Adal Sultanate

The Adal Sultanate, also known as the Adal Empire or Barr Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling Adel Sultanate, Adal Sultanate) (Arabic: سلطنة عدل), was a medieval Sunni Muslim empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din III on the Harar plateau in Adal after the fall of the Sultanate of Ifat. The kingdom flourished c. 1415 to 1577. At its height, the polity under Sultan Badlay controlled the territory stretching from Cape Guardafui in Somalia to the port city of Suakin in Sudan.

The empire's frequent wars with its Christian rival, the Solomonic Dynasty of Abyssinia, during the 15th and 16th centuries, led by important early figures such as Jamal ad-Din II, Badlay, and Mahfuz, would earn the sovereigns of Adal a reputation in the Islamic World as one of saints, and were as a result regularly supplied with arms, horses and other articles of war. In the 16th century under the leadership of Imam Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi and his successor Nur ibn Mujahid, Adal embarked on the Conquest of Abyssinia deploying muskets and cannons. The war would eventually draw in the Portuguese and Ottoman Empires. The Adalites maintained a strong relationship with the Ottomans in particular.

The Adal Empire had a string of important ports and inland cities such as Harar, Berbera, Zeila, Abasa, Amud, Dakkar and many others, which flourished under its reign with courtyard houses, mosques, shrines, walled enclosures, cisterns and were integrated into the commercial network that tied the kingdoms and empires of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean together. Adal acquired its wealth through the trade of millet, cattle, fruits, slaves, gold, barley, ivory and other commodities. The cities of the empire imported intricately coloured glass bracelets and celadon wares from the Ming Dynasty for palace and home decoration while its merchants used currencies such as dinars and dirhems during commercial transactions. The Sultanate of Adal was alternatively known as the federation of Zeila and in 1577 moved its capital to Aussa.

Adal is believed to be an abbreviation of Havilah. Eidal or Aw Abdal, was the Emir of Harar in the eleventh century which the lowlands outside the city of Harar is named. In the thirteenth century, the Arab writer al-Dimashqi refers to the city of Zeila, by its Somali name "Awdal" (Somali: "Awdal"). The modern Awdal region of Somaliland, which was part of the Adal Sultanate, bears the kingdom's name.

Locally the empire was known to the Muslims as Barr Sa'ad ad-din meaning "The country of Sa'ad ad-din" in reference to the Sultan Sa'ad ad-Din II, who was killed in Zeila while fighting the Ethiopian Emperor Dawit I.

Adal (also Awdal, Adl, or Adel) was situated east of the province of Ifat and was a general term for a region of lowlands inhabited by Muslims. It was used ambiguously in the medieval era to indicate the Muslim inhabited low land portion east of the Ethiopian Empire. Including north of the Awash River towards Lake Abbe as well as the territory between Shewa and Zeila on the coast of Somaliland. According to Ewald Wagner, Adal region was historically the area stretching from Zeila to Harar.

In 1288, the region of Adal was conquered by the Ifat Sultanate. Despite being incorporated into the Ifat Sultanate, Adal managed to maintain a source of independence under Walashma rule, alongside the provinces of Gidaya, Dawaro, Sawans, Bali, and Fatagar. In 1332, Adal was invaded by the Ethiopian Emperor Amda Seyon I. His soldiers were said to have ravaged the province.

In the fourteenth century Haqq ad-Din II transferred Ifat's capital to the Harar plateau thus he is regarded by some to be the true founder of the Adal Sultanate. In the late 14th century, the Ethiopian Emperor Dawit I collected a large army, branded the Muslims of the surrounding area "enemies of the Lord", and invaded Adal. After much war, Adal's troops were defeated in 1403 or 1410 (under Emperor Dawit I or Emperor Yeshaq I, respectively), during which the Walashma ruler, Sa'ad ad-Din II, was captured and executed in Zeila, which was sacked. His children and the remainder of the Walashma dynasty would flee to Yemen where they would live in exile until 1415. According to Harari tradition numerous Argobba had fled Ifat and settled around Harar in the Aw Abdal lowlands during their conflict with Abyssinia in the fifteenth century, a gate was thus named after them called the gate of Argobba.