Arabic and the Somali language are related, though distantly, because Arabic belongs to the Semitic branch and Somali to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic/Hamito-Semitic family. This does not mean that the Somalis are Arabs, and as a matter of fact the membership of Somalia in the League of Arab States is based on a political decision rather than on linguistic relationship. The contacts between Arabic and Somali are as old as the cultural contacts that culminated in the Islamization of the Somali people centuries ago. There is no pr…