Durther than coincidental. Nor could those customs and traditions be regarded as an acquisition through minimal acculturation, notwithstanding the Somalis’ deep predilection for Arab pedigree, which in ancient times was used as a qualification for the gain of access to the top seat of rulership. One of the most critical literatures on the Arab origin and homogeneity of the Somali people, whose contributors mostly consist of contemporary Somali professors and other distinguished scholars, professor of history, Mohamed Mukhtar comments that the Somalis’ claim for Arab origin “remains enigmatic,” arguing, “One would wonder, in the first instance, how the offspring of just two individual Arabs could become not only the dominant people of the northern part of the peninsula, but also the majority of the whole Somali nation today.”24 However, Mukhtar blames the concerned scholarship and Somali authorities in his retribution that, “Efforts have been made to discourage scholars from studying other Somali themes. Valuable sources for the study of Somalia’s past were ignored, among them, Arabic, Italian, French and German sources.”25ualeh wrote in the opening pages that all the Somali clans come from different Arab immigrants who escaped from persecution in Arabia; their port of entry was Mait and that Issak was the last to arrive – a reason why he (Issak) established himself in Mait town on the coast of Somaliland. Dualeh said: It is widely believed that the Dir was the first to arrive at the Somali coast, followed by the Hawiye and the Darod. The last to arrive was the Issaq clan, whose habitat today is the original point of entry for all the other Somali clans, the present Somaliland. The other Somali clans that preceded them have filled the hinterland, and therefore the Isaq was forced to live at the coastal areas.26 In his argument, the ex-army man turned diplomat points out that the Somali people belong to either one of the five groups of Dir, Issaq, Darod, Hawiye and Digil-Mirifle, all amalgamating into a one Somali tribe which otherwise consist of: “…A confederation of genealogically un-related clans. There are also a number of minority clans. There are no blood-links or other affinity between these five clans, or for that matter between the smaller clans… The commonality is the language and the religion…
THE HISTORY OF SOMALI DIR CLAN: TAARIKHDA BEESHA DIREED DIR
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