Salaan Carrabey

• Name — Salaan Mahamud Hirsi Salaan Carrabey • Occupation — Poet • Born — 1850 • Birthplace — Beer, • Died — 1943 • Place of death — Burao, British Somaliland

Salaan was born in 1850 in the town of Beer, Isaaq Sultanate. He completed his Qur'anic education in Beer after which he married a woman of the Ahmed Garad/Dhulbahante clan and worked as a merchant trading in Aden, India and East Africa. He was a polyglot, learning many languages throughout his career as a merchant, including Arabic, English, Swahili, Hindustani, and Amharic.

Salaan's poetry is very rich and he was a notable figure and participant in the most famous chain of Somali poetry known as the Guba series in which legendary Isaaq and Darood poets traded boastful and sharp verses. He incorporated his knowledge of Arabic, English, Swahili and Hindustani into his poetry. Somali scholar and linguist Musa Haji Ismail Galal recorded many of his works.

Salaan had left Burao for several months after and upon his return the locals asked him to recite something. His response was this poem Mine • Illustration — Salaan Carrabey

Heavy infighting broke out between the Ahmed Farah and Rer Dahir subclans, both belonging to the wider Nuux subclan of the Habr Je'lo. The conflict had been going on for a long time, and no one had been able to put an end to it. Finally, the two subclans resolved to settle the dispute by battle, as is customary among Somali people. As the warriors gathered on the battleground, a famous and respected Sheikh named Fiqi Hasan, walked between them, reading from the Qu'ran while simultaneously translating verses from it for his audience, to remind them of the devastating results of conflict between relatives, as well as reminding the warring parties of their duties in Islam. One of the men responded by striking the Qur'an out of Hasan's hands and Salaan stepped forward telling the Sheikh that he spoke a language that these men understood (poetry). He then proceeded to recite a now-famous poem of his in geeraar style, titled War Toolow Colka Jooja (Oh Clansmen, Stop the War, or Oh! Kinsmen Stop the War): After Salaan concluded the geeraar Oh Clansmen, Stop the War, one of the intermediary elders, Baashe Shabeelle, told him that what he had just recited was not a gabay, and told him to recite something among the men or leave the battlefield. In response, Salaan then composed the famous poem, Kinship is a Shelter: It was said that when Salaan Carrabay had finished the poem that the two enemies, impressed by their kinsman’s appeal, disengaged and went their separate ways, avoiding further bloodshed.

Following a string of Habr Je'lo victories over the Dhulbahante in which they had captured many wells and reduced their opponents to a pitiful state, Salaan Carrabey composed this boastful poem called Haadaaqsi. The most important victory was the capture of the famous well of Caynabo. Hadaaqsi forms part of the Guba series.

Carrabey in his poem Tolnimo Wa Dugsiye (Kinship is a Shelter) notes many internal conflicts some of the decades prior and others that were ongoing. He preaches that kinship is in fact a bond and source of strength that should be valued. One such conflict he notes was fighting between kindred sections of the Habr Yunis. The powerful Sultan Hersi Aman caused much devastation when he attempted to become even more absolutist, eventually dying at the hands of his own clan in battle.

Salaan died in 1943 in Burao, Somaliland).