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The '''Dervish movement''' ({{lang-so|Halgankii Daraawiishta}}) was an early 20th-century [[Somalis|Somali]] [[Muslim]] revolt<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Somalia/Revolt-in-British-Somaliland#ref419639|title=Somalia - Revolt in British Somaliland|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2018-09-07|language=en}}</ref>. It was established by [[Mohammed Abdullah Hassan]], a religious leader who gathered Somali forces from across the [[Horn of Africa]] and united them into loyalists known by the [[endonym]] '''Darwiish'''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mukhtar |first1=Mohamed |title=Historical Dictionary of Somalia |date=2003 |page=27}}</ref> The Dervish movement acquired renown in the [[Muslim world|Muslim]] and Western worlds due to its resistance against the European empires of [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and [[Italy]]. The Dervish forces successfully repulsed the [[British Empire]] in four military expeditions, and forced it to retreat to the coastal region.<ref>Encyclopedia of African history – Page 1406{{Full citation|date=January 2012}}</ref> As a result of its fame in the [[Middle East]] and Europe, the Dervish movement was recognized as an ally by major [[Central Powers]]: the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the [[German Empire]].<ref>The modern history of Somaliland: from nation to state – Page 78{{Full citation|date=January 2012}}</ref><ref>Historical dictionary of Ethiopia – Page 405{{Full citation|date=January 2012}}</ref> It also succeeded at outliving the [[Scramble for Africa]], and remained throughout [[World War I]] the only independent Muslim power on the continent.<ref>Jihad in the Arabian Sea 2011, Camille Pecastaing, In the land of the Mad Mullah: Somalia</ref> After a quarter of a century of holding the British at bay, the Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920.
The '''Dervish movement''' ({{lang-so|Halgankii Daraawiishta}}) was an early 20th-century [[Somalis|Somali]] [[Muslim]] revolt<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Somalia/Revolt-in-British-Somaliland#ref419639|title=Somalia - Revolt in British Somaliland|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2018-09-07|language=en}}</ref>. The rebellion was initiated by [[Mohammed Abdullah Hassan]], a religious leader and Tribal chief [[Nur Ahmed Aman]]. <ref>F.O.78/5031,Sayyid Mohamad To The Aidagalla, Enclosed Sadler To Salisbury .69, 20 Aug. 1899 </ref> The two gathered Somali forces from across the [[Horn of Africa]] and united them into loyalists known by the [[endonym]] '''Darwiish'''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mukhtar |first1=Mohamed |title=Historical Dictionary of Somalia |date=2003 |page=27}}</ref> The Dervish movement acquired renown in the [[Muslim world|Muslim]] and Western worlds due to its resistance against the European empires of [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and [[Italy]]. The Dervish forces successfully repulsed the [[British Empire]] in four military expeditions, and forced it to retreat to the coastal region.<ref>Encyclopedia of African history – Page 1406{{Full citation|date=January 2012}}</ref> As a result of its fame in the [[Middle East]] and Europe, the Dervish movement was recognized as an ally by major [[Central Powers]]: the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the [[German Empire]].<ref>The modern history of Somaliland: from nation to state – Page 78{{Full citation|date=January 2012}}</ref><ref>Historical dictionary of Ethiopia – Page 405{{Full citation|date=January 2012}}</ref> It also succeeded at outliving the [[Scramble for Africa]], and remained throughout [[World War I]] the only independent Muslim power on the continent.<ref>Jihad in the Arabian Sea 2011, Camille Pecastaing, In the land of the Mad Mullah: Somalia</ref> After a quarter of a century of holding the British at bay, the Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920.


==Origins==
==Origins==

Revision as of 20:27, 7 September 2018

The Dervish movement (Template:Lang-so) was an early 20th-century Somali Muslim revolt[1]. The rebellion was initiated by Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, a religious leader and Tribal chief Nur Ahmed Aman. [2] The two gathered Somali forces from across the Horn of Africa and united them into loyalists known by the endonym Darwiish.[3] The Dervish movement acquired renown in the Muslim and Western worlds due to its resistance against the European empires of Britain and Italy. The Dervish forces successfully repulsed the British Empire in four military expeditions, and forced it to retreat to the coastal region.[4] As a result of its fame in the Middle East and Europe, the Dervish movement was recognized as an ally by major Central Powers: the Ottoman Empire and the German Empire.[5][6] It also succeeded at outliving the Scramble for Africa, and remained throughout World War I the only independent Muslim power on the continent.[7] After a quarter of a century of holding the British at bay, the Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920.

Origins

See also: Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
Statue of Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia.
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At the end of the 19th century, the Berlin conference gathered together Europe's most powerful countries during the Scramble for Africa. The British, Italians, and Ethiopians partitioned Greater Somalia into spheres of influence, cutting into the previous nomadic grazing system and Somali civilizational network that connected port cities with those of the interior. The Ethiopian Emperor Menelik's Somali expedition, consisting of an army of 15,000 men, made a deep push into the vicinity of Luuq in Somalia. However, his troops were soundly defeated by the Sultanate of the Geledi, with only 200 soldiers returning alive and at the same time being heavily traumatized. The Ethiopians subsequently refrained from further expeditions into the interior of Somalia but continued to attack the people in the Ogaden by plundering the nomads of their livestock numbering in the hundreds of thousands. The British blockade in firearms to the Somalis rendered the nomads in the Ogaden helpless against the armies of Menelik. With the establishment of important Muslim orders headed by Somali scholars such as Shaykh Abd Al-Rahman bin Ahmad al-Zayla'i and Uways al-Barawi, a rebirth of Islam in East Africa was soon afoot. The resistance against the colonization of Muslim lands in Africa and Asia by the Afghans and Mahdist Dervishes would inspire a large resistance movement in Somalia. Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, a former nomad boy that had travelled to many Muslim centers in the Islamic world, returned to Somalia as a grown man and began promoting the Saalihiya order in the urban cities and the interior where he found major success.

Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, leader of the Dervish movement.

In 1899, some soldiers of the British armed forces met Hassan and sold him an official gun. When questioned about the loss of the gun, they told their superiors that Hassan had stolen the gun from them. On 29 March 1899, the British Vice Consul wrote a very stern and insulting letter to him asking him to return the gun immediately, which someone in Hassan's camp had reported stolen. This enraged Hassan, and he sent a very brief and curt reply refuting the allegation. While Hassan had really been against the Ethiopian invaders of Somalia, this small incident caused a clash with the British.[8]


The news of the incident that sparked the Dervish rebellion and the 21 years disturbance according to the consul-general James Hayes Sadler was either spread or as he alleged was concocted by Sultan Nur of the Habr Yunis. The incident in question was that of a group of Somali children that were converted to Christianity and adopted by the French Catholic Mission at Berbera in 1899. Whether Sultan Nur experienced the incident first hand or whether he was told of it is not clear but what is known is that he propagated the incident in the Tariqa at Kob Fardod in June 1899 precipitating the religious rebellion that later morphed into the Somali Dervish.[9]

Capital

Taleh, the Dervish capital.

Hassan during his campaigns against the European and local powers built fortresses all over the Horn of Africa, and would move his armies from one city to another[citation needed]. In 1913, after the British withdrawal to the coast, the permanent capital and headquarters of the Dervishes was constructed at Taleh, a large walled town with fourteen fortresses. The main fortress, Silsilat, included a walled garden and a guard house. It became the residence of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, his wives, family, prominent Somali military leaders, and also hosted several Turkish, Yemeni and German dignitaries, architects, masons and arms manufacturers. A large area to the northeast of Taleh was used for cultivation, while the Dar Ilalo towers were used as granaries. Several tombs were constructed by Muhammad Abdullah Hassan to honor his father, mother and prominent members from northern and southern Somalia. However, those that committed acts of treason, crimes, or who had otherwise fallen out with the Dervish leader were sent to Hed Kaldig, the main execution arena.[10]

Economy

The Dervish domination of the hinterland in the Somali peninsula brought important trade routes under their hegemony, which they exploited by redirecting the wealthy livestock trade to port cities such as Las Khorey, Eyl, and Ilig. Important imports included firearms, horses and building material for the construction of several dozen fortresses in the Horn of Africa. Nonetheless, the Darawiish state was grounded on asceticism, and embraced stoicism, while abhorring hedonism and materialism.[11]

Military

The regular army (Maara-weyn) of the Dervish state was organised into seven regiments: Shiikh-yaale, Gola-weyne, Taar-gooye, Indha-badan, Miinanle, Dharbash and Rag-xun. Each regiment had its commander (muqaddim), and varied in size from between 1,000 and 4,000 men. A large para-military force was also drawn from the nomad population. The cavalry, for its part, numbered between 5,000 and 10,000 mounted horsemen, and the standing army was supplied with modern weapons such as rifles and maxim guns. Dervish soldiers used the dhaanto traditional dance-song to raise their esprit de corps and often sang it on horseback.[12]

Wars against the British Empire and Ethiopia

See also: Somaliland Campaign
Somali Dervish soldiers engage their British counterparts at sea.

In August 1898, the Dervish army occupied Burao, an important centre of British Somaliland, giving Muhammad Abdullah Hassan control over the city's watering places. Hassan also succeeded in making peace between the local clans and initiated a large assembly, where the population was urged to join the war against the British.

The historic Daarta Sayyidka Dervish fort in Eyl, Puntland.

In 1900, an Ethiopian expedition which had been sent to arrest or kill Hassan looted a large number of camels. Hassan in return attacked the Ethiopian garrison at Jijiga on 4 March of that year and successfully recovered all the looted animals. He gained great prestige in recovering the looted stock from the Ethiopians and he used it along with his charisma and powers of oratory to improve his undisputed authority on the Ogaden. To harness Ogaden enthusiasm into final commitment, Hassan married the daughter of a prominent leader and in return gave his own sister, Toohyar Sheikh Adbile, to Abdi Mohammed Waale, a notable elder.

Towards the end of 1900, the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II proposed a joint action with the British against the Dervish. Accordingly, British Lt. Col. E.J. Swayne assembled a force of 1,500 Somali soldiers led by 21 European officers and started from Burco on 22 May 1901, while an Ethiopian army of 15,000 soldiers started from Harar to join the British forces intent on crushing the 20,000 Dervish fighters (of whom 40 percent were cavalry).

In the 1920 campaign by the British, 12 aircraft were used to support the local British forces. Within a month, the British had occupied the capital of the Dervish State and Hassan had retreated to the west.

Modern legacy

Logo of the Puntland Dervish Force, named in honor of the Dervishes

The Dervish legacy in Somalia can be seen in the country's cultural heritage, history, and society. In memory of past heroes, the military government of Somalia led by Mohamed Siad Barre erected statues visible between Makka Al Mukarama and Shabelle Roads in the heart of Mogadishu. These were for three major Somali History icons: Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, Stone Thrower and Hawo Tako. Other historical facts about Somalia, numerous castles and fortresses built by the Dervishes were included in a list of Somalia's national treasures.[13] The Dervish period spawned many war poets and peace poets involved in a struggle known as the Literary war which had a profound effect on Somali poetry and Literature, with Mohammed Abdullah Hassan featuring as the most prominent poet of that Age.[14] Many of these poems continue to be taught in Somali schools and have been recited by several Presidents of Somalia in speeches as well as in poetry competitions. In Somali Studies, the Dervish period is an important chapter in Somalia's history and its brief period of European hegemony, the latter of which inspired the resistance movement. Due to their goal of creating a unified Somali State or Greater Somalia transcending regional and clan divisions, many scholars regard the Dervishes as the ideological architects of Somalia[15] and Muhammad Abdullah Hassan himself as the "Father of the Nation".[16]

  • The documentary film The Parching Winds of Somalia includes a section on the Dervish struggle and its leader, Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.
  • The historic romance novel Ignorance is the Enemy of Love by Farah Mohamed Jama Awl has a Dervish protagonist called Calimaax, who is part of an ill-fated love story and fights against the British, Italians and Ethiopians in the Horn of Africa.
  • A 1983, film entitled A Somali Dervish was directed by Abdulkadir Ahmed Said.
  • In the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode Loyalty, references are made to the Dervishes and their leader. The episode also features a character purported to have been descended from Muhammad Abdullah Hassan.
  • In 1985, a 4-hour-40-minute Indian-produced epic film by filmmaker Salah Ahmed entitled the Somalia Dervishes went into production. With a budget of $1.8 million, it included an actual descendant of Hassan as its star, and featured hundreds of actors and extras.[17]
  • In the popular comic book series Corto Maltese, the protagonist travels to the Horn of Africa during the Dervishes' battle against the British, and witnesses the former power storm a British fort. During these travels, he develops a long-term friendship with a Dervish warrior named Cush, who subsequently features in several other of Corto's adventures around the world.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Somalia - Revolt in British Somaliland". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  2. ^ F.O.78/5031,Sayyid Mohamad To The Aidagalla, Enclosed Sadler To Salisbury .69, 20 Aug. 1899
  3. ^ Mukhtar, Mohamed (2003). Historical Dictionary of Somalia. p. 27.
  4. ^ Encyclopedia of African history – Page 1406[full citation needed]
  5. ^ The modern history of Somaliland: from nation to state – Page 78[full citation needed]
  6. ^ Historical dictionary of Ethiopia – Page 405[full citation needed]
  7. ^ Jihad in the Arabian Sea 2011, Camille Pecastaing, In the land of the Mad Mullah: Somalia
  8. ^ The Failure of The Daraawiish State: The Clash Between Somali Clanship and State System Abdisalam M. Issa-Salwe – the 5th International Congress of Somali Studies December 1993
  9. ^ F.O.78/5031,Sayyid Mohamad To The Aidagalla, Enclosed Sadler To Salisbury .69, 20 Aug. 1899
  10. ^ Taleh W. A. MacFadyen The Geographical Journal, Vol. 78, No. 2 (Aug., 1931), pp. 125–128
  11. ^ Hasan, M. S., and Salada M. Robleh. "Islamic revival and education in Somalia." Educational Strategies Among Muslims in the Context of Globalization: Some National Case Studies 3 (2004): 141.
  12. ^ Johnson, John William (1996). Heelloy: Modern Poetry and Songs of the Somali. Indiana University Press. p. 31. ISBN 1874209812.
  13. ^ Beautiful Somalia – Page 86
  14. ^ SOMALIA: A Nation's Literary Death Tops Its Political Demise by Said S Samatar
  15. ^ Pg 393 – Literatures in African Languages: Theoretical Issues and Sample Surveys By B. W. Andrzejewski, S. Pilaszewicz, W. Tyloch
  16. ^ Pg 187 – The Soviet Union in the Horn of Africa: the diplomacy of intervention and Disengagement By Robert G. Patman
  17. ^ Exploits of Somalia's national hero becomes basis for movie – Kentucky New Era
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