Adan Ali Gurey was a political advisor in the Darawiish, an anti-colonial instigator, the commander of Golaweyne, a chieftain of the Dhulbahante, and an arms supplier.
Adan Ali Gurey was also described as commander of Goleweyne, a regiment of the Darawiish in the Shiikhyaale [so] poem of the Sayid:[1] Goleweyne maantii la galay, gaaladii jebiye Gidhligaanka waatuu la dhacay, Gureygii fiicnaaye The day that Goleweyne was embraced, the interlopers were destroyed, He fired high rates of bursts with heavy machine guns, the great (Adan Ali) Gurey A letter received by Sir Harry Edward Spiller Cordeaux, the colonial administrator at British Aden stated that Adan Ali Gurey was of the Jama Siad tribe, and that he was an arms supplier to the anti-colonial Darawiish.
This man came to me last year and made mischief between us (Dervishes and Government) and said to the Dervishes and swore that he would make mischief between the Dolbahanta and the Government, and said he would bring arms that were with the Dolbahanta to the Dervishes[2]A letter by Geoffrey Archer to the Sayid refers to Adan Ali Gurey as a political advisor to the Sayid, the head of Darawiish: Adan Ali Gureh, and that you believed their words.
[4]The original format in Somali was as follows: Waxaan kaloo idiin sheegayaa in ninka la yiraahdo Aadan Cali Gurey, intuusan halkan iman uu noo soo qoray warqad uu ku leeyahay waxaan isku dirayaa idinka iyo Ingiriiska,[5]Several raids between the British and Darawiish occurred in the 1910s decade, whom historian Douglas Jardine described as being led by Adan Ali Gurey: One hundred and twenty miles in 40 hours without water in pursuit of elusive Dervish raiders in April, 1915; 344 miles in June, 1915, crowned by a brief skirmish with a party of Dervish horse; 316 miles in August, 1915, during which three Dervish parties were encountered and defeated with considerable loss; 335 miles in April, 1917, during which some Dervish cavalry could not be seen for their dust; 360 miles in April, 1919, in pursuit of a large Dervish force which always managed to keep 30 miles between them and us.
In 1911 he murdered another akil and fled to the Mullah, and was subsequently a leader of raiding parties.