# Haji Farah Omar (Xaaji Faarax Cumar)

> Haji Farah Omar: founder of the Somali Islamic Association in Aden in the 1920s, a peaceful pioneer of Somali nationalism.

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

## Who was he?

Haji Farah Omar was a Somali nationalist from the [British Somaliland](/en/history/british-somaliland-1884-1960/) protectorate ([Wikipedia, Farah Omar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Omar)). Castagno writes that he "is today regarded as a national hero, a man who, like Mahatma Gandhi in India, sought change by peaceful means" ([Castagno, *Historical Dictionary of Somalia*, 1975, "Haji Farah Omar"](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)).

## Early life

Wikipedia gives his birth as 1879 in Xagal, near Berbera ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Omar)). Castagno gives 1864 ([Castagno 1975](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)). His family is Habar Jeclo (Isaaq) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Omar)). He studied the Qur'an and Arabic in Berbera, then went on to study in Aden (same source).

## In colonial service

In the 1910s he worked as a civil servant and then an officer in British Somaliland ([Castagno 1975](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)). A British commander once asked him what was enough for a Somali in pay and rank. He replied that what was good enough for a European was good enough for a Somali ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Omar)). He was later dismissed on the basis of a letter that Wikipedia describes as forged (same source).

## India and Gandhi

He studied law at Aligarh Muslim University in India ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Omar)). He met Mahatma Gandhi there and took up his method of non-violence (same source). Wikipedia dates a visit to India to 1930 (same source).

## The Somali Islamic Association

In the 1920s he was exiled to Aden for calling for social and political reform ([Castagno 1975](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)). In Aden he founded the Somali Islamic Association (same source). Wikipedia calls it the first Somali nationalist association ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Omar)). He wrote to Aden newspapers and to members of Parliament in [London](/en/diaspora/london/) ([Castagno 1975](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)). He asked for more schools and better economic services in the protectorate ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Omar)). See [resistance and protest, 1890s to 1945](/en/history/resistance-1890s-1945/).

## A spokesman at home

In August 1938 elders in [Burao](/en/regions/togdheer/) chose him as their spokesman ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Omar)). He later gained wide backing in Hargeisa too (same source). He returned to the protectorate as an old man and died in Hargeisa ([Castagno 1975](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)).

## In short

A campaigner who petitioned British authorities for Somali rights in the 1920s and 1930s, before the Somali Youth League was founded.

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