Medieval Period (Conquest of Abyssinia) Historically, the Habr Awal were part of the
Adal Sultanate and are mentioned in the renowned "
Futuh al-Habasha" for their major contributions in the
Ethiopian-Adal war as the Habr Magaadle along with the Habar Yoonis, Arap, Ayub and Eidagalle clans against the
Ethiopian Empire, and also for producing a historical figure known as Ahmad Girri bin Husain who was the righthand partner of
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi and a chieftain for the Habr Magaadle forces during the Ethiopian–Adal war.
Sa'ad Musa , Emir of
Harar and ally of the Habr Awal The Habr Awal have a rich mercantile history largely due to their possession of the major Somali port of
Berbera, which was the chief port and settlement of Habr Awal clan during the early modern period. The clan had strong ties to the
Emirate of Harar and Emirs would hold Habr Awal merchants in their court with high esteem with
Richard Burton noting their influence in Emir
Ahmad III ibn Abu Bakr's court and discussions with the
Vizier Mohammed. The Habr Awal as a whole are a rich people, mainly thanks to the trade passing through the port of Berbera which lies in the territory of the Sa’ad Musa. In this way the tribes occupying the tract of country through which the main caravan or trade routes passed accumulated a good deal of wealth, while those like the Ayal Ahmed, fortunate enough to possess a port so favored by Nature as Berbera, naturally soon became rich. The Habr Awal merchants had extensive trade relations with Arab and Indian merchants from
Arabia and the
Indian subcontinent respectively. When these foreign traders arrived in
Berbera and
Bulhar to conduct trade, there was a mutually beneficial arrangement based on the abban (protection) system between them and the local Reer Yunis Nuh (Ayyal Yunis) and Ahmed Nuh (Ayyal Ahmed) lineages of Sa’ad Musa, Habr Awal: Before this, and prior to the British settlement at Aden in 1839, the Ayyal Yunis and Ayyal Ahmed lineages of the Habr Awal clan had held Berbera and jointly managed its trade, sharing in the profits on all commercial transactions as ‘protectors’ (abans) of foreign merchants from Arabia and India. When under the stimulus of developments at Aden the port's prosperity markedly increased, the numerically dominant Ayyal Yunis drove out their rival kinsmen and declared themselves commercial masters of Berbera. This led to a feud in which each side sought outside help; the defeated Ayyal Ahmed turned to Haji Shirmarke ‘Ali and his Habr Yunis clansmen for support. With this backing, they were then able to re-establish themselves and to expel the Ayyal Yunis who moved to the small roadstead of Bulhar, some miles to the west of Berbera. Not only did the Habr Awal host foreign merchants at their ports, they also conducted trade missions on their own vessels to the Arabian ports. The majority of the Somali merchants who frequented Aden and other Southern Arabian ports hailed from the Habr Awal clan. They procured various raw goods from Harar and the interior in exchange for manufactured goods. During their stay, the Habr Awal rented their own houses and hired their own servants, whereas other Somali clans tended to stay with relatives already established across the Gulf. Merchants. — These are generally members of the Habr Awal tribe. They bring from Harrar and the Galla country, coffee, saffron (bastard), tusks (ivory), and feathers, taking away in return zinc, brass, broad cloth, and piece goods. They remain in Aden for about twenty days at a time during the trading season, which lasts about nine months,' making four trips. During their residence they hire a house, and are accompanied by their own domestics. In the interior, Habr Awal trade caravans (khafilas) were a frequent sight according to contemporary European accounts of the Somali Peninsula: On leaving Hargeisa we travelled for many miles through beautiful park-like land, alive with birds and jungle fowl. We met the usual Somali khafilas [trading caravans] of Habr-Awal men, carrying their skins, gums, ghee, and coffee to our port at Bulhar, situated between Berbera and Zeila. The Somalis from the deep interior, principally those from the
Ogaden, also gained most of their resources from the Habr Awal merchants who they called "iidoor", an enviable pejorative meaning
merchant or trader, a reference to the mercantile nature of the Habr Awal traders at the time. The coastal Habr Awal (mainly the Reer Ahmed Nuh) regularly acted as brokers/middlemen for the Somali clans of the interior who wished to take their goods to the ports of Berbera and Bulhar: The custom is for the Ayal Achmet (Berbera tribe) to act as brokers, and too often most of the profits stick to the hands of the middleman. Till lately no Ogadayn ever went to the coast, but entrusted the goods to coast traders.
Battle of Berbera When a British vessel named the
Mary Anne attempted to dock in Berbera's port in 1825 it was attacked and multiple members of the crew were massacred by the Habr Awal. In response the
Royal Navy enforced a blockade and some accounts narrate a bombardment of the city. In 1827 two years later the British arrived and extended an offer to relieve the blockade which had halted Berbera's lucrative trade in exchange for indemnity. Following this initial suggestion the
Battle of Berbera 1827 would break out. After the Habr Awal defeat, 15,000
Spanish dollars was to be paid by the Habr Awal leaders for the destruction of the ship and loss of life. This would not materialize as Sultan Saqr was incapacitated by prior
Persian Gulf campaign of 1819 and was unable to send aid to Berbera. Alongside their stronghold in the Persian Gulf & Gulf of Oman the Qasimi were very active both militarily and economically in the
Gulf of Aden and were given to plunder and attack ships as far west as the
Mocha on the
Red Sea. They had numerous commercial ties with the
Somalis, leading vessels from Ras Al Khaimah and the
Persian Gulf to regularly attend trade fairs in the large ports of
Berbera and
Zeila and were very familiar with the Isaaq. Consequently, The Habr Awal clan signed a protectorate treaty with the
British Empire on 14 July 1884. The Habr Awal continued to have a lucrative trading agreement with their foreign contacts, many of whom were also under British rule in their respective nations. The British established the capital of the
British Somaliland protectorate at
Berbera, but later moved the capital to
Hargeisa in 1941.
Contemporary Era Migration South from the Coast to the Interior (right), the founding father of modern
Hargeisa, photographed in 1912 by Ralph E Brockman In the mid 19th century Hargeisa and the surrounding region was a hotbed of clan strife with raids being made on caravans attempting to pass through. Madar alongside other Sufi sheikhs established the ''Jama'a Weyn
or the big congregation
in Hargeisa. The new congregation adhered to the 900 year old Qadiriyya order established by renowned Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani and introduced new practices that would put Hargeisa on the trajectory to becoming the largest Somali city in Somaliland and the second largest Somali inhabited city to date. Hargeisa and its environs had suitable soil and ample water supply for agriculture yet the pastoralists had not been taking advantage of this fact. Madar alongside the other leaders of Jam'a Weyn'' introduced the cultivation of
sorghum and the new construction of permanent housing and creating his grand mosque in 1883. Sheikh Madar and Isaaq Sultan
Deria Hassan met outside Hargeisa in 1870 to discuss issues regarding the new town and agreed that poaching and tree cutting in the vicinity should be banned. The Saad Musa branch of the Habr Awal began to settle in Hargeisa under the watch of Madar and the Sultan
Deria and eagerly took up the new farming methods. The ''Jama'a
formed a nucleus that attracted other pastoralists to come and settle in the burgeoning town. As well, clan conflicts were mitigated as the new community had managed to unify on a shared religious identity rather than aligning strictly on traditional clan basis. With the Sheikh succeeding in the task delegated to him by his master Sheikh Kabir. Religious leaders in the Jama'a'' took it upon themselves to place the disabled in the region under their care. In
Imperial Policies and Nationalism in The Decolonization of Somaliland, 1954-1960, Historian Jama Mohamed writes: The N.U.F. campaigned for the return of the territories both in Somaliland and abroad. In March 1955, for instance, a delegation consisting of Michael Mariano, Abokor Haji Farah and Abdi Dahir went to Mogadisho to win the support and co-operation of the nationalist groups in Somalia. And in February and May 1955 another delegation consisting of two traditional Sultans (
Sultan Abdillahi Sultan Deria, and
Suldaan Abdulrahman Gaarad Deria), and two Western-educated moderate politicians (Michael Mariano, Abdirahman Ali Mohamed Dubeh) visited London and New York. During their tour of London, they formally met and discussed the issue with the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Alan Lennox-Boyd. They told Lennox-Boyd about the 1885 Anglo-Somali treaties. Under the agreements, Michael Mariano stated, the British Government 'undertook never to cede, sell, mortgage or otherwise give for occupation, save to the British Government, any portion of the territory inhabited by them or being under their control'. But now the Somali people 'have heard that their land was being given to Ethiopia under an Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1897'. That treaty, however, was 'in conflict' with the Anglo-Somali treaties 'which took precedence in time' over the 1897 Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty[.] The British Government had 'exceeded its powers when it concluded the 1897 Treaty and ... the 1897 Treaty was not binding on the tribes.' Sultan Abdillahi also added that the 1954 agreement was a 'great shock to the Somali people' since they had not been told about the negotiations, and since the British Government had been administering the area since 1941. The delegates requested, as Sultan Abdulrahman put it, the postponement of the implementation of the agreement to 'grant the delegation time to put up their case' in Parliament and in international organizations.The Isa Musa, whose pasture area is the coastal plain, also raise a transit duty of 4 anas (approx. 48 pfennigs) from the caravans for the loaded dromedar and 1 ana for each sheep and each goat, which from other tribes after the Markets to be brought from Berbera.The Italian explorer and geographer
Luigi Robecchi Brichetti had a similar remark in aspect of the valuable caravan trade, where he also mentioned the related Ayal Ahmad of Habr Awal - who reserved the title as the Abban of Berbera. According to the account of Bricchetti, the Isa Musa were able to attain revenue thanks to the busy caravan traffic entering & leaving the coastal and historical city of BerberaThey pass for skilled camel breeders and intelligent caravan organizers [Ayal Achmed]. And such are also the different families of the Isa Musa, who live off the caravan traffic with the Ogaden, going up to Uebi [Webi] along the Faf (Fafan) route.
Establishment of Issa Musa Sultanate With Diriiye's eventual death, his son Abdulrahman was crowned and the first Habr Awal leader to style himself as 'Sultan' rather than Garaad. Abdulrahman was very much like his father however was much more active in protectorate affairs. When the Eidagale attempted to raid the Issa Musa, a son of the Habr Yunis Sultan joined the raid and when the raiders were pursued he was killed. The Sultan of the Habr Yunis approached Abdulrahman to resolve the dispute and wanted him to compel the Issa Musa to pay
mag for the Sultan's son. According to traditional Somali
xeer restitution is not paid when one is killed in self defense. So the Issa Musa refused and banged their shields in disproval of Abdulrahman's judgement. Cismaan Haariyey a poet stood and recited the following
geeraar reaffirming his respect but disagreeing with Sultan Abdulrahman. After this the Issa Musa would leave and go on to crown their first Sultan, Sultan Koshin in 1949 marking their independence from their larger Saad Musa brethren. "Jidhif", renowned for his offensive capturing the port city of
Zeila in the late 1980s on behalf of the
SNM.
Somali Civil War and the Somali National Movement The
Somali National Movement (SNM) was a 1980s–1990s rebel group. The SNM at 1981 founding in
London it elected
Ahmed Mohamed Gulaid from the Habr Awal clan as its first chairman, who stated that the group's explicit purpose was to overthrow the
Siad Barre military regime. The SNM gathered its main base of support from members of the Isaaq clan, who formed and supported the movement in response to years of systematic discrimination by the Siad Barre government. As commander of the 99th division, General
Mohamed Hasan Abdullahi (Jidhif) also established a
Somali National Movement military base in
Zeila where the
SNM occupied the Awdal region for 4 years and successfully defeated attempts by USF militia forces loyal to
Djibouti who tried to take advantage of the fall of Siad Barre's
Military Junta in 1991 and annex the city of
Zeila. , fifth
President of Somaliland, and former military officer who served as a
Somali Air Force pilot before defecting to the
SNM in the mid-1980s where he commanded rebel forces. List of prominent Habr Awal SNM Commanders (
Mujahids). • Colonel
Abdillahi Askar Barkhad • Abdikarim Hashi Elmi • Adan Dhamah • Adan Shiine • Ahmed Jama Sabban (Janan Oogo) •
Ahmed Mohamed Gulaid • Ahmed Dhagah • Ahmed Ibrahim (Raage Bidaar) • Ahmed Golhaye • Ahmed Mohamed Hasan (Ahmed Japan) • Ali Gurey • General Ali Hussein Abdi • Boobe Yusuf Dualeh • General
Hassan Yonis Habane • Haybe Ahmed Gure (Haybe Laambad) • Hamud Ibrahim Ismail • Professor
Ibrahim Megag Samatar •
Ibrahim Dhagahweyne •
Sheikh Ibrahim Madar • Mohamed Elmi Samatar Galan • General
Mohamed Hasan Abdullahi (Jidhif) •
Mohamed Hashi Elmi • Mohamed Hasan (Gacmo Dheere) • Mahdi Ali Farah • Colonel
Muse Bihi Abdi • Sheikh Yusuf Ali Sheikh Madar • Yahya Haji Ibrahim == Garaads and Sultans of the Habr Awal ==