Futuh al-Habasha: Somalis As Bedouins

[Three Moons]

Hargeisa is most likely a union of “Harag = sheep skin” and “Geesi / Gesiah = brave”.

If the town was established to create a safe corridor to transport and sell sheep skin away from potential ambushes by highwaymen, then it fits nicely. It has nothing to do with delusional Oromos.

P. 6 - A Grammar of the Somali Language
With Examples in Prose and Verse, and an Account of the Yibir and Midgan Dialects
By J.W.C Kirk

 

[daljirkadahsoon]

I remember Oromo friend saying, the word hargeisa is Oromo in origin. Including cities like zaylac, berbera, jigjiga Dira Dawa, Ceelwaaq, garbaharey and etc. I have no clue and cant remember some of the cities he mentioned to me, but his very knowledgable when it comes to "magaloyinka somalida". So he believes Hargeysa is referring to the aloe vera plant translated as dacar in Somali. He specifically said "boo Hargeisa fidi " meaning bring the aloe vera. In those times dacar was used as an antibiotic in their traditional medicine.

My argument was that as somalis we believe Hargeisa was named of haraga geyska which means far west of sheep wool. Some elders also told me that Hargeysa means Harr Gey Sa as trading city Harka or trading city of Heralla.

Any of you guys come across this meaning of Hargeisa or other cities in Somalia? Ceelwaaq? Jigjiga? Diri Dawa? Zayla? Etc, was any of them mentioned in futuh al habash? Or did they have different names?

The Oromos have never inhabited our country except for a brief time as invaders who were then kicked out. None of those cities have a meaning in Oromo this is just modern stuff people like Shimelis push who believes all Somalia is lost Oromo land.

There are places named after invaders who got killed there but that is about it.

On the contrary, there are large swathes of modern Oromia that are historic Somali lands including towns such as Metehara and actually the outskirts of Addis itself.

 

[giire12]

@The alchemist @Yami @Three Moons @daljirkadahsoon Thanks for the clarification, his words and explanation was very believable. Now, i understand that we share the same sub linguistic family Cushitic, so there are many words we share. Some oromo believe we pushed them backwards after Adal/ifat and other sultants that existed in that time. We believe the opposite in that there was an oromo expansion into our lands especially in NFD Kenya (the Borana expansion). Its very evident in recent times and with all the social media that alot of oromo and ethosemetic scholars arguments that some of our lands was originally Ethiopian in origin. Like, an Eritrean jabarti who speaks tigreyna argued with me that the lands we live was originally owned by a habash king named nagashi. All this is based on myths and believes and there is no concrete proof. Sorry, I work with so many of them that arrived in the UK recently (between 2016 to present), so i studied their believes, and they believe that they were dominant and they controlled east africa and yemen.

 

[daljirkadahsoon]

@The alchemist @Yami @Three Moons @daljirkadahsoon Thanks for the clarification, his words and explanation was very believable. Now, i understand that we share the same sub linguistic family Cushitic, so there are many words we share. Some oromo believe we pushed them backwards after Adal/ifat and other sultants that existed in that time. We believe the opposite in that there was an oromo expansion into our lands especially in NFD Kenya (the Borana expansion). Its very evident in recent times and with all the social media that alot of oromo and ethosemetic scholars arguments that some of our lands was originally Ethiopian in origin. Like, an Eritrean jabarti who speaks tigreyna argued with me that the lands we live was originally owned by a habash king named nagashi. All this is based on myths and believes and there is no concrete proof. Sorry, I work with so many of them that arrived in the UK recently (between 2016 to present), so i studied their believes, and they believe that they were dominant and they controlled east africa and yemen.

Walaal nimankaan like maybe 1/3 or 1/4 are Somali people who were assimilated in the chaos following Adal. A lot of the current leaders they adore amongst their Muslims are people of Somali descent like the shaykh who made Oromo a written language.

Every land they expanded into they Oromised everyone who was there.

For better or worse, they have a very ordered system for assimilating and integrating foreigners. If you accept their laws and become a citizen that takes their language and customs, your descendants will be considered as Oromo as any other. They even apparently did a adoption ceremony some time ago for two Chinese men.

Xabashis always make up stories about ownership it says more about their ambitions than any actual history. Even if we go back to King Kaleb, our territories are marked as distinct areas outside of the Aksumite Emperor's control!

 

[giire12]

Walaal nimankaan like maybe 1/3 or 1/4 are Somali people who were assimilated in the chaos following Adal. A lot of the current leaders they adore amongst their Muslims are people of Somali descent like the shaykh who made Oromo a written language.

Every land they expanded into they Oromised everyone who was there.

For better or worse, they have a very ordered system for assimilating and integrating foreigners. If you accept their laws and become a citizen that takes their language and customs, your descendants will be considered as Oromo as any other. They even apparently did a adoption ceremony some time ago for two Chinese men.

Xabashis always make up stories about ownership it says more about their ambitions than any actual history. Even if we go back to King Kaleb, our territories are marked as distinct areas outside of the Aksumite Emperor's control!

Walal that explains the large population size, one of the largest in Africa, 45 + million excluding borana.

 

[الناخوذة ويكان الزيلعي]

Is the information in this book accurate? I thought I’d give it read.

اذا كنت تعرف العربية انصحك بقراءته فالكتاب جيد و ممتاز من نواحي عدة ، ولكن اجابة على سؤالك من جانب الدقة فلا اعتقد هذا ، الكاتب يؤرخ بعض من التاريخ الشفوي ويسردها كا حقائق تاريخيه وهذا مايقلل من صحته

 

[Banadiri Warrior]

Yes, there are lost geri koombe amongst the raxanweyn, and belong to the subclans of “luwaay” and “yantaar”! **

The Geri koombe that joined yantaar are from Reer Cumar Hassan

 

[Banadiri Warrior]

It is unlikely that Cisse are the only descendants of Walashma amongst Somali clans.

The Ciise maintain that they and their cousins the Gadabuursi are both descendants of the dynasty. Interestingly, their relationship is corroborated by DNA studies they belong to the same clade.

Gadabuursi trace their lineage to Cumar Dunyahus through Ali bin Hassan bin Cumar.

According to them, the Sultan Sacad-ad-din and Imam Sicid were first cousins.

It is interesting that this Gadabuursi tradition also matches precisely the name we have recorded for Sacad-ad-din (Sacad-ad-din bin Ahmed bin Ali).

The Gadabuursi tradition says that Ali had three sons Ahmed, Oday and Daud.

The sultans Sacad-ad-din and Xaq-ud-din are sons of Ahmed bin Ali and their cousin (the father of Samaroon recorded as the western flank general) is Sicid Daud Ali.

The Gadabuursi also have specific traditions about Sultan Cumar (I remember Hassan Sheikh Mumin once mentioned it) and they also have maternal descent from the Aqeelis of Saylac as the mother of Imam Maxamuud (Samaroon) was the daughter of Ahmad bin Umar al Saylici.

This tradition is maintained also by the surviving Reer Saylac (equivalent of Reer Xamar) and the island of 'Sharifada' off Saylac is named for Imam Samaroon's mother, the daughter of the famous Shaykh.

I have seen at least two southern sub-clans maintain that they are descended from an 'Umar-Din' who came from the North (Geledi and Gasaargude). I'm not sure if it is Umar Dunyahuz or an Umar Din associated with the founder of Harar though.

Please provide any more info on these Walashma regents this is extraordinary.

Please note for clarity that 'Samaroon' and 'Gadabuursi' are not the same even though they are used that way. In terms of genealogy, Samaroon is one jilib (though a massive one). Not all Gadabuursi are Samaroon, as Gadabuursi includes multiple siblings and uncles of Samaroon (sons of Sicid and the sons of Sicid's brothers).

Cumar diin father of Dab and Qarsin is different from Cumar Dunyahuz or Cumar diin grandson of Abadir .

There's more than two clans that descend from Cumar diin, theres Gisaargude , Waaqdore, Goobroon, Gaalabax, Goobyaan, Geelidle, Jilible , Abiikarow, Abroone Hiraab, Maamasubis , Reer Xaaji, Luwaay and other smaller clans or lineages that have integrated into other Digil and mirifle clans

 

[BoqoradaSoomaliyeed]

The Geri koombe that joined yantaar are from Reer Cumar Hassan

& the former are sh.abayoonis if im not mistaken

 

[Banadiri Warrior]

& the former are sh.abayoonis if im not mistaken

You mean the Geri koombe's in luwaay? Do you know which subclan of luwaay they're part of ?

 

[Idilinaa]

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:

This is partially incorrect. Soomaal does not mean ''go milk'' . It's a compound word of Soof(Herding) and Maal(Mode of Life). It's among many Somali word constructions that combines the word Maal ''Mode of life'' with and occupation. Some clan names retained that feature like Bajimaal (Potter) Biyomaal, and then general ones like Tumaal, Soomaal etc
Tum (To beat . metal for example) + Maal (Mode of life)

Aside from that in modern day somali speech it is common that we use ''Maal'' to refer to an activity/occupation. Like a Builder (Dhismaal) (Contstruction) etc This not a linguistic mental gymnastics made here which some trolls on this thread are eluding to.

It's something very obvious and applicable.

Tumur/Timur and Simur/Semur is Ethio-Semetic pronunciations of Tumaal and Soomaal which are mentioned in the Ethiopians historical chronicles documenting the AwFat/Awdal wars as the opposing party they are fighting against and they mentioned them alongside clan names. and it survived as an archaisms in the living speech of the of Hararis in reference to Somalis

You can see that artisan population referred to as Tumaal was larger and more involved in the Northern-Western parts of the country seeing how Temur mentioned as crucial in partaking the wars in the chronicles.

and it's collaborated by a large medieval cemetries in the Northern parts of the country called ''Xabaalo Tumaalood'' (The Cemetery of Blacksmiths). So probably it followed the expansion of urbanism.

It wasn't Said M Shidaad who made a case for it .
It was Historian Sheikh Ali Riraash who delved into the etymology of the name ''Soomaal'' while back ago and it went largely unnoticed . Its a paper titled ''16th century upheavals in the Horn of Africa'' i got it from you remember?

When you read Futuh and the other short chronicles it seems to hold true. It was an occupational name that evolved into an ethnic identity post 16th century following the mass abandonment of agricultural fields/towns and depopulation of cities and that's when you see the name Soomaal pop up in maps and the name becomes a general moniker.

Said M Shidaad however correctly pointed out that Harla is a Sedentary Somali tribe and the tribes mentioned in the Futuh are just local Somali clans to the area.

 

[Idilinaa]

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:



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:






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:

Post continued below:

There are other clues in the text that give it away that ''Somal'' is not in reference to an ethnicity but rather used as a blanket term for bedouins:

''Citizens and the Somals.. '' ''His Somals from the country'' ''The country of the Soomaal''

The imam Ahmad bin Ibrahim and his companions heard news of the flight of the sultan and his Somals (Bedouin) from the country,

Something you pointed out :

''Somal is the only non tribal label that isn't a district
It is a country / what I assume is a balad in the Arabic text.

Harla is a district and there are tribes of the district. Sim is a district and there are tribes of the district And so on And tribes are named as being from these districts. It is not an ethnic label the way so many misinterpret it.

Harlas are not an ethnicity. They are a group of tribes from the region of Harla . Which itself maybe originally named for the mother tribe Of those tribes. Somal is unique in that it is not a district but a country As though they're talking about a countryside inhabited by these Somalis

You also see many instances of elites running off to go settle with "the Somals"

Where? What district? What region? It sounds so much to me like the text is saying they got whooped and ran off to settle with the nomads in the countryside

The amount of times you read '' "The Sultan and his Somals" it says like half a dozen times and that he hides among them when defeated .These are settled Somalis rallying their countryside tribes people

I remember a French researcher analyzing Futah pointing out mentioning the name ''Somal'' as if they are everywhere , inside and outside at the same. Like they have an omnipresence. This pretty much explains it

 

[Berke]

Aside from that in modern day somali speech it is common that we use ''Maal'' to refer to an activity/occupation. Like a Builder (Dhismaal) (Contstruction) etc This not a linguistic mental gymnastics made here which some trolls on this thread are eluding to.

Never heard Dhismaal who uses this word? Which region?

 

[Idilinaa]

Never heard Dhismaal who uses this word? Which region?

It's a general term, its not regional. Type into google. News articles, titles segments with that name and even a construction company with that name. Dhis means ''Build''

There is also Muruqmaal which means ''Working Class/Workman''. There is also Rasamaal

Your welcome.

 

[Idilinaa]

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:











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.

Post continued below:

Even in Futuh you can clearly see that Harla is just a Qabil and not an ethnicity. When they are mentioned alongside other clans , for example in this passage

Unless you also want to believe that Habr Maqdi and Geri are ethnicities also. You can't make any other sense of it.

Anyone positing that they are ethio-semetic will have hard time arguing that point. There is no ethio-semetic group divided into somali sub-clan structure . Not even the harari. Did they just delete the sub-clans that are mentioned in Futuh?


Harla and the other sedentary clans mentioned in Futuh are described as:
- As being joint led by 1 Sultan
- Harla is led by a Sultan/Leader from another tribe Zarba and not their own.

- ''Soomals''(Bedouin) clans are led each by their own independent Emirs.

This is exactly the same way in which Richard Burton explains the distinction between Sedentary Somali clans and Nomadic/Bedouin clans in the same area nearly 400 years later.

 

[Berke]

It's a general term, its not regional. Type into google. News articles, titles segments with that name and even a construction company with that name. Dhis means ''Build''

There is also Muruqmaal which means ''Working Class/Workman''. There is also Rasamaal

Your welcome.

Thank you

 

[Idilinaa]

As you’ve quoted, in 1893 the Dhulbahante said the ruined town near Badwein in the Nugaal Valley were occupied by “Harli” which likely refers to the Harla, and that they were civilised, could read and write, and cultivated the land via irrigation.

This paper called “Ruined towns in Nugaal: a forgotten medieval civilisation in interior Somalia” actually goes into more depth about it and finds a link between the ruined towns in Nugaal and Harla:

Ruined towns in Nugaal: a forgotten medieval civilisation in interior Somalia

Download Citation | Ruined towns in Nugaal: a forgotten medieval civilisation in interior Somalia | The existence of ruined towns in interior Somalia, most of them in the northwest, has been known to Western observers since 1854. Some were... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on...

www.researchgate.net

40km to the east of Garowe there was a medieval town referred to as Xundhurgaal. The Archaeologists have said that the pottery found there is linked and similar with pottery found in Harla Ethiopia, and is dated between 14-15th century.

View attachment 319890

I believe Harla were the settled Somalis in the medieval period, even in dry regions like Sool they had towns and cities as they were able to irrigate the Nugaal River to cultivate the land.

View attachment 319892

The Portuguese missionary said that Maydh was a good town famous for commerce, but the Portuguese turned it into an impoverished town where every single boat no matter how small was being destroyed, the settled Somalis (Harla) civilisation probably collapsed by late 17th century and they forced to revert to a nomadic lifestyle.

Harla never lived on the eastern side of the horn and there is no tradition or evidence in that area that connects them to it. And if you read that Nugaal source you linked Said Shidaad never mentions or connects them to it.

Instead the people connected to that Nugaal ruins are Harti Suleymaan lineages who have their sheikhs buried there.

Harla lived only in the fertile lands between upper shabelle river and Awash river in the Western Galbeed. And thats exactly where they are mentioned in Futuh, by Ibn Said and by the traditions in the Area. Not to mention their remnants.

There is no Harla civilization either , is just locals conflating Harla with Tiri tradition ''Taalo Tiriyaad Giants'' and the Oromos/Afars who assimilated them giving them prominence.

In reality they were just a regular agro-pastoral clan in the local area among other clans. That's how they are depicted in the medieval sources.

 

[Midas]

Harla never lived on the eastern side of the horn and there is no tradition or evidence in that area that connects them to it. And if you read that Nugaal source you linked Said Shidaad never mentions or connects them to it.

Instead the people connected to that Nugaal ruins are Harti Suleymaan lineages who have their sheikhs buried there.

Harla lived only in the fertile lands between upper shabelle river and Awash river in the Western Galbeed. And thats exactly where they are mentioned in Futuh, by Ibn Said and by the traditions in the Area. Not to mention their remnants.

There is no Harla civilization either , is just locals conflating Harla with Tiri tradition ''Taalo Tiriyaad Giants'' and the Oromos/Afars who assimilated them giving them prominence.

In reality they were just a regular agro-pastoral clan in the local area among other clans. That's how they are depicted in the medieval sources.

I'm wondering since it seems like this period of somali urbanism lasted from 1200-1500s what sort of ubran traditions did they cultivate that we still have vestiges of that are maybe possible found in local poetry or oral traditions/xeer. Also do you thinks it's possible that many of the more scholarly subclass who own most of rhe manuscripts and teach relegion are actually descents of the people who use to live in the towns ?

 

[Berke]

Instead the people connected to that Nugaal ruins are Harti Suleymaan lineages who have their sheikhs buried there.

Who are Harti Suleyman?

Are you referring to Maxamuud Suleyman Ali Suleyman and Co Majerteen lineages?

If that's the case than Said Shidads theory is not plausible

 

[daljirkadahsoon]

@Idilinaa Is it not possible that the etymology is So'maal (i.e meat-workers people who live off their livestock)?

Do we have any potential explanations for the legends surrounding Harla- i.e they were arrogant and so were destroyed?

Is it not possible those Harti Suleyman were considered 'Harla' then if we take it to mean just a settled agro-pastoralist Somali?

I have also seen a new source the Yemeni historian Hassan al Khazraji mention an 'ardul Sumaal' in the 1300s when talking about where a Shaykh Abdullah al Jabarti died so it seems like the name was established before Yeshaq I mentioned it in his victory poem.