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The Walashma dynasty was a Muslim noble family based in the Horn of Africa. It governed the Ifat and Adal Sultanates in what are present-day northern Somalia, Djibouti and eastern Ethiopia.

Genealogical traditions

The Walashma princes of Ifat and Adal all possessed Arab genealogical traditions. According to both Maqrizi and the chronicle of the Walashma, ʿUmar Walashma, the founder of the dynasty, was of Quraysh or Hashimite origin.

In terms of lineage, Walashma traditions 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-hawz had as a progenitor Caliph ʿAlī's son al-Hasan. The claim to Akīl ibn Abī Tālib is based on the tradition that their ancestor Ismaʿīl Jaberti is the same man as Sharaf-ad-Din Ismaʿīl ibn Ibrahim al-Jaberti al-Aqeeli, a famous Sufi theologian of the Qadiriyyah order who was buried in Zabid, Yemen in 1403 who traces an Aqeeli nisba, this is essentially the same claimed lineage as the Somali Darod clan. The Hassani tradition is predicated on the belief that Yūsuf Barkanti in the Walashma genealogy is the same man as Yūsuf "Aw Barkadle" al-Kawnayn, a famous Somali missionary who traces a Hassani nisba.

Establishment

The Walashma dynasty was founded by Sulṭān ʿUmar DunyaHuz "Walashma", who was an ethnic Somali(ʿUmar DunyaHuz Aḥmed Mahammad Ḥamid Yūsuf Barkanti Saʿad Muddan Muqābul Abdirahman (Ogaden) Absame Kūmade Kablalaḥ Abdirahman (Darod) Ismaʿīl Jaberti). In most sources, the dynasty is always referred to as Walashma. However, the descendants of the Walashma dynasty today prefer the term Wilinwiili Dynasty, after the nickname of ʿUmar DunyaHuz. Somali historians, on the other hand, favor Ogaden Sultanate.

Language

The 19th century Ethiopian historian Asma Giyorgis suggests that the Walashma themselves spoke Arabic. He additionally describes the family as among the first Muslims to enter Abyssinia ("Habasa"), which he writes was originally inhabited by the Saba, Balaw, Kalaw and Noba. The Somali language, along with Arabic, were the main languages of the dynasty as can be surmised from the origins of most of their soldiers and the lands under their hegemony.

Sultanate of Ifat

According to Maqrizi, the forefathers of 'Umar Walashma first settled in the Zeila-controlled Jabarta region. From there, they slowly expanded into the hinterland.

Despite being described as a 'successor' to the Sultanate of Showa, the Sultanate of Ifat and Showa state were founded around the same time. ʿUmar DunyaHuz founded Ifat at Zeila in 1185, one of eight Sultanates that were established in the Horn of Africa during this period. The other sultanates were the aforementioned Showa along with the sultanates of Arbabni, Dawaro, Hadiya, Sharka, Bale and Dara). The original borders of the Sultanate of Ifat roughly correspond with the present-day Awdal region in northwestern Somalia. In 1278, the Walashma conquered the Sultanate of Showa. The dynasty later annexed the sultanate into Ifat in 1280, making Ifat the largest and most powerful of its peers. This annexation is usually attributed to ʿUmar, but he had been dead for 50 years by the time Showa was annexed. More likely, it was his grandson Jamal ad-Dīn or perhaps even his great-grandson Abūd.

In 1332, the Zeila-based King of Adal was slain in a military campaign against the Abyssinian Emperor Amda Seyon's invading troops. Amda Seyon then appointed Jamal ad-Din as the new King, followed by Jamal ad-Din's brother Nasr ad-Din. 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

Sultanate of Adal

Islam was introduced to the Horn of Africa early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. In the late 800s, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. He also mentioned that the Adal kingdom had its capital in the city, suggesting that the Adal Sultanate with Zeila as its headquarters dates back to at least the 9th or 10th centuries. According to I.M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local dynasties consisting of Somalized Arabs or Arabized Somalis, who also ruled over the similarly-established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the Benadir region to the south. Adal's history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighbouring Abyssinia.

After the last Sultan of Ifat, Sa'ad ad-Din II, was killed in Zeila in 1410, his children escaped to Yemen, before later returning in 1415. In the early 15th century, Adal's capital was moved further inland to the town of Dakkar, where Sabr ad-Din II, the eldest son of Sa'ad ad-Din II, established a new base after his return from Yemen.

Adal's headquarters were again relocated 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. 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. 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.

Sultans of Adal

Sultanate of Harar

In 1559, the Ethiopian General Hamalmal captured Harar and killed Sultan Barakat. The Walashma dynasty did not go extinct (there are still members alive today), but Amīr Nūr ibn Mujahid was chosen to succeed him. Nūr ibn Mujahid subsequently founded a new dynasty and sultanate in the same year, the Sultanate of Harar.

See also

• Somali aristocratic and court titles
• Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles

References

1. Asafa Jalata, State Crises, Globalisation, And National Movements In North-east Africa page 3-4
2. Encyclopedia of Africa south of the Sahara, page 62
3. ^ M. Elfasi, Ivan Hrbek (1988). Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, General History of Africa, Volume 3. UNESCO. pp. 580–582. ISBN 9231017098.
4. ^ Tamrat, Taddesse (1972). Church and state in Ethiopia, 1270-1527. Clarendon Press. p. 124.
5. Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-Based Society By I. M. Lewis. pg 91
6. Genealogy of Yusuf al-Kawnayn
7. I.M Lewis, Sharif Yusuf Barkhadle: the blessed saint of Somaliland, page 112
8. Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century edited by M. Elfasi, Ivan Hrbek, Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa, page 582
9. Giyorgis, Asma (1999). Aṣma Giyorgis and his work: history of the Gāllā and the kingdom of Šawā. Medical verlag. p. 257. ISBN 9783515037167.
10. John L. Esposito, editor, The Oxford History of Islam, (Oxford University Press: 2000), p. 501
11. The History of Somalia By Raphael Chijioke Njoku, page 36
12. Islam in Ethiopia, by J. Spencer Trimingham, pg. 80
13. Houtsma, M. Th (1987). E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. BRILL. pp. 125–126. ISBN 9004082654.
14. The Glorious Victories, p. 107.
15. J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), p. 74 and note explains the discrepancy in the sources.
16. ^ Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 25. Americana Corporation. 1965. p. 255.
17. ^ Lewis, I.M. (1955). Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho. International African Institute. p. 140.
18. mbali, mbali; Dekmejian, R. Hrair (2010). "Somaliland". Basic Reference. 28 (2). London, UK: mbali: 217–229. doi:10.1017/S0020743800063145. Retrieved 2012-04-27.
19. Briggs, Philip (2012). Bradt Somaliland: With Addis Ababa & Eastern Ethiopia. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 10. ISBN 1841623717.
20. ^ Lewis, I. M. (1999). A Pastoral Democracy: A Study of Pastoralism and Politics Among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa. James Currey Publishers. p. 17. ISBN 0852552807.
21. I.M. Lewis, A pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism and politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa, (LIT Verlag Münster: 1999), p.17
22. Jeremy Black, Cambridge Illustrated Atlas, Warfare: Renaissance to Revolution, 1492-1792, (Cambridge University Press: 1996), p.9.

• History of Ethiopia
• Somalian monarchs
• Somalian monarchy
• African royal families
• Walashma dynasty
• History of Somalia
• Adal Sultanate