# Sultan Nur Ahmed Aman (Suldaan Nuur Axmed Amaan)

> Sultan Nur Ahmed Aman (1841–1907): Habr Yunis sultan and scholar, a founding leader of the Dervish movement in 1899.

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

## Who was he?

Sultan Nur Ahmed Aman was a religious leader and the fifth Sultan of the Habr Yunis ([Wikipedia, Nur Ahmed Aman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nur_Ahmed_Aman)). He was one of the leaders of the Dervish movement of 1899–1920 (same source). His nickname was Nuur Dheere (same source). This page records events without taking sides.

## Scholar before sultan

He spent his early years as a student of the Ahmadiyya (Idrisiyya) Sufi order at Hahi and Berato ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nur_Ahmed_Aman)). Sources differ on whether he could read and write Arabic (same source). The colonial doctor Drake-Brockman wrote in 1911 that he was living as a religious teacher at Hahi, near [Oodweyne](/en/regions/togdheer/), when his kin called him to lead (same source).

## Becoming sultan

He became sultan in 1879, after his uncle Sultan Hersi Aman died in a feud ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nur_Ahmed_Aman)). Drake-Brockman wrote that he accepted "much against his will" (same source). A rival branch named its own sultan in 1881, and for some years there were two (same source). He later based himself at Burao (same source).

## The Dervish movement

He led a campaign against a French Catholic mission in the protectorate, which became one cause of the uprising ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nur_Ahmed_Aman)). In August 1899 the Dervish forces gathered at Burao and declared open war on British rule ([Douglas Jardine, *The Mad Mullah of Somaliland*, 1923](https://archive.org/details/TheMadMullahOfSomaliland)). Wikipedia records that he hosted the gathering in his quarter of the town ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nur_Ahmed_Aman)). Jardine, a British official, names him riding beside the Sayid in the early British expeditions ([Jardine 1923](https://archive.org/details/TheMadMullahOfSomaliland)). See [the Dervish movement, 1899 to 1920](/en/history/dervish-movement-1899-1920/) and [Sayid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan](/en/people/sayid-maxamed-cabdulle-xasan/).

## The Ilig treaty

On 5 March 1905 he and his brother were the main signatories of the Ilig treaty ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nur_Ahmed_Aman)). It made peace between the Dervishes and the British, Ethiopian and Italian powers (same source).

## Death

He died in 1907 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nur_Ahmed_Aman)). He is buried in a white-domed shrine at Taleh, which later became the Dervish capital (same source). His son Dolal Nur succeeded him (same source).

## In short

A sultan of the Habar Yoonis who joined the Dervish movement at Burao in 1899.

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