Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn
Title Sheikh
Born 13th century
Ethnicity Somali
Era 13th century
Religion Islam
Jurisprudence Shafi'i
Main interest(s) Islamic literature, Islamic philosophy

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn (Arabic: يوسف بن أحمد الكونين‎‎) (b. 13th century), popularly known as Aw Barkhadle ("Blessed Father") [1] , Yusuf Al Kownayn, Yusuf Al Bagdhadi [2], and Shaykh Abu Barakat al Barbari (Blessed Father of Somalia)[3] [4] was a 13th-century Somali Muslim scholar.

Biography

Sheikh Yusuf Al-Kawneyn was a Somali scholar who studied in Zayla and later in Iraq. As a result of his studies in Iraq, he was given the title of "Al Baghdadi" as well.[5] He is also noted for having devised a Somali nomenclature for the Arabic vowels.[6] This would eventually evolve into Wadaad's writing. A Sharif,[1] he has been described as "the most outstanding saint in northern Somalia".[7]

Family

Sheikh Yusuf Al Kawneyn is also associated with the Walashma Dynasty of Ifat and Adal.[8]The Walashma dynasty was a medieval Muslim dynasty of the Horn of Africa. It governed the Ifat and Adal Sultanates in what are present-day northern Somalia, Djibouti and eastern Ethiopia. Sheikh Yusuf is known as being the founder and ancestor of this royal family.[9][10]

Shrines

The Shaykh has shrines dedicated to him, in the Maldives,[11] in Sri Lanka [12] in the town of Aw Barkhadle in northern Somalia,[13] and also in a site called Qoranyale, near the town of Borama.[14]

Aw Barkhadle

Before Al-Kowneyn's arrival into this town (now named after him) was called Dogor.[15] The residents were not Muslim, but rather pagan, believing and taking part of a pre-Islamic Somali religion called Wagar. The Wagar itself is thought to be an anthropomorphic representation of a sacred feature or figure, indicating an indigenous non-Islamic religious fertility practice in Aw Barkhaadle.[16] The word wagar/Waĝa (or Waaq) denotes the Sky-God adhered to by many Cushitic people (including the Konso) in the Horn of Africa including the Somali in pre-Islamic times.[17] both before and during the practice of Christianity and Islam.[18]

While completing his studies in Zayla, Al Kowneyn was told of a town in Somalia called Dogor, with an oppressive king called Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr. According to the legend, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr married couples by sleeping with the bride during the first six nights of the marriage and engaged in acts of paganism and magic.[19] Local people at Aw-Barkhadle attribute the conversion of Somalis to Islam, to the defeat by duel of the previous religious leader, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr, by the Muslim newcomer Aw-Barkhadle, who heard of the oppressive nature of the king and wanted to stop him. The Saint showed the religious superiority of his beliefs in contrast to the local beliefs of Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr’s followers, whom the former won over in great number.

Furthermore, the Aw-Barkhadle site is also important burial site of the Muslim rulers of Awdal, Al-Kowneyn himself of the Walashma dynasty of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD is buried in this town [20]

Maldives

A Plaque in Juma Mosque, Malé, Maldives, on which Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn's name is written. Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn was a Somali who is said to have converted Maldives in 12th century AD to Islam.

In the Maldives, he is called Saint Abu Barakat al Barbari (The blessed father of Somalia) and whose religious name was Shaykh Yusuf al Kawneyn,[21]. He is also credited to have been responsible for spreading Islam in the islands, establishing the Hukuru Miskiiy Mosque, and converting the Maldivian population into Islam.[22] Ibn Batuta states the Madliveian king was converted by Abu Al Barakat Al Berber (Blessed Father of Somalia)[23]. The Shaykh reportedly converted the islands into Islam by convincing the local King, Sultan Mohammed Al Adil, after having subdued Ranna Maari, a demon coming from the sea.[24]

Sri Lankan Muslim Settlement

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn is also credited with starting the first Sri Lankan Muslim settlement. It is located in western Sri Lanka and is named Berbereen (Beruwala) in honour and respect of the Shaykh. [25]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Abdullahi, p.13
  2. ↑ {{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=I. M|title=Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society|date=1998|publisher=The Red Sea Press|page=97}
  3. ↑ Altenmüller, H., Hunwick, J. O., O'Fahey, R. S., & Spuler, B. (2003). The writings of the Muslim peoples of northeastern Africa, Part 1, Volume 13. Leiden [u.a.] : Brill,. p. 174.
  4. ↑ "Richard Bulliet – History of the World to 1500 CE (Session 22) – Tropical Africa and Asia". Youtube.com. 23 November 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  5. ↑ Lewis, I. M (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 97.
  6. ↑ Laitin, p.85
  7. ↑ Lewis (1998), p.102
  8. ↑ Cerulli, Enrico (1926). Le popolazioni della Somalia nella tradizione storica locale. L'Accademia. Cerulli suggests that the Saint "Aw Barkhdale" (Yusuf Al Kownayn) can be associated with "Yusuf Barkatla", ancestor of Umar' Walashma, founder of the Ifat dynasty
  9. ↑ Lewis, I. M (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 89.
  10. ↑ Nehemia Levtzion; Randall Pouwels (Mar 31, 2000). The History of Islam in Africa. Ohio University Press. p. 242. Aw Barkhadle, is the founder and ancestor of the Walashma dynasty
  11. ↑ Ibn Batuta (1968). Monteil, Vincent, ed. Voyages d'Ibn Battuta:Textes et documents retrouves (in arabe). Anthropos. p. 127.
  12. ↑ Jaleel, Talib (8 July 2015). Notes On Entering Deen Completely:Islam as its followers know it. EDC Foundation. p. 1106.
  13. ↑ Mire, Sada (22 March 2015). Wagar, Fertility and Phallic Stelae: Cushitic Sky-God Belief and the Site of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, Somaliland.
  14. ↑ Lewis, I.M (1998). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 97.
  15. ↑ Mire, Sada (22 March 2015). Wagar , Fertility and Phallic Stelae: Cushitic Sky-God Belief and the Site of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, Somaliland.
  16. ↑ Mire, Sada (22 March 2015). Wagar , Fertility and Phallic Stelae: Cushitic Sky-God Belief and the Site of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, Somaliland.
  17. ↑ Hallpike, C.R. (1972). The Konso of Ethiopia: A study of the values of a Cushitic people . Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  18. ↑ Mire, Sada (22 March 2015). Wagar , Fertility and Phallic Stelae: Cushitic Sky-God Belief and the Site of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, Somaliland.
  19. ↑ Altenmüller, H., Hunwick, J. O., O'Fahey, R. S., & Spuler, B. (2003). The writings of the Muslim peoples of northeastern Africa, Part 1, Volume 13. Leiden [u.a.] : Brill. p. 174.
  20. ↑ Paulitschke, P (1888). Beiträge zur ethnographie und anthropologie der Somali, Galla und Harari. Leipzig.
  21. ↑ "Richard Bulliet – History of the World to 1500 CE (Session 22) – Tropical Africa and Asia". Youtube.com. 23 November 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  22. ↑ Mackintosh-Smith, Tim (2010). Landfalls: On the Edge of Islam from Zanzibar to the Alhambra. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 384.
  23. ↑ Ibn Batuta (1968). Monteil, Vincent, ed. Voyages d'Ibn Battuta:Textes et documents retrouves (in arabe). Anthropos. p. 127.
  24. ↑ Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, tr. and ed. H. A. R. Gibb (London: Broadway House, 1929)
  25. ↑ Jaleel, Talib (8 July 2015). Notes On Entering Deen Completely: Islam as its followers know it. EDC Foundation. p. 1106.

References

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