A. b. about 1820, d. 1856), amir of Harar, succeeded his father Abu Bakr b. aftal garad Abdalmannan b. Muhammad in 1852. Though his succession was opposed by the Nole Oromo (Qottu), he was able to push through his claims with the help of his mother Fatima Gisti (Fatima bint Kawšan), sister of the influential chief of the Garri Somali, garad Adam

b. Kawšan. A. was in bad health due to tuberculosis, as Burton supposed. His reign depended mostly on the counsels of his vizier, garad Muhammad, and the queen dowager, Fatima Gisti.

 

Due to the despotic attitude of A., even garad Muhammad did not dare offer uncalled-for advice and Fatima Gisti was threatened with fetters should she persist in interfering in governmental affairs. The quarrel with his mother led to a deterioration in his relations with the Garri Somali, who controlled the trade route to Zayla. So A. married a daughter of garad Hirsi, the chief of the Bertiri Somali, who played a corresponding Ahmad b. Abi Bakr, from Burton 1884, vol. 2, frontispiece Ahmad b. Ibrahim al-Ëazi 155 role on the way to ÷Berbera, which from now on became more important than Zayla for the Harari trade. After 1855, however, A.’s illness became so bad that he had to turn the government

over to his mother.

 

During A.’s reign the Oromo became more and more audacious and laid siege to Harar for 18 months. They gained the privilege entering the town with spears, whereas under Abu Bakr they would have been disarmed at the gates. In January 1855, A. received Richard Burton, allegedly the first European visitor to Harar. The reception was cold, so that Burton was just too glad to have the opportunity to leave the town ten days later. Burton’s description of the amir’s character is not very favourable. From a document published by Yusuf Ahmed (1960) we get some information on the house hold economy of A.

When A. died in 1856, his two sons were both very young. Hence, after some quarrelling, the rule was taken over by a remote relative, the grandson or adopted grandson of the amir Abdaššakur, Muhammad b. Ali, who had sided with the Oromo during the above men tioned siege on Harar.

Source:

Encyclopaedia Aethiopica

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