Arabsiyawi
HA Activist.
Why not argue and substantiate your claims ? It doesn't hurt and it's a better look than to just dismiss it like this, even if you're most were to be 100% right. I'd be glad to see you guys to it ngl
CULTURE Harari family names that are somali
- Thread starter Emir of Harar
- Start date
You wrote Somalis did not have a settlement and were all nomads. This is where the trolling comes in. Somalis built and were part of the oldest and largest Islamic urban sites in the Horn, especially in the region of what became known as the Adal empire. Somalis were responsible for nicknames like zaylici Berberi, Muqdishi and Jabarti being given to horn African Muslims. There were also urban settlements across the coast from what is known as SL-PL-all the way down to Southern Somalia. Then there were town settlements deep into Southern riverine areas, and now abandoned sites are being found as far as Nugaal. The archeology is now confirming similarities between medieval ruins in SL and Harla sites; it simply means Harla tribe and/or a smaller sultanate prospered as result of the sultanate taking it over and facilitating trade and development. This is the conclusion those Spanish archaeologists to. If you bothered to read some of the posts on this site you would have found many sources confirming this.
BTW Somali nomads were an essential component of trade, defensive jihadi, and religious facilitation in the Horn. Harar itself is said to have been built on an old nomadic trading/watering post. The sites and ruins of medieval sites such as Derbi Belanbel (oh, look: another Somali name) cited as belonging to “Harla” lies on old trading and Dawah point where traders and scholars interlinked. One would have to explain who made those camel carvings in the Harla sites which are clearly pre Islamic, if all Somalis miraculously spawned out of northern Somalia and displaced Harla in the Middle Ages?
The second point you are wrong on is this myth of “Harla” settlements in northern Somalia or them being displaced. The archeology and documented sources in North and West Somalia shows a continuous existence of the same population from antiquity to now ( prior to Oromo invasions and migrations). This ignorance comes from colonial writers interviewing some people citing myths as history. Some of the same people also attributed Oromos living there and Somalis descending from Arabs. Should we take all oral history as fact? The second reason people say this is because of some erroneous conceptualisation by Western linguists who dismissively assigned a lot of Somali words as being of Semitic in origin (ugaz, garaad, etc).
Even if were to accept Harla as being assimilated by Somalis or being them being a standalone group, one would have to still explain the intertwining of these two communities and their familial relationships as shown in the Futuh. Then you would have to explain all the Somali loan words in Harari as well as Burton documenting large Somali populations in the city.
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Step a side
VIP
Back in the days I used to get excited about this topic. It has become too repetitive. It’s the same Harari guy that comes on here calling us all nomads
I kept it really simple. The entire Harla contingent was led by a Somali Sultan Mohamed who was paternal cousin of Gurey. He was literally the chief of one of the Harla tribes of Zerba. This is proof that Harla were just settled Somalis. What more does he need to know? Gurey, his cousins (Abu Bakr Qechinn, Zeharbu, Nur ibn Mujahid etc), nephews (Waziir Abbas, Amir Tolha, Gasa Omar etc) brother in law (Mataan) and countless other main characters in Futuh were all Somalis and linked by blood as proven by both heavyweight Harari and Amhara scholars. Back in the days of Futuh the word Somali was most likely used specifically for the nomads which is where the confusion stems from.
