Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn
يوسف بن أحمد الكونين
TitleSheikh
Personal
BornZeila (Somaliland) in the 10th century
ReligionIslam
Era10th century
JurisprudenceShafi'i
Main interest(s)Islamic literature, Islamic philosophy

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn (Arabic: يوسف بن أحمد الكونين) (b. 10th century),[1][2] popularly known as Aw Barkhadle ("Blessed Father")[3] or Yusuf Al Kownayn, was an Islamic scholar and traveler based in Somaliland. Based on reference to Yusuf Al Kawneyn in the Harar manuscripts, Dr. Enrico Cerulli.

Biography

Local Somali oral tradition and written Ethiopian history gives reason to believe Aw Barkhadle allegedly arrived from Arabia. However Arabian origin stories pertaining to ancestral saints such as Yusuf are regarded as a myth by scholars and an islamification of a prior pagan origin story that relates back to Waaq and ancestor worship. That now ties the Somali to the prophets clan (Quraysh). Religious synchronism where the old religion is adapted to reflect the hegemony of the new in that the ancestral home of the ancestors in Arabia, the headquarters of Islam. Thus Yusuf has been affirmed to have 'exalted origins' through being related to the prophet.

Yusuf is described by some scholars as a native of Somaliland and as a Somali who studied in his city Zeila and later in Iraq. As a result of his studies in Iraq, he was given the title of "Al Baghdadi" as well.[4] He is also noted for having devised a Somali nomenclature for the Arabic vowels,[5] this would eventually evolve into Wadaad's writing.

He is accredited in certain areas for the introduction of black-headed fat-tailed sheep also known as Berbera Blackhead.[6]

Described by some as a Sharif,[3][7] he has been described as "the most outstanding saint in Somaliland".[8] Yusuf's son Muhia ad-Din Yusuf Aw-Barkhadle is listed as Emir of Harar in 1038AD.[9]

The sheikh is also known for spreading the Islamic faith to Southeast Asia, after traveling there from Zeila.[10][11] He is also known as being a member of the Somali 'Diwan al-awliya' (Famous Saints of Somali Origin).[12]

In the Maldives, he is called Al-Hafiz Abu Barakat al Barbari ("Blessed father of Barbari") and whose religious name was Shaykh Yusuf al Kawneyn.[13] He is credited with spreading Islam in the islands, establishing the Hukuru Miskiiy Mosque, and converting the Maldivian population into Islam.[14] al-Barbari is also credited for introducing Maliki school to Maldives which is still dominant in North Africa.[15] Ibn Battuta states the Maldivian king was converted by Abu Al Barakat Al Berber ("blessed father").[16] The Shaykh reportedly converted the islands into Islam by convincing the local King, Sultan Mohammed Al Adil, after having subdued Ranna Maari, a demon coming from the sea.[17]

According to historian Ewald Wagner, Barkhadle was a descendant of Yahya ibn Muhammad ruler of Morocco in the ninth century.[18]

Family and Ancestral legacy

Sheikh Yusuf Al Kawneyn is also associated with the Walashma dynasty of Ifat and Adal, which was a medieval Muslim dynasty in the Horn of Africa.[19][20] It governed the Ifat and Adal Sultanates in what are parts of present-day Somaliland, Djibouti and eastern Ethiopia. Sheikh Yusuf is described by some historians as being the ancestor of this royal family.[21][22][23] He is also known as representing the spiritual legacy of the Ifat and Adal Sultanates.[24] Some historians trace Sheikh Yusuf Al Kawneyn to the Gadabursi clan, which primarily inhabits the Horn of Africa. According to Somalis of Issa, the Wardiiq one of their sub clans are also descendants of this saint. This Issa tradition revolves around the induction of Harla clans into Somali lineage such as Horoone.[25] A few ethnic groups in modern southern Ethiopia claim descent from Aw Barkhadle which include Silt'e and Wolane people.[26] A descendant of Barkhadle was one of the key negotiators during the surrender of Emirate of Harar in 1887 to the Abyssinians.[27]

Shrines

Main shrine of Saint Aw Barkhadle, 2007

The sheikh has shrines dedicated to him in Sri Lanka,[28] in the town of Aw Barkhadle, northeast Hargeisa in Somaliland,[29] in a site called Qoranyale, near the town of Borama.[4] Shrines are also to be found in eastern modern Ethiopia near Fedis as well as in Harar.[30][18]

According to C.J Cruttenden, the tomb of saint Aw Barkhadle, which is located to the southwest of Berbera, was used by the Isaaq clans to settle disputes and to swear oaths of alliances under a holy relic attributed to Bilal Ibn Rabah. The Eidagale historically acted as mediators.

When any grave question arises affecting the interests of the Isaakh tribe in general. On a paper yet carefully preserved in the tomb, and bearing the sign-manual of Belat [Bilal], the slave of one of the early khaleefehs, fresh oaths of lasting friendship and lasting alliances are made...In the season of 1846 this relic was brought to Berbera in charge of the Haber Gerhajis, and on it the rival tribes of Aial Ahmed and Aial Yunus swore to bury all animosity and live as brethren.[31]

According to renowned Somali anthropologist I.M. Lewis in his book Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society, the descendants of Sheikh Isaaq (the Isaaq clan) annually gather at the historic shrine of Saint Aw Barkhadle to pay respects in the form of siyaaro (localized pilgrimage with offerings). As Aw Bardhadle had no known descendants, the descendants of the Saint's friend and contemporary figure, Sheikh Isaaq, will remember Aw Barkhadle in his stead:

Since, however, Aw Barkhadle’s precise connection with the rulers of Ifat is not widely known, he appears as an isolated figure, and in comparison with the million or so spears of the Isaaq lineage, a saint deprived of known issue. The striking difference between these two saints is explained in a popular legend, according to which, when Sheikh Isaaq and Aw Barkhadle met, the latter prophesied that Isaaq would be blessed by God with many children. He, however, would not have descendants, but Isaaq’s issue would pay him respect and siyaaro (voluntary offerings). So it is, one is told, that every year the Isaaq clansmen gather at Aw Barkhadle’s shrine to make offerings in his name.[32]

Aw Barkhadle's shrine near Fadis was set alight during the Ogaden War by the Ethiopian militia in 1977.[33]

Aw Barkhadle

Tradition states Barkhadle travelled extensively from Mogadishu to Berbera, Hargeisa and finally Harar where he allegedly stayed for 300 years of his 500 year life. Towards the end of his reign he built a mosque in Dogar.[34] Before Al-Kowneyn's arrival into this town (now named after him) was called Dogor.[35] The residents were not Muslim, but rather pagan, believing and taking part of a pre-Islamic Somaliland religion called Wagar. The Wagar itself is thought to be an anthropomorphic representation of a sacred feature or figure, indicating an indigenous non-Islamic religious fertility practice in Aw Barkhaadle.[35] The word "wagar"/"Waĝa" (or "Waaq") denotes the Sky-God adhered to by many Cushitic people (including the Konso) in the Horn of Africa including the Somali in pre-Islamic times[36] both before and during the practice of Christianity and Islam.[35]

While completing his studies in Zayla, Al Kowneyn was told of a town in present-day Somaliland called Dogor, with an oppressive king called Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr who is believed to be a Yibir.[37] According to the legend, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr married couples by sleeping with the bride during the first six nights of the marriage and engaged in acts of paganism and magic.[38] Local people at Aw-Barkhadle attribute the conversion of locals to Islam, to the defeat by duel of the previous religious leader, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr, by the Muslim newcomer Aw-Barkhadle, who heard of the oppressive nature of the king and wanted to stop him. The Saint showed the religious superiority of his beliefs in contrast to the local beliefs of Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr's followers, whom the former won over in great number.

Furthermore, the Aw-Barkhadle site is an important burial site of the Muslim rulers of the Adal Sultanate.[39] Al-Kowneyn himself of the Walashma dynasty of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD is buried in this town.[40]

Sri Lankan Muslim settlement

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn is also credited with starting the first Sri Lankan Muslim settlement. It is located in western Sri Lanka and is named Berbereen (Beruwala) in honour and respect of the Shaykh.[41]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Sada Mire (2016) "'The child that tiire doesn't give you, God won't give you either.' The role of Rotheca myricoides in Somali fertility practices", Anthropology & Medicine, 23:3, 311–331, DOI: 10.1080/13648470.2016.1209636
  2. ↑ Mohamed-Abdi, Mohamed (2003-01-01). "Retour vers les dugsi, écoles coraniques en Somalie". Cahiers d'études africaines. 43 (169–170): 351–369. doi:10.4000/etudesafricaines.204. ISSN 0008-0055.
  3. 1 2 Abdullahi, p.13
  4. 1 2 Lewis, I.M. (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 97. ISBN 9781569021033.
  5. ↑ Laitin, p.85
  6. ↑ The Arab factor in Somali history the origins and the development of Arab enterprise and cultural influences in the Somali peninsula by Hersi, Ali Abdirahman
  7. ↑ Lewis, I. M. (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. ISBN 9781569021033.
  8. ↑ Lewis (1998), p.102
  9. ↑ History of Harar (PDF). p. 105.
  10. ↑ Galaal, Musa (1980). "Les liens historiques entre la corne de l'Afrique et les îles du golfe Persique et de l'océan Indien par les voies de l'Islam". Relations historiques à travers l'océan Indien. Belgique: l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'éducation, la science et la culture. p. 28. ISBN 978-92-3-201740-6. Translated from French to English: Now this holy man - this is the new point (Al Kownayn) – seems to be the same as that which the people of the Maldive Islands, near India, called Barakath Al-Barbari who spread Islam in this region as he did in the Horn of Africa. We only know in which of these two regions he lived first and this prompted him to change sectors of business.The tomb of Sheik Barkhadle (Yusuf Al Kownayn) is in a ruined city called Dhogor, near Hargeisa, in the north of the Democratic Republic of Somalia.
  11. ↑ Honchell, Stephanie (2018), Sufis, Sea Monsters, and Miraculous Circumcisions: Comparative Conversion Narratives and Popular Memories of Islamization, Fairleigh Dickinson University and the University of Cape Town, p. 5, In reference to Ibn Batuta's Moroccan theory of this figure, citation 8 of this text mentions, that other accounts identify Yusuf Al Barbari as East African or Persian. But as a fellow Maghribi, Ibn Battuta likely felt partial to the Moroccan version.
  12. ↑ Reese, Scott S. (2000). "Review of Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-Based Society". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 63 (2): 324–325. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00007606. ISSN 0041-977X. JSTOR 1559579. S2CID 231794703.
  13. ↑ "Richard Bulliet – History of the World to 1500 CE (Session 22) – Tropical Africa and Asia". Youtube.com. 23 November 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  14. ↑ Mackintosh-Smith, Tim (2010). Landfalls: On the Edge of Islam from Zanzibar to the Alhambra. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 384.
  15. ↑ Westerlund, David (6 December 2012). Islam Outside the Arab World. Taylor & Francis. p. 250. ISBN 9781136113222.
  16. ↑ Batuta, Ibn; Lee, Samuel (2004). The travels of Ibn Battuta in the Near East, Asia and Africa 1325-1354. Mineola, New York. p. 179. ISBN 9780486437651.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. ↑ Ibn Batuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325–1354, tr. and ed. H. A. R. Gibb (London: Broadway House, 1929)
  18. 1 2 Yusuf al-Akwan. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
  19. ↑ Cerulli, Enrico (1926). Le popolazioni della Somalia nella tradizione storica locale. L'Accademia. Cerulli suggests that the Saint "Aw Barkhdale" (Yusuf Al Kownayn) can be associated with "Yusuf Barkatla", ancestor of Umar' Walashma, founder of the Ifat dynasty
  20. ↑ Levtzion, Nehemia; Pouwels, Randall (2000-03-31). The History of Islam in Africa. Ohio University Press. p. 242. ISBN 0821412965.
  21. ↑ Lewis, I. M (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 89. ISBN 9781569021033.
  22. ↑ Nehemia Levtzion; Randall Pouwels (Mar 31, 2000). The History of Islam in Africa. Ohio University Press. p. 242. Aw Barkhadle, is the founder and ancestor of the Walashma dynasty
  23. ↑ Bader, Christian (2000). Les Yibro: Mages somali. Les juifs oubliés de la corne de l'Afrique? (in French). Harmattan. ISBN 9782738488152. Translated from French to English: The Aw Barkhadle figure, it should be noted, is among the ancestors of the rulers of the Walashma dynasty, who reigned over the Muslim state of Ifat.
  24. ↑ Levtzion, Nehemia; Pouwels, Randall (2000-03-31). The History of Islam in Africa. Ohio University Press. p. 242. ISBN 9780821444610. Aw Barkhadle, the ancestor of the founder of the Walashma dynasty, represents the "spiritual legacy" of the Islamic state of Yifat/Adal.
  25. ↑ Issa. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
  26. ↑ Wolane. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
  27. ↑ Caulk, Richard (1971). "The Occupation of Harar: January 1887". Journal of Ethiopian Studies. Institute of Ethiopian Studies. 9 (2): 19. JSTOR 41967469.
  28. ↑ Jaleel, Talib (8 July 2015). Notes on Entering Deen Completely:Islam as its followers know it. EDC Foundation. p. 1106.
  29. ↑ Mire, Sada (March 2015). "Wagar, Fertility and Phallic Stelae: Cushitic Sky-God Belief and the Site of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, Somaliland". African Archaeological Review. 32 (1): 93–109. doi:10.1007/s10437-015-9181-z.
  30. ↑ Braukamper, Ulrich; Braukämper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia: Collected Essays. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 115. ISBN 9783825856717.
  31. ↑ "The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society Volume 19 p.61-62". 1849.
  32. ↑ Lewis, I. M. (1998). Saints and Somalis: popular Islam in a clan-based society. Red Sea Press. p. 94. ISBN 1569021031.
  33. ↑ Letter from Jeddah: an interview with WSLF (PDF). Horn of Africa Journal. p. 8.
  34. ↑ Mohammed-Abdi, Mohammed (1992). Histoire des croyances en Somalie : religions traditionnelles et religions du Livre. Annales Littéraires de l'Université de Besançon. Vol. 465. Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon. p. 112. doi:10.3406/ista.1992.2545. ISBN 2251604650.
  35. 1 2 3 Mire, Sada (22 March 2015). Wagar, Fertility and Phallic Stelae: Cushitic Sky-God Belief and the Site of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, Somaliland.
  36. ↑ Hallpike, C.R. (1972). The Konso of Ethiopia: A study of the values of a Cushitic people . Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  37. ↑ Lewis, I.M. (1999). A Pastoral Democracy A Study of Pastoralism and Politics Among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa. Lit. p. 264. ISBN 9780852552803.
  38. ↑ Altenmüller, H., Hunwick, J. O., O'Fahey, R. S., & Spuler, B. (2003). The writings of the Muslim peoples of northeastern Africa, Part 1, Volume 13. Leiden [u.a.] : Brill. p. 174.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  39. ↑ Sada Mire: Divine Fertility: The Continuity in Transformation of an Ideology of Sacred Kinship in Northeast Africa Chapter 3
  40. ↑ Paulitschke, P (1888). Beiträge zur ethnographie und anthropologie der Somali, Galla und Harari. Leipzig.
  41. ↑ Jaleel, Talib (8 July 2015). Notes on Entering Deen Completely: Islam as its followers know it. EDC Foundation. p. 1106.

References

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