Mohammed Abdullah Hassan

Sayid Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan (1856-1920) was a Somali religious and military leader of the Dervish movement who led a two-decade conflict with various colonial empires such as the British, Italians, and Ethiopians. He is among the most important historical figures in Somalia.

To this day, the efforts and fervor of the former anti-colonial leader of the Somali Dervish movement, who by the time of his death had reclaimed and united large swaths of the lands historically territorial to the Somali peoples, inspire and mobilize the autochthonous peoples of Somalia to form a consolidated bulwark against imperialism (namely that of Ethiopia), as captured in the struggles of the Islamic Courts Union, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, and the former Western Somali Liberation Front.

Hassan has thus become more than just a source of pride for Somalia's various ethnic groups; he is also regarded by some as an icon of Pan-Somalism, and has been named as one of the great revolutionaries of the turn of the twentieth century by notable Pan-Africanist movements, who led the Senussid resistance against the Italians. Thus, Hassan's reputation extends beyond the borders he sought to liberate from foreign rule and domination, which is at the heart of the Pan-Africanist movement.

A Socialist realist statue of Hassan riding his favorite horse Hiin-Faniin (also known as Sayidka or Siyadka) was built in central Mogadishu across from the Mogadishu Central Mosque before 1972 (or in the 1980s by Barre's regime), but was demolished and sold as scrap metal between 1991 and 1993. The monument's damaged foundation was left standing. On October 18, 2019, Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed restored and unveiled the monument, along with other restored monuments. In 2013, a similar statue was erected in Jijiga, Ethiopia.

Sacmadeeqa, a monument in the Haud region, commemorates Hassan's birthplace.