Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, ( ar, عبدالرحمن بن اسماعيل الجبرتي) also known as Daarood, Dawud or Da'ud (), is the semi-legendary common ancestor of the
Somali Darod
The Darod ( so, Daarood, ar, دارود) is a Somali clan. The forefather of this clan was Sheikh Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, more commonly known as ''Darood''. The clan primarily settles the apex of the Horn of Africa and its peripheries ...
clan.
According to local tradition, Abdirahman descended from
Aqil ibn Abi Talib
ʿAqīl ibn Abī Ṭālib (lit. "Aqil the Son of Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib, Abu Talib"; full name , ar, أبو يزيد عقيل بن أبي طالب بن عبد المطّلب بن هاشم), , was a cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad ( ...
, a member of the
Banu Hashim and a cousin of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
. There is no concrete evidence of him being a descendant of Aqil ibn Abi Talib, a claim that is historically untenable.
Biography
Authors such as
Ibn Hawqal
Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal (), also known as Abū al-Qāsim b. ʻAlī Ibn Ḥawqal al-Naṣībī, born in Nisibis, Upper Mesopotamia; was a 10th-century Arab Muslim writer, geographer, and chronicler who travelled during the ye ...
,
Al-Muqaddasi and
Ibn Said have confirmed the early presence of Arabian tribes in municipalities such as
Berbera
Berbera (; so, Barbara, ar, بربرة) is the capital of the Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of the British Somaliland protectorate before Hargeisa. It ...
,
Zeila
Zeila ( so, Saylac, ar, زيلع, Zayla), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland.
In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila (or Hawilah) with the Bibl ...
, Jabarta (an old metropolis now in ruins), and
Massawa in the northern
Horn of Africa.
[I.M. Lewis, ''Peoples of the Horn of Africa-Somali, Afar and Saho'', (The Red Sea Press: 1998), pp.140-142.]
According to Somali tradition, Muhammad ibn Aqil's descendant Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti (Darood) fled his homeland in the
Arabian Peninsula after an argument with his uncle.
[ Rima Berns-McGown, ''Muslims in the diaspora'', (University of Toronto Press: 1999), pp.27-28] During the 10th or 11th century CE,
he is believed to have then settled in
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
just across the
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...
. He subsequently married
Dobira, the daughter of the
Dir clan chief, which is said to have given rise to the Darood clan family.
Thus, it established matrilateral ties with the
Samaale Samaale, also spelled Samali or Samale ( so, Samaale) is traditionally considered to be the oldest common forefather of several major Somali clans and their respective sub-clans. His name is the source of the ethnonym ''Somali''..
As the purported ...
main stem.
According to the British anthropologist and
Somali Studies veteran I.M. Lewis, while the traditions of descent from noble Arab families related to
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
are most probably expressions of the importance of
Islam in Somali society, "there is a strong historically valid component in these legends which, in the case of the Darood, is confirmed in the current practice of a Dir representative officiating at the ceremony of installation of the chief of the Darod family."
[I.M. Lewis, ''Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar, and Saho, Issue 1'', (International African Institute: 1955), p.18-19]
Another tradition holds that Darod is connected with the extinct
Harla
The Harla, also known as Harala, or Arla, are an extinct ethnic group that once inhabited Djibouti, Ethiopia and northern Somalia. They spoke the now-extinct Harla language, which belonged to either the Cushitic or Semitic branches of the Afroas ...
people.
According to Arabic documents preserved by the Darod clans of Afar region, the Darut, a forefather of Harla founded the current Somali Darod clan. The text further states that he arrived from Mecca and settled in Zeila, his father was Ismāʻīl b. Ibrāhīm al-Ǧabartī, from Yemen.
A similar clan story exists for the
Isaaq
The Isaaq (also Isaq, Ishaak, Isaac) ( so, Reer Sheekh Isxaaq, ar, بني إسحاق, Banī Isḥāq) is a Somali clan. It is one of the major Somali clans in the Horn of Africa, with a large and densely populated traditional territory. Pe ...
, who are descended from one
Ishaq ibn Ahmad al-'Alawi, another purported member of the
Banu Hashim who came to Somaliland around the same time.
[I.M. Lewis, ''A Modern History of the Somali'', fourth edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), p. 22] As with Sheikh Isaaq, there are also numerous existing
hagiologies in Arabic which describe Sheikh Darood's travels, works and overall life in Somaliland, as well as his movements in Arabia before his arrival. Besides historical sources such as Al-Masudi's ''Aqeeliyoon'', a modern ''manaaqib'' (a collection of glorious deeds) printed in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
in 1945 by Sheikh Ahmad bin Hussen bin Mahammad titled ''Manaaqib as-Sheikh Ismaa'iil bin Ibraahiim al-Jabarti'' also discusses Sheikh Darod and his proposed father Isma'il al-Jabarti, the latter of whom is reportedly buried in Bab Siham situated in the
Zabid District
Zabid District ( ar, مُدِيْرِيَّة زَبِيد) is a district of the Al Hudaydah Governorate in western Yemen.
Overview
The Yemeni Sufi Sheikh Isma'il al-Jabarti of the Qadiriyyah order is buried in the Zabid District.I. M. Lewis, '' ...
of western
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
.
[I. M. Lewis, ''A pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism and politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa'', (LIT Verlag Münster: 1999), p.131.]
Sheikh Darod's own tomb is in
Haylaan, situated in the Hadaaftimo Mountains in the
Sanaag
Sanag ( so, Sanaag, ar, سَنَاج) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in north eastern Somaliland.[Regions o ...](_blank)
region of
Somaliland, and is the scene of frequent
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
s.
Sheikh Isaaq is buried nearby in
Maydh
Maydh (also transliterated as Mait or Meit) (, ) is an ancient port city in the eastern Sanaag region of Somaliland.
History
Antiquity
According to Augustus Henry Keane, Maydh represents an early center of dispersal of the Somali people. Nationa ...
,
[I.M. Lewis]
"The Somali Conquest of the Horn of Africa", ''Journal of African History''
1 (1960), p. 219 as is Sheikh Harti, a descendant of Sheikh Darod and the progenitor of the
Harti
Harti ( so, Harti, ar, هرتي), meaning "strong man", is a Somali clan family that is part of the Darod clan. The major sub-clans include the Majeerteen, Dhulbahante, Warsangali, Tinle, Maganlabe and Dishiishe, while other minor sub-clans ...
Darod sub-clan, whose tomb is located in the ancient town of
Qa’ableh.
Sheikh Darod's ''
mawlid'' (birthday) is also celebrated every Friday with a public reading of his ''
manaaqib''.
References
References
Islam in Somali History Fact and Fiction revisited, the Arab Factor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdirahman Bin Ismail Al-Jabarti
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
10th-century Somali people
11th-century Somali people
Darod
Ethnic Somali people
Somali people of Arab descent