The most prominent Sheikhs of the Salihiyya order were Isma'il ibn Ishaq al-Urwayni, and the Dervish emir Hassan (called 'Mad Mullah' by the British) who arrived in Berbera in 1895 and constructed his own mosque and began propagating.

The divisions were deep and both sides had accused the other of heresy, Hassan would go on to form the Dervish movement based on Salihiyya just two years after the debates partly in rebuke of the Qadiriyya status quo.

[11] In March 1899, one Duwaleh Hirsi, a former member of the Somali Aden police then Mr Percy Cox's (former counsel-resident of Zeila and Berbera, 1893–1895) expedition guide in Somaliland, allegedly stole a rifle and sold it to the tariqa at Kob Fardod.

The vice-counsel at the coast, Harry Edward Spiller Cordeaux, sent a letter to the mullahs at Kob Fardod demanding the return of the rifle.

Upon his return after the delivery of the letter, Cordeaux interviewed Adan, who provided the following information: I knew many of the people there—some of them were relations of mine.

[12]What is particularly revealing about Ahmed Adan's interview is the confusion that was caused by another letter carried by a Somali, supposedly also from the British administration at the coast.

Both replies; one regarding the rifle curt but relatively inoffensive and a second addressing the confusing insolent second letter are in the British record.

[13] The news that sparked the Dervish rebellion and the 21 year disturbance according to the consul-general James Hayes Sadler was either spread or concocted by Sultan Nur of the Habr Yunis.

The incident in question was that of a group of Somali children that were converted to Christianity and adopted by the French Catholic Mission at Berbera in 1899.

It is said that the Bimal thanks to their size being numerically powerful, traditionally and religiously devoted fierce warriors and having possession of much resources have intrigued Mahamed Abdulle Hassan.

the Sayyid wrote a detailed theological statement to put forward to the Bimal tribe who dominated the strategic Banaadir port of Merca and its surroundings.

[17] However, soon angered by his autocratic rule, Hussen Hirsi Dala Iljech' – a Mohammed Subeer chieftain – plotted to kill him.

[citation needed] Despite leaving Berbera after being rebuked by the leading Sheikhs of the rival Qadiriyya school the enmity did not end.

صل على محمد واله واصرف بهم من كل سوء داهيه من اقتدى محمدا بشرعه لا يقتدى جماعة الشيطانية هم المبيحون دماء العلما والمال والحريم هم إباحيه ويمنعون الدرس للعلوم كالفقه والنحو هم الكراميه بكل شيخ مات كالجيلاني لا يتوسلون كالجناحيه لا يقتدرون خلف من له شعر سيماهم التحليق كالوهابيه ويشترون الجنة بمال في دارنا جهرا هم الكلابيه ويختلون بالحريم للإجا زة كأمهم فذا سفاحيه يتبعون رأيهم لا كتبنا ويدعون النور من بلاسيه ويفعلون النكر في ذكرهم فعلا وقولا يقتضي كفرانيه كاللعب قائلين أألله شكا به جلهم الشماليه لهم ضجيج وأنين وحنيــــــــن وفحيح كالكلاب الناحيه ويكثرون الحلف بالطلاق وينكرون الكلفة الالهيه ضلوا وأضلوا العباد في الثرى برا وبحرا اي من السماليه أليس ذو لب وفهم يغترر بهم ففر عنهم كالدواهيه‎ Give a prayer to Muhammad (Sayyid) and his family and turn, through them, from all evil calamities The ones who has imitated Muhammad (Prophet Muhammad) through his law does not follow the faction of Satan They are the justifiers of [spilling] the blood of the ulama and of wealth and women, they are libertines They prohibit the study of sciences such as law and grammar, they are the repugnant

They follow their own opinions, not our books, and they claim to the light from the faction of Satan And they practice denial at their dhikr, in word and action it requires blasphemy Like their game of saying Is it God?

Then flee from them as from calamities With a long response the Sayyid ended with these sharp words: This exchange would lead to takfir or accusations of apostasy from both men and the murder of Uways by the Dervish in 1909.

By 1913, the dervish dominated the entire hinterland of the Somali peninsula building forts at Jildali and Mirashi, and at Werder in the Ogaden and Beledweyne in southern Somalia.

On 9 August 1913, at the Battle of Dul Madoba, a Dervish force raided the Dolbahanta clan and killed or wounded 57 members of the 110-man Somaliland Camel Constabulary.

[citation needed] In the beginning of 1920, the British struck the Dervish settlements with a well-coordinated air and land attack and inflicted a stunning defeat.

[24][25][26] In October 1920, he eventually settled down at Guano Imi, at the head waters of the Shebelle River in the Arsi country, with a party of some four hundred followers.

However, provisions were not provided and famine fell on the Mullah's camp, with most of his remaining followers dying of sickness and hunger; the few that survived were said to have dispersed shortly after.

Remains were found in a graveyard at Ginir and the Somali Region of Ethiopia, then tried to test the DNA to determine whether they could be those of Sayid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.