Mohammed Haji Mukhtar in his essay (published in The Invention Of Somalia, basically a southern onslaught on 'northern' Islamic culture and origin ) on the above title at length presented the Southern Islamic roots real or imagined in his contention to prove that the southern sedentary ethnic groups in southern Somalia claims a longer and glorious Islamic culture then their counterparts in 'northern Somalia, Daarood/Isaaq' as he puts it. The quotations of Ibn Khaldun's diatribe against the nomads steers the entire course of the essay. Dr Mukhtar's sedentary southern Somali cultural chavunism is obvious from the begining of the essay. Although one expect from a Professor of a university to be objective Dr Mukhtar himself failes to put aside his culural bias.
Througout his seventeen page essay the author pursues the presentation of the southern case much more in detailes without giving due balance to the northern parts of Somalia, quoting selectively from various medieval Islamic geographers such as Yaqut Ibn Abudllah Al-Hamawi ((1179-1229) ( a former Byzantine slave) , Al-Masudi (871-957), Ibn said Al-Maghribi (1213-1286), also Dr Mukhtar mentions in famouse southern Sufis Ulama such as Sheik Aways Al-Baraawi failing to mention Al-Barawi himslef a southern Tuuni went as far as Zayla and the north to aquire the blessing of the northern Sufi Sheik Abdirahamn Al-Zayli (d 1883), claiming upon visiting the later's tomb in Zayla that in a dream the famous Sufi saint of Zayla blessed him and accorded him the sufi colak. The overall driving objective is to argue that the southern case has merit while the so called 'northern Somalis' case is much more in the league of fables and myth, without any scholarly examination of historical evidence, the author just simply brushes off the northern case and exalt the urban Banaadari culture be it Islamic or ethnicity.
In the collection of essays of various studies all of it on southern 'Somalis' the authors of the book The Invention Of Somalia all argue the case of the south in both Islam and ethnicity, few quotes here and there of northern history in particular of the ancient city state Zeila is mentioned where some medieval Arab geographers mentioned the city, Dr Mukhtar findes it imprtant to quote Al-Masudi who refernce to the people of Zayla in the 9th century as native and black somehow important while making Mogdisho's foreign origin appearnt in contrast.
Dr Mukhtar driving the southern historical asecndency over what he calls 'northern Somalis' lumping together both Daarood and Isaaq nomads argues that the north during the early years of Islam offered no material wealth to the migrating Arabs due to the north's arid and nomadic nature as though the Muslim missionaries or the prosecuted Islamic minorities were concerned with economics/worldly interest rather then personnel/religious salvation. Its a bizarre line of argument since Mogadishu didn't fare better as a city of farmers nor the Arab/Persian adopted farming as an economical means , both south and north the migrant Muslim were costal traders, such is the argument and its oddities.
Dr Mukhtar to lessen the northern case of both origin and faith chose intentionally to ignore the early Islamic sultanate of the north and generaly in the northern part of the horn of Africa , be it Ifat, Adal and the Qurayshite sultanate of Shawa ended 1280 A.D (from the house of the of Mukhsumites) . Dr Hersi and Dr Mukhtar argued that since 'few' Arabs lived in the north then the south according to their line of argument , the northern Arab origin is dubious since they received less Arab influence then the south quoting Dr Hersi Phd. thesis he argues "the group who claims decent from Arab ancestor had the least signs of Arab habitations in the whole of Somali coast". Its not known nor clear on what evidence this general statement relies on, but then again the end justifies the means for both authors. One wonders then how the entire north was Islamaized if it needed an entire communities of Muslims to do the job of conversion, there would have not been enough Arabs to spread Islam in the world.
One must balance the history of Zayla and Mogdisho when discussing the early years of Islam in Somalia , but such a balance is nonexistent in Dr Mukhtar's essay, the extensive history of Zayla and its early local sultanate and its later history under the former rulers of Ifat who claim Arab origin with some merit is ignored and the founding of Mogadishu by Arab/Persian migrant is over emphasized. One striking measurement of prejudice against the northern case is , not for once Dr Mukhtar did mention Al-Maqrizi's " Kitab Al-ilmaam bi-akhbaar maa bi ard al-Xabasha min Muluuk al-Islaam" (1364-1442) history of the Islamic sultanate in the northern Muslims sultanate of Ifat and Adal much well organized Muslim mini-states then anything that took place in the south. Dr Mukhtar also completely failed to mention the northern based sultanates wars with Christian Ethiopia for five centuries till 1540's and the migrations of thousands of Muslim from as far as Morocco to participate in the Jihad , among them many Ashraf Arabs who some minor Somali clans in eastern Ethiopia claim decent from till today.
Overly dependent on unsubstantiated statements by western historians Dr. Mukhtar went as far as claiming that the northern ancestors ( Daarod and Isaaq) never existed historically, such a statement requires more then a rhetorical parroting of European assertion , in any scholary discourse Dr Mukhtar and his western mentors would have been required to substantiate their oversweeping statements regarding the northern Somali origin, but then it became the culture of the western researchers to quote their own ignorance again and again without studying the Somali origin and its Arab factor. From Richard Burton in 1854 to I.M.Lewis of the present and in between western studies merely injected their own theories and superimposed it on the Somalis, then the following generations passed on these baseless studies so much that it become the sole references when studding the Somalis.
Western Somali scholarship from its origin always depended on their own English/Italian sources , many often quoted theories have emerged all advancing a singular origin of all Somali clans , be it the Arab/Persians in the southern coast, the interiverin Digile/Mirifle communities and the four large Somali clans (Dir, Isaq, Daarood , and Hawiye). Fictional Biblical terms as Hemetic/Semitic and Cushtic were used by Western scholars to classify Africans, such a term is never employed when the subject is European , no scholar with a sound mind would refer to the Vikings as the Biblical Jephehet son of Noah , but in the African case its the norm to apply Cush the son of Noah to Africans.Somali student of Western educational institutions such as Dr Hersi and Dr Mukhtar continue their masters term and theories and merely regurgitate the old colonial theory of a one single origin of all Somali clans, the same old tired linguistics/ethnically theories.
The earliest mention of Islam in Zayla was in the 9th century less then 3 century of the birth of Islam, Al-Masudi, Al-Hamawi, and other geographer mentioned the arrival of Islam on the African coast both ot the black Berbers and the southern Zinji coast. In his Al-Uqeeliyun book ( the descendant of the prophet Mohammed's young uncle Uqeel Ibn Abu Talib) the author places several early Uqeeli settlers in Zaylac around the ninth century A.D, for instance the author mentions , Ahmed Ibn Husein Ibn Ali Al-Jabarti, Ahmed Ibn Omar Al-Zayli and most importantly he mentions the sufi sheik Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Abdisamad Al-Uqeeyli Al-Zayli who is considered a Sufi saint in Yemen burried in modern Zabid, the father of Daarood(Abdirahman) the man most modern Darood claim have descended from, not only that the authors also mentions Dawud as one of the sons of Sheik Ismail Al-Jabarti. But the highly educated graduate of Azhar Dr Mukhtar just brushes off the well known historical existence of Dawud/Daarood ancestor as a product of northern nomadic imagination. The author of the Al-Uqeeliyun also mentions the presence of Qurayshities sub-clans such as Banu Shamas and Banu Abdimanaaf in 9th century Zayla.
Its not coincidence that an entire sections of the Uqeeli Hashamites in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other middle east countries are named after Zayla due to their later migrations to Arabia after the end of Ifat/Zayla sultanate, in the same manner that some decedent of the House of Mohammed such as the Ba'alwi (al-Ahdal) branch is named after their city of origin in Baraawi Somalia.furthermore historians such as Abdirahman Al-Jabarti (1753-1825) History of Egypt: 'Aja'ib al-Athar fi 'l-Tarajim wa'l-Akhbar, perhaps the first Somali author, according to his own writings al-Jabarti traces, his origin to the 'seventh-degree grandfather,' Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti' who was the earliest member of his family known to him. Abd al-Rahman was from the al-Jabarti region in Zeila.
Dr Mukhtar according to the bibliography of his essay cites Sharif Aydarus Ali Aydarus Al-Barawi (d 1347 A.H) the mentioned author wrote his book titled 'Bughyat Al-Amaal Fi Taarikh Al Soomaal ', the first book of history on Somalia and an early account of Islam and Arab migration to southern Somalia. Also the author wrote a short book on the origin and history of the ancestor of the Isaaq clan , in his short book (Thamratul Mushtaaq Fi Manaaqib al Sayid Isxaaq 1947.) Aydarus Al-Barawi a southern Ashraf of Yemeni origin detailed the life and times of Sheekh Isxaaq Ibn Ahmed Al-Alawi (d 560 A.H) both in his early life in Yemen in the 12 century and his later migration to Zayla where he eventually died after fathering the modern eight Isaaq sub-clans and the other four Yemeni Isxaaqis. Its ironic that the man Dr Mukhtar relies on contradicts his entire thesis of denying the Arab origin of the Isaaq nation, one must ask how could it be possible that such mistake was rather accidental from Dr Mukhtar's part and not deliberate.
Western Somali specialist can be dismissed in making their wild unsubstantiated argument against an Arab case for Isaaq and Daarood due to the fact of the limitation of their research based both in language (only English) and their early concocted theories about the Origin of Isaaq and Daarood, but an Azhar graduate and a Middle East specialist Dr Mukhtar have an access to all Arab historical documents regarding Sheik Isxaq and Daarood, his case is more of scholars prejudice rather then simple ignorance.The earliest record mentioning the genealogy and origin and life of Sheikh Isxaaq Ibn Ahmed Al'alwai in modern the horn were known as far as the 523 A.H 1127/1128 A.D, almost eight centuries ago, Mohammed Hassan Al- Basri in a short biography written some times during his return to Damascus from the horn of Africa wrote about the journey of Sheikh Isxaaq from Mukha to Zayla, in his manuscript titled ' Al-Asjad Al-Mandum Li-Taariikh Wal-Uluum' presently housed in the Al-Dahiriya historical library of Demescus, Al-Basri states the life of sheik Isxaaq both in Yemen/Zayla and later Mait where he eventually settled with his tow wives and children and where presently his tomb is located. Again the southern Dr choose to ignore the established historical evidence and continue to dwell in his Banaadiri/Southern fantasy.
