Brief info on Ibrahim Abdalla Mah..Greatest Somali Leader

[Queen_Arawello]

Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalla Mohamed "Mah" is a scholar, who had studied in a Mecca university, became engaged in Somali nationalist politics in the 1970s, shortly after his return to Ogaden.

In 1984, the ONLF was founded to fight against the Derg, the military dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam, and Mr Ibrahim was one of six founding members.

The ONLF was one of the major forces behind the 1991 defeat of the Derg, together with current Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF).

The fall of the Derg coincided with the election of Mr Ibrahim as chairman of the ONLF, a position he held until 1998. He presided over the decision to take part in the Ethiopian elections and opted for peace in 1991. But he also presided over the decision to wage an armed struggle after an Ethiopian government attack on ONLF headquarters.

[Queen_Arawello]

Sh. Ibrahim Abdalla was born in Qalaafo (Kelafo) Ogaden in 1941. He finished his primary education in the Ogaden and went for further studies to Saudi Arabia in 1958 where he did his secondary education and University. He graduated From Imam Mohamed Bin-Sacud University in Mecca in 1970.

In 1973 he came to Somalia and became a teacher in the Secondary Schools in Hargeisa-Northern Somalia. He joined WSLF in 1976 and became WSLF representative in Abu Dhabi in 1981. He was also elected to the Central Committee of WSLF.

In 1984 Sh. Ibrahim Abdalla became one of the Founding members of ONLF. He came to the Ogaden and attended the First ONLF Congress in the Ogaden in 1991 and was elected its chairman. He was the Chairman of ONLF until 1998. He retained his Central Committee seat and was an active member of ONLF until he deceased. 1n 1999 he formed the institute of Strategic Studies of the Horn of Africa.

Sh. Ibrahim Abdallah was a writer and wrote the following books and many articles in different newspapers in the Middle East. Today Sh. Ibrahim spirit is still beside the Somali Fighters in the Ogaden region

Sh. Ibrahim Abdalla left behind four boys and four girls and their off springs who reside in Kenya, UK, USA and Ireland.

Some of the Books Sh. Ibrahim wrote are

1. The Third Defeat of the Abyssinians -1982 in Arabic
2. Explaining the History (of the Struggle). Somali & Arabic 1992
3. Explaining the History (of the Struggle). Somali & Arabic 1992
4. Ogadenia Stops the Ethiopians- Somali 1996
5. The Sum of Books (History of the Struggle) 2001.

Biography of Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalle Mohamed Shams
By: Mohamed Abdikadir Daud (Stanza)

[Queen_Arawello]

His Early Life


Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalle Mohamed "Mah" was born in the "Oil-Rich" but long time war-ravaged Ogaden region, at the historic town of Kallafo, in 1941 to a middle class family. He memorised the Holy Kur'an by heart at a very young age in the shanty village of Bargun. He also studied the rudimentary rules of the Islamic theology, the basic principles of Islam, and the calligraphy and graphology of the Arabic script under the tutelage of a dugsi, a locally administered Somali-style Islamic propagation centre.


His Basic Secular Academic Career

Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalle began his basic education in Kallafo, whereupon, he did his lower and upper primary schooling. After his outsmarting completion of the primary level, he left for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for further studies in 1958 on foot. After performing his pilgrimage, he started secondary school in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. On successfully finishing high school, he joined the internationally acclaimed Imam Mohamed Bin Saud University in the Holy City of Mecca in 1967. Graduating from the faculty of Islamic Sharia, he obtained his baccalaureate - bachelor degree (BA) IN 1970. It was reported that the deceased was a noted bookish and an avid reader during his stay at the university, and that is where his studious journey of life time student of history started.

Job Experience

On finishing his university studies, he came back to his beloved homeland, Ogaden, to shoo away the boiling nostalgia that evicted him from the Kindom of Saudi Arabia; and he became a teacher in the crops-rich city of Godey early seventies. After working as a teacher for a short period of time, he was promoted to the posts of education inspector and the head of the Teachers Union in Godey. The bodily perished and the theoretically living Somali Ogaden thinker, Mah, went to the then independent Democratic republic of Somalia in 1973 and on his arrival at Mogadishu, he was taken by the ministry of education as a secondary school teacher, whereby he was located in Hargeisa, the second capital city of Somalia.

[Queen_Arawello]

His Middle Life as a Freedom Fighter


He resigned from the educational assignments that he was holding for Somalia and joined Western Somali Liberation Front in 1976, activating the military and political philosophy of WSLF.

. After a short while, the lost hero, Sheikh Ibrahim, became an active member of WSLF central committee through all-agreed election. He was sent to Abu Dhabi in 1981, as a diplomatic representative for Western Somali Liberation Front. After the sheer military and political abortion of WSLF as a result of the direct military intervention of Somali armed forces, sheikh Ibrahim co-founded Ogaden National Liberation Front in 1984. In 1991, he was elected the chairman of ONLF and he had been holding that post till 1998. February 1994, Sheikh Ibrahim narrowly escaped from an assassination attempt by Ethiopian battalion based in Warder. He was defended by the people of Warder with the help of ONLF fighters scouting him, and, and almost 100 civilians from Warder died in try to save him from the enemy .It was reported that Sheikh Ibrahim took part in some of the deadliest armed confrontations between ONLF battalion and Ethiopian garrison in the Ogaden. Some tidings said that he acted field commander in the front line to give his soldiers moral support.

[Queen_Arawello]

His Personality

Sheikh Ibrahim was a charismatic born-leader with adamant political objectives. He was an outspoken Islamic scholar and a profound patriot who believed in death for the sake of his country and in the defense of his Islamic belief. He was an honest and God-fearing man. He was a great ideologue yarning for Arab unity and Somalis nicknamed him "The pro-Arab campaigner in the Horn of Africa." He was a confident and firm freedom-fighter longing for the martyrdom of his targeted mission under any circumstance.

[Queen_Arawello]

His Authorship

He was one of the greatest historians in Africa and the finest writers in Arabic language. He was an astute political scientist and a broad-minded researcher on African and Arabian political history. He was a hot political analyst; and an author of heaps of articles on different Arabic magazines and daily newspapers in the Middle East. He wrote over five books on African regional crises and he was now working on a linguistic analysis book about the lexicological interrelations between Arabic and Somali languages. Moreover, he currently finished a book he named "The War on Maps in The Horn of Africa" which is waiting for posthumous publication.

His Late Life

Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalle was the head of "The Horn of Africa Research and Strategic Studies Centre" in Abu Dhabi that he founded in 1999. He was also a member of ONLF central committee and the spiritual leader of the above mentioned separatist rebel movement waging war against Ethiopia for the complete independence of Ogaden region. He died in Abu Dhabi on 22 June 2008. He was buried in Abu Dhabi on 24 June 2008. According to postmortem examination, his death was natural.

[Queen_Arawello]

R.I.P

[Queen_Arawello]

Sheikh Ibrahim was a father of the cause, a leader and a very spiritual person

[Hyperactive]

great man, Allah yarhamah.

[The_Patriot]

AUN

[Aliyyi Oromada]

rahimahullah

[EEGA9]

Sh.Ibrahim was a revolutionary, a scholar and a warrior.
The love of the people for Sh.Ibrahim is seen in the tale of Wardheer where 100 people and a mere 24 ONLF policeman sacrifed there lives to save him from being captured by the TPLF militia in Wardheer.

AUN to all the martyrs of the revolution.