The Sultanate of Ifat, known as Wafāt or Awfāt in Arabic texts, or the Kingdom of Zeila was a medieval Sunni Muslim state in the eastern regions of the Horn of Africa between the late 13th century and early 15th century.J. Gordon Melton and Martin Baumann, Religions of the World, Second Edition: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, page 2663Asafa Jalata, State Crises, Globalisation, And National Movements In North-east Africa page 3-4 It was formed in present-day Ethiopia around eastern Shewa in Ifat. Led by the Walashma dynasty, the polity stretched from Zequalla to the port city of Zeila. The kingdom ruled over parts of what are now Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somaliland, Somalia.
Location The earliest account of Ifat Sultanate comes from Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi. He says that the region is called Jabarta and its capital is called Wafāt. Its population, who are Muslim, are ethnically mixed. The city sat upon an elevated place in a valley next to a river and the inhabitants cultivate banana and sugar cane. He calculates the astronomical position of the city being 8 latitude and 57 longitude according to Arab computation, which is located on the eastern edge of Shewa. Ifat Sultanate was also alternatively known as the state of Zeila.
According to Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari, Ifat was a state close to the Red Sea coast, 15 days by 20 days "normal traveling time". The state had a river (Awash River), was well peopled and had an army of 20,000 soldiers and 15,000 horsemen. Al Umari mentioned seven cities in Ifat: Biqulzar, Kwelgora, Shimi, Shewa, Adal, Jamme and Laboo.G.W.B. Huntingford, The Glorious Victories of Ameda Seyon, King of Ethiopia (Oxford: University Press, 1965), p. 20. While reporting that its center was "a place called Walalah, probably the modern Wäläle south of Šäno in the Ěnkwoy valley, about 50 miles ENE of Addis Ababa", G.W.B. Huntingford "provisionally" estimated its southern and eastern boundaries were along the Awash River, the western frontier a line drawn between Medra Kabd towards the Jamma river east of Debre Libanos (which it shared with Damot), and the northern boundary along the Adabay and Mofar rivers.G.W.B. Huntingford, The historical geography of Ethiopia from the first century AD to 1704, (Oxford University Press: 1989), p. 76 The al-Umari territorial account of Ifat Sultanate implies a size of 300 kilometers by 400 kilometers, which may be an exaggeration, according to Richard Pankhurst.Richard Pankhurst The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century - Google Books" The Red Sea Press, 1997. p. 46
According to Taddesse Tamrat, Ifat's borders included Fatagar, Dawaro and Bale. The port of Zeila provided an entry point for trade and served as the most important entry point for Islam into Ethiopian lands. Ifat rulers controlled Zeila, and it was an important commercial and religious base for them.Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia (1270–1527) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 83-84.
It was the northernmost of several Muslim states in the Horn of Africa, acting as a buffer between Christian kingdom and the Muslim states along the coastal regions. Five Ifat cities in eastern Shewa; Asbäri, Nora, Mäsal, Rassa Guba, and Beri-Ifat now mostly in ruins dating back to the fourteenth century have been located. The local Argobba people credited Arabs for building these towns. The dwellings resemble Argobba or Harari historical building designs.
Founding of Ifat
Islam was introduced to the Horn region early on from the Arabian Peninsula, shortly after the hijra.Hamza Dudgeon, “The Hanafis,” in the Routledge Handbook of Islamic Ritual and Practice, ed. Oliver Leaman (New York: Routledge, 2022), 77Samīra al-Zāyid, al-Jāmiʿ fī al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya, 6 vols.,1st ed. (N.P: al-Maṭbaʿa al-ʿIlmiyya, 1995), 1:415-418, 422, 461-477. Zeila's two-mihrab mosque Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to about the 7th century, and is one of the oldest mosques in Africa. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. Zeila transformed into a thriving and independent port city and a key center for early Muslim polities in the Horn of Africa. The Arab geographer Al-Ya'qubi offers the earliest clear reference portraying it as a vibrant, self-governing trading hub on the Somali coast. Merchants exported valuable commodities to Red Sea markets in Yemen and Egypt. Its prime location in the vicinity of the Bab al-Mandab Strait positioned it as a crucial node in transcontinental trade networks, attracting diverse populations.Ali Abdirahman Hersi, “The Arab Factor in Somali History: The Origins and the Development of Arab Enterprise and Cultural Influences in the Somali Peninsula” (PhD diss., University of California Los Angeles, 1977), 75-79Cabdulqaadir Salaad Dhoorre, Soomaaliya iyo Taariikhdeedii Hore (n.p:n.d), 63, 67Jaamac Maxamed Qaalib, Taariikhda Soomalida: Xogogaalnimo u Badah (Mogadishu: Hud Hud Books, 2018), 51Robrecht Deforche, “Stabilization and Common Identity: Reflections on the Islamic Courts Union and Al-Itihaad,” Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies: Vol. 13 (2014): 110
The Walashma dynasty are regarded by scholars as the founders of the Ifat Sultanate. According to the Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi, the ruling class of the Ifat Sultanate claimed Arab descent from the Hejaz. The dynasty claimed a distant origin from the Quraysh and traced its lineage to Aqil ibn Abi Talib, brother of Ali and Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, who were among the first Muslims to seek refuge in the region, according to oral tradition that has been preserved over time. Although this lineage was likely a fictitious claim intended to associate them with revered Muslim figures for the purpose of social prestige. Instead, they were most probably of local origin.
Ifat first emerged when Umar ibn Dunya-huz, later to be known as Sultan Umar Walasma, carved out his own kingdom and conquered the Sultanate of Shewa located in northern Hararghe. In 1288 Sultan Wali Asma successfully imposed his rule on Hubat, Zeila and other Muslim states in the region. Taddesse Tamrat explains Sultan Walashma's military acts as an effort to consolidate the Muslim territories in the Horn of Africa in much the same way as Emperor Yekuno Amlak was attempting to consolidate the Christian territories in the highlands during the same period.Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State, p. 125
History According to the Arab historian Maqrizi, known for his pro-Islamic version of history written around 1435, Sultan Umar Walasma was the first ruler of Ifat.Richard Pankhurst The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century - Google Books" The Red Sea Press, 1997. p. 48 Umar died around 1275, stated Maqrizi, and was succeeded by "four or five sons" with each ruling a short period.Richard Pankhurst The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century - Google Books" The Red Sea Press, 1997. p. 40-45. Finally, Sabr ad-Din I came to power and he ruled Ifat till the turn of the century. He was succeeded by Sultan Ali, according to Maqrizi, who was the first ruler to engage with a warfare against the Abyssinia. Sultan Ali, however soon submitted back to Ethiopian rule, because according to Maqrizi he lacked popular support. This allowed Emperor Yagbe'u Seyon to mount a campaign further west along the coast, near the vicinity of Zeila.
Before the establishment of Ifat eastern Ethiopia was ruled by the Gidaya, Dawaro, Sawans, Bali, and Fatagar. These states were incorporated into the Ifat Sultanate however they managed to maintain a source of independence after Ifat collapsed. When Ifat was abolished by the Ethiopian Empire these states were also invaded, however Fatagar still managed to stay under the control of Ifat.
Conflict with Abyssinia In 1320 a conflict between the Christian monarch and Muslim Ifat leaders began. The conflict was precipitated by Al-Nasir Muhammad of Egypt.Richard Pankhurst The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century - Google Books" The Red Sea Press, 1997. p. 40. The Mamluk ruler Al-Nasir Muhammad was persecuting Christian Copts and destroying Coptic churches. The Ethiopian Emperor Amda Seyon I sent an envoy with a warning to the Mamluk ruler that if he did not stop the persecution of Christians in Egypt, he would retaliate against Muslims under his rule and would starve the peoples of Egypt by diverting the course of the Nile.J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia - Google Books" (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), p. 70-71. According to Pankhurst, of the two threats, the diversion of Nile was an idle threat and the Egyptian sultan dismissed it because he likely realized this to be so. The fear that the Ethiopians might tamper with the Nile, states Pankhurst, was nevertheless to remain with Egyptians for many centuries.
As a result of the threats and the dispute between Amda Seyon and Al Nasr, the Sultan of Ifat, Haqq ad-Din I responded, initiating a definite war of aggression. He invaded the Christian Abyssinian territory in the Amhara kingdom, burnt churches and forced apostasy among Christians. He also seized and imprisoned the envoy sent by the Emperor on his way back from Cairo. Haqq ad-Din tried to convert the envoy, killing him when this failed. In response, the irate Emperor raided the inhabitants of all the land of Shewa, much of it inhabited by Muslims at that time, and other districts of Ifat Sultanate.Richard Pankhurst The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century - Google Books" The Red Sea Press, 1997. pp. 41 The historical records of that time, depending on which side wrote the history, indicate a series of defeat, destruction and burning of towns of the opposite side.
According to the Christian chronicles, the son of the Sultan Haqq ad-Din Dadader Haqq ad-Din who was the leader of the Midra Zega and Menz people who were then Muslims, fought the emperor in the battle of Marra Biete in an area somewhere south of Marra Biete in modern North Shewa. Dadader forces were able to surround the emperor Amda Seyon I, who nevertheless succeeded in defeating them and killed the commander Dadader in the battle.
Ifat rebellion Sabr ad-Din's rebellion was not an attempt to achieve independence, but to become emperor of a Muslim Ethiopia. Amda Seyon's royal chronicle states that Sabr ad-Din proclaimed:
"I wish to be King of all Ethiopia; I will rule the Christians according to their law and I will destroy their churches...I will nominate governors in all the provinces of Ethiopia, as does the King of Zion (Ethiopia)...I will transform the churches into mosques. I will subjugate and convert the King of the Christians to my religion, I will make him a provincial governor, and if he refuses to be converted I will hand him over to one of the shepherds, called Warjeke [i.e. Warjih], that he may be made a keeper of camels. As for the Queen Jan Mangesha, his wife, I will employ her to grind corn. I will make my residence at Marade [i.e. Tegulet], the capital of his kingdom.Pankhurst, Richard K.P. The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles. Addis Ababa: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1967, p. 15.
In fact, after his first incursion, Sabr ad-Din appointed governors for nearby and neighboring provinces such as Fatagar and Alamalé, as well as far-off provinces in the north like Damot, Amhara, Angot, Inderta, Begemder, and Gojjam. He also threatened to plant khat at the capital, a stimulant used by Muslims but forbidden to Ethiopian Orthodox Christians.Pankhurst, Borderlands, p. 42.