page_title: Islam in Somalia
section_title: Birth of Islam and Middle Ages
hierarchical_section_title: Islam in Somalia / History / Birth of Islam and Middle Ages
caption_attribution_description: Ruins of the Sultanate of Adal in Zeila (Saylac), Somalia.
context_page_description: Practitioners of Islam first entered Somalia in the northwestern city of Zeila in present-day Republic of Somalia during prophet Muhammad's lifetime whereupon they built the Labo-qibla mosque; as such, Islam has been a part of Somali society for 14 centuries. Practicing Islam reinforces distinctions that further set Somalis apart from their immediate neighbors, many of whom are either Christians or adherents of indigenous faiths. Sunnism is the strand practiced by 90% of the population. Although Pew Research Center has not conducted a survey in Somalia, its Somali-majority northwestern neighbour Djibouti reported a creed breakdown of Muslims which was reported as 77% adhering to Sunnism, 8% as non-denominational Muslim, 2% as Shia, thirteen percent refusing to answer, and a further report inclusive of Somali Region stipulating 2% adherence to a minority sect.
  The role of religious functionaries began to shrink in the 1950s and 1960s as some of their legal and educational powers and responsibilities were transferred to secular authorities. The position of religious leaders changed substantially after the 1969 revolution and the introduction of scientific socialism.
context_section_description: Islam was introduced to the northern Somali coast early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. Zeila's two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque in the city. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. He also mentioned that the Adal kingdom had its capital in the city, suggesting that the Adal Sultanate with Zeila as its headquarters dates back to at least the 9th or 10th century. According to I.M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local dynasties, who also ruled over the similarly-established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the littoral Benadir region to the south. Adal's history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighboring Abyssinia.
  In 1332, the Zeila-based King of Adal was slain in a military campaign aimed at halting the Abyssinian Emperor Amda Seyon I's march toward the city to avenge the slaughtered Christians including a famous monk sent to wage peace and destroyed Churches by the Adalites. When the last Sultan of Ifat, Sa'ad ad-Din II, was also killed by Emperor Dawit I in Zeila in 1410, his children escaped to Yemen, before later returning in 1415. In the early 15th century, Adal's capital was moved further inland to the town of Dakkar, where Sabr ad-Din II, the eldest son of Sa'ad ad-Din II, established a new base after his return from Yemen.
  Adal's headquarters were again relocated the following century, this time to Harar. From this new capital, Adal organized an effective army led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Ahmad "Gurey" or "Gran") that invaded the Abyssinian empire. This 16th century campaign is historically known as the Conquest of Abyssinia (Futuh al-Habash). During the war, Imam Ahmad pioneered the use of cannons and firearms supplied by the Ottoman Empire, which he imported through Zeila and thousands of mercenaries from the muslim world and nomadic somali to wage a 'holy war' against Ethiopian King of Kings. The few Portuguese under Cristóvão da Gama that later that came to assist their Ethoipian coreligionist would tip the scale in their favour. Some scholars argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms like the matchlock musket, cannons and the arquebus over traditional weapons.
  During the Age of the Ajuran, the sultanates and republics of Merca, Mogadishu, Barawa, Hobyo which were founded by Arab/Persian merchants flourished and had a lucrative foreign commerce, with ships sailing to and coming from Arabia, India, Venetia, Persia, Egypt, Portugal and as far away as China. Vasco da Gama, who passed by Mogadishu in the 15th century, noted that it was a large city with houses several storeys high and large palaces in its center, in addition to many mosques with cylindrical minarets.
  The city of Mogadishu (from the Arab Muqdisho) came to be known as the City of Islam, and controlled the East African gold trade for several centuries. In the 16th century, Duarte Barbosa noted that many ships from the Kingdom of Cambaya in modern-day India sailed to Mogadishu with cloth and spices, for which they in return received gold, wax and ivory. Barbosa also highlighted the abundance of meat, wheat, barley, horses, and fruit on the coastal markets, which generated enormous wealth for the merchants. Mogadishu was also the center of a thriving textile industry known as toob benadir, specialized for the markets in Egypt, among other places.
caption: Ruins of the Muslim Adal Sultanate in Zeila.
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