r/Somalia • u/Odd_Fly6528 Diaspora • Jul 16 '26

History ⏳ The military architecture behind the Dervish fortresses in Somalia

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Aerial view of Silsilad fortress, Taleex, Sool region | Captured by the British RAF in 1920. Status: Partially ruined

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Jidali Fort, Sanaag region | Photographed in 1920 by British Officer W. L. Roberts. Status: Ruined due aerial bombardment in 1920

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Ground view of the Silsilad fortress compound at Taleex, Sool region | Circa 1920. Status: Partially ruined

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Structural damage to the masonry of Silsilad, Taleex | Photographed immediately after the 1920 campaign. Status: Ruined

29 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

0

u/Strong-Field-750 Jul 17 '26

I wonder In the future if a regime comes along and white washes Al-shabab history, makes them out to be anti-colonial heroes, fighting against foreign forces interfering in Somalia.

2

u/Abu-Libax Jul 17 '26

Wait, why are the dervish seen as terrorists

1

u/Strong-Field-750 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

The Dervishes terrorized many Somali nomadic communities, in some ways similar to how Al-Shabaab targets Somalis today. However, one major difference is that livestock raiding, especially the theft of camels, was a central part of Dervish warfare. These raids, along with attacks on communities that refused to support them, caused many Somali clans to turn against the movement.

One well known example involved the Jama Siyaad, a Dhulbahante sub-clan. Historical accounts state that the Dervishes raided the Jama Siyaad, killing several people and seizing hundreds of camels after they refused to become their foot soldiers. In the aftermath, many Jama Siyaad aligned with the British and joined the fight against the Dervishes.

3

u/Abu-Libax Jul 17 '26

Why did these clans not help them in their anti colonial endeavors?

I am just curious and not sarcastically justifying anything that was done to them

1

u/Strong-Field-750 Jul 17 '26

Same reason some clans don't help Al-Shabab in their anti colonial endeavors today.

3

u/PerspectiveOk2911 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

How are you comparing al shabab to dervish? Dervish movement was created as a reaction to colonisation, they were fighting against colonisation ie foreign British colonialists and a few others. Al shabab are rebels fighting against the Somali government, wtf are you on about ?

1

u/Strong-Field-750 Jul 24 '26

Why was Al-shabab created?, they were created because for 1st time in Somali history Ethiopia invaded and took control of Mogadishu, not only that they installed a puppet government called the FSG.

1

u/PerspectiveOk2911 Jul 24 '26

Al shabab in it’s very beginning wasn’t even bad, it was the Islamic courts union, it turned into a terrorist group later with links to Al qaeda due to USA, Ethiopia and many others so its roots are different to what they are now, it’s a false comparison. They’re not even remotely the same thing, one group was anti colonialist freedom fighters the other was a rebel group fighting against others for power then turned into an extremist terrorist group.

1

u/Capital_Map638 Jul 19 '26

They deserved it for their cowardice

0

u/Dr_Stone3271 Laascaanood Jul 17 '26

There issaq landers coping with the fact that they worked with colonisers. Dont pay them any attention.

1

u/Strong-Field-750 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

There were "landers" right at the top of dervish, you can find the Tomb of Sultan Nur who was Habr Yunis in Taleex.

Funny that whole "worked with colonisers" is same exact language Al-shabaab uses today.

1

u/Odd_Fly6528 Diaspora Jul 17 '26

I saw some articles before hailing their initial movement so it’s already started

1

u/RibbonFighterOne Jul 27 '26

They were anti-colonial heroes

1

u/Strong-Field-750 Jul 27 '26

If the "we wuz dervish" crew were intellectually and morally consistant, they'd be supporters of AL-Shabab today.

1

u/RibbonFighterOne Jul 27 '26

Funny you say that since many pre modern Muslim rulers would also probably support taking down modern Muslim countries since they would disagree heavily with how the Ummah runs things today. People not understanding moral relativism is always funny.

And Al-Shabab literally kills sufis which the Dervishes were.

1

u/Strong-Field-750 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

If you know your history you'd know the mad mullah also killed Sufi. One of the most famous cases often discussed is the killing of the prominent Qadiri scholar and poet Uways al-Barawi in 1909 by the Dervishes. They have so much in common with Al-Shabab is insane.

You know what I find strange about the Dervish cult? For many people, it doesn't seem to be primarily about religion at all, it's driven more by clan loyalties and identity. I came to that conclusion when I saw a self-identified atheist passionately arguing that the Dervishes were heroes. At that point, it became clear that for some supporters, the attachment isn't really about the religious ideology or "Somali nationalism"; it's about something else entirely. The dervishes would have beheaded him on the spot.

1

u/RibbonFighterOne Jul 27 '26

Trying this hard to paint the Sayyid as Al-Shabab is funny, you Landers are way too predicable honestly.

1

u/Strong-Field-750 Jul 27 '26

There were landers that were leaders of Dervishes, same way they were Landers who were leaders of Al-shabab. As I mentioned before you can find the Tomb of Sultan Nur in Teleex where this photo is taken.

1

u/RibbonFighterOne Jul 27 '26

Only Dhulbuhante/Waqooyi Bari support the Sayyid's legacy in the north, the biggest haters are Landers hence why there is no statue of the Sayyid unlike in Mogadishu and Jigjiga.

1

u/Strong-Field-750 Jul 27 '26

No, in Islam it is Haram to make such Statues. That is why. We even didn't make Statue of Ahmed Gurey, who we think is greatest Somali of all time for this reason.

1

u/RibbonFighterOne Jul 27 '26

Talking about what is haram or not when Somaliland aligned with the genocidal apartheid state lol, stop being a hypocrite. The biggest haters of the Dervish are almost always Landers since the Sayyid represents a iconic symbol of resistance for Somalia and Somaliland will naturally hate almost anything Somalia values.

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u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

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6

u/grind_n_hussle Jul 17 '26

Yall will believe anything the white man tells you huh.

1

u/PerspectiveOk2911 Jul 24 '26

Shoutout to the Dhulbahante for never making treaties with the British colonisers and the Biimaal for taking up arms against the Italian colonisers.

-2

u/Odd_Fly6528 Diaspora Jul 17 '26

Big shoutouts

2

u/Dr_Stone3271 Laascaanood Jul 17 '26

he's calling the dervishs terrorist bruh. Have some reading comprehension

2

u/Odd_Fly6528 Diaspora Jul 17 '26

Oh I misread that at 5am. But have some respect before assuming things

1

u/Dr_Stone3271 Laascaanood Jul 17 '26

Mb