Al Bu Sa'ad

The Al Bu Sa’ad (Arabic: ال بو سعد) or Banu Sa’ad (Arabic: بنو سعد) - not to be confused with the Banu Sa’d - are a small Hashemite tribe mainly located in the northern coast of Somalia/Somaliland and parts of Yemen. They originated from the Hijaz, before migrating to Iraq, moving to Yemen and finally settling into Somalia.

Etymology
The tribe derives its name from ال, meaning “the”, بو meaning “father” and سعد meaning “Sa’ad” - a reference to the tribe's progenitor Sa’ad ibn Musa.

Lineage
The lineage of the Sa’adis until Adnan is as follows:

Sa’ad bin Musa bin Zubair bin Abd el Rahman bin Ishaq bin Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Husayn bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Hamza al-Muttahar bin Abdulla bin Ayyub bin Qasim bin Ahmad bin Ali bin Isa bin Yahya bin Muhammad bin Ali al Hadi bin Muhammad al Jawad bin Ali al Ridha bin Musa al Kadhim bin Ja’far al Sadiq bin Muhammad al Baqir bin Zain bin Husayn bin Ali bin Abu Talib bin Abdul Muttalib bin Hashim bin Abd Manaf bin Qusai bin Kilab bin Murrah bin Ka’ab bin Lu’ayy bin Ghalib bin Quraish bin Malik bin al Nadr bin Kinanah bin Khuzaimah bin Mudrikah bin Ilyas bin Mudar bin Nizar bin Ma’add bin Adnan

In Arabic:

سعد بن موسى بن الزبير الأول بن عبد الرحمن بن الشيخ إسحاق بن أحمد بن محمد بن الحسين بن علي بن محمد بن حمزة المطهر بن عبد الله بن أيوب بن قاسم بن أحمد بن علي بن عيسى بن يحيى بن محمد بن علي بن محمد الجواد بن علي الرضا بن موسى الكاظم بن جعفر الصادق بن محمد الباقر بن علي بن زين بن الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب بن عبد المطلب بن هاشم بن عبد مناف بن قصي بن كلاب بن مرة بن كعب بن لؤي بن غالب بن فهر بن مالك بن النضر بن كنانة بن خزيمة بن مدركة بن إلياس بن مضر بن نزار بن معد بن عدنان.

History
The tribe began in western Arabia as a branch of the Banu Quraish, called Banu Hashim. This tribe was descended of Hashim ibn Abd Manaf, a tribal leader of the Quraish, and also a rich merchant who donated food and water to the pilgrims of the Ka’aba. His brother, who he had struggled against since birth(they were nearly conjoined twins ), was the forefather of the Banu Umayyah, which is important since later on as it is tension with this tribe that caused the Hashemites to migrate to Iraq out of the Hijaz.

One of Hashim’s descendants was Ali R.A., who was an honourable Sahaba, and a competent Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. He had 2 sons with one of his wives, Fatima R.A. - Husayn and Hasan, who would both give rise to the 2 branches of the Alaouite(descendants of Ali) Hashemites. Towards the end of his reign, tensions were brewing between the Banu Umayyah and the Banu Hashim, which led to a terrible war. The First Fitna was declared and after a series of bloody battles, the Hashemites were defeated and sought refuge in Kufa, Iraq.

It was in this region(Samarrah) that a great Sheikh named Ishaq was born. He was only 10 when he and his family(one of his brothers was Nasir, the progenitor of the Al Bu Nasir tribe. His tribe stayed in Yemen for a while, until returning back to Iraq) fled to Yemen because of a brewing war between the Abbasids and rebellious forces in the region. Therefore, he grew up in Yemen, got married, and decided to set off to Selah across the Bab el Mandeb. He stayed there for a short while, before traversing many cities, preaching and calling people to Islam until finally settling in a town called Maydh, and marrying a woman there from the tribe of Dir.

Of his progeny was Sa’ad ibn Musa, the forefather of the Al Bu Sa’ad.

Culture
Traditionally, the Al Bu Sa’ad’s main occupation was nomadic like the Bedouins. During their travels along the Gulf of Aden coastline, their cuisine was light weight and mainly bread, such as: The sabayyah(Arabic: سابايه), a type of flatbread traditionally eaten with honey. It is similar to the Maghrebi Msemmen. Khubz Mulawwah(Arabic: خبز ملوح) or Malawwah, a type of pancake that is eaten with tea and/or honey. It is made with flour, water, salt and ghee(butter).