Habr Awal
The Habr Awal, alternately known as the Zubeyr Awal is one of the largest sub-clans of the wider Isaaq clan family, and is further divided into eight sub-clans of whom the two largest and most prominent are the Issa Musa and Sa'ad Musa sub-clans. Its members form a part of the Habar Magadle confederation.
The Habr Awal traditionally consists of nomadic pastoralists, coastal people, merchants and farmers. They are historically viewed as an affluent clan in the horn Africa that played a huge part for Somaliland's independence. The Habar Awal are politically and economically influential in present-day Somaliland as well as the Horn of Africa at large, and they reside in strategic coastal and fertile lands.
Distribution
The Habr Awal clan make up the majority in Maroodi Jeex region which is considered the most populous region in Somaliland and the second most populated in the Somali Republic after Banaadir district. They form a majority of the population in the national capital Hargeisa as well as exclusively dominate in the agricultural towns and settlements of Gabiley, Wajaale, Arabsiyo, and Kalabaydh. The Habr Awal are also prevalent in Sahil region, principally in the regional capital and main port city of Berbera, the resort town of El-Sheikh, the historic port city of Bulhar, the historic town of Sheikh as well as Daarbuduq. The clan also partially inhabits the northern portion of the capital city of Burao in Togdheer region as well.Outside of Somaliland, the Habr Awal also have large settlements in the Somali Region of Ethiopia, specifically in Fafan Zone where they respectively make up the majority in Harshin, Hart Sheik, and Wajaale towns. They also settle and border Kebri Beyah and Jigjiga in the Fafan Zone. They also have a large settlement in Kenya where they are known as a constituent segment of the Isahakia community. Finally they have a large presence in Djibouti as well, forming a large percentage of the Somali population in Djibouti and within Djibouti they have historically settled in Quartier 3, which is one of the 7 major districts in Djibouti.
Lineage
is a semi-legendary mythical figure who allegedly arrived in the Horn of Africa to spread Islam around 12th to 13th century. Hence, Ishaaq married two local women in Somaliland that left him eight sons, one of them being Abdulrahman. The descendants of those eight sons constitute the Isaaq clan-family.The grave of Zubeyr Awal, the eponymous ancestor of the Habr Awal subclan of the Isaaq, is located in Jidali in Sanaag which is about 100 km east of the tomb of his grandfather Sheikh Ishaaq bin Ahmed, the founding father of the Isaaq clan, whose tomb is located in the coastal town of Maydh.
History
Medieval Period (Conquest of Abyssinia)
Historically, the Habr Awal were part of the Adal Sultanate and are mentioned in the renowned "Futuh al-Habasha" for their major contributions in the Ethiopian-Adal war as the Habr Magaadle along with the Habar Yoonis, Arap, Ayub and Eidagalle clans against the Ethiopian Empire, and also for producing a historical figure known as Ahmad Girri bin Husain who was the righthand partner of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi and a chieftain for the Habr Magaadle forces during the Ethiopian–Adal war.Sa'ad Musa
The Habr Awal have a rich mercantile history largely due to their possession of the major Somali port of Berbera, which was the chief port and settlement of Habr Awal clan during the early modern period. The clan had strong ties to the Emirate of Harar and Emirs would hold Habr Awal merchants in their court with high esteem with Richard Burton noting their influence in Emir Ahmad III ibn Abu Bakr's court and discussions with the Vizier Mohammed.The Habr Awal as a whole are a rich people, mainly thanks to the trade passing through the port of Berbera which lies in the territory of the Sa’ad Musa.
In this way the tribes occupying the tract of country through which the main caravan or trade routes passed accumulated a good deal of wealth, while those like the Ayal Ahmed, fortunate enough to possess a port so favored by Nature as Berbera, naturally soon became rich.
The Habr Awal merchants had extensive trade relations with Arab and Indian merchants from Arabia and the Indian subcontinent respectively. When these foreign traders arrived in Berbera and Bulhar to conduct trade, there was a mutually beneficial arrangement based on the abban system between them and the local Reer Yunis Nuh and Ahmed Nuh lineages of Sa’ad Musa, Habr Awal:
Before this, and prior to the British settlement at Aden in 1839, the Ayyal Yunis and Ayyal Ahmed lineages of the Habr Awal clan had held Berbera and jointly managed its trade, sharing in the profits on all commercial transactions as ‘protectors’ of foreign merchants from Arabia and India. When under the stimulus of developments at Aden the port's prosperity markedly increased, the numerically dominant Ayyal Yunis drove out their rival kinsmen and declared themselves commercial masters of Berbera. This led to a feud in which each side sought outside help; the defeated Ayyal Ahmed turned to Haji Shirmarke ‘Ali and his Habr Yunis clansmen for support. With this backing, they were then able to re-establish themselves and to expel the Ayyal Yunis who moved to the small roadstead of Bulhar, some miles to the west of Berbera.
Not only did the Habr Awal host foreign merchants at their ports, they also conducted trade missions on their own vessels to the Arabian ports. The majority of the Somali merchants who frequented Aden and other Southern Arabian ports hailed from the Habr Awal clan. They procured various raw goods from Harar and the interior in exchange for manufactured goods. During their stay, the Habr Awal rented their own houses and hired their own servants, whereas other Somali clans tended to stay with relatives already established across the Gulf.
Merchants. — These are generally members of the Habr Awal tribe. They bring from Harrar and the Galla country, coffee, saffron, tusks, and feathers, taking away in return zinc, brass, broad cloth, and piece goods. They remain in Aden for about twenty days at a time during the trading season, which lasts about nine months,' making four trips. During their residence they hire a house, and are accompanied by their own domestics.
In the interior, Habr Awal trade caravans were a frequent sight according to contemporary European accounts of the Somali Peninsula:
On leaving Hargeisa we travelled for many miles through beautiful park-like land, alive with birds and jungle fowl. We met the usual Somali khafilas of Habr-Awal men, carrying their skins, gums, ghee, and coffee to our port at Bulhar, situated between Berbera and Zeila.
The Somalis from the deep interior, principally those from the Ogaden, also gained most of their resources from the Habr Awal merchants who they called "iidoor", an enviable pejorative meaning merchant or trader, a reference to the mercantile nature of the Habr Awal traders at the time. The coastal Habr Awal regularly acted as brokers/middlemen for the Somali clans of the interior who wished to take their goods to the ports of Berbera and Bulhar:
The custom is for the Ayal Achmet to act as brokers, and too often most of the profits stick to the hands of the middleman. Till lately no Ogadayn ever went to the coast, but entrusted the goods to coast traders.
Battle of Berbera
When a British vessel named the Mary Anne attempted to dock in Berbera's port in 1825 it was attacked and multiple members of the crew were massacred by the Habr Awal. In response the Royal Navy enforced a blockade and some accounts narrate a bombardment of the city. In 1827 two years later the British arrived and extended an offer to relieve the blockade which had halted Berbera's lucrative trade in exchange for indemnity. Following this initial suggestion the Battle of Berbera 1827 would break out. After the Habr Awal defeat, 15,000 Spanish dollars was to be paid by the Habr Awal leaders for the destruction of the ship and loss of life.The Isaaq Sultan Farah Guled and Haji Ali penned a letter to Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi of Ras Al Khaimah requesting military assistance and joint religious war against the British.
This would not materialize as Sultan Saqr was incapacitated by prior Persian Gulf campaign of 1819 and was unable to send aid to Berbera. Alongside their stronghold in the Persian Gulf & Gulf of Oman the Qasimi were very active both militarily and economically in the Gulf of Aden and were given to plunder and attack ships as far west as the Mocha on the Red Sea. They had numerous commercial ties with the Somalis, leading vessels from Ras Al Khaimah and the Persian Gulf to regularly attend trade fairs in the large ports of Berbera and Zeila and were very familiar with the Isaaq.
Consequently, The Habr Awal clan signed a protectorate treaty with the British Empire on 14 July 1884. The Habr Awal continued to have a lucrative trading agreement with their foreign contacts, many of whom were also under British rule in their respective nations. The British established the capital of the British Somaliland protectorate at Berbera, but later moved the capital to Hargeisa in 1941.
Contemporary Era
Migration South from the Coast to the Interior
In the mid 19th century Hargeisa and the surrounding region was a hotbed of clan strife with raids being made on caravans attempting to pass through. Madar alongside other Sufi sheikhs established the Jama'a Weyn or the big congregation in Hargeisa. The new congregation adhered to the 900 year old Qadiriyya order established by renowned Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani and introduced new practices that would put Hargeisa on the trajectory to becoming the largest Somali city in Somaliland and the second largest Somali inhabited city to date. Hargeisa and its environs had suitable soil and ample water supply for agriculture yet the pastoralists had not been taking advantage of this fact. Madar alongside the other leaders of Jam'a Weyn introduced the cultivation of sorghum and the new construction of permanent housing and creating his grand mosque in 1883. The Sheikh was also responsible for leading the communal prayers supplicating to Allah for rain in a ritual known as roobdoon. Sheikh Madar and Isaaq Sultan Deria Hassan met outside Hargeisa in 1870 to discuss issues regarding the new town and agreed that poaching and tree cutting in the vicinity should be banned. The Saad Musa branch of the Habr Awal began to settle in Hargeisa under the watch of Madar and the Sultan Deria and eagerly took up the new farming methods.The Jama'a formed a nucleus that attracted other pastoralists to come and settle in the burgeoning town. As well, clan conflicts were mitigated as the new community had managed to unify on a shared religious identity rather than aligning strictly on traditional clan basis. With the Sheikh succeeding in the task delegated to him by his master Sheikh Kabir. Religious leaders in the Jama'a took it upon themselves to place the disabled in the region under their care.