Ifat designated the Muslim dominated portion of
Shewa in
Abyssinia according to
Harari texts, its territory extended from the Shewan uplands east, towards the
Awash River.[6]
According to thirteenth century
Arab geographer
Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi, Ifat was alternatively known as Jabarta.[7]
In the fourteenth century
Al Umari mentioned seven cities or domains within Ifat:
Biqulzar,
Adal,
Shewa, Kuljura, Shimi, Jamme and Laboo.[8]
History
During Islam's inception tradition states the
Banu Makhzum and
Ummayad coalitions quarreled in Ifat.[9][10] According to historian
Enrico Cerulli, in thirteenth century Sultan
Umar Walasma founded the
Ifat Sultanate in Ifat after overthrowing the
Makhzumi dynasty and subsequently invading states of
Hubat,
Gidaya,
Hargaya etc.[11] The later Ifat rulers who are described as zealous would expand their dominion from
Zequalla in eastern Shewa to
Zeila on the coast of
Somalia thus the Muslim dominated regions of the Horn of Africa would be known as Ifat up to the fourteenth century.[12][13]
In 1328 during Emperor
Amda Seyon of Ethiopia's crusades, the territory of Ifat was invaded and incorporated into his empire after defeating its sultan
Haqq ad-Din I's forces in battle.[14] Ifat would lose its prominence as the Muslim power in the region to
Adal following the Abyssinian annexation of its dominion.[15]
In the mid fourteenth century Ifat leader
Jamal ad-Din I would rebel against Abyssinia by forming an alliance with the
Adal leader
Salih to battle the forces of the emperor Amda Seyon.[16] In the late fourteenth century, Ifat rebel leaders
Haqq ad-Din II and
Sa'ad ad-Din II transferred their base to
Adal in the
Harar region founding the
Adal Sultanate.[17][18] These two Walasma princes exiled from Ifat had moved to an area around Harar which today
Argobba and
Harari speakers exist.[19] According to
Harari tradition numerous
Argobba people 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.[20]
According to Ayele Tariku, in the mid 1400s emperor
Zara Yaqob assigned a military battalion in Ifat region following his successful defence of the frontier from the attacks of
Adal Sultanate.[21] In the sixteenth century Ifat was governed by the Adalite, Abūn b. ‘Uthmān following its conquest by the
Adal Sultanate during the
Ethiopian-Adal war.[22]
During Ifat peoples conflicts with
Oromo in the early seventeenth century, the Ifat Muslim leaders formed an alliance with Christian
rulers of Shewa however the region much like neighboring
Bale,
Fatagar,
Angot and others would eventually succumb to the Oromo.[23][24] During the eighteenth century, slave and salt commerce was active in Ifat mainly
Wollo where its reported
Afar brokers would transport them to
Tadjoura on the coast.[25]
Later in the nineteenth century Ifat towns such as
Aliyu Amba were major centers facilitating trade between
Abyssinia and the
Emirate of Harar.[26][27] Under the reign of Shewan king
Sahle Selassie, the appointed Muslim Ifat governors were Hussain of
Argobba, and his father Walasma Mohamed who professed their origin from the
Walasma dynasty of the middle ages.[28]
Ifat was also the site of forceful conversions of Muslims to Christianity by then
Shewa king
Menelik II under the orders of emperor
Yohannes IV.[29] In 1896 rebel leader of Ifat,
Talha Jafar led a revolt with the support of local
Afar,
Oromo, Argobba,
Warjih and
Amhara Muslims in the region, he had also made attempts to reach out to the ruler of
Sudan known as the "
Khalifa", this forced Menelik now emperor of
Ethiopia to send an army to confront the insurgents. Talha would however successfully negotiate a peace treaty with the emperor which ended hostilities a year later.[30][31] According to historian Hussein Ahmed, Talha deceived the emperor into presuming he had a large force backing his rebellion, when in fact they were diminutive.[32]
People
The
Argobba people are believed to originate from Ifat and were living alongside the people of
Doba in the region.[33][34] Argobba,
Harari,
Wolane and
Siltʼe people, appear to have represented major populations of Ifat in the Middle Ages.[35][36] The bulk of Ifat's population also included nomadic pastoralist ethnic groups, such as the
Afar and the
Warjih.[37] The inhabitants of Ifat were the first to be recorded using
Khat in the fourteenth century.[38]
Numerous ruins of the former Ifat state were identified in what is now eastern Shewa most prominently the Nora site.[41] The dwellings resemble Argobba or Harari historical building designs.[42]
References
^Abir, Mordechai (1968). Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes; The Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian Empire (1769-1855). London: Longmans. p. 146f.
^Abir, Mordechai (1968). Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes; The Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian Empire (1769-1855). London: Longmans. pp. 13f.
^Dilebo, Lapiso (2003).
An introduction to Ethiopian history from the Megalithism Age to the Republic, circa 13000 B.C. to 2000 A.D. Commercial Printing Enterprise. p. 41. Like their direct descendants, the Adares of today , the people of ancient Shewa, Yifat, Adal, Harar and Awssa were semitic in their ethnic and linguistic origins. They were neither Somalis nor Afar. But the Somali and Afar nomads were the local subjects of the Adal.