# Salaan Carrabey (Salaan Maxamuud Xirsi)

> Salaan Carrabey (d. 1943): poet and trader from Burao whose peace poems and sayings became Somali proverbs.

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

## Who was he?

Salaan Carrabey was a Somali poet ([Wikipedia, Salaan Carrabey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaan_Carrabey)). Castagno calls him "a poet and philosopher" whose sayings "are now regarded as proverbs" ([Castagno, *Historical Dictionary of Somalia*, 1975, "Salaan Arrabey"](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)).

## Early life

His name was Salaan Mahamud Hirsi ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaan_Carrabey)). Wikipedia gives his birth as 1850 in the town of Beer, near [Burao](/en/regions/togdheer/) (same source). Castagno gives about 1841 ([Castagno 1975](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)). His family is Habar Jeclo (Isaaq) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaan_Carrabey)). He finished his Qur'an schooling in Beer (same source).

## Trader and linguist

He worked as a merchant in Aden, India and East Africa ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaan_Carrabey)). Castagno adds that he worked as an interpreter and guide in Aden and Kenya ([Castagno 1975](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)). He learned Arabic, English, Swahili, Hindustani and Amharic ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaan_Carrabey)). See [Somalis in Yemen](/en/diaspora/yemen/).

## New words for Somali

He used foreign words in his poems and coined new Somali words ([Castagno 1975](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)). He also took part in the Guba, a famous chain of poems traded between poets of the north ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaan_Carrabey)). The scholar [Musa Galaal](/en/people/musa-galaal/) wrote down many of his works (same source). See [Somali poetry](/en/society/somali-poetry/).

## "Stop the war"

A long feud had divided two branches of his own kin ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaan_Carrabey)). As the men gathered to fight, a sheikh, Fiqi Hasan, walked between them reading the Qur'an (same source). Salaan stepped forward and recited "War Toolow Colka Jooja" ("Oh Kinsmen, Stop the War") (same source).

## "Kinship is a shelter"

An elder told him to recite a full gabay or leave ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaan_Carrabey)). He then composed "Tolnimo Waa Dugsiye" ("Kinship Is a Shelter") (same source). It is told that the two sides then turned away and went home without fighting (same source). The poem lists past feuds and teaches that kinship is a bond of strength (same source).

## Death

He died in Burao in 1943 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaan_Carrabey)).

## In short

A poet of the 19th century whose verses are quoted as sayings.

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