SHEIKH ABDIRAHMAN AL-ZAYLA'I (1815-1882)
Born at Mubarak town, southeast of Huddur, in the region of Bokool (formerly Alta Giuba), Somalia. He belonged to the Diso subclan of the Godle clan. According to his hagiographer, al-Zayla'i was a person who did not fear encounters with other learned men or with sultans and who was accustomed to the society of poor people, for he believed they were identical in status if not in power to sultans, sayids, and amirs. His belief in humility and a common brotherhood was shown once when he was teaching Arabic syntax in the grand mosque in Harar. Among the students was Emir Abdallah, the sultan of the city, who used to sit on a platform raised above the floor, like a throne, while listening to the lectures. When al-Zayla'i finished his lesson, the sultan complained, "I understood nothing of what you said Sheikh Abdurahman!" As he was the sultan, no one dared to argue with him, but al-Zayla'i answered, βSultan, you are a proud man and knowledge does not enter the heart of the proud. Your lack of understanding was all because you sat raised above the others while you listened to the knowledge." The sultan accepted the honest words of the Sheikh and his sincere advice and, humiliated and degraded, sat down with the students and listened humbly.
Al-Zayla'i left Mubarak, his home town, after he completed his Qur'anic ed- ucation and went off to Mogadishu for further Islamic studies, leaving behind
a wife and two daughters. After two years, he returned home, shocked to dis- cover that the ulema of his own clan had divorced him from his wife because of his long absence. He was so annoyed by this fasakh (compulsory divorce), contrived by the Diso ulema, that he laid habaar (a curse) on them: "No Diso 'alim will live long." Thus, until today, every Diso 'alim dies young. It is be- lieved that al-Zayla'i left home and never returned.
In Mogadishu, al-Zayla'i studied under prominent Banadiri ulemas, in- cluding Sheikh Abu Bakr ibn Mihdar and Sheikh Abdirahman Sufi, but he received his mystical training from his murshid (spiritual guide), Sheikh Is- ma'il al-Maqdishi. Al-Zayla'i served the sheikh until he mastered Sufi mat- ters. He was then advised to go to Mecca to receive the ijazah from Sayid Fadl al-Qadiri. On pilgrimage from Mogadishu, he passed through Harar, where he remained after his return, preaching and teaching Islam for a pe- riod of time. Around 1850, al-Zayla'i came to Mogadishu to ask his murshid, Sheikh Isma'il al-Maqdishi, for permission to go and spread Islam and the Qadiriyya order among the Ogadens. About 1860, al-Zayla'i moved to southwest Ethiopia and established a jama'a settlement at Qulunquul. At this point, al-Zayla'i's hagiographer says, Zayla'i's prestige became "well-diffused," his reputation "spread as far as the horizons," and his rank was raised "in the towns and countryside."
Al-Zayla'i is considered a man of literature. His works were numerous, but unfortunately most of them have been lost. The few that have been pub- lished concern Arabic language, grammar, syntax, and morphology. He composed a rhyming treatise on 'Ilm al-Sarf (Arabic morphology) called Fath al-Latif Sharh Hadiqat al-Tasrif (A syntax of Arabic language), pub- lished in Cairo in 1938. In addition, Sheikh Abdirahman was a poet and wrote numerous collections on Islamic topics, most of which have been put together into one volume, al-Majmuu'ah al-Mushtamalah (A complete col- lection), including nine poems covering Sufism, Islam, and the Qadiriyya or- der. This collection was also published in Cairo in 1972.
Al-Zayla'i died and was buried at Qulunqul on 5 Rabi' al-Thani, 1299 A.H. (24 February 1882). His students and followers continued spreading his mes- sage for the Qadiriyya order under a branch, al-Zayla'iyya, named after him. Remarkable powers have been attributed to al-Zayla'i's shrine. Although it is described as being situated in a "dangerous and remote place," the shrine is renowned as "the refuge of the traveler, and the troubled and those in need."
Born at Mubarak town, southeast of Huddur, in the region of Bokool (formerly Alta Giuba), Somalia. He belonged to the Diso subclan of the Godle clan. According to his hagiographer, al-Zayla'i was a person who did not fear encounters with other learned men or with sultans and who was accustomed to the society of poor people, for he believed they were identical in status if not in power to sultans, sayids, and amirs. His belief in humility and a common brotherhood was shown once when he was teaching Arabic syntax in the grand mosque in Harar. Among the students was Emir Abdallah, the sultan of the city, who used to sit on a platform raised above the floor, like a throne, while listening to the lectures. When al-Zayla'i finished his lesson, the sultan complained, "I understood nothing of what you said Sheikh Abdurahman!" As he was the sultan, no one dared to argue with him, but al-Zayla'i answered, βSultan, you are a proud man and knowledge does not enter the heart of the proud. Your lack of understanding was all because you sat raised above the others while you listened to the knowledge." The sultan accepted the honest words of the Sheikh and his sincere advice and, humiliated and degraded, sat down with the students and listened humbly.
Al-Zayla'i left Mubarak, his home town, after he completed his Qur'anic ed- ucation and went off to Mogadishu for further Islamic studies, leaving behind
a wife and two daughters. After two years, he returned home, shocked to dis- cover that the ulema of his own clan had divorced him from his wife because of his long absence. He was so annoyed by this fasakh (compulsory divorce), contrived by the Diso ulema, that he laid habaar (a curse) on them: "No Diso 'alim will live long." Thus, until today, every Diso 'alim dies young. It is be- lieved that al-Zayla'i left home and never returned.
In Mogadishu, al-Zayla'i studied under prominent Banadiri ulemas, in- cluding Sheikh Abu Bakr ibn Mihdar and Sheikh Abdirahman Sufi, but he received his mystical training from his murshid (spiritual guide), Sheikh Is- ma'il al-Maqdishi. Al-Zayla'i served the sheikh until he mastered Sufi mat- ters. He was then advised to go to Mecca to receive the ijazah from Sayid Fadl al-Qadiri. On pilgrimage from Mogadishu, he passed through Harar, where he remained after his return, preaching and teaching Islam for a pe- riod of time. Around 1850, al-Zayla'i came to Mogadishu to ask his murshid, Sheikh Isma'il al-Maqdishi, for permission to go and spread Islam and the Qadiriyya order among the Ogadens. About 1860, al-Zayla'i moved to southwest Ethiopia and established a jama'a settlement at Qulunquul. At this point, al-Zayla'i's hagiographer says, Zayla'i's prestige became "well-diffused," his reputation "spread as far as the horizons," and his rank was raised "in the towns and countryside."
Al-Zayla'i is considered a man of literature. His works were numerous, but unfortunately most of them have been lost. The few that have been pub- lished concern Arabic language, grammar, syntax, and morphology. He composed a rhyming treatise on 'Ilm al-Sarf (Arabic morphology) called Fath al-Latif Sharh Hadiqat al-Tasrif (A syntax of Arabic language), pub- lished in Cairo in 1938. In addition, Sheikh Abdirahman was a poet and wrote numerous collections on Islamic topics, most of which have been put together into one volume, al-Majmuu'ah al-Mushtamalah (A complete col- lection), including nine poems covering Sufism, Islam, and the Qadiriyya or- der. This collection was also published in Cairo in 1972.
Al-Zayla'i died and was buried at Qulunqul on 5 Rabi' al-Thani, 1299 A.H. (24 February 1882). His students and followers continued spreading his mes- sage for the Qadiriyya order under a branch, al-Zayla'iyya, named after him. Remarkable powers have been attributed to al-Zayla'i's shrine. Although it is described as being situated in a "dangerous and remote place," the shrine is renowned as "the refuge of the traveler, and the troubled and those in need."
