     kamal | Thursday, February 08, 2001 - 05:58 am
From Bulletin of the School of Oriental
and African Studies, v 17:, 1955. Reprinted by permision of Oxford University
Press
Sufism in Somaliland: a Study in Tribal Islam - Part One. BY I.M. LEWIS
....
Relations with Arabia: the Introduction of Islam
The historical foundations for the contemporary claim to descent from the Prophet lie in the existence of relations between Somaliland and Arabia from the earliest times. Immigration from and to Arabia has always been and still is a constant feature of Somali life. There has always been a considerable floating population of Arabs in various stages of absorption among the Somali. Moreover, there is little doubt that Islam reached Somaliland shortly after the Hejira and its establishment is recorded by Arab writers of the 9th and 10th centuries. The coastal commercial colonies which had been founded by the Himyarite Kingdom before Islam eventually developed into the small Muslim states of Zeila (in its widest extension known as Adal) in British Somaliland, and of Mogadishu in Somalia. These were ruled by local dynasties of Somalized Arabs or Arabized Somalis. The history of Zeila has been adequately described by Trimingham (1952, pp. 58 ff.) and need be no more than summarized here. Cerulli's research (Cerulli, 1994, 1996, 1927) shows that from the beginning of the 10th until half-way through the 13th century Mogadishu was functioning as a trading colony which comprised a federation of Arabian tribes. Persians also played some part in its early history. The Arab settlers had elected chiefs and acknowledged the religious and jural authority of one lineage, the Qahtan ibn Wa'il. In the course of time Somali influence increased and from a loose federation of Arab-Somali peoples, a sultanate with a local dynasty (the Muzaffar) emerged in the 13th century. The Muzaffar sultanate flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries and by this time Shangani and Hamarwein, the two halves of the town of Mogadishu, were firmly established and Hamarwein was dominant. This dynasty survived into the 16th century when the sultanate declined as a commercial centre and reverted to a hegemony of small townships. At the same time Mogadishu was under pressure from tribes of the Hawiye tribal family who were advancing southwards through Somalia. By the second half of the 18th century Somalis had gained control of Shangani and imposed their imam as ruler of Mogadishu. Portuguese and British colonization contributed to the final collapse of the sultanate. In the 17th century the town had been occupied by the Imam of Oman for a short space, and remained after his withdrawal in vague dependence to him. With the division of the Muscat State early in the l9th century, Mogadishu was allotted to the Sultan of Zanzibar, who attempted to secure a more binding dependence by establishing military garrisons along the coast. Almost immediately after, these were sold to Italy and Mogadishu became part of the former Italian colony of Somalia.
Southern Ethiopia supplied Zeila with its trade and the town reached its greatest heights in the 14th century, but began to decline after Ahmad Granhe's celebrated campaigns against Christian Ethiopia in the 16th century. Its history was from the beginning the chronicle of a series of wars against the Ethiopian infidels waged in alliance with the other petty Muslim states of southern Eritrea and north-eastern Ethiopia. Mogadishu, as we have seen, had a shorter period of prosperity in the 11th century and then declined fairly rapidly under the joint pressure of nomadic incursions from the interior and the influence of external colonization. Such centres as these had an important effect in the development of Islam among the Somali. With the Arabian colonies firmly entrenched in the other trading ports they provided a foothold from which Mohammedanism spread amongst the nomads of the interior.(14)
Sufism among the Somali
The Somali are orthodox Sunnis and adherents of the Shafi'ite rite of the Shari'a. Sufism is well developed and the remainder of this paper will deal with the role of Sufism in Somali society. As is well known, this revitalizing current arose in Islam between the 9th and 10th centuries, attaining in its classical form its aesthetic and theological climax in the l1th and 13th centuries. True Sufism is now considered by some authorities to be in decadence (Arberry, 1950). In Somaliland after a period of great activity and general expansion up till the 1930's, the Dervish movement seems to be on the wane, although it is extremely difficult to assess its true importance at the present day. Tribal Sufism has always tended to form a conservative barrier against European administration and many of its adherents have strongly opposed the extension of education lest it should undermine their authority. Administrative hostility, real or imagined, has reinforced the esoteric and clandestine character of Sufi practice and made it all the more difficult to estimate its true significance. However, it is not difficult to study its functional importance as a movement in the social structure of Somali society, for whatever its present number of adherents, it has left an indelible impression as will be seen.
The adherents of Sufism belong to the congregations or communities, in many Muslim countries known as zawiya, in Somaliland as jama'a, of the various Orders (tariqa,'The Way ') into which the movement is divided according to the doctrines and services (dhikr) ordained by the founders of Orders. Tariqa means 'path' in the sense of the Way to follow in the search for righteousness and the Way to God. The end of the tariqa is ma'rifa, absorption in God (gnosis). Those who have travelled furthest, through virtue, the practice of devotion, and the grace which God has vouchsafed them are nearest Him. As the Path is traversed successive steps of the way are demarcated as ' stations ' or ' states '. These are discussed below. For his godliness and virtue the founder of each Order is held to be closer to God and to exemplify in his teaching and life the True Path which it behooves the zealous to follow. The founder is a guide who through his particular qualities of devotion. and by his special virtue including the grace (baraka) bestowed upon him by God leads his disciples towards God. His baraka passes to those who follow in his Path and dedicate their lives to his example. Each Order is distinguished by the specific discipline which its founder has established as the True Path. Since there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is His Prophet, religious prestige is a function of connexion with the Prophet's Qurayshitic lineage. Thus those in whose blood (recorded in personal genealogies) the Prophet's grace (baraka ) flows are eminently suitable for election to the office of head (khalifa) of an Order or of a congregation (Sheik). Sheiks and khalefas, as also the founders of the Orders themselves, have personal genealogies tracing descent from ancestors connected with Mohammed. To what extent such claims are historically true is in the present context irrelevant. The tradition is that descent from Quraysh entitles to religious office and that to be a Sufi sheik or khalifa implies such descent. Thus in their furthest extension the personal genealogies of the founders of Orders and of their local representatives, sheiks and khalifas, reach back to the Prophet's lineage. According to the lineage principle in terms of which relationships in Somaliland are understood each jama'a is identified with the genealogy of its khalifa or sheik. The consequences of this in the total genealogical structure of Somali society will shortly be seen. Within each tariqa the authority of the incumbent of the office of regional khalifa is founded upon a chain of tradition which has two branches. Unlike his personal genealogy, these attach to the office, not to the person. The silsilat al-baraka (chain of benediction) traces the chain of grace which unfolds from the founder of the Order through his successive disciples down to the present incumbent of the office of khalifa. The silsilat al-wird, the other branch, connects the founder with the Prophet and, through his mediation, with Allah. The silsila (lit. 'chain ' ) consists of a list of names through which spiritual affiliation is traced and in some ways resembles a genealogy. It is quite separate, however, from the sheik's personal genealogy although that also is regarded as endowed with power.
In initiation (wird), the covenant ('ahd) of the tariqa is administered to the novice by the head of the community in a formal ceremony at which the service (dhikr) pertaining to the Order is celebrated (for a description, see Robecchi-Bricchetti, 1899, p. 423; Trimingham, 1952, p. 237). The novice swears to accept the khalifa as his guide and spiritual director through the baraka of the founder. He is then instructed in the performance of prayer tasks (called variously awrad, ahzab, and rawatib), and is provided with a prayer-mat to carry upon his shoulder, a vessel for ablution, and a rosary (tusbah) to finger as he recites his prayers. Somali tariqas are characterized by fewer stages in the novice's progress towards illumination than were customary in classical Sufism (see on this point, Arberry, 1950, pp. 74- ff.). At first the novice is styled 'aspirant' (murid) but also referred to by his brethren ('ikwan') as ' brother '. The majority of initiates never proceed beyond this stage. Qutb, which is the next step, requires a certain degree of mystical perfection but is not comparable to the qutb of literary Sufism. Each successive step becomes increasingly difficult, and al-wasil the next grade, signifying union with God after long strife (i.e. the attainment of gnosis), corresponds to induction to the leadership of a fraternity. Al-maddad, the final goal, is attained by few pilgrims indeed, for it is that reached usually only by the founders of the Orders themselves. Membership of the community does not imply celibacy; adherents live with their families in the community. Women have their own tariqas where they participate in the services in the name of the Prophet's daughter, Fatima, whom they regard as the founder of women's Orders. Female adherents are veiled (the veil is not normally worn by women in Somaliland), and are generally more amply clad than other Somali women. But for them also there is no embargo on marriage. There are always many people who although not formally admitted to an Order and not living in the community, follow the public ceremonies while ignorant of their esoteric content. Acknowledging the piety and religious powers of the founder whom they venerate as a saint, they regularly call upon his followers whom they regard as similarly endowed to act as mediators in disputes. Many of the brethren thus fulfil the functions of qadis and this is one of the many ways in which the sphere of interest of the Sufi community encroaches upon that of the tribal structure. Tribesmen turn to the head of the jama'a for assistance and counsel, to the neglect of the tribal authorities This is one instance of a wide and far-reaching conflict between Sufism on the one hand and the tribal organization on the other which we shall consider in some detail below.
SOMALI TARIQAS
The three most prominent tariqas in Somaliland are in the order of their introduction, the Qadiriya, the Ahmediya, and the Saalihiya. The Rifa'iyya tariqa is represented amongst Arab settlers but is not widely distributed or important. In the south the Order's main centres are the coastal towns of Mogadishu and Merka: there are also some adherents in the British Protectorate. The Qadiriya, the oldest Sufi Order in Islam, was introduced into Harar in the 15th century by Sharif Abu Bakr ibn 'Abd Allah al-'Aydarus (known as al-Qutb ar-Rabbani, ("The Divine Axis" ), who died in 1508-9 (A.H.91 1 ) . Abu Bakr is probably the best-known Shai'ite saint in southern Arabia - where he is called al-'Adani (15) and his mosque is the most famous in Aden (16). The Qadiriya became the official Order of Harar and has considerable influence in the surrounding country. To the south the Order does not appear to have acquired much importance in the interior of Somalia until the beginning of the l9th century when the settlement of Bardera, known locally as jamaha, was founded on the Juba river. The Qadiriya has a high reputation for orthodoxy, is on the whole literary rather than propagandist, and is said to maintain a higher standard of Islamic instruction than its rivals. The Ahmediya, and the derivative Saalihiya, were both introduced into southern Somalia towards the close of the last century, although the Ahmediya may have entered British Somaliland somewhat earlier. This Order was founded by Sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi (1760-1837) of Mecca and brought to Somalia by Sheik Ali Maye Durogba of Merka. Muhammad ibn Salih, in 1887, founded the Saalihiya as an offshoot of the Rashidiya founded by Ahmad ibn Idris's pupil Ibrahlm al-Rashid (Cerulli, 1923, pp. 11, 12; Trimingham, 1959, pp. 235 6). The principal Saalihiya proselytizer in Somalia was Sheik Muhammad Guled, a former slave, who launched the Order there by the foundation of a community among the Shidle (a Negroid people occupying the mid-reaches of the Shebelle river, see Lewis, 1955, p. 41). Muhammad Guled died in 1918 and his tomb is at Misra (named after Cairo, Misra in Somali), one of the communities which he had established among the Shidle. The Order's stronghold is in Somalia but there are some communities in British Somaliland. According to Cerulli (op. cit., pp. 14, 18) the Saalihiya is strongly propagandist and inferior to the Qadiriya in mysticism and teaching. In the past it has been closely associated with Somali nationalism and the two rebellions of this century have taken place under its mantle and in its name. The more important rising was that led by Muhammad b. 'Abd Allah (born about 1865) of the Habr Suleemaan Ogaadeen tribe, who made several pilgrimages to Mecca (1890-9), and joining the Saalihiya, sought to attract the northern Somali to this Order. He founded several communities and in 1895 proclaimed himself khalifa-designate in Somaliland. In 1899 he assumed the title of Sunni Mahdi and initiated the jihad against all infidels. He was repudiated by the leader of the Saalihiya in Mecca and from 1900 to 1904 British forces, with from time to time half-hearted Ethiopian and nominal Italian support, conducted four major campaigns against him. His power was continually diminished but the rebellion was never decisively crushed and dragged on until 1920 when the Mahdi died.
The Ahmediya with the smallest number of adherents of the three Orders is said to concentrate more on teaching than the Saalihiya (Cerulli, 1923, pp. 12 ff.). Both Orders are for the most part distributed in cultivating villages along the two rivers of Somalia and in the fertile land between them. Qadiriya congregations, on the other hand, are more usually dispersed amongst tribes and do not form autonomous settlements of cultivators. This, naturally, is particularly the case in the north where there is little arable land.
Where the congregation forms a stable cultivating settlement, the land, which has been acquired through adoption into a host tribe, is the collective property of the community and is divided among the affiliates by their sheik. Continuity of tenure depends upon the maintenance of satisfactory relations with the tribe of adoption and the regular fulfillment of the various obligations which adoption imposes. Tenure is precarious and is in theory at any time revocable by the ceding tribe. It follows that the individual holdings obtained by affiliates are not automatically inheritable; absolute rights to land or crops are never obtained by members of the community. If a member leaves he relinquishes all rights to his holding and probably his crops also, although he may sometimes be allowed a portion of the harvest. The fields are worked collectively so that the harvest in each brother's holding represents the collective labour of the community. Part of the harvest is used to maintain the funds of the jama'a, which also depend upon gifts made by tribesmen and payments for ritual or religious services performed by affiliates. Liabilities met from these general funds consist of aid to the poor, assistance of pilgrims to Mecca, and expenses connected with missionary work and the various dues payable to the tribe of adoption. As far as the host tribe is concerned the jama'a acts as a tribal section subject to the same privileges and duties as are other sections of the tribe. Congregations act as training centres for the devouts (wadaad), (17) usually described as ' bush teachers ' or ' bush preachers ', who wander from camp to camp through the bush stopping now and then to hold classes where at least some rudimentary knowledge of theology is imparted. In these transitory bush schools children are taught prayers and verses from the Koran and generally acquire the ability to read and write Arabic. Children receive a thorough grounding in the Koran and their familiarity with Koranic texts remains with them throughout their lives. Wadaad are also important as acting in the capacity of unofficial qadis administering the Shari'a to the extent to which its competence is recognized by tribal authorities, i.e. in matrimonial affairs, inheritance of property, contract. mortgage, etc., and assessment of the requisite compensation for injuries (18). In intertribal politics they have little authority to award decisions, and where their recommendations conflict with tribal interests they are normally ignored for Wadaad here act as mediators rather than as arbitrators. It is probably through the Wadaad who issue from the jama'a communities that Sufism exerts its greatest influence in Somali social structure. The parent communities themselves are essentially centres of mystical devotion and have produced a considerable Arab-Somali religious literature written mainly in Arabic but in some cases in Somali transcribed in an adaptation of Arabic script (19). It is probable also that Sufi works are to be found in Somali oral literature and research should be directed to discovering to what extent this is the case. Mysticism is adopted as a means to union with God (gnosis); Somali Sufistic literature treats of divine ecstasy and is similar to Sufi writing in general. An interesting example is an unpublished manuscript called tawassul ash- shaikh Awes written by Sheik Awes, (20) which consists of a collection of songs for dhikr. Where such works are biographical, as for example in the autobiography of Sheik 'Ali Afaye Durogba, (21) they contain an account of the author's justification to claim descent from Quraysh. Almost all such works include a section in which the author's claims to Qurayshitic descent are set forth. Perhaps the most important of Somali Sufi literature is a collection of works by haaji 'Abdullahi Yusif published under the title al-majmu'at al-mubaraka (22). Haaji 'Abdullahi of the Qadiriya tariqa was a member of a group of sheiks (known as Asheraf), (23) attached to the Majeerteen tribes of the Daarood tribal family; his work is analysed by Cerulli (1923, pp. 13-4, 92-5).
THE CULT OF SAINTS
An important feature of the Sufi communities lies in the extent to which their founders are venerated. The local founders of Orders and congregations ( jama'a) are often sanctified after their death. Their veneration gives rise to cults which overshadow the devotion due to the true founder of the tariqa and even of the Prophet Mohammed. Their tombs become shrines (gashin in Somalia), tended by a small body of followers or the descendants of the sheik and those who have inherited his baraka. To the shrines come the members of the Order as well as local tribesmen who are not initiates, to make sacrifice as occasion demands, and to take part in the annual pilgrimage to the shrine of the saint on the anniversary of his death. Outstanding events in his life are similarly celebrated. Muslim saint-days which have no connexion with indigenous saints are unpopular especially in the interior. But to the extent to which the Qadiriya Order is followed emphasis has been given to the saint-day (mawlid ) of the founder al-Jilani, although even this festival enjoys only limited observance. Saints are not always associated with a particular congregation or Order. Many are ubiquitous, and common to several Orders, share the same veneration within the religion of the country. They are venerated for particular qualities. One of the most popular in Somalia, Saint Au Hiltir (a name suggestive of non-Islamic origin) is regarded as the protector of man from the attacks of crocodiles; another, Saint Au Mad, is recognized by tribes of the Rahanwiin tribal-family as the guardian of the harvest.
Tombs are scattered all over Somaliland and many, certainly, commemorate pre-Islamic figures who have been assimilated in Islam. Some of the families acting as the custodians of their ancestors' shrines have developed into small clans, usually dispersed; others have lost all autonomy and are scattered as holy men (wadaad ) proselytizing and teaching. Others again remain attached to a particular tribe as the holders of a hereditary office of qadi. Such, for example, is the case with the seven lineages of the Gasar Gudda tribe of Lugh-Ferrandi in Somalia, where-the office of tribal chief rotates among six lineages, while that of qadi is invested in the seventh, the Rer Dulca Mado (Ferrandi, 1903, pp. 213, 262 ff.; Lewis, 1953, p. 115). This represents one of the possible conclusions in the history of a saintly family attached initially to a tribe in clientship, where the religious group has worked its way into the lineage structure of the tribe and established a permanent position. A good example of a dispersed clan venerated for their baraka are the Rer Sheik Mumin whose ancestor's shrine is at Bur Hakaba among the Elai of southern Somalia. Their influence extends throughout the entire Rahanwiin tribal family and tribute is paid to them on account of their reputation as sorcerers (Ferrandi, 1903, pp. 138-9, 942-3). Ferrandi describes them unflatteringly as a gang of robbers implicated in cattle raiding and profiting by their ancestor's sanctity to impress and exploit ignorant people. A similar dispersed sheikly group are the Au Qutuh of the British Protectorate whom Burton (1894, I, P. 193) described as the descendants of Au Qutb ibn Faqih 'Emar who was then claimed to have crossed from the Hejaz ' ten generations ago ' and to have settled with his six sons in Somaliland. The Au Qutub are widely scattered and are found as far south as the Ogaden. They have the title ' Shaykash ' which Burton translates ' reverend '. In fact, such families of Arabian origin are found all over Somaliland and are often rapidly assimilated in the Somali social structure where their members enjoy high prestige (cf. Cerulli, 1926).
THE ROLE OF SUFISM IN THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE
We may now consider the position held by Sufi tariqas and congregations or communities in the social structure. It is obvious that for the total social structure the fraternities provide potential channels of alliance amongst warring tribes separated by the very nature of the tribe. For the communities, economic and political entities though they may be, and often themselves at enmity even within the same Order, are bound together through community of religious purpose. They aim at the development and diffusion of Islam. Such were the ideals so successfully translated into a transcendental movement ignoring the narrow bonds of tribalism by the Saalihiya Mahdi haaji Muhammad b. Abdallah. His campaign is an illustration of the potentialities which the tariqa organization offers for the extension of national unity when a sufficiently great figure emerges to inspire such feeling. Now, as elsewhere in Islam, the new urban political parties seem to have their roots in the tariqa organization and to be a development from it (24). Trans-tribal nationalist aspirations which previously found some outlet in it are now promoted by political associations, the strongest of which is at the moment the Somali Youth League (S.Y.L.). Within the tribal structure individual communities exercise considerable influence, and it is this aspect of their social functions which I wish particularly to consider. As we have seen, among the nomads and especially in the north of Somaliland where there is little or no arable land, communities cannot generally form cultivating settlements as they do in the less barren south. They cannot therefore so easily exist as independent autonomous local groups. Among the southern cultivating tribes (the Sab) settled cultivating communities occupy an interstitial position on the ground. As social entities they are accordingly in a better position to develop into units independent of tribal allegiance and to play an interstitial role in the social structure. This naturally has important consequences in the lineage structure. To take an example. The Qadiriya community of Bardera (known locally as the jamaha) was founded on the Juba River at the beginning of the l9th century by Sheik Ali Kurre, a Rahanwiin tribesman. New settlements quickly sprang up round the mother community. The affiliates were faced with considerable hostility from the surrounding tribes. They fought the Galla Boran, the Gasar Gudda (Somali Rahanwiin) who were successfully defeated and their centre Lugh-Ferrandi destroyed, and, finally, the people of Bardera extended their sway to the coast subjecting the villages of Baidoa, Molimat, and the coastal town of Brava. Thus they established dominion over all tribes of the Rahanwiin tribal family. Retribution, however, was to follow. The Rahanwiin recovered strength under the leadership of the Sultan of the Geledi (then a powerful Rahanwiin tribe), and after a series of battles besieged and destroyed Bardera in 1843. For some years Bardera lay deserted but began to rise again with the foundation of a new community by Sheik Muhammad Eden of the Elai. By 1924 it was possible for Colucci (1924, p. 264) to describe the new centre in the following terms: ' The settlements of Bardera constitute a truly independent territorial group freed from all adherence to the tribes from whom the original grants of land were obtained '.
As soon as i am done with this bloody PHD... guess where i am heading...  inshallah |
