The Adal Sultanate, also known as the Adal Empire or Barr Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling Adel Sultanate, Adal Sultanate) (), was a medieval Sunni Muslim empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din III on the Harar plateau in Adal after the fall of the Sultanate of Ifat. The kingdom flourished to 1577.. At its height, the polity under Sultan Badlay controlled the territory stretching from Cape Guardafui in Somalia to the port city of Suakin in Sudan.
The empire's frequent wars with its Christian rival, the Solomonic Dynasty of Abyssinia, during the 15th and 16th centuries, led by important early figures such as Jamal ad-Din II, Badlay, and Mahfuz, would earn the sovereigns of Adal a reputation in the Islamic World as one of saints, and were as a result regularly supplied with arms, horses and other articles of war. In the 16th century under the leadership of Imam Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi and his successor Nur ibn Mujahid, Adal embarked on the Conquest of Abyssinia deploying muskets and cannons. The war would eventually draw in the Portuguese and Ottoman Empires. The Adalites maintained a strong relationship with the Ottomans in particular.
The Adal Empire had a string of important ports and inland cities such as Harar, Zeila, Abasa, Amud, Awbare, Awbube, Berbera, Dakkar and many othersSaints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society, (accessed 25 December 2010), The archaeology of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa (accessed 20 December 2010), which flourished under its reign with courtyard houses, mosques, shrines, walled enclosures, cisterns and were integrated into the commercial network that tied the kingdoms and empires of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean together. Adal acquired its wealth through the trade of millet, cattle, fruits, slaves, gold, barley, ivory and other commodities. The cities of the empire imported intricately coloured glass bracelets and celadon wares from the Ming Dynasty for palace and home decorationThe Archaeology of Islam in Sub Saharan Africa, p. 72/73 while its merchants used currencies such as dinars and dirhams during commercial transactions. The Adal Sultanate was alternatively known as the federation of Zeila and in 1577 moved its capital to Aussa.
Etymology Adal is believed to be an abbreviation of Havilah. Eidal or Aw Abdal, was the Emir of Harar in the eleventh century which the lowlands outside the city of Harar is named. In the thirteenth century, the Arab writer al-Dimashqi refers to the city of Zeila, by its Somali name "Awdal" ().. The modern Awdal region of Somaliland, which was part of the Adal Sultanate, bears the kingdom's name.
Locally the empire was known to the Muslims as Barr Sa'ad ad-din meaning "The country of Sa'ad ad-din" in reference to the Sultan Sa'ad ad-Din II, who was killed in Zeila while fighting the Ethiopian Emperor Dawit I.The "Futuh al-Habasa" : the writing of history, war and society in the "Bar Sa'ad ad-din" (Ethiopia, 16th century)Burton, First Footsteps in East Africa, 1856; edited with additional material by Gordon Waterfield (New York: Praeger, 1966), p. 75.
History
Early history
Adal (also Awdal, Adl, or Adel) was situated east of the province of Ifat and was a general term for a region of lowlands inhabited by Muslims. 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. According to Ewald Wagner, Adal region was historically the area stretching from Zeila to Harar.
In 1288, the region of Adal was conquered by the Ifat Sultanate. Despite being incorporated into the Ifat Sultanate, Adal managed to maintain a source of independence under Walashma rule, alongside the provinces of Gidaya, Dawaro, Sawans, Bali, and Fatagar. In 1332, Adal was invaded by the Ethiopian Emperor Amda Seyon I. His soldiers were said to have ravaged the province.
In the fourteenth century Haqq ad-Din II transferred Ifat's capital to the Harar plateau thus he is regarded by some to be the true founder of the Adal Sultanate. In the late 14th century, the Ethiopian Emperor Dawit I collected a large army, branded the Muslims of the surrounding area "enemies of the Lord", and invaded Adal. After much war, Adal's troops were defeated in 1403 or 1410Al-Maqrizi gives the former date, while the Walashma chronicle gives the latter. (under Emperor Dawit I or Emperor Yeshaq I, respectively). According to al-Maqrizi, the Walashma ruler Sa'ad ad-Din II was captured and executed in Zeila, which he claims was sacked. However, no other contemporary source corroborates the invasion of Zeila, and it is thought that an Amhara incursion into Zeila was unlikely to have occurred.Hussein, Said M-Shidad (2024). "Of the Course of the Medieval Awdal-Amhara Conflict: When uncertain battle story deforms a history". His children and the remainder of the Walashma dynasty would flee to Yemen where they would live in exile until 1415.Pankhurst. Ethiopian Borderlands, pp.57Budge, A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia, 1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970), p. 302. According to Harari tradition numerous Argobba had fled Ifat and settled around Harar in the Aw Abdal lowlands during their conflict with Abyssinia in the fifteenth century, a gate was thus named after them called the gate of Argobba.
Rise of the Sultanate In 1415, Sabr ad-Din III, the eldest son of Sa'ad ad-Din II, would return to Adal from his exile in Arabia to restore his father's throne. He would proclaim himself "king of Adal" after his return from Yemen to the Harar plateau and established his new capital at Dakkar. Sabr ad-Din III and his brothers would defeat an army of 20,000 men led by an unnamed commander hoping to restore the "lost Amhara rule". The victorious king then returned to his capital, but gave the order to his many followers to continue and extend the war against the Christians. The Emperor of Ethiopia Tewodros I was soon killed by the Adal Sultanate upon the return of Sa'ad ad-Din's heirs to the Horn of Africa. Sabr ad-Din III died a natural death and was succeeded by his brother Mansur ad-Din who invaded the capital and royal seat of the Solomonic Empire and drove Emperor Dawit I to Yedaya where according to al-Maqrizi, Sultan Mansur destroyed a Solomonic army and killed the Emperor. He then advanced to the mountains of Mokha, where he encountered a 30,000 strong Solomonic army. The Adalite soldiers surrounded their enemies and for two months besieged the trapped Solomonic soldiers until a truce was declared in Mansur's favour. During this period, Adal emerged as a centre of Muslim resistance against the expanding Christian Abyssinian kingdom. Adal would thereafter govern all of the territory formerly ruled by the Ifat Sultanate, as well as the land further east all the way to Cape Guardafui, according to Leo Africanus.
Later on in the campaign, the Adalites were struck by a catastrophe when Sultan Mansur and his brother Muhammad were captured in battle by the Solomonids. Mansur was immediately succeeded by the youngest brother of the family Jamal ad-Din II. Sultan Jamal reorganized the army into a formidable force and defeated the Solomonic armies at Bale, Yedeya and Jazja. Emperor Yeshaq I responded by gathering a large army and invaded the cities of Yedeya and Jazja, but was repulsed by the soldiers of Jamal. Following this success, Jamal organized another successful attack against the Solomonic forces and inflicted heavy casualties in what was reportedly the largest Adalite army ever fielded. As a result, Yeshaq and his men fled to the Blue Nile region over the next five months, while Jamal ad Din's forces pursued them and looted much gold on the way, although no engagement ensued.
After returning home, Jamal sent his brother Ahmad with the Christian battle-expert Harb Jaush to successfully attack the province of Dawaro. Despite his losses, Emperor Yeshaq was still able to continue field armies against Jamal. Sultan Jamal continued to advance further into the Abyssinian heartland. However, Jamal on hearing of Yeshaq's plan to send several large armies to attack three different areas of Adal (including the capital), returned to Adal, where he fought the Solomonic forces at Harjai and, according to al-Maqrizi, this is where the Emperor Yeshaq died in battle. The young Sultan Jamal ad-Din II at the end of his reign had outperformed his brothers and forefathers in the war arena and became the most successful ruler of Adal to date. Within a few years, however, Jamal was assassinated by either disloyal friends or cousins around 1432 or 1433, and was succeeded by his brother Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din. Sultan Badlay continued the campaigns of his younger brother and began several successful expeditions against the Christian empire. He reconquered Bali and began preparations of a major Adalite offensive into the Ethiopian Highlands. He successfully collected funding from surrounding Muslim kingdoms as far away as the Sultanate of Mogadishu.Richard Gray, The Cambridge history of Africa, Volume 4. p. 155. However, this ambitious campaign ended in disaster when Emperor Zara Yaqob defeated Sultan Badlay at the Battle of Gomit in 1445 and pursued the retreating Adalites all the way to the Awash River. After killing Badlay and plundering his treasures, the Zara Yaqob decided not to conquer the Adalites, believing they were outside of the Christian boundary and shouldn't be included in his kingdom.
Decline of sultan's authority Following the defeat and death of Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din at the Battle of Gomit, the next Sultan of Adal, Muhammad ibn Badlay, submitted to Emperor Baeda Maryam I and started paying annual tribute to the Ethiopian Empire with which he secure peace. Adal's Emirs, who administered the provinces, interpreted the agreement as a betrayal of their independence and a retreat from the polity's long-standing policy of resistance to Abyssinian incursions. Emir Laday Usman of Harar subsequently marched to Dakkar and seized power in 1471. However, Usman did not dismiss the Sultan from office, but instead gave him a ceremonial position while retaining the real power for himself. Adal now came under the leadership of a powerful Emir who governed from the palace of a nominal Sultan. Usman would route emperor Baeda Maryam's troops in battle. Historian Mohammed Hassen states the sultans of Adal had lost control of the state to Harar's aristocracy.
Emperor Na'od and Sultan Muhammad ibn Azhar ad-Din tried to remain at peace, but their efforts were nullified by the raids which Emir Mahfuz constantly made into Christian territory. Na'od who was determined to eliminate this threat, organized a large army and led it against the Emir, although the Emperor was victorious he was eventually killed in battle against the Adalites. Emperor Dawit II (Lebna Dengel) would soon succeed the throne, Mahfuz having recovered from his defeat renewed raids against the frontier provinces. He was stimulated by emissaries from Arabia who proclaimed the jihad (holy war), presented him with a green standard and brought in arms and trained men from Yemen. In 1516, Emir Mahfuz would then launch an invasion of Fatagar, Lebna Dengel was prepared and organized a successful ambush, the Adalites were defeated and Mahfuz was killed in battle. Lebna Dengel then moved into Adal where he sacked the city of Dakkar. Around the same time a Portuguese fleet surprised Zeila whilst its garrison was away with Mahfuz, the Portuguese then burnt down the port city.