Mad Mullah: The brave man who waged a war against Great Britain

By Amos Kareithi

As African Union troops and Kenya Defence Forces celebrate a rare victory after routing the dreaded Al Shabaab from one of their last bastions of resistance in Kismayu, their enthusiasm brings back memories of frustration experienced by a mightier force – the British.

Although this feat took more than five years to accomplish and involved the combined forces of the African Union troops to convincingly silence the guerilla outfit, this is nothing compared to what the British troops faced over a century ago in the hands of a solitary man they nicknamed the Mad Mullah.

Over a century later, British soldiers and military historians are still baffled by the ingenuity of the Mad Mullah, Mohamed bin Abdullah Hassan, who emerged as the undisputed master of death and anarchy both at sea and the unforgiving deserts. His exploits read like chapters ripped off from a thriller novel.

Simple village boy

 This is the man who waged war against a combined force of Britain, who drew the best fighting machines and soldiers from as far as Britain, Italy, India, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and the Gambia.

And for 21 long years, he successfully waged war against the invaders dancing around the desert as he delivered devastating blows to the enemy, and ironically evaded capture, when he ultimately succumbed to influenza.

Chronicles by the British administrators that have provided rich data for authors trace the origin of the Mullah, the simple village boy who despite laying no claim to aristocracy carved his own kingdom that rivaled her Majesty’s empire in Somaliland.

Douglas Jardine, who was secretary to the administrator of Somaliland between 1916 and 1921, penned the most gripping of the chronicles. His account is contained in a book, The Mad Mullah of Somaliland.  The colonial officer whose writing demonstrates a grudging admiration for the Somali people whom he describes as the “Irishmen of Africa, because “they are the most difficult to govern and control”. He traces Hassan’s birth to the 1870s.

The Mullah’s father, Abdullash Hassan, was poor and hailed from the Bagheri section of the dominant Ogaden clan, which at the time of his birth was under the control of Ethiopia, then known as Abyssinia. His place of birth is given as a remote village Kobfardod, near Kirit, which is estimated to be 170 miles from the nearest town of Berbera.

As a child, Hassan on numerous occasions would cover the distance in six days, arriving in Berbera with bloody and blistered feet. During his youth he travelled widely, first within Somaliland and later to Aden and Saudi Arabia and finally to Mecca. After several visits he met religious fundamentalists who changed his perception of the world and approach to British rule of his motherland.

Regarded whites as infidel

Although he preached against the evils of the time with fervor, living on alms, he always regarded the whites as infidels, even as he served as a peacemaker whenever different clans differed. His first major confrontation with the British colonialists occurred after he was accused of stealing a gun.

On March 23, 1899, the vice- consular at Berbera wrote to the Mullah demanding he return a rifle he had allegedly stolen. Outraged, he wrote back denying the accusation and informed the administrator to look for his gun elsewhere.

During this time the vice-consular had received rumours that the Mullah was secretly recruiting followers and was amassing guns to establish his own ”kingdom”.  To ensure maximum loyalty, Hassan was said to have administered an oath binding his supporters. Jardine writes that barely a month after the gun incidence, intelligence reports indicated the Mullah had recruited 3,000 followers, some of whom had been conscripted by force and in August of the same year he declared himself the Madhi, the equivalent of a sultan.

This marked the beginning of a confrontation that would swallow many lives as the wiry Somali fighters, wise in the ways of the desert tormented the British troops at times causing major upsets and embarrassment in London.

He declared total war on all infidels and put his followers who had swollen to 5,000 and were armed with 200 guns to maximum use as he created the Dervishe kingdom. When he staged his first raid at Kadariyeh that he easily captured, the enemy was so frightened that the Somali levies among the British troops fled in terror.

Other regions that fell to the Mullah as British administrators debated whether to send an expedition were Burao, Oadweinna, Adalle, and Sik. According to the British, the Mullah demanded loyalty from his followers and those who defied him were publicly flogged and at times beaten to death. 

The Mullah was also said to have magical powers that could neutralise the enemy fire by turning it into water, rendering it impotent on his men. Such claims and his ability to torment and escape arrest by his enemies, coupled with his mastery of the Quran and his oratory skills convinced many Somalis that he was indeed immortal. The Mullah had a wicked sense of humour demonstrated during one battle where he thoroughly annihilated the Government troops and killed Lt-Col Phillips RE, and Captain Aungus RA, as well as 97 other soldiers. As the vanquished British troops fled for their lives, Mullah’s men captured thousands of camels, horses, and two cases of whisky. He sent the whisky through a runner with a note explaining that it was of no use to him.

Penchant for ultimatums

He also had a penchant for writing letters issuing ultimatums to his enemies warning them of unspeakable consequences if they defied his rules of engagement.

In one of the letters written in 1908, the Mullah stated his case: “And now I inform you that I intended not to send you any more letters, as my previous letters were not replied to. But now I have sent this letter purposely to stop the disturbances.  If you want peace, remove your party from Bohotle and Badwein and the Ain Valley and call back your spies from Jidbali and other places.”

The addressee of the letter, General Cordeaux, replied in a letter delivered to the Mullah by Hirsi Liban: “This is to inform you that, “The British Government still desires to maintain the peace between our tribes and the Dervishes.”

Secondly, with regard to the men whom the Government sent to Bohotle and the Ain, you must know that the reason of this is because of troubles caused by the Buraad and the Warsangli. You are aware, that the Warsangli are British subjects.”

“I am informed that your messenger was molested by the Jama Siadf, and they will answer for this, but I wish to remind you that the men who did this are the people to whom you gave presents of rifles and camels when they came to see you. For this reason they speak one way to you, but their speech to the Government is very different.”

On another occasion the Mullah wrote: “We have both suffered considerably in battle with one another. I warn you of this. I like war, but you do not. I have with me camels and goats and sheep in plenty. Last year I fought with you and Musa Farah was with you. God willing, I will take many rifles from you, but you won’t get any rifles or ammunition from me, and I will not take your country.

“I have no forts, no houses, no country. I wish to exchange a machine-gun for ammunition. If you do not want it, I will sell it to someone else. Send me a letter saying whether you want war or peace.”

When the British could not tolerate the Mullah’s taunts and torment any more, they pleaded with Rome to allow its (British) troops to mount an operation on Italian territory in Somali to capture the elusive rebel. Ethiopia, too, was roped in the conspiracy to seal possible escape routes. When Emperor Menelik agreed to help, he provided a fighting force of 5,000 men while the British side relied on a collection of soldiers from as far as South Africa, India, and the Yao and Ashanti from Gambia.

Despite the hot chase given by the combined force under the British troops, the Mullah delivered one of the most devastating blows after he unwittingly lured the soldiers into an ambush in the wilderness. During this ambush, all the nine British military officers were killed as well as 187 other soldiers, while 29 were wounded.

The details given by some of the Yao survivors were so sordid that some of the soldiers who heard the stories became hysterical. The annihilation was so demoralising that the British side decided to mount a series of major campaigns to try to capture the Mullah, but despite using the intelligence extracted from his captured lieutenants, he was always a step ahead of his pursuers.

Despite hunting him for years, he evaded them miraculously even at a time he was weak and his men were devastated by an outbreak of diseases and famine. On November 27, 1920, the Mullah pulled the last trick on the British.

He died from a bout of influenza. But Jardine speculates his demise had been hastened by starvation as his food supplies had been depleted. By the time the British administration learnt of the death, it was too late as his remains had been interred in a tomb inside a hut that the British chose to keep secret to prevent it from becoming a shrine and an inspiration for other rebel fighters aspiring to be martyrs.

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