The Failure of
The Daraawiish State
The Clash
Between Somali Clanship and
State System
Abdisalam
M. Issa-Salwe - Thames Valley University, London, UK
Paper
Presented at the 5th International Congress of Somali
Studies
December
1993
1
INTRODUCTION
Sayid Maxamed, who was the Somali nationalist hero and father
of modern Somali nationalism, inspired at the end of the nineteenth
century was realized, partly, with the creation of the Somali state
half a century later. He envisaged the Somali state as being a
unified political unit and nurturing a political ideology
surmounting clanism. Both attributes were part of the modern Somali
nationalism when it reawakened in early 1940s.
The Daraawiish structure can be considered a state as the
three salient features of state are defined as territory, population
living in that defined territory and a government who is sovereign
to rule the country and the people. Though fluid, all these
characteristics can be found in the Daraawiish. This became clear
when Italy and Britain, signed a treaty (the Ilig Treaty) with the
Daraawiish on 5th March 1895.[i]
The treaty stipulated that the Mullah should rule the territory
between the Majeerteen Sultanate in the north and the Sultanate of
Hobyo (Obbia) in northeastern Somaliland. The agreement also granted
the Daraawiish watering and grazing rights for their livestock
within British Somaliland.[ii]
Daraawiish
nationalism endured in a period when Somali society was widely
dispersed and lacked the necessary organisations to form a single
political unit, and at a time when colonial powers such as Britain,
Italy, and France were expanding their hegemony over the country. As
the clan was and still is the most important political unit in the
traditional system, Somalis rejected the replacement of their
traditional system with that of a state system as offered to them by
Sayid Maxamed. Somalis preferred to live in clanism rather than a
system that they did not know. I will discuss in this paper the
conflict of the Daraawiish state and Somali clans.
2
THE INCEPTION OF DARAAWIISH MOVEMENT[iii]
At the end of the nineteenth century, Islam reawakened in
Eastern Africa, which was as result of the revival of Islam in the
Muslim world. This tendency might have been triggered by the outcome
of the effect of the Euro-Christian rule and colonization of the
Muslim lands in Africa and Asia which consequently seems to have
created a widespread reaction and the
resurgence of a revivalist movement against the
Euro-Christian hegemony, such as the Mahdist revolt in Sudan in
1880s and that of the Daraawiish movement led by Sayid Maxamed, in
Somalia, during the same period.
The resistance led by Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle was motivated by
religious principles, as well as cultural. Islam served as the
ideology of the Daraawiish movement. A darwiish is a Muslim believer
who takes vows of poverty and a life of austerity in the service of
Allah and his community.
2.1
A Brief Background to Sayid Maxamed
Sayid Maxamed was born in the Sac-ma-deeqa valley, a small
watering place between Wud-Wud and Buuhoodle, in the south of
British Somaliland in 1856,[iv]
during a spring season well known as Gobaysane.[v]
He was the eldest son of Sheekh Cabdulle and Timiro Seed[vi].
His grandfather, Sheekh Xasan Nuur, of the Ogaadeen clan, had
settled and married among the Dhulbahante in 1826.
Two influences left an impression on the life of Sayid: The
first influence was Islamic study, the other the might of
pastoralism. At the age of seven he attended the Quran school. At
eleven he learned the 114 suras' of the Quran by heart. Afterwards
he became a teacher. After two years of teaching the Quran, he
suddenly changed his mind, a change that took him to search for more
religious learning for ten years. He travelled to many Islamic
seats; he went to Muqdisho (Mogadisho), Nairobi, Harar and Sudan. He
went and learned from sheikhs who had Islamic knowledge. In
his early thirties, he embarked towards Mecca, to charge his haj
obligations.[vii]
While in Mecca, he met Sheikh Mohammed Salah (1853-1917), who
changed the young Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan completely. The mystic
Sheikh Mohammed Salah of Sudan was the founder of the Salahiya
order,[viii]
which was spreading in the Arabian peninsula and across the Red Sea
into East Africa. Two years later, in 1895, Sayid Maxamed returned
to Somaliland with a mandate to be the Salahiya representative[ix].
Islam has been associated with Muslim brotherhood (dariqa
literally means "way") which expresses a mystical view of
the Muslim faith. In the nineteenth century various religious
organizations developed in Somalia to the extent that the
"Somali profession of the Islamic faith was synonymous with
membership of a sufi brotherhood."[x]
The Sufi order grew from the main order Qadiriya founded by
Sheikh Abdul-Qadir Jilani in the twelfth century. However a few
centuries later a "neo-sufism" movement was founded which
could be categorized into three groups of Muslim fellowship: the
resisters who believed in struggle, the moderates who usually went
about their pedagogical teaching but occasionally created rebellion
and lastly, the conservatives who practised their mystic meditation
without feeling their social environment and sometimes collaborating
with the rulers of the country.[xi]
On his arrival in the port Berbera, Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle
Xasan refused to pay the tax to the customs. The customs duties
stunned the Sayid since he was entering his home land. The custom
officer decided to arrest him but an interpreter explained the
reason for the sheikh's refusal as insanity by saying "Sir, he
mad mullah,"[xii]
a name that the colonialists labelled Sayid Maxamed in the later
years. The arrival of the Sayid in the British Somaliland coincided
with a new tax system introduced by the British Consul-General in
the British Somaliland, Colonel J. Haya Sadler.[xiii]
Before the arrival of Sayid Maxamed in British Somaliland and
the other parts of Somali inhabited territory the influence of
Andarawiya, which like the Salihiya, is an offshoot of Ahmadiya,[xiv]
was limited. Sayid Maxamed established a base from which he
campaigned and spread the Salahiya order by condemnation of the
Qadiriya's moral laxity[xv]
in adapting to colonialism. In the view of many scholars, the
Qadiriya leaders and settlement, which was well established along
the Benaadir coast became, tolerant to the colonial regime.[xvi]
He condemned the use of alcohol and khat (or Catha edulis
tender leaves of a mild narcotic tree grown in the East Africa and
in Yemen).
Sayid Maxamed's attempt to proselytize and convert urban
Somali to the Salahiya order met with stiff resistance from the
Berbera community. This caused a firm opposition from the Qadiriya
who had established roots in the area. Therefore, the Qadiriya ulumos
(sheikhs) were outraged by Sayid Maxamed's campaign, among them his
former teacher, Sheikh Cabdullaahi Caruusi, Aw-Gaas Axmed, Sheikh
Ibraahim Xirsi Guuled, Sheikh Kabiir Aw-Cumar[xvii]
and Sheikh Madar.[xviii]
His conflict with the known religious men caused him to lose the
sympathy of Berbera people. [xix]
In turn the Berbera ulumos fought back to discredit Sayid Maxamed
and his new order. To finish him, they informed the administration
about his intentions.[xx]
The rift between the two orders lasted until the British
administration sided with Qadiriya and closed down the Salahiya
mosque at the end of 1897. This infuriated Sayid Maxamed who later
moved with his small group of followers to his maternal home, among
the Dhulbahante, in the south of British Somaliland.
On his way to his maternal home, he passed near Daymoole, a
few kilometres from Berbera, where there was a French catholic
mission established in 1891. The mission, with two fathers, one
brother and 69 boys[xxi]
in an orphanage looked after destitute children. He asked a little
boy, "What is your name?". The boy replied, "John
Cabdullaahi." Then
the Sayid asked, "What clan you are?".
The boy answered to Sayid Maxamed, "I belong the clan of
the father."[xxii]
This convinced Sayid Maxamed that the colonialists were
christianising their children. That event remained in the memory of
the young Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan and led him to focus his campaign
against the idea of Christian colonization and against the
Qadiriya's ineptitude and their tolerance of the colonial rulers.
Sayid Maxamed made his first base in Qorya-weyn, a small
watering place 29 miles west of Caynaba (Aynabo) in British
Somaliland. In Qorya-weyn he began campaigning for the Salahiya
order, against the infidels and also against the Qadiriya order.
3
THE BEGINNING OF THE DARAAWIISH STRUGGLE
In Qorya-weyn, he started preaching Islam under the Salahiya
banner. In spite of failing to convince the urbanized Berbera
residents, he found fertile land in the pastoral society that was
not influenced by urban life style. His appeal attracted the
pastoral society of the area and the people responded positively to
him. By settling clan feuds,[xxiii]
the pastoralist saw him as an awliya (saint) who had been
sent among them, he gained himself the reputation of a peacemaker.[xxiv]
In the first period the British administration welcomed him to
exercise authority and saw him on the side of the law as he
prevented clan raids.[xxv]
But his aims to mediate and unify clans were to gain their support
in the fight against the infidels. His aspirations soon turned to
oppose the colonial interests. In fact, an incident that happened
around this time, in 1899, was a turning point in the relations
between the Sayid and the British authority. A British
administrative constable Ilaalo, went to the Daraawiish
settlement and sold his gun to the Sayid.[xxvi]
On his return to Berbera, the constable reported to the authorities
that his gun had been stolen by the Sayid. The case prompted the
British Counsel to send a letter to Sayid Maxamed ordering to
surrender the stolen gun immediately but instead on 1th September
1899 Sayid Maxamed replied in a letter challenging British rule in
the country.[xxvii]
The defiance brought the Sheikh to the attention of the British
authorities. That episode was to change British attitude towards the
Sayid and his movement. The era of conflict between the Daraawiish
movement and the colonial powers which was were to blast two decades
had begun.
In August 1898 the Daraawiish occupied Burco (Bura-o), the
centre of British Somaliland, and through this, Sayid Maxamed
established control over the watering places of the Habar Yoonis and
the Habar Tol-jecle.[xxviii]
He succeeded in making peace between the Habar Yoonis and the Habar
Tol-jecle, and between Dhulbahante and Habar Tol-jecle.[xxix]
A huge assembly was held in Bur-o at which Sayid Maxamed urged the
congregation of Habar Yoonis and Habar Tol-jecle to make jihad
(holy war) against the Abyssinians, British and Italian who had come
to colonize the Somali territory. Further development happened
during this period. Suldaan Nuur Ammaan, sultan of the Habar Yoonis
clan, felt uneasy about the leadership of Sayid Maxamed. He could do
little to stop the development and therefore sought British help to
stop it. Knowing this, the Sayid undermined the sultan's leadership
by persuading the Habar Yoonis to depose their leader[xxx]
and replace him with one who was favourable to his cause. With the
aim of obtaining leadership favourable to his cause within the
Somali clans, this trend became one of the principal policies of the
Sayid.
Shortly afterwards, the Daraawiish raided a Qadiriya
settlement at Sheikh, a small town between Berbera and Burco, and
massacred its inhabitants. Panic spread throughout Berbera the
prospect of an imminent Daraawiish attack. The British were alarmed
by the situation and they took the Sayid's operations seriously.
But
by the end of 1899, the British were occupied in the Boer War and
could do little to contain the spread of the Daraawiish movement in
British Somaliland, which had badly affected their trade with the
interior of the territory under their administration.
The British authorities in Berbera urged their government to
take action, finally London consented to raise a local levy of
troops that would attempt to suppress the spread of the Daraawiish
movement.
During the same period Sayid Maxamed preached the Salahiya
philosophy, especially the practice of tawassul, the
meditation of saints for those faithful to Allah. He taught chanting
in praise of Sheikh Maxamed Salah by singing "Shay Lillah
Sheikh Maxamed Salah." He called the Daraawiish the adherents
of his Salahiya dariqa (order) by giving a white turban (duub
cad) which was also customary sufi traditional costume. Within a
short time many pastoral societies followed the dariqa. In
1898 the Daraawiish followers reached more than 5000 men and women
with 200 rifles. In the middle of April 1898 the Daraawiish moved
their base to Dareema-caddo, a watering place northwest of Buuhoodle.
Within short time the Daraawiish grew in men, power and wealth.
Because of this growth, it became necessary for Sayid Maxamed to
institutionalize the movement by creating four main governmental
apparatuses,[xxxi]
(1) at the top there was the ministerial Council (qusuusi)
which presided over affair of state, (2) there were also bodyguards
(gaar-haye) who were responsible for the security of senior
members. These conscripts were mainly from people on whom Sayid
could depend, such as former slaves whom he had adopted as sons, and
people from the riverine clans such as the Reer Baarre,[xxxii]
(3) the regular army (Maara-weyn) which was organised into
seven regiments: Shiikh-yaale, Gola-weyne, Taar-gooye, Indha-badan,
Miinanle, Dharbash and Rag-xun. Each regiment with its commandant (muqaddim)
varied from between 1000 to 4000 men, and (4) the civilian
population (reer-beede) consisting mainly of people from clans who
followed the Daraawiish movement.
The state was fashioned on the model of the Salahiya
brotherhood with strict hierarchical and rigid centralization of a
religious order. The cohesive force of the Daraawiish state polity
was based on religious ideology. This was a radical departure from
the clan alliance's politics, the effects of which will be discussed
at the end of this chapter.
By forming a standing army the movement had to face pressing
needs such as food and other logistical needs for the troops. In the
first period they were supported by voluntary charity (siyaaro)
which Muslims are required to give to religious men. However, the
needs of the army augmented with the enlargement of the movement.
Thus the Daraawiish began to lobby for more help for the movement,
on the other hand they spread rumours that anybody who did not help
the Daraawiish, in the Jihad struggle, was not Muslim and
must be killed and his property must be confiscated.[xxxiii]
3.1
"You Defied" (Waad-xujowday) Penal Decree
On the legal front, Sayid Maxamed introduced for the first
time a rudimental forms of a penal decree such as the famous
"you defied" (waad-xujowday) for those who did not
obey the code of the dariqa. There was an episode that tells
of a wealthy man called Firin Qodax Faahiye who refused to pay a man
who worked for him as a geel-jire (camelman) his earnings
were one‑camel every year as was the tradition. To retaliate
the camelman escaped with a horse that belonged to Firin and took
refuge in the xarun. Firin went after the camelman and when
he reached the xarun of the Daraawiish he claimed his horse
back. Sayid Maxamed who had been informed by the camelman asked
Firin to pay the camelman's earnings. Firin replied, "let him
go to the administration if he has a case against me." This
infuriated Sayid Maxamed and announced to Firin, "if you choose
the an infidel's justice rather than the Islamic law, you are
infidel. You defied (waad-xujowday) the Islamic code,
therefore, the law condemns you to capital punishment."[xxxiv]
Firin Qodax Faahiye was the first man who was executed by the
Daraawiish. The execution of Firin was a sign from the centralised
system that the Daraawiish had decided to rule the Nugaal area. This
was a new practice that the pastoral society had not known before.
Traditionally the Somali people loathed totalitarianism and
suspected any form of centralised rule. Sayid Maxamed claimed to
have divine connections and that he had been selected for the
mission to "throw the infidels into the sea." His claim
was welcomed positively in the pastoral society. He then planned to
build his hierarchical authority by compelling his followers to
address him as "Father Master" (Aabbe sayidii).
This was a sign of the hierarchical authority he sought to impose on
the traditional egalitarian society who address one other as
"cousin" (ini-adeer). This attitude of Sayid
Maxamed has been seen as a tactic to drag people under his command
to gain political power outside the traditional clan system and not
for the cause of Allah. This was a strategy that created rivalry
from nearly all clan leaders. Some followed him initially with
caution but soon many conflicts developed. One of these leaders was
Garaad Cali Garaad Maxamuud, of the Bah-Ararsame Dhulbahante clan,
whose people lived in Nugaal.
3.2
The killing of Garaad Cali
Garaad Cali Garaad Maxamuud of the Bah-Ararsame lineage of
the Dhulbahante clan was one of the Somali clan leaders whose people
lived in part of Nugaal. Garaad Cali felt uneasy at the expanding
power of the Sayid within his matrilineal relatives, the Dhulbahante.
Towards the end of 1899, Sayid Maxamed sent a delegation to convince
the Garaad to join him and his people in the Daraawiish movement.
Garaad Cali refused and replied, "Let the Sheikh deal with
religious affairs but other affairs of the people and clans are not
his domain. There are no infidels in Nugaal. We are not going to
those (infidels) who are at the coast and in the towns."[xxxv]
In the land that Sayid Maxamed sought to build his power were
his maternal kin thus the people expected him to follow the
footsteps of his father who was a Quran teacher. On his return,
Sayid Maxamed was expected to be a Quran teacher and sheikh among
the pastoral society and not as a leader of the people who were not
his paternal kinsmen.
Sayid
Maxamed sent another delegation to the Garaad inviting him to the xarun
(headquarters). With reluctance Garaad Cali accepted to meet Sayid
Maxamed in his xarun. In the heated debate which followed
Garaad Cali emphasised his position, "I am the ruler of Nugaal
and its people. Their management is mine and I expect everybody to
respect it."[xxxvi]
A challenge of leadership between the two men followed: a
traditionalist one against the introduction of a new system into the
country by the Daraawiish, a practice alien to the pastoral society.
Garaad Cali sent a letter to Boqor Cismaan of the Sultanate of
Majeerteen in Boosaaso in the northeastern part of the Somali
peninsula, requesting his support.[xxxvii]
He sent another letter to the British Consul-General at Berbera
asking for help[xxxviii]
against Sayid Maxamed.
The resulting hostility prompted Sayid Maxamed to dispatch a
group of Daraawiish to assassinate the Garaad. The killing of Garaad
Cali astonished the Somali clans and destabilized the Daraawiish.[xxxix]
This incident proved to be one of the most catastrophic
miscalculations made by Sayid Maxamed. Many of his followers left
the dariqa angered by the carnage of the Garaad. Only a few the
group of his maternal kin, the Cali Geri, stood fast with him. By
losing the support of the Nugaal people and following the
instability caused by the killing of Garaad Cali, Sayid Maxamed and
his followers were forced into the Ogaadeen, among his paternal kin.
3.3
The Daraawiish's Move to Western Somaliland
The Somalis' rejection of Christianity stemmed mainly from a
sentiment they towards their centuries old enemy, Abyssinia. This
was at the same time as Abyssinia was expanding its empire over
Western Somaliland. During his first period of the struggle, the
Sayid's ultimate aim was not the British but the Abyssinians who
caused more suffering to the Somalis of Western Somaliland and the
Oromo people than the European colonialists. Unlike the Europeans,
the Abyssinian colonisers had no industrial power base to finance
their marauding armies, they lived upon the property of the
conquered people. In fact, the reason behind Menelik's southern
conquests was his need to get more resources for his huge armies.[xl]
In the years between 1890-1897 the Western Somaliland Somalis saw
devastating pillage by the Abyssinians, in which, 100.000 heads of
cattle, 200.000 camels and about 600.000 sheep and goats were looted
from the pastoralists.[xli]
Meanwhile in Western Somaliland Sayid Maxamed was
reorganising his force in Haradigeed in the heart of Maxamed Subeer
country (Ogaadeen clan). He started preaching and settled disputes
between various lineages in the Ogaadeen. This gave Sayid Maxamed a
good reputation. To further gain power Sayid Maxamed married the
daughter of a prominent Maxamed Subeer, Ogaadeen clan. In return he
gave his sister to one of the Maxamed Subeer elders, Cabdi Maxamed
Waal. This type of marriage was the political marriage that the
Sayid used to bind ties with the local people, and became one of his
most sophisticated political devices.
Learning of Sayid Maxamed's reorganization in Western
Somaliland, the British informed the Abyssinians about Sayid's plans
and movement. A force had been sent to the area where Sayid Maxamed
had gained support. While en route the Abyssinian forces looted and
harassed the nomads. The looted herds were taken to Jigjiga. The
pastoral society appealed to the Sayid. On 5 March 1890, the
Daraawiish attacked Jigjiga and killed 230. Although the Daraawiish
sustained heavy losses, they took with them the animals looted by
the Abyssinians from the pastoral Somalis in Western Somaliland.[xlii]
In June of the same year the Daraawiish raided the Ciida-gale
lineage of the Isaaq clan-family settlements in Gaaroodi, a small
watering place between Oodweyne and Hargeysa in the Northwest
region. In the raid they took a booty of two thousand camels. The
attack, named after a full moon night "Dayax-Weerar," had
negative effects on the Daraawiish movement. It was the first
assault that the Daraawiish had made against fellow Muslims. The
contingent of the Daraawiish was led by Shariif Cabdullaahi Shariif
Cumar this astonished the pastoral Somalis. The Somali society
believes the shariif to be a pious clan descended directly
from the prophet Maxamed. An observer sang:
When
the Shariif leads the robber-band
And
the learned Sheikh raid the people mercilessly,
And the herds are seized with approval and the blessing of a
Sayid
Would
that I lived long enough
To
witness the end of all these events![xliii]
The storming of Jigjiga enhanced the prestige of the
Daraawiish as they were seen to be the defenders of the pastoral
clans against the domination of their hated Abyssinian enemies. On
the other hand the Dayax-Weerar attack against Ciida-gale had
negative consequences, especially, as the Isaaq clan had to seek
help from the British authorities. However, Sayid Maxamed later
expressed regret about the raid.[xliv]
Sometime later hostility grew between the pastoral Maxamed
Subeer and the Daraawiish the cause being clan rivalry as the
Maxamed Subeer lineage felt as if it were being subjected to
"the hegemony of the Sayid's small Bah-Geri lineage whom they
traditionally despised."[xlv]
They felt they were being subjected into the submissive position,
submissive to the autocratic reigns of the Sayid. The conflict had
been triggered by the killing in the xarun of Shire-Dhabarjilic
Xasan-Jiijiile, a Maxamed Subeer elder, who refused to bring to the dariqa
his sub-lineage. The matter was aggravated when the body of Shire
was mutilated by running horses over it.[xlvi]
This was against an Islamic fellow and it enraged the Maxamed
Subeer's kinsmen. In retaliation, they planned secretly to kill
Sayid Maxamed and his Qusuusi council. The plan known as the
Plot of Gurdumi[xlvii]
took for many months to plan but at the last minute it was aborted
by chance. The Sayid escaped unhurt but one of his closest advisers,
a Qusuusi member Aw-Cabbas, fell under the spears of the
conspirators. In the resulting fighting, the Daraawiish gained the
upper hand over Maxamed Subeer and inflicted heavy losses. The
Daraawiish retaliated later against the Maxamed Subeer nomads by
looting their herds. During the looting, known as Garab-cas, the
Maxamed Subeer lineage lost much of their property.
After sometime the Maxamed Subeer lineage sent a peace
delegation (ergo), 32 of their most able men, to Sayid
Maxamed who had moved with his followers to Dhiito, east of Gurdumi.
One of the peace delegation, Cabdi Maxamed Waal, was the husband of
Toox-yar Cabdulle Xasan, sister of the Sayid. The plot of Gurdumi
was the first attempt on the life of Sayid Maxamed by his kinsmen
and it left him psychologically scarred. Rancour induced him to
arrest the ergo (peace delegation) and tie them with fetters
and anklets. Then he sent a message to the Maxamed Subeer that their
men's release was conditional on payment of the blood money (diyo)
of Aw-Cabbas, two guns that he lost in the fighting of Gurdumi and a
hundred camels for each man.[xlviii]
The Maxamed Subeer could not pay three thousand three hundred camels
for the release of their relatives as the Daraawiish had inflicted
heavy damage on their property during the Garab-cas pillage. Three
deadlines ended without conclusion and at the last deadline Sayid
Maxamed ordered the peace delegation to be executed. This enraged
Maxamed Subeer and to save themselves from further reprisals they
asked the Abyssinians for help.[xlix]
The killing of a peace mission is one of the worst crimes in
pastoral tradition. The act of executing the delegation damaged the
reputation of the Daraawiish, one elder described them as "sick
wolves led by a mad sheikh."[l]
The event, named after the fetters and anklets tied to the
delegation, was another set back to the very cause of the Daraawiish
movement and went down in Somali history as one of the saddest
events. The incident forced the Somali clans in the Abyssinian
dominated area to ask for help from their centuries' old enemies. A
Somali proverb says, "Stones cannot go far but word can,"[li]
the news of Gonda-gooye reached the corners of the Somali peninsula
very quickly.
A combined force of Abyssinians and Maxamed Subeer Ogaadeen
attacked the Daraawiish, and consequently forced them to flee to the
east back into the Nugaal valley, which they had left two years
previously after a bloody confrontation with Dhulbahante.
3.4
The Return of Daraawiish into the Nugaal Valley
Italian Somaliland consisted of three political regions: the
Benaadir coast, the Majeerteen Sultanate on the tip of the Horn and
the Hobyo (Obbia) Sultanate of Sultan Cali Yuusuf Keenadiid. The
Sultanates of Majeerteen and Hobyo developed very effective
political organizations with measures of centralized authority over
relatively large territories but their polity was based on tribal
affiliation.
The return of the Daraawiish into Nugaal created panic among
the clans under the British protectorate. Early in 1901 the British
colonial authorities felt their interest were under threat if the
Daraawiish expanded their influence in the region. Therefore, they
decided to organise military action to wipe them out at once.
However, what they estimated to eradicate with one expedition,
resulted in twenty years of war with the loss of almost one third of
the Somali population.
The Daraawiish was a natural military organization that was
ingenious in guerilla warfare, drawing their enemy to ideal terrain
and striking at will. The British, sometimes with their allies, sent
one expedition after another. The first expedition sent out from
Burco on 22 May 1901 consisted of 21 officers of the British and
Indian armies, and a levy of 1500 Somalis. Between 1900 and 1904
four British expeditions were sent against the Daraawiish.
Well‑known battles were Afbakayle that took place on 3 June
1901, Fardhidin on 16 July 1901, Beerdhiga (Eeragoo) on 4 April
1901, Cagaar-weyne (Gumburo) in April 1903, Daratoole on 22 April
1903, Jidbaale on 10 January 1904 and Ruugga (Dulmadoobe) 9 August
1923.[lii]
During the first period the Daraawiish won many battles
because many factors such as their knowledge of guerilla warfare,
knowledge of the territory, their adaptability to the environment,
their belief that they were fighting a jihad (holy war) and
just war, and their well organised military. However, after many
successes over the intruders, they changed their tactics of guerilla
warfare to conventional warfare. This was a change of strategy that
proved fatal for them. On 9 January 1904 at the plains of Jidbaale,
a watering place north of Laas Caanood, in British Somaliland, they
sough head on confrontation with the British, headed by General
Charles Egarton. In the following battle, the Daraawiish lost nearly
7000 to 8000 dead and wounded.[liii]
With the British forces on their heels, the fleeing Daraawiish
headed to the Majeerteen Sultanate in the northeast. On their way
they send a message to Boqor Cismaan, hoping to gain his support.
Sayid's relation with Boqor Cismaan had been marred by a failed
political marriage to his daughter, Qaali.[liv]
Meanwhile, the British contacted the Italian consulate in Aden to
press Boqor Cismaan not to give the Sayid sanctuary. Boqor Cismaan
gave way to the Italian and British pressure, and declined to give
refuge to the frustrated Daraawiish. This action angered Sayid
Maxamed as he was undergoing a terrible time, a time when many of
his followers were deserting. Fighting erupted between the
Daraawiish and the forces of Boqor Cismaan. The Daraawiish forces
were obliged to head for Ilig, a strategic place on the Indian
Ocean.
3.5
The Reconstruction of the Daraawiish
In Ilig the Daraawiish forces and their followers, who had
experienced bad times, found peace and time to recover from the
loses in manpower and wealth in the war with the British. Actually,
it was nearly a decade later when Sayid Maxamed restarted his
campaign to call the jihad against the colonialists. He
attracted the loyalty of major clans such as the Warsangeli of the
powerful Harti clan, Cumar Maxamuud and Ciisa Maxamuud, both of
Majeerteen Harti clans. Since in Islam a man is allowed to marry no
more than four wives at a time, to ease his political marriage,
Sayid Maxamed had to marry and divorce frequently. These relations
opened the way for the Sayid to ask for wife the sister of Maxamuud
Cali Shire, the son of the powerful Garaad Cali Shire of Warsangeli,
and the sister of Islaan Aadan of the Cumar Maxamuud lineage of the
Majeerteen clan as his wives, and indeed, he did marry both women.
The alliance of these clans helped Sayid Maxamed to reconstruct his
forces. The association with the Warsangeli clan gave him access to
Laas Khoray (Maakhergoosh), a door to the Arabian peninsula to
import firearms and ammunition. The importation of firearms and
ammunition contradicted the Ilig Agreement of 1905 (see bottom).
By
knowing that the colonialists could not be defeated by force, the
Sayid changed his strategy to use words as arms. As words, spoken or
written, have been the most powerful means of communication in all
mankind's society,[lv]
he consummately used skilfully the communicative functions of Somali
verse. He repeatedly sought to gain in verse what he had not
succeeded in acquiring with arms. When he lost a battle, he dipped
into his reservoir of rhymes to encourage his shattered army.[lvi]
He designed his verse to enhance his cause, to encourage his
followers or scorn and discredit his enemies. However, by scorning
his enemies, he sometimes excessively used to preach the pastoral
ethos like an "epigram that borders on the obscene."[lvii]
The period in Ilig was, in fact, the period during which he
composed his best poems by dexterously using Somali language that is
well noted for its richness of vocabulary. Sayid Maxamed was a
"literary master"[lviii]
and he used the medium of poetry as high powered propaganda warfare.
As poetry is the principle medium of mass communication, his mastery
of the art of poetry won him the reputation of being the greatest
Somali poet, and earned him the title "master of
eloquence."[lix]
In the opinion of Samatar,
The Sayid appealed to a traditional code of ethics that he
knew would strike a responsive chord in the hearts of the stroked:
the notion of unbending defiance in the face of calamitous
circumstances, a theme he often stressed in his poems... Yet these
tactics, [which] he designed to hold the ranks of the faithful
together, concealed the real shift in strategy that the Sayid was
initiating in the light of grim realities.[lx]
The adversity of many years gave vitality to Sayid Maxamed's
personality, he was persisting in the face of overwhelming odds. In
spite of his totalitarianism and storming character, his tyranny was
directed towards a noble end.[lxi]
4
FROM MOVEMENT TO STATE
After four years of fighting, the British expeditions found
they could not annihilate the Daraawiish as they had believed. In
1904 because of financial troubles and opposition at home, they had
been compelled to change tactics and make peace with the Daraawiish
through the Italians, who had not militarily confronted the
Daraawiish before. Xaaji Cabdille Shixiri, of the Habar Tol-jecle
Isaaq clan-family, who was a Daraawiish confidant, became the
mediator between the Italians and the Daraawiish. Xaaji Cabdille
Shixiri met with Cavaliere Giulio Pestolozzi, the Diplomatic
Representative of the Italian Government at Aden where he took a
letter for the Mullah.
Craving for respite, the Sayid accepted negotiation with the
Italians who proposed that he rule the territory from Ayl and
Garacad on the Indian Ocean and from Nugaal into the interior. The
agreement included a condition to release Sultan Yuusuf Cali
Keenadiid, the Sultan of Hobyo (Obbia), who had been deposed by the
Italians after he refused to allow British forces to disembark at
Hobyo with the intention of attacking the Daraawiish from the east
while other British forces fought with the Daraawiish in Cagaarweyne
(Gumburo) battle on 17 April 1903. Sultan Yuusuf Cali had been
deported to Assab in Eritrea in 1903.[lxii]
After tumultuous negotiations an agreement was reached on the 5
March 1895.[lxiii]
Giulio Pestolozzi signed for Italy, Britain and Abyssinia.
Recognition to govern his followers, religious liberty and freedom
of trade except in arms and slaves,[lxiv]
were granted to the Sayid.
By assigning the Nugaal Valley to Daraawiish rule, Italy
planned to eliminate the threat of the Daraawiish influence in their
dominion in Benaadir.[lxv]
By contrast, this policy had little effect as the Biyamaal and
Wacdaan clans where the first clans who received the Daraawiish
message and rebelled against the Italian rule.
The Ilig agreement gave the Sayid a period of respite to
recover his strength and influence. He built his forces and, in
breach of the treaty, imported arms on an unprecedented scale. He
set a well‑coordinated strategy to sabotage the colonial
administration and to terrorize and destabilize clans that he saw as
loyal to the British and Italian rule, those under Majeerteen and
Hobyo Sultanates, and Ogaadeen Somali clans, by sending roving bands
of raiders (bur‑cad).[lxvi]
They invaded Mudug to establish contact with Bah-Geri on the upper
Shabeelle and extended their attacks to the Hobyo Sultanate. The
acts of indiscriminate raiding, seizing and plundering property of
fellow Muslims, and the act of breaking a solemn treaty even with
infidels were seen as dishonourable and alienated Sayid Maxamed from
many Somali clans.
4.1
The Attempted Coup of the Tree-of-Bad-Counsel[lxvii]
As the Daraawiish movement was based on religious ideology,
many questioned Sayid Maxamed's religious convictions. The distrust
received a new momentum when followers of the Sayid obtained a
letter from the founder of Salahiya order, Sheikh Maxamed Salah who
lived in the Arabian Peninsula. The letter has been secretly
circulated among the Daraawiish and consequently it was a disastrous
blow as Sheikh Maxamed Salah renounced Sayid Maxamed. The disavowing
of Sheikh Salah generated grounds for many Daraawiish followers to
see that Sayid Maxamed had lost his moral credibility to lead the
Daraawiish movement. Following this episode, 600 Daraawiish held a
secret meeting in Gubad, a watering place 30 miles south of Ayl on
the Indian Ocean, to plot against Sayid Maxamed. The meeting, which
took place under a tree, was to be called Canjeel Talawaa (the
Tree-of-Bad-Counsel). Three proposals were raised in the discussion,[lxviii]
(i) To kill Sayid Maxamed and replace him with another sheikh who
could continue the holy war; (ii) To remove from him the honour and
responsibility of the Daraawiish and replace him with another
sheikh; (iii) To completely cripple the Daraawiish movement by
dragging out all Daraawiish clans.
In the end the conspirators agreed to the last proposal and
decided to desert en masse. One of the associates, Shire Cumbaal,
changed his mind and alerted the Sayid. Consequently, fighting
erupted between troops loyal to Sayid Maxamed and the clans of the
conspirators. The fray deteriorated to a bloody civil war in which
Sayid Maxamed's devotees emerged victorious but not before several
Daraawiish clans, like Majeerteen and Dhulbahante, were decimated.[lxix]
The loyal troops also slaughtered many holy men. The heartless
slaughter of pious Muslims was the most heinous crime in Islamic
teaching.[lxx]
The Tree-of-Bad-Counsel divided and demoralized the movement
as it eroded its moral basis. The incident demoralized and wounded
the morale of the Daraawiish and it damaged the aims of the
movement.[lxxi]
Sayid Maxamed relied increasingly on dictatorial methods to keep
himself in power by summarily executing his rivals including
prominent holy men. Many held in question the Sayid's moral
standards. Following this incident, he started showing growing signs
of insecurity. His sense of insecurity deepened as there were many
attempts on his life. The worst came from one of his wives by food
poisoning.
By the end of 1909 the Daraawiish had moved to Caday-Dheero
then two years later they moved to Dameero and later to Taleex. At
Taleex, the heart of the Nugaal valley, the Daraawiish reunited and
started to build their most strategic garrisons. Taleex was a
strategic place as it was the centre between Hawd (Haud), the Red
Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Majeerteen Sultanate, the Hobyo Sultanate
and British Somaliland. It was abundant in water and pasture. There
the Daraawiish built four garrisons:[lxxii]
Silsilad could take two thousand fighters and five thousand animals,
Falaad was the executive mansion for the Sayid and his advisers,
Daawad was for guests and Eegi or Daar-Ilaalo was made as outpost
for the xarun. Simultaneously the Daraawiish built seven other forts
for the defence of Taleex.[lxxiii]
These garrisons were situated at between 10 to 40 miles from Taleex
and were named Daar-cad, Gacal-guule, Xalin, Dhumay, Geeda-mirale,
Cawshaan and Nuguul. Outside Nugaal, the Daraawiish built 23
garrisons employed to guard the headquarters from British
Somaliland, the Majeerteen and Hobyo sultanates, the Italians and
Abyssinians.[lxxiv]
They extended from Qardho to Jarriiban in the east, from Jiidali,
Cirshiid and Shimbibiris in the north, from Kiridh and Qorraxay in
the west (Western Somaliland) and from Beled‑weyne and
Shilaabo in Italian Somaliland.
Although the building of the strategic fortresses gave the
Daraawiish the appearance of supremacy in the area, it was also
strategically disadvantageous, since it was a complete turnabout of
the guerilla warfare tactics that the Daraawiish had adopted in
previous years. It gave their enemy a fixed target to attack and a
defined territory for battle. In the earlier years the Daraawiish
dragged their enemy into their own battle grounds.
By 1913 the Daraawiish dominated the entire hinterland of the
Somali peninsula. Trade with the hinterland was completely halted
crippling the booming trade of coastal towns. The havoc created
favourable conditions for the Daraawiish who were the only organized
institution in the area. The tumult in the hinterland completely
disrupted trade with the coastal towns and the decline of British
prestige in British Somaliland followed. This prompted the British
to revise their policy and to form a mobile force, the Camel Corps,
to police the immediate hinterlands. The Camel Corps, under the
command of the arrogant but capable colonel Richard Corfield, did
put the immediate hinterland in order.
In August 1913 a Daraawiish force led by Aw-Yuusuf Sheikh
Cabdulle, the brother of Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle, raided a Habar
Yoonis settlement near Burco and looted a vast herd of camels. A
contingent of the Camel Corps chased
the Daraawiish raiders. After hot pursuit the Camel Corps and the
Daraawiish confronted in Dulmadooba, near Oodweyne in the east of
British Somaliland. Fierce fighting resulted in which the British
commander, Colonel Corfield, was killed. The victory of the
Daraawiish enhanced the prestige of Sayid Maxamed and following that
event he composed the famous and brilliant poem "The Death of
Richard Corfield."[lxxv]
Following the breach of the Ilig
Agreement of 1905 by Sayid Maxamed, the British government,
after having spent more than five million pounds, had to assess the
situation before any other alternatives were to be adopted. By mid
1909 there was heated debate in the British parliament about the
lost men and money in British Somaliland.[lxxvi]
The British authorities had only two options, either to abandon the
Somali coast or to strike a peace agreement with the Mullah[lxxvii].
It has chose the latter by sending General Sir Reginald Wingate, the
Governor-General of the Sudan, who was an expert in the Sudanese
Daraawiish movement. He had been dispatched to British Somaliland
with the aim of opening fresh mediation directly with the
Daraawiish. However, Sir Wingate's mission became unsuccessful when
Sayid Maxamed declined the British terms of peace.
Following the failure of the Sir Wingate's peace initiative,
in November 1909, the British authorities were forced to select the
least costly policy short of complete abandonment of British
Somaliland,[lxxviii]
that of confining themselves to three coastal towns on the Red Sea:
Berbera, Zeylac (Zeila) and Bullaxaar (Bulhar).[lxxix]
To protect their subjects from the Daraawiish threat as they moved
to the coastal area, they distributed firearms only to their
"friendliest" dependants, the Isaaq clans,[lxxx]
thus leaving other clans who lived in the vulnerable area, such as
the Dhulbahante clan, who had no treaty with the British.[lxxxi]
The purpose of distributing arms was to persuade the Isaaq clans to
organize themselves behind a leadership capable of counteracting the
Daraawiish.[lxxxii]
However, that policy incited a new wave of feuds and closing of
accounts between various lineages and clans, and the interior lapsed
into a bad situation. Soon the situation deteriorated due to a
drought that affected a large proportion of the population. That
period is known as "xaraama cuna" (the time of
eating filth).[lxxxiii]
Because of the policy of withdrawing from the hinterland, the
British undid the damage of excommunicating Sheikh Maxamed Salah[lxxxiv]
and the damage that Sayid Maxamed had sustained from the
Tree-of-Bad-Counsel. It gave him a wonderful opportunity to flex his
muscles by retaliating against clans whom he suspected were against
his cause. In fact the worst affected were the Dhulbahante, the
Habar Yoonis, the Habar Tol-Jecle (Isaaq) and the Ciisa Maxamuud
sub-lineage (Majeerteen) clans who felt much of the Mullah's wrath.[lxxxv]
The carnage of the Ciise Maxamuud is known as the "Bloodshed of
Ilig Daldala" where bundles of hundreds where thrown from the
peak of the rocks of Ilig into the sea.[lxxxvi]
Towards the end of 1912 at least one third of the pastoral Somalis
perished in the chaos.[lxxxvii]
On the diplomatic front, the Sayid made alliance with the new
Abyssinian Emperor, Lij Iyasu, who acceded to the throne in December
1913. Emperor Iyasu was sympathetic to Islam and moved his court to
Dire Dawa among his Muslim subjects.[lxxxviii]
He aspired to create a Muslim empire in North Africa. To fulfil his
dream he proposed to make alliance with Sayid Maxamed. He probably
supplied financial aid and arms to the Daraawiish, and sent a German
arms technician, called Emil Kirsch, to Taleex to help the
Daraawiish movement.
The fear of an alliance of Abyssinian Muslims and the
Daraawiish sent shivers through the European capitals as well
through the Abyssinian orthodox church. Concern appeared to have
been realised with the announcement of Iyasu's conversion to Islam
in April 1916.[lxxxix]
However, before he could consolidate his power, Emperor Iyasu was
deposed on 27 September 1916.
On another diplomatic front, Sayid Maxamed made an alliance
with the Ottoman empire.[xc]
However, in 1917 the Italians apprehended Sheikh Axmed Shirwac
Maxamed and found a document from the Turkish government giving
assurance of their support and nominating Sayid Maxamed as the Amir
of Somalia.[xci]
The diplomatic achievements, the Ilig Agreement, the British
withdrawal from the hinterlands and the reconstruction of the
Daraawiish authority in the heart of the country helped enhance the
prestige of Sayid Maxamed throughout Somalia. However, there were
also disadvantages as all this they made the Sayid over confident
which naturally led him to underestimate the strategy his enemies.
He over estimated the help he could receive from the Emperor Iyasu,
who had only a short time left to lead, and from Turkey who was at
its declining time in history.
4.2
The Annihilation of the Daraawiish State
During the best days of the Daraawiish movement in the Nugaal
Valley, Qusuusi (advisers) of the state recommended[xcii]
changing their policy by stopping farming, and to halting trade with
the coast as they believed this would avert enemy spies from to
reporting about the Daraawiish. They suggested moving the
headquarters to a location where rival informants could not spy on
them. Nevertheless, Sayid Maxamed sanctioned the counsel without
examining the consequences. Then, in mid 1918 the headquarters were
transferred to Mirashi[xciii],
a mountainous place with difficult access for their enemies, but
less strategic communication with their other settlements.[xciv]
That policy proved detrimental to the Daraawiish tactics as it
interrupted communication between their camps. During this period
the Daraawiish knew little about their enemies' preparations.[xcv]
While Daraawiish were in an isolated situation, the British
built up their fire power, and included for the first time, the
newly invented lethal weapon, aeroplanes, which they planned to use
against the Daraawiish. On 21 January 1920, they attacked all
Daraawiish bases in Taleex and Mirashi simultaneously by sea and
air. This was a great surprise for the Daraawiish military leaders.
Their plans never included a strategy to protect their bases against
such mortal weapons. On 3 February 1920 the British captured Taleex,
and the Daraawiish troops abandoned their forts in the Nugaal Valley
and other parts before fleeing to Western Somaliland. In Western
Somaliland they regrouped again but a natural disaster, smallpox
broke out in the region and decimated the men and livestock.
Meanwhile, the British governor despatched a peace delegation to
Sayid Maxamed pressing him to surrender and in exchange allowing him
to establish his own religious settlement in the west of British
Somaliland. Nonetheless, Sayid Maxamed categorically refused to
surrender, and to prove to the British authority that the Daraawiish
were still capable of intimidating their subjects, they raided the
Isaaq clansmen grazing their livestock near the Abyssinian border.
The attack outraged Isaaq and with the help of the administration a
force of Isaaq men led by Xaaji Warsame Bullaale, known also as
Xaaji Waraabe, made a massive onslaught on the already feeble
Daraawiish.
After this fatal blow, Sayid Maxamed and some of his qusuusi
members fled to Iimay, in the Arusi country in Abyssinia. After
arriving in Iimay, the Sayid and his remaining companions started to
build thirteen new garrisons but Sayid Maxamed did not live long
enough to finish his plan to restart the daraawiish movement. He
succumbed to an attack of influenza on 21 December 1920 at the age
of fifty‑six.
5
CONFLICT BETWEEN STATE AND CLAN
Before the arrival of colonialism in the Somali territory,
Somali society led a decentralised way of life, however, the
colonial powers demanded a way of life contrary to the traditional
one. Subsequently, Somalis responded violently in reaction to this
interference. Somali resistance to the foreign interference in their
lives dates back to at least the years between 1528 and 1535. Under
the command of Imam Ahmed Ibn Ibraahim al-Ghazi, known as Axmed
Gurey (Gran the left-handed) Somali forces devastated and
successfully rolled back the Abyssinian Empire. Only with the help
of Portuguese[xcvi]
did the Abyssinians defeat the Muslim forces.
As Euro-colonialists were usually of another faith, the
Somali felt that the colonialists were trying to christianise their
children. The resistance led by Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle was in
response to this belief. What Sayid Maxamed inspired was
nationalistic in essence, a tradition not seen in the Somali
peninsula since Ahmed Gurey's (Ahmed Gran, the left-handed) war
against Abyssinia in the sixteenth century.
The opinions held by people about Sayid Maxamed vary widely.
Africanists see him as an African nationalist hero who fought
against colonial intrusion in his country. Many scholars of
Daraawiish movements regarded his aim as a purpose[xcvii]
to expel Christian domination from his country. The colonial powers
rated him simply as an eccentric sheikh by labelling him "Mad
Mullah." They assumed that he was simply from a small religious
order or a clan leader whose political role lay within the internal
Somali clan structure. The Somalis attitude towards Sayid Maxamed is
somewhat ambivalent.
Despite the tyrannical nature of his rule, Sayid Maxamed's
burning passion was to liberate his country from the British,
Italian, French and Abyssinian colonial powers. He sensed a threat
from the colonialists to christianize his compatriots, therefore, he
saw the Salahiya brotherhood as a "way" through which he
could increase his countrymen's devotion to Islam and to "kick
out the infidels." He never lost his vision to attain his
primary goals which were explicitly explained in his political
poems. But the circumstances made it difficult for him to worry
about anything other than the organizational and military needs of
the Daraawiish,[xcviii]
the effect of which will discussed below. His talented capacity was
to convert the Salahiya brotherhood into a political movement thus
fashioning the state on a strict hierarchical and centralised
organization.[xcix]