ABDULKADIR SAKHAWUDDIN (c. 1906–1946) (AUN) (RIP) | A Pan-Somalist | Anti-colonial Activist | Somali Youth League (SYL) The founder of the Somali Youth Club (SYC) in 1943. Abdulkadir Sakhawuddin was born in Tiyeglow, northeast of Biyoley, the spiritual center of Uwaysiyya. which was founded by his grandfather, Sheikh Uways ibn Muhammad alBarawi. At a very young age, Sakhawuddin completed Qur’anic School, having mastered Arabic and related religious disciplines. He then joined the Qadiriyya order and became a devout Sufi contemplative mystic until he felt that he had reached ilham, one of the more elevated spiritual states. In the late 1920s, Sakhawuddin started organizing jama’a brotherhoods to teach his people about Islam and then mobilize them to resist the Italian colonial occupation. He traveled throughout the country and in the late 1930s established a meeting place for young people in Mogadishu. Sakhawuddin was remarkably well read in Arabic and Muslim history and political issues, and believed in the role of youth in promoting better social values. He aimed at founding a young political cadre such as the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire and the Young Arabs in the Arab World. In early 1943, Sakhawuddin recruited 12 highly motivated disciples to lead the Somali people in the whole Horn of Africa and challenge the “colonial powers” of Britain, Italy, France, and Ethiopia. In May 1943, he announced in Mogadishu the formation of the SYC with 13 founding members. Sakhawuddin then started traveling again to promote the ideals and principles of the club throughout the country. This time, he was fortunate that most of the Somali people were under one colonial administration, the British Military Administration. With the exception of Djibouti, then French Somaliland, Somalia was administered temporarily by Britain in what was known in Britain as the Occupied Enemy Territories. As Sakhawuddin was able to travel widely, his political message was heard all over the Somali territories. In August 1946, he died in Jigjiga, during one of his campaigns to create new SYC branches and spread SYC ideology throughout the country. His sudden death was a great loss to his adherents. However, Sakhawuddin’s ideas did not die with him, and indeed they thrived. On 11 May 1947, only a few months after Sakhawuddin’s death, the SYC was transformed into a progressive nationalist party, the Somali Youth League. Thus, his dreams were realized. Source | Book | Historical Dictionary of Somalia, New Edition | By Professor Mohamed Haji Mukhtar | The Scarecrow Press.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 21:53:27 +0000
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