Asharaf

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]

  1. ^ Lewis 2008, p. 5; Mukhtar 2003, pp. 11, 68. On the two spellings, cf. also Anon. A 2010, p. 1.
  2. ^ Abbink 2009, pp. 36–37.
  3. ^ Yoshimura 2009, pp. 19–20. Cf. Anon. A 2010; Anon. B 2010.
  4. ^ Lewis 1961, pp. 11–13; cf. Mukhtar 2003, p. 62.
  5. ^ Abbink 2009, p. 37.
  6. ^ Lewis 1994, pp. 102–106, esp. p. 105.