Ishaaq bin Ahmed

Common card · No. 415011

Ishaaq bin Ahmad bin Muhammad, more commonly known as Sheikh Ishaaq or Sheikh Isaaq (Somali: Sheekh Isxaaq) is a semi-legendary figure who plays a prominent role in the oral traditions of the Somali Isaaq clan-family. According to these traditions, which were also preserved in several Arabic hagiologies, he was an Islamic scholar of the Shafi’i school who crossed the sea from Arabia to the Horn of Africa. He is traditionally regarded as the Sayyid forefather of the Isaaq clan-family, whose territory in the Horn of Africa is wide and densely populated. According to tradition, Sheikh Ishaaq traveled from Arabia to Somaliland in the 10th or 11th century, where he married two women; one from the local Dir clan and the other from the neighbouring Harari people. He sired eight sons who are the common ancestors of the Isaaq clan-family. He is said to have settled in what is today the Erigavo District, and to have established his capital at Maydh. He remained in Maydh until his death. The stories...

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