Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim
Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim Gobroon يوسف محمود ابراهيم | |
---|---|
Sultan of the Geledi | |
Reign | 1798–1848 |
Predecessor | Mahamud Ibrahim |
Successor | Ahmed Yusuf Mahamud |
Born | Afgooye, Sultanate of the Geledi (now Somalia) |
Died | 1848 Addadey Suleyman |
Dynasty | Gobroon dynasty |
Religion | Islam |
Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim (
Early life
Yusuf was the son of Sultan Mahamud Ibrahim and as a youth was sent to Barawa to study Islam. Barawa was a renowned hub of the Qadiriyya sufi tariqa in East Africa and it was traditional practice for Geledi leaders to send their sons to the city.[4]
Reign
Yusuf's rule marked the start of the
Relations with the Swahili Sultanate of Witu
The Sultanate of Witu was a kingdom based in Witu near Lamu. Its rulers had strong ties with Sultan Yusuf as they both were mutually antagonistic towards Zanzibar and had shared commercial interests. On the island of Siyu the Sultan of Witu Bwana Mataka had been faced with an insurrection and was deposed in the 1820s. The defiant islanders alongside some Somalis who were more loyal to the prior administration called for Omani aid. Yusuf would intervene and Witu would prove victorious as it would bring the Sultan to engage a newly emerging militant group in Bardera which was a key trade hub and where the Siyu Somalis drew their strength. Both states were interested in ivory trade through the Jubba river continuing to flourish as a great source of revenue for the region. Later following their victory at Siyu over the Salafi Somalis the Witu Sultan sent aid before Yusuf engaged and ultimately lost against the Omani aligned Bimaals in 1848 at the Battle of Adaddey Suleyman.[6][7]
Conquest of Bardera
By 1840, the Jama'a opened a rebellion against the
Influence in Mogadishu
The Geledi and the Omani Empire vied over who would be the superior power on the Benadir Coast, with Yusuf ultimately being the dominant force with the Omanis having a nominal presence and being forced to pay tribute to him.[11] Mogadishu under Abgaal control had been in a period of decline and disarray near the end of the Hiraab Imamate although trade remained significant. French explorer Charles Guillain arrived in 1846 and visited the Banadir coast and stayed mainly in Mogadishu. He noted the strife and that the Shingani quarter of the city was tense due to two murders committed there and a state of war was present between the Shingani and Hamarweyn quarter. Hiraab Imam Ahmed was the ruler of the city and Guillain delivered a message to him from Said bin Sultan of Oman. Sultan Said paid tribute to Yusuf in order to have the right to have Omani commercial representatives stay in Mogadishu.[12][13] Imam Ahmed was struggling with a pretender who had a support base in Hamarweyn and was the cause of the unrest and violence. To end this chaos in Mogadishu, Sultan Yusuf marched into the city with an 8,000 strong army breaking the stalemate & ruled in favour of Imam Ahmed in Shingani, with the pretender fleeing the city. Yusuf selected a relative of the pretender to lead the Hamarweyn quarter and this ended the dispute.[14] Yusuf is even referred to as the Governor of Mogadishu in some sources, highlighting the power he exerted over the city.[15]
Guillain tried and ultimately failed to arrange an audience with Yusuf himself who was not at Afgooye at the time, but he corresponded with his brother Haji Ibrahim through an influential
Now, O Sid-Qoullatin, do not deceive me on account of the Ferenji [Guillain and his party], and serve as my other self. You were in Mogadishu at their arrival, while I am far away in Bardheere. Today, do not deceive me. I will wait for what you have to say. Inform yourself of their secret purposes. Fear God, your master. Search out their secrets, and write me a letter and give it to my nephew Hasan-ben-Ali ... Be sure the Ferenji do not set out [for Afgooye] before having received a letter from me ... You know the phrase do not deceive those who put their confidence in you'. Now I have placed my confidence in you; don't deceive me. The briefest words and the clearest words are the best.
- Your friend Haji Ibrahim
Battle of Mungiya
The second extremist group Sultan Yusuf Mahamud confronted was
Following the unsuccessful overthrow of Sultan Nur Osman, the Sheikh was then exiled from
The doctrine of Sheikh Ali is evident in the letter he sent to the people of Barawa prior to the battle, showing that he considered the Geledi Sultanate a polity led by a kafir.[20] Following his defeat, Sheikh Ali stated that "in reality, our [death] and if you are among the deviated sect which Sultan Yusuf leads, there is no relation between us, and your blood will not be saved from us." The hardline stance of Sheikh Ali, to the propagation of Islam among his people, his mobilization of armed followers, and his siding with the Bimaal clan against Geledi Sultanate all indicates that he belonged to a militant ideology akin to the Bardera Jama, new militant tendencies that were emerging across the Muslim world at the time.[21]
Conquest of Merca & Battle of Adaddey Suleyman
The
See also
References
- S2CID 161600677.
- ISBN 9780313378577.
- ISBN 9781579584542.
- ^ Lee V. Cassanelli, The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900, (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1982), p. 138.
- ISBN 9780810866041. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
- JSTOR 217198.
- JSTOR 41409885.
- ISBN 978-0-253-00788-9. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
- JSTOR 41409885.
- ISBN 978-0-253-00788-9. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
- ISBN 9781579584542.
- S2CID 161600677.
- ISBN 9781579584542.
- ^ Luling, Virginia (1971). The social structure of southern Somali tribes (PhD). University College London. p. 156.
- ISBN 9780968874301.
- S2CID 161600677.
- ISBN 9781909112629. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
- ISBN 9780810866041. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
- ISBN 9781909112629. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
- S2CID 161600677.
- ISBN 9781909112629. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
- ISBN 9780810866041. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
- ^ The social structure of southern Somali tribes, Virginia Luling, pg. 185
- ^ Reese, Scott Steven (1996). Patricians of the Benaadir: Islamic learning, commerce and Somali urban identity in the nineteenth century. University of Pennsylvania. p. 55.
- ISBN 9780810866041. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
- Luling, Virginia (2002). Somali Sultanate: the Geledi city-state over 150 years. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 0-7658-0914-1.