Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din II () (also known as Sihab ad-Din Ahmad Badlay, Arwe Badlay – "Badlay the Beast" (died 25 December 1445) was a

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

of the

Sultanate of Adal The Adal Sultanate, also known as the Adal Empire or Barr Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate'', ''Adal Sultanate'') (), was a medieval Sunni Muslim empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din III on th ...

and a son of

Sa'ad ad-Din II Sa'ad ad-Din II (), reigned – c. 1403 or c. 1410, was a Sultan of the Ifat Sultanate. He was the brother of Haqq ad-Din II, and the father of Mansur ad-Din, Sabr ad-Din II and Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din. The historian Richard Pankhurst desc ...

. Brought numerous Christian lands under Muslim rule and contributed to expanding Adal's reach and power in the region. The polity under Sultan Badlay controlled the territory stretching from port city of Suakin in Sudan to covering the whole Afar plains to the Shewa and Chercher Mountains to include a significant part of northern Somalia.

Reign

After succeeding his brother Jamal Ad-Din, Sultan Badlay moved the capital of Adal to Dakkar (a few miles southeast of

Harar Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...

) upon his ascension; Richard Pankhurst states that he founded that town. In the next few years he continued his predecessor's policy of confrontation with the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire, historically known as Abyssinia or simply Ethiopia, was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day territories of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It existed from the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak a ...

and he carried out several successful expeditions and succeeded in capturing the province of

Bale Bale may refer to: Apps Bale Messenger, an Iranian instant messaging (IM) app owned by the National Bank of Iran Packaging * Cotton bale * Hay or straw bale in farming, bound by a baler * Paper bale, a unit of paper measurement equal t ...

. He brought numerous

lands under his rule, and burnt many of their towns,

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 ...

says, and he burnt many churches in the Christian Ethiopian lands. He also killed many Christian leaders, and seized their inhabitants, together with much booty. He and his men collected a great deal of wealth, in gold, silver, clothes and armour, as well as many slaves. Some Christian documents attribute to him very ambitious plans of not only recovering the frontier Muslim provinces but also of leading a major

Jihad ''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...

against the whole of the Christian highlands, over which he is said to have actually nominated prospective governors. Sultan Badlay also apparently had a fair taste for luxury, the commercial relations that existed between the

Adal Sultanate The Adal Sultanate, also known as the Adal Empire or Barr Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate'', ''Adal Sultanate'') (), was a medieval Sunni Muslim empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din III on th ...

and the rulers of the

Arab peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

allowed Muslims to obtain luxury items that Christian Ethiopians, whose relations with the outside world were still blocked, could not acquire, a Christian document describing Badlay relates:

"And the robes f the sultanand those of his leaders were adorned with silver and shone on all sides. And the dagger which he he sultancarried at his side was richly adorned with gold and precious stones; and his amulet was adorned with drops of gold; and the inscriptions on the amulet were of gold paint. And his parasol came from the land of Syria and it was such beautiful work that those who looked at it marveled, and winged serpents were painted on it."

In 1445, he invaded the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

n province of Dawaro, and again in 1445, before

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Zara Yaqob Zara Yaqob (; 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Qostantinos I (; "Constantine"). He is known for the Geʽez literature that flourished during his reign, th ...

defeated and killed him in the

Battle of Gomit The Battle of Gomit or Battle of Egubba (or Battle of Ayfars) was fought in 1445 between the Ethiopian Empire and a powerful Muslim army under the Adal Sultanate. The Ethiopians were led by Emperor Zara Yaqob, while the forces of Adal were led ...

. The Royal Chronicle of Zara Yaqob reports that the Emperor cut Badlay's body into pieces and sent the parts to different parts of his realm: his head to a place called " Amba", and other parts of his body to

Axum Axum, also spelled Aksum (), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire. Axum is located in the Central Zone of the Tigray Re ...

, Manhadbe, Wasel (near modern

Dessie Dessie (; also spelled Dese or Dessye) is a town in north-central Ethiopia. Located in the South Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, it sits at a latitude and longitude of , with an elevation between 2,470 and 2,550 metres above sea level. Dessie ...

), Jejeno, Lawo, and Wiz. In retaliation for the death and dismemberment of Badlay, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt ordered the patriarch of Alexandria to be tortured and threatened to execute him. The situation would eventually be defused when Yaqob freed an imprisoned Egyptian envoy.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Badlay Ibn Saad Ad-Din Sultans of the Adal Sultanate 15th-century monarchs in Africa 1445 deaths Year of birth unknown People from Harari Region

Reign

See also

Notes