The Dervish state (Somali: Dawlada Daraawiish, Arabic: دولة الدراويش‎ Dawlāt ad-Darāwīsh) was an early 20th-century Somali Sunni Islamic state that was established by Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, a religious leader who gathered Somali soldiers from across the Horn of Africa and united them into a loyal army known as the Dervishes. This Dervish army enabled Hassan to carve out a powerful state through conquest of lands claimed by the Somali Sultans, the Ethiopians and the European powers.