UNITED STATES —American Muslim faith leader Dr. Anila Ali has publicly paid tribute to the people of Somaliland after sitting alongside the President of Somaliland and members of the Somaliland diaspora at an evening gathering in America. “I am reminded of how much I admire this remarkable people,” she wrote in a post on X.

Dr. Ali, who leads the American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC), described the Somaliland story as one of endurance: a “decade-long struggle” that ended in 1991 when the territory reasserted its sovereignty, followed by decades of building a society “with determination and resilience.”

She put the population of Somaliland at an estimated 6.2 million people.

The post, annotated

Below is the full text of Dr. Ali’s message. Highlighted phrases are interactive: select one to see what it refers to.

Faith and modern life, side by side

The line most likely to resonate beyond the diaspora is Dr. Ali’s framing of faith and openness as compatible. “As a Muslim,” she wrote, she is “especially inspired by a society that is deeply rooted in Islam while embracing modern life, education, enterprise, democracy and engagement with the world.”

That framing echoes themes Dr. Ali has carried through her public work, which centres on women’s rights, peace and security, and religious freedom for all. The diagram below maps the six qualities she named, arranged around the population figure she cited.

How Somaliland got here

Dr. Ali’s reference to a “decade-long struggle” points to the years before 1991, when Somaliland’s political movement fought to break from a state it said no longer represented it. The timeline below places her remarks in that wider history.

Why it matters

Somaliland’s international standing remains a subject of diplomatic debate. The territory has governed itself since 1991, while Somalia’s federal government regards it as part of Somalia. Public statements of admiration from prominent voices in the United States therefore land in a live political conversation, even when they come from a faith leader rather than an official.

Dr. Ali’s message did not make a formal policy demand. It celebrated the diaspora and the country’s institutions and asked for “peace, prosperity and a beautiful future.” The post also tagged the account of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and her own organisation, AMMWEC.

For Dr. Ali, a founder of three nonprofits who sits on international religious-freedom and gender-based-violence panels, the tribute fits a long-running message: that faith, education and democratic participation can reinforce one another.