Imam Ahmed Gurey? Somali, harari, or Yemeni?

[Idilinaa]

Evidence that suggests he was Harari: Ahmed grew up in Harar and if he was born in Hubat it's also likely he had Harris ancestry. Ahmed's uncle Garaad Abun Adaashe is identified as a Harari , he also married a Harari noble woman.

Evidence that suggests he was mixed: if you combine the few scarce sources in his relatives we find both somalis and hararis which may indicate that he had both ancestries which also explains why he was never mentioned as one particular ethnicity.

There is no evidence of the modern Harari being connected to the 16th century town of Harar, there is no mention of a Harari ethnicity either. And if you look at the available evidences it shows a post 16th century creation for Harari identity and they may have moved into the area.

When Harar is mentioned in the Futuh it is treated as simply an important muslim town, center or capital without an ethnicitiy attached to it. Aside from that the town doesn't seem to be older than the 15th century where it's thought have been founded.

Whereas Somalis who are the bulk of the armies & the first recruits are mentioned 70 or more times throughout the text and as well as being mentioned by individual clan names, Harari is never mentioned once. Even modern ethnicities like Hadiya and Gideo are mentioned in the book.

. Hubat is in Oromiya but close to Harar, we don't know the ethnic make up of the area but it's likely that there was a somali presence before oromos occupied the area, if Ahmed was born in Zeila then it means he was most likely Somali

It is only counted as Oromiya because the people there are Oromonized and speak the language. We have information on the ethnic make up the region and it's majority Somali with Hawiye being the dominant prescense

According to Oromia administration report, a tribe where dominance of Oromifa language in the area including mayo, Hawiya, Madigan, Akisho Maru, and others belong to Oromo. Among
these clans, the researcher focused on Hawiya due to two reasons, the first, numerically, hawiya is dominant in the area, the conflict appear in the area was directly involved with Hawiya

The issue of the ethnic idenity of the region remains highly controversial but we know Hawiye was one of the major western clans that partook in the Futuh war. As we all know about the Oromo migrations they are newcomers to the area, so it must have been previously inhabited by another group most likely the current Hawiye among them.

Also Zeila would probably have been numerically and politically dominated by Somalis but it was still a port city and therefore would have been cosmopolitan, so Arabs and other red sea ethnicities would have been living there.

Other hypothesis: i took most of my information from an ethiopian academic paper . The study presents arguments in favor of the somali hypothesis but leans towards considering Ahmed Guray as a mix between Balaw (beja) and Afar. I can understand the afar hypothesis but I believe the Balaw (beja) hypothesis is nonsense because Bejas don't live anywhere near the area were Ahmed was born and raised.

The Afar hypothesis also makes no sense if you take into account that just like Harari, Afar as an ethnicity are never mentioned in any text or document related Adal. The most important text Futuh don't even mention them. Where the Afar are mentioned on two seperate occurances (Ibn Said 13th century and, Alvares 16th century) are bordering Adal in an area by the red sea along the eritrea-djibouti corridor, seperate from the Adal Kingdom and Zayla city. Infact Danakil(Afar) are explicitly mentioned to be completly independant from Adal by the portuguese.

I don't understand how some modern authors try to tap dance around that, makes me believe there is alot of bias and selective reading at play and false extrapulations.

Beja one is similarly doubtful as you explained because they have no population history on that side of East Africa , which researchers themselves even admit that it's not even traceable. I don't know how you can even begin to argue this.

Harla hypothesis. The harla people have been absorbed by hararis and northern somalis (mostly Harti) . Scholars are undecided on wether they spoke an ethio semitic language or a cushitic one. Anyway Harlas were mentioned as a separate group in futuh al habasha and were also close to Ahmed Guray. If we accept the Harla hypothesis both hararis and somalis can claim Ahmed Guray because Harlas are the ancestors of Somali Harti and Hararis just like vikings are the ancestors of Scandinavian nationalities.

What academic paper said this? There is no Harla hypothesis. Harla has never lived anywhere in Northern Somalia, only in the western regions alongside Ogaden clans. There is no credible corroborated tradition that speaks of their occupancy in the Harti region only in the areas connected to Awdal Sultanate and Hoobat which is further west Nor is there any academic paper that says Harti assimilated Harla or have Harla among them or even claiming them.

The first documented recording of Harla is in Awfat city by Ibn Said where he breifly mentions the Walashma. This is a deep western town in Showa area around awash tributaries, far from Northern Somalia. They aren't mentioned to be from Harar even.

Harla today are mostly assimilated by Oromo in Showa and Afar in Awsa. The surviving Harla that remains that Enrico Cerruli and many other 20th century writers have had the privilege of studying are among the Issa clan , between Jigjiga and Dirre Dawa.

The Darod group of tribes are represented by the Giri, Marehan, Herti, Bersuk, Bartire, Yabarre and Harla, who are now a section of the Esa but recognize their Darod affinities.

The Ruined Towns of Somaliland* | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

The Ruined Towns of Somaliland* - Volume 11 Issue 43

www.cambridge.org

Harlah. Most of the Harlah now live with the Esa Madoba or Black Esa, while some also live near the Danakil country.

British Somali Land : Ralph E Drake Brockman : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Book Source: Digital Library of India Item 2015.81470dc.contributor.author: Ralph E Drake Brockmandc.date.accessioned: 2015-06-30T17:10:47Zdc.date.available:...

archive.org

I think there can be little doubt that they were the descendants of Harrlah, brother of Harti and Gherri, and son of Kumbi, who was one of the direct descendants of Darod.This shows that the Harla were of the same stock as the other Darod tribes, and consequently were Somalis and not Gallas. I have seen several of these old remains myself in both Somaliland and in the Galla countries in Abyssinia

Harla among Issa Madobe don't claim Dir lineage. If they were absorbed by Somalis they would have claimed to be of Dir lineage from the clan they know are apart of but rather they claim to be Darood Ogaden lineage being brothers of Harti and Ghiri, not from them or ancestors to Harti. You know why? because as modern scholars have explained identities aren't as easily fabricated or constructed.

This is true for example for the remnant Oromo invaders like Akisho who were assimilated by Somalis.

On top of claiming a Dir lineage they can't even demonstrate their links to it, their attempts are uncorraborated by other Somali clans as well.

If Harla was assimilated by Somalis A) they would be claiming Dir, B) Their lineage claims wether Darood or Dir would be uncorraborated and not demonstrateable.

Lastly if they were absorbed by Somalis they would not speak a seperate dialect. Which they do call Af-Harlaad. This is seperate from what Issa and Darood Ogadenians speak.

There are Somalis who are assimilated by Oromo & they don't speak a different dialect from the rest, and the same goes for the Akisho Oromo assimilates.

Futuh is unclear on the matter like @Shimbiris pointed out.

Conclusions: we don't know 100% but nevertheless Ahmed Guray is a symbol of somalis and we are the group that is most attached to him, most foreign scholars tend to lean towards the Somali hypothesis. I personally think Ahmed was a somali with some hararis roots.

I believe Gurey symbolizes something much more than anything related to Somali nationalism/Identity, this is discounting the Siad Barre's appropiation of him. He is seen as a symbol of self-determination for Somalis and the Muslims of the wider horn.

Wether he is Somali or not shouldn't be the focus point in my opinion.(Although i do believe he was looking at the information objectively). His significance lies in his heroic struggle for the people of Muslim empire and his fight to safeguard his Muslim faith against the ongoing Abyssinian Chrisitian agression.

He is similar to Sayiid Abdullah Hassan in someways, even though he himself was appropiated for modern Somali nationalism, they was first and foremost a fighters in the name of Islam.

For Somalis the most important thing to them is their religion, to the point that being Somali & Muslim is intertwined identities and there is no secular distinction. Islam throughout history as it was for Arabs, was for Somalis the most important unifier and source of inspiration.

 

[Idilinaa]

Here is the Futux al-Xabasha:



I'll do a large post on it one of these days. For now, we really don't know for sure what he was. He strangely never gets his tribe or ethnicity mentioned when the book does that for most other people contrary to secondary sources that make all sorts of claims I've seen like him being "Balaw" (I'll explain why this is false in my future post). You can tell it's actively avoiding the subject of his origins, I'd say.

It's interesting how he arranges his army, though. The right flank is all Somali tribes led by his brother-in-law Mattan married to his eldest sister, Firdusa, who is the chieftain of the Geri Kombe (Daroods) whereas the left flank is all "Harla" and led by the chieftain of a separate tribe from the Harla, the "Zarba", named Muhammad who is a maternal cousin of the Imam via an aunt. The Zarba seem to sometimes be spoken of as a different group but they're often mentioned in tandem with Somali tribes like they are one. For instance, in the chapter about the Somali tribes who appear in Harar to answer the call to Jihad, the book proceeds to list out the tribes of the Somali who arrive and for some reason also lists out the Zarba:



Weird that they're just mentioned casually among the Somali tribes, no? They wouldn't be the only Somali tribe of the time now lost to history. We also have two called "Jairan" and "Mazza" or something like that who are explicitly called Somali tribes but whom we cannot trace back to any modern tribes unlike the rest.

Harlas are also a possible old Somali group based on more early modern and contemporary scholarly inquiries despite how the Futux speaks of them as separate from the Somali tribes at various points where it even describes the two groups feuding. Though in one instance it speaks of them as though they are Somalis:



And if you think it means they are "the people of sim" then think again because the other Somali tribes mentioned are basically the people of sim from what I can tell:



Anyway, by the looks of it, if Zarba are Somalis, then he literally gives command of his left and right flank to Somalis, both of whom are family in some way or another, one through marriage to his eldest sister and one through his own maternal line. I'll share it in my future post but there's also a separate medieval source from the Futux that seems to posit the Imam is related to the Habar Awal maternally as well and it makes sense cos when the Isaaq (Habar Majadli / one of the two "Habar Maqdi" in the mistaken English translation) come to answer the call to arms he seems to very happily welcome them in particular to some extent.

All that being said, it's at least interesting that he has what seem to be several close Somali relations and seems biased toward giving them commanding positions. The center of the army was made up of elite warriors seemingly from all the tribes/ethnicities called "Malassai" whom the Imam himself commanded.

I believe Futuh makes it clear that Zarba is a sub clan of Harla.

The storyteller, may the Most High God have mercy upon him, says: When the
desire for a raiding party and a jihad had been rekindled in the imam Ahmad, may
the Most High God have mcrcy upon him, he went down, first of all, to a country
called Zarba, in the region of Harla. Then he sent to Zayla‘ to have weapons of
war, swords and the like, procured for him. He also ordered them to buy for him
some cannon because he wanted to take them with him on the raid into Abyssinia.
They bought him what he desired and brought back to him seven cannon.

Then the tribe of Girri came up, with their chieftain Garad Mattan along with
eighty knights and one-thousand foot-soldiers. In the same way the tribe of Zarba
came up from Harla with their lord the sultan Muhammad with twenty knights and
three-hundred foot-soldiers. The tribes assembled - all of them volunteers and on
good terms with one another. The number of the horses in readiness was around
five-hundred, and there were twelve-thousand

It also explains why Zarba is never mentioned in the same text as a seperately as a clan/tribe next to Harla.

 

[Idilinaa]

Gurey is the one of the most Somali names I have ever heard, it's like being called Guuleed or Warsame. His name alone should be more than enough of an indicator. His wife was probably Harari or some other Cushitic Muslim group, but just because his wife's ethnicity was dubious doesn't mean his was!

As for those who fixated on fabricating his sub-clan, what is the point in speculating if there is zero evidence? Ahmed Gurey is the perfect Pan-Somali hero precisely because his clan is not known and it doesn't matter. He was fighting for Islam, not Somalis and not his sub-clan clearly.
Smh

His wife could be Harla or another important clan in the area. People read the Ethiopianization of her name Bati Del Wambara and thinks she is was Harari which is a post 16th century identity.

Futuh records her name as ''Bintu Maxfud Dalombiro''. The name Dalombiro however is similar to Daroods, Dir wife Donbirro in Somali traditions. So it sounds like a pre-islamic Somali name if anything.

One thing you will notice with Amharas is that they ethiopianize a lot of Muslim/Somali names. For example places that have Somali names like Qabri Bayax becomes Gebre Bayah, Awbarre become Teferi Beri and names like Gurey becomes Gragn.

 

[Mckenzie]

Gragn was a Somali, Hawiye, Karanle, Reer Garaad. The problem is leading members of his family were killed off one by one, by the end of the 16th century his nephew Amir Talha ibn Wazir Abbas lost the dynasty to Harari/Ada'ili communities.

 

[Deleted L]

There's no conclusive proof that he was Somali. The possibility of the great Imam being Somali is high due to his close proximity to them and the fact that Somalis made up the bulk of his military but there's no conclusive evidence that he was Somali and that's probably a good thing. Could you imagine if Imam Ahmed's qabiil (tribe) was known? that would just increase tribal hatred and arrogance among Somalis LOL.

 

[ladySomal206]

There's no conclusive proof that he was Somali. The possibility of the great Imam being Somali is high due to his close proximity to them and the fact that Somalis made up the bulk of his military but there's no conclusive evidence that he was Somali and that's probably a good thing. Could you imagine if Imam Ahmed's qabiil (tribe) was known? that would just increase tribal hatred and arrogance among Somalis LOL.

Right, it may be a good thing we don’t know who he was . And it may be like that for a reason.

 

[Shimbiris]

Why do you think the balaw claim is false? It’s the one backed with the most evidence and considering he was born in hubat a town shared between harla and balaw sexawle karanle It makes sense to predict he was a mixture of both groups.

I'll explain another time in detail but it's not backed by any evidence whatsoever, walaal. It's actually hilarious but, to put it simply for now, some of these secondary sources misattributed a guy in the Futux as his father simply because he shares a name with the Imam's father and the Imam was his retainer for a time (the guy in question is Balaw) when the Futux never says he's the Imam's father and in fact makes that fairly clear from what I recall. We don't have any idea who his father was, contrary to some secondary sources. This is why it's always important to read the primary sources yourself.

 

[Mckenzie]

I'll explain another time in detail but it's not backed by any evidence whatsoever, walaal. It's actually hilarious but, to put it simply for now, some of these secondary sources misattributed a guy in the Futux as his father simply because he shares a name with the Imam's father and the Imam was his retainer for a time (the guy in question is Balaw) when the Futux never says he's the Imam's father and in fact makes that fairly clear from what I recall. We don't have any idea who his father was, contrary to some secondary sources. This is why it's always important to read the primary sources yourself.

Waryaa duli baa tahay are you seriously telling us the Imam who led the most famous and greatest Jihad in East Africa aabihiis lama aqoon? Wecel miyuu ahaa? Next thing you will tell us he is the son of a Coptic priest and a Muslim harlot as some Ethiopians use to say to tarnish his name. The letters of Wasan Seged and the undeniable tutelage under Garad Abun should be enough to dismiss your claim. Also, Imam Axmed Gurey waa Somali qabiilna waa ka dhashay. Just deep it, there is more evidence of the Imam as a member of the Karanle tribe than Amir Nur Mujahid as a Marehan, this latter is literally a clan tale according to the German author who mentioned it, not even an actual study just a hebel baa yiri, this was most probably put into publishment and redated during the Siad Barre era.

 

[Shimbiris]

@Mckenzie

Walaal, I would have no issue with him being Karanle. Soomaali waa Soomaali for me, niyahow. But what I said is not a "claim". It's the truth. Lemme show you through a post I made on another site a long time ago:

Alright, saxiibs, I wanna address some stuff about the Imam's origins particularly the claim in this document that makes a lot of mistakes in general that he is paternally Balaw and maternally Afar. For starters, the Imam is at no point ever called a Balaw and nor are any of his relatives. In terms of his relations we are told of:

* His sister Fardusa who is married to the Geri Kombe Somali Garad by the name of Mattan bin ‘Utman bin Kaled
* His sister Munisah who is married to a Garad Kamal and referred to as the daughter of Garad ‘Utman (different father from the Imam?)
* A maternal cousin named Muhammad bin Ali who is the Chieftain of the Zarba tribe that might be Somali
* A brother named Muhammad bin Ibrahim who is the chieftain of the tribes of Sawa and Hargaya
* The Wazir ‘Abbas who is the son of the Imam’s brother
* Garad Abun who is said to be his brother and the son of Garad Ibrahim
* Garad Ahmadus bin Mahfuz, brother-in-law of the Imam because the Imam was married to Ahmadus' sister Ba‘tiya Del Wanbara whose father was Garad Mahfuz


That's it as far as I've ever seen in terms of relations mentioned in the Futuh. Other than this I could find no claims that he was Balaw or related to someone of Balaw origins so I wondered where this claim came from and then I noticed this:

He went to his home in a town called Za‘ka, a day's journey from the town of the sultan. He encountered a young man in the employ of the sultan Abu Bakr bin Muhammad, whose name was Hamdus bin Mahfuz, who had four of the sultan's horses with him. He took them from him, and set out from his town of Za‘ka for a place callcd Rabat al-Baqr This was a place of many trees, with a well-fortified mountain. He stayed there one day, and then went on to a place called Sih which was a mighty, flowing river. He then had seven horses. He was joined by an emir called Garad Abu Bakr bin Ismail.

...

The storyteller says: The imam turned back, remming to the country* of the Muslims, after looting much booty and settled down in his town of Za‘ka. He then went to see the sultan Abu Bakr and peace was made between the two of them. Afterwards, however, the sultan's mood changed. He treated his subjects unjustly, corruption reappeared, as did hostility towards the imam whom he sought to kill. The learned men and sheikhs did their best to reconcile them both. The sultan, however, opposed these moves and started a war against the imam. He abandoned the path of truth and plotted to deceive the imam, but was duped by his own cunning just as the Most High God says in the masterful passage in his illustrious book: The vile ruse entraps him who concocts it.’

...

Hearing that the imam was in the country of Hubat, the sultan Abu Bakr set out with his infantry and his cavalry and went to the village of the imam Ahmad. He burnt his home, and looted the possessions of the Muslims there. The imam and his companions heard what the sultan had done in his village, so he and they set out by night from the country of Hubat and kept on going from town to town harrying the sultan, and being harried by him, until they came to a place called Jadar. Exhausted from their journeying they fell asleep there. Around noon the sultan and his forces caught them unawares as they slept. They awakened and fled but not one of them was captured

...

Returning to his country Sultan Muhammad was murdered by his in law Muhammad bin Abu Bakr bin Mahfuz, a prominent person in the country, who ruled the country after him for one year. Then Muhammad bin Abu Bakr bin Mahfuz was, in his turn, murdered. His killer was Ibrahim bin Ahmad, ruler of the country of Hubat." of the tribe of Balaw, a prominent person in the country who ruled the country after him for three months.​

You see, the Imam is originally from a town/village named Za'ka in the country of Hubat and his full name is Ahmad bin Ibrahim and for a short time a man by the name of Ibrahim bin Ahmad ruled over Hubat and he was a Balaw and the secondary sources seem to just assume, I guess, that this is the Imam's father even though the Futuh never makes any such connection between the two when it tells us about Ibrahim bin Ahmad and he is not called a Garad unlike the Imam's father. The claim that he is related to Garad Abun who ruled Hubat for seven years after Ibrahim bin Ahmad was deposed is also seemingly based on no evidence since the Futuh never establishes any such connection:

... to be continued in next post​

 

[Shimbiris]

... continuation from last post

Ibrahim bin Ahmad was killed in his turn. His murderer was Wasani the slave of Garad Mahfuz, a prominent person in the country- who ruled the country for three months. He was arrested after this, and his captor was Mansur bin Muhammed who sent him in shackles to Zayla* and he was murdered by one of the slaves of Yafa‘ in Zayla‘. In his stead ruled the emir Mansur bin Mahfuz bin Muhammad bin Garad Adas. Garad Mansur waged war against Garad Abun for five months. After this Garad Abun came against him, and ruled for seven years. He clung to the truth, and exercised justice and authority in a fairway, banning what was forbidden [in the Law], killing highwaymen, forbidding wine, games, and dances accompanied by drums. The country flourished. He cultivated the nobles and the Qur’anic teachers, the dervishes and the sheikhs. He ruled over his kingdom, and worked for the good of his subjects.

[Ahmad bin Ibrahim]

Our lord the imam of the Muslims, Ahmad bin Ibrahim at-Gazi was at that time a knight under Garad Abun, endowed with intelligence and foresight who consulted, in his youth and in his prime, the inspiration of God the Most High in regard to the commission that God willed should be entrusted to him. Garad Abun loved him mightily, when he saw howr courageous and astute41 he was. After this, the sultan Abu Bakr, son of the sultan Muhammad bin Azr from the stock of Sacd ad-Din, stood up against Garad Abun. He raised against him a band of Somalis whom he had recruited from among the riffraff and highwaymen. They fought against Garad Abun and waged a bloody battle against him, killing Garad Abun bin Adas in his homeland as he defended his country and his family. He died a martyr’s death. May the Most High God have pity on him.​

The Imam simply served as a cavalryman under Garad Abun who ruled his home region of Hubat and was well favored by him. That is all. You maybe wondering though at how I listed a Garad Abun the Imam is a brother to but that is not this Abun whose name is Garad Abun bin Adas and not bin Ibrahim who was killed by an Abyssinian nobleman named Wasan Sagad whereas Garad Abun bin Adas was killed by a Walashma Sultan which is something secondary sources like thiscompletely miss. All of this also relates to how the Imam eventually rose to power in that the Walashma came along and conquered Hubat, killing Garad Abun, and their rule was apparently quite decadent and inspired Ahmad to rise up. At any rate, Garad Abun bin Adas himself is never said to be a Balaw as far as I can see nor is he related to the Imam. So the Balaw claim seems baseless. All we really know is that the Imam was born in a town/village called Za'ka in a place called Hubat and from there you can try to put things together from his relations if you like. I assume his brother being the chieftain of the tribes of Sawa and Hargaya might have been a later development by conquest as well since all we really know of the Imam's early life, and possibly that of his brothers, is that he is from this town/village in Hubat and not of any known tribal group but who knows; that might be the ringer. Nevertheless, the Balaw thing is out the window.


Now, there is an interesting matter this document brings up. Though it should be noted before I go on that the author makes many mistakes like calling Mattan a Marehan, perhaps wrongly considering the Zarba Somali, putting forward the Balaw stuff, and not realizing the Malasay are an elite fighting unit composed of different groups and not a tribe or ethnicity which he erroneously tries to tie to the Afar based on secondary sources that have no evidence for the strange leaps they're making like sharing that the Afar have a special warrior group called the Gobad and that the Malasay are the Gobad when the "Gobad" or anything like thatare never once mentioned in the Futuh and it is explained that the Malasay are not a single group but just an elite force gathered from among the Muslim soldiers as a whole. However, despite all that he does highlight an interesting story in the Futuh:

... to be continued in next post​

 

[Shimbiris]

... continuation from last post

After he had heard that the idol-worshippers had assembled near a church called Latibala, 84 the imam set out into the mountains, by a difficult route, to attack them. Rain fell on them from above. They marched by night, and still he forced their march. Some of their number died from the piercing cold before he arrived at the church. He found its monks there, milling around and willing to die for its sake. The imam gazed at the church, He had never seen its like. It was carved out of the mountain. Its pillars were likewise cut from the mountain. Theonly things made of timber in the church were their statues and their sarcophagi. It had a large water cistern carved out of the mountainside. The imam had the monks788 grouped together and then ordered firewood to be strewn inside [the church]. He had it set alight, and when the heat intensified he said to them, ‘One of you shall enter it; and one of us,'to find out what they would do; to put them to the test. Their chief said, ‘I shall enter willingly’. Thereupon one of the women rose up, she was a nun, and said, "This is he who taught me the Gospel. Shall he die while I am watching him?" So she entered the fire and threw herself down in it. The imam said, " Put her out’. So they pulled her out. Part of her face had been burned.

You see, what this story tells us is that Imam carries a known custom among former Waaqist East-Cushites like Somalis and Afars:

The Somal hold mainly to the Shafei school of El Islam: their principal peculiarity is that of not reciting prayers over the dead even in the towns. The marriage ceremony is simple: the price of the bride and the feast being duly arranged, the formula is recited by some priest or pilgrim. I have often been requested to officiate on these occasions, and the End of Time has done it by irreverently reciting the Fatihah over the happy pair. The Somal, as usual amongst the heterogeneous mass amalgamated by El Islam, have a diversity of superstitions attesting their Pagan origin. Such for instance are their oaths by stones, their reverence of cairns and holy trees, and their ordeals of fire and water, the Bolungo of Western Africa. A man accused of murder or theft walks down a trench full of live charcoal and about a spear’s length, or he draws out of the flames a smith’s anvil heated to redness: some prefer picking four or five cowries from a large pot full of boiling water. The member used is at once rolled up in the intestines of a sheep and not inspected for a whole day. They have traditionary seers called Tawuli, like the Greegree-men of Western Africa, who, by inspecting the fat and bones of slaughtered cattle, “do medicine,” predict rains, battles, and diseases of animals. This class is of both sexes: they never pray or bathe, and are therefore considered always impure; thus, being feared, they are greatly respected by the vulgar. Their predictions are delivered in a rude rhyme, often put for importance into the mouth of some deceased seer. During the three months called Rajalo the Koran is not read over graves, and no marriage ever takes place. The reason of this peculiarity is stated to be imitation of their ancestor Ishak, who happened not to contract a matrimonial alliance at such epoch: it is, however, a manifest remnant of the Pagan’s auspicious and inauspicious months. Thus they sacrifice she-camels in the month Sabuh, and keep holy with feasts and bonfires the Dubshid or New Year’s Day.20 At certain unlucky periods when the moon is in ill-omened Asterisms those who die are placed in bundles of matting upon a tree, the idea being that if buried a loss would result to the tribe.​

The author also points out that the way the Imam practices this trial by fire tradition is a manner that is found among the Afar but this was 500 years ago and I wouldn't be shocked if Somalis practiced it this way too back then or if certain tribes did or another Cushitic group altogether. There really is little proof that Afars were involved in the Futuh as far as I've seen. Their region is mentioned in passing as just a region the Muslims pass by more or less and no tribes are mentioned and no association is made between "Ayfars" and "Hubat" or "Ayfars" and any group nor are any "Ayfar" tribes mentioned as being involved in the fighting. I just don't buy that they were involved but who knows. There is also no linguistic or historical evidence as far as I know. Afars were nowhere to be seen around Harar during the time Burton visited in the 1800s from what I remember unlike Southern Ethiosemites and Somalis and there is no proof of an Afar substratum anywhere either in the Somali dialects or in in the Ethiosemitic languages in the area which have either an Agaw (Argobba) or Sidamic (Harari) substratum. Not sure about the Oromo dialects in the area but I suspect as much there too.

... to be continued in next post​

 

[Shimbiris]

... continuation from last post ​

But if he was Somali one does beg the question as to why this wasn't mentioned given how much he is talked about in the book but it could also just be that what the author in that secondary source assumes about Afar maternal descent could very well have been true in the Somali case given the supposed connection in another document to the Habar Magaadle and also the possibility that the Zarba are Somali given how they're listed among the Somali tribes arriving near Harar and their chieftain is the Imam's maternal cousin. Either way, he does seem to have some sort form of Cushitic, former Waaqist roots based on his displaying of this tradition. I'd have to look into it but perhaps Sidamics practiced this as well.

All in all, the Balaw claim appears plainly false and the maternal Afar claim quite unlikely though at least more in the running than the Balaw claim. Anyway, feel free to check me on anything I may have missed or erred with. But yeah, reading the primary source is really important. So many of these secondary sources spread unbelievable amounts of misinformation.

Sorry but if you're basing the "Balaw" claim on the Futux it is clearly moot. His father was not the Ibrahim who is a Balaw as you can see above and the "Abun" you are talking about who is his brother and the one he serves under are not the same person either and these idiotic secondary authors didn't read the document well and have misled people for decades now. Read it yourself:



I welcome you sharing sources other than the Futux that back your claim but the Futux itself is clear on this. He is not Balaw and there is zero proof for it.

 

[Mckenzie]

@Shimbiris i appreciate you have put some time into your research but it is a little 2D. You're now claiming there were two Garaad Abuun? One called Garad Abun bin Adas ruler of Adal for 7 years whom Gurey served in his army as a knight and another called Garad Abun bin Ibrahim a brother of his who according to your posts is an insignificant character yet mentioned in Wasan Seged's personal letter as having his army routed. So in short you believe there were two Garad Abuun's with an army each, one killed by Walashma the other killed by the Ethiopian General lol.

Does it not occur to you that if secondary sources can have inaccuracies, so can primary sources? Atleast secondary sources are a collaberation of research from different groups that can fill these typical holes found in many areas of history. If i started pulling out primary British descriptions of Somalis or the Mad Mullah it's a plethora of innacuracies not to be taken on it's own without other sources.

Coming back to your post, when General Wasan Seged writes to Gurey about killing his brother, there is no mention of how or where this happened, but it can be deduced they pressured the Walashma faction, seeing as this was the faction who paid tribute to the Emperor for centuries so much so that the Emperors use to handpick the Ifat leaders if they had family disputes on succession. Also the term brother and paternal cousin is interchangeable, the only brother of Gragn is Maxamed Ibraahim, Garaad Abuun was his cousin son of Adas son of Muhammad. I don't use the tribal term Balaw as there is too little information on where that name originates from. Teklesedik Makuria lists an abtirsi for Gragn without using this Balaw term. It may be a nickname, a region, a town etc. Same way Habargidir is a nickname for Madarkicis.

 

[Mckenzie]

I'll explain another time in detail but it's not backed by any evidence whatsoever, walaal. It's actually hilarious but, to put it simply for now, some of these secondary sources misattributed a guy in the Futux as his father simply because he shares a name with the Imam's father and the Imam was his retainer for a time (the guy in question is Balaw) when the Futux never says he's the Imam's father and in fact makes that fairly clear from what I recall. We don't have any idea who his father was, contrary to some secondary sources. This is why it's always important to read the primary sources yourself.

Alot of people lack the use of historiography and many believe it is a fancy term for personal interpretation but it really isn't. Historiography is what protects even the sciences of Hadith as scholars of the Salaf use this criteria to identify sayings of the Prophet (primary source) into strong Hadiths, weak Hadiths, Qiyaas etc. You can find Hadiths that appear contradictory, without this historiography one could even dispute the message of Islam.

In context, you have Shihabuddin (primary source 1) and the letters of Wasan Seged (primary source 2). From the example of Garaad Abuun we can see a contradiction or mutual exclusitivity that goes against the majority opinion on the matter, it is historiography (secondary sources like the works of the Salaf) that finds a solution to this problem. If a Muslim Scholar of history and a Christian scholar of history have come together to address this, how do we as common people think it's valid to dispute this without access to the knowledge they ammased on the topic?

 

[Shaafici Mujaahid]

The biggest proof he was Somali is that we have oral traditon of him in poems and we glorify him. Imam Mahfuz was a Harari mujahid at the same time and no Somali knows of him yet Ahmed Gurey is well know. Also, the very fact that he fought somali clans and integrated them into his army just like the Sayid did is proof. The resemble each other very much. I do however believe that he was indeed mixed with Harla and a Somali clan.

 

[Khalid ali]

Weird that they're just mentioned casually among the Somali tribes, no? They wouldn't be the only Somali tribe of the time now lost to history. We also have two called "Jairan" and "Mazza" or something like that who are explicitly called Somali tribes but whom we cannot trace back to any modern tribes unlike the rest.

"Jairan" are Jiiraan Koombe Kablalax Darood , they still inhabit this area particularly now around gursum.
"Mazza" are Massare Saransoor , they are know as "Madigaan" and live around harar and babile (speaking af oromo) and some in Somaliland.

 

[Idilinaa]

"Jairan" are Jiiraan Koombe Kablalax Darood , they still inhabit this area particularly now around gursum.
"Mazza" are Massare Saransoor , they are know as "Madigaan" and live around harar and babile (speaking af oromo) and some in Somaliland.

This is true for Jairan. But not sure about Mazza though.

Jiran. These people live between the Birsuk and Gherri, at Gora obale

British Somali Land : Ralph E Drake Brockman : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Book Source: Digital Library of India Item 2015.81470dc.contributor.author: Ralph E Drake Brockmandc.date.accessioned: 2015-06-30T17:10:47Zdc.date.available:...

archive.org

They are listed in a Darood Kombe lineage next to Harti, Gerri, and Harlah in this book from 1912.

 

[Malikfiqi]

Dude was born in present day Awdal with an arabic name like majority of Somalis. What else could he be?

Hypothetically speaking if we were to say he was an arab then that would mean there was a minority community of arabs in Awdal at that time which would've mixed with the locals and you should see remnants of that community or even at least some folklore about their ancestry like the arab saleh in neighboring PL but that's not the case.

Arab? The ifat and later Adal sultantes were dominated by a hybrid harla-somali elite, such modern niceities like 'ethnic' groups werent a thing back then. The ifat sultante tried very hard to make their lands a land of muslims all ethnic groups. Somali,harla,aggroba,afar,and a few minor arabs all lived together in harmony. I'm personally of the opinion that Ahmed gurey was of harla decent.

 

[Idilinaa]

Arab? The ifat and later Adal sultantes were dominated by a hybrid harla-somali elite, such modern niceities like 'ethnic' groups werent a thing back then. The ifat sultante tried very hard to make their lands a land of muslims all ethnic groups. Somali,harla,aggroba,afar,and a few minor arabs all lived together in harmony. I'm personally of the opinion that Ahmed gurey was of harla decent.

It seems to me that Waslashma dynasty that governed Ifat/Adal was paternally Kombe Darood and maternally Isaaq specifically Habar Magaadle, based on what i have seen from refrences from medieval manuscripts detailing their genealogy. It makes sense tbh the Western interior historically was Darood dominated and according Paulitschke Reer Zayla & Berbera Aka Northern coast was dominated by Habar Awal, so the interior rulers had to build political marriage alliances with the Northern Coast. Similar to Ajuuran marriage aliances with Benadiri coast that became dominated with hawiye, who they are maternally related to.

Agroggoba is a modern identity, no record of them before the 19th century and the names earliest recording was just a toponym. Afar wasn't a part of the landscape of Awdal/Ifat and was confined to the Eritrea-Djibout coastal corridor according to medieval sources.

But is a bunch of nonsense to debate Imam Ahmeds ethnic or clan identity, cause it really is speculation. Futuh's writer probably ommitted the information for a reason. But he definitely wasn't Arab thats for certain , he was most likely from a Somali clan like Harla or some other clan or family entirely. We simply don't know , the only thing Futuh reveals is his familial ties to certain Somali clans and other tribes.

 

[Hamzza]

He was Harla according to my sources. I will make a thread about this Inshalaah.