Crossword Genius

Like master Muhammad, a north-east African? (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

somali

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'a north-east african?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'like master muhammad' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'master' could be 'ma' and 'ma' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'soli' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for somali that I've seen before include "1 [GCSE]" , "native language" , "From a country in the Horn of Africa" , "So Liam could be a man from NE Africa" , "Native of East African state" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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