Sayyid Muhammad al-Barr

Sayyid Muhammad al-Barr, also known as Syud Mahomed Bar, Sayyid Mohammed al-Barr, Sayyid Mohammed el Barr and Seid Muhammad Bar, was a nineteenth-century governor of Zeila, a port on the African coast of the Gulf of Aden. On 3 September 1840, he concluded a commercial treaty with Captain Robert Moresby of the East India Company. Photograph of Muhammad al-Barr taken by Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti's expedition to Harar. The historian I. M. Lewis describes al-Barr as the hereditary holder of the governorship and the representative of an Ottoman pasha in western Arabia. Mohamed Osman Omar identifies him as commander-in-chief of the forces of the Sharif of Mocha and as head of the Arab tribes inhabiting Zeila, referring to him in the same passage as an Arab chief.

Al-Barr was succeeded by the Somali merchant and political leader Sharmarke Ali Saleh in 1848. Al-Barr nevertheless remained a respected figure in Zeila and was encountered there by Burton in the mid-1850s. Sharmarke was later also succeeded as Governor of Zeila by Abu Bakr Pasha, a local Afar statesman.

History

Al-Barr's name appears in several forms because nineteenth-century writers followed different systems for the romanisation of Arabic. The 1840 treaty and the later India Office memorandum use the form “Syud Mahomed Bar”. Lewis uses the form “Sayyid Muhammad al-Barr”.

The honorific Sayyid consistently forms part of his name in the principal sources. Burton, who encountered him after his governorship had ended, wrote that al-Barr remained highly respected by the inhabitants of Zeila because of his pedigree.

Governorship of Zeila

During the first half of the 19th century, Zeila was an important commercial outlet linking Harar and the interior of the Horn of Africa with Aden, Mocha and other Arabian ports. The governor administered the town's customs and commerce while remaining connected to rulers and officials based on the Yemeni side of the Gulf of Aden.

Lewis writes that, following the decline of the Adal Sultanate, Zeila and, to a lesser extent, Berbera came under the authority of the sharifs of Mocha and were at times nominally incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. He describes al-Barr as the hereditary governor of Zeila and the representative of the Ottoman pasha in western Arabia. Omar renders the island's name as Aybat in one passage and Aubad in another. Burton adds that Sharmarke paid al-Barr an annual sum of 750 crowns at Mocha and retained the revenue collected above that amount.

Later life

Al-Barr remained a prominent figure in Zeila after losing the governorship. Burton encountered him during his stay in the town in 1854–1855 and described him as a stout former governor who continued to be highly respected because of his pedigree.

Burton also records that al-Barr attended gatherings alongside the jurist Faqih Adan, during which religious, political and historical subjects were discussed. This suggests that al-Barr continued to participate in the intellectual and social life of Zeila after leaving office.

His financial connections with Mocha also continued. The annual payment of 750 crowns made by Sharmarke indicates that al-Barr or his family retained a recognised financial interest in Zeila after the transfer of political authority. The available sources do not establish whether al-Barr lived permanently in Mocha, remained in Zeila or travelled between the two ports.