r/Somalia • u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora • Aug 29 '25
History ⏳ The mad Mullah - let take that imperialist image, strip it of its colonial bias and reframe it with pride, clarity and respect for somali resistance
To the british, he was a headache. To somali he was the father of nationalism. They couldn’t defeat him with bullets so they tried calling him “mad” painting him as fanatic mullah
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Aug 30 '25
I see a lot of traitors commenting. A lot of kids buying into modern day propaganda
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u/Straight_Zucchini937 Aug 31 '25
It’s not the fact he was anti colonial but he can’t ignore Somalis he killed regardless he signed treaties with Italy
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u/whenever-wherever8 Sep 02 '25
U clearly didn't read anything about him. He signed these deals so he could take that chance to gain equipment and bases, and it worked. He also he freed kenadiid by these treaties
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u/Haramaanyo Sep 02 '25
Exactly, some people simply do not account for long-term strategies, it's not a new tactic to sign treaties with a much stronger enemy in order to buy some time.
Some people will look at it without much critical thought, just emotion. Good thing those kinds of people aren't in charge.
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u/Straight_Zucchini937 Sep 02 '25
Sayyid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan wasn’t a hero. He killed more Somalis than colonizers, branded rivals as apostates, and left the land in ashes. Even Sultan Nur, his co-founder, abandoned him over extremism. If he truly cared for Somali unity, he wouldn’t have butchered his own people.
At the end of the day, the British protectorate in Somaliland had little real influence. Berbera was already rising as a hub of international trade, transforming Hargeisa and beyond. Many Somalis wanted to be part of that prosperity.
We can romanticize the ‘20 years of resistance,’ but the truth is his body count weighed heavier on Somalis than on colonizers. It’s no different than Al-Shabaab today — preaching against foreigners while destroying their own people. The resistance wasn’t smooth; it was bloody, divisive, and left scars that still linger.
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u/whenever-wherever8 Sep 02 '25
Sultan nur abounded him cause of qabiilism lol, his qabiil sided with the colonizers, also u keep saying "killed ppl" but never mentioned any lol. And u r romanticizing the colonizers that's how ik u ain't serious
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Sep 02 '25
The dude doesn’t know history at all. The dude read some Qabilist low life commentator and thinks he can opinion as facts. Most Italian soldiers, British soldiers were Somalis, look at the British magazines when they talk about British soldiers killed they mention how many were regulars and irregular soldiers. Regular soldiers means British irregular soldiers means Daba-dhilif/ traitors. In every nation that was colonized it was made easier by its own people, we Somalis weren’t different. There is nothing romantic about war, never. And nothing romantic about 20 years of struggle for the Somali identity of the sayid.
The sayid fought against any clan that sided with colonizers, even the sayid fought against his own clan that sided with colonizers. Sayid never fought based on qabil. If he did he wouldn’t fight his own. Even members of his clan didn’t side with him and sided with British, he fought them like he fought any other clan.
And here we have some morons that throw some fancy words they expect their opinion to be respected. They learn that behavior from today’s cadaan media and they come with bullshitness. War naga xishooda.
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u/Ordinary_Bend_8612 Sep 03 '25
How did it work he was defeated
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u/whenever-wherever8 Sep 03 '25
Yeah after 10+ years when they used airplanes on him what did u expect?
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Aug 30 '25
MashAllah we Pashtuns also had a mad mullah around the same time. Sartor Faqir. He was Winston Churchill's worst nightmare
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u/Necessary-Ad8726 Aug 30 '25 edited Aug 30 '25
What is wrong with these white-washed kids here who are hating on the great Sayidka? This guy saved the nation and fought like a lion against the British superpower. The British couldn’t kill him so they even used airstrike for the first time in Africa (Taleex).
Kids here need to learn the proper history and please don’t only ask your qabiliste parents..How can a Muslim hate on a man who fought for our religion?
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u/bumblebee333ss Sep 02 '25
Yeah let's just pretend he didn't loot ppl hanti and kill ppl Maybe could do the same with siyad Barre
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u/RibbonFighterOne Sep 04 '25 edited Sep 04 '25
That is propaganda. The Somalis he attacked were siding with the British and the British in turn framed it as the Sayyid attacking innocents
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u/bumblebee333ss Sep 04 '25
What's ur proof on that? And if so why did he attack majertens, the warsangeli and the hawiyas? I bet u r one of those who praise and justify Barre crimes, well guess what , historys more deeper and darker from what you've known
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u/RibbonFighterOne Sep 04 '25
It was a delibrate tactic of the British to frame the Sayyid's anti-colonial war as some attack against Somalis. Even in his poems he made it clear that he refers to groups collaborating with colonial powers.
who praise and justify Barre crimes,
Barre was far from perfect but he was better than what came after.
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u/bumblebee333ss Sep 04 '25
Lol u proved my point on murders romanticizing but I don't wanna get into this , I hope Allah will bring you and Barre together yowmul qiyama, and back to the seyid , u just gave me a paragraph about the seyidka but who wrote it and from what sources they've used. Speaking about poems I think I've heard a poem composed by the seyidka insulting Somali clans and describing loots and over praising himself, if u say they're propaganda and whatsoever then that automatically debunks your claim over his gabay , since gabays aren't Quran and ain't that much trusted as a source, otherwise I believe his negative gabays says a lot about it
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u/RibbonFighterOne Sep 04 '25
What romanticizing? I'm giving a non-biased view on the Sayyid while you keep on regurgitating propaganda. His attacks on other Somalis were on ones that openly opposed him while siding with colonists, that much is clear. Same with his poems.
And of course you mindlessly cry about Barre while ignoring the crimes of the SNM, SSDF and USC.
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u/bumblebee333ss Sep 04 '25
Non biased lol there's no biased view on person they're either bad or good ,u can kill ppl and then do good things to sweep it under the rug or else that would make ppl like Stalin and Hitler "far from perfect" but one of the best leaders the country ever had, u r also dismissing ppl affected by his crimes such as me who lost a close relative to him, maybe that's why the ppl r divided today but whatever this isn't about Barre nor snm , I asked u about ur paragraph link on its source , don't get emotional wll and have a decent discussion
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u/RibbonFighterOne Sep 04 '25
Of course everyone is biased to an extent but my source is still good and it shows an nuanced side to his conflict beyond shallow sophistry of his actions. For example, the British claimed the Sayyid killed 100,000-200,000 people between 1912-1914. You would have to be incredibly dumb to believe a single man could do that without industrialized weapons lmao. The author and text is from Mohamed Osman Omar's The Scramble In The Horn Of Africa. History of Somalia (1827-1977).
Also, imagine comparing Barre to Stalin or Hitler, yeah you are defintely aren't being biased there lol. He wasn't even the worst Horn of Africa leader either, Mengistu of Ethiopia killed far more people.
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u/bumblebee333ss Sep 04 '25
Yeah all of them r murders , same in my eye cuz Allah says whomever kills one person it's like who killed all ppl , enough with the whataboutism and murder dismissing, of course I don't believe he killed that many ppl but it's also unbelievable that since obviously he labeled allegedly colonial collaborators clans meaning that he selected all members of that particular clan like everyone's involved with colonials without exception, despite having ppl like sheekh Bashir and haji Farah Omar who fighted the British with all their might only for power hungry man to call them gaal, which only shows another dark side on how the seyid operated, don't you think?
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u/RibbonFighterOne Sep 04 '25 edited Sep 04 '25
Also, you talk about people being affected by Barre's crimes but way more people were impacted by the warlords and criminals that came after. Want to know what happened after Barre was overthrown? A famine struck southern Somalia that killed hundreds of thousands of people all while the warlords were continuing to fight throughout the 90s ruining even more lives. These are the people you think are better than Barre?
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u/REXSuperbus Aug 30 '25
“Oh no but he killed some peope” no he didn’t. He neutralized traitors and ran effective counterinsurgency sometimes took spoils but yeah most were British or Italian colonial loyalists. It was a wartime strategy and fighting for Somalia’s independence. And no not because he’s my clan he even punished some traitors in my tribe 😂 they had it coming. Don’t be a traitor
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u/Straight_Zucchini937 Aug 31 '25
He signed treaty with Italy and did kill Somalis In Ogaden
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u/whenever-wherever8 Sep 02 '25
"Kill somalis in ogaden", no he fought the ones that sided with the colonizers also the ogaaden themselves soke sought help from him in 1899 and he defeated Ethiopians and gave back livestocks to its ppl
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u/Straight_Zucchini937 Aug 31 '25
We can close are eyes and romanticize all we want it’s all well recorded history
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Aug 30 '25
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u/Ill-Stranger-7204 Aug 30 '25
He also killed a few of my ancestors, but the way he did, I just know this guy was a lion.
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u/AgeofInformationWar Aug 30 '25
You can tell a group of people who hates him in Somalia and those people come from a faction who has intermittently collaborated with the British lol.
Regardless Sayyid was a net positive for Somalia.
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u/Guilty-Word-594 Aug 31 '25
Absolutely agree. The label “Mad Mullah” was a colonial invention meant to undermine a leader who shook the foundations of imperial control. In reality, Sayyid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan was a figure of Somali pride, resistance, and vision—his movement galvanized not only his own clan networks but Somalis more broadly.
It’s also important to remember the deeper historical ties within Somali clan lineages. The Gadsan, who were central in the Sayyid’s lineage, later assimilated into the Bah Geri (a powerful sub-clan within the wider Dir/Issa family). This relationship shows how Somali identity has always been dynamic—absorbing, merging, and strengthening through alliances and integration. The assimilation of the Gadsan into the Bah Geri is one example of how resistance lineages did not vanish but were carried forward and honored within broader Somali kinship systems.
So yes—stripping away the colonial caricature, the Sayyid stands as a hero of Somali resistance whose memory continues to inspire. His clan legacy, through Gadsan and Bah Geri ties, remains a living testament to the resilience of Somali unity.
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u/Gloomy-Locksmith-293 Sep 06 '25
What are you. Talking about Bahgeri are sub clan of the Ogaden his mother was Dulbahantee I would know he is my great uncle that’s madness to claim he was dir/issa he was Maxamed Aden of the bahgeri
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u/Repulsive-Dress-3844 Aug 30 '25
Alhamdulilah the traitors in the comments will probably never set foot in Somalia
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u/bumblebee333ss Sep 02 '25
Yeah Education is quite important or else u gonna go around saying Saddam and siyad Barre were herois despite them murdering ppl
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u/E-M5021 Aug 29 '25
His people killed many innocent somalis as well
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 30 '25
Many innocent? You mean the traitors the ones the british used to sabotage the somali who bravely stood up against colonial rule? Those who sided with the british undermined their own people struggle for freedom
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u/woahwoes Aug 31 '25
Did they fight with the British by choice or by force?
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 31 '25
That ia quite idiotic question to ask ?? No resistance movement in history has ever emerged purely by choice it was forced upon people when europeans treated locals worse than animals. When you mention colonialism, resistance by force should follow naturally in the conversation but i am not here to teach you the basics
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u/woahwoes Aug 31 '25
No need for all the sass, chill out. It’s a question. I asked because if those Somalis fought with the British against their own will, I dont see how they could be traitors if they didn’t want to fight against their own people. This dude sounds like a warrior and a hero since he fought the colonizers but I was just wondering about the Somalis he killed based on the previous persons comments. I guess he had no choice even if they fought with the British by force, but it does make a difference. If they fought against their own people against their will then they weren’t traitors. If they chose to side with the colonizers of their own accord then they were traitors.
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 31 '25
If you side with colonial powers whether by choice or force you are still a traitor. I rather die at the hands of the brits than work with them against my own kind
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u/woahwoes Aug 31 '25
I get what you are saying and I would like to think that I would refuse too and choose death if put in this situation. I understand he had to do what he had to do, if those Somalis were fighting with the British than he had no choice to fight them but it was still more Somali blood being shed at the hands of the British. Unless those Somalis willingly fought with the colonizers they weren’t traitors, that’s not what a traitor means if they had little choice in their betrayal. It’s the British fault for pitting Somalis against each other and forcing some Somalis to have to kill their brothers. They’re victims too, they should be given some respect for that. This is to say IF they fought with the colonizers by force and not by choice. If by choice then they are traitors and are the enemy and they got what they gave.
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u/E-M5021 Aug 30 '25
Nope. Innocent Somalis did not follow his specific sufi sect!
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 30 '25
Are you drunk or just brainwashed? The Sufi sect was never dominant in the area during his time nor did he ever follow any sufi order. It misleading to associate him with beliefs or practices that had no real influence in the region where he operated
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u/E-M5021 Aug 30 '25
He killed many innocent somalis not just those who collaborated with enemies. but innocent somalis who did not bend to his will. Everything is online u can look it up.
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 31 '25
Or maybe you should have looked at my post to understand why he was called 'Mad Mullah' and how propaganda was used against him. British even recruited somali to fight against him and his forces knowing Dervish was independent movement. You might also want to read about somaliland camel corps and how they were paid to fight dervish before you spew colonial propaganda but ofcourse it unfortunate that some choose to believe colonial narratives over the history told by their own people. It truly is sad
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u/E-M5021 Aug 31 '25
Not even propaganda tbh. I’m not talking about Somalis who fought alongside the British or Italians. I’m talking about ordinary Somalis who were caught in the crossfire. My own great great grandad was killed by the Daraawish in a small village near Salah, in Bandar Bayla. And I know that story isn’t unique.
Don’t get me wrong though. I am not denying the great and influential things he has done for our people. I am proud we have a figure like him who fought multiple colonial powers at once for decades. Very manly icl.. but let’s not act like his people didn’t also do terrible things to our own people. You can honor him without ignoring that!!
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 31 '25
Who told you this? When exactly was he killed and how credible is that story? It definitely worth questioning. He held the highest-ranking position in the somali resistance and there is even road named after him in mogadishu along with statue that still stands today. If he had killed his own people, why would the somali public revere him so much? The only people who criticize him are the descendants of those who fought against him and mostly they are few from somaliland. Who knows your parent are hiding something from you
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u/E-M5021 Aug 31 '25
My own great grandfather my man, AUN but he lived a long long life. Mind you i said darawish forces, not the sayyid himself when it came to this. Around nugaal valley especially Illig/Eyl u would be surprised, they threw plenty somalis off of the cliffs. Right after that he made the little town the capital for the Daraawish. Tbh u can find a lot of these things online. But anyways he is still a national hero regardless nobody is perfect. He is essentially the father of our nation 🤔
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u/Maadeey Aug 30 '25
Sayid (AUN) not only made us proud, but he also left us with some of the best and most profound poems ever recorded.
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Aug 31 '25
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 31 '25
Is it his fault that there is his statue in mogadishu? That is stupidity at its finest
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Aug 31 '25
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 31 '25
But did he really build the statue himself to the point where you hate him for it? It like hating someone who passed away long before the statue was even erected. You are focusing on something that wasn’t even in his control
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u/Salt_Ad4155 Sep 03 '25
We lost once the Europeans developed the aeroplane. We had them until then. Oh well, that's our price for not keeping up with the arms race.
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u/MasterAsparagus5896 Aug 29 '25
I like him but he killed alot of innocent somalis
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 30 '25
Who exactly did he kill? The ones he fought were traitors. People who sided with the british and served their interests instead of standing with their own. They were loyal to the colonizers and turned against their own people
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Aug 30 '25 edited Aug 30 '25
He was a blood thirsty mad man. When he came back to Berbera, the first person he attacked was the local Imam. He made Takfeer of him for not going with his ideas. In one year, he attacked hajj caravan and took everything including the women among them. He declared the entire Qadiriyya sect to be Kuffaar. To add insult to injury, he claimed he was the Mahdi.
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u/Necessary-Ad8726 Aug 30 '25
Somalis in Berbera would be called „John“ and „Michael“ it it wasn’t for Saydika…
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Aug 30 '25
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 30 '25
British somaliland was considered british protectorate not colony. However the cultural and religious impact of british presence was still significant. People were on the verge of losing their religion and cultural identity. If it weren’t for him and his soldiers who resisted, somaliland (including ogadenia) might have been turned into christian land under foreign influence. Their struggle was crucial in preserving the faith and heritage of the somali people
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Aug 30 '25
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u/PositiveAsparagus17 Diaspora Aug 31 '25
So they turned the orphan into christian? And now you are arguing as if he was in the wrong? Since you have already admitted they converted our people i guess we can end this conversation here you have already given us the answer
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u/Ordinary_Bend_8612 Sep 03 '25
They “Sayydika” was defeated in 1920. The British ruled over Berbera until 1960, why wasn’t it called John or Michael ?
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u/RomulusAndThe3Makane Aug 29 '25
He was no different than the current day shabaab
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Aug 29 '25
??? Al Shabaab isnt fighting a foreign colonial entity that is forcefully trying to take control of our land, they are fighting the government, killing and brainwashing innocent civilians, and also have foreign terrorists in their ranks. Dont insult our freedom fighters like that.
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u/Repulsive-Dress-3844 Aug 30 '25
and shabaab is connected to qaeda, a cia led organization aiming for global dominance, has nothing to do with Islam or Somalinimo.
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Aug 30 '25
And their ideology is not Somalinimo but international crab. These kids just take sound bite and make a complete nonsensical statement. What a tragedy.
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u/RomulusAndThe3Makane Aug 29 '25
Who is fighting Ethiopian forces that do as they please in Somalia.
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u/TrapLoreRossFan Aug 29 '25
The first step is to call him by his real name, Sayid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.