# Somali Muslim scholars and saints: a guide from the 1200s to 1920 > A guide to Somali Muslim scholars and saints: Sheikh Hussein, Aw Barkhadle, Sheikh Isaaq, al-Zayla'i, Sheikh Sufi, Uways, Cali Maye, Maxamed Guuleed and more, sourced. Source page: https://calankii.com/en/society/somali-sufi-scholars-and-saints/ Last checked: 2026-11-12 Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com) ## How to read this guide Many of these lives are known from oral tradition and from hagiographies (*manaaqib*), books of praise written by followers. Where the record is tradition rather than a dated document, the entry says so. Each entry links to its source and, where one exists, to its own page. ## Before 1500 **[Sheikh](/en/regions/sheikh/) Isaaq.** By tradition a [Shafi'i](/en/society/islam-in-somalia/) scholar from Arabia who settled at [Maydh](/en/regions/maydh/) in the 900s or 1000s; forefather of the Isaaq. His tomb at Maydh is visited every year ([Ishaaq bin Ahmed, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaaq_bin_Ahmed)). **Sheikh Hussein of Bale (1200s).** Born in [Merca](/en/regions/lower-shabelle/). Tradition credits him with bringing Islam to peoples of the Bale highlands in today's Ethiopia. A hagiography, *Rabi' al-Qulub*, was printed in Cairo in the 1920s. The town of Sheikh Hussein, where he is buried, draws about 50,000 pilgrims twice a year ([Sheikh Hussein (saint), Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Hussein_(saint))). See [Sheikh Hussein of Bale](/en/people/sheikh-hussein-of-bale/). **Aw [Abadir](/en/history/harar-capital-of-adal-1520-1577/) Umar al-Rida (1200s).** The legendary founder of Harar, said in the *Fath Madinat Harar* to have come from the Hijaz in 1216 and built the city's main mosque. He is held to be the common ancestor of the [Sheekhaal](/en/society/sheekhaal/) and of the Harari ([Abadir Umar ar-Rida, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abadir_Umar_ar-Rida)). **Aw Barkhadle (Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn).** A scholar of the Zeila coast, remembered as having come from Arabia to teach Islam and as the creator of Somali names for the Arabic vowel signs. His tomb near Hargeisa is a place of yearly *siyaaro* ([Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_bin_Ahmad_al-Kawneyn); [Horn Heritage, Islamic heritage: Sufism](https://www.hornheritage.org/sufi-shrines/)). See [Aw Barkhadle](/en/people/aw-barkhadle/). **Fakhr al-Din Uthman al-Zayla'i (died 1342/43).** A Hanafi jurist "from Zeila" who taught in Cairo and wrote *Tabyin al-Haqa'iq* ([Al-Zayla'i, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Zayla%27i)). See [Uthman al-Zayla'i](/en/people/uthman-al-zaylai/). ## 1800s and early 1900s **Sheikh Ibraahim Xasan Jebro (founded [Baardheere](/en/regions/baardheere/) 1819).** Founder of the first Somali religious farming community on the [Jubba](/en/regions/jubba-river/) ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). See [the Baardheere jamaaca](/en/society/baardheere-jamaaca-1819-1843/). **Xaaji Cali Majeerteen (1800s).** Born in the [Nugaal](/en/regions/nugaal/) valley; studied in Mecca and Baghdad; preached against practices he held to be against sharia and started a school at Xalin. In 1847 he landed at Merca with about 150 armed followers ([Haji Ali Majeerteen, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haji_Ali_Majeerteen)). **Sheikh Abd al-Rahman al-Zayla'i (1820–1882).** Born at Kodle in [Bakool](/en/regions/bakool/); spread the Qadiriyya in the interior from his centre at Qolonqol ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). See [Sheikh Abd al-Rahman al-Zayla'i](/en/people/abd-al-rahman-al-zaylai/). **Sheikh Sufi (Abd al-Rahman bin Abdullah al-Shashi, 1829–1904).** Qadiri scholar, poet and mediator of Mogadishu, author of *Shajarat al-Yaqin*. His tomb is a yearly pilgrimage site ([Shaykh Sufi, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaykh_Sufi)). The Library of Congress study names a Qadiri teacher of Mogadishu, Sheikh Abdirahman Abdullah, who "stressed deep mysticism", whose tomb became a pilgrimage centre for the [Shabelle](/en/economy/farming-and-harvests/) area and whose writings were still read in the 1990s ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)); the name matches Sheikh Sufi's. See [Sheikh Sufi](/en/people/sheikh-sufi/). **Sheikh Uways al-Barawi (1847–1909).** From [Barawa](/en/regions/barawa/); studied in Baghdad; led the Uwaysiyya branch of the Qadiriyya and spread it across East Africa; founded Biyooley, where he is buried. His yearly celebration draws people from [Somalia and Kenya](/en/relations/kenya/) ([Horn Heritage](https://www.hornheritage.org/sufi-shrines/); [Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). See [Sheikh Uways al-Barawi](/en/people/uways-al-barawi/). **Sheikh Cali Maye Durogba of Merca.** A poet who joined the Ahmadiyya order on pilgrimage to Mecca and brought it to Somalia. Visions and miracles attributed to him gave him a name for holiness ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). He came from the Al-Bakri family of the Duruqbo of Merca; a yearly festival outside his shrine in Merca ends on 5 Safar ([Duruqbo, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duruqbo)). Horn Heritage dates his bringing of the order to the early 1900s ([Horn Heritage](https://www.hornheritage.org/sufi-shrines/)). **Sheikh Maxamed Guuleed (died 1918).** The most active teacher of the Salihiyya in the south. He settled among the Shidle on the middle Shabelle and founded a *jamaaca* there, another among the Ajuran, and then a third among the Shidle before he died ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm); [Salihiyya, Wikipedia, citing Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salihiyya)). **Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (1856–1920).** Salihiyya sheikh and poet who led the Dervish movement against British, Italian and Ethiopian rule from 1899 to 1920 ([Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Abdullah_Hassan)). See [Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan](/en/people/sayid-maxamed-cabdulle-xasan/) and [the Dervish movement](/en/history/dervish-movement-1899-1920/). **Sheikh Xasan Barsane (born 1853).** Salihiyya scholar who led resistance in the Shabelle valley and died in an Italian prison ([Sheikh Hassan Barsane, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Hassan_Barsane)). See [Sheikh Hassan Barsane](/en/people/sheikh-hassan-barsane/). ## More to read - [The Sufi orders in Somalia](/en/society/sufi-orders-in-somalia/) - [Saints, shrines and siyaaro](/en/society/saints-shrines-and-siyaaro/) - Scott S. Reese, *[Renewers of the Age](/en/books/renewers-of-the-age-reese/): Holy Men and Social Discourse in Colonial Benaadir* (Brill, 2008). --- I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.