Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn , popularly known as Aw Barkhadle, Yusuf Al Kownayn, Yusuf Al Bagdhadi, and Shaykh Abu Barakat al Barbari, was a SomaliMuslim scholar and traveler. Based on reference to Yusuf Al Kawneyn in the Harar manuscripts, Dr. Enrico Cerulli has suggested that Al-Kawneyn was the founder and ancestor of the Walashma dynasty that governed both Sultanate of Ifat and Adal Sultanate during the middle ages..Many accounts indicate Shaykh Yusuf al Kownayn and Shaykh Isaaq were known to be contemporaries and in contact at the same time.
Biography
Sheikh Yusuf Al-Kawneyn was a native Somali scholar who studied in his city Zeila and later in Iraq. As a result of his studies in Iraq, he was given the title of "Al Baghdadi" as well. He is also noted for having devised a Somali for the Arabic vowels, this would eventually evolve into Wadaad's writing. Described by some as a Sharif, he has been described as "the most outstanding saint in southern Somalia". Yusuf is listed as Emir of Harar in 1038AD. The Sheikh is also known for spreading the Islamic faith, to the Maldives islands and Southeast Asia, after traveling there from Zeila, and was called by the residents there "Al Barakat Al Barbari". He is also known as being a member of the Somali 'Diwan al-awliya'.
Origin
According to archaeologist Sada Mire, local traditions indicate Yusuf arrived from Arabia. Sheikh Yusuf Al Kawneyn is also associated with the Walashma dynasty of Ifat and Adal, which was a medieval Muslim dynasty of the Horn of Africa. It governed the Ifat and Adal Sultanates in what are present-day Somaliland, Djibouti and eastern Ethiopia. Sheikh Yusuf is described by historians as being the founder and ancestor of this royal family. He is also known as representing the spiritual legacy of the Ifat and Adal Sultanates.
Shrines
The Shaykh has shrines dedicated to him, in the Maldives, in Sri Lanka, in the town of Aw Barkhadle in Somaliland, in a site called Qoranyale, near the town of Borama. and Harar. According to C.J Cruttenden, the tomb of saint Aw Barkhadle, which is located to the southwest of Berbera, was used by the Isaaq clans to settle disputes and to swear oaths of alliances under a holy relic attributed to Bilal Ibn Rabah. The Eidagale historically acted as mediators.
When any grave question arises affecting the interests of the Isaakh tribe in general. On a paper yet carefully preserved in the tomb, and bearing the sign-manual of Belat , the slave of one the early khaleefehs, fresh oaths of lasting friendship and lasting alliances are made...In the season of 1846 this relic was brought to Berbera in charge of the Haber Gerhajis, and on it the rival tribes of Aial Ahmed and Aial Yunus swore to bury all animosity and live as brethren.
Aw Barkhadle
Before Al-Kowneyn's arrival into this town was called Dogor. The residents were not Muslim, but rather pagan, believing and taking part of a pre-Islamic Somalia religion called Wagar. The Wagar itself is thought to be an anthropomorphic representation of a sacred feature or figure, indicating an indigenous non-Islamic religious fertility practice in Aw Barkhaadle. The word "wagar"/"Waĝa" denotes the Sky-God adhered to by many Cushitic people in the Horn of Africa including the Somali in pre-Islamic times both before and during the practice of Christianity and Islam. While completing his studies in Zayla, Al Kowneyn was told of a town in Somalia called Dogor, with an oppressive king called Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr. According to the legend, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr married couples by sleeping with the bride during the first six nights of the marriage and engaged in acts of paganism and magic. Local people at Aw-Barkhadle attribute the conversion of locals to Islam, to the defeat by duel of the previous religious leader, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr, by the Muslim newcomer Aw-Barkhadle, who heard of the oppressive nature of the king and wanted to stop him. The Saint showed the religious superiority of his beliefs in contrast to the local beliefs of Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr's followers, whom the former won over in great number. According to an elderly woman in the Barkhadle town of Somaliland, pagans who refused to convert to Islam were taken to Harar. Furthermore, the Aw-Barkhadle site is also important burial site of the Muslim rulers of Awdal, Al-Kowneyn himself of the Walashma dynasty of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD is buried in this town.
Maldives
In the Maldives, he is called Saint Abu Barakat al Barbari and whose religious name was Shaykh Yusuf al Kawneyn. He is also credited with spreading Islam in the islands, establishing the Hukuru Miskiiy Mosque, and converting the Maldivian population into Islam. Ibn Batuta states the Madliveian king was converted by Abu Al Barakat Al Berber. The Shaykh reportedly converted the islands into Islam by convincing the local King, Sultan Mohammed Al Adil, after having subdued Ranna Maari, a demon coming from the sea.
Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn is also credited with starting the first Sri Lankan Muslim settlement. It is located in western Sri Lanka and is named Berbereen in honour and respect of the Shaykh.
