BANTU SCHOLAR ENO ON Mohamed Abdulle Hassan

BANTU SCHOLAR ENO ON Mohamed Abdulle Hassan

 

BY ENO

Mohamed Abdulle Hassan: Mad Mullah or Macabre Madness?

Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, given by the Somalis the honourary title ‘Sayid’, but known to the European scholarship as the ‘Mad Mullah’, is another figure of frequent appearance in Somali history: (a) as a leader with exceptional spirit in fighting the British colonialists in northern Somalia, and (b) as a poet with a great talent in oral literature.

According to Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan’s legendary history, the often-promoted version preferred by the Somali ruling elite, he had the ardour and charm as well as leadership potential to put together a large army of nomadic fighters – Dervishes. He engaged the British colonialists in several fierce battles and inflicted them a lot of casualty. He was the only or first African anti-colonialist hero whose troops suffered aerial attacks. Among others, he is reputed for defeating the British-led colonial forces in several confrontations including one in which a British commander was killed.

Sayid Mohamed’s oral poetry regarding the ill-fate of this officer, Mr Richard Corfield, is among the compulsory literature in the school syllabus emphatically recommended for memorization. A few of the verses go as follows:-

* Adaa Koofiloow jiitayoon dunida joogeyne

Adaa jidkii lagugu waday jimic la’aaneede

Jahanama lageeyoow haddaad aakhiro u jahatay.

Translation:

Oh Corfield, gone you are from this world

Driven through the merciless path thou art

Towards the hereafter you are; destined into its hellfire.

After almost twenty years of disruption and devastation, Sayid Mohamed and his Dervishes were defeated. They ran away in disarray and he died in 1920, after disease and starvation plagued his camp. He was buried unceremoniously, perhaps due to the ugly situation prevailing in his encampment at the time, and possibly a reason behind his erection on a monument in the capital.

The Other Version about Sayid-ka

The hidden version that also shapes the acts and personality of this leader entices our attention in order to treat history with its due balance of truth, regardless of its consequential dissatisfaction in certain quarters. Unlike the known religious leaders, Mohamed Abdulle Hassan’s followers mainly consisted of his own Ogaden sub-clan of the pseudo-nobility of the Darood clan. The method he used to employ to obtain support and followers remained incompatible with Islam because of the tools he applied; in that, Hallett asserts, “He resorted to the most ruthless methods,”47 because “members of the local Muslim establishment were outraged by his attacks…”48 as “…doubtful followers ran the risk of summary execution.”49 In another page about Mohamed Abdulle Hassan’s tyranny, Michael Tidy and Donald Leeming remark, “Muhammad again resorted to military activities against various Somali communities.”50

Among the discredibility in the mainstay of Sayid Mohamed’s theological profession (if it can be called so) is his announcement of being the Mahdi, a statement which no Islamic scholar in his right senses would ever dare say. He kept wandering and attacking communities in order to coerce them into his accompaniment. “The men were flogged until, sworn on the triple divorce oath [“xila-fur” in Somali], they agreed to obey him.”51 (Text in parentheses mine.) In dissonance with the behaviour requisite of an Islamic scholar, the Mad Mullah must have been a chronic liar and a slanderer of the highest proportion by claiming the possession of powers to turn the white infidels’ bullets to water.52

By reading Jardine, one may assume of exaggerations contradictory of this popular Somali character, but a variety of his poetry confirm the kind of heinous policy he engaged and the quality of tyranny he employed. The concealment of this reality about the man’s true life in the social history is an attestment of the military regime’s hypocritical attitude in dealing with the historiography of the country and its people.

To contribute to the thesis of the hidden picture of the Sayid, Professor Abdalla Omar Mansur cites a verse from a great Somali poet, Ali Dhuux, who looted camels and in defence referred that even a man regarded so ‘religious’ as Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan permitted and actually indulged in looting other people’s camels:

* Sayidkii wadaad oo dhan xiray, Waris xalaaleeye

Xaaraan haddu yahay Xula ma qaadeene

Xoolaha kaleetiyo isaga waaba kala xeere

Nin kastoo xadreeyaba wuu u xusual duubaaye

Haddaan xaajiyadu weerareyn xer uma duuleene.

…The Sayid, the wise one

Who knows more

than all other men religious in the land

did sanction Waris [camel] by force to take

Xula [camel] he won’t take

Should this act unlawful be

Laws superior camels govern

above other animals all

any preacher religious

camels to acquire desires

though pious pretends he to be

should Hajis ambitious

other men’s camels raided not

I, too, would have done the same.53

The likes of the above verses and other indecent activities of the Sayid in oral literature or in the traditions and the government’s super-humanization of the so-called hero Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, have annoyed a Jareer poet who was alternatively concerned about the top officials’ expropriation of Bantu farms in the riverine areas of Juba and Shabelle. He said:



* Tuugadii Tolkiina Taalaa u dhisteene,

Tacabkeeyi haleeyseen maxaa ka Tireen?54

Translation:

You erected monuments for (even) the looters among your kinship,

But what is the fate of my expropriated lifeline?

Another poet and a Jareer compatriot responded to him with a clear definition of the situation and the disparity between the Jareer and the Jileec:

* Tuugga reer Tolkiisaa Toowraadaan ka buuxo

Yaa ku Taagsaheey oo Tiir kuu naqahaayo?55



Translation:

The thug’s kinship dominate the ruling Supreme Revolutionary Council,

You (Jareer) don’t have a center-pole to lean on!

The revisionist scholarship acknowledges the insincerity of the ruling elite. One of such scholars is Mukhtar who wrote: “Historical sites were set up where there were no signs of history. Religious heroes were made up where the practice of Islam has been insignificant”.56 Citing Jama Mohamed, Professor Cassanelli enlightens, “The dervish wars and the dislocation of nomadic groups caused by them left a legacy of mistrust and bitterness which was typically preserved by clan poets in series or “cycles” of poems that kept these rivalries alive.”57 The Somalist scholar, in a further elucidation of the theme, writes, “For example, the mutual suspicion that has characterized relations between Isaq and Darood Somalis for most of this century almost certainly originated in the events of the dervish period.”58 Ascertaining the tyrannical leadership of Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, Dualeh notes, “His religious movement became despotic. He would kill and loot the tribes that would not lend him support. The tribes in British Somaliland, with the support of the British authorities, took up arms against him. He was finally defeated”.59

In southern Somalia, many communities and pious religious personalities and sects (tariqas), particularly the Qadiriyya, know Mohamed Abdulle Hassan and his Dervish henchmen, notwithstanding the lavish decoration and monumentation, as unreligious villains operating under cover of Islam. Mohamed Adulle Hassan assigned a team of his Dervish for the assassination of Sheilk Uwees, one of the most celebrated religious leaders of the Jareer in Somalia in the famous rural town of Biyooleey. After the sad and cold blooded gangland style massacre, the Qadiriyya religious poets composed the following (dhikr) religious song in a couplet:



* Afaraay Ahaayeen Uweesaay dileen

Owliya Allaayaay ka Inkaar-sadeen.60

Translation:

Four they were who murdered (Sheikh) Uwees

And (as a result) Accumulated curses from all corners of the pious ones of God.

And the righteous of the Reewing, in whose territory the renowned Sheikh Uwees was killed, went in pursuit of the culprits as they recited:

* Ankaaraneegii Abdoow (Abdulle) Hassan Aragteey?

Usii Amuudee Illeey maddii Aragdo.61

Translation:

Who can tell me the whereabouts of the cursed Abdulle Hassan?

Death will be his fate upon my sight of him.

All these evidences from Somalis and non-Somalis, scholars and non-scholars, expose the quality and character of the man for whose aggrandizement so immaculate a monument was towered into the sky. The dubious military administration under the ideological tutelage of nomadic political doctrine deliberately forged a Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan hero-ization scheme in an agenda to exonerate him and his Dervish militia from the genocide they committed against innocent peoples of diverse Somali communities in the north as well as in the south.

The policy that Mohamed Abdulle Hassan exploited was his people’s desire for wealth in camel and for women because he preached, contrary to the sound teachings of Islam, the lawfulness in misappropriating the wives of the non-compliants to his way of life. Jardine confirms, “The wife of one of our Somali native officers was divorced from her husband by the Mullah and appropriated to his own harem.”62 His despotism disobeyed all Islamic and human boundaries that “Until they promised to obey him, the tribesmen found their property plundered, their women ravished.”63

By means of this coercive principle of raping and appropriating women, married and unmarried, without doubt, many a great number of unpropitious offsprings were conceived. As a result of this otherwise unbecoming sexual avarice, an undesirable lineage contamination (but nobody mentions) must have drastically spread across the sub-clans subjected to this punishment, a reason why the wounds and grudge will never be healed.

SHEIKH XASAN BARSAME : SOMALI BANTU WRITERS VERSION

THE HISTORY OF THE DISTINGUISHED SHEIKH WHO BECAME WELL KNOWN AS AN ANTI-ITALIAN SHEIKH AFTER THE BIMAAL REVOLT ENDED.SHEIKH XASAN BARSAME :A SOMALI BANTU PROFESSOR ENO AND WRITER GIVES A DIFFRENT VERSION OF HISTORY ABOUT THE HERO SHEIKH AND SEES HIM AS PRO-SLAVERY: BANTU PERSPECTIVE:

ENO WRITES:

Sheikh Hassan Barsane’s Resistance to the Abolition of Slavery


One Sheikh who was exaggeratedly honoured as a hero in Somali history, Sheikh

Hassan Barsane of the Gaal-Jecel sub-clan of the Hawiye clan, has resisted abolition

of slavery to the extent of misinterpreting the Holy Scripture – the Qur’an, by writing to

the Italians:

“All our slaves escaped and went to you and you have set them free.

We are not happy with the [Antislavery] order. We abandoned our

law, for according to our law we can put slaves in prison or force them to work.”

And what law was the ‘respected’ Sheikh referring to?

“The government has its law and we have ours. We accept no law

other than our law. Our law is that of God and of the prophet….

“God has said: The few can defeat the many. The world is near its end;

only 58 years remain…It is better to die following Muslim law. All Muslims are one.31

In the preceding statement, Barsane has made not less than three discrepancies contrary to the Islamic faith. But a Jareer poet who was against enslavement of Muslims, an un-Islamic practice, sets the main response in this verse:

* Ninki Ashahaato Adoon ma Ahaado

Amar Eebe diidi yaa kaa Aqbalaayo32

Translation:

Whoever announces the oneness of Allah in submission, no longer remains a slave;

So, nobody abides by your orders regarding what Allah has illegitimated.

Sheikh Hassan Barsane is one of a few heroes honoured in the history of Somalia. He is, as far as we have seen in the history curricula of schools in the country, dignified as a sharp protestant against the Italian colonialists, and one who died for the cause of nationalism. But on the contrary, he died due to his rejection to free Muslim lives in the campaign to the abolition of slavery and of slave trade. As far as Islam is concerned, a good model is Abubakar who paid money to purchase Bilal’s freedom after the latter converted to Islam. In this case, the two acts of Abubakar and Sheikh Hassan Barsane are contrary to each other, but the former’s gesture accommodates well with the harmonious tenets of Islam. Barsane’s, in retrospect, amounts to a villain’s misuse and abuse of the Holy Scripture.

Previously, many scholars have written concern over the obstruction of the truth about Somali historiography, ethno-anthropology, culturology and other areas, with the focus and scope of criticism succinctly directed onto the nomadic pastoralist in the north. In fact, it is now in the south that we learn about religious scholars engaging in both misuse and abuse of the Islamic faith for personal gains. And rather than condemining their ill effects to society, the Jileec pastoral authorities have eulogized their villainy by building monuments and naming academic institutions after the great sinners.

Drawing from an archival evidence, Sheikh Hassan Barsane and a large number of the Somali people of his day and even today, have been correctly described by colonial officers as people who corrupt and contaminate the Islamic faith by twisting it for personal goals. An extract of the nature reads:

Sir,

1. With reference to attached - in my opinion the Somali…accepts the Sheria just as far as it suits him.

2. He claims to be a Mohammeddan but during my service…both Sir Reginald Wingate – Serdar and Major General Von Slatin Pasha, told me that they did not consider the Somali as a true Mohammeddan…33

That this is a persistent paradigm of Somali attitude can also be seen in recent events in the civil anarchy period when the so-called Islamic courts discriminatively arraigned the unarmed and ethnically oppressed communities like the Jareer.34 Suffice it to say that many religious scholars have used their Islamic knowledge as an income generation project rather than preach the doctrine of peace and equality for all muslims. (See Chapter Two, The Barawaan.)

After the war of words, a number of confrontations took place between the Galjel (Gaal-jecel) tribe of Hassan Barsane and colonial forces, which pressed the former into submission. Eventually, the so-called religious leader was captured, as his kinsmen could not save him in their plea at submission. They were disarmed while Barsane was taken to the dungeons in Mogadishu and sentenced to death. Later the death sentence was revoked to life imprisonment where he remained incarcerated till his death

SOMALI BANADIRI , ASHRAAF AND ARABS OF THE SOUTH

The Benadiri elders distinguished:


- four Hamar groups:

• Qalmashube

• Dhabar Weyne

• Shanshiya

• Morshe (Moorshe)



Amarani, as part of the Benadiri. The Amarani, hardly a thousand in number, are supposed to be descendants of an Israeli group chased away from southern Arabia by Islam. Their name comes from one of the oldest areas of Mogadishu, Hamar Weyne, which they founded before the arrival of the Somali in the interior. They speak a dialect that is typically urban, Chimbelazi, that is tinged with Portuguese, Swahili, Arabic and Somali and which has come to be known as Cimini.



After some discussion they added that the Bandhawaw and Reer Faqi also belonged in this category.

- five Shangani groups, e.g.:

• Amudi

• Baa Fadal

• Reer Sheich

• Abakarow

- twelve 'caps' (sub-groups) in Merka, e.g.:

• Shukereere

• Ahmed Nur

• Reer Maanyo

• Ali'iyo Mohamed

• Duruqbe

• Gameedle

- and the Ashraf.

The elders explained that before the civil war the Benadiri in Mogadishu used to live only in the quarters of Hamar Weyne, Shingani and Bondere. Now Benadiri live in all quarters of Mogadishu.



Another sub-division is made between 'light-skinned' ('gibil ad') and 'black-skinned' ('gibil madow') Benadiri.

Benadiri intermarry, but the elders stated that 'light-skinned' Benadiri do not marry 'black-skinned' Benadiri like Moorshe or Dhabar Weyne.52



The delegation also held a meeting with representatives of the Ashraf (Asharaf, Asheraf, Sharifians) community in Nairobi including elders and women. They were all refugees from the coastal areas of Somalia.



The Ashraf elders interviewed by the delegation readily identified themselves as Benadiri. The Ashraf elders made it clear that only one Ashraf group (or clan) exists in Somalia.53 However, this group is further sub-divided on the lines of their male ancestors. The Ashraf of Bay and Gedo regions (Baidoa, Hoddur, Bardera) are the same group as the Ashraf in the coastal areas. One subgroup of the Ashraf called Ashraf Sarman lives mainly in Hoddur (Bakool region), Bay region, Bardera (Gedo region) and Mogadishu. Other sub-groups called Mohammed Sharif, Sharif Ali and Sharif Ahmed live mainly in Kismayo, Merka, Bardera, Jalalaqsi, Jowhar and Mogadishu.An NGO informant explained on an earlier occasion to the Netherlands Embassy in Nairobi that there are various sub-groups of the Ashraf, including the Sarman who reside in Bay region.

According to this source, the Ashraf Sarman have the same skin colour as Somalis, while the Ashraf in Merka have light skin.

The Ashraf elders sub-divided the Ashraf in the following way:

- Hussein:

• Reesharif Magbuul

• Sharif Ahmed

• Sharif Baalawi

- Hassan:

• Mohammed Sharif

• Sharif Ali

• Sharif Ahmed

• Ashraf Sarman.

The Ashraf elders trace their origin to the Prophet Mohamed, whose daughter Fatima had two sons with Ali, named Hassan and Hussein. Any member of the Ashraf community belongs to one of these two lines of descent, from Hassan or Hussein, and any Ashraf (both females and males from the age of two) is able to identify her- or himself as belonging to one of these two lines. The Prophet Mohamed conferred the title "Sharif" upon Hassan and Hussein. Since that time, all their descendants have the name Sharif as part of their name, added to the personal name and the father's, and sometimes the grandfather's, name. From this comes the name of the group, Ashraf being the

plural of Sharif. Ali had children by other wives after the death of Fatima, but they were not"Sharif".The Ashraf elders indicated that the Ashraf are living in southern and central Somalia, especially in urban locations like Bardera, Kismayo, Baidoa, Hoddur, Merka, Brava and Mogadishu.

In Mogadishu the largest concentration of Ashraf was to be found in the Shingani district, but they

also lived in Hamar Weyne. Ashraf used to live also in Ethiopia. Some Ashraf from Ethiopia

became exiled in Somalia at the time of the Ogaden war in 1977. These Ashraf came from Ogaden,

Oromia, Dire Dawa and Harar in Ethiopia and some of them fled Somalia in 1991-92. Those

remaining in Somalia reside with other Ashraf.

UN sources confirmed that Ashraf communities are also to be found in the Ogaden district of

Ethiopia.

The elders from Brava told the delegation that they consisted of two sub-groups: the Bravanese and

the Tunni. Both groups are from Brava and they share to a large extent the same culture. They

intermarry between their groups. However, the Bravanese consider themselves Benadiri, while the

Tunni do not. The Bravanese are of Persian/Arab/Portuguese/Spanish origin. According to the

Bravanese elders the Tunni belong to the Digil clan-family. They are originally from the region of

Brava. However, the elders gave the delegation a copy of a letter, written by the Baravani elders in

Nairobi to a number of organisations (including UNHCR, the US Immigration Department and

Amnesty International) on their situation in Kenya, in which the Tunni are mentioned with the

Bravanese as part of the Baravani community (see annex 8).

The UNHCR overview classifies the Tunni with the Digil (annex 3).

Report on minority groups in Somalia

42 17 – 24 Septemer 2000

The Bravanese sub-divided themselves into:

• Bida

• Hatimi

• Ashraf

The Tunni explained that they are sub-divided into the Tunni Torre plus five gamas (sub-groups):

• Da'afarad

• Goygal

• Daqtiro

• Hayo

• Werile

Perouse de Montclos54 notes that some of the Tunni Torre of the hinterland claim a relationship

with the Ajuran, the Gaaljaal and the Gurreh of the Hawiye clan family, while others claim a

relationship with the Helai and the Hadam of the Rahanweyn clan-family. In concrete terms, they

are the vassals of the Tunni Digil of the Brava Coast.

According to Perouse de Montclos, 'Reer Brava' designates a territorial community. The confusion

between territory and clan or ancestral identity brought about the grouping of a much larger body of

people than one would have expected from a minority group of traders of foreign origin.

Historically, in Brava (like in Merka) the Arabs from Zanzibar allied with the Tunni, a Digil clan, in

order to counter the Hawiye from the hinterland. Brava was the scene of numerous battles, against

the Portuguese, Omanis, British, Egyptians, Italians and Somali of the interior (Rahanweyn and

Dir), many of them establishing lineage. As a consequence, the races in the city were completely

'mixed up'. Although the common hardships and tragedies experienced during and after the 1990

civil war certainly reinforced the sentiment of an identity and uniqueness, on closer inspection we

discover communities with very diverse backgrounds despite numerous instances of intermarriage.

On the one hand there are immigrants of Arab origin, while on the other hand there are the Somali

of the Brava surroundings, whose minority status is more doubtful because they are part of the

Tunni lineage of the Digil.

7.2 Language

According to the Benadir community in Nairobi the Benadir populations in Somalia generally speak

a dialect that is different from the dialect of the major Somali clans. Even within this dialect there

are sub-dialects: the dialect spoken by the Benadiri of Mogadishu is called Af-Reer Hamar, that

spoken by the Benadiri of Merka is called Af-Merka, and the dialect spoken by the Benadiri in

Brava and further south is called Af-Brava. The Af-Brava dialect is not understood by the other

Benadiri.55 An informant of the Netherlands Embassy stated earlier that the Ashraf in Bay area

speak the Rahanweyn dialect.

Most of the Benadiri, including the women, are able to speak and understand the Somali language.

54 Perouse de Montclos (1997)

55 Cassanelli (1995) mentions that most Bravanese spoke Chimini, a dialect of Swahili, rather than Somali as their

primary language.

Report on minority groups in Somalia

17 – 24 September 2000 43

7.3 Socio-economic situation

7.3.1 Relationship with other groups and clans

The Benadiri elders told the delegation that the Benadiri who are still in Somalia have no protection

from any clan; on the contrary, they live under occupation by Somali clans and militias. In available

reports on the situation of the Benadiri before the war, no indications have been found that Benadiri

stood in a relation of clientship or protection to main Somali clans.

According to UN and NGO sources consulted earlier by the Netherlands Embassy, the Benadiri

look down upon pastoralists and keep to their own identity.

Intermarriage between Benadiri and the Somali clans was rare and not generally accepted.56

The Ashraf elders explained that the Ashraf have no particular affiliation with any of the major

Somali clans. They stated that they used to have good relations with all other clans in Somalia.

They were considered a highly respected clan of devout religious members. They travelled widely

throughout Somalia as religious teachers and were well received by other clans. Under the Siad

Barre regime the Ashraf did not as a group face any security or human rights problems in Somalia.

Intermarriage between members of the Ashraf community in Somalia and members of the major

Somali clans was rare, according to the Ashraf community in Nairobi, although some intermarriage

occurred with the Hawiye (while during the last ten years forced marriages took place with Hawiye

and even Majerteen). Marriage takes places almost exclusively within the Ashraf community itself.

A relatively large number of the representatives of the Ashraf community in Nairobi with which the

delegation met were related to each other.

7.3.2 Occupations

The Benadiri elders stated that the Benadiri were an urban and educated people, who worked almost

exclusively in commercial occupations. The elders mentioned business, fishery, construction, metal

work, carpentry, tailoring, weaving and gold smithing as the occupational sectors of the Benadiri.

They also mentioned that some Benadiri were medical doctors, engineers or economists. Benadiri

women might sell snacks or handicrafts.57

The Bravanese and Tunni elders said their people were also commercially orientated or working as

craftsmen.

The Ashraf elders explained that the Ashraf are a religious people. They were traditionally

considered a highly respected clan whose members travelled throughout Somalia as religious

teachers. Before the civil war a relatively large number of Ashraf received education in Somalia,

and during the Siad Barre administration a number of Ashraf were employed as civil servants in the

administration while others were businesspeople and therefore travelled frequently throughout the

country.

56 Cassanelli (1995) mentions that most of the established urban families tended to marry among themselves, as a

cultural preference and perhaps as a way of keeping wealth "in the neighbourhood".

57 See also Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen), Notat om Benadir-befolkningen i Somalia (in Danish),

(June 2000)

Report on minority groups in Somalia

44 17 – 24 Septemer 2000

Benadiri mostly were self-employed and had a reluctance to working for someone else. They have

great entrepreneurial talents.58

7.4 Security and human rights

All three groups of Benadiri elders stated that during the civil war in 1991 and 1992 the Benadiri

suffered seriously. Lacking any tradition of warfare and any militia, they were often attacked and

targeted by looters, who considered them to be very rich, owing to their trade.59 Cassanelli (1995)

claims that many southern minorities were accused by Somali militias of helping to sustain the

Barre government in its later years. The Ashraf, however, stated that they were not persecuted

because of any perceived close links with Siad Barre.

During its mission to Mogadishu in 1997 the Danish Immigration Service learned from the Dr.

Ismail Jum'ale Human Rights Organisation and from representatives of the Reer Hamar community

in Mogadishu that the Reer Hamar are considered a wealthy business community by members of

the Somali clans and the militias. Because of this, and because the Reer Hamar are unarmed, their

homes were repeatedly looted. The same sources estimated that more than 70% of the Reer Hamar

population in Mogadishu fled the country during the civil war. In January 1999 the War-torn

Societies Project (WSP) in Nairobi and other UN agencies informed the Danish Immigration

Service that the Benadiri community was still facing serious human rights violations in Mogadishu,

and that members of this community would probably never be able to return in safety to

Mogadishu.60

The Ashraf elders stated that there are several reasons why members of the Ashraf community have

fled Somalia. To some degree members of the Ashraf are considered as 'strangers' in Somalia by the

major Somali clans. The Ashraf claim to originate in Arabia and are called "Arabs" by other

Somalis. They are considered to be a weak, unarmed religious group with no social or legal rights.

Many Benadiri women were raped or forced into marriage, as the Benadiri elders confirmed to the

delegation. The Ashraf elders stated that their identity as a specific ethnic group has been weakened

since the war, as Ashraf women have been abducted, raped or forced into marriage with members of

other Somali clans.

Kalunga Lutato explained that the Bravanese would not normally intermarry with members of the

main Somali clans or other groups and consequently their own distinct ethnicity was fairly well

preserved. They were, in a way, an isolated and distinct people and their property, and their women,

were beyond the reach of members of the Somali clans. When the state collapsed and the Bravanese

lost their "protection" from the central government they soon became targets for various militias

that raged through the coastal areas of central and southern Somalia. The militias especially targeted

Bravanese women and many were raped or forced into marriage with non-Bravanese Somalis. The

Bravanese women were seen as "attractive" in the sense that before the collapse of government they

were "inaccessible" but when the government fell they were easy victims.

58 Refugee Information Series, Benadir refugees from Somalia (Washington 1996)

59 Human Development Report Somalia 1998, UNDP (Nairobi, 1998); Cassanelli (1995)

60 Danish Immigration Service/Swedish Immigration Board, Report on Nordic fact-finding mission to Mogadishu,

Somalia (Copenhagen 1997) and Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen), Notits om Benadir-befolkningen i

Somalia (Copenhagen, January 1999, in Danish).

Report on minority groups in Somalia

17 – 24 September 2000 45

The Benadiri have all lost property in Somalia during the war. The majority of Benadiri fled the

country, mainly to Kenya.61 Members of Somali clan militias took the majority of Benadiri homes.

The Benadiri elders stated that there are still Benadiri in Mogadishu and Merka today, although they

could not say how many. Those who are still living in Somalia have seen their houses taken by

members of Somali clan militias, although sometimes the owners could stay in one room of their

house.

The Benadiri elders were fairly sure that none of the Benadiri that fled to Kenya had since returned

to Somalia. They described the situation of the Benadiri that remained in Mogadishu and Merka as

difficult, as they cannot rebuild their businesses in the presence of the militias, for fear that their

resources would again be taken. The elders stated that a few Benadiri had relocated to Bosasso in

Puntland, either to seek work there or to move on from there to Yemen, although none of the elders

had personal knowledge of any person now in Bosasso, or Hargeisa.

The Bravanese and Tunni elders said that although in the civil war Brava was most affected62, the

majority of Bravanese remained in the town. They stated that today about 70% of the Bravanese

still live in Brava63, living under the occupation of Aideed's Habr







Which groups do fall under the broad term Benadiri?

The term Benadiri has only been used about people since 1991. Before that it was strictly a

geographical term referring to the southern Somali coast.

According to Reese (2008), the Benadiris belong to a number of largely urban lineages from

Mogadishu, Marka and Barawe (Brava). Some of these lineages claim foreign origins

(Yemen, Persia, Spain, etc.), while the Moorshe for instance regard themselves as an offshot

of the Ajuran, a pastoral group believed to have ruled the southern interior during the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. According to current oral traditions, five of the eight

Bandawow sub-lineages also have pastoral origins (Reese 2008). So the Benadiri do actually

not constitute a clan at all – that is, they do not all claim to be descendants from the same

ancestor. They are a group or category of clans, including sub-clans, of light skin (so called

gibilcad in Somali), and of partly Arab descent. They are allied with and indentified with

other sub-clans.

According to different Reer Hamar sources (interviews in Nairobi 2002-2007, interviews in

Oslo august 2005) there are four major Reer Hamar clans (Somali: afarta reer xamar). These

are the Moorshe, Iskashato, DhabarWeyne and the Bandawow. In addition to these, there are

many other smaller groups. Different sources mention different numbers of groups etc.,

1 According to representatives from the Shansiye, “every door” paid 3 000 somali shilling in protection money

on a daily basis (interview in Nairobi, September 2005).

2 According to representatives from Shansiye interviewed by Landinfo in Nairobi in September 2005, the socalled

dark-skinned Benadiris, i.e. Moorshe, Bandawow and Dhabarweyne, were protected by their Somali

neighbours because they were dark-skinned (and presumed to be more native Somali), while most of the lightskinned

Benadiris had fled at the beginning of the civil war (1991-1992). Furthermore, the majority of the darkskinned

Reer Hamar stayed until the mid 1990s, when many of them left the country. These representatives

claimed at the time that very few Reer Hamar still lived in Mogadishu, and a representative from the human

rights organisation DIJHRO told Landinfo in September 2005 that members of the minority communities that

used to live in Shangani had left during the civil war.

Several both Somali and international sources Landinfo met with during the fact finding mission in 2005, as well

as during later missions, stated that members of these groups were not targeted because of their ethnic origin.

One well-informed Somali source stated in 2005 that one of the deputy mayors of Mogadishu at that time was

Reer Hamar. Other sources have later explained that the so-called black cat arrangements are no longer a

necessity since the previous oppressors no longer are in control in Hamar Weyne.

Response Somalia: Reer Hamar

LANDINFO – WWW.LANDINFO.NO – E-MAIL: LANDINFO@LANDINFO.NO 17DECEMBER 2009 3

implying that some groups might actually be subgroups of other groups. The Ashraf in Bay

region, however, are not classified as Benadiris since they are part of the Rahanweyne clan

(Ashraf Sarman), while the Ashraf of Mogadishu do belong to the Reer Hamar. According to

representatives from Reer Hamar groups consulted by the joint British, Danish and Dutch

fact-finding mission to Nairobi in 2000, the Ashraf are divided into the following groups:

• Hussein: Reer Sharif Maqbuul, Sharif Ahmed, Sharif Ba-Alawi.

• Hassan: Mohamed Sharif, Sharif Ali, Sharif Ahmed, Ashraf Sarman.

According to another account, five major Ashraf lineages were found in Somalia at the end of

the nineteenth century (Reese 1996). The Ahmad, Jamal al-Leyl and Bah Alawi, claiming

descent from Husayn, formed the majority living in the coastal towns. The much smaller

Umar and Abdullah lineages, progeny of Hasan, lived as farmers and herders in the interior.

However, these lists must not be taken as definitive. There are other groups such as the Ashraf

Hassan al-Ahdali of Marka (Virginia Luling, e-mail communication 20 October 2006).

The Geledi and the Begedi could, according to the British anthropologist and researcher

Virginia Luling, also be considered as Benadiris because they consist of subclans which are

conventionally described as light-skinned (gibilcad), with members generally noticeably

lighter in complexion than their neighbours. (This is a conventional classification, however,

and not all the members of these subclans are equally light-skinned). These subgroups trace

their descent to the Arabian peninsula (e-mail communication 25 April 2005). Not all Geledi

are gibilcad – they include dark-skinned subclans as well. Dr Ahmed Sharif Abbas supports

this, and has stated that the Reer Hamar community itself recognises the Geledi and the

Begedi as Benadiri (interview, 16 March 2005).3

Some of the lineages in Mogadishu can also be found in Marka and Barawe, where these and

other lineages are collectively known as Reer Marka and Reer Barawe.

Which geographical area is Benadir exactly? Mogadishu-Marka only, or all the way to

Kismayo?

The Benadir region as the term is used today only includes Mogadishu and its surroundings,

but traditionally the term referred to the Benadir coast which included Mogadishu, Marka and

Barawe.

3 There is some confusion among scholars as to whether the Geledi should be classified as Benadiri or belonging

to the Digil clan-family. In fact, both are true. The Digil, which is one of the two big southern agricultural clanfamilies,

consists of many federated small groups, rather than being strictly all of one descent like the clans of

the northern/pastoral tradition, the Hawiye, Darod and Isaq clan-families. The other large southern clan-family is

the Rahanweyn (Mirifle). They also have a mixed or federal structure (the Geledi are also sometimes classified

as Rahanweyn). The essential point here is that in the northern/pastoral tradition a person cannot belong to two

different clans, unless one of them is a subdivision of the other. The same individual cannot be both Darod and

Hawiye. Among the Digil and Rahanweyn (Mirifle) on the other hand, it is, according to Lewis (1994) and other

sources, perfectly possible to belong to two clans or clan-families at once, because a group from one has been

adopted into the other or has federated with it. Many people in these southern clans have a dual identity in this

way (e-mail V. Luling, 25 April 2005).

Response Somalia: Reer Hamar

LANDINFO – WWW.LANDINFO.NO – E-MAIL: LANDINFO@LANDINFO.NO 17DECEMBER 2009 4

Where is the dialect Reer Hamar spoken? Only in the traditionally Reer Hamar districts

in Mogadishu, or in other districts as well? What about areas outside Mogadishu?

No linguistic work has been done in Somalia since the 1980s, and Marcello Lamberti’s study

Die Somali-Dialekte (1986) is one of the very few existing comparative studies of the various

Somali dialects. According to this study, as well as other Somali sources, including Dr

Ahmed Sharif Abbas, leader of the United Somali Benadiir Council in London (interview in

London, 16 March 2005), the Hamar-dialect is still spoken by Reer Hamar members in Hamar

Weyne. Dr Abbas also stated that Reer Hamar living outside Hamar Weyne, particularly the

older generation, have kept their dialect. Dr Abbas, who (at the time) cooperated with British

authorities in order to identify Benadiri asylum seekers, did, however, not exclude non-Hamar

speaking applicants from being Reer Hamar since obviously not all actually speak the dialect.

Dr. Martin Orwin, lecturer in Somali and Amharic at University of London’s School of

Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), has underlined (personal communication 16 November

2006) another important aspect: Other Somalis growing up and living in the same

neighbourhood as the Reer Hamar probably also know and speak the Hamar dialect.

Moreover, in most countries speakers of one dialect or language naturally come into direct or

indirect contact with those of neighbouring (or culturally) dominant languages or dialects

through business and trade relations, daily life or intermarriages. Whatever the degree or

nature of contact between neighbouring peoples, it is generally sufficient to lead to some kind

of linguistic interinfluencing, affecting not only the ethnic Somalis living in the Reer Hamar

neighbourhood, but also the Reer Hamar within Hamar Weyne and in other parts of the city.

A response consists of answers to specific questions presented to Landinfo by case workers

within the Norwegian immigration authorities. Responses are not intended to provide

exhaustive reviews of a topic or theme, but should a


..

Slavery in South Somalia Banadir

the Bimaal



Feuding hostilities led to several confrontations between Italy and the Somali tribes. Eno reveals, “Merca, Jilib, Jesira and Dhanane are some of the notable battlefields where the Bimaal (Hawiye) pastoral tribe engaged colonial soldiers constituting Somalis.”27 Nevertheless, revelations such as by Italian naval officer Gaetano Bossi had already done the damage. He recommended the pertinence of a more organized government role. Commander Onorato di Monale who undertook an investigation upon the early announcements of the Benadir Coast slavery scandal wrote another equally discrediting report. Some excerpts of the report, including information given by the local chiefs and other outstanding figures of the community, read:

…not only did slaves enter Benadir ports, but that the last slaves to enter the town date back only to last December. Slaves are bought and sold in the Benadir towns, not only under the eyes of Italian authorities…but according to registry of the cadis of Mogadishu…with the sanction of those authorities. In the Benadir, a slave can be bought, sold, imprisoned, inherited, given as a gift, exploited, and rarely liberated. Far from taking steps towards the gradual disappearance of domestic servitude, the company is perpetrating it and aggravating the condition.28



In a gesture to consolidate its colonial activities firmly, Italy succeeded in the purchase of the Benadir ports for the estimated amount of 3,600,000 Italian Lira , the equivalent of 144,000 British pounds, an achievement seen as a step forward. But within the colony, as Italy was aware, resistance was unavoidable since some tribes were discontented by the abolition policy.

The Somali slave owners, as is paradigmatic of the nomadic psychology, tinted the abolition policy as a religious issue in a bid to gain legitimacy for their cause of war and sympathy from other clans, under the philosophy of Jihad (holy war). Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, the Mad Mullah and leader of the Dervish, assisted the Bimaal cause to that end. The colonial administration recruited soldiers to face the arrogant and unabiding Bimaal. When the battle erupted, several Bimaal villages were torched off. The Bimaal, in retaliation, forged several attempts to overrun the Italian askaris in Dhanane, situated between Merca and Mogadishu. They were all in futility until the Bimaal were relentless subdued.

In a diplomatic move to step up the scale of ‘pacification’, the colonial officials approached chiefs and notables of the various tribes to win their support and maintain good relationship between the colonists and the colony. The Somali pastoral tribes seized the opportunity. The two ensuing reasons were for access to the colonial officials (as a medium between the Italians and the community), and secondly for the payroll which displayed a recognition of their social status as the leadership. The Sultan of the Geledi was one of such leaders who subscribed wholeheartedly to this kind of colonial appeasement.29

Skirmishes between the Bimaal and the Italians continued for quite some time, though

intermittently.30 The colonial troops got a breakthrough and eventually penetrated the towns of Bariire, Malable, Audegle (Aaw-Dheegle) in the Dhoobooy area of Merca, and Afgoi a few kilometers from Mogadishu. The event has finally tamed Bimaal resistance, widening the aspiration for peace and liberty.

TRIBAL NATURE OF GULF SOCIETY

TRIBAL NATURE OF GULF SOCIETY


Gulf states have not granted citizenship freely for two reasons. First, they are reluctant to share wealth with recent arrivals; second, the tribal nature of gulf society does not admit new members easily. A tribe usually traces its lineage to a particular eponymous ancestor. The standard Arabic reference to tribe is bani fulan, or "the sons [bani] of so-and- so." The Bani al Murrah in Saudi Arabia, for example, trace their line back to a figure named Murrah, who lived some time before the Prophet.

Over a period of 1,500 years, the sons of Murrah, or any other ancient figure, have tended to become numerous, making further distinctions necessary. Accordingly, tribes are divided into clans and then into households (fukhud; sing., fakhd). Households include groups of single families. Together this extended group of families calls itself a tribe. Each tribe has certain characteristics, such as different speech, dress, and customs. But since the 1950s, speech has become less of a distinguishing factor because of the fluidity of gulf society.

The name of a tribe may also reflect some past event. For example, the name Utub--the tribe to which the Al Sabah of Kuwait and the Al Khalifa of Bahrain belong--comes from the Arabic word for wander (atab). In 1744 the tribe "wandered" out of the desert and into the gulf area and became the Utub.

Two of the most important tribal groups in Arabia are the Qahtan and the Adnan, whose roots stem from the belief that tribes in the north of the peninsula were descended from Adnan, one of Ismail's sons, and that tribes in the south were descended from Qahtan, one of Noah's sons. People in the gulf often attribute the structure of tribal alliances to this north-south distinction, and many still classify their tribes as Adnani or Qahtani.

HISTORY OF MOGADISHO 1200 AND AJUURAN RULERS

Mogadishu and Its Banaadir Hinterlands

HISTORY OF MOGADISHO 1200 AND AJUURAN RULERS


In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the southern city of Mogadishu became Somalia's most important city. Mogadishu, Merca, and Baraawe, had been major Somali coastal towns in medieval times. Their origins are unknown, but by the fourteenth century travelers were mentioning the three towns more and more as important centers of urban ease and learning. Mogadishu, the largest and most prosperous, dates back at least to the ninth century, when Persian and Arabian immigrants intermingled with Somali elements to produce a distinctive hybrid culture. The meaning of Mogadishu's name is uncertain. Some render it as a Somali version of the Arabic "maqad shah," or "imperial seat of the shah," thus hinting at a Persian role in the city's founding. Others consider it a Somali mispronunciation of the Swahili "mwyu wa" (last northern city), raising the possibility of its being the northernmost of the chain of Swahili city-states on the East African coast. Whatever its origin, Mogadishu was at the zenith of its prosperity when the well-known Arab traveler Ibn Batuta appeared on the Somali coast in 1331. Ibn Batuta describes "Maqdashu" as "an exceedingly large city" with merchants who exported to Egypt and elsewhere the excellent cloth made in the city.

Through commerce, proselytization, and political influence, Mogadishu and other coastal commercial towns influenced the Banaadir hinterlands (the rural areas outlying Mogadishu) in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Evidence of that influence was the increasing Islamization of the interior by sufis (Muslim mystics) who emigrated upcountry, where they settled among the nomads, married local women, and brought Islam to temper the random violence of the inhabitants.

By the end of the sixteenth century, the locus of intercommunication shifted upland to the well-watered region between the Shabeelle and Jubba rivers. Evidence of the shift of initiative from the coast to the interior may be found in the rise between 1550 and 1650 of the Ujuuraan (also seen as Ajuuraan) state, which prospered on the lower reaches of the interriverine region under the clan of the Gareen. The considerable power of the Ujuuraan state was not diminished until the Portuguese penetration of the East African coast in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Among Somali towns and cities, only Mogadishu successfully resisted the repeated depredations of the Portuguese.

Oromo Migrations and Their Impact

Oromo Migrations and Their Impact


In the mid-sixteenth century, its political and military organization already weakened by the Muslim assault, the Christian kingdom began to be pressured on the south and southeast by movements of the Oromo (called Galla by the Amhara). These migrations also affected the Sidama, Muslim pastoralists in the lowlands, and Adal. At this time, the Oromo, settled in far southern Ethiopia, were an egalitarian pastoral people divided into a number of competing segments or groups but sharing a type of age-set system (see Glossary) of social organization called the gada system (see Glossary), which was ideally suited for warfare. Their predilection toward warfare, apparently combined with an expanding population of both people and cattle, led to a long-term predatory expansion at the expense of their neighbors after about 1550. Unlike the highland Christians or on occasion the lowland Muslims, the Oromo were not concerned with establishing an empire or imposing a religious system. In a series of massive but uncoordinated movements during the second half of the sixteenth century, they penetrated much of the southern and northern highlands as well as the lowlands to the east, affecting Christians and Muslims equally.

These migrations also profoundly affected the Oromo. Disunited in the extreme, they attacked and raided each other as readily as neighboring peoples in their quest for new land and pastures. As they moved farther from their homeland and encountered new physical and human environments, entire segments of the Oromo population adapted by changing their mode of economic life, their political and social organization, and their religious adherence. Many mixed with the Amhara (particularly in Shewa), became Christians, and eventually obtained a share in governing the kingdom. In some cases, royal family members came from the union of Amhara and Oromo elements. In other cases, Oromo, without losing their identity, became part of the nobility. But no matter how much they changed, Oromo groups generally retained their language and sense of local identity. So differentiated and dispersed had they become, however, that few foreign observers recognized the Oromo as a distinct people until the twentieth century.

In a more immediate sense, the Oromo migration resulted in a weakening of both Christian and Muslim power and drove a wedge between the two faiths along the eastern edge of the highlands. In the Christian kingdom, Oromo groups infiltrated large areas in the east and south, with large numbers settling in Shewa and adjacent parts of the central highlands. Others penetrated as far north as eastern Tigray. The effect of the Oromo migrations was to leave the Ethiopian state fragmented and much reduced in size, with an alien population in its midst. Thereafter, the Oromo played a major role in the internal dynamics of Ethiopia, both assimilating and being assimilated as they were slowly incorporated into the Christian kingdom. In the south, the Sidama fiercely resisted the Oromo, but, as in the central and northern highlands, they were compelled to yield at least some territory. In the east, the Oromo swept up to and even beyond Harer, dealing a devastating blow to what remained of Adal and contributing in a major way to its decline.