🌍 The History of the Adal Empire

🏛️ Origins of the Empire

It was on the 13th century that came to the light, in Horn of Africa, one of the strongest Empire that existed in East Africa. Adal Empire had its origine in the city of Zeyla, situated until today in the northern region of the former Democratic Republic of Somalia. The father of that State was King Omar D. Ahmed (nicknamed Aw-Barkhadle). The king who had a long life, occupied the throne for many years. When he passed away, he left behind him many children, mainly males. Among them, the successors to the throne who inherited the kingdom. Later, Adal Empire became an Islamic Empire that expanded the religion of Islam with determination, into the entire Horn of Africa.

⚖️ Structure and States of Adal

Adal Empire was composed of seven (7) States. According to the size of their land and the military forces of each state, here is their names: Ifaad, Dawaaro, Araabiini, Hadaya, Sharqa, Baali and Daara, where each of them had its own government. The largest and strongest State Ifaad, known from Egypt and “Shaam” as Zeyla’s land, became later the dominant and the central one with its capital city of Zeyla. Ifaad will lead the entire Empire and will face many challenges. According to the historians of that period, Ifaad was large as 20 days of walk from North to South and 15 days of walk from East to West. Its military force was composed of 15000 cavaliers and 20000 of infantries

In a book titled “Masaalikal-Absaar”(this is in Somali spelling), the Egyptian author, Subhul Ahsha mentioned that Zeyla was the nucleus city of Adal Empire. Continuing into the description of this city, he added that Zeyla was “The City of Light”, which had many Mosques and many schools, where all kind of subjects were taught. In fact, Mr. Ahsha described Zeylac as “The Place” where one can acquire any kind of knowledge that may be taught in that period of time. The author added in his description that the people were 100% Muslim. Mr. Ahsha said that they were gathering in large number into the Mosques of the city, as faithful believers to Islam. According to this writing, these Mosques could be compared to the municipal libraries that can be found today in big cities of our century. In addition of that, schools were places where people use to enjoy meeting, share knowledge, discuss about social issues and debate intellectually. As a matter of fact, Zeyla was known as the place where the knowledge was at the merci of everyone.

Remarked by its faithful actions, other Islamic States in the world called Adal Empire “Diraasal-Islaam”.

✨ The Walashma Dynasty

The Walashma dynasty was a Muslim noble family who ruled parts of what is now eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, southern Eritrea and western Somalia. The earliest known member of this family was Umar ibn Dunya-huz (died 1275), whose son Ali ibn Wali Ashma conquered the Muslim kingdom of Shewa.

• Haqq ad-Din I
• Sabr ad-Din I
• Jamal ad-Din I
• Ali ibn Sabr ad-Din
• Ahmad ibn Ali
• Haqq ad-Din II
• Sa’ad ad-Din II
• Sabr ad-Din II
• Mansur ad-Din
• Jamal ad-Din II
• Badlay ibn Sa’ad ad-Din
• Muhammad ibn Badlay
• Shams ad-Din ibn Muhammad
• Muhammad ibn Azhar ad-Din
• Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad
• Umar Din
• Ali ibn Umar Din
• Barakat ibn Umar Din

Muslim-Christian relations soured during the reign of the aggressive Negus Yeshaq (ruled 1414-29). Forces of his rapidly expanding empire descended from the highlands to despoil Muslim settlements in the Valley East of the ancient city of Harer. Having branded the Muslims “enemies of the Lord,” Yeshaq invaded the Muslim Kingdom of Ifat in 1415. He crushed the armies of Ifat and put to flight in the wastes along the Gulf of Tadjoura (in present-day Djibouti) Ifat’s king Saad ad Din. Yeshaq followed Saad ad Din to the island off the coast of Saylac (which still bears his name), where the Muslim king was killed. Yeshaq compelled the Muslims to offer tribute, and also ordered his singers to compose a gloating hymn of thanksgiving for his victory. In the hymn’s lyrics, the word Somali appears for the first time in written record.

A century later the Muslims had recovered sufficiently to break through from the east into the central Ethiopian highlands. Led by the charismatic Imam Ahmad Guray (1506-43),

⚔️ The Rise of Imam Ahmad Guray

Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi (c.1507 – February 21, 1543) was a Somali Imam and General who defeated several Ethiopian emperors and wreaked much damage on that nation. He is also known as Ahmad Gragn (or Gurey), “Ahmed the left-handed”.

He was born near Zeila, a port city located in northwestern Somalia, and married Bati del Wambara,

the daughter of governor Mahfuz of Zeila. When Mahfuz was killed returning from a campaign against the Ethiopian emperor Lebna Dengel in 1517, the Adal sultanate lapsed into anarchy for several years, until Imam Ahmad killed the last of the contenders for power and took control of Harar.

In retaliation for an attack on Adal in 1527-8 by the Ethiopian general Degalhan, Imam Ahmad invaded Ethiopia in 1529. Although his troops were fearful of their opponents, and attempted to desert upon news that the Ethiopian army was approaching, Imam Ahmad relied on his elite company armed with matchlocks, and defeated emperor Lebne Dengel at Shimbra Kure that March.1

Imam Ahmad campaigned again in Ethiopia in 1531, breaking Emperor Lebna Dengel’s ability to resist in the Battle of Amba Sel on October 28, then marched north to loot the island monastery of Lake Hayq and the stone churches of Lalibela. When the Imam entered the province of Tigray, he defeated an Ethiopian army that confronted him there, and on reaching Axum destroyed the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, in which the Ethiopian emperors had been coronated for centuries.

🕌 Adal and the Ottoman Empire

The Adal empire had robust commercial and political relationship with the Ottoman empire the Ottoman Turks, themselves actively engaged in wars against European kingdoms did not pay much attention to Ethiopia.

Things changed when the Portuguese paid a visit to the court of Emperor Lebne Dengel, in 1492 –

However, the Emperor did not see much advantage in befriending the Portuguese or how he could form an alliance that would have benefited Ethiopia. The motive of the Portuguese was to 1) spread Catholicism and 2) form an alliance with this mysterious and powerful Christian empire, which they hoped would eventually enable them to fight the Turks. The visit of the Portuguese did not go unnoticed by the Turks, who were promptly informed by their spies in Denkaz.

the Turks, who were in contact with Adal, found Gragn to be a formidable military person with a fanatic zeal for Islam. They made a deal with Gragn: he was to subjugate the Christian empire and convert it to Islam while they would thwart any possible alliance between Ethiopia and Europe, which would have dangerously out-flanked the Turks in the indian ocean.

the Ottoman soldiers

The Turks provided the Adal and Gragn 900 Bombardiers, or what would be considered in today’s military terminology, artillery men. The war was, needless to say, a disaster to Ethiopia. Ethiopians were armed with only swords and spears while their enemies had guns and experienced Turkish troops under their command.

the King of Adal marched out of his trenches to enter those of the Portuguese. Mohammed’s forces entered the camp, and hit the Christians to the spear. The Portuguese General (Christopher) escaped the slaughter with ten men and retreated to a wood, where they were discovered… (and killed).

… Mohammed Gragne improved his victory by chasing the young Claudius (king of Ethiopia) over Abyssinia, where nothing opposed the progress of his arms. At last the few Portuguese survivors repaired to the Christian Emperor, who was persuaded to march an army against the King of Adel (Mohammed Gragne). Resolved to revenge their general, the harquebusiers demanded the post opposite Mohammed, and directed all their efforts against the part where the Moslem stood. His fellow religionists still relate that when Gragne fell in action, his wife Talwambara, the heroic daughter of Mohfuz, to prevent the destruction and dispersion of the host of al-Islam, buried the corpse privately, and caused a slave to personate the King, until a retreat to safe lands enabled her to discover the stratagem to the noble.

Thus after a 30 yr jihad the King of Adal perished Mohammed was succeeded on the throne of Adel by Amir Nur, son of Majid, and, according to some, brother to the ‘left-handed’. He proposed marriage to Talwambara, who accepted him on condition that he should lay the head of the Emperor Claudius at her feet. In AD 1559, he (Amir Nur) sent a message of defiance to the Negush (Ethiopian Emperor Claudius) who, having saved Abyssinia almost by a miracle, was rebuilding on Debra Work, the ‘Golden Mount’, a celebrated structure which had been burned by the Muslims. Claudius despising the eclipses, evil prophecies, and portents which accompanied his enemy’s progress, accepted the challenge. Claudius, supported by a handful of Portuguese, were soon slain around him, and he fell covered with wounds.

Amir Nur cut off his head, and laid it at the feet of Talwambara, who, in observance of her pledge, became his wife. Talwambara suspended the trophy by its hair to the branch of a tree opposite her abode that her eyes might be gladdened by the sight; after hanging for two years, it was purchased by an American merchant, who interred it in the sepulcher of St. Claudius at Antioct.

The untimely death of Mohammad Gragne was a very great blow to the Somalis. His wife and her new husband Amir Nur continued fighting for seven years with the Ethiopians, but they were in fact pushed from Addis Ababa to the border near river Haiwaish (‘Awash’) because of the Portuguese help to the Ethiopian Guerillas.

After seven years of fighting. Amir Nur and his wife withdrew to their previous headquarter at Harar and again Harar became the principal Somali city. When she died, her son Amir Abdullahi succeeded. His dynasty ruled Harar till 1884,

The Adal empire became a protectorate of the Ottoman empire in the 17th century ruled by local somali chiefs

👑 Legacy and Cultural Influence

After Imam Ahmad’s death in 1543, his widow Bati del Wambara and his successor Amir Nur ibn Mujahid continued the struggle, keeping Harar as the cultural and political capital.
The dynasty of Harar continued to rule until 1884, leaving behind an enduring legacy of education, architecture, faith, and unity.

Today, the influence of the Adal Empire is still visible across Awdal, Zeila, Harar, and Djibouti, where traditions of scholarship, trade, and diplomacy trace their roots back to this powerful Islamic civilization.

🗺️ Historical Maps

Below is a historical depiction of the Horn of Africa showing Adal territories during the Empire’s height:

🗺️ Map Description: The Adal Empire and Its Somali Foundations

This historical map depicts the Horn of Africa around the year 1500, when the Adal Empire reached its greatest territorial expansion.
Shown in green, the Empire stretched from the Red Sea coast at Zeila and Berbera, across Harar and Dakar, to the highlands bordering the Christian Abyssinian (Aksumite) kingdom in the west.
The map clearly distinguishes the two major powers of the region:

• the Adal Sultanate, representing the Muslim states of the Somali coast and lowlands, and
• the Abyssinian Empire (Aksum), a Christian highland kingdom.

The frontier between Adal and Aksum — marked here near the regions of Dawaro, Hadya, and Bale (Bali) — was a dynamic zone of trade, diplomacy, and conflict.
It was along this frontier that the Adal armies, led by the Walashma dynasty and later by Imam Ahmad Guray, defended the independence of the Muslim states and expanded their influence into the Ethiopian plateau.

At the heart of Adal’s strength were the Somali clans, particularly the Gadabursi (Gadabuursi), who inhabited the region between Zeila, Harar, and Djibouti — the same area marked on older ethnographic maps as part of the Dir confederation.
The Gadabursi sultans and elders were among the key founders and administrators of the Empire.
Their port city of Zeila served as the political and commercial capital of Adal and as a gateway linking Africa to Arabia, Egypt, and the Indian Ocean trade routes.

Under Gadabursi leadership, Zeila became renowned for its scholarship, mosques, and open intellectual life — earning the title “The City of Light” in medieval Islamic writings.
From this base, Gadabursi rulers maintained the balance between the coastal trade networks and the interior highlands, ensuring the Empire’s prosperity and its enduring legacy as one of the most sophisticated Muslim civilizations of East Africa.

🗺️ Map Description: Peoples of the Horn of Africa (Historical Context)

This historical map, titled “Peoples of the Horn of Africa,” illustrates the traditional territories of major Somali and Cushitic groups before the colonial period.
In the northwestern region — stretching from Zeila to the highlands near Harar — lies the Gadabursi (Gadabuursi) territory, identified here as part of the broader Dir family.

During the height of the Adal Empire (13th–16th centuries), the Gadabursi were one of the dominant clans and principal power bases of the Empire.
Their stronghold around Zeila and Harar formed the political and commercial heart of Adal, connecting coastal trade with the interior highlands.
Gadabursi rulers, nobles, and scholars played a key role in:

• governing the western provinces of the Empire,
• supporting the Walashma Dynasty, and
• leading the spread of Islam, education, and cross-regional diplomacy across the Horn of Africa.

From Zeila, the Empire’s early capital, Gadabursi leaders maintained control of trade routes linking the Red Sea, Harar, and the Ethiopian plateau, ensuring Adal’s influence endured for centuries.
Even after the fall of the Empire, Gadabursi communities continued to preserve this legacy of statecraft and scholarship, marking them as direct heirs of Adal’s cultural and historical heritage.