Early Life
Shaykh Al-Sumaalee was born in the Ogaden in the town of Amaadin. The Shaykh remembered seeing as a child the Dervish leader Sayyid Abdullah Hassan, the latter of whom led one the fiercest colonial resistance wars on the continent during the Scramble for Africa. From the time he was seven, Al-Sumaalee sought knowledge and began memorizing the Quran and read it to his teacher. When the Shaykh was old enough to travel and had memorized all that his teachers could teach, he travelled to other lands in search of more knowledge.
At the age of 20, Shaykh Al-Sumaalee began his travel through Ethiopia and studied the book Nadhm Al-'Umarbatee with Shaykh Muhammad Mu'allim Husayn and several other scholars. He stayed in Ethiopia for two years and then decided to go back home. During this journey, he became very sick due to the difference in food between Ethiopia and Somalia. His paternal aunt helped him recover from the illness, and gave him an ox so that he could sell it on the market and travel to his next destination, which was Djibouti.
In Djibouti, Shaykh Al-Sumaalee studied the book Safeenah An-Najaa. However, he did not complete it as he was only in Djibouti for two months, after which time he headed for Yemen. It is said that during this particular boat trip, Shaykh Muhammad became so ill that he swore he would never again travel by sea. He later arrived in the Yemeni city of Zabeed and stayed there for three months. From there, he went on to Sana'a.
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