Some Somalis are now claiming Harar, and calling Hararis a fake ethnicity

[Idilinaa]

So the stuff about Imam Ahmed subjugating some nomadic Somali clans to fight for him is false? Cause I usually see that as an argument against Adal or Gurey not being Somali but I ignored it since I thought it was an isolated example since Somalis were the first people to answer the call of the Imam.

The sultanate didn't conquer Bedouin Somalis and they were not some outside group.
They were already within the sultanates and made up its army, the country side inhabitants alongside sedentary Somali clans.

The Imam was subjugating and fighting was the ones who were in the service and support of the Sultan. The sultanate was split into two factions , those who supported the Imam and those who supported the Sultan. Imam was leading a revolution btw, he was originally an Emir under the service of the Sultan himself.

Some of them supported the Sa'ad din faction with the sultan Abu Bakr and some supported Imam Ahmed. Imam Ahmed is figthing against the sultanate faction. Sometimes they were supporting different Emirs fighting. They are clashing with eachother throughout Futuh.

 

[Idilinaa]

As for Harari they are a composite ethnicity made up of Gurage and Oromo that entered a Somali city and later named themselves after it.

Their language is a Gurage divergent. And up until recently they were conscious about their ethnic connections to the East Gurage.

Gurage is mentioned in Futuh as non Muslim peasants who were subjects of Ethiopians and they did not participate in the war or were warriors.

Some really convincing pieces of evidence and documentation is shared in this thread:
Along with how most of the Harar Emirs prior to intermarriage with Gurage Oromo in the early mid 1800s were Somalis with Somali genealogical traditions and used to intermarry with Bartirii and Geri most often.

I have seen many times people claiming Harar to be the fourth holiest city in Islam. Why is this the case?

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/gallery/2017/6/25/the-walled-city-of-harar-in-eastern-ethiopia-14

www.somalispot.com

 

[Galool]

As for Harari they are a composite ethnicity made up of Gurage and Oromo that entered a Somali city and later named themselves after it.

Their language is a Gurage divergent. And up until recently they were conscious about their ethnic connections to the East Gurage.

Gurage is mentioned in Futuh as non Muslim peasants who were subjects of Ethiopians and they did not participate in the war or were warriors.
View attachment 348573


Some really convincing pieces of evidence and documentation is shared in this thread:
Along with how most of the Harar Emirs prior to intermarriage with Gurage Oromo in the early mid 1800s were Somalis with Somali genealogical traditions and used to intermarry with Bartirii and Geri most often.

I have seen many times people claiming Harar to be the fourth holiest city in Islam. Why is this the case?

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/gallery/2017/6/25/the-walled-city-of-harar-in-eastern-ethiopia-14

www.somalispot.com

If Somalia had not been divided up they would be called Reer Harar similar to the Reer Xamar, another mixed Somali group among the majority Somali people. The minority settled mixed groups always are nicknamed after the town they reside in.

Somalias cities have always attracted Muslims fleeing and merchants. The cities always have some diversity.

But with Harar there were massacres and Somalis were driven out and continue to be and they have Ethiopianized the Harari people there.

It still has a large ethiopian military base there and they destroyed the large Masjid and turned it into a church.

Its sad because the cities Islamic character has been degraded heavily and flooded with other groups. It seems like a ghost of what it used to be, which was a Muslim stronghold. Now it just looks to be a tourist spot.

In this video I recently saw about it and shared you can see a lot of the Somali culture still there but it is sad the vlogger says there are a lot of mentally ill people there. He says that every house has a mentally unwell person and he attributes it to their marrying within themselves and witch craft. Even the next scene, he shows the Masjid and there are people casually and openly eating khat in it. It is unfortunate.

This is the other thread

Somalis Kingdoms and Sultanates?

Do you have any maps of Somaliweyn during the 18th-19th century that depicts all these polities? Google images is horrible for finding historical Somali maps The ones i've seen online are terrible. No but i can make one. I could also make one also of middle ages as well, as aside by side...

www.somalispot.com

 

[Idilinaa]

If Somalia had not been divided up they would be called Reer Harar similar to the Reer Xamar, another mixed Somali group among the majority Somali people. The minority settled mixed groups always are nicknamed after the town they reside in.

Somalias cities have always attracted Muslims fleeing and merchants. The cities always have some diversity.

But with Harar there were massacres and Somalis were driven out and continue to be and they have Ethiopianized the Harari people there.

It still has a large ethiopian military base there and they destroyed the large Masjid and turned it into a church.

Its sad because the cities Islamic character has been degraded heavily and flooded with other groups. It seems like a ghost of what it used to be, which was a Muslim stronghold. Now it just looks to be a tourist spot.

In this video I recently saw about it and shared you can see a lot of the Somali culture still there but it is sad the vlogger says there are a lot of mentally ill people there. He says that every house has a mentally unwell person and he attributes it to their marrying within themselves and witch craft. Even the next scene, he shows the Masjid and there are people casually and openly eating khat in it. It is unfortunate.

This is the other thread

Somalis Kingdoms and Sultanates?

Do you have any maps of Somaliweyn during the 18th-19th century that depicts all these polities? Google images is horrible for finding historical Somali maps The ones i've seen online are terrible. No but i can make one. I could also make one also of middle ages as well, as aside by side...

www.somalispot.com

Somalis in Harar were betrayed from within. The Emir imprisoned his own family and used marriage alliance with the Gurage speaking Oromo to take power.

Here it is mentioned by a visitor in 1840.

Another source that speaks more on this:

This situation is very different from a regular Somali city where the inhabitants are made up of people from the surrounding country side and individual immigrants who settled and intermarried with them which is common in most commercial cities. Immigrants became aculturalized and picked up the language & culture of the natives in the process

Harar the situation is almost reverse. Gurage/Oromo came into the city after being converted then they segregated themselves into separate quarters and they spoke their own language , they also spoke Somali as 2nd language, the language of most inhabitants i presume.

Since they were converted by Somalis their Islamic character and customs reflect that, even the Somali saint cult Awliyo.

Somalis don't name themselves after a city or a town as a cultural name. It would be like calling oneself Londonis people because you live in London when you are culturally connected to the wider country of England.

Reer means family. So when they use it they mean ''The family/people from that territory'' or 'occupation''

For example people from the walled city of Zayla were referred to as Reer Awdal and people from the walled city of Lugh were called Reer Kofur.

Not only did they turn it into a tourist prop or open museum of some sort. Ethiopians looted a lot of its treasures and show it as part of their collections in Addis.

Before it was referred to as ''The Alma Matter of Somali lands'' , it was a prestigious place of learning and it had a grand university Mosque similar to Mogadishu's Jami Mosque

It could have continued to develop into a city of scholarship and learning, but it fell into utter neglect and destitution.
It could have became much more vibrant , developed and busy city, like how Mogadishu looked in the 70s/80s and how busy and mor developed it's becoming now as its rebuilding and it could have been a regional center.

SYL had plans on making it the capital if it was successful in uniting western galbeed with Somalia.