Saints, shrines and siyaaro: tomb visits in Somali Islam

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).

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).

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). 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).

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). A saint's blessing could also be taken home in an object that had touched his tomb (Library of Congress, 1992).

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 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; Ishaaq bin Ahmed, Wikipedia). See Aw Barkhadle.

Sheikh Isaaq, at Maydh. The forefather of the Isaaq is buried at Maydh on the Sanaag coast. His mawlid is read every Thursday, and his siyaaro is held each year in Somaliland and among Isaaq abroad, especially in the Middle East (Ishaaq bin Ahmed, Wikipedia, citing Lewis and Reese). 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).

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). 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 area (Library of Congress, 1992). See 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. His tomb is a place of pilgrimage (Castagno, Historical Dictionary of Somalia, 1975). See Sheikh Uways al-Barawi.

Sheikh Cali Maye Durogba, Merca. The poet who brought the Ahmadiyya order to Somalia; "his tomb became a popular objective among pilgrims" (Library of Congress, 1992).

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).

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). Salafi teachers who spread from the 1970s also call the practice wrong. See Islamic movements 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; BBC, "Somali rage at grave desecration", 2009). The Sufi body Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a took up arms partly to protect the shrines (Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, Wikipedia). See Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a and heritage sites.

Medieval mosques and graves

For the archaeology of medieval mosques and Muslim burials in Somaliland, see medieval mosques of Somaliland and medieval Muslim graves, from cairns to cemeteries.

Read further

• I. M. Lewis, Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-Based Society (Red Sea Press, 1998), readable on the Internet Archive.
• Sada Mire, Divine Fertility: The Continuity in Transformation of an Ideology of Sacred Kinship in Northeast Africa (Routledge, 2020).
• The Sufi orders in Somalia.