Ishaaq bin Ahmed

As a figure known only from oral tradition and hagiological accounts,{{cite journal|last1=Drozdík|first1=Ladislav|date=2005|title=Gori, Alessandro: St udi sulla letteratura agiografica islamica somala in lingua araba (Studies in Somalian Hagiographie Islamic Literature in the Arabic Language). Firenze, Universita di Firenze 2003. xii+ 430 pp. ISBN 88-901340-0-3; ISSN 1724-8213.|journal=Asian and African Studies|volume=14|issue=1|page=110|url=http://www.sav.sk/journals/uploads/0312120915_Vilhanova.pdf}} Ishaaq bin Ahmed's historicity is unclear, and there are varying views on the validity of the narratives about him. Christopher Ehret considers the founders of Somali clans like the Isaaq or the Darod to have been historical figures, but regards the accounts surrounding them as legends.{{cite book|last1=Ehret|first1=Christopher|author1-link=Christopher Ehret|date=1995|chapter=The Eastern Horn of Africa, 1000 B.C. to 1400 A.D.: The Historical Roots|editor1-last=Ahmed|editor1-first=Ali Jimale|editor1-link=Ali Jimale Ahmed|title=The Invention of Somalia|location=Lawrenceville, NJ|publisher=Red Sea Press|pages=233–256|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XpdAzRYruCwC|isbn=978-0-932415-99-8}} p. 251. Mohamed Haji Mukhtar expresses skepticism that the population of two of the largest Somali clans (Isaaq and Darod) could descend from two Arab individuals (Ishaaq bin Ahmed and Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, respectively).{{cite book|last1=Mukhtar|first1=Mohamed Haji|author1-link=Mohamed Haji Mukhtar|date=1995|chapter=Islam in Somali History: Fact and Fiction|editor1-last=Ahmed|editor1-first=Ali Jimale|editor1-link=Ali Jimale Ahmed|title=The Invention of Somalia|location=Lawrenceville, NJ|publisher=Red Sea Press|pages=1–27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XpdAzRYruCwC|isbn=978-0-932415-99-8}} p. 15. The pan-Islamic scholar Sharif Aydarus considers the accounts to be largely historical.{{Page needed|date=February 2025}}

According to tradition, after the death of Sheikh Ishaaq's grandfather he went on a series of migrations in order to study further and preach Islam. He first preached in Mecca and then travelled to Egypt, and hence to Eritrea and Zeila.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/dierk-lange-ancient-kingdoms-of-west-africa-1|title=Dierk Lange Ancient Kingdoms Of West Africa 1}} He then later settled in the area of Saba' in modern-day Yemen where he married the sister of the king of the Al Haqar clan.{{Cite web|last=نور|first=مكتبة|title=تحميل كتاب تحفة المشتاق لنسب السيد إسحاق لعبدالرحمن دبة pdf|url=https://www.noor-book.com/كتاب-تحفه-المشتاق-لنسب-السيد-اسحاق-لعبدالرحمن-دبه-pdf|access-date=2021-08-08|website=www.noor-book.com|language=ar}}{{Cite web|title=Reer Shiekh Isaxaaq|url=https://qabaayil.webs.com/reershiekhisaxaaq.htm|access-date=2021-08-09|website=Hoyga Qabaayilka Reer Sheekh Isaxaaq|archive-date=2021-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109094426/https://qabaayil.webs.com/reershiekhisaxaaq.htm|url-status=dead}} Sheikh Ishaaq later settled in the Al-Jawf region in northern Yemen where he married once again and had a son, Mansur, who is the forefather of the Al Mansur clan in the Al-Jawf region. He then travelled to Yaba where he married and had a son, Yusuf, who is the forefather of the Al Yusuf clan based in Yaba and Ma'rib regions.{{Cite book|last1=Zaylaʻī|first1=ʻAbd al-Raḥmān Shaykh Maḥmūd|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1100055464|title=al-Ṣūmāl ʻurūbatuhā wa-ḥaḍāratuhā al-Islāmīyah = Somalia's Arabism and Islamic civilization|last2=زيلعي، عبد الرحمن شيخ محمود.|date=2018|isbn=978-9948-39-903-2|edition=al-Ṭabʻah al-ūlá|location=Dubayy|oclc=1100055464}}

Traditional Arabic hagiologies of the Isaaq clan describe how Sheikh Isaaq first made a series of travels through Arabia, before sailing to the ancient Somali port of Zeila and continuing his travels through Somaliland and some regions of Ethiopia, finally settling in Maydh.{{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Ioan M.|author1-link=Ioan Lewis|date=1994|title=Blood and Bone: The Call of Kinship in Somali Society|location=Lawrencewill, NJ|publisher=The Red Sea Press|isbn=0-932415-93-8|pages=103–104|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fAjtruUXjEC&pg=PA103}}

While scholar Ioan Lewis considers these travel accounts to be a foundation myth, he does acknowledge that they likely reflect a historical settlement of Arabs in Somaliland. Scholar Sada Mire also regards the narratives surrounding the founders of Somali clan lineages like Ishaaq bin Ahmed to be part of origin myths. In her view, these origin myths are meant to establish, through the link created between modern Somali clans and early Islamic figures like the prophet Muhammad or Ali ibn Abi Talib, a notion of 'divine kinship'.{{cite book|last1=Mire|first1=Sada|author1-link=Sada Mire|date=2020|title=Divine Fertility: The Continuity in Transformation of an Ideology of Sacred Kinship in Northeast Africa|series=UCL Institute of Archaeology Publications|volume=69|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-138-36850-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J6nODwAAQBAJ}} p. 256. Nevertheless, Mire also notes that while the Somali clan members she interviewed stated that Ishaaq bin Ahmed arrived in Somalia about 850 years ago, historical records do indicate that migrations from Hadhramaut and other parts of South Arabia to Somalia took place {{circa|1250}}.{{harvnb|Mire|2020|p=63}}.

In accordance with tradition, Sheikh Ishaaq then continued his journey and migrated to Zeila, Somaliland and finally Harar in Ethiopia.{{Cite book|last=الاسحاقي الصومالي|first=عبدالرحمن|title=كتاب تحفة المشتاق لنسب السيد اسحاق}} Several accounts indicate Shaykh Yusuf al Kownayn and Sheikh Isaaq were known to be contemporaries in Zeila and in contact at the same time.{{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=I. M.|url=https://archive.org/details/saintssomalispop00lewi|title=Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society|date=1998|publisher=The Red Sea Press|isbn=9781569021033|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Andrzejewski|first=B. W.|title=Islamic Literature of Somalia|date=1983-01-01|publisher=African Studies Program, Indiana University|isbn=9780941934473|language=en|quote=Shaykh Aw Barkhadle and Shaykh Isaaq belonged to the same time period.}}{{Cite book|last=Bader|first=Christian|title=Mythes et légendes de la Corne de l'Afrique|date=2000|publisher=Karthala|isbn=9782845860698|pages=90|language=fr|quote=Translated from French to English: Then, at the age of 68 (Shaykh Isaaq), he took his pilgrim's staff and went to Harar, where the Sheikh 'Aw Barkhadle was then teaching.}} According to a popular legend, Shaykh Yusuf al Kownayn, known locally as Aw-Barkhadle, upon meeting Sheikh Ishaaq prophesied that Sheikh Ishaaq would be blessed by Allah with many children while Shaykh Yusuf would not have descendants. According to the prophecy the descendants of Sheikh Ishaaq would also visit Aw-Barkhadle's grave and pay respect and perform siyaaro, or pilgrimage to his tomb.{{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=I. M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5AZyEhMtbkC&q=%22sheikh+isaaq%22&pg=PA94|title=Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society|date=1998|publisher=The Red Sea Press|isbn=978-1-56902-103-3|language=en}} Saints and Somalis: popular Islam in a clan-based society states:

Since, however, Aw Barkhadle’s precise connection with the rulers of Ifat is not widely known, he appears as an isolated figure, and in comparison with the million or so spears of the Isaaq lineage, a saint deprived of known issue. The striking difference between these two saints is explained in a popular legend, according to which, when Sheikh Isaaq and Aw Barkhadle met, the latter prophesied that Isaaq would be blessed by God with many children. He, however, would not have descendants, but Isaaq’s issue would pay him respect and siyaaro (voluntary offerings). So it is, one is told, that every year the Isaaq clansmen gather at Aw Barkhadle’s shrine to make offerings in his name.{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=I. M. |title=Saints and Somalis: popular Islam in a clan-based society |date=1998 |publisher=Red Sea Press |isbn=1569021031 |page=94}}

According to tradition, after studying and proselytizing in Harar he then undertook the pilgrimage to Makkah, came back to Somaliland and went along the shore eastward to the coastal town of Maydh in eastern Somaliland, where he converted the pagan peoples to Islam. He later settled in the town aged 60,{{Cite book|last=يحيى|first=بن نصر الله الهرري|title=مناقب الشيخ أبادر- متحف الشريف عبد الله في هرر}} where he married two women; one of the Magaadle Dir clan called Magaado, and a Harari woman called Hanifa, the daughter of a Harari emir, with descendants belonging to the Habar Magaadle or Habar Habusheed branches respectively. He sired eight sons who are the common ancestors of the subclans of the Isaaq ethnic group. He remained in Maydh until his death.{{Cite book|last=Adam|first=Hussein M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1gMAQAAIAAJ&q=%22sheikh+isaaq%22|title=Somalia and the World: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held in Mogadishu on the Tenth Anniversary of the Somali Revolution, October 15–21, 1979|date=1980|publisher=Halgan|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Laurence|first=Margaret|author-link=Margaret Laurence|title=A Tree for Poverty: Somali Poetry and Prose|isbn=978-1-55022-177-0|publisher=McMaster University|location=Hamilton|year=1970}}

{{Main|Isaaq}}

File:Sultan_Abdulrahman_Deria.png of the Habr Awal Isaaq in London 1955]]

Arabic hagiologies trace Ishaaq bin Ahmed's lineage to Ali bin Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Scholar Ioan Lewis considers that, given the preponderance of names belonging to early Islamic Arabia rather than to medieval Somali-Arab culture, this lineage is unlikely to be genuine. According to Lewis, the genealogy is 'Arabicized' with the goal of enhancing the prestige of the Isaaq among the many ethnic groups in modern and contemporary Somalia. Scholar Sada Mire regards the creation of lineages like this as part of what she terms "the Somali Islamic myth of origin".{{harvnb|Mire|2020|pp=201, 205–206; cf. pp. 70–71, 154–155}}. The pan-Islamic scholar Sharif Aydarus considers the accounts to be largely historical, and agrees with the tradition of Ishaaq bin Ahmed's Arab origin.{{Cite book |last=Sharif Aydarus al-Nadheeri |author-link=Sharif Aydarus|title=بغية الآمال في تاريخ الصومال |publication-date=1955 |language=ar |trans-title=The Attainment of Hopes regarding the History of Somalia}}{{Page needed|date=February 2025}}

The Isaaq ethnic group are divided into two uterine divisions, as shown in the genealogy below. The first division is between those lineages descended from sons of Sheikh Ishaaq by a Harari woman – the Habr Habusheed – and those descended from sons of Sheikh Ishaaq by a Somali woman of the Magaadle sub-clan of the Dir – the Habr Magaadle. Indeed, most of the largest clans of the Isaaq ethnic group are in fact uterine alliances; hence the matronymic "Habr" which in archaic Somali means "mother".{{Cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=I. M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoMBQCr4LysC|title=A Pastoral Democracy: A Study of Pastoralism and Politics Among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa|year=1999|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=9783825830847}} This is illustrated in the following ethnic structure.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. 157.File:Habr_Awal_Warriors.png

A. Habr Magaadle

• Ismail (Garhajis)
• Ayub
• Muhammad (Arap)
• Abdirahman (Habr Awal)

B. Habr Habuusheed

• Ahmed (Tol Je’lo)
• Muuse (Habr Je'lo)
• Ibrahiim (Sanbuur)
• Muhammad (‘Ibraan)

File:Duale_Abdi.png Habr Je'lo clan photographed in 1890]]

There is clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures that has not changed for a long time. The oldest recorded genealogy of a Somali in Western literature was by Sir Richard Burton in the mid–19th century regarding his Isaaq (Habr Yunis) host and the governor of Zeila, Sharmarke Ali Saleh.{{cite book|last1=Burton. F.|first1=Richard|title=First Footsteps in East Africa|date=1856|pages=18|language=en}}

The following listing is taken from the World Bank's Conflict in Somaliland: Drivers and Dynamics from 2005 and the United Kingdom's Home Office publication, Somaliland Assessment 2001.Worldbank, [http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSOMALIA/Resources/conflictinsomalia.pdf Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics], January 2005, Appendix 2, Lineage Charts, p. 55 Figure A-1[http://www.asylumlaw.org/docs/somalia/ind01b_somalia_ca.pdf Country Information and Policy Unit, Home Office, Great Britain, Somalia Assessment 2001, Annex B: Somali Clan Structure] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716081350/http://www.asylumlaw.org/docs/somalia/ind01b_somalia_ca.pdf|date=16 July 2011}}, p. 43

• Isaaq
• Habr Awal
• Sacad Muuse
• Issa Musse
• Arap
• Ayub
• Garhajis
• Habr Yunis
• Eidagalle
• Habr Je'lo
• Muuse Abokor
• Mohamed Abokor
• Samane Abokor
• Tol Je'lo
• Sanbuur
• Imraan

One tradition maintains that Sheikh Ishaaq had twin sons: Muhammad (Arap), and Ismail (Garhajis).{{Cite book|last=Laurence|first=Margaret|title=A Tree for Poverty: Somali Poetry and Prose|publisher=McMaster University|year=1970|isbn=978-1-55022-177-0|location=Hamilton|page=145|quote=Then Magado, the wife of Ishaak had only two children, baby twin sons, and their names were Ahmed, nick-named Arap, and Ismail, nick-named Garaxijis .|author-link=Margaret Laurence}} In addition, Sheikh Ishaaq had four additional sons in Yemen (Dir'an, Shareef, Yusuf and Mansur) whose descendants inhabit parts of northern Yemen, including the Khawlan district and the Ma'rib governorate.{{Cite web|last=MENAFN|title=History of Sheikh Isaaq bin Mohammed (Al-Hashimi)|url=https://menafn.com/1100257084/History-of-Sheikh-Isaaq-bin-Mohammed-Al-Hashimi|access-date=2021-08-07|website=menafn.com}}{{Cite book|last=الغرباني|first=محمد بن أحمد|title=صورة لمخطوطة الغرباني التي تتحدث عن سيرة وحياة الشريف إسحاق بن أحمد الرضوي|pages=95–96}}

In one account, Sheikh Ishaaq's three eldest sons split their father's inheritance among themselves.{{Cite web|last=Dr. Ahmed Yusuf Farah|first=Matt Bryden|title=Case Study of a Grassroots Peace Making Initiative|url=https://www.africa.upenn.edu/eue_web/somrev96.htm|access-date=2022-01-03|website=www.africa.upenn.edu|publisher=UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia}} Isma’il receives his imama, a symbol of leadership; Abdel-Rahman receives the sheikh's wealth; and Ahmad inherits his sword. The story is intended to depict the Garhajis' alleged proclivity for politics, the Habr Awal's mercantile prowess, and the Habr Je'lo's bellicosity.

To strengthen these tribal stereotypes, historical anecdotes have been used: The Habar Yonis allegedly dominated positions as interpreters for the British during the colonial period, and thus acquired pretensions to intellectual and political superiority; Habr Awal dominance of the trade via Djibouti and Berbera is practically uncontested; and Habr Je’lo military prowess is cited in accounts of previous conflicts.

There are a number of existing hagiologies in Arabic which describe Sheikh Ishaaq's travels, works and life in Somaliland, as well as his movements in Arabia before his arrival.Roland Anthony Oliver, J. D. Fage, Journal of African history, Volume 3 (Cambridge University Press.: 1962), p.45 Like other texts of this genre, they are strongly focused on narrating the holy man's pious deeds and the miracles he performed. Among these texts are:

• {{transl|ar|Manāqib al-shaykh Isḥāq}} (a text in the genre of {{transl|ar|manaqib}} or 'laudatory biography')
• {{transl|ar|Nubdha}} ('genealogical account'), written by Ādam ibn Waʿays
• {{transl|ar|Amjād}} ('praiseworthy qualities'), written by Ḥusayn ibn Aḥmad Darwīsh

Sheikh Ishaaq's descendants would later go on to form two powerful sultanates that dominated the northern coastline of the Horn of Africa during the early modern era; the Isaaq sultanate and the Habr Yunis sultanate.{{Cite web|title=Taariikhda Beerta Suldaan Cabdilaahi ee Hargeysa {{!}} Somalidiasporanews.com|url=http://www.qurbejoog.com/taariikhda-beerta-suldaan-cabdilaahi-ee-hargeysa/|access-date=2021-01-09|language=en-US}}{{cite book|title=Genealogies of the Somal|date=1896|publisher=Eyre and Spottiswoode (London)|language=english}}{{Cite web|title=Taariikhda Saldanada Reer Guuleed Ee Somaliland.Abwaan:Ibraahim-rashiid Cismaan Guure (aboor). {{!}} Togdheer News Network|url=http://togdheernews.com/articles/31/05/2016/taariikhda-saldanada-reer-guuleed-ee-somaliland-abwaanibraahim-rashiid-cismaan-guure-aboor/|access-date=2021-08-09|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111020220/http://togdheernews.com/articles/31/05/2016/taariikhda-saldanada-reer-guuleed-ee-somaliland-abwaanibraahim-rashiid-cismaan-guure-aboor/|url-status=dead}}

Sheikh Ishaaq's tomb is in Maydh, and is the scene of frequent pilgrimages. Sheikh Ishaaq's mawlid (birthday) is also celebrated every Thursday with a public reading of his manaaqib (a collection of glorious deeds). His siyaara or pilgrimage is performed annually both within Somaliland and in the diaspora particularly in the Middle East among Isaaq expatriates.{{Cite book|last=Reese|first=Scott S.|title=Claims to Community: Mosques, Cemeteries and the Universe|chapter=Claims to Community|date=2018|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1tqxt7c.10|work=Imperial Muslims|pages=69|series=Islam, Community and Authority in the Indian Ocean, 1839–1937|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|jstor=10.3366/j.ctt1tqxt7c.10|isbn=978-0-7486-9765-6|access-date=2022-01-03}} The tomb was kept by the family of Somali artist Abdullahi Qarshe.{{Cite journal|last=Hassan|first=Mohamed-Rashid|date=2008-11-04|title=Interview with the late Abdullahi Qarshe (1994) at the Residence of Obliqe Carton in Djibouti|url=https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/bildhaan/vol2/iss1/5|journal=Bildhaan|volume=2|issue=1|pages=65|issn=1528-6258}}

Murray in his book The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society notes that many men from the western Isaaq clans would travel to Maydh to spend the last years of their lives in hopes of being buried near Sheikh Ishaaq.{{Cite book|last=Society|first=Royal Geographical|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCBDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA62|title=The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society: JRGS|date=1849|publisher=Murray|pages=64|language=en}} The book states:{{Blockquote|text=The stranger is at once struck with the magnitude of the burial-ground at Meyet, which extends for fully a mile each way. Attachment to the memory of their forefather Isaakh yet induces many aged men of the western tribes to pass the close of their lives at Meyet, in order that their tombs may be found near that of their chief, and this will account for the unusual size of this cemetery. Many of the graves have head-stones of madrepore, on which is cut in relief the name of the tenant below, and of these many are to be found 250 years old.}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|last=Gori|first=Alessandro|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55104439|title=Studi sulla letteratura agiografica islamica somala in lingua araba|date=2003|publisher=Dipartimento di linguistica, Università di Firenze|isbn=88-901340-0-3|location=Firenze|oclc=55104439}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishaaq bin Ahmed}}

Category:12th-century deaths

Category:13th-century deaths

Category:Year of death unknown

Category:12th-century Arab people

Category:13th-century Arab people