According to the consul-general
James Hayes Sadler, a report about the conversion of Somali children sparked the Dervish rebellion and the subsequent 21-year conflict. The report concerned a group of Somali children who had been converted to Christianity and adopted by the French Catholic Mission at Berbera in 1899. Sadler claimed that
Sultan Nur of the
Habr Yunis either spread or fabricated the report. It is unclear whether Sultan Nur witnessed the incident firsthand or learned of it from others, but he repeated the report at the tariqa in Kob Fardod in June 1899. In a 1899 letter to Sultan
Deria, Hassan wrote that the British "have destroyed our religion and made our children their children", alluding to the incident involving Sultan Nur and the French Catholic Mission at Berbera. The Dervishes soon emerged in opposition to Christian activity to defend their interpretation of Islam.
Risala lil-Bimal: Letter to the Bimal The
Bimal clan were the only group that that Hassan directly asked, in a letter, to join his struggle. The letter is still preserved to this day. Hassan's letter to the Bimal has been described as the most extensive exposition of his religious thought. Hassan saw the Bimal as potential allies because of their numbers, their reputation for religious devotion and military strength, and their substantial resources. The Bimal had also mounted significant resistance against the Italians, especially in the first decade of the 19th century, during which the Italians launched several expeditions against them. Hassan sought to win their support by writing a detailed theological appeal to the Bimal clan, which controlled the strategic Banaadir port of
Merca and its surroundings. The Italians were already at war with the Bimal, and one of their greatest fears was the southern spread of "Dervishism", which had come to mean "revolt". Although the Bimal did not follow Hassan's religious message or views, they understood his aims and political tactics. The Dervishes supplied them with arms. The Italians sought to end the Bimal revolt and prevent a Bimal–Dervish alliance, which led them to rely on forces from Obbia and the Majerteen.
Ethiopia, Britain and Italy However, soon angered by his autocratic rule, Hussen Hirsi Dala Iljech' – a Mohammed Subeer chieftain – plotted to kill him. The news of the plot leaked to Hassan. He escaped, but his maternal uncle, Aw 'Abbas, was killed. Some weeks later, Mohammed Subeer sent a peace delegation of 32 men to Hassan, but Hassan had all the members of the delegation arrested and killed. Shocked by the actions of Hassan, Mohammed Subeer sought the help of the Ethiopians and the Dervish withdrew to
Nugaal. Towards the end of 1900, Ethiopian Emperor Menelik proposed a joint action with the British against the Dervish. Accordingly, British Lt. Col.
Eric John Eagles 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). On 9 January 1904, at the Jidaale (Jidballi) plain, the British commander, General
Charles Egerton, killed 1,000 Dervish. This defeat forced Sayyid and his remaining men to flee to
Majeerteen country. Around 1909, in a secret meeting under a big tree later nicknamed "Anjeel tale waa" ("The Tree of Bad Counsel"), about 400 Dervish followers decided to stop following the mullah upon receiving the expulsion letter from the head of the Tariqa, Sheikh Salah, excommunicating the mullah. Their departure weakened, demoralized and angered Sayyid, and it was at this juncture that he composed his poem entitled "The Tree of Bad Counsel".
Fight against the Qadiriyya Despite leaving Berbera after being rebuked by the leading Sheikhs of the rival
Qadiriyya school, the enmity did not end. Heated poems would be exchanged between the Sayyid and prominent Sheikh
Uways al-Barawi from
Barawa, the leader of the 1908 Benadir revolt. Uways recited this
qasida criticizing the Sayyid: With a long response the Sayyid ended with these sharp words: :
A word from the backsliding apostates (Qadiriyya) :''Who have gone astray from the
Prophet's way, the straight path'' :
Why is the truth so plain, hidden from you? This exchange would lead to
takfir, or accusations of apostasy, from both men, and the murder of Uways by the Dervish in 1909. This ironically proved Sheikh Uways' accusation that the Sayyid deemed it lawful to spill the blood of the learned. The Sayyid would mock Sheikh Uways' death with a final poem: "Behold, at last, when we slew the old wizard, the rains began to come!".
Consolidation in
Taleex During 1909–1910, the Dervish capital moved from
Illig to
Taleh in the heart of
Nugal, where the Dervish built three garrison forts of massive stone work and a number of houses. Hassan built a luxurious palace for himself and kept new guards drawn from outcast clans. By 1913, the Dervish dominated the entire hinterland of the Somali peninsula building forts at Jildali and Mirashi, and at
Werder in the Ogaden and
Beledweyne in southern Somalia. On 9 August 1913, at the
Battle of Dul Madoba, a Dervish force raided the Dolbahanta clan and killed or wounded 57 members of the 110-man
Somaliland Camel Constabulary. The dead included the British officer who commanded the constabulary,
Colonel Richard Corfield. Hassan memorialized this action in his poem entitled "The Death of Richard Corfield". In the same year, fourteen Dervishes infiltrated Berbera and fired few shots on its citizens fleeing, causing panic. In 1914, the
Somaliland Camel Corps was founded as an expanded and improved version of the constabulary. A British force was gathering against the Dervishes when they were interrupted by the outbreak of
World War I. Among the British officers deployed was
Adrian Carton de Wiart (later
Lieutenant General), who lost an eye during the campaign, and
Hastings Ismay, a staff officer who was later
Winston Churchill's chief military adviser.
Defeat In the beginning of 1920, the British struck the Dervish settlements with a well-coordinated air and land attack and inflicted a stunning defeat. The forts of the Dervishes were damaged and the army suffered great losses. The Dervish retreated in to the Ogaden territory in
Abyssinia and raided the Ogaden Bah Hawadle clan who were under Habr Yunis protection, reacting to this incident,
Haji Warabe of the
Reer Caynaashe assembled an army composed of 3,000 warriors. The army set out from Togdheer; on the dawn of July 20, 1920, they reached Shineleh where the Dervish were camped and proceeded to attack them. The Dervish, numbering about 800, were quickly defeated, 700 being killed in the battle; the few remaining survivors fled south. Haji and his army captured 60,000 camels and 700 rifles from the defeated Dervish. During the midst of the battle, Haji Warabe entered Hassan's tent, finding it empty with Hassan's tea still hot. The Mullah, now a fugitive, continued to flee westwards into the wastelands of the
Ogaden. In October 1920, he eventually settled down at Guano
Imi, at the head waters of the
Shebelle River in the
Arsi country, with a party of some four hundred followers. When
Fitawrari Seyoum, commanding the nearest Abyssinian garrison at
Ginir, heard of his arrival, he sent one of his officers, Garazmatch Ayale, to learn why he had entered Abyssinian territory. The Mullah received the officer well, and said that he had been beaten in battle by the British and had come to Abyssinia for protection. He then sent the
Fitawrari four rifles and a revolver as presents and asked for some provisions in exchange.
Fitawrari Seyoum reported the matter to
Ras Tafari, who ordered him to not attack the Mullah but keep him under his watch. However, provisions were not provided and famine fell on the Mullah's camp, with most of his remaining followers dying of sickness and hunger; the few that survived were said to have dispersed shortly after. ==Death==