The Isaaq people claim in a traditional legend to have descended from Sheikh Ishaaq bin Ahmed, an Islamic scholar who purportedly traveled to Somaliland in the 12th or 13th century and married two women; one from the local Dir clan.

[4][8] There are also numerous existing hagiographies in Arabic which describe Sheikh Ishaaq's travels, works and overall life in modern Somaliland, as well as his movements in Arabia before his arrival.

[citation needed] The Isaaq also has a sizable diaspora around the world, mainly residing in Western Europe, the Middle East, North America, and several other African countries.

[27][28] The Isaaq were among the first Somalis to arrive in the United Kingdom in the 1880s, and have since then formed large communities across the country, especially in Cardiff,[29] Sheffield,[30] Bristol and eastern London boroughs like Tower Hamlets and Newham.

[13] The Isaaq played a prominent role in the Ethiopian-Adal War (1529–1543, referred to as the "Conquest of Abyssinia") in the army of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi,[38] The Habr Magadle division (Ayoub, Garhajis, Habr Awal and Arap) of the Isaaq were mentioned in chronicles of that war written by Shihab Al-Din Ahmad Al-Gizany known as Futuh Al Habash.

I. M. Lewis states:[40] The Marrehan and the Habr Magadle [Magādi] also play a very prominent role (...) The text refers to two Ahmads's with the nickname 'Left-handed'.

[41] These two Sultanates possessed some of the organs and trappings of a traditional integrated state: a functioning bureaucracy, regular taxation in the form of livestock, as well as an army (chiefly consisting of mounted light cavalry).

The sultanate was governed by the Rer Guled branch of the Eidagale clan and is the pre-colonial predecessor to the modern Republic of Somaliland.

[48] By the early 1880s the Isaaq Sultanate had been reduced to the Ciidangale confederation with the Eidagale, and Ishaaq Arreh subclan of the Habr Yunis remaining.

[52] Haji Sudi of the Habr Je'lo was the highest ranking Dervish after Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, he died valiantly defending the Taleh fort during the RAF bombing campaign.

The Isaaq began to face political and economic marginalization and in response, they organized the Somali National Movement to over his regime.

Thus the Somaliland War of Independence began and this struggle movement forced the Isaaq clan to become a victim to a genocidal campaign by Siad Barre's troops (which also included armed Somali refugees from Ethiopia); the death toll has been estimated to be between 50,000 and 250,000.

The pejorative slang terms iidoor or kabadhe iidoora (loosely meaning "exchange") reflect Somali disdain for the go-between, the person who amasses wealth through persistence and mercantile skills without firm commitments to anyone else.

[64] Berbera, in addition to Berbera being described as “the freest port in the world, and the most important trading place on the whole Arabian Gulf,[65] was also the main marketplace in the entire Somali seaboard for various goods procured from the interior, such as livestock, coffee, frankincense, myrrh, acacia gum, saffron, feathers, wax, ghee, hide (skin), gold and ivory.

[66] The Habr Je'lo clan of the Isaaq derived a large supply of frankincense from the trees south in the mountains near port town of Heis.

[71] The powerful Habr Je'lo clan has historically acted as the guardians of this pass, receiving dues in exchange for guaranteed safety through Buur Dhaab:[70] The Habr Toljaala are a powerful tribe, and make it a point of honour that caravans shall have safe passage through their country, and they receive a part of the dues for this purpose.Starting in the middle of the 19th century, Isaaq clans became more connected to the European commercial world as historic ties between southern Somali towns along the Benadir coast with India and Oman were being reoriented southward toward Zanzibar.

The Isaaq had traditional trade relationships with the nations of the Arabian Peninsula that continued despite the attempts of the government to center all economic activity in Mogadishu.

Indeed, most of the largest subtribes of the tribal-ethnic group are in fact uterine alliances hence the matronymic "Habr" which in archaic Somali means "mother".

The oldest recorded genealogy of a Somali in Western literature was by Sir Richard Burton in the mid–19th century regarding his Isaaq (Habr Yunis) host and the governor of Zeila, Sharmarke Ali Saleh[81] The following listing is taken from the World Bank's Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics from 2005 and the United Kingdom's Home Office publication, Somalia Assessment 2001.

[84] To strengthen these tribal stereotypes, historical anecdotes have been used: The Garhajis were dominant leaders before and during the colonial period, and thus acquired intellectual and political superiority; Habr Awal dominance of the trade via Djibouti and Berbera is practically uncontested; and Habr Je’lo military prowess is cited in accounts of previous conflicts.