Umar Din

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ʿUmar Dīn
عمر الدين
Adal Sultanate
Reign1526–1553
PredecessorAbu Bakr ibn Muhammad
(1525–1526)
SuccessorAli ibn Umar Din
(1553–1555)
DynastyWalashmaʿ dynasty
ReligionIslam

ʿUmar Dīn (Arabic: عمر الدين), reigned 1526–1553, was a sultan ruling over the Sultanate of Adal in the Horn of Africa. He was the younger brother of Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad.[1] According to historian Richard Pankhurst, Umar was of Harari background.[2]

Reign[edit]

After his brother Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad was killed by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (1506–1543) in 1526, Umar Din was made sultan by Imam Ahmad. He ruled as a puppet king, with Imam Ahmad wielding true power.[3]

The Futuh al-Habasa of Sihab ad-Din records that the Sultan and the Imam quarrelled over the distribution of the alms tax at some point between the Battle of Shimbra Kure and the Battle of Amba Sel, which led to Imam Ahmad leaving Harar to live amongst the Somalis in Zeila for some time.[4]

He was succeeded by his son Ali ibn Umar Din in 1553, who in turn was succeeded by his brother Barakat ibn Umar Din, the last member of the Walashmaʿ dynasty, in 1555.[5]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Tamrat 1977, p. 169; Spencer Trimingham 1952, p. 86.
  2. ^ Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Red Sea Press. p. 225. ISBN 9780932415196.
  3. ^ Spencer Trimingham 1952, p. 86.
  4. ^ Sihab ad-Din Ahmad bin 'Abd al-Qader, Futuh al-Habasa: The conquest of Ethiopia, translated by Paul Lester Stenhouse with annotations by Richard Pankhurst (Hollywood: Tsehai, 2003), pp. 101-105
  5. ^ Spencer Trimingham 1952, p. 92, note 4.

Works cited[edit]

Preceded by
Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad (1525–1526)
Walashmaʿ sultans of Adal
(1526–1553)
Succeeded by
Ali ibn Umar Din (1553–1555)