Scholars and religious figures
Sa'id of Mogadishu (Saciid Muqdisho)
Sa'id of Mogadishu (born 1301, died about 1361 or 1365) was a Somali scholar and traveller. He studied for 14 years in Mecca and 14 in Medina, travelled to India and China, and met Ibn Battuta at a mosque on India's west coast. He later settled at Ezhimala on the Malabar Coast and worked with local Shafi'i jurists.
Sa'id of MogadishuSaciid Muqdisho · Sa'id al-Maqdishawi
- Lived
- 1301 to 1361
- Known as one of
- Scholars and religious figures
- Places
- Muqdisho and Banaadir
- Era
- 1300-1500
- Sources
- 1 sources
Who was he?
Sa'id of Mogadishu was a 14th-century Somali scholar and traveller (Wikipedia, Sa'id of Mogadishu). He was born in Mogadishu in 1301 (same source). See medieval Somali polities.
Mecca and Medina
He left Mogadishu as a teenager to study (Wikipedia). He spent 14 years in Mecca and 14 in Medina, where he had many students (same source). He met the Amir of Mecca, Abu Numayy, and the Amir of Medina, al-Mansur Ibn Jammaz (same source).
Meeting Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta met him at a mosque on the west coast of India (Wikipedia). Ibn Battuta described him as "a jurist, pious from Mogadishu called Sa'id, of fine figure and character" who "used to fast continually" and "had travelled [throughout] India and China" (same source). See Ibn Battuta in Mogadishu and Zeila, 1331.
The historian Peter Jackson suggests that Sa'id may have given Ibn Battuta his information on China and the succession of the Yuan dynasty, which Ibn Battuta later used in his own account (Wikipedia). Wikipedia says he also visited Bengal (same source).
Malabar
A study of the Malabar Coast records that "Faqih Sa'id from Mogadishu" settled in the small port town of Ezhimala (Wikipedia). There he worked with Faqih Husayn, possibly the author of the first known Shafi'i legal text from Malabar (same source). The same study calls him one of many East African scholars who took part in the religious life of the Malabar Coast (same source).
Death
He may have died in 1361 or 1365 (Wikipedia).
In short
A 14th-century scholar from Mogadishu who studied in Mecca and Medina for 28 years, travelled to India and China, and met Ibn Battuta.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Sa'id of Mogadishu · en.wikipedia.org
Sa'id of MogadishuSaciid Muqdisho · Sa'id al-Maqdishawi
- Lived
- 1301 to 1361
- Known as one of
- Scholars and religious figures
- Places
- Muqdisho and Banaadir
- Era
- 1300-1500
- Sources
- 1 sources
Toosoo!
Calankii is made by Toosoo, which works for one united, prosperous Somalia.
Can you help with Sa'id of Mogadishu (Saciid Muqdisho)? Tell us what you can give.
I want to help with this
Where this matters
Same era
- Aw Barkhadle (Sheikh Yusuf al-Kawneyn)Aw Barkhadle (Sheikh Yusuf al-Kawneyn), medieval scholar and saint: his teaching, the Somali names for Arabic letters, and his tomb near Hargeisa.
- Somali culture: an overview of faith, family, language, dress, food and the artsSomali culture in one page: faith, family, greetings, poetry and language, dress, food, music, sport and festivals, with links to a full page on each.
- Al-Shabaab: what it is, the harm it does, and how Somalis respondAl-Shabaab explained: where it came from, how it funds itself, the attacks and harm to Somalis, child recruitment, and how communities and the state respond.
- Sheikh Uways al-Barawi (Sheekh Uweys)Sheikh Uways al-Barawi (1847–1909), Baraawe scholar who spread the Qadiriyya across East Africa: his life, teaching, poems and death.
- Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs of Somalia: what it doesWhat Somalia's federal religious affairs ministry does: Hajj, mosques, endowments and religious guidance; who leads it; its budget 2025 to 2027; and what it reports doing for the 2026 Hajj.
- Sheikh Omar Farouk (Sheekh Cumar Faaruuq)Sheikh Omar Farouk (1939–2011): Somali scholar known for his recorded Quran tafsir, Arta 2000 participant, died in Mecca.
Keep reading
- Osman Yusuf Kenadid (Cismaan Yuusuf Keenadiid)Osman Yusuf Kenadid (1889–1972), inventor of the Osmanya script for Somali, poet, teacher and founding member of the Somali Youth League.
- Shire Jama Ahmed (Shire Jaamac Axmed)Shire Jama Ahmed (1936–1999), the linguist who designed the Somali Latin alphabet adopted in 1972 and used by Somalis today.
- Musa Haji Ismail Galaal (Muuse Xaaji Ismaaciil Galaal)Musa Galaal (1917–1980): scholar of Somali language, poetry and weather lore, and a maker of the Somali alphabet.
- Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nur (Sheekh Cabdiraxmaan Sheekh Nuur)Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nur: Borama qadi and scholar who devised the Borama (Gadabuursi) script for Somali about 1933.
- Sheikh Madar (Sheekh Madar Axmed Shirwac)Sheikh Madar (1825–1918): Qadiriyya scholar and reformer remembered as the founder of Hargeisa.
- Dada Masiti (Mana Sitti Habib Jamaladdin)Dada Masiti (d. 1919): Sufi poet and teacher of Barawa whose Bravanese verse spread Islamic learning among women.