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Asharaf
أشراف
Languages
	Ashraf
Religion
	Islam (Sunni)

The Asharaf, also spelled Ashraf (from the Arabic: أشراف, romanized: ashrāf, lit. 'nobles'), is a Somali clan. Their name is the plural of sharīf, an originally Arabic term designating those who claim descent from the family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[1]

Belonging to the larger group of Somali clans living in the southern parts of the country called the Benadiri, they fall outside of the traditional Somali clan structures and are often marginalized within Somalia.^[2] As a minority, they have been the target of violent Islamist groups such as the al-Shabaab.^[3]

Contrary to most other Somali clans, who trace their ancestry to Muhammad's cousin and Ali's older brother Aqil ibn Abi Talib,^[4] the Asharaf claim descent from Hasan and Husayn, the sons of Ali and Muhammad's daughter Fatima.^[5] Like the claims of other Somali clans in this regard, this alleged genealogy is historically untenable.^[6]

Clan structure

The claimed genealogical structure of the Asharaf clan is as follows:^[7]

Hasan ibn Ali
- Mohamed Sharif
- Sharif Ali
- Sharif Ahmed
- Ashraf Sarman
- unnamed others
Husayn ibn Ali
- Reer Sharif Magbuul
- Sharif Ahmed
- Sharif Balaaw
- unnamed others

Notable figures

Sharif Hassan^[8]
Dada Masiti, Mana Sitti Habib Jamaladdin (Arabic: مانا ستي حبيب جمال الدين) (c. 1810s – 15 July 1919), commonly known as Dada Masiti ("Grandmother Masiti"), was an Ashraf poet, mystic and Islamic scholar. She composed her poetry in the Bravanese dialect spoken in Barawa.^[9]
Sharif Aydurus, a famous scholar of Islamic and Somali history and pan-Islamic leader^[10]
Shariif Imaankeey, Mayor of Mogadishu from September 1963–1965
Shariif Caydaruus, Mayor of Mogadishu from 1966–1970

References

^ Lewis 2008, p. 5; Mukhtar 2003, pp. 11, 68. On the two spellings, cf. also Anon. A 2010, p. 1.
^ Abbink 2009, pp. 36–37.
^ Yoshimura 2009, pp. 19–20. Cf. Anon. A 2010; Anon. B 2010.
^ Lewis 1961, pp. 11–13; cf. Mukhtar 2003, p. 62.
^ Abbink 2009, p. 37.
^ Lewis 1994, pp. 102–106, esp. p. 105.
^ Abbink 2009, p. 37.
^ June 2012 The Galgale In Somalia: Third-class citizens in their homeland Sharif Hassan from the Asharaf clan, page 12 Sharif Salah http://allafrica.com/download/resource/main/main/idatcs/00040315:40b8440c1c8a08b8c79febe8120327f9.pdf Archived 2016-11-07 at the Wayback Machine
^ Declich, Francesca. Sources on Islam Composed in the Vernacular: Somali Women's Religious Poetry". Islam in East Africa: New Sources. Rome: Herder. pp. 297–330.
^ Ahmed, Ali Jimale. The Invention of Somalia.