Muhammad ‘Abdille Hassan rose to sheikh status in his teenage years through Quranic learning
Evidence
Muhammad ‘Abdille Hassan, according to his family’s records, was born on 7 April, 1864, at a small watering-place between Wudwud and Bohotle in the Dulbahante country of the eastern part of the British Somaliland Protectorate. His grandfather, Sheikh Hassan Nur, of the Ogaden clan, had left his homeland to settle amongst the Dulbahante in 1826 and had married there. At the early age of seven, Muhammad began to learn the Quran under a local teacher, and by the age of ten, when his grandfather died, could read the Quran and became his teacher’s assistant. Some five years later, having decided to dedicate his life to religion, he set up as a teacher on his own account, and by the early age of nineteen had won the title of ‘sheikh’ for his learning and piety. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 202
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: A Quranic teacher’s question planted nationalism in young Hussen