Native name ادم غرئ محمد عبدلي Name Aadan-Gurey Cabdille Pen name Aaadan Gureey Role Poet | Occupation Poet, warrior Died November 5, 1920 Ethnicity Somali | |
Alma mater Somali National University Subject Old age, love, faith, mortality Education Somali National University | ||
Aadan-Gurey Mohamed Abdille (1840-1920), (other spellings Aaden-Gurey Maxamed Cabdille for English printed works, and for Af-Soomaali: Aadan-Gureey Maxamed Cabdille and Arabic: ادم غرئ محمد عبدلي), was a Somali poet. Aadan-Gurey was a poet who at times led armies to fight feuding tribes. Tribes often invaded each other’s grazing or settlement areas between Nugal Valley, Mudug and Galgadud regions, areas south-central Hibin and Heb region on the Somali coast of Indian Ocean.
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Early life
Aadan-Gurey was born in the central Somali region of Galgadud and spent much of his years in the Ximan area of Galgadud between Galkaio and Abudwak. He first composed poems in his 20s and 30s. Aadan Gureey’s most famous poem "Seventy and Ten" was printed on the first book, containing collections of the earliest poems in the Somali literature collections.
The poet died the same year as Mohammed Abdullah Hassan died, in 1920. The two poets didn't know about each other, but they both composed volumes of poems of classic Somali language. printed poetry, and widely available literature. In Af-Soomaali several are included in high school textbooks and the second poem is in the second year secondary class levels.
Aadan Gureey was an established poet by 1870s while by the prime age of 30. A decade before the Europeans interrupted the African way of life, Adan-Gurey Maxamed Cabdille and other poets, including contemporaries such as Sayid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, used poetry to illustrate what was happening the world around them.
Works
At the time there was no official Somali orthography. As a result, most prized poems were not recorded and only a handful of lines remain of the period's Somali literary collection.
Only 5-6 of Aadan-Gurey’s poems survive: