The Isaaq (also Isaq, Ishaak, Isaac) (Somali: Reer Sheekh Isxaaq, Arabic: بني إسحاق, romanized: Banī Isḥāq) is a Somali clan. It is one of the major Somali clans in the Horn of Africa, with a large and densely populated traditional territory. The clan-family traces their lineage to Sheikh Ishaaq bin Ahmed, an Arab Islamic scholar who purportedly traveled to Somaliland in the 12th or 13th century and married into the local Dir clan, though this story is probably legendary.