[7] Born into a wealthy mercantile family in Berbera, Madar was sponsored by his father to study religion for 20 years in Harar.

Upon the completion of his studies Sheikh Kabir Khalil one of the three top ulema in Harar advised him to establish a Qadiriyya tariqa commune in present-day Hargeisa.

[6][8][1] In the mid 19th century Hargeisa and the surrounding region was a hotbed of clan strife with raids being made on caravans attempting to pass through.

Madar alongside the other leaders of Jam'a Weyn introduced the cultivation of sorghum and the new construction of permanent housing and creating his grand mosque in 1883.

The most prominent Sheikh of the Salihiyya order was Mohammed Abdullah Hassan who arrived in Berbera in 1895 and constructed his own masjid and began propagating.

The divisions were deep and both sides had accused the other of heresy, Mahmud Abdalla 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.

[16] The protectorate was required to raise its own revenues to cover expenses and trade being halted or crippled was a massive blow to stability in the region.

[18]As well, the quickly expanding Ethiopian Empire had taken large swathes of new territory around the turn of the century and tribes just outside the protectorate were cowed to pay tribute to General Ras Makonnen.

The eponymously named neighborhood of Sheikh Madar today in Hargeisa is one of the oldest in the city and the site of the original jama'a falls in the area.