First years of his life
Sheikh Uways was born in Baraawe in 1847 and was ethnically Somali from the Tunni Dafaradhi clan. He was from a well-off family in Baraawe and his father al-Hajj Muhammad Bashir was a minor religious official in the city. As a kid he begann to learn more about the religion and became a hafiz of the quran under the guidance of Sheikh Muhammad Tayini al-Shashi, a Bravanese Sheikh of the Qadiriyya Sufi order.
Journey to the Arab World
As he excelled in his studies having learned all the principles of Qadiriyya Sufism, he was sent to Baghdad, Iraq to further his studies in the heartland of the Order in the year 1870. There he learned under the great Sheik Sayyid Mustafa al-Jilani and later made the Hajj twice. His stay in the Arab World boosted his reputation and after living there for thirteen years he left Baghdad in 1883 to return to his hometown. On his journey back he traveled through northern Somalia, where according to oral traditions he met and befriended the most famous Qadiri leader in East Africa, Shaykh Abdul Rahman az-Zayli’i and established himself as the successor and the leader of the Qadiryya in East Africa. But in Baraawe his newly won reputation and prominence was met with envy from members of rival Sufi Orders and even from some of his own family members. This forced him to leave the city again after a short time and to move inland where he and his followers founded the agricultural town Beled al-Amin.
Trip to Zanzibar and Proselytizing in Southern Eastern Africa
After few years of proselytizing his teachings to the surrounding areas and instructing his students to do the same, Sheikh Uways left his new town and made a trip to Zanzibar as he was invited by Sultan Sayyid Barghash, who was at that time the ruler of an empire that stretched from the northern coast of Mozambique up to southern Somalia. But the Zanzibaris were a declining power already at the time Sheikh Uways was visiting the Island and were being put under increasing pressure by the expanding colonial European powers. This lead to the Omanis wanting to create a an extensive anti-european islamic alliance with the muslim of the swahili coast and they invited Sheikh Uways because he was to become an integral part of their plan as one of the most influential and beloved Sheikhs of the region. In Zanzibar, Sheikh Uways was given food, gifts of money and was provided several houses in the Stone town for him and his disciplines. From his new base Sheikh Uways movement, the Uwaysiya, began to expand its reach and his teachings were being accepted by people from all over the swahili coast. A biography of Sheikh Uways named “ al Jawhar al-Nafis”, lists 150 of his students. The list shows that the Sheikh drew his disciplines from all over the coast, as some of the studens are from Comoros, the Bajuni Island, the Ogaden region, Hadrawmut, Mogadishu, Lamu, some from recently converted Bantu speakers in inner Tanzania and even former Slaves. The rapid expansion of the Uwaysia began to even worry the Germans, who were beginning to establish themselves in Tanzania and took control of the former lands of the Zanzibaris. The german Governor of the colony named Rechenberg even wrote to one of his subordinates, that there was a serious threat of “anti-europan Islam” in Tanzania and that the agitators were “the people of Brava and their scholars”. He then expelled Mohammed al-Jabri al Barawi, a known reer Barwani scholar, trader and associate of Sheikh Uways, from his colonial territories and later began to warn the administration of the colony to keep an eye on all the Barwani traders that came to Tanzania, as he feared that the spread of Sheikh Uways anti-european teachings could unite the different islamic ethnicities and spark a revolt. And in many ways he would be proven correct, as many of Sheikh Uways disciplines would be involved in a conspiracy to stage a revolt known as the “Letter to Mecca” in Tanzania and would help stage a muslim anti-european coup in Buganda (modern-day Uganda).
Return to Somalia and Conflict with the Italians
In the 1890’s the Italians forced the now weak rulers of Zanzibar to give them control of the Benaadir coast, as it was nominally under their rule. But in the 1900’s, when the Italians first set foot in Benaadir, they had to face stiff resistance by local clans. After hearing that his hometown Baraawe was taken by the Italians, Sheikh Uways returned to Somalia and moved his Base to Beled-Amin and from there with his disciples began to help agitate more people to take up arms against the colonial invaders. In the end practically all clans of the area like the Biimal, Wacdaan , Geledi, Abgaal, Murursade, Tunni and many more were fighting for every strip of land and this forced the Italians in the end to temporarily give up on trying to control the hinterland and only concentrate on ruling the coastal area with the major cities.
Rivalry with Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan and his Death
While he was fighting the Italians, Sheikh Uways and his Qaddirya order were also locked in a conflict with the Sahilyya, whose greatest proponent in Somalia was none other than Sayyid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan, the famous anti-colonial leader of the Dervish. The Sahilyya were very critical of many things the Qaddirya allowed like the usage of music instruments like drums or the visitation of graves. The larger conflict between the two sufi orders lead also to a personal war of words in poetry form between the Sayyid and Uways in which Uways claimed that the Sayyid and his Dervishes were murderers and thieves using the cloak of the religion and the Sayyid declared Uways to be doing Biddah and later even made Takfir on him. In the end the conflict with the Sahilyya would proof to be Sheikh Uways demise, as he was murdered by a Sahilyya follower in 1909. Even as other Sahilyya followers were shocked by the death of the Sheikh and found the murder unjustifiable, the Sayyid celebrated it as a victory of his brotherhood and in a last poem mocked Sheikh Uways.
Sources:
Muslim Politics and Resistance to Colonial Rule: Shaykh Uways B. Muhammad Al-Barawi and the Qadiriya Brotherhood in East Africa by B.G.Martin
reference for the third paragraph
God, Anti-Colonialism and Drums: Sheikh Uways and the Uwaysiyya by Ahmed, Christine C.
reference for the third and the fourth paragraph
Sheikh Uways Muhammad of Baraawe, 1847-1909. Mystic and Reformer in East Africa by Said S. Samatar
reference for the last two paragraphs
Sufism in Nineteenth-Century Benaadir by S.S. Reese
reference for the first two paragraphs
Sheikh Uways was born in Baraawe in 1847 and was ethnically Somali from the Tunni Dafaradhi clan. He was from a well-off family in Baraawe and his father al-Hajj Muhammad Bashir was a minor religious official in the city. As a kid he begann to learn more about the religion and became a hafiz of the quran under the guidance of Sheikh Muhammad Tayini al-Shashi, a Bravanese Sheikh of the Qadiriyya Sufi order.
Journey to the Arab World
As he excelled in his studies having learned all the principles of Qadiriyya Sufism, he was sent to Baghdad, Iraq to further his studies in the heartland of the Order in the year 1870. There he learned under the great Sheik Sayyid Mustafa al-Jilani and later made the Hajj twice. His stay in the Arab World boosted his reputation and after living there for thirteen years he left Baghdad in 1883 to return to his hometown. On his journey back he traveled through northern Somalia, where according to oral traditions he met and befriended the most famous Qadiri leader in East Africa, Shaykh Abdul Rahman az-Zayli’i and established himself as the successor and the leader of the Qadiryya in East Africa. But in Baraawe his newly won reputation and prominence was met with envy from members of rival Sufi Orders and even from some of his own family members. This forced him to leave the city again after a short time and to move inland where he and his followers founded the agricultural town Beled al-Amin.
Trip to Zanzibar and Proselytizing in Southern Eastern Africa
After few years of proselytizing his teachings to the surrounding areas and instructing his students to do the same, Sheikh Uways left his new town and made a trip to Zanzibar as he was invited by Sultan Sayyid Barghash, who was at that time the ruler of an empire that stretched from the northern coast of Mozambique up to southern Somalia. But the Zanzibaris were a declining power already at the time Sheikh Uways was visiting the Island and were being put under increasing pressure by the expanding colonial European powers. This lead to the Omanis wanting to create a an extensive anti-european islamic alliance with the muslim of the swahili coast and they invited Sheikh Uways because he was to become an integral part of their plan as one of the most influential and beloved Sheikhs of the region. In Zanzibar, Sheikh Uways was given food, gifts of money and was provided several houses in the Stone town for him and his disciplines. From his new base Sheikh Uways movement, the Uwaysiya, began to expand its reach and his teachings were being accepted by people from all over the swahili coast. A biography of Sheikh Uways named “ al Jawhar al-Nafis”, lists 150 of his students. The list shows that the Sheikh drew his disciplines from all over the coast, as some of the studens are from Comoros, the Bajuni Island, the Ogaden region, Hadrawmut, Mogadishu, Lamu, some from recently converted Bantu speakers in inner Tanzania and even former Slaves. The rapid expansion of the Uwaysia began to even worry the Germans, who were beginning to establish themselves in Tanzania and took control of the former lands of the Zanzibaris. The german Governor of the colony named Rechenberg even wrote to one of his subordinates, that there was a serious threat of “anti-europan Islam” in Tanzania and that the agitators were “the people of Brava and their scholars”. He then expelled Mohammed al-Jabri al Barawi, a known reer Barwani scholar, trader and associate of Sheikh Uways, from his colonial territories and later began to warn the administration of the colony to keep an eye on all the Barwani traders that came to Tanzania, as he feared that the spread of Sheikh Uways anti-european teachings could unite the different islamic ethnicities and spark a revolt. And in many ways he would be proven correct, as many of Sheikh Uways disciplines would be involved in a conspiracy to stage a revolt known as the “Letter to Mecca” in Tanzania and would help stage a muslim anti-european coup in Buganda (modern-day Uganda).
Return to Somalia and Conflict with the Italians
In the 1890’s the Italians forced the now weak rulers of Zanzibar to give them control of the Benaadir coast, as it was nominally under their rule. But in the 1900’s, when the Italians first set foot in Benaadir, they had to face stiff resistance by local clans. After hearing that his hometown Baraawe was taken by the Italians, Sheikh Uways returned to Somalia and moved his Base to Beled-Amin and from there with his disciples began to help agitate more people to take up arms against the colonial invaders. In the end practically all clans of the area like the Biimal, Wacdaan , Geledi, Abgaal, Murursade, Tunni and many more were fighting for every strip of land and this forced the Italians in the end to temporarily give up on trying to control the hinterland and only concentrate on ruling the coastal area with the major cities.
Rivalry with Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan and his Death
While he was fighting the Italians, Sheikh Uways and his Qaddirya order were also locked in a conflict with the Sahilyya, whose greatest proponent in Somalia was none other than Sayyid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan, the famous anti-colonial leader of the Dervish. The Sahilyya were very critical of many things the Qaddirya allowed like the usage of music instruments like drums or the visitation of graves. The larger conflict between the two sufi orders lead also to a personal war of words in poetry form between the Sayyid and Uways in which Uways claimed that the Sayyid and his Dervishes were murderers and thieves using the cloak of the religion and the Sayyid declared Uways to be doing Biddah and later even made Takfir on him. In the end the conflict with the Sahilyya would proof to be Sheikh Uways demise, as he was murdered by a Sahilyya follower in 1909. Even as other Sahilyya followers were shocked by the death of the Sheikh and found the murder unjustifiable, the Sayyid celebrated it as a victory of his brotherhood and in a last poem mocked Sheikh Uways.
Sources:
Muslim Politics and Resistance to Colonial Rule: Shaykh Uways B. Muhammad Al-Barawi and the Qadiriya Brotherhood in East Africa by B.G.Martin
reference for the third paragraph
God, Anti-Colonialism and Drums: Sheikh Uways and the Uwaysiyya by Ahmed, Christine C.
reference for the third and the fourth paragraph
Sheikh Uways Muhammad of Baraawe, 1847-1909. Mystic and Reformer in East Africa by Said S. Samatar
reference for the last two paragraphs
Sufism in Nineteenth-Century Benaadir by S.S. Reese
reference for the first two paragraphs
