Speaker : Abdul Artan
Today is the 27th of April 2021. My name is Salwa Hassam. This interview is for the Muslims in
Minnesota projects for Augsburg University. If you could introduce yourself to the recording and
say when and where you were born.
Bismillahi Ar Rahman Ar Raheem. My name is... Show more
Speaker : Abdul Artan
Today is the 27th of April 2021. My name is Salwa Hassam. This interview is for the Muslims in
Minnesota projects for Augsburg University. If you could introduce yourself to the recording and
say when and where you were born.
Bismillahi Ar Rahman Ar Raheem. My name is Abdul Artan. I was born in Somalia, the district of
Kismayo. January 1 1967.
Thank you. To begin, can you describe how life was for you growing up in Somalia and Kenya?
I was very young. When I was born in Somalia, I cannot recall so much. What I know is our,
family, back then were people who used to have animals, I mean, cows, sheeps and goats. So
those were, I'll say we were nomads or pastoralists. And that was the, the day to day work that
we used to look after those animals. The stock. And that is as much as I can remember I can
remember thick grass and vegetation. And when I was young, but then I moved to Kenya, and
that is why I started my primary education. And I went to secondary after which I moved to
South Africa.
What would you name your biggest accomplishments?
The biggest accomplishment is going to school by then, which was not a norm in the sense that
kids of my age, were never going to school or sent to school by their parents. Instead, there
used to be herdsman. And I say I will say that was one of my biggest achievements.
Can you recall any specific events from your childhood that you would say shaped how you
approach the world in general?
I cannot recall specific event but I can remember as we used to move from place to place with
our hearts inside of greener pastures. I can remember a night, whereby we moved from a
certain area to another place. And what happened is, I slept out of the house. And then I'm in
the middle of the night a lion came. And I was almost taken by that lion, but it never happened.
So those are some of the scary moments of our life. But then we move back to the townships
where schools and normal life was taking place.
Now tell me about your transition from Somalia and South Africa to the United States.
By then we moved to because of the the difficulty in Somalia and the Civil War, we move from
Somalia, first, then to Kenya, then to South Africa, where we thought it was a place where we
could get a better life and some sort of tranquility. That is where we started our life again back
normal life. We own some shops, of course, which was not easy. It was a difficult life. Because
there were also some how do I say, people are the the citizens of South Africa, the South
African citizens by then never used to like the foreigners, particularly the people from the
continent of Africa. And we were targets that whereby we were resettled again to United States
of America.
How has Islam influenced your life?
I was born Muslim. And all our life. We grew up in areas where the majority were Muslims and it
is our way of life and it's our way of life, our way of life. And we were taught, from a young age,
how to read the Koran, and the Prophet's way of life. And we grew up with that till today.
What hopes do you have for the next Muslim generation in Minnesota?
It's very bright indeed. People in Minnesota, this big Muslim population, particularly the East
African population. And then we have couple of challenges, but I would say, the prospects, good
prospects, are bigger than the challenges, cultural challenges the mainstream American way of
life, the Islamic way of life. But at the end of the day that balances out and we will be, we will
have a generation that has both the formal education and Islamic education.
Who are three people in history you admire most and why
The Prophet alayhi salatu salam was a great leader. Who we follow his way of life. I will say that
is one of my that that shapes my life. Secondly, the parents who brought me up and thirdly the
journeys that I had to from one country to the other, that also shaped my life.
Great, thank you so much. Thank you.
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