K-M-O
Coping through the 1st world
Not a chance in hell. He was not an Arab. Read the Futux al-Xabasha:
He makes it very clear at various points that he is a native of the Horn interior. Not even from the coast but the interior near Harar. He was born in some tuulo near the city and most of his relations are either Somalis or people of unnamed exact ethnic origins but who were likely either Sidamics or Southern Ethiosemites. He speaks at more than one point in the book to Arabs like they are foreigners because they are. He even displayed a common cultural practice, a type of trial by fire, found among Somalis and Afars which some scholars have used to theorize solidifies his Cushitic (instead of Ethiosemitic) origins.
And the Walashma were just claiming Arabian origins the same way all Somalis and Muslim Horners do. The guy they are often said to claim descent from is this dude:
A guy who has in some sources seemingly been referred to as "al-Barbari". Barbari/Berbera being a word medieval Arabs used to refer to Somalis like how Ibn Battuta makes it clear it refers to a dark-skinned people who herd camels and sheep whilst being Shafi'i Muslims and living from Saylac down to Xamar. Who does that sound like to you? Most of their troops were also clearly Somali, even more so than the Imam, so much so that in the Futux you'll read things like "The Sultan and his Somalis". They're often mentioned in tandem together. And their power base was often Saylac. A historically Somali town.
You Should’ve agreed with him, saxib.
I wanted to see how far he would go.