Somali Clans - Ethnic Groups - Somalis - Clan Structure

Clan Structure

Certain clans are traditionally classed as noble clans, referring to the belief that they share a common Somali ancestry, whereas some minority clans are believed to have mixed parentage. The four noble clans are Darod, Dir, Hawiye and Isaaq. Of these, the Dir, Hawiye and Isaaq are regarded as descended from Irir Samaale, the likely source of the ethnonym Somali. The Darod have separate agnatic or paternal traditions of descent through Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti (Sheikh Darod). Sheikh Darod is, in turn, asserted to have married a woman from the Dir, thus establishing matrilateral ties with the Samaale main stem. Although often recognized as a sub-clan of the Dir, the Isaaq clan claims paternal descent from one Shaykh Ishaq ibn Ahmad al-Hashimi (Sheikh Isaaq). "Sab" is the term used to refer to minority clans in contrast to "Samaale".

The Digil and Mirifle (Rahanweyn) are agro-pastoral clans in the area between the Jubba and Shebelle rivers. They occupy a kind of second tier in the Somali social system. Many do not follow a nomadic lifestyle, live further south and speak a group of Somali dialects (Af-Maay), which have recently been classified as a separate language, and so they have been isolated to some extent from the mainstream of Somali society.

A third tier, the occupational clans, have sometimes been treated as outcasts because traditionally they could only marry among themselves and other Somalis considered them to be ritually unclean. They lived in their own settlements among the nomadic populations in the north and performed specialised occupations such as metalworking, tanning and hunting. Minority Somali clans include the Gaboye, Tumal, Yibir, Jaji and Yahar.