Umar Ibn Dunyā-ḥawaz or Umar Walasma () was the first ruler of the

Sultanate of Ifat 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. It was formed in pres ...

and the founder of the

Walashma dynasty The Walashma dynasty was a medieval Muslim dynasty of the Horn of Africa founded in Ifat (historical region), Ifat (modern eastern Shewa). Founded in the 13th century, it governed the Sultanate of Ifat, Ifat and Adal Sultanate, Adal Sultanates in ...

Reign

According to

Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...

, although being local to the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

, Umar came as refugee to the region of Ifat and established his dynasty there. Taddese Tamrat noted according to

Al-Maqrizi Al-Maqrīzī (, full name Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī, ; 1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian historian and biographer during the Mamluk era, known for his interest in the Fat ...

, the ancestors of ’Umar Walasma first settled in Jabarta, a region which he says belonged to

Zeila Zeila (, ), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland. In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila with the Biblical location of Havilah. Most modern schola ...

where they moved further inland and occupied Ifat.

also says Umar Walashma was appointed by a "''Haze''" or a King of Ethiopia to be the first ruler of Awfat. Richard Pankhurst identifies this King as

Yekuno Amlak Yekuno Amlak (); throne name Tesfa Iyasus (; died 19 June 1285) was Emperor of Ethiopia, from 1270 to 1285, and the founder of the Solomonic dynasty, which lasted until 1974. He was a ruler from Bete Amhara (in parts of modern-day Wollo and ...

. However some historians say it was most likely a

Zagwe The Zagwe dynasty () was a medieval Agaw monarchy that ruled the northern parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It ruled large parts of the territory from approximately 1137 to 1270 AD, when the last Zagwe King Za-Ilmaknun was killed in battle by the ...

monarch which welcomed the Walashma' to the land of Awfât as the first Solomonids did not extend their authority beyond the Amhara, adding to that, the Zagwe monarchs were also probably more tolerant towards their

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

counterparts. According to local chronicles, Umar was the 5th descendant of the Sheikh

Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn () (b. 10th century), popularly known as Aw Barkhadle ("Blessed Father")Abdullahi, p.13 or Yusuf Al Kownayn, was an Islamic scholar and traveler based in Zeila, Somaliland. According to Dr. Enrico Cerulli, Yusuf Al K ...

also known as ''Aw Barkhadle'', local chronicles relate:

"Umar the son of Dunya hawaz, the son of Ahmed, the son of Muhammed, the son of Hamid, the son of Mahmud, the son of Shaykh Yusuf and that is Barkhadlah.''"

Ioan Lewis Ioan Myrddin Lewis FBA (30 January 1930 – 14 March 2014), popularly known as I. M. Lewis, was a Scottish professor emeritus of anthropology at the London School of Economics. Early life and education Born in Scotland to a Welsh father and ...

also mentions that in a short king-list titled "''Rulers of the land of Sa'ad ad-Din''", Yusuf is recognized as one of the Walashma's ancestors. Yusuf is considered as the progenitor of the Walashma dynasty. According to the ''History of the Walashma'', he was said to have died in 1276 at the age of 120, and had over six hundred children. But the number of his children are considered only legendary and are only seen as a literary genre to express the greatness and power of the founder of the dynasty. Thus, most historians place the end of his reign and his death at 1275, Cerulli also justifies this by saying that Umar, the founder of the dynasty, died 104 years before the commencement of

Haqq ad-Din I Haqq ad-Din I () (flourished 1328) was a sultan of the Ifat Sultanate and the son of Nahwi b. Mansur b. Umar Walashma. According to I.M. Lewis, Emir Haqq "turned the sporadic and disjointed forays of his predecessors into a full-scale war of aggr ...

's reign which was in 778 Hegira. So the demise of Umar and the commencement of his son

Ali Baziyu Ali "Baziyu" Nahwi () was the second ruler of the Sultanate of Ifat and the son of Sultan Umar Walasma, Umar Dunyā-ḥawaz. He led various military campaigns aimed at the submission and affirmation of his own hegemony on neighboring Muslim king ...

‟s reign have been dated, according to history, to 674 Hegira (1275-1276). The Shewan Sultan Dil-Marrah married his daughter in October 1271, 5 years before the

Conquest of Shewa Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or legal prohibitions against conquest. ...

Legacy

Umar's dynasty would go on to overthrow the ruling

Makhzumi dynasty The Sultanate of Shewa (also spelled Sultanate of Shoa), sometimes called the Makhzumi dynasty, was a Muslim kingdom in present-day Ethiopia. Its capital Walale was situated in northern Hararghe in Harla country. Its territory extended possibly ...

in 1280 which occupied Ifat since the ninth century. Umar's dynasty would rule in Northeastern Africa from 1187 to 1559.

References

{{reflist 1275 deaths Sultans of Ifat Walashma sultans Monarchs in Africa

Reign

Legacy

See also

References