Aw Jamaac Cumar Ciise | |
|---|---|
| Native name | جامع عمر عيسى |
| Born | Jaamac Cumar Ciise 1922 (1922) |
| Died | 6 January 2014(2014-01-06) (aged 91–92) |
| Occupation | linguist,historian,scholar |
| Period | 1960s–1990s |
| Subject | Dervish Movement, Political Islam, Somali Studies |
| Notable works | Diiwaanka Sayid Maxamed (1970) Taariikhdii Daraawiishta iyo Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan (1976) |
AwJama Omar Issa (Somali:Jaamac Cumar Ciise,Arabic:جامع عمر عيسى) (c.1922 – 6 January 2014) commonly known asAw Jaamac, was aSomali scholar, historian and collector oforal literature of Somalia.[1] He wrote the first authoritative study ofDervishes, the polity of monarch Diiriye Guure.[2]
A recorder and collector of oral history and poetry. The titleaw orsheikh generally indicates a man of religion; Aw Jama is therefore called Sheikh Jama as well. Jamaac is from Buuhoodle, Somalia. His formal education was Arabic and Islamic and he became a certified teacher inHargeisa in Somalia in 1957. In the early 1960s, Aw Jama moved toMogadishu to teach and continue to collect the poems ofMohammed Abdullah Hassan, known in the West as the "Mad Mullah".[3]Aw Jamac Cuumar Ciise has 14 children and 74 grandchildren.
Jama has spent some twenty years collecting and transcribing orally transmittedpoetry before publishing it inDiiwaanka Sayid Maxamed, edited byMadbacadda Qaranka, Xamar, 1974. The name "Sayid Maxamed" refers toSayyid Mohammed Abdulle Hasan.
This collection of poetry served as material for interpretation and analysis in his next book,Taariikhdii Daraawiishta iyo Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan, (1895-1921), Wasaaradda Hiddaha iyo Tacliinta Sare, edited by Akadeemiyaha Dhaqanka, Mogadishu, 1976.
Before theSomali script was formally adopted, Aw Jama published in Arabic:Tarikh al-Sumal fi al-'Usur al-Wusta waal-Haditha (The modern and Middle Ages of Somali history) andZu’ama al- Harakah al-Siyasiyya fi al-Sumal (The leaders of political movements in Somalia), both in 1965. In 1966, he published in ArabicTarikh al-Liwa Da'ud (The life of General Daud Abdulla Hirsi) a book on the biography of the first Commander-in-Chief of the Somali army. As a member of the Academy of Culture, Aw Jama researched the history of the towns of the Banadir coast. In 1979, he published, in Arabic,Muqdishu Madhiha wa Hadhiriha (Mogadishu: Past and present). In collaboration with Somali historians Mohamed Haji Omar and Ahmed Jimale "Castro", he wroteSpeared from the Spear:Traditional Somali Behaviour in Warfare, published by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1997.[3]
On 6 January 2014, Jama Omar Isse died in the neighboring country ofDjibouti at the age of 91. He had been living in Djibouti since the collapse of Somalia's central government in 1991 after which the Djibouti government hosted him following widespread of insecurity in Somalia.[4]
Another important collection of folklore, this one recorded in a modification of the Arabic alphabet, has been made by Sheikh Jama Omar Issa, who is presently employed by Department Five.
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