Muhammad Abdullah Hassan

thumb|right|Our aim is to cleanse the land of Unbelievers. Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (Somali: Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan; Arabic: محمد بن عبد الله حسن; 7 April 1856 – 21 December 1920) was a Somali scholar, poet, military leader, and religious, cultural, and political figure. He founded and headed the Taleh-based Dervish State, which led a jihad against British, Italian, and Ethiopian colonial intrusions in the Somali Peninsula. The British Empire pejoratively called him the "Mad Mullah". In 1917 the Ottoman Empire referred to him as the "Emir of the Somali People", and he is regarded as the "Father of the Somali Nation". Quotes Speeches Unbelieving men of religion have assaulted our country from their remote homelands. They wish to corrupt our religion, to force us to accept Christianity, supported by the armed force of their governments, their weapons, their numbers. You have only your faith in God, your arms and your determination. Do not be frightened by their soldiers or armies: God is mightier than they. ... Be patient and steadfast in hardship. . . . If you see persons who aid the Unbelievers by serving them as guides to water holes or along paths, they are their spies and agents; attack them. They are no Muslims, for the Prophet said, “Whoever bears arms against us is not one of us.” Our aim is to cleanse the land of Unbelievers. Speech in 1898 after establishing a base for the Dervishes in Buhotle Poems There is no remedy if you make common cause with the Christian foreigners. Once you let down your guard, the infidel will ensnare you. For the money he pours out for you [now], you will suffer later. First he will rob you from your firearms, as if you are women. Then he will brand you like cattle. Next he will order you to sell the country [to him]. Then he will put loads on your backs as on donkeys. However, once I have passed beyond Harar and limey, How will you benefit from my warning, when he will be laying his telegraph line? Dardaaran (Parting Words) Even if I failed to have a flag flown for me from here to Nairobi, Did I not gain religious honour and paradise, and victory and defeat [in war]? Although I failed to obtain the luscious pastures of the 'lid and the Nugaal as grazing, Did I not successfully ride my steed out to war? Although I failed to get people to show me sympathy andto acknowledge their kinship with me, Did I not gain God's mercy and the [the reward of seeing] the Prophet's countenance? Haddaan Waayeey (If I Failed) A man who is a servant to the Europeans, from the day he was born until now, who carries their equipment or loads their camels, or who slaughters sheep and goats for them or hunts with them, or serves as a scout for them or who has in his heart a false profession of faith that [such a man] should be treated as a Muslim our God has not said and I cannot accept. Nin aqdaamo ferenji ah (A Man Who Is A Servant To The Europeans)