Hiraab Imamate

The Hiraab Imamate (Somali: Saldanadda Hiraab) also known as the Yacquub Dynasty was a Somali kingdom that ruled parts of the Horn of Africa during the late 17th century and 19th century until it was incorporated into Italian Somaliland. The Imamate was governed by the Yacquub Dynasty. It was founded by Imam Omar who successfully rebelled and defeated the Ajuran and established an independent kingdom.[1]

Hiraab Imamate

Saldanadda Hiraab
Late 17th century–Late 19th century
CapitalMogadishu
Common languagesSomali · Arabic
Religion
Sunni Islam
GovernmentMonarchy
Imam 
History 
• Established
Late 17th century
• Disestablished
Late 19th century
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Ajuran Sultanate
Hobyo Sultanate
Italian Somaliland
Today part ofSomalia

History

Establishment
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Prehistory
Ancient
(c. 1st century)
Middle Ages
Early modern
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Hiraab Imamate was the successor state of Ajuran Sultanate. The reason for their rebellion was the Ajuran rulers, in the end, became extremely prideful, neglected the sharia law, and imposed a heavy taxation on their subjects which was the main reason for the rebellion.[2]

The Ajuran predecessors had styled their leadership as an Imamate which was subsequently inherited by the Yacquubi family.[3]

The first clan to ever challenge the Ajuran rulers was the Darandoolle clan a section of Hiraab.

The Ajuraan had decreed: “At the wells in our territory, the people known as Darandoolle and the other Hiraab cannot water their herds by day, but only at night.” … Then all the Darandoolle gathered in one place. The leaders decided to make war on the Ajuraan. They found the imam of the Ajuraan seated on a rock near a well called Ceel Cawl. They killed him with a sword. As they struck him with the sword, they split his body together with the rock on which he was seated. He died immediately and the Ajuraan migrated out of the country. In another variation of the story, a young Darandoolle warrior was born with a gold ring on his finger, a sign of his future preeminence. The Darandoolle then rallied around their young leader, who eventually assumed the title of imam of the Hiraab and took up residence in Muqdisho).[4]

After the successful rebellion of the Darandoolle, other clans began to challenge Ajuran hegemony. Along the upper and middle reaches of the Shabelle valley, the pastoral Gaaljecel and Xawaadle waged several unsuccessful campaigns before they eventually united to drive the Ajuran out of the area. The Habar Gidir and Duduble also drove the Ajuran out of Galgaduud and Mudug provinces after a hard-fought battle.[5]

By 1700, clans of Hawiye occupied a large territory stretching the interior from the east bank of Shabelle valley to the arid lands of Mudug and coastal areas of Mogadishu all the way to Hobyo. After the immediate fall of Ajuran, the Hiraab established an independent rule for at least two centuries from the seventeen hundreds and onwards. [6]

The French Reconnaissance

One of its first tests of strength was to defend Mogadishu in 1701 against the French, who had docked seven ships at a nearby harbour and stayed for 11 days. They had planned to take the city but they were successfully repulsed.[7]

Administration
The walls of Mogadishu, before it being demolished by the Italians. The picture reads Mura di Mogadiscio, which translates to Walls of Mogadishu.
Main article: Somali aristocratic and court titles

The Hiraab Imamate exerted a somewhat centralized authority during its existence and possessed some of the organs and trappings of a traditional integrated state: a functioning bureaucracy, a state flag, regular correspondence with neighbouring civilizations in written Arabic, taxation in the form of livestock and cash crops, as well as a professional army.[8][9]

According to local oral tradition, the Hiraab imamate administration involved with a powerful alliance of closely related groups who shared a common lineage under the Hiraab clan divisions. The alliance involved the army leaders and advisors of the Habar Gidir and Duduble, the religious roles were reserved by Sheekhaal, and the Imam was reserved for the Abgaal clan who is believed to have been the firstborn.[10] The Imamate was not only confined to Hiraab but incorporated other Somalis such as Hawadle, Gaalje'el, Murusade, Silcis, Surre and Benadiri. Once established, the Imamate ruled the territories stretching from Mogadishu in the Banaadir province to the Shabelle valley, to Galguduud province all the way to the arid lands of Mudug, which included the ancient port of Hobyo.[11]

The Hiraab Imamate's main capital was at Mogadishu and the House of Yacquub was the ruling hereditary dynasty of the Hiraab Imamate.[11]

Economy
Charles Guillain's caravan expedition in 1848, departing from Mogadishu.
Somali sailors in Mogadishu in 1860 flying Hiraab flags.

Hobyo served as a prosperous commercial center for the Imamate. The agricultural centers of El Dhere and Harardhere included the production of sorghum, maize, and beans, supplementing with herds of camels, cattle, goats, and sheep. Livestock, hides, and skin, whilst the aromatic woods and raisins were the primary exports as rice, other foodstuffs, and clothes were imported. Merchants looking for exotic goods came to the Imamate ports to buy textiles, precious metals, and pearls. The commercial goods harvested along the Shabelle river where major agricultural centers were located like Beledweyne and Jowhar produced a large number of various fruits and vegetables which were brought to Mogadishu and Warsheikh for trade. Also, the increasing importance and rapid settlement of more southerly cities such as Mogadishu further boosted prosperity, as more and more ships made their way down the Somali coast to trade and replenish their supplies.[12]

The economy of the Hiraab in the interior includes nomadic pastoralism, and cultivation within agricultural settlements in the Shebelle valley and fertile plains in central Somalia, as well as mercantile commerce along the urban coast. The Hiraab ports would export various of commodities through its maritime routes included cattle skin, slaves, ivory, textiles, iron, gold, silva, pearls, ambergris, incense and numerous other exotic goods.[13][14]

Military

The Imamate had a regular force that acted as both law enforcement and a standing army with armament supplies from the coastal provinces. It also observed sharia law, protected the trade caravans, used a powerful mounted unit that policed the state, and collected taxes, or tributes of cereal and livestock. It also had a regular navy that protected its shores from piracy and the Indian Ocean trade.[6]

With such a strong civil administration and professional army, the Imamate experienced great peace and stability with a flourishing economy.[15]

Decline

By the late 19th century, the Imamate began to decline due to internal problems which was the main reason for their weakening, the Imamate began to face challenges from Imperialist kingdoms, the Zanzibari Sultan from the coast, the Geledi Sultanate and Hobyo Sultanate from the interior from both directions.[16]

By then, a young ambitious rebel of the Majeerteen called Yusuf Ali Kenadid's managed to invade Hobyo with an army band of Hadhrami musketeers and a group of devoted lieutenants. With their assistance, he managed to overpower the local Hawiye clans and establish the Hobyo Sultanate in 1878.[17]

However, Yusuf Ali Kenadid only managed to conquer Galguduud and Mudug and refrained from further expeditions to the south as he didn't have the manpower to conquer the entire kingdom. By then Hiraab Imamate power grew less and less and were not as powerful as it used to be. Hiraab rule only remained in Hiran and Middle Shabelle provinces including their capital Mogadishu. Eventually, the remaining Hiraab Imamate became a tributary state for the Geledi Sultanate under the rule of Sultan Ahmed Yusuf.[18]

After the Fascist takeover in the 1920s, the region was snapped up by the Italians under Italian Somaliland and this eventually led to the birth of a Modern Somalia. The Hiraab hereditary leadership however, has remained intact up to this day and enjoys a dominant influence in national Somali affairs.[19]

Rulers

The first Imaam of Hiraab was Imaam Yacquub. His descendants ruled a small kingdom centered at Golol (in modern day Galmudug) until the Imamate rapidly expanded in the 17th century, conquering Mogadishu from the Ajuuraan and the important Ajuuraan town of Hobyo, both of which are majority Hiraab today.

Ruler NameReignNote
1 Imaam Yacquub Founder of the Hiraab Imamate and first Imam, eponymous ancestor of the Yacquubi dynasty
2 Imaam Xasan Imaam Yacquub
3 Imaam Maxamed Imaam Xasan
4 Imaam Maxamuud Imaam Xasan
5 Imaam Diimaale Imaam Xasan
6 Imaam Hilowle Imaam Diimaale
7 Imaam Maxamuud Imaam Hilowle
8 Imaam Cumar Imaam Maxamuud fl.1620 During his Imamate, Hiraab conquered Mogadishu and displaced the Ajuran Sultanate[20]
9 Imaam Maxamed Imaam Cumar His descendants would form a cadet Imamate based in Shingani district of Mogadishu
10 Imaam Maxamuud Imaam Maxamed Brother of Imaam Maxamed, his descendants continue the main line of the Imamate
11 Imaam Axmed Imaam Maxamuud
12 Imaam Maxamed Imaam Axmed
13 Imaam Maxamuud Imaam Maxamed Reigning Imam who signed the Colonial Treaty of Mogadishu in 1894[21]
14 Imaam Cabdiraxmaan Imaam Maxamuud
15 Imaam Caamir Imaam Cabdiraxmaan
16 Imaam Cumar Cali Imaam Caamir 19??-1986 Grandson of Imaam Caamir
17 Imaam Maxamuud Imaam Cumar 1986-2011 Son of Imaam Cumar, chaired the peacemaking efforts between rival Hawiye factions in the Somali civil war[22]
18 Imaam Maxamed Yuusuf Cali 2011–present Cousin of Imaam Maxamuud Imaam Cumar and nephew of Imaam Cumar Cali, he is the current Imaam of Mudulood and all Hiraab

See also

References
  1. Abdullahi, Abdurahman (2017-09-18). Making Sense of Somali History: Volume 1. ISBN 9781909112797.
  2. Cassanelli, Lee (1982). The Shaping of Somali Society. p. 124. ISBN 9780812278323.
  3. Marcus, Harold (1973). Proceedings of the First United States conference on Ethiopian Studies. p. 102.
  4. Cassanelli, Lee (1982). The Shaping of Somali Society. p. 125. ISBN 9780812278323.
  5. Cassanelli, Lee (1982). The Shaping of Somali Society. p. 126. ISBN 9780812278323.
  6. Cassanelli, Lee (1982). The Shaping of Somali Society. p. 127. ISBN 9780812278323.
  7. Sharif, 'Aydarus (1950). Bughyat al-amal fi tarikh al-sumal. pp. 108–109.
  8. Horn of Africa, Volume 15, Issues 1-4, (Horn of Africa Journal: 1997), p.130.
  9. Michigan State University. African Studies Center, Northeast African studies, Volumes 11-12, (Michigan State University Press: 1989), p.32.
  10. Bernhard, Helander (1994-01-19). "The Hiraab Treaty". Somalia News Update. Uppsala, Sweden: Dr. Bernhard Helander, Uppsala University. Archived from the original on 2007-02-24. Retrieved 2009-03-31. The Imam of Hiraab is a hereditary position that traditionally is held by a person of the first-born branch, the Mudulood.
  11. Cassanelli, Lee (1982). The Shaping of Somali Society. p. 129. ISBN 9780812278323.
  12. Cassanelli, Lee (1982). The Shaping of Somali Society. p. 115. ISBN 9780812278323.
  13. Kenya's past; an introduction to historical method in Africa page by Thomas T. Spear
  14. Cassanelli, Lee (1982). The Shaping of Somali Society. p. 116. ISBN 9780812278323.
  15. Cassanelli, Lee (1982). The Shaping of Somali Society. p. 128. ISBN 9780812278323.
  16. Ismail, Ismail Ali (2010). Governance: The Scourge and Hope of Somalia. Trafford Publishing. p. xxiii. ISBN 978-1426983740.
  17. Lee V. Cassanelli, The shaping of Somali society: reconstructing the history of a pastoral people, 1600-1900, (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1982), p.75.
  18. Somali Sultanate: The Geledi City-state Over 150 Years - Virginia Luling (2002) Page 94
  19. Gassem, Mariam (2002). Somalia: clan vs. nation. Gassim. p. 4.
  20. Enrico, Cerulli, How a Hawiye tribe used to live chapter 4, published in: Somalia, scritti vari editi ed inediti, Vol. 2, edited by Enrico Cerulli, Roma, 1959.
  21. Atti parlamentari, Volume 1: 1897, Tip.E.Botta, Italy, page 236
  22. The United Nations and Somalia: 1992-1996, United Nations, Department of Public Information, 1996, page 443
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