Galal was born in 1917 in
Burao. He hails from the
Habar Jeclo clan of the
Isaaq. He is noted for having contributed to the development of
Wadaad's script. In the 1950s, Galal introduced a more radical alteration of the
Arabic script to represent the
Afro-Asiatic Somali language. He came up with an entirely new set of symbols with no relation to any other Arabic letter, for the
Somali vowels. I.M. Lewis (1958) considers this to be the most accurate Arabic script to have been devised for the Somali language. Despite this, Galal's script was highly controversial and generally rejected, as the idea of introducing brand new letters was considered too much of a deviation from the Arabic Script. Galal is also the paternal grandfather of well known youtuber and content creator Darkest Man. Later, he took part in the development of
Somali Latin alphabet, along with
B. W. Andrzejewski and
Shire Jama Ahmed. A prolific writer, Galal was also among the foremost authorities on the Somali
astrological,
meteorological and
calendrical systems. He devoted two major works to traditional Somali science, both of which are regarded as classics in
Somali Studies. He was prolific in recording and writing about
Somali poetry and his recordings include the work of
Salaan Carrabey. After a long scholarly career, Galal died in 1980. In his honour, the Somali Studies Association periodically presents the
Musa Galaal Award to Somalists whose work on Somali history and culture has earned distinction. ==Bibliography==