Muḥammad ibn 'Abdallāh Hassan

Sayyid Moḥammad Abdallah Hassan Somali: Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan, 𐒑𐒖𐒄𐒖𐒑𐒗𐒆 𐒋𐒖𐒁𐒆𐒚𐒐𐒐𐒗 𐒄𐒖𐒈𐒖𐒒; 7 April 1856 – 21 December 1920) was a Somali scholar, poet, military leader and religious, cultural and political figure who founded and headed the Somali Dervish movement, which led a holy war against British, Italian and Ethiopian colonial intrusions in the Somali Peninsula. He was pejoratively known by the British Empire as the "Mad Mullah." In 1917, the Ottoman Empire referred to him as the "Emir of the Somali People." Due to his successful completion of the Hajj to Mecca, his assertion of being the descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his complete memorization of the Quran, his name is preluded with honorifics such as Hajji, Hafiz, Emir, Sheikh, Mullah or Sayyid. His influence on the Somali people led him to being regarded the "Father of Somali nationalism."