• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Goolgule

Ethiopian News

  • ስለ እኛ/about
  • አስፈንጣሪዎች/links
  • ቤተ መዝገብ/archives
  • አድራሻችን/contact
Header Banner Image
  • Home
    ዋና ገጽ
  • Editorials
    ርዕሰ አንቀጽ
  • News
    ዜና
  • Socio-Political
    ማኅበራዊ-ሽከታ
  • Religion
    ሃይማኖታዊ
  • Interviews
    እናውጋ
  • Law
    የሕግ ያለህ
  • Opinions
    የኔ ሃሳብ
  • Literature
    ጽፈኪን
    • Who is this person
      እኚህ ሰው ማናቸው?
  • Donate
    ለባለድርሻዎች

Who is Seyyid Mohamed Abdillahi Hassan? An Ethiopian hero or a Somalia nationalist who championed for the goal “Greater Somalia”

January 7, 2014 07:32 am by Editor 3 Comments

Recently the Somali Regional government installed a statue in the middle of Jijiga town (the regional capital). This statue is for the 19th century “Somali patriot” who fought with all forces within the Horn of Africa. Historical books and literatures are full of the ideal he had waged battles and wars. In this short article I would like to consider whether he was an Ethiopian and deserve a multi-million dollar statue in the centre of the regional capital. And examine the legacy this man will send to our next generation. Ethiopia is championing a democratic state in which nation/nationalities live in equality, fraternity and brotherhood. The symbolic representation of this man hardly reflects these ideal.

Before we engage with these question let us see the historical background to the emergency and rise of Sayyid Mohamed Abdillahi Hassan. Sayyid Muhammad Abdullah Hassan (born 1856, Somalia, died 1920, Ogaden) was Somalia’s religious and nationalist leader (called the ‘Mad Mullah’ by the British). For 20 years he led armed resistance against British, Italian, and Ethiopian colonialist forces in Somalia.

He was born and brought up in the current Somaliland from his ogaden father and Dhulbahante Mother around the Talex area. As all local children he went to the local quranic school and studied Islamic religion. He was the eldest son of Sheikh Abdille, a religious Ogaden Somali. Hassan’s hero was his maternal grandfather, Sade Mogan, who was a great warrior chief. In addition to being a good horseman, by 11, Hassan had learned the entire Qur’an by heart. In 1875, he worked as a Qur’anic teacher. He then devoted 10 years to visiting centres of Islamic learning in Somalia and Sudan. He then travelled to Saudi Arabia and to perform his Hajj Pilgrimage. It was during his visit to Mecca and Medina he met with a religious fanatic known as Muhamud Saleh, the founder of Salihiyya order.

He was a religious zealot indoctrinated in religious fanaticism, just like the current al- shababa leader, Ahmed Godane, Mukhtar al zubed. Initially he mobilised Somali clans’ men for his doctrine of war against infidels and non-believer and waged war against both British and Ethiopian forces in the Horn of Africa. When the Somali clans were disillusioned with the motive of his fighting, they started to abandon him in bulk. To enforce obedience, he used some cruel form of punishment against anyone who opposed him. It was at this time that he relied a lot on his clans men. At the end of his life, he was much more a clan leader who simply waged war against anyone. As a result, he attacked many Somali clans both in Somaliland and Puntland and Somali regional state and after he simply resorted to looting and pillaging ordinary people and killed.

A turning point in his history was when he killed the Suldan of Dhulbahante Somali clan who lend him a lot of support during his campaign of hatred among Somali. His Islamic teaching in Berbera, current Somaliland port, had not gone well with the local population who already used to follow a moderate Islamic sect. As the result, the fanatic leader became isolated and irrelevant for the cause of Somali people in the Horn of Africa. A tribal raid under Somalis armed by the British killed the remaining Dervish but failed to catch Hassan. Along with some followers, he escaped to Arsi Oromo in Ethiopia where he tried to stabilize his position. In 1920, Hassan died of influenza at the age of 64.mad-mullah

Mohamed Abdillahi Hassan known as the ‘mad Mullah’ by the British was a fanatic religious leader who simply resorted to common criminality to advance his objectives. There is a striking similarity between him and the current Somali regional state, Abdi Mohamed Omar. The latter formed the Liyu police forces just as the fanatic religious leader did more than hundred years ago. He enlisted his own tribes’ men. Initially he attacked his own ogadeni clan to get the green light from his EPRDF/TPLF masters in Harar and Addis Ababa. Then he waged war in to the Somali clans in the regional state. It is an open secret that the liyu police forces also carried out operation beyond current Ethiopian border just like what the Mad Mullah used to do.

There are many Ethiopian Somali who fought for Ethiopia in the long past immediate recent. We are baffled by the decision of the Somali regional government to put a statue in the middle of the Jijiga town of this fanatic. The most surprising thing is Ethiopian’s so called federal government tacit acceptance of somebody who plundered and bloody the people’s nose as a hero. While the people of Somali regional state are suffering in much form of man-made calamities, it is a beggar belief to build substantial statue at the cost of tax payers.

Taking into account all these, then the question everyone asking is what the purpose of erecting a statue in Jijiga town for a person who preached hatred, religious, cultural and clan intolerance among Somali people and wider Ethiopia. It is also putting a torn in wound to inaugurate this statue on the day of nation/nationalities by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Haile Mariam Desalagn . What message this is sending to next generation.

Personally I don’t have any grudge against this man and his ideal. I might be judging a person sitting in period and time that completely different from his time. However, it is completely a mockery of Somali culture and an insult to the nation/ nationality and clan and tribe democracy the current Ethiopian government want to advance. The next generation of the country will get the opportunity of reading the historical fact written about this man in many books and literatures. They will get opportunity to read his poems in which contain his venomous hate toward other religious sect, Christianity, clan and nation/nationalities. Moreover, this man’s policy at the beginning was based on “greater Somalia” idea. When he failed, he turned to his close affinity with his clansmen by persuasion, sometime by force. He led expeditions against many Somali clans who opposed his indoctrination.

haudland@gmail.com

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
facebookShare on Facebook
TwitterTweet
FollowFollow us

Filed Under: Opinions Tagged With: Right Column - Primary Sidebar

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. koster says

    January 9, 2014 09:13 am at 9:13 am

    This is part of the grand project of woyane ethnic fascists to disintegrate Ethiopia. Their dream of greater TIGRAI will only be realized when Ethiopia disintegrates. Leaders who fought for Ethiopian unity are enemies of this fascist government and do not expect that these fascists erect stature for someone who did for unity which is against their agenda.

    Reply
  2. DM says

    January 12, 2014 08:12 pm at 8:12 pm

    It’s quite an irony that Emperor Haile Selassie (the unifier of Ethiopia and Africa) was denied of a statue in AU headquarters while the non-unity forces are getting one!

    Not sure where this is heading to and who is orchestrating it.

    DM

    Reply
  3. KidusMariam says

    January 21, 2014 12:21 am at 12:21 am

    Why is it you have throw a low blow on eprdf/tplf to make a point. Is there a website where there’s no political influence in Ethiopian News.. PS don’t blame a whole tribe because of a few people. I can easily say why are all amahara’s becoming pente? Why leave an Ethiopian faith that’s been around for 2000years for a western faith that’s only been around for less then 100years. Or why did haile selassi kill & reject Tigray & Oromo & other ethnic groups equal rights as Amharas?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

በማኅበራዊ ገጾቻችን ይከታተሉን

Follow by Email
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Tweet

Recent Posts

  • “አስደንጋጭ”! 1 ሚሊዮን ከሚጠጋ ተፈታኝ ተማሪ ወደ ዩኒቨርሲቲ የሚገባው 30 ሺህ (3.3%) ብቻ ነው  January 27, 2023 09:11 am
  • የማይዘነጋዉ የኢትዮጵያዊያኖች የጀግንነት ተጋድሎ ታሪክ፡- ኮሎኔል ባጫ ሁንዴ (ታጠቅ) January 27, 2023 06:12 am
  • ጎርጎራ – የመጻዒው ዘመን ሙሽራ! የዉበት ፈርጥ! January 17, 2023 04:18 pm
  • ሁለተኛው መስቀል አደባባይ January 17, 2023 04:13 pm
  • በአቡዳቢ የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን January 17, 2023 04:08 pm
  • በንፋስ ስልክ ላፍቶ ስምንት የመሬት ሌቦች ተያዙ January 16, 2023 11:36 am
  • ሺሻ ሲያስጨሱ በተገኙ ሆቴሎችና የምሽት ጭፈራ ቤቶች ላይ እርምጃ ተወሰደ January 16, 2023 08:50 am
  • በሐሰተኛ መታወቂያ የደኅንነት አባል ነን ብለው ሲያጭበረብሩ የነበሩ ተያዙ January 13, 2023 02:03 pm
  • ተሽከርካሪ ወንበር ለትግራይ – “ናይ ኣካል ጉዱኣት ተሽከርካሪ ዘለዎ ወንበር” January 12, 2023 07:17 pm
  • የአማራው ኩራት፣ የኢትዮጵያ ዘብ፣ የትህነግን ቅስም ሰባሪ! January 12, 2023 04:00 pm
  • በኢትዮጵያ ላይ የተጣሉ ማዕቀብ እና ሌሎች አስገዳጅ ሕጎች ሙሉ ለሙሉ ተሰረዙ January 12, 2023 01:52 pm
  • የቻይና ዕዳ ስረዛ “Payday Loan Diplomacy” ወይስ ኢትዮጵያን ያዳነ ተግባር? January 12, 2023 11:00 am
  • የአዲስ አበባ አስተዳደር ከቋንቋ ጋር በተያያዘ ውሳኔ አስተላለፈ January 12, 2023 10:46 am
  • “አምባሳደሩ” የቀድሞ ጌቶቻቸውን እንዲያቋቁሙ ተሾሙ January 11, 2023 03:47 pm
  • መከላከያ ሸኔን የሚዋጉ ሚሊሻዎችን አሠልጥኖ አስመረቀ January 10, 2023 05:37 pm
  • በሰባት ተጠርጣሪዎች ላይ ከባድ የሙስና ወንጀል ክስ ተመሰረተ January 10, 2023 03:36 pm
  • የሽግግር ፍትሕ ፖሊሲ አቅጣጫ January 6, 2023 03:26 pm
  • “ከዕብሪቱ አስተንፍሰነዋል” – ኢሳያስ January 2, 2023 07:29 pm
  • [ኢትዮጵያን] “አስታክኮ ኤርትራን መውጋት ለሚፈልግ ኃይል አንተባበርም” January 2, 2023 07:11 pm
  • የ፰ ወር ሕጻንና ጨቅላ ወንዶች የሚደፈሩባት ትግራይ December 14, 2022 02:49 pm
  • “ሰውን ለመርዳት ሰው መሆን ብቻ በቂ ነው” የደጎች አውራ የመቄዶኒያው ቢንያም በለጠ December 14, 2022 09:59 am
  • “የሀብት ምዝገባ መረጃው ለሕዝብ ክፍት ይደረግ “ December 13, 2022 10:30 am
  • የኢትዮጵያ ዓለምአቀፋዊ የሌብነት ደረጃ December 13, 2022 09:42 am
  • ለብረት አቅላጮች ለመሸጥ በኤሌክትሪክ የብረት ማማዎች ስርቆት የ100 ሚሊዮን ብር ኪሳራ December 13, 2022 09:26 am

ጎልጉል የድረገጽ ጋዜጣን በኢሜይል ለማግኘት ይመዝገቡ Subscribe to Golgul via Email

ከዚህ በታች ባለው ሣጥን ውስጥ የኢሜይል አድራሻዎን ያስገቡና “Subscribe” የሚለውን ይጫኑ፡፡
Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Copyright © 2023 · Goolgule