IN representing the vowels of the Isaaq dialect of Somali2 we meet with many difficulties not only because of a large number of vowel distinctions but also on account of the operation of Vowel Harmony. I use the term Vowel Harmony in the same sense as Armstrong,3 i.e. as the harmony (or ‘matching’) of vowels belonging to the same series. Schleicher,4 Reinisch,5 and Abraham6 use this term quite differently, meaning by it certain types of assimilation of vowels without postulating two vowel series. Armstrong was the first writer in the literature on Somali to become aware of the existence and complexity of the problems under discussion.

Although Somaliland has attracted the attention of a distinguished body of Italian scholars it has not yet been subjected to a specifically social anthropological study such as the present writer hopes to make. Excellent studies notably by Puccioni (1919–1937), Cerulli (1918–1943), and Colucci (1924,1943) have elucidated the sociology of the Somali and created a sound corpus of knowledge for future investigations. Colucci's Principi di diritto consuetudinario delta Somalia Meridionale (1924) provides a penetrating analysis delineating with great clarity the general framework of Somali social organization and the political structure of the Sab tribes of Somalia in terms of lineage organization. Cerulli's studies of tribal custom and social organization are also of great value;his ‘Note sul movimento musulmano nella Somalia ’, published over 30 years ago, is at present the foundation of all studies of Islam amongst the Somali. The present paper attempts to set this and other material on Somali religion in the context of the sociological investigation of the literature of the Somali which I have made elsewhere (Lewis, 1955), and in which I have been guided by Somali informants in London. It is hoped that the procedure adopted here may be of value in suggesting the lines along which field studies of Islam amongst the Somali might profitably be conducted, and also that it may make some contribution to studies of Islam amongst tribal societies generally.

In BSOAS XIII, 1950, p. 642, n. 8, I referred to the Pahlavi word for ‘beer’, which had lurked unrecognized in the Frahang-i Pahlavik (v, 2 = xxxi, 2–3), and quoted the Karnamag passage vii, 8 (Sanjana). There it is related that Ardashir, fleeing in disguise, was hospitably received by two friendly brothers. They housed and fed his horse, led him into their dwelling, and seated him in the place of honour. ‘And they sacrificed dron and asked Ardashir “Please speak the vaj and eat and do not worry ”…Ardashir's mind was comforted by these words, he spoke the vaj and ate. They had no wine, but brought “beer ”forward and arranged the meal…’. The passage shows in an unobtrusive way how everyday occasions were encompassed by religious ceremony in pious Zoroastrian society:any meal began with the vaj (the saying of grace, as it were), sacrificial bread (dron) and wine, or at least beer, formed necessarily part of it.