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Concept
Dervish movement (Somali)
Summary
The Dervish Movement (Dhaqdhaqaaqa Daraawiish) was a popular movement between 1896 and 1925, which was led by the Salihiyya Sufi Muslim poet and militant leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, also known as Sayyid Mohamed, who called for independence from the British and Italian colonies and the defeat of Ethiopian forces. The Dervish movement aimed to remove the British and Italian influence from the region and restore the "Sufi system of governance with Sufi education as its foundation", according to Mohamed-Rahis Hasan and Salada Robleh.
Hassan established a ruling council called the Khususi consisting of Sufi tribe seniors and spokesman, added an adviser from the Ottoman Empire named Muhammad Ali and thus created a multi-clan Islamic movement in what led to the eventual creation of the state of Somalia.
The Dervish movement attracted between 25,000 and 26,000 youth from different clans over 1896 and 1905, acquired firearms and then attacked the Ethiopian army in the Jigjiga region. The Ethiopians retreated and then gave the Dervishes their first military victory. The Dervish movement then declared the colonial administration in British Somaliland as their enemy. To end the movement, the British sought out the competing Somali clans as coalition partners against the Dervish movement. The British provided these clans with firearms and supplies to fight against the Dervishes. Punitive attacks were launched against Dervish strongholds in 1904. The Dervish movement suffered losses in the field, regrouped into smaller units and resorted to guerrilla warfare. Hasan and his loyalist Dervishes moved into the Italian-controlled Somaliland in 1905 after Hasan signed the Illig treaty, under which the Dervishes were ceded the Nugaal Valley, which strengthened his movement, and Hasan subsequently received an Italian subsidy and autonomous protected status. In 1908, the Dervishes entered the British Somaliland again and began inflicting major losses to the British in the interior regions of the Horn of Africa.
Official source
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