Walashma dynasty explained

The Walashma dynasty was a medieval Muslim dynasty of the Horn of Africa founded in Ifat (modern eastern Shewa).[1] Founded in the 13th century, it governed the Ifat and Adal Sultanates in what are present-day, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and eastern Ethiopia.[2]

Genealogical traditions

The Walashma princes of Ifat and Adal claimed to possessed Arab genealogical traditions.[3] [4] In terms of lineage, Walashma traditions trace descent from Banu Makhzum tribe by El Maqrisi. But Ifat Sultanate trace descent from Akīl ibn Abī Tālib, the brother of the Caliph ʿAlī and Djaʿfar ibn Abī Tālib. The latter was among the earliest Muslims to settle in the Horn region. However, the semi-legendary apologetic History of the Walasma asserts that ʿUmar ibn-Dunya-hawaz was a descendant of Caliph ʿAlī's son al-Hasan. This is not supported by both Maqrizi and the chronicle of the Walashma. But ʿUmar ibn-Dunya-hawaz, whom both assert was the founder of the dynasty, was of Quraysh or Hashimite origin.[5] Fourteenth century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun mentions the ancestors of Walasma were once tributary to the Kingdom of Damot.[6]

However, most historians, including Enrico Cerulli and J. Spencer Trimingham, regard the Walashma dynasty to be of local origin.[7] Cerulli asserts that according to Harar chronicles, the 10th century Somali saint "Aw" Barkhadle from Arabia was the fifth ancestor ofʿUmar ibn Dunya-hawaz, founder of the Walashma Dynasty.[8] [9] [10] Ioan Lewis also mentions that in a short king-list titled 'Rulers of the land of Sa'ad ad-Din', Barkhadle is recognized as one of the Walashma ancestors.[11] Lewis places his death at around 1190 AD.[12] J. Spencer Trimingham does note that according to local traditions though, he was said to have lived for over 500 years, placing his death in the early 16th century.[13] Some rulers of the Walashma Dynasty are also thought to be buried at the site of Aw-Barkhadle in modern-day Somaliland.[14] As descendants of Barkhadle, it was said that the Walashma success, longevity, and influence was due to their native family background[15] Walasma are historically tied to the ancestors of Argobba and the people of Doba.[16] The Harari people also claim to be associated with the Walasma.[17] Bahru Zewde, Richard Pankhurst, Djibril Niane regard the Walasma Sultans of Ifat and Adal to be predominantly Argobba and Harari.[18] [19] [20] However, Amelie Chekroun suggests no possible link to identify the people of medieval Ifat with the Argobba people.[21]

Walasma dynasty of Ifat initiated a series of marriage alliances with the leaders of Adal, according to the chronicle "Conquest of Abyssinia" by Arab Faqīh, Harla lords descendant from the last Walasma ruler of Ifat Sa'ad ad-Din II participated in the sixteenth century Ethiopian–Adal War.[22] [23] The last known Walasma member in Adal was Barakat ibn Umar Din of Harar during the sixteenth century. The Kabirto of Harla as well as Doba who originate from the Walasma dynasty were overthrown in 1769 by the Mudaito dynasty of Afar in Aussa (modern Afar Region), the descendant of Kabirto Shaykh Kabir Hamza, preserved their history through manuscripts.[24] [25] [26]

The title Walasma was still used in Ifat province as late as the nineteenth century with governors of that region claiming descent from the old dynasty.[27] In 1993 Mohammed Saleh who professed his ancestors were the Argobba Walasma of Ifat revealed that his progenitors were traders of the Shewa-Harar route for centuries.[28]

Language

According to Ferry Robert and Harbeson John the language spoken by the people of Adal as well as its rulers the Imams and Sultans would closely resemble contemporary Harari language.[29] [30] The 19th-century Ethiopian historian Asma Giyorgis suggests that the Walashma themselves spoke Arabic.[31] [32]

Sultanate of Ifat

See main article: Sultanate of Ifat.

During the end of the 13th century, northern Hararghe was seat of a Muslim sultanate named under the rule of Makhzumi dynasty.[33] A contemporary source describes the sultanate being torn apart by internal strafe and weakened by struggles with neighboring Muslim states. In 1278 one of these neighboring states, named Ifat in eastern Shewa, led by the Walashma invaded the Sultanate of Shewa. After a few years of struggle the sultanate was annexed into Ifat. This annexation is usually attributed to ʿUmar, but he had been dead for 50 years by the time Shewa was annexed. More likely, it was his grandson Jamal ad-Dīn or perhaps even his great-grandson Abūd. In 1288 Sultan Wali Asma successfully conquered Hubat, Adal and other Muslim states in the region. Making Ifat the most powerful Muslim kingdom in the Horn of Africa.

In 1332, the Sultan of Ifat, Haqq ad-Din I was slain in a military campaign against the Abyssinian Emperor Amda Seyon's troops.[34] Amda Seyon then appointed Jamal ad-Din as the new King, followed by Jamal ad-Din's brother Nasr ad-Din.[35] Despite this setback, the Muslim rulers of Ifat continued their campaign. The Abyssinian Emperor branded the Muslims of the surrounding area "enemies of the Lord", and again invaded Ifat in the early 15th century. After much struggle, Ifat's troops were defeated and the Sultanate's ruler, King Sa'ad ad-Din II, fled to Zeila. He was pursued there by Abyssinian forces, where they slayed him.

Sultans of Ifat

Ruler Name Reign Note
1style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān ʿUmar Dunya-Hawazstyle=white-space:nowrap1197–1276Founder of the Walashma dynasty, his nickname was ʿAdūnyo or Wilinwīli. He started a military campaign to conquer the Sultanate of Shewa. The Sheikh Yusuf al-Kowneyn is his 5th ancestor.
2 style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān ʿAli "Baziyu" Naḥwi ʿUmarstyle=white-space:nowrap1276–1299Son of ʿUmar Dunya-Hawaz, he led many successful campaigns the most notable of which being the Conquest of the Shewa and burning of their capital marking the end of the Makhzumi dynasty.
3style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān ḤaqqudDīn ʿUmarstyle=white-space:nowrap12??–12??Son of ʿUmar Dunya-Hawaz
4style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Ḥusein ʿUmarstyle=white-space:nowrap12??–12??Son of ʿUmar Dunya-Hawaz
5 style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān NasradDīn ʿUmarstyle=white-space:nowrap12??–12??Son of ʿUmar Dunya-Hawaz
6style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Mansur ʿAlistyle=white-space:nowrap12??–12??Son of ʿAli "Baziyu" ʿUmar
7style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān JamaladDīn ʿAlistyle=white-space:nowrap12??–12??Son of ʿAli "Baziyu" ʿUmar
8style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Abūd JamaladDīnstyle=white-space:nowrap12??–12??Son of JamaladDīn ʿAli
9style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Zubēr Abūd style=white-space:nowrap12??–13??Son of Abūd JamaladDīn
10style=white-space:nowrapMāti Layla Abūdstyle=white-space:nowrap13??–13??Daughter of Abūd JamaladDīn
11style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān ḤaqqudDīn Naḥwistyle=white-space:nowrap13??–1328Son of Naḥwi Mansur, grandson of Mansur ʿUmar
12style=white-space:nowrapstyle=white-space:nowrap1328–1332Son of Naḥwi Mansur, defeated by Emperor Amde Seyon of Abyssinia, who replaced him with his brother JamaladDīn as a vassal.
13style=white-space:nowrapstyle=white-space:nowrap1332–13??Son of Naḥwi Mansur, vassal king under Amde Seyon
14style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān NasradDīn Naḥwistyle=white-space:nowrap13??–13??Son of Naḥwi Mansur, vassal king under Amde Seyon
15style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān "Qāt" ʿAli SabiradDīn Maḥamedstyle=white-space:nowrap13??–13??Son of SabiradDīn Maḥamed Naḥwi, rebelled against Emperor Newaya Krestos after the death of Amde Seyon, but the rebellion failed and he was replaced with his brother Aḥmed
16style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Aḥmed "Harbi Arʿēd" ʿAlistyle=white-space:nowrap13??–13??Son of ʿAli SabiradDīn Maḥamed, accepted the role of vassal and did not continue to rebel against Newaya Krestos, and is subsequently regarded very poorly by Muslim historians
17style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Ḥaqquddīn Aḥmedstyle=white-space:nowrap13??–1374Son of Aḥmed ʿAli
18style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān SaʿadadDīn Aḥmedstyle=white-space:nowrap1374–1403Son of Aḥmed ʿAli, killed in the Abyssinian invasion of Ifat under Dawit I or Yeshaq I

Sultanate of Adal

See main article: Adal Sultanate. Adal was a general term for a region of lowlands inhabited by Muslims east of the province of Ifat. It was used ambiguously in the medieval era to indicate the Muslim inhabited low land portion east of the Ethiopian Empire. Including north of the Awash River towards Lake Abbe as well as the territory between Shewa and Zeila on the coast of Somaliland.[36] [37] According to Ewald Wagner, Adal region was historically the area stretching from Zeila to Harar.[38] In the late fourteenth century Walasma princes Haqq ad-Din II and Sa'ad ad-Din II relocated their base to the Harari plateau in Adal forming a new Sultanate.[39]

The last Sultan of Ifat, Sa'ad ad-Din II, was killed in Zeila after he had fled there in 1403, his children escaped to Yemen, before later returning to the Harar plateau in 1415.[40] [41] In the early 15th century, Adal's capital was established in the town of Dakkar, where Sabr ad-Din III, the eldest son of Sa'ad ad-Din II, established a new base after his return from Yemen.[42] [43] By the late 1400s the Walasma sultans began to be challenged by the Harla emirs of the Harar plateau with rise of Imam Mahfuz.[44]

Adal's headquarters were relocated in the following century, this time to Harar. From this new capital, Adal organised an effective army led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Ahmad "Gurey" or Ahmad "Gran") that invaded the Abyssinian empire.[43] This 16th century campaign is historically known as the Conquest of Abyssinia (Futuh al-Habash). During the war, Imam Ahmad pioneered the use of cannons supplied by the Ottoman Empire, which he imported through Zeila and deployed against Abyssinian forces and their Portuguese allies led by Cristóvão da Gama.[43] Some scholars argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms like the matchlock musket, cannons and the arquebus over traditional weapons.[45]

The Walashma sultans of Ifant and Adal also apparently had a fair taste for luxury, the commercial relations that existed between the Adal Sultanate and the rulers of the Arab peninsula allowed Muslims to obtain luxury items that Christian Ethiopians, whose relations with the outside world were still blocked, could not acquire, a Christian document describing Sultan Badlay relates:

"And the robes [of the sultan] and those of his leaders were adorned with silver and shone on all sides. And the dagger which he [the sultan] carried at his side was richly adorned with gold and precious stones; and his amulet was adorned with drops of gold; and the inscriptions on the amulet were of gold paint. And his parasol came from the land of Syria and it was such beautiful work that those who looked at it marveled, and winged serpents were painted on it."[46]

Sultans of Adal

Name Reign Note
1style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān SabiradDīn SaʿadadDīnstyle=white-space:nowrap1415–1422Son of SaʿadadDīn Aḥmed, He returned to the Horn of Africa from Yemen to reclaim his father's realm. He subsequently became the first ruler and founder of the new Adal dynasty winning many victories before dying of natural causes.
2style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Mansur SaʿadadDīnstyle=white-space:nowrap1422–1424Son of SaʿadadDīn Aḥmed. He launched an expedition against Dawit I, killing him at the Battle of Yedaya.[47]
3style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān JamaladDīn SaʿadadDīnstyle=white-space:nowrap1424–1433Son of SaʿadadDīn Aḥmed. He won numerous important battles against Yeshaq I before killing him in the battle of Harjah. Famed for piety and justice he was killed by jealous cousins in 1433.
4style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Sihab ad-Din Ahmad Badlay "Arwe Badlay"style=white-space:nowrap1433–1445Son of SaʿadadDīn Aḥmed, also known as "Arwe Badlay" ("Badlay the beast"). Badlay embarked on a full scale conquest of Abyssinia successfully invaded the Ethiopian Empire and capturing Bali before being killed by the forces of Zara Yaqob at the Battle of Gomit. Badlay also founded a new capital at Dakkar, near Harar.
5style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Maḥamed AḥmedudDīnstyle=white-space:nowrap1445–1472Son of AḥmedudDīn "Badlay" SaʿadadDīn, Maḥamed asked for help from the Mameluk Sultanate of Egypt in 1452, though this assistance was not forthcoming. He ended up signing a very short-lived truce with Baeda Maryam I.
6style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān ShamsadDin Maḥamedstyle=white-space:nowrap1472–1488Son of Maḥamed AḥmedudDīn, he attacked the Emperor Eskender of Abyssinia army in 1479, and slaughtered the majority of his army.
7style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Maḥamed ʿAsharadDīnstyle=white-space:nowrap1488–1518Great-grandson of SaʿadadDīn Aḥmed of Ifat, he continued to raid the Abyssinians especially during Lent with Mahfuz enslaving innumerable numbers of Abyssinians and Killing King Na’od. He was assassinated after a failed campaign in 1518
8style=white-space:nowrapSultan Maḥamed Abūbakar Maḥfūẓstyle=white-space:nowrap1518–1519Very popular leader who attempted to recapture Fatagar
9style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Abūbakar Maḥamedstyle=white-space:nowrap1518–1526He killed Garād Abūn and restored the Walashma dynasty, but Garād Abūn's cousin Imām Aḥmed Gurēy avenged his cousin's death and killed him. While Garād Abūn ruled in Dakkar, Abūbakar Maḥamed established himself at Harar in 1520, and this is often cited as when the capital moved. Abūbakar Maḥamed was the last Walashma sultan to have any real power.
10style=white-space:nowrapGarad Abogn Adishstyle=white-space:nowrap1519–1525Successor to Maḥamed Abūbakar Maḥfūẓ
11style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān ʿUmarDīn Maḥamedstyle=white-space:nowrap1526–1553Son of Maḥamed ʿAsharadDīn, Imām Aḥmed Gurēy put Maḥamed ʿAsharadDīn's young son ʿUmarDīn on the throne as puppet king in Imām Aḥmed Gurēy's capital at Harar. This essentially is the end of the Walashma dynasty as a ruling dynasty in all but name, though the dynasty hobbled on in a de jure capacity. Many king lists don't even bother with Walashma rulers after this and just list Imām Aḥmed Gurēy and then Amīr Nūr Mujahid.
12style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān ʿAli ʿUmarDīnstyle=white-space:nowrap1553–1555Son of ʿUmarDīn Maḥamed
13style=white-space:nowrapSulṭān Barakat ʿUmarDīnstyle=white-space:nowrap1555–1559Son of ʿUmarDīn Maḥamed, last of the Walashma Sultans, assisted Amīr Nūr Mujahid in his attempt to retake Dawaro. He was killed defending Harar from Emperor Gelawdewos' forces, ending the dynasty.

See also

References

Works cited

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Ifat . Britannica .
  2. Book: Jyee, Dr. Ravi. WORLD ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF AFRICAN COUNTRIES. AFRO-ASIAN-AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, OCCUPATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (ACCORD). 2016. New Delhi, India. 360. Founded in 1285 by the Walashma dynasty, it was centered in Zeila. Ifat established bases in Djibouti and Somalia, and from there expanded southward to the Ahmar Mountains..
  3. Book: M. Elfasi, Ivan Hrbek. Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, General History of Africa, Volume 3. 1988 . UNESCO. 9231017098. 580–582.
  4. Book: Mekonnen, Yohannes. Ethiopia: the Land, Its People, History and Culture. 2013-01-29. Yohannes Mekonnen. 9781482311174. en.
  5. Book: Tamrat, Taddesse. Church and state in Ethiopia, 1270-1527. 1972. Clarendon Press. 124. 978-0-19-821671-1 .
  6. Book: Ibn Haldun . Encyclopedia Aethiopica .
  7. Book: Cerulli . Enrico . Islam: Yesterday and Today translated by Emran Waber . Istituto Per L'Oriente . 323 .
  8. Cerulli, Enrico (1926). Le popolazioni della Somalia nella tradizione storica locale. L'Accademia. "Cerulli suggests that the Saint "Aw Barkhdale" (Yusuf Al Kownayn) can be associated with "Yusuf Barkatla", ancestor of Umar' Walashma, founder of the Ifat dynasty"
  9. Book: Lewis, Ioan M. . Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society . 1998 . The Red Sea Press . 9781569021033 . 89.
  10. Book: The Writing of the Somali Language: A Great Landmark in Our Revolutionary History. Somalia. Wasaaradda Warfaafinta iyo Hanuuninta Dadweynaha. 1972. Ministry of Information and National Guidance. 10. en. Aw Barkhadle, he was a native, who lived in about 1,000 years ago and is buried now in a ruined town named after him, Aw Barkhadle, which is a few miles away from Hargeisa..
  11. Book: Lewis . Ioan M. . Saints and Somalis: popular Islam in a clan-based society . 1998 . The Red Sea Press [u.a.] . Lawrenceville, NJ . 9781569021033 . 92 . 1. Red Sea Press.
  12. Book: Lewis . Ioan M. . Saints and Somalis: popular Islam in a clan-based society . 1998 . The Red Sea Press [u.a.] . Lawrenceville, NJ . 9781569021033 . 93 . 1. Red Sea Press.
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  22. Book: IV Congresso Internazionale Di Studi Etiopici (Roma, 10-15 Aprile 1972) . 28 January 1974 . Accademia nazionale dei Lincei . 623 .
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  25. Fani . Sara . 2017 . IslHornAfr 6 th Field Mission Report . University of Cophenhagen . 10 . 2023-04-17 . 2023-04-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230404094427/http://www.islhornafr.eu/ReportAwsa2017.pdf . live.
  26. Book: Bausi . Alessandro . Ethiopia History, Culture and Challenges . 28 January 2024 . Michigan State University Press . 83 . 978-3-643-90892-6 .
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  28. Book: Omer . Ahmed . Some Notes on Harar and the local Trade Routes: A Report on the view of ex-merchants of Shäwa (1839-1935) . Annales d'Ethiopie . 141–142 .
  29. Ferry . Robert . Quelques hypothèses sur les origines des conquêtes musulmanes en Abyssinie au XVIe siècle . 1961 . Cahiers d'Études africaines . 2 . 5 . 28–29 . 10.3406/cea.1961.2961 .
  30. Harbeson . John . Territorial and Development Politics in the Horn of Africa: The Afar of the Awash Valley . African Affairs . 1978 . 77 . 309 . Oxford University Press . 486 . 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a097023 . 721961 .
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  32. Book: Dilebo . Lapiso . An introduction to Ethiopian history from the Megalithism Age to the Republic, circa 13000 B.C. to 2000 A.D. . "Like their direct descendants, the Adares of today, the people of ancient Shewa, Yifat, Adal, Harar and Awssa were semitic in their ethnic and linguistic origins. They were neither Somalis nor Afar. But the Somali and Afar nomads were the local subjects of the Adal." . 2003 . Commercial Printing Enterprise . 41 . 318904173 .
  33. Book: Braukhaper. Ulrich. Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia: Collected Essays. 2002. LIT Verlag Münster. 21. 9783825856717. 12 March 2017.
  34. Book: Houtsma, M. Th. E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. 1987. BRILL. 9004082654. 125–126.
  35. The Glorious Victories, p. 107.
  36. Book: Josef . Josef . Medieval Islamic Civilization . 12 January 2018 . Taylor & Francis . 9781351668224 .
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  39. Book: Baba . Tamon . NOTES ON MIGRATION BETWEEN YEMEN AND NORTHEAST AFRICA DURING THE 13–15TH CENTURIES . Kyushu University . 81–82 .
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  45. Jeremy Black, Cambridge Illustrated Atlas, Warfare: Renaissance to Revolution, 1492-1792, (Cambridge University Press: 1996), p.9.
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