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"The research leading to this database has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement n°322849"

Identification

Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm al-Ġāzī أحمد بن ابراهيم الغازي
Grañ

Titles: Imām

Dates

  • Birth

    Estimated

  • Death

    Estimated

Biographic comments

One of the main figures of Ethiopian Islam, from a political and military point of view, he has become a sort of mythical ancestor for the following generations of Muslims. He was born in a village of the region between Harar and the Ogade, but his Somali origin is still debated.
He started his military career under the amīr Abūn, in opposition to the quietism of the Walašmaʻ dynasty towards the Ethiopian Emperor. Nontheless Aḥmad was able to marry the daughter of imām Maḥmfūẓ b. Muḥammad, who was the governor of Zaylaʻ under the Walšmaʻ. After the death of Abūn, Aḥmad took the command of the troops and started campaigning against the Emperor. The struggle started in 1528 and lasted until Aḥmad's death, in 1543. The war involved also the Portuguese (on the Emperor's side) and the Ottomans, who provided Aḥmad with rifles, men and logisti support.
After his death, his wife married Nūr b. Muǧāhid, Aḥmad's nephew, who tried to aveng hsi uncle's death, but was not able to halt the collapse of the Muslim power, which opened the door for the expansion of the Oromo in Ethiopia.
The deeds of Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm are one of the main objects of the Futūḥ al-Ḥabaša.

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