Saddehliya on the vaunts of tribes

The ‘vaunt’ of the tribes may also be expressed in the traditional form of the saddehliya   (‘By three’), about which we have already spoken. Thus:

1)  The People of the black land

“Three things do not arrive where it was thought they would: the contentment of the women, the rain that falls in the afternoon, and the people of the black land. The rain that falls in the afternoon appears to you from far away and you see it fall nearby. The happy woman, however happy she may be tonight, you will see her melancholy tomorrow morning. The people of the black land, a notable, yet you will see him offend people and feel the women. They do not arrive where it was thought they would!”

Thus the pastoralists of the woodland joke about the unexpected attitudes of the Hawiyya tribes settled in the villages of the “black land” of the valley of the Webi (Badi ‘Adda, Molkal, Mobilen, etc.), tribes that have fewer scruples in some of their attitudes than the people of the woodland remaining more attached to the customs.

2) Virtues and vices of the Guggundabe, of the Abgal, and of the Hawadla.

“The Guggundabe have three things, the Abgâl have three things, the Hawadla have three things. Wide livestock enclosures, a torn robe, and poor people who are killed, the Guggundabe have these three things. Bleached hair, advice without wisdom, and ways by which they emigrate together, the Abgal have these three things. Tobacco that is eaten, thieves with whom to go stealing, and much good advice, the Hawadla have these three things.”

This saddehliya comments ironically on the good and bad qualities of the Guggundabe tribes (Galga‘el, Badi ‘Addo, etc.), of the Abgal, and of the Hawadla. The ‘bleached hair’ alludes to the Abgal custom of working into the hair an argillaceous earth that lightens it so much as to make it light blond.

3) The qualities of the tribes of the middle Webi: from the Abgal to the Hillibi.

The magic that is written, the reflection that has been inherited from the fathers, and the reckoning of the genealogies: for these three things the Abgal ‘Isman are noted. Nice greetings, food even nicer, and deceptions to the cost of the people which are being plotted: for these three things the Wa‘dan ‘Isman are noted. To remain in his own house, to cultivate his own field,  to refuse hospitality: for these three things the Mobilen are noted. Scorched forehead, light hand, and, if you touch them, they crowd against you: for these three things the Hillibi Darandólla are noted.

The Abgal pastoralists are expert in the fal:   divination of the future by means of signs on the sand. Thus, the reflexivity of the Abgal, the asserted falsity of the Wa‘dan, the homely and parsimonious life of the good Mobilen agriculturalists follow one another in the descriptions of this short essay.

There is noted for the Hillibi the use of burns on the forehead against headaches (burns in the shape of the letter alef   made with a metal needle); and the immediate reaction in defense of their joint interests.

4) What is preferable in three Hawiyya tribes.

“It is preferable to travel with five cicatrices than to travel with five Guggundabe. It is preferable to consult five stones than to consult five Abgal. It is preferable to know five hyenas than to know five Mobilen.”

In this harsh saddehliya there is reference to the surprises and ambushes that the Guggundabe may reserve for their caravan companions; to the lack of wisdom in the advice of the Abgal (yet praised in the preceding saddehliya  for their reflexivity! but not all the estimations agree); and to the typical avarice of the Mobilen, from whose friendship, it is said, there is nothing to be obtained.

5) The causes of the quarreling of three Darandollä tribes.

Three quarrel for three. The ‘Eli ‘Umar quarrel about the wells. The Mohammed Musa quarrel about the fields. The Mantan ‘Abdullah quarrel about the dances.”

The three tribes mentioned, all of the Darandollä group, ‘Eli, Mantan, and Yusuf (here designated genealogically with the name of Muhammed Musä), are each interested in a particular activity about which they are ready to quarrel: the waterings, the fields, and the dances, respectively.

6) The weak points of three Darandollä tribes.

Three in three things are surpassed. The ‘Eli are surpassed in the durra. The Mantan are surpassed in the Koran. The Yusuf are surpassed in well-being.”

Thus the three tribes likewise mentioned in the preceding saddehliya   also have three deficiencies: insufficient agriculture among the ‘Eli; insufficient religious doctrine among-the Mantan; insufficient wealth among the Yusuf.

References; Enrico Cerulli ” How a Hawiye tribe use to live”

Some vaunts of the clans

What impassions some tribes

“The wild beasts appeared and the Murúsada flung themselves upon them”

The verse refers to the widespread belief that the Murúsada were werewolves; and thus here they seem to have stolen the ferocity of the wild beasts

“Respect appeared and the Daud flung themselves upon it”

The Daud are praised for the regard that they show toward guests.

“Bad manners appeared and the Darod flung themselves upon them”

The Darod, foreign to the Hawiyya peoples, to whom the singer belonged, are mocked for their impulsive reactions.

 “The purge appeared and the Hillibi flung themselves upon it”

And finally in this verse a joke is made about the frequency with which the Hillibi have recourse to a purgative beverage (digoo) in their villages.

 

Where to look for some things among the various tribes

 

“I went to raid the raw durra in the tribe of Galgä‘el”

The Galgä‘el, nomadic pastoralists — according to this verse, insulting for them — are used to eating durra in the ear, raw and not yet threshed. The unthreshed durra is called qamir   in the dialect of the Hawadlä; gilqab   in the Abgal dialect, whereas the Galgä‘el themselves call it addun.

“I went to raid the boiled beans in the tribe of the Abgal”

Here fun is made of the Abgäl and of their food of boiled beans (qalon)

“I went to raid the strength in the tribe of the Bimal”

The Bimal, of the region of Jilib, had made themselves a reputation for bravery.

“I went to raid the vehemence in the tribe of the Mobilen”

The Mobilen, the singer says, are famous for the qoq,   that is, the facility with which they become excited ( qoq ) , in the dialects of the Hawiyya, is properly speaking the period of heat of animals.

“I went to raid the beauty in the tribe of the Hawadlä”

 

Rich hospitality and poor hospitality among the tribes

Hawadla singer, who had requested hospitality in a village of the Badi ‘Addä and had been — he says — treated with the parsimony characteristic of the prudent agriculturalists, composed these verses in order to avenge himself, comparing the generosity of his tribe of pastoralists with the avarice of the Badi ‘Addä.

1) Qaf  is the Koran placed. My Lord is powerful.

2-4) The one who butchers a young camel for you and at the same time slices a watermelon for you and the one who instead warms green leaves for you and at the same time piles up the stubble for you (for a bed): according to my measure, they are not equal. Come on, choose one!

5-6) The one who has squeezed for you (essence of) coffee (milk of a) camel with large shoulders and the one who instead told you “take some!” of the polenta without gravy: according to my measure, they are not equal. Come on, choose one!

7-9) The one who has loaded for you a camel with a blackened neck and a she-camel fit for transport and the one who instead has put your loads on a braying donkey; do you not have brains? Come on, choose one!

These verses too resulted in a series of encounters between[unknown] Hawadlä and Badi ‘Addä; and one is to note also the usual ironic allusion (as in the song published above) to the predilection of the Badi ‘Addä peasants for the donkeys as beasts of burden instead of the noble camels of the pastoralists.

 

Tribes as inimical as leopards and lambs

Another poet of the Hawadlä, having recognized in groups that were dancing on a moonlit night some young men of the Galgä‘el tribe who had infiltrated into that meeting intended for the Hawadlä only, sang these verses; and it is easy to imagine what the consequences were.

1-4) The Bes, drinkers of milk, and the Bersanä of Gabay, the Bila‘, the Kabolä, and the Adan Yäbär who live in this Bay: and our boys of Bulo Balläy are two factions that are to be kept separated.

5-6) The spotted leopard and a little lamb of the sheep are two factions that are to be kept separated.

7-8) The speckled cow and the lame hyena are two factions that are to be kept separated.

The various peoples mentioned in the first stanza, Bes, Bersanä, Bila‘, Kabolä, and Aden Yäbär, all belong to the Galgä‘el tribe. Bulo Balläy, on the other hand, is a village of the Hawadlä. Bay is the pasture zone east of the Giuba /Juba/;Gabay is the pasture zone between Bay and the Webi.

 

References; Enrico Cerulli ” How a Hawiye tribe use to live”

Hawiyya geneology and settlement

The Hawiya, descended from Irrir, are the largest and most important noble Somali family of southern Somalia. Centred around and along the Shebelle, where they come into contact with subject Negroid cultivators, they stretch northwards towards the Darod. Agriculture begins to play an appreciable part in the economy, often indirectly through the cultivation practised by the Negroid vassals of the Hawiya, although, towards the coast, the Hawiya themselves, under the stimulus of Administrative encouragement, are becoming increasingly agrarian. Their economy is intermediate between the nomadic pastoralism dominant among the Darod to the north and the relatively intensive cultivation practised by the Rahanwein to the south. Some tribes however are purely nomadic.

The Hawiya are composed of two primary divisions: the Bah Arbera and the Bah Girei. Almost all the present Hawiya tribes and tribal confederacies belong to the Bah Girei fraction, which is in turn divided into three main groups: the Gurgate, Jiambelle and Gogondovo. It presents a regular system in which segmentation of successive bifurcations gives rise to a proliferation of tribes derived from earlier tribes which, in their turn, through segmentation and growth, become confederacies in relation to their fractions when these become tribes in their own right. What was originally a tribe continues to exist as the group name for a confederacy of tribes which have stemmed from it. Some tribes remain static or decay and do not continue growing and bifurcating. Sometimes the parent tribe, from which stems a proliferation of new tribes, continues to exist as a tribe in its own right, although probably on the wane and only really important as a confederacy name for its more active offshoots.

Traditionally the Bah Arbera are the progeny of an Arab woman, and the Bah Girei of a Galla mother whose bride-price included a spotted cow ( girei ). Of the Bah Arbera, the Karanle situated in the upper valley of the Shebelle, are trans-humant, cultivating the fertile riverine land in the dry season and moving with their stock to new pastures on the surrounding hills when the heavy rains begin. The Murosade, who have become detached in the process of tribal movement, are found in small groups in the region of Merca and, in a larger body, below the Shebelle around Afgoi. They are essentially pastoralists although they practise some cultivation, and in the Merca region are engaged in the caravan trade. The Raranle, formerly of the Baj-Argan region were driven thence by the Digil; a nucleus still survives among the Rahanwein Garuale.

The largest of the three Bah Girei sub-confederacies is the Gurgate, whose descendants through Dame-Herab are the most numerous. The legend reported by Colucci runs that on the birth of Mane, the last of Gurgate’s seven sons, the largest birthday gift was given by his brother Dame, and this caused their father Gurgate to prophesy that Dame would have many descendants. Most of the tribes descended from the other seven brothers have disappeared or are scattered as dependants among the Rahanwein, but, some remain such as the Hawâdla, who also live along the shebelle valley with baddi ‘Addo and engage in a pattern of cultivation and pastoralism.

The most important tribes or tribal confederacies derived from Dame-Herab are: the Abgal, the strongest and most numerous Hawiya group, the Habr Gedir, the Dudube, the Sheikal Lobogi, the Wadan, the Hillivi, the Herab, and the Mobilen. The Abgal, who are mainly nomadic pastoralists, practise some cultivation in suitable regions near the coast, and extend inland from the coast between Mogadishu and El Dere. They played a prominent part in the history of Mogadishu, and their incursions into the town were largely responsible for the overthrow of the Muzaffar dynasty of sultans. They are divided into at least seven tribes. The Habr Gedir are mainly pastoralists, although one of their four tribes, the Habr Gedir Sarur at Harardere, cultivates beans, millet, water-melons, and cotton as well as possessing herds of camels, cattle, and flocks of sheep and goats. A Habr Gedir Sarur group is found also in the region of Harar, on the left bank of the Webi Jestro, but through mixing with other peoples it has lost most of its Somali characteristics. The Sheikal Lobogi are a priestly group scattered among the Hawiya generally, sometimes appearing as autonomous sections in other tribes, as for instance in the Herab. They are pastoralists, particularly given to caravan trading. The Wadan are allied to the Geledi and are under their tutelage. . The Hillivi are federated with the Abgal Daud under a common chief. The Herab are dependants of the Tunni and Rahanwein. The Mobilen are allied to the Shidle Negroid group of the Shebelle.

The Jiambelle, form the second primary division of the Bah Girei. The most important tribes issuing from this progeny are the Ajuran and the Hintere, the first of very great antiquity, and apparently connected with the obscure and almost legendary Madinle, to whom many old ruins and wells with stone-works are commonly attributed. The Ajuran, as we shall see, formerly dominated the territory to-day occupied by the Rahanwein and their Hawiya siblings. Ajuran are found in independent nuclei on the upper Shebelle, in the Doi and between Moyale and Wajir in the Northern Frontier Province of Kenya, at Anole on the Shebelle and between Afgoi and Wadegle, mixed with their freedmen the Erible. They are mainly nomadic pastoralists and are particularly interesting because they have adopted the Galla Boran practice of drawing blood from cattle, a non-Somali trait which they share with the trans-Juba Darod. The Hintere are found among the Jiddu of the Doi, on the upper Shebelle in the Shebelle Negroid region, and in the Afgoi region of the lower Shebelle where they live with their freedmen, the Urguma. The other three Jiambelle tribes seem to have disappeared or lost all tribal identity.

Of the third division of the Bah Girei, the Gogondovo, the Jidle occur in Abyssinia and on the Webi among the Shebelle and Molcal. The Jibide are in trans-Juba, and the Jajele nomads who derive from them are found among the Rahanwein and in Abyssinia. The principal centre of the Molcal, who also derive from the Jibide, is the village of Mansur, where they live with their freedmen the Kavole. From the Molcal descend the more important and thriving Galjaal, Digodia, and Badi-Addo. The Galjaal are nomadic pastoralists occupying the country to the south of the Badi-Addo where they have retained command of the system of wells. Their movements bring them into frequent conflict with the adjacent Gerra. A nucleus of the tribe is stationed in Harar territory north of Burca. The Badi-Addo, who extend along the Shebelle between the Makanne and Kavole, are cultivators and pastoralists and presumably have a cycle of movement to and from the river, similar to that of Karanle described above. Badi-Addo occur also at Javalo near Harar. The Digodia occupy principally a very extensive tract of territory spanning the Webi Gestro and the Ganale Doria and stretching south-west to Wajir in trans-Juba. They are in contact with the Galla Boran and the Gerra as well as with the Gasar Gudda with whom there is frequent strife. On the Dawa, Ganale, and Webi some cultivation is practised by an associated Negroid group, the Garreh Murrah, although the Digodia are essentially nomadic pastoralists. This tribe seems to have been only slightly Islamized for it has a rain-making cult centred round the chief ( Wobur ) and, according to Wright there is no standard blood-compensation payment but in its place the custom of plundering the murderer’s kin ( muroduc ) prevails. Digodia are also found at Burca in Harar district.

References

“The Somali, Afar and Saho groups of the Horn of Africa” by I.M. Lewis

“The Shaping of Somali society” by Cassanelli

Supported by and inferred from: Colucci, Puccioni, Caniglia, Robecchi-Bricchetti, Barile & Ferrand.

The low castes who live among the Hawiyya

The low castes who live among the Hawiyya

Of particular importance for historical, ethnic, and linguistic knowledge of the populations of Somalia — and in general of the countries of East Africa, is the study of the ‘low castes’: that is, of those stirpes that are, or better were, in a condition of social and juridical inferiority and lived among tribes from whose patronage they benefited. In the following I shall publish some texts on the low castes among the Hawiyya tribes on the middle Webi, texts, of course, collected from the Somalis, patrons of these stirpes considered inferior, and which thus reflect the point of view and the customs of the Hawiyya tribes of high caste.

First it is necessary to list here the peoples of low caste, who are called:

• Gabalollay: living with the Badi ‘Adda rer Waber and with the Hawadla Adan Yaber;
• Gaggab: with the Badi ‘Adda Illabe and with the Hawadla; they are tanners;
• Habeso-‘ad: with the Badi ‘Adda Illabe;
• Eyla Halawo: with the Badi ‘Adda and with the Galgael ‘Alofe; they are hunters;
• Eyla Gambaye: with the Badi ‘Adda and with the Galga‘el Abtisama; they are hunters;
• Bon Marrehan: with the Badi ‘Adda;
• Garyala: with the Hawadla rer Ugas;
• Ukkuray: with the Hawadla;
• Geymala: with the Hawadla; they are blacksmiths
• Angallaye: with the Hawadla; they are blacksmiths;
• Barbaro: with the Galga‘el
• Yayla: with the Hawadla Adan Yaber;
• Gaboya: with the Abgal; they are tanners;
• Dardo: with the Abgal; they are weavers

The low castes are generically indicated among the Hawiyya with the name of “Bon,” which is the name of an ancient people of hunters whose remains are found along the lower course of Giuba /Juba/ and on the coastal border with Kenya, where they are mixed with the Wa-Sanye.

The peoples of low caste in turn give the Hawiyya, their patrons, the name of “Gabar,” which is also a ‘relic,’ because it is the name with which the Galla designate the peoples conquered by them and adopted into their tribes  which poses an interesting historical problem.

Finally, I should like to underline how, at least among the Hawiyya tribes of the Badi ‘Adda and the Hawadla, we find a strips of low caste which is under the direct patronage of the hereditary tribal leader: the waber   (Badi ‘Addä); the ugas (Hawadlä). This situation also reminds one of interesting comparisons of analogous stirpes of low caste, such as the Manna, the potters, the tanners, and the storytellers of Caffa /Kaffa/, who were directly protected and were at the disposal of the King of Caffa.

 1) The low castes among the Badi ‘Addo

Some Bon live with the Badi ‘Ádda. The Gabalollay live with the people of the Waber. They are his ‘gourd carrier.’ The other men called Gaggab live with the Illaba  . Illâba is a people of the Bâdi ‘Ádda. and thus the ‘white freed.’ What are the ‘white freed’? They are men that, if you pay attention and look at their face, seem noble. But if the generations are counted, they are to be included with the freed. (Like the major part of the stripes of low caste listed here, these ‘white freed’ were not known until now. I have not had an occasion during my stay on the upper Scebeli /Shebeli/ to meet them. But it is permissible to suppose that this is a matter of freed originating from Galla and non-Suahili slaves and thus of superior race and akin to the noble Somalis. They and the Gaggáb marry each other. They and the freed do not marry each other. They and the rêr ‘Isa those of the north, marry each other. The Gabalollây and the blacksmiths marry each other. The Gabalollay and the Gaggáb do not marry each other. When the Waber is crowned, a cow is  given to the man who carries his gourd. *

It is interesting to know the bonds of matrimony between the peoples of low caste and between them and the freed. (It is known how the prohibition of marriage is the highest and most observed sanction of the nobles against the inferior peoples.) From the information in the text we have this situation:

–Gaggab: they marry the ‘white freed: they do not marry the Gabaloll[unknown]ay.

– ‘White freed’ ( Habeso-‘ad  ): they marry the Gaggab, the Rer ‘Is; they do not marry the freed.

–Gabalolläy: they marry the blacksmiths; they do not marry the Gaggab. Eylä: they marry the freed. Bon Marrehan: they marry the blacksmiths.

* The Eylä and the freed marry each other. The Eylä are those of the woodland who hunt the dig-dig. They hunt them with snares and with the net. The Eylä eat unclean meat. The Eylä are two, the  Halawo and the Gambaye: the ones who eat the unclean meat and become hyenas. The Bon Marrehân are the ones who kill the oryx and giraffe and make the shields. The blacksmiths and the Bon Marrehân marry each other. To insult an Elyä one says: Eylä ‘white chest.’ When God created all men, there appeared in the plain a dog and a boy. Then it was said: this one is to be called ‘dog’ that one is to be called Eylä (‘the one of the dog’).

2) The low castes among the Hawâdlä and the Galga‘ál.

“The Garyálä, who stay with the ugâs, are Bon of us Adän Warsáma. They hunt dig-dig, antelopes, oryx, and sew sandals. The ugâs,   who now has power over them, said Ugas is the title of the hereditary tribal leader of the Hawadla. The hereditary leader of the Gal-ga ‘el also has the same title. In this case, too, the Garyalä are under the direct patronage of the leader. ): ‘You will stay with me where I live. The one who will come to fight with me will come to fight with you.’ They do not know fear, they are brave. They said: ‘Provided that we are satisfied in what we desire, we shall go where we are sent. And, O ugâs,   we want some land.’ ‘The land’ was said to them ‘work!’ But they said: ‘We fear that the Adän Warsáma may take the guns,The ugâs answered: ‘Were not the Adän Warsáma Dervisci/Dervishes. Now they are of the Government. They will not take them. An ‘Ala Madahwena killed a Garyala. They said: ‘Let the blood price be paid.’ The ugâs   said: ‘I consider the blood price six guns.’ When ‘I consider the blood price six guns’ was said, ‘Take them from us! Let it be so!’ was replied. “A Garyala went out, he killed one from the stirps of that one an ‘Ali Madahwena. The blood price of that one [the Bon killed] had not yet been paid. The blood price of the noble was paid with ten head of livestock. It was said: ‘We shall kill an Adän Warsama. That a Bon has killed one of us is a disgrace.’ It was replied: ’You can not kill him.’ [The matter] was taken to the Government. The lands that were given to the Garyálä belong to the [unknown]ugâs.   They have arrows and guns. A Bon does not take a lance, it would be a disgrace. Their speech is different, their walk is different: quick, quick. It is understood that they are Bon. A Bon said: ‘May a beast bite me! May the viper bite me!’ Another replied: ‘When the viper bites you, will you rest your feet on the ground or rather will you raise them in a hurry [again].*

The noble jokes this way with a Bon who took an oath — according to the Somali custom — assigning to himself as punishment for perjury the bite of a viper. The skipping gait of the Bon is the very one of a person who fears serpents

* They are Mussulmans, but they pray now and again. These Garyálä and we were born together. They were born together with the father of the Adän Warsáma. They were two born together. When they were still two boys, they remained in a place from which people had emigrated. They were sought. The Garálä who carried the arrows was seen. The quiver on his shoulders was seen. The other one was seen carrying a lance and a white shield. The tradition of the first birth of the founders, each one with his typical weapons, recurs here. Their father said: ‘This has to be a Bon!’ Then his walk became ugly, and he did not have shoes. The walk of the other one is nice. This one is a noble, that one is Bon. When the Garyálä became separated [from the nobles], it was said: ‘Do not marry the daughter of a Garyálä! They are Bon. And if you see a noble girl staying with one of them, let [the Bon] be killed!’

“The Bon of the Galga‘él are the men called Barbaro. They became Bon in this way: An expedition was made. It was said: ‘The one who stays today [without coming] is to be Bon!’ Then the Galla of Abyssinia were raided. They left. When the expedition was made, the men against whom war was waged, who were Galla, arrived first at the place where they were going. Then the Barbaro slipped away. Then the Galla and the Galg‘él fought. The Galla were Waralläy, who live to the west. The Galla were vanquished. They were destroyed. Then it was said: ‘The Barbáro are not noble, today they are separate from us. Do not marry their daughters! They are not to marry ours! If they marry ours, they are to be killed. The one who marries theirs is to be killed!’ Thus are the Barbáro.

The Eylä and the Gambálä are of the Galgä‘él. The Gambay (clients) of the Abtisama. They eat unclean meat. The Eylä are of the ‘Alôfä; when they butcher livestock, they take the skin, sew the sandals; they kill the dig-dig, hunt the oryx. The Gambalolläy are Bon, descended from the Adän Yäber. The Yaylä are Bon of very short stature; their women do not marry among them; they live with the Adän Yäber. They live with the Isma‘fi Adän.

“The Gaggáb who sew the sandals and the blacksmiths feel loathing between them. The Angallaye say: ‘We do not want you.’ An Angallaye and a Gaggab girl went away together. They were pursued. People went to the one who had married her. It was said: ‘Divorce our girl! Do we Gaggab marry the Angallaye?’ There was fighting. There intervened the Hawâdlä, who said: ‘Let each one marry his girls!’

“If a noble marries a woman, the Bon come to him. If an animal is killed, some meat is given to them. Some thalers are given to them. If the lady is to give birth, she says to them: ‘Ask even three thalers, two thalers!’ Then they pray to the Lord. A child is born. When a child is born, they come. They say: ‘Give me what was told me!’ It is given to them. A child has come into the house. ‘Recite the fatiha!   May God make him grow for me! When he has grown, I shall give you two thalers.’

“A noble girl, when she reaches eight years old, is infibulated. A Gaggâb infibulates her. A thaler is given. If, on the other hand, a man is circumcised, our people circumcise him.

“When there is an assembly, the Bon come. They say: ‘You are our Gabar; give us something! Be generous with us!’ It is said: ‘What do you want?’ They say: ‘We want camels and sheep and oxen; what will be given to us?’ Then it is said to the [unknown]ugâs   who is in the assembly: ‘Let something be given to these people!’ Camels are brought. ‘Butcher these four head!’ They butcher the four head. The four camels are given to them; they eat them, but they speak only for food, for other things they do not speak. When expenditions are made, they are taken along. If some livestock is taken away, some is given to them.

“I have four Bon. When one of my Bon kills someone, I pay the blood price. When one of my Bon is killed, the blood price is paid to me. I take the livestock with which the blood price is paid. If one of my Bon steals something and is caught, I make restitution. If one has a Bon and kills him, there is no blood price. It is said: ‘His patron killed him.’ If a Bon kills his patron, he is killed or he is tied. In our ancient law, the man who coupled with a Gaggab was killed. The man who coupled with a freed woman was killed. If a Bon raped a noble woman, he was killed. If a child was born, it was strangled. It was thrown away. Now one is afraid of the Government. One can not make dissension. One can not kill. The wedding of a Bon is like ours. If one marries a Bon girl, one speaks with her patron. If he refuses, enough! The livestock is taken by the girl’s father.”

The historically more important datum that follows from this text is that some stripes of low caste are considered directly connected genealogically with the noble Somali stirpes. The reduction to low caste is due: to the violation of food taboo (as for the Ukkuray) or to cowardice in war (as for the Barbaro). This information, which is preserved by tradition, also attests to how pariahs of different origin have come together in the low castes, having in common only the condition of infamy in which they are kept or have fallen.

One of the stirpes of low caste under the patronage of the Galgä‘el has the name: Barbaro. This seems to be linked with Barabir, the name applied to the Somalis in the Arab Middle Ages. And remember that another trace of this name is found among the Ribi, hunters of low caste of the Rahanw[unknown]en, who in their jargon call the Somalis of high caste Beriberi not included in this translation/. ). Why was this Arab designation adopted by the Rahanw[unknown]en lower castes for the noble Somalis, and, on the other hand, among the Galgä‘el, more to the north, to name a stirps of low caste? It is difficult to say now, but it is to be noted that — according to the tradition — the Barbaro today of low caste are genealogically connected with the noble Somalis and represent only, as was said, a group of impoverished ones who were reluctant to fight against the Galla.

Just as also in the text published here, as we shall see elsewhere the Somalis of high caste are also called Gabaro, which is the name by which the Galla now in Ethiopia designate the non-Galla people vanquished and adopted’ into the Galla tribes.

Such an exchange of names leads one to think that in the valley of the W[unknown]ebi too, the Somali invasion and the superimposition of the conquering Somali group on the vanquished Galla and on the Negroes, earlier predecessors of the Galla, happened gradually and through various vicissitudes, not all necessarily of wars, but rather also of adoption into the tribes or by other means of infiltration into the territory and into the ancestral structure of the preceding populations. The Galla named in the text are, as usual, the Worra Daya, here adapted dialectically into Warallay (and elsewhere into Warday), that is, a Borana tribe also named in the Cronache Etiopiche /Ethiopian Chronicles.

3) The low castes among the Abgal.

The Bon live with the Abgal. The head of the animals that are butchered is given to the Bon called Gabôya. The heart belongs to the weavers, and they also have the tripe, the head, and the meat of the neck that is called gorguzzule / gullet, throat/. If an animal dies, they eat the meat. They do not eat with the Abgal. Bowls are put aside (for them). The Gabôya and his son are placed to one side, and nothing is eaten with them.

“The Gaboya make the sandals and make bags (they are the ones that are put on camels and one goes to look for durra). They make baskets (they are the ones with the tassels; they are sewed sheep skin; the women put them on their shoulders). They make girth straps for the camels. They are put under the belly. They make ‘kora-rara.’   The ‘korarára’   are ties that are put on the bags 295   with which the camels are loaded. They make the ties for the ‘h[unknown]an’  han is the vessel with a frame in wicker and leather to store and transport the milk. They make a thing called ‘sidda hanêd’   which is turned over. They make the skin dress (du), which is tied, and the tassels with which it is tied. The Abgal women wear it. Tassels are sewed to the skin dress for ornamentation.

The Gaboya, the blacksmiths, and the weavers are distinguished. The weavers make the clothes. The blacksmiths make the lances, make the knives, make the pincers sidibo it is a thing with which the beard is pulled out); they make that with which the beard is shaved, which is called a razor; they make the scythes with which the fields are worked and the plants are cut. They make the hoes with which the ground is hoed.

“Marriage is not contracted with the blacksmiths, with the Gaboya, and with the Dardo; there is repugnance. They marry among themselves. A blacksmith marries a Gaboya woman; a Gaboya marries a woman of the blacksmiths. They eat with the blacksmiths. They eat with the weavers. They do not eat unclean meat.

Food is eaten with a Gaboya who has fasted, who has prayed, who has given the ‘zakat.’   In ancient times he was separated (from the others) because of the unclean meat, but he was noble. If he once repents there will be eating together. In fact if the Law is considered, it is a Gaboya who was separated [from the others] because of the unclean meat. If, then, one goes on and judges, he was a noble that the occupation and the unclean meat separated [from the others]. Once he has left the occupation and has left the unclean meat and has fasted, offered the prayers, and given the ‘zakat,’   then the Law is that food is eaten with him.”

This text concerns the Abgal ‘Abdallah Agon-yär, from whose notables I collected it in July, 1919. The lower castes living with the ‘Abdallah Agon-yär are, consequently:

a) the Gaboya, who practice the occupation of tanner. The name Gaboya   means ‘quiver’ in Somali, but it would perhaps be imprudent to draw consequences from this imaginative etymology, because it is also not to be excluded that Gaboya may be a popular Somali modification of an ethnic name of some other origin.

b) the Dar-do (literally ‘weave-clothes’), weavers;

c) the blacksmiths, Tumal

Our text confirms the prohibition of marriage between the Somalis and these stirpes of a low caste, and confirms also the prohibition of contact with them, such as, for example, eating from the same wooden bowl. Characteristically, because of the influence of Islamic law, the second of these prohibitions is attenuated in our text, because it is permitted for an individual of low caste who has fulfilled all his religious and ritual obligations of Islam and who has renounced the traditional occupation of his caste (occupation considered degrading) to eat with the Somalis. The double condition set for this concession (a religious one and one from the ancient customs) shows very well the intermingling, in this development too, of the ancestral social structure of the tribes, of the intensified influence of Islamic law, and, at the same time, of the ancient customs, which have evolved, but within their own forms.

References; Enrico Cerulli “How a Hawiye tribe use to live”

The founder of the Abgal

“The mother of Hirabä was Faduma Karanlä. The mother of Abgal was Faduma Sargellä, who was an Aguran. She was espoused by ‘Isman Darandollä. By him she had a son, who was called by the name ‘Ali ‘Isman. Later one went to Sargellä Garën. A learned old man went to him. He said: ‘O noble Sargellä, I saw in the books that the children of the boy born to your daughter Faduma will chase your children from the earth. I saw it in the books.’ ‘Did you see these things?’ ‘Yes, I saw them,’ he answered. ‘So be it!’ the noble Sargellä replied; and into his heart came the thought: ‘Rather than that your children, whom you have begotten, be killed, the son of your daughter might rather die!’ This came into his heart. After this he prepared two different amulets, one good and one bad. The bad one would kill the one who drank it. The good one would protect from any evil of this world. Then he went to his daughter. ‘My Faduma, I am bringing you these two amulets: this one here — and it was the good one — you drink; and the other one — and it was the bad one — give to your son ‘Ali ‘Isman!’ The girl took the two amulets; but when it came to drinking them, she made a mistake! Faduma Sargellä drank the bad one and died immediately. ‘Ali ‘Ismän drank the good one and survived. Sargellä went back to the hut and saw his daughter dead. And the boy, when he heard his grandfather arrive, ran to the side of a saddle camel and hid behind it. ‘Oh ‘Ali, oh ‘Ali! Come! I am your grandfather!’ Sargellä cried out, looking for the boy. ‘You are not my grandfather ( abkäy  ), my grandfather is the camels.’ The camels ( gel  ) in the language of one time were called gal  . So afterwards he (‘Ali ‘Isman) had the name of Ab-gal (‘Camel-grandfather’).”

The tradition substantially recalls the ancient fights between the Abgal, nomadic pastoralists who from places farther north tried to open a way to the river, and the Aguran, who dominated the region of the Middle Webi. This historical content, of course, has been adapted in popular dress with the theme, so widespread in the folklore of quite different peoples, of the prediction of the unborn child destined to drive the reigning prince from the throne.

In this tradition Abgal has, besides his Somali name, which is explained, also a Mussulman name, ‘Ali ‘Isman. It does not seem necessary to me to suppose that the name ‘Ali replaced the Somali one of Abgal in the genealogies in order to make them more Islamized, as one might say. The custom of several names for one single person, among which names, for the Mussulmans, are found an Arab one and one (or more) in the local language, is common in East Africa, even now.

References; Enrico Cerulli ” How a Hawiye tribe use to live”

Hawiyya traditional homeland

The town of Hawiya in Northeast Ethiopia, a few kilometres from Harrar, where the ancestral founder of the Hawiyya clan was said to have lived and is currently buried in.

 

 

 

 

Credentials of Hawiye

The following references are from “Kenya’s past; an introduction to historical method in Africa” by Thomas T. Spear about the early migration of Hawiye clans in Southern Somalia,

The following is a reference from the “Scottish geographical magazine, volume 2; volume 1886” by Scottish geographical society, about the border between the Karanle Somali (Hawiye clan) and the Galla in the far west of Harar,

The following is a short reference is from “The modern history of Ethiopia and the horn of Africa” by Harold G. Marcus about the natural hostility between the Hawiye and the Adones,

The following is a reference from “Camel milk production & marketing in Yaq Bariweyne, southern Somalia” by Urs Herren, about the increasing pressure by Hawiye clans on the native Galla population,

The following is a short reference from “African Minorities in the New World” by Toyin Falola about the nature of slavery in Southern Somalia,

The following are references from “First footsteps in East Africa” by Richard Burton, in the late 19th century, about the antiquity of the Hawiye tribe and the kazi of Zeila,

The Hawiyah are doubtless of ancient and pagan origin; they call all Somal except themselves Hashiyah, and thus claim to be equivalent to the rest of the nation. Some attempt, as usual, to establish a holy origin, deriving themselves like the Shaykhash from the Caliph Abubekr: the antiquity, and consequently the Pagan origin of the Hawiyah are proved by its present widely scattered state; it is a powerful tribe in the Mijjarthayn country, and yet is found in the hills of Harar.

The following is a reference from “Rulers, guns and money; the global arms trade in the age of imperialism” by Jonathan A.Grant, about the Hawiye clan in the Ogaden taking up arms against Menelik,

 

The following is a reference from “Futuh-al Habasha ‘the conquest of Abysinnia” by Sihab ad-Din, about the role of Hawiya clans in Imam Ahmed Gurey’s campaign against Abysinnia,

At this moment the companions of the imam screamed out, saying, ‘The infidels have tricked us; they are after the livestock,’ whereupon the imam split his forces into two divisions: one he entrusted to Garad Ahmusa, composed of the Somali spearmen of the Marraihan, the Gorgorah and the Hawiya; around one-thousand of them from among the most famous spearmen. And from the soldiers bearing shields, the same number.

 The following is a reference from “Symposium Leo Frobenius: perspectives des études africaines” by Social Science, about the settlement of Hawiye by the 12th century,

The following is a reference from the “Journal of historical society of Nigeria, volume 3” by the historical society of Nigeria, about the reaction of Hawiyya political and religious dissidents after the death of the Imam Yahya ibn Hussein, the leader of the Zaidite state in Yemen in the 15th century,

 

The following is a reference from the “The cambridge history of Africa, from c.1050 to c.1600” edited by Roland Anthony Oliver. Under the chapter headed as “ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA AND THE HORN”, it mentions the Hawiye as coastal settlers,

Mogadishu, the Jami, was also apparently built in that century, according to the inscription on the tower gate, which bears the date 1238. The other two old mosques, Arba’ Rukun and Fakhr al-Din, also belong to the same period. Perhaps the most important development at that time was the first establishment of the first sultanate of Mogadishu by Abu Bakr b.Fakhr al-Din, sometimes before 1629. Mogadishu had certainly acquired it’s prominent position on the Benadir coast by that time, and al-Dimashqi (1256-1327) described it as a leading commercial port, where merchants from Arabia, Persia and India came regularly and did business with the local traders, who also seem to have established vital communications with the interior of the Horn. The two other important towns on the Benadir coast, Brava and Merca, had also taken shape in about the same period. Cerulli reports an Arabic inscription from Brava, commemorating the death of a Muslim resident in 1104/05, which certainly indicates the existence of a highly developed Muslim community there in the eleventh century. Merca was also an important settlement in the same period. Al-Idrisi (1100-62) gives a fairly accurate description of its location in his geographical treatise written in about 1150. It was a coastal town and two stages away from it in the interior there was a river of which the river valley produced much corn. This was certainly the Webe Shebele, to which al-Idrisi also seems to make another reference when he locates fifty villages of the Hawiya along the bank of an unnamed river. The Hawiya still form one of the most important tribes of the Somali, and at the time when al-Idrisi was writing his book they occupied the coastal area between Ras Hafun and Merca, as well as the lower basin of the Webe Shebele. Al-Idrisi’s mention of the Hawiya is the first documentary reference to a specific Somali group in the Horn, and it constitutes a very important testimony to the early Somali occupancy of the whole region. Later Arab writers also make references to the Hawiya in connection with both Merca and the lower valley of the Webe Shebele. Ibn Sa’id (1214-74), for instance, considered Merca to be the capital of the Hawiya, who lived in fifty villages on the bank of a river which he called ‘the nile of Mogadishu’, a clear reference to the Webe Shebele. Yaqut, another thirteenth century Arab geographer, also mentions Merca, which he says belongs to the “Black Berbers”.

The following is a reference from “Proceedings of the Royal Geographical society of London, volume 6” by the Royal Geographical society, about the country of the Hawiye.

The Hiraab Imamate

The birth of the Hiraab Imamate

According to local oral tradition and the town chronicles along the coast, the Hiraab imamate was a powerful alliance of closely related groups who shared a common lineage under the Gurgarte clan divisions. It successfully revolted against the Ajuran empire in the 15th and 16th centuries before establishling an independent entity.

The Imamate formed a clear division of power. The alliance involved the army leaders and advisors of the Habar Gidir and Duduble, a Fiqhi/Qadi of Sheikhal, and the Imam was reserved for the Mudulood branch who is believed to have been the first born. Once established, the Imamate ruled the territories stretching from Mogadishu in the Banaadir province along the coast to as far as the port town of Hobyo in the northernmost central town.

Transferred leadership

As affirmed earlier, the Hiraab had defeated the Ajuuraan, and subsequently the titular clan leadership within the Hawiyya tribe had shifted from the Garen Jambelle to the Gorgarte clan divisions, hence the strategic watering wells and trading locations were some of the many new purks that they attained. And indeed, by the early modern times, Hawiyya country was increasingly identified by those territories whom the Hiraab had held sovereignty over.

 The importance of Hobyo in the Imamate

Hobyo served as a prosperous commercial centre for the Imamate.  The agricultural centres of Eldher and Harardhere  included the production of sorghum and beans, suplementing with herds of camels, cattle, goats and sheep. Livestock, hides and skin, whilst the aromatic woods and raisins were the primary exports as rice, other foodstuffs and clothes were imported.  The luxury comodities traded consisted predominantly of textiles, precious metals and pearls. The commercial goods harvested along the Shabelle river were brought to Hobyo for trade. Also, the increasing importance and rapid settlement of more southernly cities such as Mogadishu further boosted the prosperity of Hobyo, as more and more ships made their way down the Somali coast and stopped in Hobyo to trade and replinish their supplies. To conclude, the port of Hobyo was an income-generating source where the Imamate received enormous revenue.

The reigning sultans of the Hiraab Imamate

• Suldaan Xaaji Cumar Hilowle al-Yacquubi
• Suldaan Doodshe Aadan Good
• Suldaan Daamey Cali (Xume) Axmad
• Suldaan Cumar Abu Bakr
• Suldaan Abu Bakr
• Suldaan Axmad I
• Suldaan Maxamad I
• Suldaan Axmad II
• Suldaan Maxmuud
• Suldaan Cali
• Suldaan Cusmaan
• Suldaan Maxamad II
• Suldaan Axmad III
• Suldaan Xassan C/Qaadir Xaaji

The fall of the Hiraab Imamate

By the late 19th century, the Imamate began to decline. Faced with internal problems and challenges from the imperialist forces, the Zanzibari sultan, and even from  the Portugese earlier on, the Hiraab Imamate lost it’s power and eventually fragmented. By 1880, a young ambitious dissident of the northeast, allied with an army of Hadrami musketeers, had managed to sieze Hobyo and formally declared an independent sultanate. After a few years, Hobyo was ceded to the Italian government of Mogadishu. In 1925, under Italian admission, the sultanate was pensioned off to Mogadishu and Hobyo became an administative district of the Mudugh region.

By then, the entire surrounding regions of what formed the Italian Somaliland were snapped up by the fascists Italians and it led to the birth of a modern Somalia. However, the Hiraab hereditary leadership has remained intact up to this day and still enjoys a dominant influence in national Somali affairs.

References; The Shaping of Somali society by Lee Cassanelli.

Overview of the Ajuran empire

Ajuran traditions amongst the Hawiyya

The Darandoolle, it should be noted, were part of the Gurqaate, a clan section collateral to the Jambelle Hawiyya from whom Ajuran (and Gareen) is said to have been descended. Intermarriage among the descedants of these uterine brothers on the one hand helped reinforce the solidarity of the Hawiyya. On the other hand, competition between collateral lines was very common in Somalia, particularly where the titular leadership of a larger clan-confederation was at stake. Such a struggle for the dominant place within the Hawiyya-dominated Ajuran confederation may also be reflected in the rise of the Silcis and El Amir  in the later years of Ajuran rule. Both are said to have been descedants of Gurqaate Hawiyya, as were the Abgaal Darandoolle. Thus it can be argued that the dominant groups which appeared toward the end of the Ajuran era—the Darandoolle near Muqdisho, the Silcis near Afgooye, and the El Amir in Marka—represent the partition of the Ajuran imamate among collateral Hawiyya sections. Or perhaps one branch of the Hawiyya—namely the Gurqaate—forcibly replaced another (the Jambelle) as leaders of the confederation.

This second hypothesis better explains the apparent “disappearance” of the Ajuran by suggesting that the line of Gareen Jambelle was eclipsed politically by the more numerous and widespread Gurqaate. In the Somali setting, power ultimately comes from the fighting strength of a clan and its allies; and domination most often depends on the relative numerical superiority of the dominant. Thus the decline of Ajuran power in political terms conceivably resulted from shifts in the demographic structure Page: 109 of the original alliance network. Indeed, clans of Gurqaate and Guggundabe affiliation were the dominant representatives of the Hawiyya clan family in the Shabeelle valley area at the beginning of the twentieth century. The bulk of Jambelle Hawiyya (including the Ajuran) are today located west of the Jubba River.

The structure of Ajuran rule

The oral sources also provide us with recurrent themes that point to certain structural features of Ajuran rule. The descendants of the Ajuraan (among which are the Gareen imams) can therefore be understood to have inherited the spiritual (Islamic)  and the secular (numerical) power provided by the alliance of the first three Hawiyya “brothers”.  Ajuran power reposed on the twin pillars of spiritual preeminence and Hawiyya kinship solidarity, a potent combination in the Somali cultural context. In historical terms, a theocratic ideology superimposed on an extensive network of Hawiyya-affiliated clans helped uphold Ajuran dominance over a wide region.

 

(Traditions suggest that in times past many Hawiyya clans were preferentially endogamous: that is, where possible, marriages were contracted between members of different lineages within the same clan. This practice helped maintain political cohesiveness within large, territorially dispersed clans; it also helped to keep livestock within the within the extended kinship group. The assertion that the imams of Ajuraan “violated” the norms of clan endogamy and collected bridewealth from many different clans (see quotation above, p. 93) highlights the dominant position of the Gareen lineage in economic as well as political terms. Interviews with Muddey Haji Geeley, Muqdisho, 16 May and 9 June 1971: Aliow Mahad Emed, 29 July 1971; and Sherif Hassan Sherif Muhammad, 6 Sept. 1971. Cf. Cerulli, Somalia   2:301 ff., and Marlowe, “The Galijaal Barsana,” pp. 31. 88. )

 

The straightforward interpretation of the foregoing is that the primary cohesive force in the Ajuran polity—as in virutally all pastoral polities—was the network of agnatic and affinal ties that linked the leading lineages of the region. We can effectively view the boundaries of this pastoral “state” as coincident with the outer limits of the alliance system. Such an interpretation makes it easier to comprehend how Ajuran authority could be said to have extended from Mareeg (the territorial center of the Darandoolle, a segment of the Gurqaate Hawiyya) to Qallaafo (the probable homeland of the Jambelle Hawiyya, where their clan ancestor is buried), when in fact it is evident that the polity was not an integral territorial one. In the vast grazing areas between these nodes of Hawiyya control lived sizable numbers of Biimaal, Digil. and Oromo pastoralists who do not appear to have been incorporated fully into the alliance system.

Most accounts refer to the Ajuran leaders as imams, a title rarely used to identify Somali religious figures in more recent times. Oral accounts further allude to emirs and naa’ibs as agents of Ajuraan government, in contrast to the much more commonly used Somali titles of boqor, islao,  and malaakh   to indicate special military and ritual leaders. Furthermore, unusual topynyms which purportedly date from Ajuran times— Awal el-amir   (“tomb of the emir”) and Cusk Naa’ib Samow   (“the seat of Naa’ib Samow”)—further convey the impression of a distinctly theocratic polity. Lest it be thought that such titles are simply glosses added in the process of the traditions’ transmission, we have external corroboration in a Portuguese letter of 1624, which refers to a ruler in the southern Somali interior as an imam.

Like many of the pastoral polities that periodically emerged in the Sahara and central Arabian deserts, the Ajuran state was not a cohesive territorial entity; rather it consisted of several clan territories joined together by the kin, marriage, and patron/client ties of the inhabitants. Wherever a Hawiyya group had settled and could be incorporated into the alliance system, the “state” could be said to exist. On the local level, lineage segments might opt into the larger confederation for military, labor-sharing, or resource-sharing reasons; others might be compelled to pay tribute in order to gain access to watering sites controlled by the Ajuran. The state also incorporated groups of riverine cultivators that were settled at various places along the Shabeelle from Qallaafo in the north to Torre in the southeast, near Baraawe. These cultivators probably formed the bulk of the servile labor force that was conscripted to construct the dikes and canals popularly attributed to the Ajuran period. Although they are remembered in tradition as the “slaves” of the Ajuran, they probably resembled the communities of client-cultivators known from more recent times.

 In exchange for supplying grain and labor to the dominant pastoral stratum, the cultivators corporately received the latter’s patronage and “protection.” Thus a series of local and regional alliances underpinned and legitimized the apparent concentration of power in the hands of the Gareen imams.

From this perspective, the phenomenon of Ajuran “domination” represented not a break with the typical Somali system of clan alliances and patron/client links but an extension and elaboration of it. What gave the polity its overall cohesiveness and unusual longevity were the rudimentary administrative procedures and the theocratic ideology introduced by the Gareen. The taking of tribute, for example, is one of the most salient features of Ajuran rule recorded by tradition. There is no reason to doubt that this practice actually occurred in the sixteenth century, particularly having noted the presence of literate Muslim record-keepers and “slave soldiers” during that period. The posting of naa’ibs   to the various districts and the conscription of labor for public works are other indications from tradition of an embryonic bureaucracy at work. Alliances contracted at the local level continued to be based on mutual interest; but now techniques of Ajuran administration and the titles and practices of an Islamic hierarchy—a new technology and ideology so to speak—were grafted on to these various local arrangements to produce an overarching political structure.

Determining whether there were any links between the Ajuraan and the wider Islamic world is problematic. There is no evidence to date that the Ajuran state was known to Muslims outside of Somalia. Personal communication from Ali Abdirahman Hersi, Department of History, Somali National University. In the course of his research for “The Arab Factor,” Hersi reviewed numerous Arabic manuscripts on medieval Somalia in Egypt and the Middle East. At the same time, the muskets and luxury goods associated with the governing elite were almost certainly imported from the Ottoman Empire or its neighbors. The Gareen alliance with the Muzaffar dynasty of Muqdisho must have given the former access to engineers and architects from abroad. If the Muslim advisers of the of the imams corresponded with statesmen elsewhere in the Islamic world, no record of their contact has come to light. On the basis of the evidence presently available, we must assume that the Ajuraan state was essentially Somali-oriented, more concerned with domestic developments than with international politics.

Aspects of their tyrannical rule and revolt

The Ajuran collected tribute in the form of durra and bun   (coffee beans roasted in butter) from the cultivators who farmed the alluvial land along the lower Shabeelle River. They also demanded cattle, camels, and goats from the nomads of the region. (Some informants commented that the name Ajuraan came from the Arabic root ajara  —“to tax”—and a few claimed that the Ajuraan were mercenaries paid by the Gareen imams to extort tribute from their subjects.)  The people under Ajuraan rule were forced to dig canals for irrigating the land along the river and storage pits for preserving the grain that was taken in tribute. They dug wells for the imam’s livestock and built fortifications for the imam’s soldiers. They shepherded the camels and sheep and horses of the Ajuraan. Many of the deep, stone-lined wells still in use in parts of southern Somalia are attributed by local tradition to Ajuraan construction; and abandoned fortifications in stone were still in evidence in the early twentieth century. The population was large in Ajuraan times, according to tradition. A popular account says that the birth of an imam’s son at Marka was reported the same day at Mareeg, on the northern confines of the “state.” The imam had wives in every district, and he remained in each part of his dominions for one or two months of every year. The  custom in Ajuran times was for the ruler to spend seven nights with every new bride before she went to the bed of her husband. The imam also collected half [some sources say all] of the bride-wealth normally given by the husband’s kinsmen to the father of the bride. The bride-wealth was in those days 100 camels. Ultimately, the people rose up against the tyranny of Ajuran rule. According to most accounts, the first to rebel were the pastoral Darandoolle whose descendants today live on the outskirts of Muqdisho and in the pasturelands north of it. Sometime between 1590 and 1625—the approximate dates appear to be corroborated by a Portuguese document dated 1624. These nomads ambushed and killed the Muzaffar governor of Muqdisho, who was an ally of the Ajuraan rulers. A few years later, these same Darandoolle challenged the authority of the Ajuraan imam directly.

{After entering Muqdisho, the Darandoolle quarrelled with the Ajuraan. They quarrelled over watering rights. The Ajuraan had decreed: “At the wells in our territory, the people known as Darandoolle and the other Hiraab cannot water their herds by day, but only at night.” … Then all the Darandoolle gathered in one place. The leaders decided to make war on the Ajuraan. They found the imam of the Ajuraan seated on a rock near a well called Ceel Cawl. They killed him with a sword. As they struck him with the sword, they split his body together with the rock on which he was seated. He died immediately and the Ajuraan migrated out of the country. In another variation of the story, a young Darandoolle warrior was born with a gold ring on his finger, a sign of his future preeminence. The Darandoolle then rallied around their young leader, who eventually assumed the title of imam of the Darandoolle and took up residence in Muqdisho).

 

After the successful rebellion of the Darandoolle, other clans  began to challenge Ajuraan hegemony. Along the middle reaches of the Shabeelle valley, the pastoral Gaaljacal and Baddi Addo waged several unsuccessful campaigns before they eventually united to drive the Ajuraan out of the area.In the region of the Shabeelle bend, the Geledi clan formed an alliance with the Wacdaan to expel a group of tyrants known as the Silcis, who were either allies of the Ajuraan or their immediate successors in that district. Similarly, the Ajuraan lost control of the town of Marka to a people known as the El Amir (perhaps the followers of a rebellious regional governor), who then ruled that town for thirty-four years. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, the El Amir were in turn defeated and driven out by the Biimaal, whose descendants today occupy the hinterland of Marka. Most traditions agree that the Ajuran fought long and hard to preserve their position of dominance, but in the end they were defeated and scattered throughout the country. Some of the survivors went to the upper Shabeelle, where a group of cultivators still claimed, in the early twentieth century, to be descendants of the slaves of the Ajuran. Other Ajuran crossed the Jubba where they today pursue a pastoral existence in the district of Wajir, in modern-day Kenya. According to popular accounts, the Ajuran declined because their tyranny became insupportable, because they abandoned the law of Islam, or because they were excessively arrogant. If pride alone brought success, goes one proverb, the Ajuran would never have left the country. The foregoing narrative contains the major elements of the Ajuran saga, which can be related in greater or lesser detail by informants from any number of clans today resident in southern Somalia. There appear to be no glaring discrepancies among the accounts obtained in different districts, nor have there occurred any notable distortions or deletions in the story since Guillain first recorded it in the 1840s. The most significant variations occur in accounts of Ajuran decline, for which traditions are generally much fuller than those dealing with Ajuran origins and with the nature of their rule. The significance of this last observation will be discussed below. The point here is that oral traditional accounts of the Ajuran period are generally consistent through space as well as time. Such consistency regarding events that purportedly occurred more than three hundred years ago suggests that the Ajuran saga has become part of the folklore of southern Somalia. It clearly contains a number of stock cultural and literary themes which must be recognized before one can assess the historicity of the episode as a whole. 

Finally, it was noted above that traditions that describe the downfall of the Ajuran are generally richer and more varied than those that describe the nature of Ajuran rule. A number of clans preserve accounts of incidents which led to rebellion against Ajuran hegemony. Some incidents are caused by conflict over resources; others appear to have religious or political causes. These will be discussed shortly. What should be noted here is that most accounts of Ajuran decline end in military defeat for the former rulers. The decisive battles are typically described as having occurred in places which today are within the territories of the clans concerned and thus can be seen as helping to legitimize a clan’s occupation of territory by referring that occupation back to an earlier, almost legendary era. Memories of having defeated the Ajuran embellish a clan’s history. In addition, certain long-standing clan alliances—the Gaaljacal and Baddi Addo, the Geledi and Wacdaan (see p. 215)—assume a sense of permanence by having begun in rebellion against a common oppressor. It is worth noting that many southern Somali clans which make no claims of ever having defeated the Ajuraan nevertheless have traditions of expelling other tyrannical leaders from the lands they occupy today.

Further rebellion and eventual overthrow of the dynasty

Clan traditions about Ajuraan decline can be grouped into several categories. Some describe military encounters and include place names and, occasionally, the names of prominent leaders (Darandoolle rebellion, p. 93). Others recount the emergence of rivals to Ajuraan leadership and leave the actual downfall of the Ajuraan unstated (the El Amir takeover of Marka). Still others are elaborate stories detailing despicable acts wrought by Ajuraan officials together with plots of revenge contrived by the wronged parties. Finally, there are traditions (like that about Shaykh Hassan Buraale, discussed below) which attribute Ajuraan decline to the loss of their religious authority and powers. The variety of style and structure in these accounts leads one to suspect that a number of different motives lie behind their formulation and transmission. At the core of each tradition lies the undisputed belief that the Ajuran fell from power; yet each has elaborated the story of the fall to make particular points about the fragility of power. An analysis of the various types of traditions enables us to view the decline of the Ajuraan on different levels. From all indications, the demise of the dynasty was not a sudden event; it was a lengthy process involving both internal and external challenges to Ajuran supremacy. Although these traditions are specific enough to establish a rough chronology—the erosion of Ajuraan power seems to have begun about 1620 and was complete by 1690—I will be less concerned here with particular events than with the various processes that altered the structure of Ajuran domination.

In the first place, Ajuran decline needs to be seen against the background of continuous pastoral migrations out of the arid central Peninsula toward the better-watered regions of the interriver plain, which was the heartland of the Ajuran dominions. Hawiyya clans and sub-clans—Gaaljacal, Baddi Addo, Murursade, Abgaal—continued to filter into the grazing areas opened up by earlier Hawiyya migrations.

By 1600, clans of Hawiyya ancestry controlled most of the pasture land along both banks of the middle Shabeelle River.

At the same time, numerous pastoralists known in more recent times as Rahanwiin began to occupy the lands west of the Hawiyya. While herding units in the vanguard of these two migratory waves could be incorporated into the Ajuraan polity through arrangements of pastoral clientship, their growing numbers—the result of additional migrations and natural reproduction—must have posed a threat to their hosts. Thus, on one level, the challenge to Ajuraan supremacy came from newly arrived nomads seeking to stake a claim to the region’s resources and forming new alliances to do so. The Darandoolle settlement of well sites north and west of Muqdisho; their subsequent rebellion against restrictions imposed by the Ajuraan on the use of the wells; the Gaaljacal desire to extend their grazing areas: all are examples of the continual on-the-ground conflict between the established occupants of the area and the newer arrivals, chiefly over questions of access to natural resources. Accounts of such conflict, exemplified by the Darandoolle episode, may well be a record of actual historical events. On the other hand, they may be generalized descriptions of recurrent pastoral conflict which characterized relations between the dominant Ajuraan and their erstwhile subjects. In either case, traditions of this sort point to a distinctly ecological/economic dimension in the challenge to Ajuraan supremacy.

Along with this competition for grazing resources there apparently occurred a series of struggles for political ascendancy among the various factions of the Ajuran confederacy. This struggle is most clearly signaled in the story of the auspicious birth of the future Darandoolle (Abgaal) imam, who would in time come to challenge the authority of the Gareen imams. In a related tradition published by Enrico Cerulli, the Gareen imam hears a prophecy that the descendants of his son-in-law (Osman Darandoolle) were destined to outnumber the sons of Ajuraan and to expel the latter from the land.

{The mother of Hiraabe was Faaduma Karanle. The mother of Abgaal was Faaduma Sarjelle, who was an Ajuraan. She was married by Osman Darandoolle. They had a son who was called Ali Osman. Sometime later a wise elder went to Sarjelle Gareen, and said: “O noble Sarjelle, I have seen in the books that the descendants of the son born to your daughter Faaduma will drive your descendants from the land. I have seen this in the books.” “You have seen these things?” “Yes, I have seen them,” he replied. “So be it!” responded the noble Sarjelle)

 

The account goes on to tell of the Gareen imam’s plan to poison the young Ali, only to poison his daughter Faaduma by mistake. The marriage relations cited at the beginning of the tradition are critical to an understanding both of the nature of Ajuraan rule and of its subsequent fragmentation to this day.

Breif overall of the dynasty

To sum up our historical reconstruction: the Ajuran appear to have been a confederation of Hawiyya clans led by the Gareen lineage, which was believed to possess religious power and a political pedigree. This politico-religious leadership drew on the warrior strength of the predominantly pastoral Hawiyya and the ideology of an expanding Islam to establish a series of administrative centers in and around the well sites and irrigated riverbanks of southern Somalia. Marriage alliances reinforced ties of agnatic and religious loyalty among the leading families of the region. Perhaps with the aid of literate Arab scholars and mercenaries, the Gareen evolved a rudimentary administration which oversaw the collection of tribute from cultivators, herdsmen, and traders and which conscripted a servile labor force to undertake an unprecedented program of construction of wells and fortifications. Alliances with the leading families of Muqdisho and Marka bolstered the imam’s power by providing an outlet for surplus grain and livestock. Duarte Barbosa noted of Muqdisho in 1500 that it was well-supplied with meat, wheat, barley, horses, and fruit. See Duarte Barbosa, A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century,   trans. E. J. Stanley (London, 1866), p. 16. and a source of the luxury goods that symbolized the imam’s high status.

Details on the period of Ajuran domination are sparse, and we have been forced to conjecture about many aspects of their political structure and ideology. As has been suggested, surviving oral traditions tend to elaborate the more stereotypic features of Ajuraan rule; as such, they alone cannot be taken as indisputable evidence for the existence of a fully developed autocracy. The primary value of these traditions is to reveal the principles on which the Ajuran polity was constructed, the sources of power and authority believed to have underpinned the system. These principles—clan solidarity, religious baraka, political alliance (chiefly through marriage), control of natural resources—are the major forms of political capital in the Somali pastoral setting. To a greater or lesser degree, these same principles have been employed by virtually every leader or dynasty that has attempted to consolidate his or its authority over any portion of the Somali Peninsula in the past. The Ajuran are unusual because, as traditions suggest, they exploited all four sources of power. It is the extent of Ajuran domination and the range of techniques used to sustain it that probably account for the elaborate traditions associated with this period, to the extent that Ajuraan domination may also account for the widespread traditions concerned with the overthrow of the dynasty.

Legacy of the Ajuran

  

Some of the more readily apparent stock themes in the preceeding narrative are the auspicious appearance of a stranger whose marriage into a local family holds out the promise of a large and supernaturally gifted progeny; the ius primae noctis   enjoyed by the imam, a practice commonly attributed to tyrants in northeast Africa; the imam’s possession of “wives in every district,” a literary exaggeration of the polygamy customarily practiced by a few prominent Somali sultans in more recent historical times; and the supernatural sign—in this story, a golden ring—attending the birth of a challenger to the existing ruling order. These and other formulaic representations of Ajuran oppression found in some of the variant versions clearly have didactic functions in a society known for its egalitarianism and its suspicion of all forms of centralized authority. One can reasonably argue that the preservation of the Ajuraan legend (whatever its historical foundation) served to remind Somalis of the dangers of autocratic rule. The Somali proverbs cited at the beginning of the chapter, and many others, speak to this same concern.

 

The Ajuran saga also contains a number of eteological elements designed to explain the origins of stone ruins found scattered through southern Somalia. Many deep wells and large abandoned earthworks are popularly attributed to Ajuraan technology. While there is no reason to assume that the Ajuraan period could not have witnessed considerable construction in stone, the historian must be wary of attributing all such remains to a single historical period. Ruins have been discovered (though, unfortunately, rarely investigated)  in many parts of the Somali Peninsula; the dates of their original construction probably span the past millennium.

But until more systematic archaeological work is carried out, we cannot regard these ruins as definitive evidence of Ajuraan engineering accomplishments.

The ancient town of Gandarshe

Gondershe is a historical Somali stone city build on a oasis in Southern Somalia. The city’s ruins consists of typical Somali Architecture such as Coral stone houses,Fortifications, Tombs and Mosques. It’s said to date from the Ajuuraan Age when it became a center of trade that handled smaller vessels sailing from India, Arabia, Persia and the Far East.  The major medieval Somali power engaging in castle building was the Ajuuraan State and many of the hundreds of ruined fortifications dotting the landscapes of Somalia today are attributed to Ajuuraan engineers.

  

References

Enrico Cerulli ”How a Hawiye tribe use to live”

Lee Cassanelli ”A pastoral society”

First Mentions of Hawiye

The first clear written reference to any Galla or Somali group is found in
the writings of the thirteenth-century Arab geographer, Ibn Sa’id. Ibn
Sa’id says that Merca, a town on the southern Somali coast near the Shebeli
River, was the ‘capital of the Hawiye country’, which consisted of more
than fifty villages (or districts or tribes).3 This area is today the home of the
Hawiye Somali clan-family, so there is good reason to assume that the Merca
region has been occupied continuously by the same Somali group for the
past 700 years. In fact, we can probably extend this to 800 years, for the
geographer al-Idrisi remarks that Merca was the region of the ‘Hadiye’
in the twelfth century. It is quite likely that the extant texts contain an
error, and that it should be ‘Hawiye’, as Guillain, Schleicher, and Cerulli

 

Merca; the ancient capital of the Hawiyya country.

1 This view is presented most fully by Cerulli (I957), I, and I. M. Lewis (I959a, 1960).
2 H. S. Lewis (I962); Fleming (1964); Haberland (1963), 3-6. Murdock (I959),
319-20, 323-4, suggested that the Galla and Somali originated in the highlands of
south-eastern Ethiopia but in most other respects followed the traditional reconstruction.
3 Guillain (1856), I, 238-9; Abu al-Fida (I848), II, 232; Cerulli (1957), I, 94; Schleicher
(1892), ix.

Source

The Origins of the Galla and Somali
Author(s): Herbert S. Lewis
Source: The Journal of African History, Vol. 7, No. 1 (1966), pp. 27-46
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/179457
Accessed: 19/03/2009 16:17