Aw-Barkhadle

[Khaem]

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn
12th-century Muslim scholar

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn (Arabic: يوسف بن أحمد الكونين) (b. 10th century), popularly known as Aw Barkhadle ("Blessed Father") or Yusuf Al Kownayn, was an Islamic scholar and traveler based in Somalia. Based on reference to Yusuf Al Kawneyn in the Harar manuscripts, Dr. Enrico Cerulli.

Biography
Local Somali oral tradition and written Ethiopian history gives reason to believe Aw Barkhadle allegedly arrived from Arabia. However Arabian origin stories pertaining to ancestral saints such as Yusuf are regarded as a myth by scholars and an islamification of a prior pagan origin story that relates back to Waaq and ancestor worship. That now ties the Somali to the prophets clan (Quraysh). Religious synchronism where the old religion is adapted to reflect the hegemony of the new in that the ancestral home of the ancestors in Arabia, the headquarters of Islam. Thus Yusuf has been affirmed to have 'exalted origins' through being related to the prophet.

Yusuf is described by some scholars as a native of Somalia and as a Somali who studied in his city Zeila and later in Iraq. As a result of his studies in Iraq, he was given the title of "Al Baghdadi" as well. He is also noted for having devised a Somali nomenclature for the Arabic vowels, this would eventually evolve into Wadaad's writing.

He is accredited in certain areas for the introduction of black-headed fat-tailed sheep also known as Berbera Blackhead.

Described by some as a Sharif, he has been described as "the most outstanding saint in Somaliland". Yusuf's son Muhia ad-Din Yusuf Aw-Barkhadle is listed as Emir of Harar in 1038AD.

The sheikh is also known for spreading the Islamic faith to Southeast Asia, after traveling there from Zeila. He is also known as being a member of the Somali 'Diwan al-awliya' (Famous Saints of Somali Origin).

In the Maldives, he is called Al-Hafiz Abu Barakat al Barbari ("Blessed father of Barbari") and whose religious name was Shaykh Yusuf al Kawneyn. He is credited with spreading Islam in the islands, establishing the Hukuru Miskiiy Mosque, and converting the Maldivian population into Islam. al-Barbari is also credited for introducing Maliki school to Maldives which is still dominant in North Africa. Ibn Battuta states the Maldivian king was converted by Abu Al Barakat Al Berber ("blessed father"). The Shaykh reportedly converted the islands into Islam by convincing the local King, Sultan Mohammed Al Adil, after having subdued Ranna Maari, a demon coming from the sea.

According to historian Ewald Wagner, Barkhadle was a descendant of Yahya ibn Muhammad ruler of Morocco in the ninth century.

 

[Khaem]

Family and Ancestral legacy

Sheikh Yusuf Al Kawneyn is also associated with the Walashma dynasty of Ifat and Adal, which was a medieval Muslim dynasty in the Horn of Africa. It governed the Ifat and Adal Sultanates in what are parts of present-day Somaliland, Djibouti and eastern Ethiopia. Sheikh Yusuf is described by some historians as being the ancestor of this royal family. He is also known as representing the spiritual legacy of the Ifat and Adal Sultanates. Some historians trace Sheikh Yusuf Al Kawneyn to the Gadabursi clan, which primarily inhabits the Horn of Africa. According to Somalis of Issa, the Wardiiq one of their sub clans are also descendants of this saint. This Issa tradition revolves around the induction of Harla clans into Somali lineage such as Horoone. A few ethnic groups in modern southern Ethiopia claim descent from Aw Barkhadle which include Silt'e and Wolane people. A descendant of Barkhadle was one of the key negotiators during the surrender of Emirate of Harar in 1887 to the Abyssinians.

Shrines​

The sheikh has shrines dedicated to him in Sri Lanka, in the town of Aw Barkhadle, northeast Hargeisa in Somaliland, in a site called Qoranyale, near the town of Borama. Shrines are also to be found in eastern modern Ethiopia near Fedis as well as in Harar.

According to C.J Cruttenden, the tomb of saint Aw Barkhadle, which is located to the southwest of Berbera, was used by the Isaaq clans to settle disputes and to swear oaths of alliances under a holy relic attributed to Bilal Ibn Rabah. The Eidagale historically acted as mediators.

When any grave question arises affecting the interests of the Isaakh tribe in general. On a paper yet carefully preserved in the tomb, and bearing the sign-manual of Belat [Bilal], the slave of one of the early khaleefehs, fresh oaths of lasting friendship and lasting alliances are made...In the season of 1846 this relic was brought to Berbera in charge of the Haber Gerhajis, and on it the rival tribes of Aial Ahmed and Aial Yunus swore to bury all animosity and live as brethren.

According to renowned Somali anthropologist I.M. Lewis in his book Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society, the descendants of Sheikh Isaaq (the Isaaq clan) annually gather at the historic shrine of Saint Aw Barkhadle to pay respects in the form of siyaaro (localized pilgrimage with offerings). As Aw Bardhadle had no known descendants, the descendants of the Saint's friend and contemporary figure, Sheikh Isaaq, will remember Aw Barkhadle in his stead:

Since, however, Aw Barkhadle’s precise connection with the rulers of Ifat is not widely known, he appears as an isolated figure, and in comparison with the million or so spears of the Isaaq lineage, a saint deprived of known issue. The striking difference between these two saints is explained in a popular legend, according to which, when Sheikh Isaaq and Aw Barkhadle met, the latter prophesied that Isaaq would be blessed by God with many children. He, however, would not have descendants, but Isaaq’s issue would pay him respect and siyaaro (voluntary offerings). So it is, one is told, that every year the Isaaq clansmen gather at Aw Barkhadle’s shrine to make offerings in his name.

Aw Barkhadle's shrine near Fadis was set alight during the Ogaden War by the Ethiopian militia in 1977.

 

[Khaem]

Aw Barkhadle​

Tradition states Barkhadle travelled extensively from Mogadishu to Berbera, Hargeisa and finally Harar where he allegedly stayed for 300 years of his 500 year life. Towards the end of his reign he built a mosque in Dogar. Before Al-Kowneyn's arrival into this town (now named after him) was called Dogor. The residents were not Muslim, but rather pagan, believing and taking part of a pre-Islamic Somaliland religion called Wagar. The Wagar itself is thought to be an anthropomorphic representation of a sacred feature or figure, indicating an indigenous non-Islamic religious fertility practice in Aw Barkhaadle. The word "wagar"/"Waĝa" (or "Waaq") denotes the Sky-God adhered to by many Cushitic people (including the Konso) in the Horn of Africa including the Somali in pre-Islamic times both before and during the practice of Christianity and Islam.

While completing his studies in Zayla, Al Kowneyn was told of a town in present-day Somaliland called Dogor, with an oppressive king called Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr who is believed to be a Yibir. According to the legend, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr married couples by sleeping with the bride during the first six nights of the marriage and engaged in acts of paganism and magic. Local people at Aw-Barkhadle attribute the conversion of locals to Islam, to the defeat by duel of the previous religious leader, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr, by the Muslim newcomer Aw-Barkhadle, who heard of the oppressive nature of the king and wanted to stop him. The Saint showed the religious superiority of his beliefs in contrast to the local beliefs of Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr's followers, whom the former won over in great number.

Furthermore, the Aw-Barkhadle site is an important burial site of the Muslim rulers of the Adal Sultanate. Al-Kowneyn himself of the Walashma dynasty of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD is buried in this town.

Sri Lankan Muslim settlement

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn is also credited with starting the first Sri Lankan Muslim settlement. It is located in western Sri Lanka and is named Berbereen (Beruwala) in honour and respect of the Shaykh.

 

[Somali Saayid]

oppressive king called Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr who is believed to be a Yibir. According to the legend, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr married couples by sleeping with the bride during the first six nights of the marriage and engaged in acts of paganism and magic

 

[killerxsmoke]

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn
12th-century Muslim scholar

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn (Arabic: يوسف بن أحمد الكونين) (b. 10th century), popularly known as Aw Barkhadle ("Blessed Father") or Yusuf Al Kownayn, was an Islamic scholar and traveler based in Somalia. Based on reference to Yusuf Al Kawneyn in the Harar manuscripts, Dr. Enrico Cerulli.

View attachment 301132


Biography
Local Somali oral tradition and written Ethiopian history gives reason to believe Aw Barkhadle allegedly arrived from Arabia. However Arabian origin stories pertaining to ancestral saints such as Yusuf are regarded as a myth by scholars and an islamification of a prior pagan origin story that relates back to Waaq and ancestor worship. That now ties the Somali to the prophets clan (Quraysh). Religious synchronism where the old religion is adapted to reflect the hegemony of the new in that the ancestral home of the ancestors in Arabia, the headquarters of Islam. Thus Yusuf has been affirmed to have 'exalted origins' through being related to the prophet.

Yusuf is described by some scholars as a native of Somalia and as a Somali who studied in his city Zeila and later in Iraq. As a result of his studies in Iraq, he was given the title of "Al Baghdadi" as well. He is also noted for having devised a Somali nomenclature for the Arabic vowels, this would eventually evolve into Wadaad's writing.

He is accredited in certain areas for the introduction of black-headed fat-tailed sheep also known as Berbera Blackhead.

Described by some as a Sharif, he has been described as "the most outstanding saint in Somaliland". Yusuf's son Muhia ad-Din Yusuf Aw-Barkhadle is listed as Emir of Harar in 1038AD.

The sheikh is also known for spreading the Islamic faith to Southeast Asia, after traveling there from Zeila. He is also known as being a member of the Somali 'Diwan al-awliya' (Famous Saints of Somali Origin).

In the Maldives, he is called Al-Hafiz Abu Barakat al Barbari ("Blessed father of Barbari") and whose religious name was Shaykh Yusuf al Kawneyn. He is credited with spreading Islam in the islands, establishing the Hukuru Miskiiy Mosque, and converting the Maldivian population into Islam. al-Barbari is also credited for introducing Maliki school to Maldives which is still dominant in North Africa. Ibn Battuta states the Maldivian king was converted by Abu Al Barakat Al Berber ("blessed father"). The Shaykh reportedly converted the islands into Islam by convincing the local King, Sultan Mohammed Al Adil, after having subdued Ranna Maari, a demon coming from the sea.

According to historian Ewald Wagner, Barkhadle was a descendant of Yahya ibn Muhammad ruler of Morocco in the ninth century.

Too much misinformation

He didn't bring islam to south east asia and iran didnt give him the title al baghdadi

 

[GALAN]

Aw Barkhadle​

Tradition states Barkhadle travelled extensively from Mogadishu to Berbera, Hargeisa and finally Harar where he allegedly stayed for 300 years of his 500 year life. Towards the end of his reign he built a mosque in Dogar. Before Al-Kowneyn's arrival into this town (now named after him) was called Dogor. The residents were not Muslim, but rather pagan, believing and taking part of a pre-Islamic Somaliland religion called Wagar. The Wagar itself is thought to be an anthropomorphic representation of a sacred feature or figure, indicating an indigenous non-Islamic religious fertility practice in Aw Barkhaadle. The word "wagar"/"Waĝa" (or "Waaq") denotes the Sky-God adhered to by many Cushitic people (including the Konso) in the Horn of Africa including the Somali in pre-Islamic times both before and during the practice of Christianity and Islam.

While completing his studies in Zayla, Al Kowneyn was told of a town in present-day Somaliland called Dogor, with an oppressive king called Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr who is believed to be a Yibir. According to the legend, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr married couples by sleeping with the bride during the first six nights of the marriage and engaged in acts of paganism and magic. Local people at Aw-Barkhadle attribute the conversion of locals to Islam, to the defeat by duel of the previous religious leader, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr, by the Muslim newcomer Aw-Barkhadle, who heard of the oppressive nature of the king and wanted to stop him. The Saint showed the religious superiority of his beliefs in contrast to the local beliefs of Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr's followers, whom the former won over in great number.

Furthermore, the Aw-Barkhadle site is an important burial site of the Muslim rulers of the Adal Sultanate. Al-Kowneyn himself of the Walashma dynasty of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD is buried in this town.

Sri Lankan Muslim settlement

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn is also credited with starting the first Sri Lankan Muslim settlement. It is located in western Sri Lanka and is named Berbereen (Beruwala) in honour and respect of the Shaykh.

yusuf ibn ahmed al kownayn never faced a yibir king he had arrived and was fighting the Oromo's of Somaliland who predate the Isaaq, and dared tribes there. see I.M LEWIS Galla of northern Somaliland.

 

[Burqad]

What’s with the eyeballs? Every tyrant in history has been accused of Droit De Seuigner but there’s no evidence of it ever happening. Ajuuraan were accused of it as well.

 

[mohammdov]

yusuf ibn ahmed al kownayn never faced a yibir king he had arrived and was fighting the Oromo's of Somaliland who predate the Isaaq, and dared tribes there. see I.M LEWIS Galla of northern Somaliland.

The Oromo invaded the region,They ruled the region for a while but they did not live there and were fought and expelled

 

[Burqad]

yusuf ibn ahmed al kownayn never faced a yibir king he had arrived and was fighting the Oromo's of Somaliland who predate the Isaaq, and dared tribes there. see I.M LEWIS Galla of northern Somaliland.

I.M Lewis is outdated

 

[GALAN]

I.M Lewis is outdat

I.M Lewis is outdated

is Cerulli good enough he even brings out the true Somali oromo history if you want just read the names of 50 percent of cities in Somalia. this where I first found out rooms predated Isaaq and al lawman Varthema, Lodovico de; Jones, John Winter (1863). The Travels of Ludovico Di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, A.D. 1503 to 1508.

 

[Burqad]

my qoti brother if I.M Lewis is outdated why bring up some random trash by a white man from the 1800’s?

How does your mind work when someone says the milk is expired do you bring them fossilized milk?

 

[GALAN]

my qoti brother if I.M Lewis is outdated why bring up some random trash by a white man from the 1800’s?

How does your mind work when someone says the milk is expired do you bring them fossilized milk?

which sources u want bro lol this guy Is a little kid all the evidence is the city village and town names

 

[NidarNidar]

I believe that site to be even older, you can find Christian burials on the site and even signs of much older practices of Ebbe Waaq, including phallic gravestones which show the practice of ancient Cushitic fertility ritual/pilgrimage, some of which survived to this day.

Similar sites are found in the north with the Afar and Saho and further southwest amongst the Oromo.

 

[Khaem]

I believe that site to be even older, you can find Christian burials on the site and even signs of much older practices of Ebbe Waaq, including phallic gravestones which show the practice of ancient Cushitic fertility ritual/pilgrimage, some of which survived to this day.

Similar sites are found in the north with the Afar and Saho and further southwest amongst the Oromo.

We need more archeology and Historians doing studies. Inshallah once central government is re established we can have scholars go to points of interest and conduct studies. So much history we only know very surface levels things about because we don't take the time to excavate and study ancient sites.

 

[GALAN]

kiss I think my self is a confederation we are bunch of tribes gathered today, hence reer Harla, reer wardiq and my own tribal reer Galan we don't have a 100 percent Somali origin .

 

[GALAN]

isse***

 

[NidarNidar]

kiss I think my self is a confederation we are bunch of tribes gathered today, hence reer Harla, reer wardiq and my own tribal reer Galan we don't have a 100 percent Somali origin .

I believe the whole notion of tribal affinity is due to the security it offers, once we have a solid government and stability for 100-200 years it will slowly vanish, the afar have absorbed Issa, likewise the Somali clans probably did the same with external tribes/peoples.

We need more archeology and Historians doing studies. Inshallah once central government is re established we can have scholars go to points of interest and conduct studies. So much history we only know very surface levels things about because we don't take the time to excavate and study ancient sites.

I'm going to do an extensive lidar scan around Amoud hopefully in 2025, I might need to smuggle the equipment in through Ethiopia I had a hard time with a regular drone through Hargeisa.

 

[Khaem]

kiss I think my self is a confederation we are bunch of tribes gathered today, hence reer Harla, reer wardiq and my own tribal reer Galan we don't have a 100 percent Somali origin .

We issa are pure Somali ofc. Not a confederation. We are directly from Dir.

It's just that the nature of our geography on the fringes of Somaliweyn.
Whilst other Somali clans had feuds with other Somali clans. We Issa are most known for wars and rivalry with non Somali peoples like the Afar and Oromo.
We regularly conquered land from non Somali even to hararghe at one point. Djibouti is often called an issa state but only a tiny bit of the south is actually issa, like 80% of the land is originally afar. So we have some sub clans within Issa who trace lineage to Harla. Afar clans are more fluid then Somali ones if you get.

Afars have been known to assimilate some Somali into their clans such as issa members because it's so easy for cushites to just become a part of a different clan and thus ethnicity. Our little region has all sorts of clans descended from completely different tribes. Oromo hararghe have clans descended from many Dir and Hawiye including issa. Afars have some clans that have members descended from Somali. Just like we have some sub clans descended from other tribes. It's just how it is.

We are completely Somali. It's just we have certain sub clans that may have been from different Cushitic tribes due to us being in the edge of Somaliweyn and facing other ethnicities in war regularly unlike other Somali clans who fought each other mostly.

 

[Sophisticate]

I believe the whole notion of tribal affinity is due to the security it offers, once we have a solid government and stability for 100-200 years it will slowly vanish, the afar have absorbed Issa, likewise the Somali clans probably did the same with external tribes/peoples.

I'm going to do an extensive lidar scan around Amoud hopefully in 2025, I might need to smuggle the equipment in through Ethiopia I had a hard time with a regular drone through Hargeisa.

I do not think Somalis would eliminate tribe or attempt to mass assimilate under the veil of nationalism. Simply due to stability. Nationalism could take on a different more hybridized form. Where tribe has a marginal role in politics (or a transformed one) but still persists. People simply won't forget their roots. And the idea of a post-qabil world in Somalia though a possibility is highly improbable. They are not identical to Oromo or Afar. Nor would they take their lead with respect to identity formation.

 

[GALAN]

yes

We issa are pure Somali ofc. Not a confederation. We are directly from Dir.

It's just that the nature of our geography on the fringes of Somaliweyn.
Whilst other Somali clans had feuds with other Somali clans. We Issa are most known for wars and rivalry with non Somali peoples like the Afar and Oromo.
We regularly conquered land from non Somali even to hararghe at one point. Djibouti is often called an issa state but only a tiny bit of the south is actually issa, like 80% of the land is originally afar. So we have some sub clans within Issa who trace lineage to Harla. Afar clans are more fluid then Somali ones if you get.

Afars have been known to assimilate some Somali into their clans such as issa members because it's so easy for cushites to just become a part of a different clan and thus ethnicity. Our little region has all sorts of clans descended from completely different tribes. Oromo hararghe have clans descended from many Dir and Hawiye including issa. Afars have some clans that have members descended from Somali. Just like we have some sub clans descended from other tribes. It's just how it is.

We are completely Somali. It's just we have certain sub clans that may have been from different Cushitic tribes due to us being in the edge of Somaliweyn and facing other ethnicities in war regularly unlike other Somali clans who fought each other mostly.

well said over time the original Issas may have assimliated the neighbouring rooms, and afars because it is very easy, and is culture. however im sure you have herd about the reer Galan we are a very large tribe in the Issa and we live around jeldessa and djbouti some in Somaliland