Mohamed Haji Mukhtar

Mukhtar was born in the town of Koorkoor in the Bakool region of southern Somalia. He is the son of Malak Mukhtar Malak Hassan, a highly respected chief of chiefs of the Digil and Mirifle Somali clans.

He is known as an advocate of the use of Maay-Somali language, and all other Somali languages that exist in Somalia.

Dr. Mukhtar holds a Ph.D. from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

From 1975-1983, he was a professor of History at the Somali National University in Mogadishu. From 1986-1990, he taught at the National University of Malaysia in Malaysia.

Dr. Mukhtar is a two-time Fulbright-Hays Scholar, first in 1983-1984 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and then between 1984-1985 at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. He also held fellowships from the Istituto Italiano per l'Africa and the Arab League's Education, Culture and Science Organization (ALECSO), in 1980 and 1981–1982, respectively, as well as from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2002.

Dr. Mukhtar has long been a producer and correspondent of the BBC African Service, and is presently the Chairperson of the Somalia Committee for Peace and Reconciliation (Ergada) as well as the Inter-Riverine Studies Association (ISA).

He is currently a professor of African & Middle Eastern history at Savannah State University in Savannah, Georgia.

Dr. Mukhtar has written numerous scholarly works on the history and sociology of Somalia and Islam.

History and Historiography

• 'Arabic Sources on Somalia', History in Africa 14 (1987).
• Somalia: World Bibliographical Series. With Mark W. Delancey, Vol. 92, (Santa Barbara: CA. Clio Press, 1989).
• Historical Dictionary of Somalia, New Edition (2003).
• 'Somali Responses to Colonial Occupation (The Inter-Riverine Case)' in Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Contested Nationalism and the Crisis of the Nation-State in Somalia, edited by Abdi Kusow (2004).
• 'A Remembrance of Salah Mohamed Ali and Aw Jama Umar Isse: The Passing of A Generation in Somali Studies.' Northeast African Studies 15:1, (2014).
• 'Al-Masadir al-Arabiyyah fi Tarikh al-Sumal. [Arabic Sources on the History of Somalia]. In ALECSO Monthly, No. 16 (Mogadishu: 1982).
• Habka Cilmiga ee Baarista Taariikhda. [Methodology of Writing History], (Lafoole: Somalia, Lafoole College Press, 1978).

Islam

• 'Islam in Somali History: Fact and Fiction', in The Invention of Somalia, edited by Ali Jimale Ahmed (1995).
• 'Islam Among Early Slaves in The Americas.', Savannah Morning News, (Savannah: Georgia, February 8, 2008).
• 'The Rise and Expansion of Islam', in Jason Tatlock (ed.), The Middle East: Its History and Culture, Bethesda, M.D.: University Press of Maryland, 2012.

Politics

• 'Al-Wahdah al-Ifriqiyyah wa Atharaha 'Ala al-Harakaat al-Taharruriyyah.' [The Organization of African Unity OAU and its impact on the African Liberation Movements] In The League of African State Bulletin, (Cairo: 1972).
• 'The Plight of the Agro-Pastoral Society of Somalia', Review of African Political Economy 70 (1996)
• 'The Emergence and Role of Political Parties in the Inter-River Region of Somalia From 1947-1960', Ufahamu 17, no. 2 (1989).
• 'African Solution to African Problems: The End of Mogadishu Syndrome.'In Ulf Johanson Dahre (ed.), Post-Conflict Peace-Building in the Horn of Africa, (Lund: Sweden, Lund University Press, 2008).
• 'Somalia Trampling the Grass.' In The World Today, by the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Vol. 63 (February, 2007).
• 'Somalia: A Window of Opportunity.' In Addis Fortune No. 7, (Addis Ababa, February, 2007).
• 'Somali Reconciliation Conferences: The Unbeaten Track.' In African Renaissance, Vol. 3, No. 5 (September/October, 2006).
• 'Background of the Conflict: What Went Wrong with the Somali Peace Initiatives.' In Report from the 2nd Somali Peace Conference, (Oslo: Norway, International Red Cross Press, 2006).
• 'The Real News from Somalia.' In The Washington Post, (November 18, 1995).

Society

• 'Somalia: Searching for the Foundation of Social and Civil Morality', in The Proceedings of the 6th Somali Studies International Association, edited by Jorg Janzen (2001)
• 'Somalia: Between Self Determination and Chaos,' in Mending Rips in the Sky, edited by Hussein Adam and Richard Ford (1997).

Linguistics

• 'Songs from the South.' In Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in Northeast Africa. Essays in the Honour of B.W. Andrzejewski, edited by R.J. Hayward and I.M. Lewis, (London: School of Oriental and African Studie, 1996).
• 'Language Marginalization, Ethnic Nationalism and Cultural Crises in Somalia.', In Milk and Peace, Drought and War: Somali Culture, Society and Politics, edited by Virginia Luling and Markus Hoehne, (London: HURST Publishin, 2010).
• 'Multi-Lingual Somalia: Ploy or Pragmatic.', In SGMOIK Bulletin, No. 37 (Bern: Switzerland, 2013)
• 'Arabic in Somalia.' In The Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Literature, Vol. 4, (Leiden: Brill, 2008).

• Mohamed Haji Mukhtar and Omar Moalim Ahmed, English-Maay Dictionary (Adonis & Abbey Publishers: 2007)
• HDHS