The Isaaq Kingdom (, Wadaad: , ) was a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Somali-

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

kingdom that emerged after the fall of the

Adal Sultanate The Adal Sultanate, also known as the Adal Empire or Barr Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate'', ''Adal Sultanate'') (), was a medieval Sunni Muslim empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din III on th ...

between the 14th until it was overthrown by a coalition of

Isaaq The Isaaq (, , ''Banu Ishaq'') is a major Somali clans, Somali clan. It is one of the largest Somali clan families in the Horn of Africa, with a large and densely populated traditional territory. The Isaaq people claim in a traditional legend ...

in the middle of the 18th century. according to oral tradition, the kingdom was led by the Tol Jeclo branch of the Greater

clan Family, where they ruled for centuries starting from the 13th century. It was the predecessor to the more widely known

Isaaq Sultanate The Isaaq Sultanate (, Wadaad's writing, Wadaad: , ) was a Muslims, Muslim sultanate that ruled parts of the Horn of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries. The kingdom spanned the territories of the Isaaq clan in modern-day Somaliland and Ethiopi ...

which ruled from 1749 to 1884 under the Guled Dynasty.

History

Origins

Somali genealogical tradition places the origin of the Isaaq tribe in the 12th or 13th century with the arrival of Sheikh

Ishaaq Bin Ahmed Ishaaq bin Ahmad bin Muhammad , more commonly known as Sheikh Ishaaq or Sheikh Isaaq (, ) is a prominent figure in the oral traditions of the Somali Isaaq clan-family. According to these traditions, which were also preserved in several Arabic Ha ...

(Sheikh Ishaaq) was one of the scholars who crossed the sea from Arabia to the Horn of Africa.Rima Berns McGown, ''Muslims in the diaspora'', (University of Toronto Press: 1999), pp. 27–28I.M. Lewis, ''A Modern History of the Somali'', fourth edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), p. 22 Sheikh Ishaaq settled in the coastal town of

Maydh Maydh (also transliterated as Maedh, Mette, Mait or Meit) (, ) is an ancient port city in the eastern Sanaag region of Somaliland. History Antiquity According to Augustus Henry Keane, Maydh represents an early center of dispersal of the Somali ...

in modern-day northeastern

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

. Hence, Sheikh Ishaaq married two local women in Somaliland that left him eight sons, which would be the forefathers of the 8

clans.I.M. Lewis, ''A Modern History of the Somali'', fourth edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), pp. 31 & 42

Establishment

By the 1300s the Isaaq clans united to defend their inhabited territories and resources during clan conflicts against migrating clans, and by the 1600s, after the fall of the

, the Somali lands split into numerous clan states, among them the Isaaq. According to oral tradition, prior to the House of Guled, the

clan-family were ruled by a dynasty of the Tolje'lo branch starting from, descendants of Ahmed nicknamed Tol Je'lo, the eldest son of Sheikh Ishaaq. There were eight Tolje'lo rulers in total who ruled for centuries starting from the 13th century.

References

{{reflist Monarchies of Africa