Sa'ad ad-Din II(Arabic:سعد الدين الثاني), reignedc. 1386– c. 1403 or c. 1410,[2]was aSultanof theIfat Sultanate.He was the brother ofHaqq ad-Din II,and the father ofMansur ad-Din,Sabr ad-Din IIandBadlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din.The historianRichard Pankhurstdescribes him as "the last great ruler of Ifat."[3][4]
| Sa'ad ad-Din II سعد الدين الثاني | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sultanof theSultanate of Ifat Lordof Jabarta[1] | |||||
| Reign | 1386/7 – 1402/3 or 1410CE (788 – 805 or 817AH) | ||||
| Predecessor | Haqq ad-Din II | ||||
| Successor | Sabr ad-Din III | ||||
| Died | 1403 or 1410 Zeila Archipelago | ||||
| |||||
| Dynasty | Walashma dynasty | ||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||
Reign
Sa'ad ad-Din II was born at the court of the Ethiopian EmperorNewaya Krestos.[5]He and his brotherHaqq ad-Din IIrevolted against the Ethiopian Emperor and moved their capital toAdalwhich was outside the sphere of Abyssinian control in theHararplateau.[6]Pankhurst adds that Sa'ad ad-Din also fought against the kingdom of theHadiyaand a pastoral people called the Zalan, both of whom were Christian allies.[7]However, as Taddesse Tamrat notes, these successes were short-lived, and in response to the growingMuslimpower in the region EmperorDawit Istrengthened the Ethiopian defenses along the border and established his court at Tilq inFatagar.
Despite these steps, Sa'ad ad-Din's practice of making quick raids into Ethiopian territory presented a difficult challenge to the Ethiopian Emperor, there were several fights between the Abyssinians and it was not until the Sultan was pursued deep into Ifat territory that the Ethiopians would face him on in a pitched battle. After a battle between Sa'ad ad-Din and the Ethiopian general Barwa, in which the Ifat army was defeated and "no less than 400 elders, each of whom carried an iron bar as his insignia of office" were killed, Sa'ad ad-Din with his remaining supporters were chased to furthest part ofZeila[7]There, the Ethiopian army besieged Zeila, finally capturing the city and killing Sultan Sa'ad ad-Din on the island, Medieval Egyptian historianAl-Maqrizinarrates:
- theAmharapursued Sa'd al-Din as far as the peninsula ofZeila,in the ocean, where he took refuge. The Amhara besieged him there, and deprived him of water; at last one of the impious showed them a way by which they could reach him. When they came upon him a battle ensued; and after three days the water failed. Sa'd al Din was wounded in the forehead and fell to the ground, whereupon they pierced him with their swords. But he died happily, falling in God's cause.[8]
With Sa'ad ad-Din's death, theWalashma dynastyadopted the title of "kings ofAdal".[9]His ten sons took refuge inYemenat the court of KingAhmad bin al-Ashraf.[10]
Legacy
Sa'ad ad-Din's tomb stood as a hallowed site for centuries in Zeila. It was visited byRichard Burtonthe explorer in 1854, who described it as "a mound of rough stones surrounding an upright pole" near the cemetery, decorated with "the remains of votive banquets, broken stones, dried garbage, and stones blackened by the fire" showing how he was "properly venerated" as the current favorite saint of Zeila.[11]Trimingham notes that at the time he wrote his book (circa 1950), the tomb had been destroyed by the encroaching sea.[12]
Additionally, theSaad ad-Din Islandsin northernSomalia,off the coast ofZeila,are named in Sa'ad ad-Din's honour.
According to the chronicle"Conquest of Abyssinia"byArab Faqīh,Harlaclans descendant from Sa'ad ad-Din II participated in the sixteenth centuryEthiopian–Adal War.[13]
See also
Works cited
- Cerulli, Enrico(1931). "Documenti arabi per la storia dell'Etiopia".Memorie della Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.6(4): 39–101.OCLC4178469.
Notes
- ^Cerulli, Enrico (2013).Islam: Yesterday and Today.p. 333.
- ^Trimingham, J. Spencer(2013) [1952].Islam in Ethiopia.London: Routledge. p. 74.ISBN9781136970221.Trimingham reports that he died either in 805AH/ 1402-3CEduring the reign ofDawit I(according toal-Maqrizi) or in 817 AH / 1414-5 during the reign ofYeshaq I(according to a History of the Walashmaʿ edited byCerulli 1931,p. 45).
- ^Richard Pankhurst,The Ethiopian Borderlands(Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1997), p. 50.
- ^Asafa Jalata, State Crises, Globalisation, And National Movements In North-east Africa page 3-4
- ^Taddesse Tamrat,Church and State in Ethiopia(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 147.
- ^Baba, Tamon.NOTES ON MIGRATION BETWEEN YEMEN AND NORTHEAST AFRICA DURING THE 13–15TH CENTURIES(PDF).Kyushu University. pp. 81–82.
- ^abPankhurst,Borderlands,p. 51
- ^Pankhurst, Richard (1982).History Of Ethiopian Towns.p. 57.ISBN9783515032049.
- ^J. Spencer Trimingham,Islam in Ethiopia(Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), p. 74 n.7.
- ^Trimingham, p. 74.
- ^Burton,First Footsteps in East Africa,1856; edited with additional material by Gordon Waterfield (New York: Praeger, 1966), p. 75.
- ^Trimingham, p. 250.
- ^Chekroun, Amélie.Le "Futuh al-Habasa": écriture de l'histoire, guerre et société dans le Bar Sa'ad ad-din.Université Panthéon-Sorbonn. pp. 197–198.