It Is Friday, a Day in Exile

"It is Friday, a day in exile" is a Somali expression that combines two ideas: Friday, the most important day of the week in Islam, and the feeling of a person living abroad who especially on that day remembers home and family. Expressions of this kind commonly appear in songs, poems, and narratives about separation and longing.

Word meanings

"Jimce" is Friday, the sixth day of the week in the Somali calendar, and the day on which Friday prayer (Jummah) is held—a congregational prayer performed in mosques at midday. "Qurbo" refers to living in a foreign country while separated from one's family; "qurbadan" is "qurbahan," indicating the place where the speaker currently is. The combination of the two words creates a contrast: a day when the community gathers, yet the speaker stands alone, removed from that community.

Friday in Somali culture

Among Somalis, Friday has customary observances: ritual washing and clean clothes, attendance at mosque, sermons and prayer, followed by visiting relatives, shared meals, and remembering the deceased. For this reason the day has become a sign of communal bonds; when someone is absent, that absence is felt most acutely on that very day.

Exile as a theme in Somali poetry

Exile is one of the most frequent themes in Somali literature of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, particularly following the widespread displacement caused by the civil war. Poetry of this kind often employs time-fixed symbols—such as a particular day, a season, or a holiday—to mark separation and distance. The phrase "the day of Friday" serves as such a symbol: a known moment against which to measure the gap between where the speaker is and where he comes from.