Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn

10th century),[1][2] popularly known as Aw Barkhadle ("Blessed Father")[3] or Yusuf Al Kownayn, was an Islamic scholar and traveler based in Zeila, Somaliland.

Local Somali oral tradition and written Ethiopian history gives reason to believe Aw Barkhadle arrived from Arabia.

Religious synchronism where the old religion is adapted to reflect the hegemony of the new in that the ancestral home of the ancestors in Arabia, the headquarters of Islam.

[29] Some historians trace Sheikh Yusuf Al Kawneyn to the Gadabursi clan, which primarily inhabits the Horn of Africa.

[30] A few ethnic groups in modern southern Ethiopia claim descent from Aw Barkhadle which include Silt'e and Wolane people.

[35][36] According to C.J Cruttenden, the tomb of saint Aw Barkhadle, which is located to the southwest of Berbera, was used by the Isaaq clans to settle disputes and to swear oaths of alliances under a holy relic attributed to Bilal Ibn Rabah.

On a paper yet carefully preserved in the tomb, and bearing the sign-manual of Belat [Bilal], the slave of one of the early khaleefehs, fresh oaths of lasting friendship and lasting alliances are made...In the season of 1846 this relic was brought to Berbera in charge of the Haber Gerhajis, and on it the rival tribes of Aial Ahmed and Aial Yunus swore to bury all animosity and live as brethren.

Lewis in his book Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society, the descendants of Sheikh Isaaq (the Isaaq clan) annually gather at the historic shrine of Saint Aw Barkhadle to pay respects in the form of siyaaro (localized pilgrimage with offerings).

The Wagar itself is thought to be an anthropomorphic representation of a sacred feature or figure, indicating an indigenous non-Islamic religious fertility practice in Aw Barkhaadle.

[43] According to the legend, Bu‘ur Ba‘ayr married couples by sleeping with the bride during the first six nights of the marriage and engaged in acts of paganism and magic.