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]
Although Sayid Maxamed carried on the struggle for two decades,
why he failed to mobilize all the Somali clans against the
colonialists is one concern. One view maintains that the
compulsive approach of the Daraawiish policies contradicted
the tradition of persuasion and convincing. Another school
of thought postulates the intolerance of the movement towards
the other Sufi orders. Whoever was not Salahiya was not
recognised as Daraawiish, and was labelled as a supporter
of the colonialists or infidels. This approach narrowed
the idea of the Daraawiish simple as a faction of Islamic
society in the country. This put the Salahiya in a constant
struggle with other religious orders such as the Qadiriya
and Ahmadiya in the country. This view concludes therefore,
that Sayid Maxamed's aim was more concerned with the Salahiya
than Islam itself. [c] He called his followers daraawiish
(dervish) or ikhwaan (brother) and distinguished them from
the clans who used to called themselves "Somalis."
His supporters attributed him three qualities that he shared
with the Prophet Maxamed: the name, Maxamed, the age when
he began his ministries; and the propensity to urge the
jihad (holy war).
Nevertheless, one of the indisputable convictions is that
the Sayid was a national figure whose appeal aroused patriotic
sentiments. In his task to create a national movement transcending
clan divisions, he skilfully adopted his tactics to the
realities of Somali life by employing all traditional devices
of Somali politics: clan alliance, poetic crafts and political
marriage. [ci] He appeared as a symbol of Somali resistance
to colonialism and inspired to create a state based on Somalism,
therefore, a pan-Somali idea. [cii] Even the adherents of
the Qadiriya order could not rally openly against the Daraawiish
for this could mean siding with Christian colonisers and
would greatly damage their religious status. One of his
qualities was that he never gave up his ideals even in the
worse situation. In fact when the Daraawiish fled to Western
Somaliland after their defeat in February 1920 the British
sent a delegation asking him to surrender but he refused,
adhering firmly to his ideals.
The Daraawiish State was fashioned on the model of the Salahiya
fellowship with a strict hierarchy and rigid centralization
of a religious order. The state polity was based on religious
ideology thus causing a radical departure from the clan
alliance politics.
Two qualities seemed to help him to surmount the difficulties
he faced during the struggle: the religion that gave him
legitimacy of leadership and the mastery of political oratory,
which is the "vehicle of politics and the acquisition
of political power" [ciii] The religious power that
he wielded was based on the principle of fellowship [civ]
which Martin defines as follows: (1) The brotherhood believed
in the Prophet and his inspiration through the founder of
the order. This is explained the tawassul of "Shay
Lillaah Sheikh Maxamed Salah." (2) The extension of
power given to the leader was indisputable and complete.
(3) The dikri ceremonies, the mystic chants, which bond
the group and reciting together hymns, part of the Koran
and Islamic literature. (4) The spiritual and emotional
communion with Allah, the Prophet, and the spiritual leader.
These processes link the mystic leader to his followers.
(5) The brotherhood was voluntary therefore the member dedicated
to their cause. (6) The order was organized into a collective
spirit which facilitated a means of hierarchical organization.
(7) Lastly by adopting the concepts of hijra and jihad as
tactics, the two strategics that the Prophet used in times
of pressure from the infidels.
Despite knowing the need to develop the structure of his
theocratic state, the Sayid established the Daraawiish in
personal quality. This is the reason why the Sayid Maxamed
was a contradictory figure, and the same cause is believed
to be the reason behind the end of the Daraawiish movement
after his death. One of the other causes which led to the
collapse of the movement was that it was, by nature, a highly
fluid national movement. He failed to unite Somalis against
the colonialists because of the traditional Somali society
which was too widely dispersed to form a political unit,
and also because of the clannish rivalries.
To accomplish his vows to fight the colonialists, he had
to be a warrior chieftain and pursue a career contrary to
the traditional Somali wadaad (holy man). As Sayid Maxamed
founded his movement under the Salahiya banner, an order
new to the Somali society, the puritanical Salahiya with
the strong personality of Sayid Maxamed created an atmosphere
of hostility towards the Qadiriya that was older and more
widely accepted among the Somalis and "it blended well
with the metamorphic social process in the Somali territories."
[cv]
Sayid Maxamed himself claimed to have divine connection,
and that he was sent to expel the infidels who came to his
country to christianise the children. He required his followers
to address him as "Father Master" (Aabbe Sayidii).
This was a sign of hierarchical authority he sought to impose
on the traditional egalitarian society who address one another
as "ini-adeer" (cousin). There is a Somali maxim
that says, "Abandoning customary conventions causes
the curse of God." [cvi] The new state system that
Sayid Maxamed imposed on the pastoralist was resisted because
of these beliefs. His attempt to create such polity required
a new style of leadership contrary to what was known as
traditional authoritarian behaviour. His concept, which
was alien to the pastoral society, was an open confrontation
with the Somali traditional authority system. Soon a challenge
of leadership between Sayid Maxamed and Somali clan leaders
followed. Many of these clan leaders felt uneasy about the
new style leadership of the Sayid. 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 the Nugaal Valley, [cvii] and one of the clan leaders
whose people where affected by the new system. The conflict
between Sayid Maxamed and Garaad Cali was a reaction to
the attempt of Sayid to influence the Dhulbahante clans.
The Sayid aimed to have clan leaders loyal to his cause.
Sometimes he undermined the leadership of those who where
not sympathetic to his cause, such as that of the Habar
Yoonis and Warsangeli.
Worth mentioning is the episode that happened when Sayid
Maxamed convinced the young Maxamuud Cali Shire, the eldest
son of the aged Garaad Cali Shire of the Warsangeli clan,
to take his father's place as leader of the clan. [cviii]
Maxamuud Cali Shire became a sympathizer of the Daraawiish
cause in early 1911 and during this time Sayid Maxamed influenced
Maxamuud Cali Shire to challenge his father's leadership.
When Maxamuud Cali Shire went back to his relatives and
demanded that he should replace his ailing father, disarray
was created within the Warsangeli. The argument was settled
by proposing that the young Maxamuud Cali Shire should become
Sultan of Warsangeli while his father could remain Garaad.
[cix] But after a short time Sultan Maxamuud (later Garaad
Maxamuud) fell out with the Sayid and their relationship
became sour.
The reason that Sayid Maxamed was such a controversial figure
was his indiscriminate raiding, seizing and plundering of
the property of the Somali clans he suspected were not favourable
to his cause. This behaviour poisoned his relations with
the Somali clans and crippled his movement as, consequently,
it alienated him from the clans who traditionally considered
all crime against an individual as a crime against the clan
to which the person belongs. Somalis believe the individual
does not exist outside the clan. In the clan the individual
enjoys a modicum of economic and political security. [cx]
All these actions were against the gist of the Daraawiish
movement, it also estranged him from other religious orders
such as the Qadiriya and Dandarawiya. The conflict stretched
to such an extreme that the Daraawiish killed a Qadiriya
representative in southern Somaliland, Sheekh Awees Biyooley
(Sheikh Uways bin Maxamed al-Baraawa) in Biyooley, southern
Somaliland, in 1909. The Daraawiish also razed a Qadiriya
settlement in Sheikh, a small town between Berbera and Burco
in British Somaliland. The Qadiriya was deeply rooted in
the country when Sayid Maxamed started in his struggle 1890s.
Somalis believe that pious men are people that must be respected
and killing them is believed to be a nefarious act. The
unsympathetic pogrom of pious Muslims was the most abominable
offense in Islamic teaching. [cxi] The veteran Daraawiish
Ismaaciil Mire believed that the cause that led to the collapse
of the movement was the indiscriminate killing of holy men.
[cxii]
Sayid Maxamed and his followers blamed the clans for the
conflict and they maintained that they were on the side
of truth and righteousness, [cxiii] and those opposed them
were supporters of the infidels, therefore, infidels themselves.
The opponents of the Daraawiish accused their actions of
being non-Muslim, therefore, bid-ci (heretic). [cxiv]
Contracting political alliances by marriages was one of
Sayid Maxamed's political devices. He asked for nearly all
the clan leaders daughters or sisters as spouses. To accommodate
his political nuptials he had to divorce and marry continuously
as Islam allows a man to marry only four wives at a time.
This type of marital life frustrated his spouses until one
of them, Dhiimo, attempted to poison his food. After this
episode insecurity stalked him everywhere and consequently
secluded him from his advisers.
The logistical need and other pressing need of huge standing
troops requires continuous supply. To cope with these demands
the Daraawiish collected voluntary charity (siyaaro), which
Muslims are required to give to religious men. In the first
few years' donations appeared to flow without many problems
but when relations with clans soured supplies were cut.
Then a new decree was passed by the Daraawiish that said
whoever did not help the Daraawiish was not Muslim, must
be killed and his property confiscated. The seizing of property
seemed to have become one of the resources of the movement.
The announcement alarmed many clans and it created a situation
where clans were compelled to defend themselves and to ask
for help from the colonialist authorities.
In June 1890 a Daraawiish contingent raided the Ciida-gale
lineage of the Isaaq clan-family settlements in Gaaroodi,
between Oodweyne and Hargeysa in the Northwest region. In
the raid they looted two thousand camels. The incursion
named after a full moon night "Dayax-Weerar" had
negative effects on the Daraawiish movement as it was led
by commander Shariif Cabdullaahi Shariif Cumar. The Somali
society believes shariif to be pious people who are directly
descendent from the prophet Maxamed. People could not expect
such acts from pious men and it astonished them. The policy
of looting and plundering clans suspected of not being in
favour of the jihad created the impression that what Sayid
Maxamed intended was to institutionalise "the devil's
norms," thus contradicting his cause.
He introduced the law of talion within the Daraawiish. Whoever
wronged among the Daraawiish had to face the "you defied"
(waad xujowday) provision. This code of rules was completely
alien to the Somali practice of treating crime according
to clan context.
The inter-clan adversary was another factor that weakened
and handicapped the Daraawiish movement as clans pulled
out from the movement if they detected that their rival
clans had more chances within the organisation. The Somalis
see the individual through his clan, therefore, Sayid Maxamed
was seen as an Ogaadeen sheikh and whatever he did they
expected him to be liable to his clan but this proved false,
as his organisation transcended clan interests. This was
a complete departure from the traditional alliances of clan
politics. For Somalis to comprehend such a social system
was unimaginable. What Sayid Maxamed was aiming at was beyond
the comprehension of clans then. They did not know who was
liable for the Sayid's mistakes since his enemies included
his own Ogaadeen relatives. The fighting between Sayid Maxamed
and the clans may be interpreted as a conflict between state
and clanism, in which the state was overwhelmed by the reality
of the social polity.
6 CONCLUSION
6.1 Daraawiish Nationalism and Modern Somali Nationalism
The Somalis remained encompassed by the kinship system for
centuries, even at the advent of the formation of the Somali
state. The same manifestation has been seen in ancient societies
where they were deeply antagonistic to any strong inclination
of individualism. [cxv] Any one who behaves independently
as an individual they call "one who stands alone"
(goonni u goosi). This evidence still exists today. One
thing seems clear, the Somali stays Somali by pressing the
drive towards individualisation and what the Daraawiish
demanded was a state system where the individual depends
on the state and not the clan. This evolution needs time
and conditions where process of social change could take
place and individualism could breed.
Modern Somali nationalism that springs from the very nature
of their culture and nurtured from a feeling of national
consciousness is also the result of the reawakening of the
effect of external influence such as the establishment of
an alien government, and the impact of the Second World
War. [cxvi] The feeling of national consciousness and rejection
of colonial domination correlates with Daraawiish nationalism.
However, where Daraawiish nationalism envisaged a state
fashioned on the model of Salahiya brotherhood with strict
hierarchical and rigid centralization of a religious order,
modern Somali nationalism conceived a unitary republic with
a representative democratic form of government. The cohesive
force that the Daraawiish state polity was based upon was
religious ideology whereas the modern Somali state's ideology
was based on Somalism, an ideology that reflected the sharing
of the people of common national consciousness. [cxvii]
The politics of the clan requires that nobody belongs to
Somali society unless he/she belongs to the descent structure
therefore the kinship group." [cxviii] In fact, the
creation of an independent Somali Republic on 1th July 1960
was only the beginning of their struggle for national unity
as the republic was formed by those Somalis formerly ruled
by Italian and British colonial powers, thus excluding those
Somalis living in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti, [cxix]
who attained their sovereignty from France in June 1977.
The creation of the Republic was not an ends itself but
a means to attain the task of putting all Somalis under
a single state. [cxx] This fact constituted "a dilemma
where Somalia remains a nation in search of a state."
[cxxi] The concept of the 'unification of all Somalis' became
the crux of the hope of the Somali people.
