It was then decided to dispatch a peace delegation of leading Isaq elders and religious dignitaries, including Sheikh Maddar's son, Sheikh 'Abdillahi, representing the Qadiriya Order. Also of the party was Sheikh Isma'il Sheikh Isaq of the Dulbahante clan, official representative of Sayyid Muhammad Salih in northern Somaliland. Like many another, this religious leader had played, apparently, a somewhat equivocal rôle in the intricate politics of the period. He is said to have clandestinely supported the Sayyid, but appears also to have been a party to the Salihiya letter from Mecca denouncing the Dervishes. With this distinguished composition the party set off in some trepidation to treat with the Sayyid.

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 235