Futuh al-Habasha: Somalis As Bedouins

[Shimbiris]

Recently I've been reading a book about the Bedouin of Arabia:

A very lovely book that gives you a nice glimpse into Bedouin Arab culture. In it I noticed that many settled Arabs had the historical habit of referring to pastoral nomadic Arabs (the Badu/Bedouin) as "The Arabs". Mothers would make their sons behave by saying they would give them up to "the Arabs", for example:

"Hence I grew up fearing these bedouins, loathing the desert, and hating its people, as did most of the boys in our village. Every one of them used to hear his mother try to frighten him by saying, "Tomorrow I'm going to sell you to the Arabs," or "Tomorrow I'm going to hand you over to the raiders."​

​

Arab and pastoral nomad or Arab and Badu were in many cases synonymous even to people like this who were settled "Arabs" themselves given that by now their Syrian Aramaic heritage was largely lost and they were mother-tongue Arabic speakers with likely notable Peninsular admixture. They were as "Arab" as the Badu who often, if you read the book, settled among them and intermingled with them and were nomads of their particular region in Syria yet the Badu was still the true authentic "Arab" in a sense. In fact, when the word was first mentioned in the historical record it was describing camel herding nomads. Forgive the wiki source but it gets the job done just fine and I don't have a lot of time:

The earliest documented use of the word Arab in reference to a people appears in the Kurkh Monoliths, an Akkadian-language record of the Assyrian conquest of Aram (9th century BCE). The Monoliths used the term to refer to Bedouins of the Arabian Peninsula under King Gindibu, who fought as part of a coalition opposed to Assyria.[100] Listed among the booty captured by the army of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in the Battle of Qarqar (853 BCE) are 1000 camels of "Gîndibuʾ the Arbâya" or "[the man] Gindibu belonging to the Arabs" (ar-ba-a-a being an adjectival nisba of the noun ʿArab).[100]​

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[Shimbiris]

Why is this important? Well, the fact of the matter is that the word "Somali" appears to have very similar roots. It does not seem to have originally been an ethnic term but rather a counterpart to a term like "Tomaal/Tumaal" which refers to an artisanal caste/tribe among us historically:

Tomal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

You see this in how Southern Ethiosemites referred to us historically. I know some of you have heard the claim that the first mention of "Somalis" as an ethnic term instead of terms like Barbar or Zaylai'i was in fact in a hymn composed on the orders of Habesha Emperor Yeshaq I but the truth is that the word used in his hymn was "Simur" and one of the reasons we know this was referring to Somalis was because it goes with what other Southern Ethiosemites like Hararis called many of the Somalis during the early modern era. In Hararis' case during the 1800s they often seemed to also call us "Tumur" and the reason they called some Somalis this was because many of the Somalis of Harar, according to Burton, were crafts people like blacksmiths, leatherworkers and probably masons and carpenters as well:

This is also seen within the city of Harar in the 1800s where Somalis are the main craftsmans/artisans: The History of Harar and Harari:

To concretize this relationship, here are some examples; Burton’s description of the population of the city of Harar shows there were 2500 Somalis engaged in different activities (Burton, R., 1956). The spatial organization of the city and the quarters also has some ethnic stratification. Accordingly, the Somalis were predominantly found in the Suqtat Bari, engaged in occupations such as handicraft, smithery and leatherwork.

Is why Hararis name for Somali is ''Tumur'', their pronounciation of ''Tumaal'' and their word Blacksmith is a borrowing from from that ''Tumtu''

I'm sure you're all aware of the idea that the origins of the word "Soomaal" are often posited by linguists to have strong pastoral roots. As in "Soo-Maal" (Go-Milk). I lost the quote but Said M. Shidad Hussein, an accomplished Somali studies scholar, did make a good case for it having thus originally been an occupational term and that it was what our people originally called Geeljires or Reer Guraa. It was not an ethnic term. It was an occupation, a way of life. It was seemingly the word "Arab" of its day or the word "Badu" of its day. When Yeshaq I is speaking of defeating the Walashma Sultan and his "Simur" he appears to be celebrating a victory over nomadic (Somali) warriors led by what seems to be their Sultan. The Habeshas simply assimilated our words for nomad and craftsmen when calling Somalis either "Simur" or "Tumur".

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[Shimbiris]

Why is this important and how does it relate to the Futuh al-Habasha? Well, before I get to that, I want you to look at the 1800s writings of Richard F. Burton who travelled all across northern Somalia and Galbeed; meeting Hawiyes, Isaaqs, Daroods and Dirs as he went. He chooses to call our nomads and Oromo nomads "Bedouins" and equate them to Arab nomads whilst making a distinction between them and settled town-dweller Somalis of the day by either calling them the Somals of the towns or at times also "citizens" like the Hararis of Harar:

After walking about four miles we arrived at what is called the Takhushshah—the sandy bed of a torrent nearly a mile broad19, covered with a thin coat of caked mud: in the centre is a line of pits from three to four feet deep, with turbid water at the bottom. Around them were several frame-works of four upright sticks connected by horizontal bars, and on these were stretched goats’-skins, forming the cattle-trough of the Somali country. About the wells stood troops of camels, whose Eesa proprietors scowled fiercely at us, and stalked over the plain with their long, heavy spears: for protection against these people, the citizens have erected a kind of round tower, with a ladder for a staircase.​

The second servant, whom I bring before you is Guled, another policeman at Aden. He is a youth of good family, belonging to the Ismail Arrah, the royal clan of the great Habr Gerhajis tribe. His father was a man of property, and his brethren near Berberah, are wealthy Bedouins​

We marched rapidly and in silence, stopping every quarter of an hour to raise the camels’ loads as they slipped on one side. I had now an opportunity of seeing how feeble a race is the Somal. My companions on the line of march wondered at my being able to carry a gun; they could scarcely support, even whilst riding, the weight of their spears, and preferred sitting upon them to spare their shoulders. At times they were obliged to walk because the saddles cut them, then they remounted because their legs were tired; briefly, an English boy of fourteen would have shown more bottom than the sturdiest. This cannot arise from poor diet, for the citizens, who live generously, are yet weaker than the Bedouins; it is a peculiarity of race. When fatigued they become reckless and impatient of thirst: on this occasion, though want of water stared us in the face, one skin of the three was allowed to fall upon the road and burst, and the second’s contents were drunk before we halted.​

Even the protector will slay his protege, and citizens married to Eesa girls send their wives to buy goats and sheep from, but will not trust themselves amongst, their connexions. “Traitorous as an Eesa,” is a proverb at Zayla, where the people tell you that these Bedouins with the left hand offer a bowl of milk, and stab with the right. “Conscience,” I may observe, does not exist in Eastern Africa, and “Repentance” expresses regret for missed opportunities of mortal crime. Robbery constitutes an honorable man: murder—the more atrocious the midnight crime the better—makes the hero. Honor consists in taking human life: hyaenalike, the Bedouins cannot be trusted where blood may be shed: Glory is the having done all manner of harm. Yet the Eesa have their good points: they are not noted liars, and will rarely perjure themselves: they look down upon petty pilfering without violence, and they are generous and hospitable compared with the other Somal. Personally, I had no reason to complain of them.​

Harar is essentially a commercial town: its citizens live, like those of Zayla, by systematically defrauding the Galla Bedouins, and the Amir has made it a penal offence to buy by weight and scale. He receives, as octroi, from eight to fifteen cubits of Cutch canvass for every donkey-load passing the gates, consequently the beast is so burdened that it must be supported by the drivers. Cultivators are taxed ten per cent., the general and easy rate of this part of Africa, but they pay in kind, which considerably increases the Government share.​

On the 24th of November I had an opportunity of seeing what a timid people are these Somal of the towns, who, as has been well remarked, are, like the settled Arabs, the worst specimens of their race.​

I want you to now keep in mind that Burton and the Futuh actually relate very, very well in that they largely capture the near exact same tribal makeup in that general area of Galbeed near and in Harar and show a general tribal continuity for 300 years between them and then continuity with what we knew of the tribal make up of the area as recently as the 1990s:

Some of the "Somali" tribes mentioned in the Futuh: Bartire, Geri Kombe, Habar Awal ("Habar Majadli"), Barsuk, Gurgura, Gadabursi ("Habar Maqdi"), Karanle along with Aw Gudub & Gugundabe ("Hawiya"), Yabbare and Mareexaan are all mentioned along with the "Harti" who are noted to be outsiders from around Maydh joining in on the fighting. The book also mentions other Somali tribes we can't really identify with any modern ones like Zarba, Mazra, and Jairan, though I recall other members on here being able to identiify the Mazra and Jairan; I just sadly forgot with which tribes.​

Burton: The Gerad Adan was powerful, being the head of a tribe of cultivators, not split up, like the Bedouins, into independent clans, and he thus exercises a direct influence upon the conterminous races.25 The Girhi or “Giraffes” inhabiting these hills are, like most of the other settled Somal, a derivation from Darud, and descended from Kombo. Despite the unmerciful persecutions of the Gallas, they gradually migrated westwards from Makhar, their original nest, now number 5000 shields, possess about 180 villages, and are accounted the power paramount. Though friendly with the Habr Awal, the Girhi seldom descend, unless compelled by want of pasture, into the plains. The other inhabitants of these hills are the Gallas and the Somali clans of Berteri, Bursuk, Shaykhash, Hawiyah, Usbayhan, Marayhan, and Abaskul.​

These are mostly the same people for 500 years and in Burton's day some tribes are settled farmers like the Geri Kombe but many are pastoral nomadic and he points out the commonness of the "Bedouins" across these Somali inhabited territories and even mentions that, outside of the settled Somalis of Harar, there are also transient Bedouins of Harar who come and go much like many nomadic Somalis in Koonfur towns like Xamar who came during the day and left when the gates were closed at sundown (maghrib) unlike the permanently dwelling Gibil Madows like the Abgaals of Xamar and the Gibil Cads like the Asharaaf:

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[Shimbiris]

The other inhabitants are about 3000 Bedouins, who “come and go.” Up to the city gates the country is peopled by the Gallas. This unruly race requires to be propitiated by presents of cloth; as many as 600 Tobes are annually distributed amongst them by the Amir.​

The nomads are everywhere during the 1800s but guess what's the issue? They're NOWHERE in the Futuh. Not one single mention of nomads exists in that book. Well, actually there's one and it's not even referring to Somalis:

The people of Gafat are desert nomads with no knowledge of the Book, and no religion. They warned the patrician, ‘Don't enter our country.’ but he ignored them, and entered their country by force. So they joined forces against him, to fight him. ​

And I'd like to see the original Arabic and see if it's really even saying "nomad" or not just something like them being people of the desert/badiyah. Point is, pastoral nomads are practically never referenced in the book. No mention of Bedouins, no mention of pastoralism, no mention beyond that one instance of nomads, especially in relation to Somalis. This is beyond strange in a book where "Somalis" are mentioned over 70 times and so many Somali tribes are outlined. All of those tribes could not have been settled farmers or town dwellers back then regardless of how much more fertile and less degraded the land was back in the Middle Ages. So... why no mention of Geeljires? Except they're being mentioned all the time if you just read the book carefully and realize what "Somali" really means in the Futuh:

After this, the sultan Abu Bakr, son of the sultan Muhammad bin Azr from the stock of Sa'd ad-Din, stood up against Garad Abun. He raised against him a band of Somalis whom he had recruited from among the riffraff and highwaymen.​

They had not settled down very long when the sultan Abu Bakr assembled a force against the imam Ahmad and his companions, made up of an immense army of Somalis and others. Their horses and troops were so numerous as to be incalculable. They all reached the district, that is to say, Harar. When the imam and his companions heard of their coming, they withdrew from the country and proceeded to the town called Hubat Zeberta. In Hubat there was a high mountain which they climbed.​

After this, one of the foremost sultans callcd Ura‘I Abun came to the imam. When the country had been torn by disputes, he had gone to live with the Somalis. He became reconciled with the imam and the latter gave him a district for his support. A tribe called Gim'v ' then came to the imam. A dispute had arisen between them and their companions in another tribe called the Marraihan, whose emir was called Hirabiu so the imam Ahmad sent a message to Hirabu emir of the Somalis, to make peace between them.​

The storyteller, may God have mercy upon him, says: Thereupon the imam disbanded his soldiers, saying to them, ‘Each of you return to your town, feed your horses well, keep your weapons in readiness until I come to you, and you set out [again] on a raid. For the moment I am going to a district called Zarba to pacify the country, to make peace between the citizens and the Somalis, and to mobilise an army: and then I will come back to you.'They agreed with what he had to say, broke up. and each person went back to his own town.​

The most telling example is when the Imam speaks of settling discord amongst "The Citizens and the Somalis". If you read this how Burton would write it you are reading "The Citizens and the Bedouins" and then it actually makes a lot more sense as a sentence because how are Somalis not "citizens" (muwatin) in the civic sense? His own brother-in-law, married to his eldest sister is a Somali. Many of his top men, including that brother-in-law who runs an entire flank of his army as well as possibly another man who runs another flank are Somalis so... how does that work? You give non-citizens such important roles over actual citizens like the citizens often mentioned to be around him? Speaking of those citizens, there are several of them and generally people in the book with blatantly Somali names who are not called Somalis at any point:

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[Shimbiris]

The storyteller,; may God have mercy upon him, says: After this, the Muslim people of Berarah camc to the imam and said to him: ‘Wc arc afraid: give us some soldiers to watch over us, to protect us.' So the imam gave them one of the Muslim knights, Absama Nur, along with three other knights, to protect the people of Berarah. These set off with them to their country of Berarah and stayed with them there [f’47].​

Ten knights renowned for their courage, went on to the land of Sarkah:390 Del Sagad, Takla, Ura‘i Nur bin Dar"Ali, Abjad bin Abun, Garad Dawit al-Bartirri, Jlnah Satut from the people of Sim, Yusscf, Said! Muhammad bin 'All al-Baqari whose father was an Arab - he had been the treasurer for the Imam, and was lord of Dawaro - and Abu Bakr bin Yamag Ahmad .​

Then the imam said to the wazir Nur, ‘Now you and your soldiers march against them, while we march against Eslamu To which he responded, ‘Willingly". Then he put him in command over one-hundred knights from among the heroes, amongst whom were Abu Bakr Qatin, the emir ‘AIT, Garad Ahmad bin Lad ‘Utman well-known for his courage, Ura‘r s Sihab ad-Dln Jidayah Girri who was from among the courageous ones, and Ura'i ‘Umar Din, and their ilk.​

The first of them to charge was the emir Husain, followed by Goita Allah Magan and Garad Mattan and Garad Sama‘un and others like them, who attacked the idol-worshippers. Between the latter and the Muslims a river formed a barrier. There were paths across that horses could take, but on the banks there were footsoldiers of the idol-worshippers whom they charged and pushed back towards their patrician Eslamu .​

Absame (Absama), Magan, Geri (Girri), Bartire (al-Bartirri)... these are outright Somali names but they are never adjoined with the moniker "the Somali" like the Chieftains of tribes like the Mareexaan or the Geri Kombe such as Mattan. In fact, one of the absolute most damning examples is the father of the Mareexaan Chief who is named "Goita Tedros bin Adam":

He sent [another messenger] to the tribe of Marraihan whose chieftain was Hirabu bin Goita Tedros bin Adam​

"He was from among those
renowned for their courage, and among the rare horsemen whose exploits became
proverbial. And Goita Tedros bin Adam. And Jasa‘Umar who after the conquest
governed the land of Walaqa21* on the border of the Abbay214 which is a mighty
river that meanders and empties itself into the Egyptian"​

The storyteller, may God have mercy upon him, says: When the emir Husain had said these words to the imam there arose from among those present the emir * AIT, Ura‘i Ahmad Din, Garad Zaharbui Muhammad,‘Abd an-Nasr, Ahmad Goita. Garad ‘Abad, Ahmadus, Sabr ad-Din, Zaharbui ‘Utman, Ura‘i Mahwi, his companion Din, Farasaham Satut, Ura‘I Nur bin Dar ‘All, Tedros bin Adam, Warajar Abun, the ruler ofZayla‘ - all of whom told the imam Ahmad, may the Most High God have mcrcy upon him, that they agreed with the opinion expressed by the emir Husain.​

He is the father of a "Somali" chieftain yet he is never called a Somali himself and before you make too much of the name, there are other Somalis with such names such as Garad Dawit:

The first tribe to come up was the Habr Maqdi with their lord Garad Dawit, fifty knights and five-hundred foot-soldiers. After them the Marraihan came up, with their lord Ahmad bin Hirabu, with eighty knights and seven-hundred footsoldiers. After them came up the Gorgorah with Garad kAbd their chieftain, and thirty knights and one-thousand foot-soldiers.​

I recall reading that there seem to have been forced conversions when people got caught by Habeshas but then they escaped and returned to Islam after but weirdly I guess kept the new name. Point is, his dad is obviously Somali like him yet he is not dubbed as such and his dad is often around the Imam Ahmed as a member of one of his inner circles, as you can see above, and likely a "citizen" who lives in the towns with the Imam rather than being a nomad. Then there are people we know via other historical records like Nur Ibn Mujahid to apparently be Somali yet in the Futuh they are not dubbed "Somali".

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[Shimbiris]

When you realize "Somali" in the Futuh means nomad and the Somalis being called such are pastoral nomadic tribes and warriors and their Chieftains it all starts to make sense. Even the language of the Futuh earlier like the Somalis and the citizens begins to add up and sentences like these make more sense when you remove "Somali" and substitute in Bedouin:

The wazir ‘Addoli brought together the whole army, including the Bedouin tribes, and others besides, and then he said to them, ‘If the imam be dead, then we are one man fewer. It was only on account of the jihad that we left our countries.' Then he said, ‘Any one among us w'ho is spying for the idolworshippers or pretending to be what he isn't, let him speak up or let him rejoin the king. For we will remain in his country for the sake of the jihad. Wc will not depart from this place until the imam comes. And if something has befallen him, then lie was just one of us. There are enough of us for the fight.'​

After this, the sultan Abu Bakr, son of the sultan Muhammad bin Azr from the stock of Sacd ad-Din, stood up against Garad Abun. He raised against him a band of Bedouins whom he had recruited from among the riffraff and highwaymen.​

It was while the Muslims were encamped in the region of Ayfars, that Farasaham ‘All came to them, accompanied by six knights and two-hundred footsoldiers. He embraced Islam, and his conversion was genuine. This man had been a Muslim who had gone up from Jalbi, a Muslim district, at the time when the Bedouins had taken control of it after the death of the Sultan Muhammad, may the Most High God have mercy upon him. He made up his mind to go up to the land of Abyssinia, with Ahmad Goita and soldiers from the people of Najab. ​

The imam Ahmad bin Ibrahim and his companions heard news of the flight of the sultan and his Bedouins from the country, and set out alter them and reached Kidad and ran the sultan and his Bedouins to earth in a place called Qam - a river filled with much water - at mid-day.​

The storyteller, may God have mercy upon him, says: Thereupon the imam disbanded his soldiers, saying to them, ‘Each of you return to your town, feed your horses well, keep your weapons in readiness until I come to you, and you set out [again] on a raid. For the moment I am going to a district callcd Zarba to pacify the country, to make peace between the citizens and the Bedouins, and to mobilise an army: and then I will come back to you.'They agreed with what he had to say, broke up. and each person went back to his own town.​

For example, it is the nomads who are harassing people on the roads and when they are defeated the Walashma Sultans retreat ostensibly into the Miyi to hide amongst "their Somalis", their bedouins whom they are probably tribally related to either through marriage like the Imam or their own line, to gather fighting men and support and return to towns like Harar with vengeance. This is also probably why tribes such as the "Harla" whom later sources seem to posit are some form of Somali- :

Afar researcher showing their retained Somali genealogy when assimilated into the Afar ethnic group
The author claims the Harla tribes have names recognizable in Afar but does not go into any detail and I don't see any overlap with any Afar tribes so that is a dubious claim

As I'm sure many of you know, Enrico Cerulli also recorded that they had their own unique Somali dialect when they still firmly existed as Somalis; assimilates would simply speak what the people who assimilated them spoke, not their own unique dialect so it seems plausible once added with this genealogy that they really were Somalis​

-are not called Somalis. The Futuh is arguably not making an ethnic distinction when it separates "the Somali tribes" and "the Harla tribes". It is making a lifestyle distinction. The Harla were probably an overwhelmingly settled subribe similar to the Digil Raxanweyn of Koonfur or the Geri Kombe of 3 centuries later which is probably also why Somalis and Hararis associate so many settlements with them all the way to Sanaag and Bari which would make no sense if they were non-Somalis as there is zero genetic evidence in Northeast and Northwest Somalis of some mass assimilation of non-Somalis like say Southern Ethiosemites and no archaeological or historical evidence of some mass exodus or genocide. Them likely being sedentary also goes with how the Afar researcher above correctly points out that Amda Seyon mentions them in his chronicles but adds a detail I was not aware of that they are mentioned to be a sedentary population which if true would go startingly well with why they are not called "Somalis" in the Futuh.

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[Shimbiris]

One final damning thing this all sort of implies is that, well... I'm gonna trigger some folks and maybe ruffle some feathers but please be aware that I'm not religious about this. It's just what I observe... and that's that this seems to pretty much imply most of the people the author is interacting with are Somalis. Only Somalis would really call the nomads "Somali" and prompt him to record things that way. If he was speaking to Ethiosemites of any kind we'd likely see the book littered with "Simur" or "Simuri" or something to that effect, then there are damning place names like this for the Shabelle river:

Then he embarked on an expedition, with his soldiers and army in the direction of Abyssinia, near Dawaro. He set out against them and rook the best route via the Wabi. The Wabi is an extremely mighty river, notable for its water, where crocodiles and wild animals breed profusely. It is the barrier between Dawaro and Bali, and empties itself into the salt sea in the vicinity of Mogadishu​

He's literally just writing the Somali word for "river" and doesn't realize it. They probably revered it as "The river" rather than giving him a specific name like for the Awash because, as he says, it's very important and mighty. It was also pointed out to me that the Imam's wife's name, "Bati Del Wanbara" sounds in part like a weird Habesha bastardization of a name similar to "Dombira", the founding mother of the Darood. I don't remember how this friend came upon the reconstruction but I think he mentioned some linguist pointing out that it could be read like "Dalombira":

Then there's the fact that, as far as I remember noticing, any non Christian Habesha names that aren't Arab and aren't ethnic names like Gedaya (Gedeo?) are basically Somali names like the few outlined earlier. There's not really other ethnic given names evident, as far as I can see, though I must admit it's been a while since I've done a full read through and I maybe mistaken. But if this is the case, it strongly implies the Imam and probably everyone else in the area is mostly Somali and speaking Somali when not speaking Arabic. Along this vein, it's very telling that all the nomads in the area are being referred to using a Somali word that was probably passed onto the author by their settled counterparts like the Arab women calling the Badus "The Arabs" to their children whom they want to scare.

One must also consider that Somali cultural traditions are on display in the Futuh as well. Such as with this story involving the Imam:

[The imam sacks the church called Lalibala] After he had heard that the idol-worshippers had assembled near a church called Latibala, 84 the imam set out into the mountains, by a difficult route, to attack them. Rain fell on them from above. They marched by night, and still he forced their march. Some of their number died from the piercing cold before he arrived at the church. ‘ He found its monks there, milling around and willing to die for its sake. The imam gazed at the church, He had never seen its like. It was carved out of the mountain. Its pillars were likewise cut from the mountain. Theonly things made of timber in the church were their statues and their 787 sarcophagi. It had a large water cistern carved out of the mountainside. The imam had the monks788 grouped together and then ordered firewood to be strewn inside [the church]. He had it set alight, and when the heat intensified he said to them, ‘One of you shall enter it; and one of us,'to find out what they would do; to put them to the test. Their chief said, ‘I shall enter willingly’. Thereupon one of the women rose up, she was a nun, and said, "This is he who taught me the Gospel. Shall he die while I am watching him?* So she entered the fire and threw herself down in it. The imam said, " Put I her out’. So they pulled her out. Part of her face had been burned.​

It is referencing a Somali and Afar Cushitic tradition of trial by fire:



As you can see above, one Ethiopian author actually tried to use it as evidence that the Imam was Afar or half Afar but that author is mistaken as I've pointed out elsewhere. He makes big unfounded leaps such as assuming the Malassai are an ethnic group (and Afar) when we know from reading the Futuh they're instead a mishmash of tribes and soldiers who comprise the army's elite fighters who directly serve under the Imam. And he neglects to realize the Afar are hardly mentioned in the Futuh and when they are, if we assume "Ayfars" is them, it's as a distant group whose region is mostly just passed by. They are not mentioned as being among the groups fighting, nor are any of their tribes unless we are to take that Afar researcher at his word and believe the Harla are maybe them.

Nevertheless, as some Twitter Somalis also point out, albeit with some unfortunate trolling, Afars were very separate from the Adal/Awdal area and to the north of it, despite what many mistakenly claim by thinking Adal referred to them or had much of any Afars in it. Again, they and any known tribes of theirs I could see anywhere online are not mentioned as being involved in the fighting in the Futuh and they're only mentioned as a far away group spoken of in passing if indeed "Ayfars" in the Futuh even refers to them as historically they were usually called some variation of "Danakil". Don't take my word for it; read the book. But what this leaves us is that the only other group in the eastern Horn that historically practiced trials by fire like this were... Somalis:

Burton: The Somal, as usual amongst the heterogeneous mass amalgamated by El Islam, have a diversity of superstitions attesting their Pagan origin. Such for instance are their oaths by stones, their reverence of cairns and holy trees, and their ordeals of fire and water, the Bolungo of Western Africa. A man accused of murder or theft walks down a trench full of live charcoal and about a spear’s length, or he draws out of the flames a smith’s anvil heated to redness: some prefer picking four or five cowries from a large pot full of boiling water. The member used is at once rolled up in the intestines of a sheep and not inspected for a whole day.​

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[Shimbiris]

Finally, contrary to what some Ethiopian scholars like to strangely claim without evidence, if you actually read the Futuh there is no mention of groups like Argobbas and Hararis. None and no tribal names they have appear, as far as I've seen, though I am eager to see if others can at least catch those. Funnily enough, only Sidamic ethnic and possibly tribal names seem to appear and I have a feeling that this is what the makeup of the general Hararghe area was originally; Somalis and maybe some Sidamics then Southern Ethiosemites come later and Oromos after them. This also explains why, funnily enough, despite their urban nature, why the Harari word for city seems to come from Somali. Their name for the town "Gey" which is "The City" seems to be using a Somali loan word to refer to the town. This weirdly does fit with how I've seen Somalis and the histories claim that Nur Ibn Mujahid settled them in the town when they were originally outsiders and how the deeper layer of their language seems to be Sidamic implying that Sidamics either predated them in the area or they came from Southern Ethiopia where they got that substratum.

So, overall, a picture is forming. These people the author of the Futuh is dealing with seem to have spoken Somali given the words they're throwing at him like their word for nomad being "Somali" and their word for river being "webi". They also have Somali given names when not being referred to as Somali probably because these are non-nomadic Somalis, the so far identifiable non-Arab and non-Habesha names appear to be unambiguously Somali and we have people like Nur Ibn Mujahid and even the Imam himself given sources like this who apparently have Somali roots or at minimum partial Somali roots not being referred to as Somalis similar to a later seemingly Somali tribe (Harla) not being labelled as such possibly because they were a non-nomadic tribe. And, finally, there is evidence of Somali cultural practices among people like with the Imam such as trials by fire.

I am busy nowadays and would like to write about stuff like this and many other things in more detail another time but for now I thought it was good to have this out there. I feel people maybe need to start reading the Futuh how it should probably be read and not assume "Somali" is an ethnic designation as it does not seem to be and I felt like some of this information should be in one place like the tribal continuity, trials by fire and other such details.

-

Sorry for having to break my post up. 5.8K words and a 1K word limit per post so I had to make it work somehow. Good day to you all and I hope this proved an interesting read.

 

[Shimbiris]

@The alchemist @Garaad diinle @Step a side

And many thanks to @Idilinaa who was the inspiration for much of this and provided me sources in several cases like the genealogy and adeer Shidaad's writings. He's been kinda shouting this sort of thing from the roof-tops for years and I finally started seeing what he was talking about.

 

[Abdisamadi]

Good post, what confuses me about this though is why weren't other nomads also called by the same name, Weren't there Sidamics running around?

 

[Khaemwaset]

Banger 🫡

 

[Aurelian]

This was fantastic, and give another perspective to haraghe region. I always heard that Harla (a extinct group as was claimed ) were a close people to Somalis, but it seems they were reer magaal Somalis.

 

[Yami]

Why is this important? Well, the fact of the matter is that the word "Somali" appears to have very similar roots. It does not seem to have originally been an ethnic term but rather a counterpart to a term like "Tomaal/Tumaal" which refers to an artisanal caste/tribe among us historically:

Tomal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

You see this in how Southern Ethiosemites referred to us historically. I know some of you have heard the claim that the first mention of "Somalis" as an ethnic term instead of terms like Barbar or Zaylai'i was in fact in a hymn composed on the orders of Habesha Emperor Yeshaq I but the truth is that the word used in his hymn was "Simur" and one of the reasons we know this was referring to Somalis was because it goes with what other Southern Ethiosemites like Hararis called many of the Somalis during the early modern era. In Hararis' case during the 1800s they often seemed to also call us "Tumur" and the reason they called some Somalis this was because many of the Somalis of Harar, according to Burton, were crafts people like blacksmiths, leatherworkers and probably masons and carpenters as well:



I'm sure you're all aware of the idea that the origins of the word "Soomaal" are often posited by linguists to have strong pastoral roots. As in "Soo-Maal" (Go-Milk). I lost the quote but Said M. Shidad Hussein, an accomplished Somali studies scholar, did make a good case for it having thus originally been an occupational term and that it was what our people originally called Geeljires or Reer Guraa. It was not an ethnic term. It was an occupation, a way of life. It was seemingly the word "Arab" of its day or the word "Badu" of its day. When Yeshaq I is speaking of defeating the Walashma Sultan and his "Simur" he appears to be celebrating a victory over nomadic (Somali) warriors led by what seems to be their Sultan. The Habeshas simply assimilated our words for nomad and craftsmen when calling Somalis either "Simur" or "Tumur".

Post continued below:

There's a source I remember reading out there of settled raxanweyn in the mid 20th century refusing to be identified as "Somali" for this very reason. For some groups Somali = pastoralist occupation was a very recent thing

 

[Abdisamadi]

This was fantastic, and give another perspective to haraghe region. I always heard that Harla (a extinct group as was claimed ) were a close people to Somalis, but it seems they were reer magaal Somalis.

Harla was probably a sedentary identification since Hararis were more urban

 

[Maakhri from dhahar]

Recently I've been reading a book about the Bedouin of Arabia:

A very lovely book that gives you a nice glimpse into Bedouin Arab culture. In it I noticed that many settled Arabs had the historical habit of referring to pastoral nomadic Arabs (the Badu/Bedouin) as "The Arabs". Mothers would make their sons behave by saying they would give them up to "the Arabs", for example:

​

Arab and pastoral nomad or Arab and Badu were in many cases synonymous even to people like this who were settled "Arabs" themselves given that by now their Syrian Aramaic heritage was largely lost and they were mother-tongue Arabic speakers with likely notable Peninsular admixture. They were as "Arab" as the Badu who often, if you read the book, settled among them and intermingled with them and were nomads of their particular region in Syria yet the Badu was still the true authentic "Arab" in a sense. In fact, when the word was first mentioned in the historical record it was describing camel herding nomads. Forgive the wiki source but it gets the job done just fine and I don't have a lot of time:



Post continued below:

If you know the Somali language well, it probably won't be difficult for you to know that the word ( arab عرب) means movement , travel and mobility.

The word ( arab عرب ) has many meanings :
​

carraabi f.g2 (-iyay, -isay) 1. Wax galab meel u kaxayn. 2. Marti is dhaafin.

carraabo عَرَاب m.dh Socod goor galab ah meel laga tago iyadoo meel kale la higsanayo.
ld carrowtiin.
carraaw عَرَاو f.mg1 (-aabay, -aabtay) Galab meel u socosho. ld carrow (2).

carraaw عَرَاو = carraabo عَرَاب = carrabi عَرَابِ​

​

carraab v. go home at the end of the day; travel in the afternoon .
carraabi v. bring something back home at the end of the day; send (guests) away
before nightfall .
carraabo f. n. going home at the end of the day; late afternoon travel .

​

carro عَرَو m.dh 1. ld ciid (1). 2. ld carri. Dhul; dal; waddan. 3. Ciid cusbo leh.
carro f. n., (mass n.): dirt, soil, earth​

carraaw عَرَاو = carraabo عَرَاب = carrabi عَرَابِ

carro عَرَو = carab ( arab ) عَرَب

The Somali binary verb ( gal ) is an imperative mood
which means ( enter , go into ) ,
to convert this imperative verb ( gal ) into a past tense verb,
we add ( y ي ) to the end of the verb ( galay چَلَيْ ) which means ( he entered , went into ) .

This " y / ي " , which was added at the end of the Somali verb so that it becomes in the past tense , evolved into ( b ب , m م , f ف , n ن , .... ) in Semitic languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, and others.

The Somali verb ( galay چَلَيْ ) became ( gharab غرب ) in Arabic language after the letter “ y /ي ” was changed to the letter “ b ب ”.

The Somali verb ( galay چَلَيْ ) became ( עֶרֶב érev عرب ) in Hebrew language after the letter “ y / ي ” was changed to the letter “ bب / v ڤ ”.

gal → galay → galab → gharab → carrabi / carab ( arab )

چَلْ ← چَلَيْ ← چَلَبْ ← غَرَبَ ← عَرَابِ / عَرَبَ
​

 

[Three Moons]

Good thread, its easy to scratch your head and wonder why no Somali scholar in the last 50 years even bothered to put all of those question marks to bed, coherently and based on sources, the way you did above. The fact that we get a better understanding of our history through the analysis of primary sources by individuals active on Twitter or on forums is pretty damning to the state of Somali Academia and scholarship, and why its important that those individuals eventually become academics themselves and get published to rectify this state.

 

[Khaemwaset]

This was fantastic, and give another perspective to haraghe region. I always heard that Harla (a extinct group as was claimed ) were a close people to Somalis, but it seems they were reer magaal Somalis.

Reer magaal would mean they're a urban class of Somalis.

They were probably just an exclusively agricultural group of Somalis living in hararghe and would have links to many sub clans of Dir, Hawiye and I've seen a lineage of Darood with them in it.

 

[Maakhri from dhahar]

Recently I've been reading a book about the Bedouin of Arabia:

A very lovely book that gives you a nice glimpse into Bedouin Arab culture. In it I noticed that many settled Arabs had the historical habit of referring to pastoral nomadic Arabs (the Badu/Bedouin) as "The Arabs". Mothers would make their sons behave by saying they would give them up to "the Arabs", for example:

​

Arab and pastoral nomad or Arab and Badu were in many cases synonymous even to people like this who were settled "Arabs" themselves given that by now their Syrian Aramaic heritage was largely lost and they were mother-tongue Arabic speakers with likely notable Peninsular admixture. They were as "Arab" as the Badu who often, if you read the book, settled among them and intermingled with them and were nomads of their particular region in Syria yet the Badu was still the true authentic "Arab" in a sense. In fact, when the word was first mentioned in the historical record it was describing camel herding nomads. Forgive the wiki source but it gets the job done just fine and I don't have a lot of time:
Post continued below:

carraaw عَرَاو = carraabo عَرَاب = carrabi عَرَابِ

carro عَرَو = carab ( arab ) عَرَب
عرب = غرب
معرب = مغرب
​

Aramaic language ⁧עֲרָבָא⁩ (ʿărāḇā عَرَب )means : sunset .
⁧ܡܲܥܪܒ݂ܵܐ⁩ (maˁrḇā معرب) means : west , occident (the direction of the setting sun at an equinox) .
Hebrew language מַעֲרָב⁩ (ma'aráv معرب) means : west .​

in nutshell :

The Arab land means : the western land (the land where the sun sets ) .

Arab people means : a people on the move traveling to their homes at dusk after herding animals in the pastures .​

 

[Three Moons]

This was fantastic, and give another perspective to haraghe region. I always heard that Harla (a extinct group as was claimed ) were a close people to Somalis, but it seems they were reer magaal Somalis.

Zarba, located in the country of Harla is the most concrete contemporary evidence that the Harla were a specific branch of Somalis, because the Futuh mentions Zarba several times either in reference to a tribe or as a district with citizens. In both cases they are tied only to the Somalis or outright described as Somalis, the latter as Shimbiris pointed out above would be a reference to their pastoralist lifestyle. The rest of Zarba and the Harla country could have consisted of both urban and sedentary Somali populations that were considered ‘citizens’.

 

[NidarNidar]

Reer magaal would mean they're a urban class of Somalis.

They were probably just an exclusively agricultural group of Somalis living in hararghe and would have links to many sub clans of Dir, Hawiye and I've seen a lineage of Darood with them in it.

I claim to be no linguist, but Somal, Tomal, and Bimaal were most likely occupations or easy ways to distinguish ourselves, the harla were farmers and most likely the name given to them was from the outsider, Arabic in origin, Biimaal probably being the original name, I'm not saying modern day Biimaal are Harla.

1. A user from California, U.S. says the name Harla is of Jewish origin and means "The halo sings from the fields".
2. A submission from the United Kingdom says the name Harla means "From the field" and is of English origin.
3. A submission from Missouri, U.S. says the name Harla means "From the fields" and is of Arabic origin.