- Isaaq
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Main article: Somali clan
Isaaq
إسحاقRegions with significant populations 
Somalia
Djibouti
Ethiopia
Yemen
United Arab Emirates
Saudi Arabia
United KingdomLanguages Religion Islam (Sunni, Sufism)
Related ethnic groups The Isaaq (also Isaq, Ishaak) (Somali: Reer Sheik Isaxaaq, Arabic: إسحاق) is one of the main Somali clans. Members of the clan principally live in the northwestern Somaliland region of Somalia, and the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The populations of five major cities of Somaliland – Hargeisa, Burco, Berbera, Ceerigaabo and Gabiley – are predominantly Isaaq. As of the late 1980s[update], the Sacad Muuse, Habar Awal and Jibriil Abokor sub-clans of the Isaaq were also the main inhabitants of Gabiley.[1]
Contents
History
According to early Islamic books and Somali tradition, the Isaaq clan was founded in the 12th or 13th century with the arrival of Shaykh Ishaq ibn Ahmad al- Hashimi from Arabia, one of the Prophet Muhammad's early followers.[2][3] He settled in the coastal town of Maydh in modern-day northernwestern Somalia, where he married into the local Dir clan.
The tomb of Sheikh Isaaq, the founding father of the Isaaq clan, in Maydh.
A similar tradition exists for the Darod, whom are said to have descended from one Sheikh Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, another Banu Hashim who came to Somalia around the same time.[2] As with Sheikh Darod, there are also numerous existing hagiologies in Arabic which describe Sheikh Isaaq's travels, works and overall life in northern Somalia, as well as his movements in Arabia before his arrival.[4] Besides historical sources, one of the more recent printed biographies of Sheikh Isaaq is the Amjaad of Sheikh Husseen bin Ahmed Darwiish al-Isaaqi as-Soomaali, which was printed in Aden in 1955.[5]
Sheikh Isaaq's tomb is in Maydh, and is the scene of frequent pilgrimages.[4] Sheikh Darod is buried nearby in the ancient town of Haylaan, situated in the Hadaaftimo Mountains.[6]
Sheikh Isaaq's mawlid (birthday) is also celebrated every Thursday with a public reading of his manaaqib (a collection of glorious deeds).[5]
The three major sub-clans of the Isaaq signed treaties with the British in the 1880s containing clauses obligating them to suppress slave-trafficking in their domains, pledging them and their successors not to cede or otherwise alienate any part of their lands except to the British, and allowing the British Government to appoint agents who would reside in the territories of the tribes. These groups were the Habr Awal, (dated 14 July 1884), the Habr Toljallo (dated 26 December 1884), and the Habr Garhadjis (13 January 1885).[7]
Clan tree
Partial breakdown of the Isaaq clan structure.In the Isaaq clan-family, component clans are divided into two uterine divisions as shown in genealogy. The first division is between those lineages descended from sons of Sheikh Isaaq by an Ethiopian women – the Habar Habuusheed – and those descended from sons of Sheikh Isaaq by a women of the magaadle clan – the Habar Magaadle. Indeed most of the largest clans of the clan-family are in fact uterine alliances.[5] This is illustrated in the following structure.
Sheikh Isaaq Bin Ahmed[5]
1. Habar Habuusheed
- Ahmed (Tol-Ja’lo)
- Muuse
- Ibrahiim (sanbuur)
- Mahammad (‘Ibraan)
2. Habar Magaadle
- Ayub
- Awal
- Arab
- Garhajis
There is no clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures and many lineages are omitted. The following listing is taken from the World Bank's Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics from 2005 and the United Kingdom's Home Office publication, Somalia Assessment 2001.[8][9]
- Isaaq
- Haber Awal
- Sa'ad Muse
- Issa Muse
- Ayub
- Habr Garhadjis
- Habr Yunis
- Aidagalla
- Arab
- Habr Jaalo (Habr Toljallo)
- Mohamed Abokor
- Ibrahim
- Muse Abokor
- Ahmad (Toljaalo)
- Haber Awal
In Puntland, the World Bank shows the following:[10]
- Isaaq
- Habar Yoonis
- Habar Awal
- Habar Tol Jaalo
- Habar Jaalo
- Iidagale
One tradition maintains that Isaaq had twin sons: Ahmed, or Arap, and Ismail, or Gerhajis.[11]
Notable Isaaq people
- Abdillahi Suldaan Mohammed Timacade, poet during the pre- and post-colonial periods
- Abdirahim Abbey Farah, former United Nations Under-Secretary General[12]
- Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur, Last SNM Chairman and First President of Somaliland
- Abdullahi Qarshe, Somali musician, poet and playwright; known as the "Father of Somali music".
- Ahmed M. Mahamoud Silanyo, President of Somaliland as of June 2010[update]; longest-serving and the 4th chairman of the SNM; former chairman of the Kulmiye Party.
- Ahmed Yusuf Yasin, Vice-President of Somaliland, 2002–2010
- Ali Abdi Farah, Minister of Communication and Culture in Djibouti
- Ali Feiruz, popular musician in Djibouti and Somalia
- Bashir Yussuf, Somali religious leader
- Edna Adan Ismail, first female Foreign Minister of Somaliland
- Faysal Ali Warabe, chairman of the Justice and Welfare Party of Somaliland (UCID)
- Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame 'Hadrawi', poet and philosopher; author of Halkaraan; also known as the "Somali Shakespeare"
- Mohamed Mooge Liibaan, musician
- Mohammed Farah, Somali-British long distance runner
- Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, former Prime Minister of Somalia; former president of Somaliland
- Rageh Omaar, former BBC World TV correspondent; currently with Al Jazeera English
- Umar Arteh Ghalib, former Prime Minister of Somalia, former president of UN's Security Council, Teacher and a poet.
References
- ^ Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Somalia: Information on the ethnic composition in Gabiley (Gebiley) in 1987–1988, 1 April 1996, SOM23518.E [accessed 6 October 2009]
- ^ a b Rima Berns McGown, Muslims in the diaspora, (University of Toronto Press: 1999), pp. 27–28
- ^ I.M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali, fourth edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), p. 22
- ^ a b Roland Anthony Oliver, J. D. Fage, Journal of African history, Volume 3 (Cambridge University Press.: 1962), p.45
- ^ a b c d I. M. Lewis, A pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism and politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa, (LIT Verlag Münster: 1999), p.131.
- ^ I.M. Lewis, Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar, and Saho, Issue 1, (International African Institute: 1955), pp. 18-19
- ^ D. J. Latham Brown (1956). "The Ethiopia-Somaliland Frontier Dispute". International and Comparative Law Quarterly 5 (2): 245–264. JSTOR 755848.
- ^ Worldbank, Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics, January 2005, Appendix 2, Lineage Charts, p. 55 Figure A-1
- ^ Country Information and Policy Unit, Home Office, Great Britain, Somalia Assessment 2001, Annex B: Somali Clan Structure, p. 43
- ^ Worldbank, Conflict in Somalia, January 2005, Appendix 2, p. 57 Figure A-3. Worldbank's diagram agrees with the table of Somali clan genealogy in David D. Laitin and Said S. Samatar, Somalia: Nation in Search of a State (Boulder: Westview, 1987), p. 32, although the latter's diagram is admittedly simplified and omits many clans not mentioned in their book.
- ^ Laurence, Margaret (1970). A Tree for Poverty: Somali Poetry and Prose. Hamilton: McMaster University. p. 145. ISBN 1550221779. "Then Magado, the wife of Ishaak, bore him twin sons, and their names were Ahmed, nick-named Arap, and Ismail, nick-named Gerhajis."
- ^ Emeagwali, Gloria T.. "Editorial: Focus on the Horn of Africa". Africa Update (Central Connecticut State University) 2 (1; Winter, 1994–95). http://web.ccsu.edu/afstudy/upd2-1.html. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
Categories:- Somali clans
- Somali clans in Ethiopia
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