| The Isaaq (also Ishaak, Isaac) (Somali: Reer Sheekh Isxaaq, Arabic: بني إسحاق, romanized: Banī Isḥāq) is an ethnic group in Somaliland. It is one of the major tribes in the Horn of Africa, with a large and densely populated traditional territories.
The Isaaq people trace their lineage back to Sheikh Ishaaq bin Ahmed, an Arab Islamic scholar who purportedly traveled to Somaliland in the 12th or 13th century and married into the local Dir clan, though this story is probably legendary. |
