Nur ibn Mujahid
نور بن مجاهد
Emir of Harar
Tomb of Nur ibn Mujahid in Harar
Reign1550–1567
PredecessorAhmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi
SuccessorUthman the Abyssinian
Died1567
SpouseBati del Wambara
Names
Sahib al-Fath al-Thani
Master of the Second Conquest
ReligionIslam

Nur al-Din[1] or Nur ibn Mujahid ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Abdullah al Dhuhi Suha (Harari: ኑር ኢብን ሙጃሂድ, Somali: Nuur ibn Mujaahid, Arabic: نور بن مجاهد; died 1567) was a Somali Emir of Harar who ruled the Adal Sultanate.[2][3] He was known for marrying his uncle's widow, Bati del Wambara, and he also succeeded Imam Ahmad as leader of the Muslim forces fighting Christian Ethiopia.[4]

Early Years

Nur ibn Mujahid was the son of Wazir Mujahid ibn 'Ali ibn 'Abdallah ad-Dukhi Sawha, one of the cavalry commanders of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi and the conqueror of Wej and Begemder. Mujahid married Ahmad’s sister, from which marriage Nur was born. According to several oral traditions recolted by historians such as Enrico Cerulli and Kurt Wendt, Nur ibn Mujahid was a Somali that hailed from the Marehan subclan of the greater Darod clan.[5][6] Adding to that, the Ethiopian chronicles of Gelawdewos consider Nur as an indigenous:"Em-Hezba Suhawayman" from the Somali clan of Suhawyan.[7][8]

History

When Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, who had led the Muslim conquest of the Ethiopian Highlands, was killed in 1543, the Muslim forces fell back in confusion to Adal. The dead leader’s widow, Bati del Wambara, undertook to renew the fortunes of the Kingdom. She inspired her people to take revenge and the Adalites, believing that they Abyssinians were vulnerable, invaded the highlands in 1548. This ended in catastrophe when they were repulsed by Gelawdewos's vassal, Fanu'el, and Gelawdewos later arrived in the region upon where he ravaged the country for five months.[9]

Nur was promoted to Emir between 1548 and 1550, and married Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi's widow, Bati del Wambara. He was recognized by the people of Harar and the widow of Ahmad as the Sahib al-Fath al-Thani, or "Master of the Second Conquest". She had reportedly made him promise to devote to avenging the death of Ahmad before agreeing to marry him.[10][11] Contemporary Harari records describes Nur as a very religious ruler who abstained from every act forbidden by the Sharia and likewise wanted his people to follow his example in their lives, explicitly prohibiting un-Islamic behaviour among the nobility.[12]

Nur departed on a jihad (holy war) to the eastern Ethiopian lowlands of Bale and Dawaro. This venture was unsuccessful, Nur was defeated and the Abyssinians then advanced into Adalite territory where upon they ravaged the lands and enslaved many of its inhabtitants. However, this defeat was not mortal and Adal soon recovered.[13]

In 1559, urged on by his wife, Nur once again took the offensive and invaded Fatagar. Gelawdewos, who was in Gojjam, sent his cousin Hamalaml to Harar hoping to force the Muslims back. But Nur held on, hoping to deal the Abyssinians a decisive blow in their own country. Hamalaml was able to enter Harar without any significant resistance, capturing and executing Sultan Barakat ibn Umar Din. In the meantime, Gelawdewos, with a small army and against everyone's advice attacked Nur's army. Gelawdewos was defeated and killed by Nur at the Battle of Fatagar. Following this victory, Nur crossed over into Wej province to loot the palace and the capital of the deceased emperor before promptly returning to his country.[14][15]

Despite this victory, the following years were very difficult for Harar. The Oromos who had been migrating north invaded the Adal Sultanate and annihilated Nur's army at the Battle of Hazalo. The invasion was accompanied by carnage on an appalling scale and according to Bahrey, there had been "no such slaughter since the Oromo first invaded". This was followed by a mass migration which sent different groups fleeing from their ancestral homes.[16][17]

Most of the Muslim population fled to the walled city of Harar. The Oromos then occupied and settled on the lands of the Hararghe highlands which had been abandoned by the local population.[18][19] After the Oromos had settled in the surrounding countryside of Harar, the city experienced a severe famine. J. Spencer Trimingham describes, Emir Nur "exerted every effort to help his people to recover, but after every respite the Oromo would again descend like locusts and scourge the country, and Nur himself died of the pestilence which spread during the famine."[20] Some historians consider Nur as the last witness and protagonist of Islamic greatness in the Horn of Africa.[21]

References

  1. ↑ Cuoq, Joseph. L'Islam en Ethiopie (PDF).
  2. ↑ Beyene, Solomon Gebreyes (2017). "The Chronicle of King Gälawdewos (1540–1559) : A Critical Edition with Annotated Translation". Aethiopica. 19: 327–328. doi:10.15460/AETHIOPICA.19.1.1006. S2CID 164703526.
  3. ↑ Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Red Sea Press. p. 244. ISBN 9780932415196.
  4. ↑ R.Basset (editor), Histoire de la conquete de l’Abyssinie (History of the Conquest of Abyssinia), Paris, 1897–1901
  5. ↑ Cerulli, Enrico (2013). Islam:Today and Yesterday. p. 189. Retrieved 2023-06-11. The nowadays oral tradition attributes the Marrehan origin to Nur which means from the famous Somali Marrehan tribe of Darod group.
  6. ↑ Wendt, Kurt (1935). "Amharische Geschichte eines Emirs von Harar im XVI. Jahrhundert". Orientalia. 4: 488. ISSN 0030-5367.
  7. ↑ Cerulli, Enrico. Islam: Yesterday and Today. p. 62.
  8. ↑ Kadir, Ahmad ibn Abd al (1897). Histoire de la conquête de l'Abyssinie, (XVIe siècle).: Texte arabe. I (in French). E. Leroux. p. 48.
  9. ↑ Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Red Sea Press. p. 244. ISBN 9780932415196.
  10. ↑ Dr. E. Cerulli, Documenti arabi per la storia dell’Ethiopia, Memoria della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Vol. 4, No. 2, Rome, 1931
  11. ↑ Wendt, Kurt (1935). "Amharische Geschichte eines Emirs von Harar im XVI. Jahrhundert". Orientalia (Orientalia, vol. 4 ed.). GBPress. 4: 488. JSTOR 43581078.
  12. ↑ "The Oromo of Ethiopia 1500-1800" (PDF). p. 22.
  13. ↑ Trimingham, J. Spencer. 1952. Islam in Ethiopia. London: Oxford University Press. p. 91.
  14. ↑ Trimmingham, John Spencer (1952). Islam in Ethiopia. Frank Cass & Company. p. 92. ISBN 9780714617312.
  15. ↑ "The Oromo of Ethiopia 1500-1800" (PDF). p. 22.
  16. ↑ Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Borderlands (Trenton: Red Sea Press, 1997), p. 283
  17. ↑ "The Oromo of Ethiopia 1500-1800" (PDF). p. 22.
  18. ↑ "Oromo: Migration and Expansion: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries". World history. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  19. ↑ Abir, Mordechai (28 October 2013). Ethiopia and the Red Sea. Routledge. p. 139. ISBN 9781136280900. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  20. ↑ Trimingham, J. Spencer. 1952. Islam in Ethiopia. London: Oxford University Press. p. 94.
  21. ↑ Cuoq, Joseph (1981). L'Islam en Éthiopie des origines au XVIe siècle (in French). Nouvelles Editions Latines. p. 266. ISBN 978-2-7233-0111-4.
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