Dir (clan)

The Dir (Somali: Dir) is one of the largest and most prominent Somali clans in the Horn of Africa.[1][2][3] They are also considered to be the oldest Somali stock to have inhabited the region.[1][4][5] Its members inhabit Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia (Somali, Harar, Dire Dawa, Oromia and Afar regions), and northeastern Kenya (North Eastern Province).[2][6][3][7]

Main article: Somali people

Dir
در النبيلة
Regions with significant populations
Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somaliland
Languages
Somali
Religion
Islam (Sunni)

Origins

Like the great majority of Somali clans, the Dir trace their ancestry to Aqil ibn Abi Talib (c. 580 – 670 or 683),[8] a cousin of the prophet Muhammad (c. 570 – 632) and an older brother of Ali ibn Abi Talib (c. 600 – 661) and Ja'far ibn Abi Talib (c. 590 – 629).[9] They trace their lineage to Aqil through Samaale (the source of the name 'Somali'), the purported forefather of the northern pastoralist clans such as the Dir, the Hawiye, and –matrilineally through the Dir– the Isaaq and the Darod.[8] Although these genealogical claims are historically untenable, they do reflect the longstanding cultural contacts between Somalia (especially, though not exclusively, its most northern part Somaliland) and Southern Arabia.[10]

History

The history of Islam being practised by the Dir clan goes back 1400 years. In Zeila, a Dir city, a mosque called Masjid al-Qiblatayn is known as the site of where early companions of the Prophet established a mosque shortly after the first Migration to Abyssinia[11] By the 7th century, a large-scale conversion to Islam was taking place in the Somali peninsula, first spread by the Dir clan family, to the rest of the nation.[12]

The early Adal Kingdom (9th century to 13th century) was an exclusive Dir Kingdom with its capital being Zeila.[13] In the 10th century, the Jarso clan a sub-division of Dir established the Dawaro Sultanate centred in Hararghe Highlands.

Dir is one of the oldest clans in the Horn of Africa. According to the Muslim chronicles, two of the oldest monarchies in the northern region, the Ifat and Adal sultanates, were led by Dir.[14]

The Dir, along with the Akisho, Gurgura, Issa and Gadabuursi subclans of the Dir represent the most native and indigenous Somali clan tree in Harar.[15][16][17]

The city Dire Dawa was originally called Dir Dhabe and used to be part of Adal Sultanate during the medieval times and was exclusively settled by Dir which is a major Somali tribe and after the weakening of Adal Sultanate, the Oromos took advantage and were able to penetrate through the city and settle into these areas and also assimilate some of the local Gurgura clan.[18]

The Somali Dir clan used to be the predominant inhabitants of Hararghe Highlands in the medieval times until the weakening of Adal Sultanate the Oromos took advantage of the crippling state and decided to invade and occupy the Haraghe Highlands and assimilate the local native Somali population which were Jarso, Gurgura, Nole, Metta, Oborra and Bursuk who were all sub-clans of Dir a major Somali tribe tree and were later confederated into Oromo Ethnics, the Afran Qallo tribes .

The Dir were supporters of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi during his 16th century conquest of Abyssinia; especially the Gurgura, Issa, Bursuk and Gadabuursi.[19] In his medieval Futuh Al-Habash documenting this campaign, the chronicler Shihāb al-Dīn indicates that thousands of Dir soldiers took part in Imam Ahmad's Adal Sultanate army.[20]

The Dir clan also led a revolt against the Italians during the colonial period. This revolt was mainly led by the Biimaal section of the Dir. The Biimaal clan is widely known for leading a resistance against the colonials in southern Somalia.The Biimaal violently resisted the imposition of colonialism and fought against the Italian colonialists of Italian Somaliland in a twenty-year war known as the Bimal revolt in which many of their warriors assassinated several Italian governors. This revolt can be compared to the war of the Mad Mullah in Somaliland.[21][22][23] The Biimaal mainly lives in Somalia, the Somali region of Ethiopia, which their Gaadsen sub-clan mainly inhabits and in the NEP region of Kenya.[24][25] The Biimaal are pastoralists. They were also successful merchants and traders in the 19th century.[26] In the 19th century they have engaged in multiple wars with the Geledi clan, which they were victorious in.[26][23]

Lineage

I.M. Lewis and many sources maintain that the Dir, a Proto-Somali, together with the Hawiye trace ancestry through Irir son of Samaale.[27][28][29][30][31] Dir is regarded as the father-in-law of Darod, the progenitor of the Darod clan[32] Although some sources state it was the daughter of Hawiye who Darod married.[33][34][35]

Dir clan lineages:

According to others, Dir had a fifth son, Qaldho Dir.

DNA analysis of Dir clan members inhabiting Djibouti found that all of the individuals belonged to the Y-DNA T1 paternal haplogroup.[36]

Branches

The main subclans of the Dir today are: 1. Mahe 2. Madaluug 3. Madoobe 4. Madahweyne

For the first time since several centuries the Dir clan which widely dispersed in the Horn of Africa has successfully convened a meeting with all the major Dir subclans in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Suldaan Dhawal, of the Habr 'Affan Gadabuursi was elected the head and representative of the Dir clan in the Horn of Africa.

Notable Dir figures

Historical publications
  • Bughyaat al-amaal fii taariikh as-Soomaal, published in Mogadishu, Shariif 'Aydaruus Shariif 'Ali
  • Political History of Lower Shabelle, Dr. Mohamed Abukar Mahad (Gaetano)

See also

Notes
  1. Fage, J. D.; Oliver, Roland; Oliver, Roland Anthony; Clark, John Desmond; Gray, Richard; Flint, John E.; Roberts, A. D.; Sanderson, G. N.; Crowder, Michael (1975). The Cambridge History of Africa. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-20981-6.
  2. Ambroso, Guido (March 2002). "Clanship, Conflict and Refugees: An Introduction to Somalis in the Horn of Africa" (PDF). p. 6. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  3. Hayward, R.J.; Lewis, I.M. (17 August 2005). Voice and Power. Routledge. p. 242. ISBN 9781135751753.
  4. Lewis, I. M. (3 February 2017). Peoples of the Horn of Africa (Somali, Afar and Saho): North Eastern Africa Part I. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-30817-3.
  5. Jama, Hassan Ali (2005). Who Cares about Somalia: Hassan's Ordeal; Reflections on a Nation's Future. Verlag Hans Schiler. ISBN 978-3-89930-075-8.
  6. Ojielo, Ozzonia (May 2010). "Dynamics and Trends of Conflict in Greater Mandera" (PDF). undp.org. UNDP Kenya. p. 7. Retrieved 7 February 2017. Garre live in Southern Somalia, North Eastern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia. In Southern Somalia, they live in Kofur near Mogadishu and El Wak District in Gedo Province. In Ethiopia, they live in Moyale, Hudet and Woreda of Liban zone. In Kenya, the Garre inhabit Wajir North and Moyale.
  7. Ozzonia (2010), page 7. The Quranyo section of the Garre claim descent from Dirr, who are born of the Irrir Samal.
  8. Lewis 1961, pp. 11–12.
  9. Rubin 2009.
  10. Lewis 1994, pp. 102–106, esp. p. 105.
  11. Briggs, Phillip (2012). Somaliland. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 7. ISBN 978-1841623719.
  12. Holzer, Georg-Sebastian (2008). "POLITICAL ISLAM IN SOMALIA: A fertile ground for radical Islamic groups?". Geo Politics of the Middle East. 1: 23.
  13. Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 25. Americana Corporation. 1965. p. 255.
  14. Futūḥ al-Ḥabasha. (n.d.). Christian-Muslim Relations 1500 - 1900. doi:10.1163/2451-9537_cmrii_com_26077
  15. Slikkerveer (28 October 2013). Plural Medical Systems In The Horn Of Africa: The Legacy Of Sheikh Hippocrates. Routledge. p. 140. ISBN 9781136143304.
  16. Lewis, I. M. (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 100. ISBN 9781569021033.
  17. Lewis, I. M. (17 March 2003). A Modern History of the Somali: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa. Ohio University Press. ISBN 9780821445730.
  18. ʻArabfaqīh, Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Qādir (1 January 2003). The conquest of Abyssinia: 16th century. Annotation: Dir, According to Huntingford a settlement which may be modern Dire Dawa. Tsehai Publishers & Distributors. p. 24. ISBN 9780972317269.
  19. Sihab ad-Din Ahmad bin'Abd al-Qader, Futuh al-Habasa: The conquest of Ethiopia, translated by Paul Lester Stenhouse with annotations by Richard Pankhurst (Hollywood: Tsehai, 2003), pp. 50, 76
  20. Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Qādir ʻArabfaqīh, Translated by Paul Stenhouse, Richard Pankhurst (2003). The conquest of Abyssinia: 16th century. Tsehai Publishers & Distributors. p. 77. ISBN 9780972317269.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. Ciisa-Salwe, Cabdisalaam M. (1 January 1996). The collapse of the Somali state: the impact of the colonial legacy. HAAN. p. 19. ISBN 9781874209270.
  22. Abdullahi, Mohamed Diriye (1 January 2001). Culture and Customs of Somalia. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 23. ISBN 9780313313332.
  23. Kariye, Badal (23 July 2010). The Kaleidoscopic Lover: The Civil War in the Horn of Africa & My Itinerary for a Peaceful Lover. Author House. p. 83. ISBN 9781452004648. Twenty year war
  24. Schlee, Günther (1 January 1989). Identities on the Move: Clanship and Pastoralism in Northern Kenya. Manchester University Press. pp. 107, 108, 275 and 99. ISBN 9780719030109. Biimal
  25. Kefale, Asnake (31 July 2013). Federalism and Ethnic Conflict in Ethiopia: A Comparative Regional Study. Routledge. p. 89. ISBN 9781135017989. gadsan
  26. Olson, James Stuart (1 January 1996). The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 97. ISBN 9780313279188.
  27. Ahmed, Ali Jimale (1995). The Invention of Somalia. Lawrenceville, NJ: The Red Sea Press Inc. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-932415-98-1.
  28. Lewis 1994, p. 104.
  29. Lewis, I.M. (2008). Understanding Somali and Somaliland Society: Culture History and Society. Hurst. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-85065-898-6.
  30. Lewis, I.M. (1 January 1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 99-Chapter 8. ISBN 9781569021033.
  31. Ahmed, Ali Jimale (1 January 1995). The Invention of Somalia. The Red Sea Press. p. 246. ISBN 9780932415998.
  32. Mukhtar, Mohamed Haji (25 February 2003). Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Scarecrow Press. p. 71. ISBN 9780810866041.
  33. Burton, Sir Richard Francis; Burton, Lady Isabel (1893). The Works of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: First footsteps in East Africa. Tylston & Edwards. p. 74. where he married a daughter of the Hawiyah tribe: rival races declare him to have been a Galla slave
  34. Journal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society. Longmans, Green. 1 January 1921. p. 54. was shipwrecked on the Somali coast where he married a Hawiyah woman
  35. Burton, Richard Francis (1 January 1856). First Footsteps in East Africa. Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans. pp. 104. where he married a daughter of the Hawiyah tribe
  36. Iacovacci, Giuseppe; et al. (2017). "Forensic data and microvariant sequence characterization of 27 Y-STR loci analyzed in four Eastern African countries". Forensic Science International: Genetics. 27: 123–131. doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2016.12.015. PMID 28068531. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  37. Lewis, I.M. (1 January 1998). Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho. Red Sea Press. ISBN 9781569021057. At the end of the book "Tribal Distribution of Somali Afar and Saho"
  38. Ahmed, Ali Jimale (1 January 1995). The Invention of Somalia. The Red Sea Press. p. 131. ISBN 9780932415998.
  39. Africa Confidential. Miramoor Publications Limited. 1 January 1994. p. 17.
  40. Verdier, Isabelle (31 May 1997). Ethiopia: the top 100 people. Indigo Publications. p. 13. ISBN 9782905760128.
  41. Regional & Federal Studies. Volume 24, Issue 5, 2014. Special Issue: Federalism and Decentralization in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ethnic Decentralization and the Challenges of Inclusive Governance in Multiethnic Cities: The Case of Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
  42. Abdullahi, p. 172.
  43. Johnson, p. xv.
  44. Phillips, Sarah. Developmental Leadership Program – Policy and Practice for Developmental Leaders, Elites and Coalitions Political Settlements and State Formation: The Case of Somaliland Archived 2017-02-02 at the Wayback Machine University of Sydney, December 2013, page 9.
  45. The Indian Ocean Newsletter — PM Desalegn picks his candidate to head IGAD Archived 19 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine "Abdirahman Duale Beyle, a former Somali Foreign Minister" "an economist who hails from the Gadabursi community."
  46. "Vice President Saylici (whose Gadabursi)". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  47. "Nominated Ministers and Their Clans". Goobjoog. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  48. ʻArabfaqīh, Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Qādir (1 January 2003). The conquest of Abyssinia: 16th century. The Habar Makadur, underneath the page as a note [I.M. Lewis] by Richard Pankhurst. Tsehai Publishers & Distributors. p. 27. ISBN 9780972317269.
  49. Lewis, I.M. (1998). Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho. p. 25. ISBN 978-1569021040. There are two main fractions, the Habr Afan and Habr Makadur, formerly united under a common hereditary chief (ogaz). {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  50. page 210
  51. geeskadmin (10 December 2014). "Kenya: Ethiopia Replaced Ambassador Shemsedin Ahmed for security reasons - Geeska Afrika Online". Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  52. Untitled "Mawlid Hayir Hassan, Regional Vice president," page 27.
  53. The Indian Ocean Newsletter — Rise of SPDP in Addis gives green light for internal purge ""including the Vice President of SNRS, Mawlid Hayir."
  54. Mukhtar, Mohamed Haji (25 February 2003). Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Scarecrow Press. p. 199. ISBN 9780810866041. Sheikh Abdi Abitkar "Gaafle"
  55. Lewis, I.M. (1 January 1958). "The Gadabuursi Somali Script". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 21 (1/3): 134–156. doi:10.1017/s0041977x00063278. JSTOR 610496. S2CID 161856327.
  56. Rayne, Henry a (8 August 2015). Sun, Sand and Somals; Leaves from the Note-Book of a District Commissioner in British Somaliland. BiblioLife. ISBN 9781297569760.
  57. Farah, Rachad (1 September 2013). Un embajador en el centro de los acontecimientos (in Spanish). Editions L'Harmattan. p. 17. ISBN 9782336321356.
  58. As indicated in Morin (2005:640) the name of "Cote francaise des Somalis" itself is said to have been proposed by hağği Diideh (Mahad-Ase clan of Gedebursi. He was Prosperous merchant of Zayla who built the first Mosque in Djibouti Ğami ar-Rahma in 1891) to the French administration in imitation of British Somaliland, page 92
  59. Mukhtar, Mohamed Haji (25 February 2003). Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Scarecrow Press. p. 247. ISBN 9780810866041.
  60. Yussur Abrar (Dir/Gadabursi), who hails from Borama in Somaliland
  61. Quath, Faati (1957). Islam Walbaasha Cabra Taarikh [Islam and Abyssinia throughout history] (in Arabic). Cairo, Egypt.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Sources
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