birth name | Hassan Sh Mumin |
| Born | 1930s Zeila, Somalia |
| Died | 16 January 2008 Oslo, Norway |
| Genres | Somali theatre |
Hassan Sheikh Mumin (Somali: Xasan Sheekh Muumiin, Arabic: حسن الشيخ مؤمن) (b. 1930 - d. 16 January 2008) was a Somali poet, reciter and playwright.
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Mumin was born in Zeila in 1931 in the then British Somaliland protectorate. When he was nine years old, his family moved to Borama, where he graduated from school and traditional Islamic school.
Mumin fought for the independence of British Somaliland, and social and political changes for a, joined the party, founded in 1943 Somali Youth League in and wrote his first published poem for a rally in Borama the early 1950s. After independence, Somalia (1960) 1965-1968 he was at Radio Mogadishu, poet, playwright and lecturer employed as, after 1968 he worked in the Department of Education and Culture was next to continue the literary and the radio.
In 1969, Siad Barre seized power and the cultural authoritarian regime intensified its control and censorship were exposed under, leaving Mumin's work banned. He left Mogadishu and moved to the neighboring country of Djibouti. He later returned to Borama.
As Mumin's most important piece is Shabeelnaagood (1965), which with social position of women, urbanization and the changing of traditional practices and the importance of education is concerned and the only Somali play in 1974 under the title Leopard Among the Women was translated in English and is present in most of the top universities among them Oxford University where it was translated by the Oxford University Press. In this play the song sung by Shallaayo, the heroine, who has been tricked into a false marriage by the Leopard of the title goes:
"Women have no share in the encampments of this world
And it is men who made these laws, to their own advantage.
By God, by God, men are our enemies, though we ourselves nurtured them
We suckled them at our breasts, and they maimed us:
We do not share peace with them."
These famous lines were considered as tackling issues in certain aspects of traditional Somali life.
Hassan Sheikh Mumin died in Oslo, Norway on 16 January 2008. He was buried on 26 January 2008 in the mausoleum of his father in the Ahmed Guray district of Borama. Hundreds of peoples attended his in funeral, including ministers from the Somaliland region, in addition to opposition leaders, poets, singers, and a 12 member delegation from Djibouti. He was posthumously awarded the highest cultural award by the Djibouti government.