The Yibir, also referred to as Yibbir, Yebir or Yahhar, are a caste within Somali people. They have traditionally been endogamous, and their hereditary occupation has been as magicians, leather work, dispensing traditional medicine and making amulets. They belong to the Sab clan and sometimes referred to as a minority clan, they perform menial tasks in Somali communities and are considered an outcast.
The Somali tradition holds that the Yibir are descendants of Mohammad Hanif of Hargeysa. Mohammad Hanif had a reputation as a pagan magician, according to the Somali folklore, he was defeated by Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn. According to this myth, the rest of the Somali society has ever since paid a small gift to a Yibir after childbirth, as a form of blood compensation.
The Yibir have a language (a dialect of Somali) they keep secret from the ruling Somali clans. Although Muslims and ethnically similar to other Somalis, the Yibir caste has been traditionally denigrated, demeaned and discriminated against by higher social strata of the Somali society.
