The greatest Adal Ruler other than Imam Ahmed and Emir Nur: Jamal Ad Din ibn Sa’ad Ad Din

[Hussain Al Gaturi]

We all know the history of the Great Imam Ahmed and Emir Nur. How they beat back the Christian menace and how they established Masjids and Justice. Yet one Adal ruler who reigned before them scarcely mentioned this is Jamal Ad Din ibn Sa’ad Ad Din.

First of all we must dispel the common myth which paints all former sultans of Adal as weak because Ethiopia was brutalizing Adal before the Imam. This is untrue; other than Amda Seyon and Zara Yaqob most Ethiopian Emperors failed to conquer much of Adal and were in a constant stalemate (Such as Eskender and Baeda Maryam) or Were soundly defeated by Adal (Such as Na’od, Tewdoros, and Yeshaq).

Jamal Ad Din was the youngest son of the last Sultan of Ifat Sa’ad Ad Din. After his older brother Mansur ibn Sa’ad Ad Din died in battle against the Ethiopians. Soon After his ascension to throne a battle then ensued, in which Jamal ad-Din's forces fought with the Emperor's men, who reportedly included 7,000 archers and swordsmen. Despite their number they were put to flight. Many others on the other hand ended up submitting, accepted Jamal Ad-Din's rule and agreed to pay him tribute. He subsequently defeated the Emperor’s armies at Bale, Yedeya and Jazja.

Al-Maqrizi narrates the successful campaign of ῾Adal Sultan Jamal ad-Din against the Abyssinians. The Emperor Yeshaq was forced to flee to the Blue Nile and the Sultan seized immeasurable wealth.

The Emperor's forces countered by attacking three different parts of Adal and threatening its capital where the royal family resided. Jamal ad-Din rushed home covering the distance of what was twenty days of journey in only three days. He met the imperial army at Harjah, where Yeshaq's army, though exhausted, fought well but was eventually defeated. The Emperor Yeshaq according to Maqrizi was killed in this battle.

Jamal ad-Din also enjoyed a considerable reputation for justice. As a story Maqrizi relates shows:

On one occasion when his children were small, one of them while playing is said to have struck a child smaller than himself, and broke his hand. The sultan did not hear of this until some time afterwards. When he did he was furious that his courtiers had concealed the matter from him. He summoned the injured family, and calling together his subjects, ordered his son to be brought before him, as someone deserving punishment on the Biblical principle of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". The leading courtiers begged him to show mercy, and the child's family declared that it had no desire for revenge. The stern ruler, however was not to be moved to clemency. When his son came forward to suffer the penalty, all the bystanders bewailed loudly, and the injured child's family reiterated that they were in favour of mercy. Jamal ad-Din, however seized his son's hand, and broke it with the blow of an iron bar. The boy cried out in pain and all the present lamented his hard lot, but the sultan merely said to his son, "Feel now yourself what you made the other boy feel!"

After such acts of severity it's perhaps not surprising that Jamal ad-Din's subjects are said to have adhered strictly to the law. In which Maqrizi remarks that they dared not touch the possessions of others, and that no one, whether they were of nobility or common birth, did ill to others. Everyone feared their ruler so much so that no one was indifferent to his commands or prohibitions. Thus Jamal Ad-Din was respected for the severity of his rule, the force of his punishments, and the excellence of his virtues.

 

[Hussain Al Gaturi]

@Khaemwaset @Step a side