View source for Muḥammad ibn 'Abdallāh Hassan

{{short description|Somali Jihadist and anti-colonialist leader (1856–1920)}}
{{Copy edit|date=November 2024}}
{{Redirect-distinguish-text|Mad Mullah|[[Muhammad Ahmad]] (1844–1885), the "Mad Mahdi"}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Muḥammad Ibn Abdallāh Ibn Hassan <br /> محمد   بن عبدالله بن حسن <br /> 𐒉𐒖𐒕𐒕𐒘𐒆 𐒑𐒙𐒔𐒖𐒑𐒑𐒗𐒆 𐒛𐒁𐒆𐒚𐒐𐒐𐒖𐒔 H𐒖𐒈𐒈𐒖𐒒
| image               = Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.jpeg
| caption             = Statue of Muhammad Abdullah Hassan in [[Mogadishu]]
| office              = [[Dervish State|Supreme Leader of the Dervish State]]
| term_start          = 21 April 1896
| party               = [[Dervish movement (Somali)|Dervish Movement]]
| term_end            = 21 December 1920
| predecessor         = ''Position established''
| successor           = ''Position destablished''
| birth_name          = Muḥammad Ibn Abdallāh Ibn Hassan
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1856|04|07|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Sacmadeeqo Lake]], near [[Buuhoodle]], [[Haud]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-27 |title=Dagaalkii casharka adag uu Sayid Maxamed ugu dhigay Ingiriiska ee uur ku taallada ku noqday |url=https://www.bbc.com/somali/articles/c4n99y0m3d2o |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=BBC News Somali |language=so}}</ref>
| death_date          = {{Death date|1920|12|21|df=y}} (aged 64)
| death_place         = [[Imi, Ethiopia|Imi]], [[Ethiopian Empire|Ethiopia]]
| death_cause         = [[Influenza]]
| occupation          = {{hlist|Politician|Theologian|Poet|Scholar|Military Leader}}
| module              = {{Infobox religious biography
 | title = "Mad Mullah", "Sayyid"
 | embed             = yes
 | religion          = [[Islam]]
 | denomination      = [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]]
 | jurisprudence     = [[Shafi'i school|Shafi'i]]
 | creed             = 
 | main_interests    = 
 |Sufi_order = [[Salihiyya]]
    }}
| spouse              = [[Hasna Doreh]]
| signature           = The Seal of the Mad Mullah.png
| honorific_prefix    = [[Sayyid]]
|| native_name         = محمد بن عبد الله حسن
| native_name_lang    = so
}}

'''Muḥammad Ibn Abdallāh Ibn Hassan''' ([[Arabic]]: محمد بن عبدالله حسن: {{langx|so| Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan}};  [[Osmanya script|Osmanya]]: 𐒉𐒖𐒕𐒕𐒘𐒆 𐒑𐒙𐒔𐒖𐒑𐒑𐒗𐒆 𐒛𐒁𐒆𐒚𐒐𐒐𐒖𐒔 H𐒖𐒈𐒈𐒖𐒒: 7 April 1856 – 21 December 1920)<ref>LC gives 1864 birth year</ref> was a [[Somali people|Somali]], scholar, poet, religious, political, and military leader who founded and headed the [[Dervish movement (Somali)|Dervish movement]], which led a [[holy war]] against [[British Somaliland|British]], [[Italian Somaliland|Italian]] and [[Ethiopian Empire|Ethiopian]] intrusions in the [[Somali Peninsula]]. He was famously known by the [[British Empire]] as the <nowiki>''</nowiki>'''''Mad Mullah".'''''<ref>{{Cite book |last=McAteer |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EMwwAQAAIAAJ |title=The History of the Seychelles: To be a nation : 1920-1976 |date=2008 |publisher=Pristine Books |isbn=978-99931-809-2-0 |pages=37 |language=en}}</ref> In 1917, the [[Ottoman Empire]] referred him as the "'''Emir of the Somali People'''".<ref>''Empires at War: 1911-1923'', edited by Robert Gerwarth, Erez Manela, p. 48</ref> Due to his successful completion of the [[Hajj]] to [[Mecca]], his complete memorization of the [[Quran]] and his purported descent from the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]], his name is sometimes preluded with honorifics such as [[Hajji]], [[Hafiz (Quran)|Hafiz]], [[Emir]], [[Sheikh]], [[Mullah]] or [[Sayyid]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moolla |first=F. Fiona |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88zCAwAAQBAJ&q=Sayyid+Barakah+nationalism+&pg=PA128 |title=Reading Nuruddin Farah: The Individual, the Novel & the Idea of Home |date=2014 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |isbn=978-1-78204-238-9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Huisman |first1=Kimberly A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tuVFN5VmkjcC&q=Mad+mullah+somali+nationalism&pg=PA12 |title=Somalis in Maine: Crossing Cultural Currents |last2=Hough |first2=Mazie |last3=Langellier |first3=Kristin M. |last4=Toner |first4=Carol Nordstrom |date=2011-06-07 |publisher=North Atlantic Books |isbn=978-1-55643-926-1 |page=12 |language=en}}</ref> His influence led him to being regarded the ''“'''Father of the Somali People'''”''.<ref>Samatar, Said S. "Genius as madness: King Tewodros of Ethiopia and Sayyid Muhammad of Somalia in comparative perspective." Northeast African Studies 10.3 (2003): 27-32.</ref><ref>Abbink, G.J. "Dervishes, 'moryaan'and freedom fighters: cycles of rebellion and the fragmentation of Somali society, 1900-2000." African dynamics (2003): pg. 38.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hess |first=Robert L. |date=1964 |title=The 'Mad Mullah' and Northern Somalia |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/mad-mullah-and-northern-somalia/64A47DB9294A878A7FC8A0AA00589029 |journal=The Journal of African History |language=en |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=415–433 |doi= 10.1017/S0021853700005107|issn=1469-5138}}</ref>

== Background ==
In Berbera, the established [[Qadiriyya]] [[tariqa]] would soon be challenged by a new tariqa. The most prominent Sheikh of the [[Salihiyya]] order were Isma'il ibn Ishaq al-Urwayni and the Dervish emir Hassan (called Mad Mullah by British) who arrived in Berbera in 1895 and constructed his own mosque and began propagating. He was strongly against [[khat]] and chewing tobacco, both of which the Qadiriyya had permitted.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Islamic Movement in Somalia|page=71|year=2015|publisher=Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd.|first=Abdurahman|last=Abdullahi (Badiyow)|isbn=9781912234035|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sHYoDwAAQBAJ&q=qaadiriyah}}</ref> Amongst other disputes, he would come to debate the leading Qadiriyya sheikhs of Berbera including Aw Gaas and Xaaji Ibrahim Xirsi. [[Sheikh Madar]], the leader of Somali Qadiriyya was invited to participate in 1897 and after rigorous discussion, the Qadiriyya tariqa had proved victorious and Mohamed Abdullah Hassan had been refuted. British authorities took note of the disturbance and turmoil and he was thus expelled from the city. The divisions were deep and both sides had accused the other of [[Heresy#Islam|heresy]], Hassan would go on to form the [[Dervish movement (Somali)|Dervish]] movement based on Salihiyya just two years after the debates partly in rebuke of the Qadiriyya status quo.<ref>{{cite book|title=THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN SOMALIA|page=72|year=2015|publisher=Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd|first=Abdurahman|last=Abdullahi (Badiyow)|isbn=9781912234035}}</ref>

In March 1899, one Duwaleh Hirsi, a former member of  the Somali Aden police then Mr [[Percy Cox]]'s (former counsel-resident of Zeila and Berbera, 1893–1895) expedition guide in Somaliland, allegedly stole a rifle and sold it to the tariqa at Kob Fardod. The vice-counsel at the coast, [[Harry Edward Spiller Cordeaux]], sent a letter to the mullahs at Kob Fardod demanding the return of the rifle. The letter was carried by a Somali mounted policeman named Ahmed Adan. Upon his return after the delivery of the letter, Cordeaux interviewed Adan, who provided the following information:
<blockquote>I knew many of the people there—some of them were relations of mine. My brother-in-law, Dualeh Aoreb, was there. I asked them if they had any rifles, they said they at first had only six, but had just received fifty-five from Hafoon. I saw two or three of the new lot, they are Martins(new). They told me they had one or two "14-shot rifles." I saw some Mullahs walking about with Sniders. The Sheikh himself and some of his Mullahs used to practice daily shooting at a target; they put up a shield against a tree. I used to talk with people every day. We talked about many things, some of the words they said were good and others were bad. They called me a Kafir, and laughed at my uniform, saying that I smelt, and asking me why I wore the Sircars clothes. There were hundreds of people there, some from every tribe, Dolbahanta, Habr Toljaala, and Habr Yunis.<ref name=":1">Foreign Department-External-B, August 1899, N. 33-234, NAI, New Delhi.In closure 5 in No. 1. Statement by Ahmed Adan, Camel Sowar</ref></blockquote>

What is particularly revealing about Ahmed Adan's interview is the confusion that was caused by another letter carried by a Somali, supposedly also from the British administration at the coast. This second letter angered the mullahs at the Tariqa;

"On the third day the Mullah sent
for me. I had seen him before;
he often used to come into
the house. I went to him, and
he said he would give me
his reply to the letter I had
brought; that he had just
received another letter which
had been brought by a
Somali. He asked me about it,
but I told him I knew
nothing about it, and asked
him who had brought it. He
said, “A Somali.” A man named
Salan had come in that
day. I thought that he must
have brought the letter. He
then gave me a letter. It was
written on the back of the
letter I had brought him. I
saw the Government stamp on
it. He (the Sheikh) said,
“This is the reply to your letter. I
will give you the answer to
the other letter to-morrow.”
He said that the second letter
contained “bad words.” Next
morning he gave me two
letters, and I then went away,
and got into Berbera on
Saturday night.”<ref name=":1" />

The second letter provoked the mullahs, the hostile tone in the reply is due to the offensive second letter carried by Salaan the Somali. Both replies; one regarding the rifle curt but relatively inoffensive and a second addressing the confusing insolent second letter are in the British record.<ref>Foreign Department-External-B, August 1899, N. 33-234, NAI, New Delhi, Inclosure 2 in No. 1. And inclosure 3 in No. 1.</ref>

==The Dervish War==
{{main|Dervish movement (Nugaal)}}
The news that sparked the Dervish rebellion and the 21 year disturbance according to the consul-general [[James Hayes Sadler (colonial administrator)|James Hayes Sadler]] was either spread or concocted by [[Nur Ahmed Aman|Sultan Nur]] of the [[Habr Yunis]]. The incident in question was that of a group of Somali children that were converted to Christianity and adopted by the French Catholic Mission at Berbera in 1899. Whether Sultan Nur experienced the incident first hand or whether he was told of it is not clear but what is known is that he propagated the incident in the [[Tariqa]] at Kob Fardod in June 1899.<ref>F.O.78/5031, Sayyid Mohamad To The Aidagalla, Enclosed Sadler To Salisbury. 69, 20 August 1899.</ref> In one of his letters to Sultan [[Deria Hassan|Deria]] in 1899, Sayyid Hassan said that the British "''have destroyed our religion and made our children their children''" alluding to Sultan Nur's incident with the Roman French Mission at Berbera. The Dervishes soon emerged as an opposition of the Christian activities, defending their version of Islam against the Christian mission.<ref name="Fageoliver">{{cite book | editor1-last = Fage | editor1-first = J. D. | editor2-last = Roberts | editor2-first = A. D. | editor3-last = Oliver  |editor3-first = Roland Anthony |title=The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 7|date=1986|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521225051|page=196|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z0zZKCpGmfkC}}</ref> 
[[File:Mad_Mullah_riding_camel.png|thumb|The Mad Mullah riding a camel alongside his Dervish followers]]
===Risala lil-Bimal: Letter to the Bimal===
There are only one people during the Dervish struggle the Sayyid extensively asked in a letter to join his struggle. Those were the [[Bimaal|Bimal]] clan. His letter to the Bimal was documented as the most extended exposition of his mind as a Muslim thinker and religious figure. The letter is until this day still preserved. It is said that the Bimal thanks to their size being numerically powerful, traditionally and religiously devoted fierce warriors and having possession of much resources have intrigued Mahamed Abdulle Hassan. But not only that the Bimal themselves mounted an extensive and major resistance against the Italians, especially in the first decade of the 19th century. The Italians carried many expeditions against the powerful Bimal to try and pacify them. Because of this the Bimal had all the reason to join the Dervish struggle and by doing so to win their support over. the Sayyid wrote a detailed theological statement to put forward to the Bimal tribe who dominated the strategic Banaadir port of [[Merca]] and its surroundings.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Samatar|first=Said S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4xeh4JcMTwC&q=Merka+Biyamaal&pg=PA66|title=In the Shadow of Conquest: Islam in Colonial Northeast Africa|date=1992|publisher=The Red Sea Press|isbn=978-0-932415-70-7|language=en}}</ref>

One of the Italian's greatest fears was the spread of 'Dervishism' ( had come to mean revolt) in the south and the strong Bimaal tribe of Benadir whom already were at war with the Italians, while not following the religious message or adhering to the views of [[Muhammad Abdullah Hassan]], understood greatly his goal and political tactics. The dervishes in this case were engaged in supplying arms to the Bimaal.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Hess|first=Robert L.|date=1964-01-01|title=The 'Mad Mullah' and Northern Somalia|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=5|issue=3|pages=415–433, page 422|doi=10.1017/s0021853700005107|jstor=179976|s2cid=162991126}}</ref> The Italians wanted to bring in an end to the Bimaal revolt and at all cost prevent a Bimal-Dervish alliance, which lead them to use the  forces of Obbia and the Mijertein as prevention.<ref name=":12" />
[[File:Mohammed Abdullah Hassan-dj.jpg|thumb|Illustration of Mohamed Abdullah Hassan by da Rondini, from cover of ''Il Mullah del paese dei somali'' by Douglas Jardine<ref>{{cite web|title=Bibliografia Ost-Afrika: un archivio bibliografico e documentario sull'Africa Orientale|url=http://docdro.id/Mt88Yfo|publisher=UNIFI|access-date=25 February 2018|quote=Copertina ill. da Rondini}}</ref>]]

===Ethiopia, Britain and Italy===
However, soon angered by his autocratic rule, Hussen Hirsi Dala Iljech' – a Mohammed Subeer chieftain – plotted to kill him. The news of the plot leaked to Hassan. He escaped, but his maternal uncle, Aw 'Abbas, was killed. Some weeks later, Mohammed Subeer sent a peace delegation of 32 men to Hassan, but Hassan had all the members of the delegation arrested and killed. Shocked by the actions of Hassan, Mohammed Subeer sought the help of the Ethiopians and the Dervish withdrew to [[Nugaal]].

Towards the end of 1900, Ethiopian Emperor Menelik proposed a joint action with the British against the Dervish. Accordingly, British Lt. Col. [[Eric John Eagles Swayne]] assembled a force of 1,500 Somali soldiers led by 21 [[Europe]]an officers and started from [[Burco]] on 22 May 1901, while an Ethiopian army of 15,000 soldiers started from Harar to join the British forces intent on crushing the 20,000 Dervish fighters (of whom 40 percent were [[cavalry]]).

On 9 January 1904, at the Jidaale (Jidballi) plain, the British Commander, General [[Charles Egerton (Indian Army officer)|Charles Egerton]], killed 1,000 Dervish.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E10FC39541B728DDDAB0994D9405B848CF1D3|title=1,000 Dervishes slain; British Rout the "Mad" Mullah's Forces in Somaliland|work=New York Times|date=12 January 1903|access-date=22 June 2013}}</ref> This defeat forced Sayyid and his remaining men to flee to [[Majeerteen]] country.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

Around 1909, in a secret meeting under a big tree later nicknamed "Anjeel tale waa" ("The Tree of Bad Counsel"), about 400 Dervish followers decided to stop following the mullah upon receiving the expulsion letter from the head of the Tariqa, Sheikh Salah, excommunicating the mullah. Their departure weakened, demoralized and angered Sayyid, and it was at this juncture that he composed his poem entitled ''The Tree of Bad Counsel''.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

===Fight against the Qadiriyya===
Despite leaving Berbera after being rebuked by the leading Sheikhs of the rival [[Qadiriyya]] school the enmity did not end. Heated poems would be exchanged between the Sayyid and prominent Sheikh [[Uways al-Barawi]] from [[Barawa]], the leader of the 1908 Benadir revolt.<ref>{{cite book|title=THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN SOMALIA|page=73|year=2015|publisher=Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd|first=Abdurahman|last=Abdullahi (Badiyow)|isbn=9781912234035}}</ref>

Uways recited this [[qasida]] criticizing the Sayyid:<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Reese |first1=Scott S. |date= 2001 |title= The Best of Guides: Sufi Poetry and Alternate Discourses of Reform in Early Twentieth-Century Somalia|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3181395 |journal=Journal of African Cultural Studies |volume=14 |issue=1 Islamic Religious Poetry in Africa |pages= 49–68|doi=10.1080/136968101750333969 |jstor=3181395 |s2cid=162001423 }}</ref>
{{Verse translation|lang=arabic-Latn|
{{script/Arabic|
صل على محمد واله واصرف بهم من كل سوء داهيه
من اقتدى محمدا بشرعه لا يقتدى جماعة الشيطانية
هم المبيحون دماء العلما والمال والحريم هم إباحيه
ويمنعون الدرس للعلوم كالفقه والنحو هم الكراميه
بكل شيخ مات كالجيلاني لا يتوسلون كالجناحيه
لا يقتدرون خلف من له شعر سيماهم التحليق كالوهابيه
ويشترون الجنة بمال في دارنا جهرا هم الكلابيه
ويختلون بالحريم للإجا زة كأمهم فذا سفاحيه
يتبعون رأيهم لا كتبنا ويدعون النور من بلاسيه
ويفعلون النكر في ذكرهم فعلا وقولا يقتضي كفرانيه 
كاللعب قائلين أألله شكا به جلهم الشماليه 
لهم ضجيج وأنين وحنيــــــــن وفحيح كالكلاب الناحيه
ويكثرون الحلف بالطلاق وينكرون الكلفة الالهيه
ضلوا وأضلوا العباد في الثرى برا وبحرا اي من السماليه 
أليس ذو لب وفهم يغترر بهم ففر عنهم كالدواهيه}}
|attr1= Uways Al Barawi ''Qasida on [[Salihiyya]]''|
Give a prayer to Muhammad (Sayyid) and his family and turn, through them, from all evil calamities
The ones who has imitated Muhammad (Prophet Muhammad) through his law does not follow the faction of Satan
They are the justifiers of [spilling] the blood of the ''[[ulama]]'' and of wealth and women, they are libertines
They prohibit the study of sciences such as law and grammar, they are the repugnant

Through every Shaykh who has died such as [[Abdul Qadir Gilani|Al-Jilani]] they do not seek petition, like the faction of sin
They do not follow behind the one who has locks of hair, their characteristic is to wear their hair like the [[Wahhabism|Wahhabiyya]]
They trade paradise for cash publicly, in our land, they are a sect of dogs
They dally with women who come for license, like with their own mothers, and this is fornication

They follow their own opinions, not our books, and they claim to the light from the faction of Satan
And they practice denial at their ''[[dhikr]]'', in word and action it requires blasphemy
Like their game of saying ''Is it God''? - doubting him, the northern faction (dervishes) glorify them 
They make a clamour, a wailing and groaning and howling like mournful dogs

And they frequently use the oath ''By the divorce'' and reject the ceremony of Allah
They have gone astray and make people go astray on earth by land and sea anyone from [among] the Somalis
Is it not the owner of reason and understanding deceived by them? 
Then flee from them as from calamities}}

With a long response the Sayyid ended with these sharp words:
<blockquote>
:''A word from the backsliding apostates (Qadiriyya)''
:''Who have gone astray from the [[Muhammad|Prophet]]'s way, the straight path''
:''Why is the truth so plain, hidden from you?''
</blockquote>
This exchange would lead to [[takfir]] or accusations of apostasy from both men and the murder of Uways by the Dervish in 1909. This ironically proved Sheikh Uways' accusation that the Sayyid deemed it lawful to spill the blood of the learned. The Sayyid would mock Sheikh Uways death with a final poem ''Behold, at last, when we slew the old wizard, the rains began to come!".<ref>{{cite book|title=THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN SOMALIA|page=74|year=2015|publisher=Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd|first=Abdurahman|last=Abdullahi (Badiyow)|isbn=9781912234035}}</ref>

===Consolidation===
[[File:Taleh Castle.jpg|thumb|right|270px|The Dervish fort / [[Dhulbahante garesa]] in [[Taleex]]]]
During 1909-1910, the dervish capital moved from [[Illig]] to [[Taleh]] in the heart of [[Nugaal|Nugal]] where the dervish built three garrison forts of massive stone work and a number of houses. He built a luxurious palace for himself and kept new guards drawn from outcast clans. By 1913, the dervish dominated the entire hinterland of the Somali peninsula building forts at Jildali and Mirashi, and at [[Werder, Ethiopia|Werder]] in the Ogaden and [[Beledweyne]] in southern Somalia. On 9 August 1913, at the [[Dul Madoba|Battle of Dul Madoba]], a Dervish force raided the Dolbahanta clan and killed or wounded 57 members of the 110-man ''Somaliland Camel Constabulary''. The dead included the British officer who commanded the constabulary, [[Colonel]] [[Richard Corfield]]. Hassan memorialized this action in his poem simply entitled "The Death of Richard Corfield". In the same year, fourteen Dervishes infiltrated Berbera and fired few shots on its citizens fleeing, nonetheless causing panic. In 1914, the [[Somaliland Camel Corps]] was founded as an expanded and improved version of the constabulary.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

A British force was gathering against the Dervishes when they were interrupted by the outbreak of [[World War I]]. Among the British officers deployed was [[Adrian Carton de Wiart]] (later [[Lieutenant General]]), who lost an eye during the campaign, and [[Hastings Ismay]], a staff officer who was later [[Winston Churchill]]'s chief military adviser.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

===Defeat===
{{main|Somaliland Campaign}}
In the beginning of 1920, the British struck the Dervish settlements with a well-coordinated air and land attack and inflicted a stunning defeat. The forts of the dervishes were damaged and the army suffered great losses. The Dervish retreated in to the Ogaden territory in [[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinia]] and raided the Ogaden Bah Hawadle clan who were under [[Habr Yunis]] protection, reacting to this incident, [[Mohamed Bullaleh|Haji Warabe]] of the [[Reer Caynaashe]] assembled an army composed of 3,000 warriors. The army set out from Togdheer, on the dawn of July 20, 1920, his army reached Shineleh where the Dervish were camped and proceeded to attack them. The Dervish numbering about 800 were quickly defeated, 700 being killed in the battle, the few remaining survivors fled south. Haji and his army captured 60,000 camels and 700 rifles from the defeated Dervish. During the midst of the battle Haji Warabe entered Hassan's tent but found the tent empty with Hassan's tea still hot.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9LxyAAAAMAAJ&q=Haji+Waraba |title= The warrior mullah: the Horn aflame, 1892-1920, by R.W Beachey, p.153 |isbn= 9780947792435 |last1= Beachey |first1= R. W. |year= 1990 |publisher= Bellew }}</ref> The Mullah, now a fugitive, continued to flee westwards into the thirsty wastelands of the [[Ogaden]].<ref>A Somali Poetic Combat Pt. I, II and III, p. 43</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Perham |first1=Margery |title=The Government of Ethiopia |date=1948 |page=336 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.59376/page/n363/mode/2up?view=theater}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 20 |page=968 |editor1=James Louis Garvin |editor2=Franklin Henry Hooper |editor3=Warren E. Cox |edition=14 |publisher=The Encyclopædia Britannica Company, ltd |year=1929}}</ref>

In October 1920, he eventually settled down at Guano [[Imi, Ethiopia|Imi]], at the head waters of the [[Shebelle River]] in the [[Arsi Province|Arsi]] country, with a party of some four hundred followers. When ''[[Ethiopian aristocratic and religious titles|Fitawrari]]'' Seyoum, commanding the nearest Abyssinian garrison at [[Ginir]], heard of his arrival, he sent one of his officers, Garazmatch Ayale, to learn why he had entered Abyssinian territory. The Mullah received the officer well, and said that he had been beaten in battle by the British and had come to Abyssinia for protection. He then sent the ''Fitawrari'' four rifles and a revolver as presents and asked for some provisions in exchange. ''Fitawrari'' Seyoum reported the matter to [[Ras Tafari]], who ordered him to not attack the Mullah but keep him under his watch. However, provisions were not provided and famine fell on the Mullah's camp, with most of his remaining followers dying of sickness and hunger; the few that survived were said to have dispersed shortly after.<ref>{{cite book|author=Douglas Jardine|url=https://archive.org/details/TheMadMullahOfSomaliland/page/n61/mode/2up?q=abyssinian&view=theater|title=The Mad Mullah Of Somaliland|publisher=Bellew|year=1923|isbn=978-0-947792-43-5|pages=307 }}{{source-attribution}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Osman Omar |first1=Mohamed |title=Somalia: Past and Present |date=2006 |publisher=Somali Publications |pages=126}}</ref>

==Death==
[[File:The_Sayyid's_tomb_at_Imi.jpg|thumb|257x257px|The Sayyid's tomb at Imi]]
On 21 December 1920, Hassan died of [[influenza]] at the age of 64, his grave is believed to be somewhere close to [[Imi, Ethiopia|Imi]] town of the [[Somali Region]] of Ethiopia; however, the exact spot of the Sayid's grave is unknown. In mid 2009, the [[Somali Regional State]] administration announced that they would exhume his remains and rebury them in his old castle at Imi.<ref>[http://www.bakayrblog.com/archive/Sayid.html Honouring Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, By Mohamed Bakayr] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221030/http://www.bakayrblog.com/archive/Sayid.html |date=2016-03-03 }}.</ref> Most of the people who knew the exact location of Hassan's tomb were long dead, but the Regional Information Minister [[Guled Casowe]] told VOA Somali Section that a few, very old individuals might be left and they would be able to reveal the details of Hassan's grave. Remains were found in a graveyard at [[Ginir]] and the [[Somali Region]] of Ethiopia then tried to test the DNA to determine whether they could be those of Sayid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.<ref>[http://www.voanews.com/somali/news/Sayid-Maxamed-halkuu-ku-aasan-yahay-88998352.html "Guled Asowe: We are Searching The Burial Place of Sayid Mohamed."], ''VOA'', 2 January 2010. Accessed 18 January 2011.</ref>

==Legacy==
Hassan has been seen by some as an icon of [[Somali nationalism|Pan-Somalism]], and has been considered one of the great revolutionaries of the turn of the 20th century by members of the [[Pan-Africanism|Pan-Africanist movement]].<ref name = "Soil">[https://www.facebook.com/pg/PanAfricanRenaissance/about/?ref=page_internal ''Sons of the soil, the Mad Mullah''] by Pan-African Renaissance, February 5th, 2017</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://nkrumahinfobank.org/article.php?id=235&c=22 |title=Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Infobank |access-date=2017-04-22 |archive-date=2017-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423064446/http://nkrumahinfobank.org/article.php?id=235&c=22 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A [[Socialist realism|Socialist realist]] statue of Hassan riding his horse Hiin-Faniin<ref>{{Citation |title=Statue Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan - 3D model by SomaliArchitecture |url=https://sketchfab.com/models/e34c33f96b3449f39e6d2b1981534784/embed?autostart=1 |language=en |access-date=2022-07-23}}</ref> (sometimes called ''Sayidka'' or ''Siyadka'')<ref>{{Cite web |title=Siyadka · Mogadishu, Somalia |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Siyadka,+Mogadishu,+Som%C4%81lija/@2.0369911,45.3291705,215m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x3d58422f29051539:0x8ec8a405b44f76f7!8m2!3d2.0369911!4d45.3297177?shorturl=1 |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Google Maps |language=en}}</ref> was built in central [[Mogadishu]] near the [[Mogadishu Central Mosque]] in the 1970s or 1980s,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statue of Somali Leader Mohammed Abdille Hassan - UWDC - UW-Madison Libraries |url=https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AKRHXCCTZJ3F2O8G |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=search.library.wisc.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Abdullahi |first=Mohamed Diriye |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Nu918tYMB8C&q=statue&pg=PA42 |title=Culture and Customs of Somalia |date=2001 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-31333-2 |pages=42 |language=en}}</ref> but the statue was torn down between 1991 and 1993 and sold as scrap metal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Limited |first=Alamy |title=Muḥammad ibn 'Abdallāh Hassan's statue was removed from the Somali capital after Siad Barre fled. between 1991 and 1993|url=https://www.alamy.com/english-mohammed-abdullah-hassans-statue-been-removed-from-the-somali-capital-after-the-siad-barre-fled-between-1991-and-1993-unknown-35-mohammed-abdullah-hassans-statue-been-removed-from-the-somali-capital-after-the-siad-barre-fled-image208065215.html |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=www.alamy.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-04-06 |title=Equestrian statue of Sayid Abdullah Hassan in Mogadishu Somalia |url=https://equestrianstatue.org/sayid-abdullah-hassan/ |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Equestrian statues |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://pure.strath.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/90417603/Telepneva_IJHS_2019_A_cultural_heritage_for_national_liberation.pdf |title=A Cultural Heritage for National Liberation? The Soviet-Somali Historical Expedition, Soviet African Studies, and the Cold War in the Horn of Africa|author=Natalia Telepneva|website=Pure.strath.ac.uk|access-date=2022-07-24}}</ref> The damaged foundation of the monument was left standing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statue of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan - Mogadishu |url=http://wikimapia.org/13585169/Statue-of-Mohammed-Abdullah-Hassan#/photo/905376 |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=wikimapia.org |language=en}}</ref> 

On 18 October 2019, the monument was restored and unveiled by Somali president [[Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed]], along with other restored monuments.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ministry of Information on Twitter: "H.E President @M_Farmaajo attends the reopening ceremony of the #Sayidka, #Dhagahtur, #HawoTako, #AhmedGurey and #SYL Monuments in #Mogadishu this afternoon on October 18, 2019, after several days of renovations." |url=https://twitter.com/moisomalia/status/1185259768442695681 |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Twitter |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Taalada Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan · 28PH+QVQ, Mogadishu, Somalia |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Taalada+Sayid+Mohamed+Abdulle+Hassan/@2.0369911,45.3291705,215m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x3d58422f290d698f:0x1b870bd90ee33bde!8m2!3d2.0370552!4d45.3297211?shorturl=1 |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Google Maps |language=en}}</ref> A similar statue was built in the Ethiopian city of [[Jigjiga]] in 2013.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-04-06 |title=Equestrian statue of Sayid Abdullah Hassan in Jigjiga Ethiopia |url=https://equestrianstatue.org/sayid-abdullah-hassan-2/ |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Equestrian statues |language=en-US}}</ref>

In the [[Haud]] region, there is a monument marking Hassan's birthplace, called Sacmadeeqa.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FlL2vE_qRQ8C&q=sacmadeeqa&pg=PA73|title=The History of Somalia|first=Raphael Chijioke|last=Njoku|date=November 22, 2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313378577|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Media==
===In popular culture===
* The documentary film ''[[The Parching Winds of Somalia]]'' includes a section on the Dervish struggle and its leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.
* The historic [[romance novel|romance]] novel ''Ignorance is the Enemy of Love'' by [[Farah Mohamed Jama Awl]] has a Dervish protagonist called ''Calimaax'', who is part of an ill-fated love story and fights against the [[United Kingdom|British]], [[Italian people|Italians]] and [[Ethiopia]]ns in the [[Horn of Africa]].
* A 1983, film entitled ''A Somali Dervish'' was directed by [[Abdulkadir Ahmed Said]].
* In the ''[[Law & Order: Criminal Intent]]'' episode "[[Loyalty (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)|Loyalty]]", references are made to the Dervishes and their leader. The episode also features a character purported to have been descended from Muhammad Abdullah Hassan.
* In 1985, a 4-hour and 40 minute [[India]]n-produced [[epic film]] by filmmaker Salah Ahmed entitled the ''Somalia Dervishes'' went into production. With a budget of $1.8 million, it included an actual descendant of Hassan as its star, and featured hundreds of actors and extras.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=266&dat=19850615&id=5vsrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gG0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=2508,6505397 Exploits of Somalia's national hero becomes basis for movie] – ''[[Kentucky New Era]]''</ref>
* In the popular comic book series [[Corto Maltese]], the protagonist travels to the Horn of Africa during the Dervishes' battle against the British, and witnesses the former power storm a British fort. During these travels, he develops a long-term friendship with a Dervish warrior named ''Cush'', who subsequently features in several other of Corto's adventures around the world.

===Poems===
Some poems by the Sayid include:<ref>Diiwaanka gabayadii, 1856-1921 - Maxamad Cabdulle Xasan · 1999, PAGE 26</ref>
*[[Haddaan waayey]]
*[[Maqashiiya uunka]] is a religious and nationalist appeal
*[[Afbakayle]], which deals with treachery and etiquette 
*[[Mariyama Shiikh]], which deals with clemency
*[[Dardaaran]], says there is a hidden malicious intent behind stipends paid by colonialists

==See also==
{{Portal|Somalia
}}

* [[Haji Sudi]]- One of the founding members of the [[Dervish state|Dervish movement]] and the chief military commander.
* [[Abdullahi Sadiq]] - Governor of [[Ogaden]]
* [[Nur Ahmed Aman|Sultan Nur]]- Sultan of the Habr Yunis clan and one of the founding members of the Dervish movement and the Dervish Sultan.
* [[Hasna Doreh]] – wife of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.
*[[Ismail Mire]] -  A soldier and a bard .<ref>notes on Dervish personalities. ISMAY: 3/1/22.1919</ref>
* Sheikh [[Uways Al-Barawi]] religious rival of the Sayyid and leader of the Benadir revolt
* [[Bashir Yussuf]] – Somali religious leader who fought against the British alongside Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.
* [[Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi]] – Somali Imam and General of the Sultanate of Adal
* [[Sheikh Madar]] leader of the [[Qadiriyya]] tariqa and scholarly rival/opponent of the [[Salihiyya]] and Dervish 
* [[John Gough (British Army officer)|John Gough]] – Awarded a [[Victoria Cross]] for his actions as a column commander during the Third Somaliland Expedition against Hassan.
* [[Alexander Stanhope Cobbe]] – Awarded a [[Victoria Cross]] for his actions at Erego 1902.
* [[Adrian Carton de Wiart]] – British army officer who lost an eye attacking a fort at [[Shimbiris]] in 1914

==Notes ==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, ''The Failure of The Daraawiish State, The Clash Between Somali Clanship and State System'', paper presented at the 5th International Congress of Somali Studies, December 1993 [https://web.archive.org/web/20040815122806/http://somaliawatch.org/archivemar03/040629602.htm]
*[[Abdi Sheik Abdi]], ''Divine Madness: Mohammed Abdulle Hassan (1856–1920)'', Zed Books Ltd., London, 1993
*[[Francis Prevost|Battersby, Henry Francis Prevost]]. ''Richard Corfield of Somaliland'' (1914), ASIN: B000WFUQT8.
*[[Jaamac Cumar Ciise]], ''Taariikhdii Daraawiishta iyo Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan, (1895–1921), Wasaaradda Hiddaha iyo Tacliinta Sare'', edited by Akadeemiyaha Dhaqanka, Mogadishu, 1976.
*[[Douglas James Jardine|Jardine, Douglas J.]], ''[https://archive.org/download/TheMadMullahOfSomaliland/214616_The_Madmullah_Of_Somaliland_1916_1921.pdf The Mad Mullah of Somaliland]'', H. Jenkins, 1923.
*McNeill, Malcolm, ''In Pursuit of the 'Mad' Mullah'', 1902.
*[[Said S. Samatar]], ''Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism: The Case of Sayyid Mahammad Abdille Hasan'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982 (analyzes Mahammad Abdille's poetry and assesses his nationalist and literary contributions to the Somali heritage)
* Silberman, Leo. "The 'mad' Mullah: Hero Of Somali Nationalism." ''History Today'' (Aug 1960) 10#8 pp 523–534.
*Skoulding, F.A. ''With 'Z' Unit in Somaliland'', RAF Quarterly 2, no.3, (July 1931), pp.&nbsp;387–396.
*Swayne, H.G.C., ''Seventeen Trips through Somaliland and a visit to Abyssinia: With Supplementary preface on the 'Mad Mullah' risings'', 1903.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad ibn 'Abdallah Hassan}}
[[Category:Somali nationalists]]
[[Category:Somalian politicians]]
[[Category:1856 births]]
[[Category:1920 deaths]]
[[Category:Somalian Muslims]]
[[Category:Somalian religious leaders]]
[[Category:Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic]]
[[Category:Darod]]