Garhajis

The Habr Garhajis also contemporarily known as the Garhajis (Somali: Habar Garxajis, Arabic: غرحاجس, Full Nasab: Ismā'īl al Qadhi ibn ash-Shaykh Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad) is a major Northern Somali clan of the wider Isaaq clan family. They are the traditional holders of the Isaaq Sultanate and Habr Yunis Sultanate since the 18th century. As descendants of Ismail bin Sheikh Isaaq, its members form a part of the Habar Magaadle confederation, and they constitute one of the largest sub-clans of the Isaaq. The Garhajis are divided into two major sub-clans: the Habr Yunis (Sa'īd Ismail) and Eidagale (Da'ud Isma'īl). They are traditionally nomadic pastoralists, merchants and skilled poets.
The Garhajis inhabit the western Togdheer, southern and eastern Maroodi Jeex, southern Sahil, northern Sool and central Sanaag regions of Somaliland. As well as inhabiting the Degehbur, Wardheer and Aware zones in the Haud region of Ethiopia, they also have a large settlement in Kenya where they are known as a constituent segment of the Isahakia community. A subclan of the Habr Yunis, the Damal Muse, also inhabit the Mudug region of Somalia.
Historically, the Garhajis took part in the conquest of Abyssinia and were part of the Adal Sultanate and are mentioned in the book Futuh Al-Habash (Conquest of Abyssinia) as the Habar Magaadle. The Habar Magaadle consist of the Habar Yunis, Eidagale, Habar Awal, Arap and Ayub clans. The Habar Magaadle are known for producing a historical figure known as Ahmad Gurey bin Husain who was the right-hand man of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi.
I. M. Lewis discusses the existence of another leader named Ahmad Gurey, and suggests that the two leaders have been conflated into one historical figure:
Some descendants of the Habr Yunis knights who participated in the conquest still inhabit regions west of Harar near Hirna. Ulrich Braukämper in A History of the Hadiyya in Southern Ethiopia states :
The sultanate was founded by the Rer Ainanshe sub branch of the Habr Yunis. The clan takes its name from their 18th century Patriarch Ainanshe Hersi who was a Chieftain of the Habar Yoonis clan. As was the norm of Somali chieftains, Ainanshe had multiple wives. His first wife belonged to the Jibrahil clan and was the mother of his eldest son Sugulle who would go on to found the Ba Jibrhil Rer Sugulle which is the section of the clan that all the Habr Yunis Sultan's descend. Ainanshe's other wives Mun, Basla and Egalo bore him 16 sons who are collectively known as the Baha Ainanshe. The etymology of the name Ainanshe originates from the word Ainan which in Somali means the horse's reins, when suffixed with she it takes on the meaning of one who is holding the reins, leading and guiding from disaster. Ainanshe's tomb is located to the south of Burao in the town of Jameecada Caynaanshe near the Oodweyne district border.
Enrico Baudi i Vesme who visited Burao in 1889 met the sons of Burao Chieftains Guled Ahmed Sugulle and Awad Gal, they relayed to him the following:
volume 7 of Etiopia rassegna illustrata dell'Impero describing the Rer Ainanshe states writes :
The Habr Yunis Sultanate finds its roots in the Isaaq Sultanate which was established by the Rer Guled branch of the Eidagale after the Isaaq successfully defeated the Absame clan at Lafaruug in the 17th century. With time the Habr Yunis and later the Habr Awal and Habr Je'lo would break from the Isaaq Sultanate with the Habr Yunis forming their own Sultanate led by Sugulle the son of the previous Habr Yunis Chieftain, Ainanshe Hersi. The Sultan Deria Sugulleh would establish his capital at Wadhan (Waram) near the Sheikh pass and tax and administer the affairs of the Habr Yunis from the town. Large caravans bound for Berbera would pass through Habr Yunis territory through Burao and then Wadhan and proved a lucrative source of income for Sultan Deria. Deria was succeeded by Hersi the son of Aman Deria who had died before his Sultan father, he was an important Habr Yunis chieftain. Vesme Baudi travelling through Habr Je'lo country east of Burao in 1889 gives an account of Aman's tomb.
Hersi Aman is remembered for his successful conquests and expansion of Garhajis territory in the Haud. His reign was abruptly ended when he was killed in a battle against the kindred Baha Sugulleh. Ismail Mire in his famous poem Ragow Kibirka Waa Lagu Kufaa (Pride Comes Before a Fall) comments on Hersi's conquests, pride and desire to rule.
Dual Sultans Era
After the death of Sultan Hersi Aman, the Baha Deria and Baha Makahil sections of the Sugulle dynasty vied for the Sultanship, which divided the Habr Yunis clan into two factions, the Baha Deria faction led by Guled Haji crowned Awad Deria a surviving son of the Sultan Deria Sugulleh. The Bah Makahil crowned Nur Ahmed Aman a young Mullah and nephew of Hersi Aman. Nur was initially uneasy and preferred his life as a Mullah rather than being the Sultan designate. The Habr Yunis were not interrupted by the British Somaliland protectorate which had been established in 1884 and was still largely relegated to the coast and its capital of Berbera. The two Sultans engaged in a lengthy war and divided the Sultanate's territory, where Awad ruled the Sultanate from his chosen capital of Burao and Nur from the Tuuyo plains and Oodweyne.
Frank Linsly James visited Sultan Awad at Burao in 1884 and witnessed the dissenting situation between the two Sultans. Describing the political situation in the region and frequent raids between the two rival Rer Sugulleh factions and their allied Habr Yunis subclans
Linsley describing a Dibaltig for Sultan Awad at Togdheer river :
Awad was killed fighting in Ogaden by the Reer Ali. This allowed Nur to establish himself at Burao and rule over the entirety of the Habr Yunis. The Baha Deria still did not concede defeat and would eventually choose Awad's nephew, Madar Hersi, as their successor following Nur's death. Sultan Nur convened a shir of the Habr Yunis and decided to draw lots to settle the dispute with his challenger Madar Hersi rather than continue the senseless infighting that had lasted since Hersi Aman's death. Sultan Nur won the draw and gave Madar Hersi 100 camels as compensation and was proclaimed the uncontested Sultan of the Habr Yunis. The reunified rule under one Sultan Nur would last until the formation of the Dervish Movement several years later in 1899.
Early Dervish period
Sultan Nur had been the architect of disturbances at Berbera and was the man who narrated the famous story of French Catholic missionaries in Berbera converting Somali children. According to the consul-general James Hayes Sadler this news was either spread or concocted by Sultan Nur of the Habr Yunis. Madar Hersi his former rival for the Sultan title had aided the Mullahs of Kob Fardod in recovering livestock that was previously looted by some of the Habr Yunis and this reignited after receiving aid from the Mullahs there notably Mohammed Abdullah Hassan. Upon his visit to Oodweyne in July 1899 Sultan Nur convened a great shir of the western Habr Yunis clans and called on them to join the new Dervish movement and upon their refusal he would leave to Burao and successfully rallied the eastern sections of the clan. The Dervish would declare war from Burao on September 1 of 1899. Madar was soon propagated as the legitimate Sultan by British authorities and managed the western sections of the clan throughout the period of the Dervish wars.
The last intelligence report mention of Sultan Nur in the Italian archives was in 1907. After the death of Sultan Nur 1907/1908 in the Dervish camp at Taleh his son Dolal Nur ascended the sultanate in the dervish camp.
Sultan Nur was buried by his dervish in a large domed tomb in Taleh, his tomb predated the later dervish forts. His white tomb in the dervish capital is a testimony to his contribution to the movement. Few dervish founders are commemorated in Taleh, numbering only four.
William Archibald Macfadyen, a British geologist and the only scholar to study the structures of Taleh fort, mentioned the handful of tombs constructed by the dervish for their leaders and gave a detailed description of the tombs in 1931. In his article Macfayden only identified Sultan Nur's tomb by name out of the four dervish entombed in Taleh:
After the Bombing campaign of the Taleh fort and the Dervish retreat into Ethiopia, Tribal Chief Haji Mohammad Bullaleh (Haji the Hyena), a cousin of Sultan Nur, commanded a 3000 strong army that consisted of Habr Yunis, Habr Je'lo and Dhulbahante warriors and pursued the fleeing Dervishes. They attacked Muhammad Abdallah Hassan and his army in the Ogaden region and swiftly defeated them, causing Muhammad to flee to the town of Imi. Haji and his army looted 60,000 livestock and 700 rifles from the dervishes, which dealt a severe blow to them economically, a blow from which they did not recover.
Territorial expansion
During this period the Garhajis gained much new territory in the Haud region. These battles are today known as the Rayyad or Guba Wars. It was a volatile era that gave birth to some of the best known Somali poetry.
Historian Siegbert Uhlig commenting on the Guba poem writes the following:
B. W. Andrzejewski author of A Somali Poetic Combat writes :
In his book The Galla in Northern Somaliland Ioan Lewis states :
The Habr Yunis advance into Ogaden territory was eventually halted by the intervention of the British protectrate authorities with assistance from the Ethiopian Empire, who considered the Ogaden their subjects and whose safety was their priority. In one incident the Habar Yunis looted 1330 camels from the Ogaden, but were pressured by the British and the Ethiopians to return the camels to their previous owners. The Habr Yunis obliged and promised to desist in their raids, but despite their promise they continued to successfully raid the Ogadens unhindered up until the British ceded the Haud to Ethiopia.
Rulers
The Habr Yunis Sultanate had eight rulers throughout its duration and the institution of Sultan still lasts today with the Baha Deria leading I conflict still not being completely resolved. The Bah Makahil maintain a well respected pretender although the current Sultan Osman Ali Madar of the Baha Deria is considered as the Sultan of the Habr Yunis.
The Habr Yunis exercised real power over Zeila and its adjacent regions and had established themselves as a coastal power, with Sharmarke Ali Saleh (Musa Arreh) solidifying and consolidating his power in governing Zeila, Berbera and Tadjoura. In 1841 Sharmarke with fifty Matchlock men, two cannons and an army of mounted spearmen managed to invade Zeila and depose its Arab Governor, Mohammed Al Barr. Sharmarke used the canons to fire at the city walls which frightened Al Barr's followers and caused them to flee. Sharmarke succeeded Al Barr as the ruler of Zeila and its dependencies. Sharmarke's governorship had an instant effect on the city, as he maneuvered to monopolize as much of the regional trade as possible, with his sights set as far as Harar and the Ogaden. Having secured Zeila, in 1845 Sharmarke moved on to Berbera which at the time was experiencing instability as a result of a war between the Habr Awal Reer Yunis Nur and Reer Ahmed Nur sub-clans over the control of Berbera's trade. Sharmarke took advantage of this rivalry and supported the Reer Ahmed Nuh who had since been expelled from Berbera. Sharmarke took over Berbera and built four Martello towers in the vicinity of the town and garrisoned them with 30 Matchlock men. A war ensued with in the city as Reer Yunis Nuh tried gain a foothold within Berbera, the Reer Yunis Nuh were no match for Sharmarke and his modern weapons and thus failed. The Reer Yunis Nuh were expelled and moved to Bulhar Sharmarke's influence was not limited to the coast as he had many allies in the interior of the Somali country and even further in Abyssinia. Among his allies were the Kings of Shewa. When there was tension between the Amir of Harar Abu Bakr II ibn `Abd al-Munan and Sharmarke, as a result of the Amir arresting one of his agents in Harar, Sharmarke persuaded the son of Sahle Selassie, the King of Shewa, to imprison on his behalf about 300 citizens of Harar then resident in Shewa, for a length of two years. In 1855, in an act seen as defiant of foreign powers, Sharmarke refused to sell to M. Richet, the French agent at Jeddah, a house in Zeila, citing "how easily an Agency becomes a fort", and preferring "a considerable loss to the presence of dangerous friends".
Sections of the Habr Yunis once again clashed with the British in 1922 after a heavy tax was imposed upon them at Burao, the Hersi Osman clan revolted in opposition to the tax and this caused them to clash with other sections of the Habr Yunis and the British colonial government. In the ensuing riot and shootout between the British and Hersi Osman, Captain Allan Gibb, a Dervish war veteran and district commissioner, was shot and killed. The British fearing they could not contain the revolt requested from Sir Winston Churchill, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, to send troops from Aden and Airplane bombers in order to bomb Burao and livestock of the revolting clans to quell any further rebellion. The RAF planes arrived at Burao within two days and proceeded to Bomb the town with incendiaries, effectively burning the entire settlement to the ground.
Telegram from Sir Geoffrey Archer, Governor of British Somaliland to Sir Winston Churchill the Secretary of State for the Colonies:
Sir Winston Churchill reporting on the Burao incident at the House of Commons:
James Lawrence author of Imperial Rearguard: Wars of Empire writes
After the RAF aircraft bombed Burao to the ground, the Hersi Osman eventually acquiesced, agreeing to pay a fine for Gibbs death, but they refused to identify and apprehend the accused individuals. Most of the men responsible for Gibb's shooting evaded capture. In light of the failure to implement the taxation without provoking a violent response, the British abandoned the policy altogether.
The Somali National Movement (SNM) was a 1980s–1990s rebel group. The SNM was organized in London, England, on April 6, 1981, by Hassan Adan Wadadid a former Somali diplomat and several other Isaaq intellectuals, he stated that the group's purpose was to overthrow the Siad Barre regime. The SNM gathered its main base of support from members of the Isaaq clan, who formed and supported the movement in response to years of systematic discrimination by the Siad Barre government.
Garhajis members served twice as chairman of the movement, with Colonel Abdiqadir Kosar Abdi and Abdirahman Tuur and once as Vice chairman with Hassan Adan Wadadid. Garhajis Commanders carried out many successful operations that led to the decisive victory of the group and to the downfall of the Siad Barre regime. Such operations included the Birjeex raid led by Colonel Ibrahim Koodbuur and Operation Mandheera led by Mohamed Hashi Lihle Lixle where they successfully freed hundreds of Isaaq political prisoners whose executions were imminent.
Under the leadership of Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur the SNM carried out a successful invasion of Northern Somalia overthrowing the Communist regime and establishing the democratic state of Somaliland. Abdirahman was sworn in as Somaliland's first president.
List of Habar Yoonis SNM leaders:
The Eidagalle (Somali: Ciidagalle, Arabic: عيدَجلي,Full Name: Daoud ibn Ismā'īl ibn ash-Shaykh Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad)They are the traditional holders of the Isaaq Sultanate since the 18th century. The Isaaq Sultanate was established in the mid-18th century by Sultan Guled Abdi of the Eidagale clan. His coronation took place after the victorious battle of Lafaruug, in which Guled Abdi successfully led the Isaaq and was crowned by the Isaaq clan after defeating the Absame tribes. After witnessing his leadership skills, noble conduct and valiance, the Isaaq chiefs recognized him as their Grand Sultan but Abdi instead put forward his son Guled. Guled's Sultanate predates the Habr Yunis Sultanate, which broke off from Eidagale tutelage several decades after the start of his rule. Sultan Guled ruled the Isaaq from the 1750s up until his death in the early 19th century, where he was succeeded by his eldest son Farah. Sultan Farah further expanded the influence of the Sultanate by establishing ties with various Muslim polities across the Gulf, particularly the Al-Qasimi family whom he corresponded with in regard to military action against the British Navy who blockaded Berbera and temporarily cut off vital trade.
For centuries, the tomb of saint Aw Barkhadle, which is located between Berbera and Hargeisa, was used by the Isaaq clans to settle disputes and to swear oaths of alliances under a holy relic attributed to Bilal Ibn Rabah. As traditional leaders of the Isaaq clans, the Eidagale placed themselves as mediators during the disputes.
The Eidagale were renowned for their equestrian skills, and their devastating raids extended between the coast and the interior. According to Swayne, who traversed through Somaliland in the late 19th century, the Eidagale were amongst the clans most addicted to raiding:
Apart from their equestrian skills, the Eidagale are also famed for their eloquence in traditional Somali poetry (gabay), producing many famous poets such as Abdi Gahayr, Xasan Tarabi, and Elmi Boodhari. Historically, the Eidagale were viewed as "the recognized experts in the composition of poetry" by their fellow Somali contemporaries:
For centuries, the Eidagale (along with their Habar Yunis kin) were influential stakeholders in the long-distance Somali caravan trade. Eidagale merchants procured various goods from the Somali Region in present-day Ethiopia, such as livestock, acacia gum, myrrh and ghee, which were subsequently exported to Southern Arabia. The Eidagale caravan merchants founded several inland trade entrepôts in the interior, which also includes the modern city of Hargeisa, founded in the 19th century as a caravan junction between Berbera and the Somali interior.
A summarized clan family tree of the major Garhajis subclan of Habar Yunis is presented below.
A summarised clan family tree of the major Garhajis subclan of the Eidagale clan is presented below ;