Siddiqi ( ar, صدیقی) is a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

family name, found in the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

, the Middle East and South Asia.

Sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

is an additional title used occasionally by Siddiqis to signify noble Arab heritage. According to tradition, people having surname "Siddiqi" are offspring of Abu Bakr Siddique ( ar, ابو بكر الصديق), the first Khalifa ( Caliph) and an early companion and friend of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.

Distribution

People claiming Siddiqi descent can be found in Djibouti,

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

, Somalia,

Somaliland Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...

and Ethiopia. However, representatives in these countries are not referred to as Siddiqi, but are instead known by various local names. Siddiqis in Eastern Ethiopia are usually called Qallu. While some of them still speak Arabic, most of them speak the regional Oromo, Harari or Somali languages, tongues which, like Arabic, also belong to the

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...

language family. In Somalia, Siddiqis are commonly known as Sheekhaal or Aw Qutub.

Divisions

Notable Siddiqi families in the Horn region include: 1. Kurtu family (in Harar, Dader and Djibouti) 2. Abogn family (through the Khalaf and Kurtu families; Harari genealogy) 3. Shadir family (through the Aw Umar Ziad family; Harari genealogy) 4. Aw Barre family 5. Aw Ismael family 6. Qallu-Diinii family 7. Khabir Hassan family (in Galamso) 8. Aw Samirren family 9. Aw Khalaf family 10. Aw Umar Ziad family 11. Isaaq

Common ancestor

The Muslim cleric Sheikh Abadir Umar Ar-Rida (''Abadir Umar Al-Rida ibn Muhammad ibn Shamsadin Al-Bakri Al-Siddiqi'') is traditionally regarded as the common ancestor of the Siddiqi families in the Horn region. Ar-Rida is the main figure in the ''Fath Madinat Harar'', an unpublished history of the city of Harar in the 13th century. According to the account, Ar-Rida, along with several other

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

s, came from the Hijaz region of present-day Saudi Arabia to Harar in 612H (1216 AD).Siegbert Uhlig, ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N'', Volume 3, (Otto Harrassowitz Verlag: 2007), pp.111 & 319. The Sheikh is said to have then fathered six sons, whom the Siddiqis regard as their forebears. Sheikh Ar-Rida's tomb is located inside the walled city. A few meters away, there is also a mosque that bears his name.

Notable Siddiqis

Notable Siddiqis include: *

Ahmad Taqi Ahmad Taqi "Hundee" Sheikh Mohammed Rashid (1942 – 6 September 1974) was an Ethiopian Oromo people, Oromo nationalist, known, along with his comrade Elemo Qiltu, as the "first true fighters and martyrs of the Oromo causes". It was these two perso ...

in Ethiopia. *Dr.

Ali Sheikh Ahmed Dr Ali Sheikh Ahmed ( so, Cali Sheekh Ahmed, ar, علي الشيخ احمد) is the founding Member and Former president of Mogadishu University. Career Ahmed has been involved in Islamic and academic initiatives and was one of the five foundi ...

, the founder and president of Mogadishu University in Mogadishu, Somalia. He is also president of Al-Islaah, which is part of the wider

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

organization based in Egypt. *Dr Ibrahim Dusuuqi, Muslim cleric in Somalia and former member of the Transitional National Government. *Sheikh Ahmad Qudubi, Mogadishu-based scholar and preacher.

Notes

References