# Saints, shrines and siyaaro: tomb visits in Somali Islam > Somali saints and shrines: baraka, siyaaro tomb visits, Aw Barkhadle, Sheikh Isaaq at Maydh, Sheikh Sufi, Uways at Biyooley, and the dispute over tombs, sourced. Source page: https://calankii.com/en/society/saints-shrines-and-siyaaro/ Last checked: 2026-11-12 Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com) ## Baraka and the saints In Somali belief, God gives some people *baraka*, a blessing and inner spiritual power. The Library of Congress study says baraka belongs to the founders and heads of Sufi orders and "may cling to the tomb of a revered leader, who, upon death, is considered a saint" ([Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). People become saints (*awliyo*) in three ways, the same study says: as leaders of Sufi orders, as men famous for piety even outside an order, and as founders of clans or large lineages. "Northern pastoral nomads are likely to honor lineage founders as saints; sedentary Somalis revere saints for their piety and baraka" ([same source](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). ## The visit: siyaaro Pilgrims go to a saint's tomb to ask for help, for example a cure for illness or for a child. Members of the saint's order visit especially on the anniversaries of his birth and death ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). The visit is called *siyaaro* (from Arabic *ziyara*, "visit"). The anthropologist I. M. Lewis describes it as a local pilgrimage with offerings ([Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn, Wikipedia, citing Lewis, Saints and Somalis, 1998](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_bin_Ahmad_al-Kawneyn)). Many devout Somalis, the Library of Congress study notes, went to Mecca on Hajj, "but many more would visit the tombs of the local saints" ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/45.htm)). A saint's blessing could also be taken home in an object that had touched his tomb ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/48.htm)). ## Well-known shrines **Aw Barkhadle, near Hargeisa.** The tomb of Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn, a scholar remembered for spreading Islam in the north, lies in the ruined town once called Dogor. Lewis records a tradition that Aw Barkhadle, who had no children, told [Sheikh](/en/regions/sheikh/) Isaaq that Isaaq's many descendants would honour him. Every year Isaaq clansmen gather at the shrine to make offerings in his name ([Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn, Wikipedia, citing Lewis 1998](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_bin_Ahmad_al-Kawneyn); [Ishaaq bin Ahmed, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaaq_bin_Ahmed)). See [Aw Barkhadle](/en/people/aw-barkhadle/). **Sheikh Isaaq, at [Maydh](/en/regions/maydh/).** The forefather of the Isaaq is buried at Maydh on the [Sanaag](/en/regions/sanaag/) coast. His *mawlid* is read every Thursday, and his *siyaaro* is held each year in [Somaliland](/en/states/somaliland-1991-to-2026/) and among Isaaq abroad, especially in the Middle East ([Ishaaq bin Ahmed, Wikipedia, citing Lewis and Reese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaaq_bin_Ahmed)). An 1849 report in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society described the burial ground at Maydh as extending "for fully a mile each way", because aged men travelled there to be buried near their forefather ([Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1849, p. 64](https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCBDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA62)). **Sheikh Sufi, Mogadishu.** After the death of the Qadiri scholar Sheikh Sufi (Abd al-Rahman bin Abdullah al-Shashi) in 1904, his tomb became a yearly pilgrimage site for people from across Somalia and East Africa. A cemetery grew around it where ministers, artists and presidents are buried ([Shaykh Sufi, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaykh_Sufi)). The Library of Congress study, which names a Qadiri teacher of Mogadishu "Sheikh Abdirahman Abdullah", says his tomb became a pilgrimage centre for the [Shabelle](/en/economy/farming-and-harvests/) area ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). See [Sheikh Sufi](/en/people/sheikh-sufi/). **Sheikh Uways, Biyooley.** The Qadiri leader Sheikh Uways al-Barawi, killed in 1909, is buried at Biyooley, about 150 miles north of [Barawa](/en/regions/barawa/). His tomb is a place of pilgrimage ([Castagno, Historical Dictionary of Somalia, 1975](https://archive.org/details/historical-dictionary-of-somalia-1)). See [Sheikh Uways al-Barawi](/en/people/uways-al-barawi/). **Sheikh Cali Maye Durogba, [Merca](/en/regions/lower-shabelle/).** The poet who brought the Ahmadiyya order to Somalia; "his tomb became a popular objective among pilgrims" ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). ## Older customs inside the faith The Library of Congress study notes rituals older than Islam that live on beside it, such as the yearly feast for the clan ancestor among northern Somalis and the group rain prayer (*roobdoon*) among farmers in the south. It also describes the *wadaad*'s amulets, Qur'an readings for spirit illness, and the women's *saar* ceremony ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/48.htm)). ## The dispute over tombs Not all Somali Muslims accept tomb visits. The Salihiyya order rejected asking dead saints to intercede (*tawassul*) ([Salihiyya, Wikipedia, citing Lewis 1998](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salihiyya)). Salafi teachers who spread from the 1970s also call the practice wrong. See [Islamic movements since 1950](/en/society/islamic-movements-in-somalia-since-1950/). From 2008 al-Shabaab destroyed Sufi tombs in areas it held and killed Sufi clerics ([Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, Wikipedia, citing the Mapping Militants Project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahlu_Sunna_Waljama%27a); [BBC, "Somali rage at grave desecration", 2009](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8077725.stm)). The Sufi body Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a took up arms partly to protect the shrines ([Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahlu_Sunna_Waljama%27a)). See [Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a](/en/institutions/ahlu-sunna-waljamaa/) and [heritage sites](/en/society/heritage-sites/). ## Medieval mosques and graves For the archaeology of medieval mosques and Muslim burials in Somaliland, see [medieval mosques of Somaliland](/en/history/medieval-mosques-of-somaliland/) and [medieval Muslim graves, from cairns to cemeteries](/en/history/medieval-muslim-graves-cairns-to-cemeteries/). ## Read further - I. M. Lewis, *[Saints and Somalis](/en/books/saints-and-somalis-lewis/): Popular Islam in a Clan-Based Society* (Red Sea Press, 1998), readable on the [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/saintssomalispop00lewi). - Sada Mire, *Divine Fertility: The Continuity in Transformation of an Ideology of Sacred Kinship in Northeast Africa* (Routledge, 2020). - [The Sufi orders in Somalia](/en/society/sufi-orders-in-somalia/). --- I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.