Sacmadeeqa

Sacmadeeqa is a landmark in Somali Region which has a monument that identifies the birthplace of Sayid Mohamed.[1] It is located in the Haud region, near the lake of Qoob Fardood. It was created as a form of remembrance of the anti-colonial struggle.[2] It has been described as one of the main tourist sites in the region.[3][4] The site has a nearby family of nomads who act as custodians who live there. They said that the most frequent visitors to the monument are the Arale Mahad and Ali Gheri, due to the fact that they were the most persistent dervishes.[5] Eric Swayne described Qoob Fardood as being located in the homelands of the Ali Gheri, a tribe whose historical homeland is in the Haud region,[6] stating:

This Haji Muhammad Abdullah belongs to the Habr Suleiman Ogaden tribe; he married into the Dolbahanta Ali Gheri, amongst whom he now lives. His place of residence is Kob Fardod, a village inhabited by Mullahs, a day's march east of Kerritt.[7]

The Sacmadeeqa monument

James Hayes Sadler, who was consul general, held the most senior position within the Somali Coast protectorate at the turn of the 20th century. According to a letter which Sadler sent to the Marquess of Salisbury (British prime minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil), the Dhulbahante were the originators and creators of the Darawiish, stating:

... the events of the past few months now force us to exercise greater interference than I should have contemplated for some time to come. Our hands have, so to say, been forced by this movement which originated in the Dolbahanta[8]

Sadler repeated the sentiment that Dhulbahante are the originators of the Darwiishes in a letter to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, where he stated:

I do not consider that the presence of this Mission in Berbera has had anything to do with the movement that originated in the Dolbahanta, though it is doubless a useful lever with which to try and raise disaffection amongst our Mahomedan tribes[8]

According to the Darawiish war veterans Soofe Durraan, and Cabdi-yaar Cali Guleed, the creators of the Darawiish were predominantly clergymen who were on their way to the Arale Mahad town of Dareema Caddo, whom included Aw Cabbaas Xuseen, Aadan Seed, Obsiiye Seed, Ismail Mire and Maxamuud Dheri.[9] Douglas James Jardine, who wrote the first retrospective book on the dervishes, concurred with Swayne that Dhulbahante created the Dervishes, described the Dhulbahante relationship with the Sayid as follows:

and consciences were salved by the reflection that our obligation to protect the tribe from the man whom they themselves had created, supported and followed was less than our obligations to the Ishaak tribes who had for the most part resisted the movement from its very start. Moreover, as will be recalled, the Dolbahanta were the only tribe with whom we had no formal protective treaty.[10]