Hiraab Imamate

 ( Somali Empires ) 

While Sultan Abiker was returning to Cadale he was killed shortly thereafter by his own clan, for what was deemed betrayal. He was replaced politically by Sheikh Daud Abgaal of the principality of Mareeg.

Questi riferiva che Abubaker, Sultano di Itala e a buon amico dell'Italia, era stato ucciso a tradimento ai primi di marzo da alcuni somali della sua stessa tribù (Abgal) a poche ore di distanza dalla stazione di Itala.

"He reported that Abubaker, Sultan of Itala and a good friend of Italy, had been killed treasonously in early March by some Somalis of his own tribe (Abgal) a few hours away from the Itala station"

Upon return, their boat was studded in arrows, and Lieutenant Zavagli’s body in a pool of blood, his head decapitated.

With the Captain's Italian military warships shortly on their way south to Mogadishu in the same year following the death of the Cadale ruler, the Volturno crewships had faced numerous conflicts in Cadale and Warsheikh, before Imam Mahmud Imam Binyamin from the rival Imamate faction in Mogadishu signed the Benadir Protectorate treaty,

Robert L. Hess summarises the advent of Imperialism published in the Journal of African History.

At the end of the nineteenth century the Horn of Africa had been partitioned among Ethiopia, Great Britain, and Italy. The evacuation of the Egyptian garrison at Harrar and the military prowess of Ras Makonnen had permitted Menelik to extend his new Ethiopian empire eastwards into the Ogaden region inhabited by various Somali tribes. In 1884, the British had extended a protectorate over northwestern Somalia for the strategic defense of Aden and the Bab El Mandeb entrance to the Red Sea. In 1893, after years of difficult negotiations, an Italian chartered company had assumed its concessions of the Benadir coast of Southern Somalia, and an Italian protectorate had in anticipation been proclaimed over the rest of southern Somalia in 1889. In that year of apparent but ephemeral diplomatic success, when Italy assumed that Ethiopia, too, was its protectorate, northeastern Somalia came under influence. In 1908, it united the northern protectorate (Obbia, Mejertain) and Benadir to form an Italian Somalia Governorate. Since 1889 however, there has been a rivalry in the north and south between Ethiopia and Italy over the allegiance of the Somalis.

Upon receiving further treaties and concessions from inland subclans at a time, Italy attempted to administer the traditionally remote and inaccessible hinterlands of Greater Benadir from Elhur on the Mudug coastline to Giumbo in the Lower Jubba.|quote=The Heggi (Edji), nicknamed with which the immigrants of northern Somalia are called in Benadir, is rather the term of Dir or Daròd who are the two progenitors of the populations of the sultanates of Obbia and the Migiurtini.|quote=The Sultanate of Obbia, populated by the Merehan, is made up of cabile originating from the Heggi until a protectorate was declared.|quote=The large groups considered pure and therefore constituting the Somali people proper, are the Daròd and the Hauia. The Daròd populate the entire Obbia region while the Hauia populate the central part of Somalia. This often led to border disputes over pasture, water wells and renewals of conflict. Regular attempts were made by the Colonial Administrator to draw up contractual agreements between the clans.|quote=The Habar Gidir are a Hawiya tribe. They have their seats as knights on the border between the Sultanate of Obbia and northern Benadir. La colonizzazione Europea nell'Est Africa Italia, Inghilterra, Germania (Gustavi Chiesi 1909)|quote=As Somalis of Migiurtinia and the Sultanate of Obbia have fame of pride, of belligerence, violence, fame, it is generally contradicted by the facts. Rare are the wars of a tribe, or a given number of Rer, against others: and these wars are summarized in a lengthy exchange with angry embassies, of raids and mutual stealing, inquests of caravans or merchandise intended for enemy tribes.

Tra le popolazioni che , per la loro normale dislocazione verso i limiti interni del retroterra del Benadir e dei Sultanati, erano da considerarsi « genti di confine », andavano annoverate, oltre quelle già dette : - le tribù degli Herab, insediate nella zona a cavallo.

"Among the populations that, due to their normal location towards the boundaries of the hinterland of Benadir and the Sultanates, were to be considered "border peoples", in addition to those already mentioned: - the Herab tribes, settled in the area on Horseback"

"The Obbian was not to initiate an offensive against the Mullah without the consent of the Resident, whom he recognised as the representative of the Italian government in all matters. Obbian expansion in the direction of Meregh was halted and all armed military movements had to be approved by the Italian Resident."

After the Fascist takeover in the 1920s, the region was snapped up by the Italians under Italian Somaliland and this eventually led to the birth of a Modern Somalia. However, the Hiraab hereditary leadership has remained intact up to this day and enjoys a dominant influence in national Somali affairs.

According to local oral tradition, the Hiraab imamate administration involved a powerful alliance of closely related groups who shared a common lineage under the Hiraab clan division of the Gorgaarte Hawiye. The alliance involved the army leaders and advisors of the Habar Gidir, Duduble and Udejeen, the religious roles were reserved by Sheekhaal, and the Imam was reserved for the Abgaal clan who is believed to have been the firstborn. The Imamate was not only confined to Hiraab but incorporated other Somalis such as Hawadle, Gaalje'el, Karanle, Silcis, Surre and Benadiri. Somalia D'oggi (Soggettario Centro Studi Somalo 1956)|quote= L'anello dell'Imam - Leggenda di el Uergadi

Vivevano un questa regione di Hirab, figli di Hirab e dei suoi figli Mudulle, Martille, Mahamud, Madarkeis e i Hauadle loro parenti e i Murosada e i Galmah e altri; nella regione che oggi chiamano Itala. Stavano contenti, con vacche, cammelli, capretti, e qualche sciamba. Come un padre, l'Imam governava i Hirab. Girava per le sue terre e, quando augurava pace per loro e i loro figli e i figli dei figli, con la sua parola scendeva la benedizione di Dio.

The Imam's ring - Legend of El Uergadi

There lived in this region of Hirab, the sons of Hirab and his sons Mudulle, Martille, Mahamud, Madarkeis and the Hauadle their kinsmen and the Murosadas and the Galmahs and others; in the region that today they call Itala (Adale). They were happy with cows, camels, kids, and some swarms. Like a father, the Imam ruled the Hirabs. He went around his lands and, when he wished peace for them and their children and children's children, God's blessing descended with his word. Once established, the Imamate ruled the territories stretching from Mogadishu in the Banaadir province to the Shabelle River valley, to Galguduud province all the way to the arid lands of Mudug, which included the ancient port of Hobyo.

The Hiraab Imamate's main capital was at Mogadishu and the House of Yacquub was the ruling hereditary dynasty of the Hiraab Imamate. The Imam would receive dignitaries in Mogadishu, correspond with leaders such as the Sultan of Zanzibar or foreign explorers and assign them patrons when they visited his territory to assist them in their business and trade.

Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti an early Italian explorer who recorded traditions of the Imamate, had made the following observation;

It is a traditional custom among the Somalis, that the assumption of the title of Ugaz and Imam is always celebrated with an important ceremony attended by all the tribes with which they agree to convene. Great assemblies (scir) and fantasies take place to dance, eat, improvise songs, horse races and the party goes on for a month. In short, it is a real feast for which even when two tribes were at war, if a Somali assumes the title of Ugaz or Imam - the hostilities pursued - gain temporary peace. And it is in the solemnity of these assemblies that the head adorns themself with a special turban, made with filaments peeled from a tree which the Somalis call Ghed-hadd.

Explorer John Kirk arrived in southern Somalia in 1873 during a period of great economic prosperity with the region being dominated by the Imamate and the Geledi Sultanate. Kirk met Imam Mahmood who reigned over Mogadishu. Trade between the Hiraab of Mogadishu and the Geledi Sultanate led by Ahmed Yusuf was flourishing. Kirk noted a variety of other things. Roughly 20 large dhows were docked in both Mogadishu and Merka respectively filled with grain produced from the farms of the Geledi in the interior with much of the trade being destined for Zanzibar.

It is known in several records that the Imamate imported firearms from Aden, Djibouti and Zanzibar to maintain armed guards in Mogadishu and to defend its country borders. The Imamate was also said to have provided the Dervishes with an array of arms from the Banaadir.

• Ajuran Sultanate
• Geledi Sultanate
• List of Sunni Muslim dynasties
• Hiraab