Ishaaq bin Ahmed

Ishaaq bin Ahmad bin Muhammad , more commonly known as Sheikh Ishaaq or Sheikh Isaaq (Arabic: الشيخ إسحاق بن أحمد بن محمد, romanized: Ash-Shaykh Isḥāq bin Aḥmad bin Muḥammad, Somali: Sheikh Isxaaq) is a prominent figure in the oral traditions of the Somali Isaaq clan-family. According to these traditions, which were also preserved in several Arabic hagiologies, he was an Islamic scholar of the Shafi’i school who crossed the sea from Arabia to the Horn of Africa. He is traditionally regarded as the Sayyid forefather of the Isaaq clan-family, whose territory in the Horn of Africa is wide and densely populated.

According to tradition, Sheikh Ishaaq traveled from Arabia to Somaliland in the 10th or 11th century, where he married two women; one from the local Dir clan and the other from the neighbouring Harari people. He sired eight sons who are the common ancestors of the Isaaq clan-family. He is said to have settled in what is today the Erigavo District, and to have established his capital at Maydh. He remained in Maydh until his death.

The stories surrounding Sheikh Ishaaq have played an important role in establishing and reinforcing the Arab and Muslim identity of the Isaaq clan. Scholar Christopher Ehret considers the founders of Somali clans like the Isaaq and the Darod to have been historical figures, but he regards the accounts surrounding them as legends. While Sada Mire regards the foundation of Somali clan lineages by Arab progenitors as part of "the Somali Islamic myth of origin", she does relate the legendary accounts surrounding them to historical migrations from South Arabia to Somalia.