# Aadan-Gurey Maxamed Cabdille

> Aadan-Gurey Maxamed Cabdille (1840-1920): Galgaduud poet of Todobaatan iyo Toban, taught in Somali schools.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/aadan-gurey-maxamed-cabdille/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who was he?

Aadan-Gurey Maxamed Cabdille (Aadan-Gurey Mohamed Abdille) was a Somali poet who lived from 1840 to 1920 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aadan-Gurey_Maxamed_Cabdille)). He was born in the [Galgaduud region](/en/regions/galgaduud/) and spent much of his life in the Ximan area between [Galkacyo](/en/regions/mudug/) and [Abudwak](/en/regions/caabudwaaq/) (same source). At times he also led fighters in clan feuds over grazing land between the [Nugaal](/en/regions/nugaal/) valley, Mudug and Galgaduud (same source).

## Poetry

He began composing in his twenties and thirties and was an established poet by the 1870s ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aadan-Gurey_Maxamed_Cabdille)). His best-known poem, Todobaatan iyo Toban ("Seventy and Ten"), was printed in the first book collecting early Somali poems (same source). With no written Somali at the time, only five or six of his poems survive, among them Ab Hareeri and Angarafareey (same source).

He died in 1920, the same year as [Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan](/en/people/sayid-maxamed-cabdulle-xasan/); the two did not know each other's work (same source). Several of his poems are in Somali high school textbooks (same source). See [Somali poetry](/en/society/somali-poetry/).

## In short

A nineteenth-century Galgaduud poet whose few surviving verses are still taught in Somali schools.

---
I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.