Ifrah Jimale

About me

Ifrah Jimale works for Common Bond and Caribou Coffee and lives in MInneapolis. She likes to read anything and likes camping. She writes the "Ask a Somali" column for the TC Daily Planet.

Column:

Ask a Somali

workaround

There's pork in those Pop-Tarts: Navigating the supermarket as a Muslim

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

Living as a Muslim in America, and especially the Midwest, can be a challenge sometimes. Surprisingly, it's not the big stuff that I end up dealing with every day, but the small stuff, the stuff you don't think about until it's right there in front of you: whether you can eat the candy that's been set out on a desk, or the birthday cake a coworker brings in, or the food at a neighborhood barbecue.MORE »

Taste of Somalia: Making Injera in MInnesota

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

Q: A few weeks ago a coworker of mine took me to a restaurant called Safari. It was my first time having Somali food, and I loved it! I'm interested in getting into Somali food. I've found a few other restaurants around the Twin Cities, but it seems Somali food is really underrepresented here among all the other cultures. I'd like to try making a few things at home. Are there any books on Somali cooking that you know of?

To my knowledge, there is only one Somali cookbook that’s ever been written. MORE »

Taking some time

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

To my loyal readers,

I've always considered myself blessed for the good fortune that's been given to me, even in spite of the hardships I've had to endure along the way. That being said, life still isn't perfume and roses, and in the last little while I've had more challenges I've had to rise to, with my other jobs, my family here, my family abroad, and the situation of my brothers and sisters still in Somalia.
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Christmas: To celebrate or not to celebrate

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

The holidays are not my favorite time of the year for two reasons. One, it is the time that I am constantly aware of how much I miss my family who are scattered all over the world. Two, I am guilty if I celebrate Christmas because that is not what Somalis do, and I am still guilty if I don’t celebrate it because my friends say I am different from your typical Somali and do everything else and am always preaching to them how we should integrate and assimilate.
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Somali clans in Minnesota

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

Question: Do Somali people still practice the clan system in Minnesota?

Yes, they do. All you have to do is go to the Starbucks coffee shop on Riverside. Every Somali tribe probably sends about five men to represent them at that coffeehouse. These men leave their kids and wives to sit there and argue over who started the 20-something year civil war back home. I am waiting one of these days to walk in there and find the men signing a resolution that will solve all of our problems. That is not a lot to expect right? I mean they've being arguing since at least 2004. That is when I noticed the large number of men anyway; maybe they were there even before 2004.MORE »

What do Somalis think of dogs?

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

What do Somalis think of dogs, cats and pets?

There are really two questions that I get asked about this, and the answers aren't exactly the same. The first question is what Somalis think of dogs, and the second is what Muslims in general think of dogs. The overall position of Islam on dogs is complicated, and you'll hear different opinions depending on who you ask. The way Somalis feel about dogs, however, is more negative. Dogs aren't part of the culture in Somalia, and the few that are there are wild. Because of this, they are more looked down on than in other parts of the world, and are seen as a (pretty dangerous) wild animal.MORE »

Driven to drive ... taxis

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

Why is it that most Somali males drive taxis, and what do their female counterparts do?

A lot of them do drive taxis, but taxi driving is not exclusive to Somalis. It might look like all taxi drivers are Somali because they are almost all concentrated in the airport areas. The number seems high and I think it is because there are a lot of us here, but compared to other races — like white taxi drivers — there's really not as many as you might think. Part of this, I think, is because it's such a visible position, and there are a lot of people whose primary interaction with Somalis is from the back seat of a taxi. There's also a trick our brains like to play where once we get an idea about something, we tend to focus on the things that prove that idea and ignore the things that disprove it.MORE »

What's with those scarves?

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

Why we — Somali or Muslim women — cover our bodies in different ways is a question I have been asked as long as I could understand English. From about 13 years ago to this day I continue to hear it in one form or another. Below is a list of questions that I have received repeatedly through my Ask a Somali email. Even my Somali female friends are calling me and are wondering why I haven’t written about this subject yet.

“Why do you cover your head? Did your husband tell you to cover it?”

“Why are there different styles of clothing for Somali women?”

“Can you explain the various kinds of clothing and coverings for Muslim women? I think there's a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about this.”

"Yesterday I saw an African woman with a face mask. I'm more interested in why there are different styles. Are Muslims like Christians and Jews with sects that are ultra-conservative?”MORE »

The handshake

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

“I've had several Somali men refuse to shake my hand. I think this is very rude. Can you tell me anything about this?”

I hear this both from women wondering why some Somali men refuse to shake their hands, and also from men wondering the same thing about Somali women.MORE »

Khat and alcohol: What's the difference?

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

Q: Why is alcohol forbidden, but something else like khat is not? I don't really understand the good and bad points of khat but it sounds like a rather simple mind-altering drug (which might cause auto accidents), not unlike pot or alcohol. I ask because of a long rambling conversation I had with a middle-aged Somali man not long ago.

[For those that don't know, khat is a green, leafy plant that grows in the highlands of Kenya and Ethiopia. The active chemical in it is classified as a controlled substance in the United States.]MORE »