Kabir Khalil or ''scholar Khalil'' was a 19th-century scholar and one of the three head

Ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

in the

Emirate of Harar The Emirate of Harar was a Muslim kingdom founded in 1647 when the Harari people refused to accept Imām ʿUmardīn Ādam as their ruler and broke away from the Imamate of Aussa to form their own state under `Ali ibn Da`ud. The Harar, city of Ha ...

. He was a member of the

Qadiriyya The Qadiriyya () or the Qadiri order () is a Sunni Sufi order (''Tariqa'') founded by Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077–1166, also transliterated ''Jilani''), who was a Hanbali scholar from Gilan, Iran. The order, with its many sub-orders, is widesp ...

order which was prominent in the Horn of Africa at the time.

Biography

Kabir Kabir ( 15th century) was a well-known Indian devotional mystic poet and sant. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Gar ...

Khalil was a Harari scholar and was fluent in both Harari, and

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 ...

. During the reign of Emir Ahmad Ibn Abu Bakr the European explorer

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memor ...

would visit Harar in 1855 and described Khalil as the leading religious figure in the city. The other Harari scholar being Kabir Yonis and Shaykh Jami of the Berteri Somali descent were also highly regarded. Khalil advised his pupil

Sheikh Madar Madar Ahmed Shirwac, better known as Sheikh Madar (; 1825–1918) was a 19th-century Somalis, Somali political/religious leader, a social reformer, merchant and a jurist who is known as the founder of Hargeisa. He hailed from the Yunis Nuh divisio ...

to establish a

tariqa A ''tariqa'' () is a religious order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking , which translates as "ultimate truth". A tariqa has a (guide) who plays the ...

commune in present-day

Hargeisa Hargeisa ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland, a ''List of states with limited recognition, de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still considered internationally to be part of Somalia. It is also th ...

and spread the tariqa and its values. One of which being to try and reduce the tribal conflict along the trade route between Harar and

Berbera Berbera (; , ) is the capital of the Sahil, Somaliland, Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country, located approximately 160 km from the national capital, Hargeisa. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of t ...

which was damaging livelihoods and causing unnecessary death. This led Sheikh Madar and his companions to found the Big Commune (Jama’a weyne) of Little Harar (Hargeisa) in circa 1860. Sheikh Madar also started

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

plantations in the vicinity of the town to maintain self-sufficiency as well as taking care of the sick and elderly inhabitants of the growing settlement. This cultivation soon spread and was taken up eagerly across the region by Somalis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabir Khalil Asharis Sunni imams Shafi'i fiqh scholars Quranic exegesis scholars Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam 19th-century Muslim scholars of Islam People from Harari Region

Biography

See also

References