# Dada Masiti (Mana Sitti Habib Jamaladdin)

> Dada Masiti (d. 1919): Sufi poet and teacher of Barawa whose Bravanese verse spread Islamic learning among women.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/dada-masiti/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who was she?

Dada Masiti, "Sister Masiti", was a poet, mystic and Islamic scholar of [Barawa](/en/regions/barawa/) ([Wikipedia, Dada Masiti](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada_Masiti)). She composed her poems in the [Bravanese](/en/society/swahili-in-somalia/) language of Barawa (same source). One writer calls her the Rabia al-Adawiyya of East Africa, after the famous Sufi woman of Basra ([Sacred Footsteps, "Dada Masiti", 2020](https://sacredfootsteps.com/2020/10/22/dada-masiti-the-rabia-al-adawiyya-of-east-africa/)).

## Birth and family

Her name was Mana Sitti Habib Jamaladdin ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada_Masiti)). Sources differ on her birth. Wikipedia places it in the 1810s at Tundwa on Pate Island, near Lamu, before she moved to Barawa as a child (same source). Sacred Footsteps gives about 1804 and calls her a native of Barawa ([Sacred Footsteps](https://sacredfootsteps.com/2020/10/22/dada-masiti-the-rabia-al-adawiyya-of-east-africa/)). Her family belonged to the Mahadali Ashraf of Barawa ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada_Masiti)).

## Hard years

Oral accounts say she eloped as a young woman and lived about ten years in a harsh marriage ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada_Masiti)). Her cousin Omar Qullatten helped her return from Zanzibar (same source). Her poem "Ya Rabbi ya Muta'ali" tells of this ordeal and her turn back to faith ([Sacred Footsteps](https://sacredfootsteps.com/2020/10/22/dada-masiti-the-rabia-al-adawiyya-of-east-africa/)). She never remarried ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada_Masiti)).

## Scholar of the Qadiriyya

Back in Barawa she studied under [Sheikh](/en/regions/sheikh/) Mohammed Janna al-Bahluli and followed the Qadiriyya order ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada_Masiti)). Her poems show deep knowledge of the Qur'an and Sunnah (same source). Sheikh Qasim Muhyiddin al-Barawi called her a "treasure to be jealously preserved" (same source). See [Islam in Somalia](/en/society/islam-in-somalia/).

## Poetry that teaches

She wrote in the everyday language, so ordinary people could understand ([Sacred Footsteps](https://sacredfootsteps.com/2020/10/22/dada-masiti-the-rabia-al-adawiyya-of-east-africa/)). Her poems spread religious learning among the women of Barawa (same source). Many women learned her poems by heart ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada_Masiti)). Her best-known poem is an elegy for her friend the qadi Sheikh Nureni Mohammed Sabir (same source).

## Death and shrine

She died on 15 July 1919 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada_Masiti)). She was buried at her small house in Barawa, and a yearly visit (ziyara) is made to her shrine (same source). Scholars such as Mohamed Kassim and Alessandra Vianello have studied her work ([Sacred Footsteps](https://sacredfootsteps.com/2020/10/22/dada-masiti-the-rabia-al-adawiyya-of-east-africa/)). See [the Somali coast towns](/en/history/somali-coast-towns-1331-1586/).

## In short

A poet and religious teacher of Barawa who composed in the Chimbalazi language.

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