Bati del Wambara
fl. 1531, (
Harari: ባቲ ዲል ወምበራ, lit. ''victory is her seat'')
[Rita Pankhurst ]
Women of Power in Ethiopia: Struggle and Loss
was the
Harari wife of the 16th-century general,
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, and then his successor,
Nur ibn Mujahid
Nur ibn Mujahid ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Abdullah al Dhuhi Suha ( Harari: ኑር ኢብን ሙጃሂድ, so, Nuur ibn Mujaahid, ar, نور بن مجاهد; died 1567) was a Muslim Emir of Harar who ruled Sultanate of Harar. He was the primary reason fo ...
. She was extremely influential in shaping both her husbands' military policies in their campaigns against the
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...
.
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Biography
Bati del Wambara was born the daughter of Mahfuz, Emir of Harar and later governor of Zeila
Zeila ( so, Saylac, ar, زيلع, Zayla), 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 (or Hawilah) with the Bibli ...
. She married Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi ( so, Axmed Ibraahim al-Qaasi or Axmed Gurey, Harari: አሕመድ ኢብራሂም አል-ጋዚ, ar, أحمد بن إبراهيم الغازي ; 1506 – 21 February 1543) was an imam and general of the Adal Sultana ...
and accompanied him in his jihad
Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
to make Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
a Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
province. During this expedition, she gave birth to two sons - Muhammad in 1531 and Ahmad in 1533.
When her husband was killed and their eldest son captured by the forces of Emperor Gelawdewos (the son of Emperor Lebna Dengle), del Wambara successfully negotiated with the Dowager Empress Seble Wongel to exchange the captured brother of Gelawdewos for the boy.[ Del Wambara then fled to Harar with 40 soldiers and 300 horsemen.
In 1552,][ nearly 10 years after Imam ibn Ibrahim's death, she married the successive Emir of ]Adal
Adal may refer to:
*A short form for Germanic names in ''aþala-'' (Old High German ''adal-''), "nobility, pedigree"; see Othalan
**Adál Maldonado (1948-2020), Puerto Rican artist
**Adal Ramones (born 1969), Mexican television show host
**Adal He ...
, Nur ibn Mujahid
Nur ibn Mujahid ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Abdullah al Dhuhi Suha ( Harari: ኑር ኢብን ሙጃሂድ, so, Nuur ibn Mujaahid, ar, نور بن مجاهد; died 1567) was a Muslim Emir of Harar who ruled Sultanate of Harar. He was the primary reason fo ...
. This was a political marriage aiming to enforce Nur's legitimacy. She is supposed to have pushed him into reviving the jihad in order to avenge the death of her deceased husband. In 1559, Nur ibn Mujahid's forces fought against the heavily outnumbered Emperor Gelawdewos in Fatagar
A medieval map of Fatagar and surrounding areas
Fatagar ( Amharic: ፈጠጋር) was a historical province that separated Muslim and Christian dominions in the medieval Horn of Africa. In the eleventh century it was part of the Muslim states, the ...
, and the dead body of Ethiopian emperor was beheaded, reportedly on the order of del Wambara.
References
Somali monarchs
People from the Adal Sultanate
16th-century Somalian people
African women in war
Women in 16th-century warfare
16th-century births
1559 deaths
16th-century women rulers
{{Somalia-bio-stub