Yemeni Imams' 11th-Century Ambition to Seize Ethiopia and Northern Somalia

[makadoor]

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In the 11th Islamic century the Qasimi Yemeni Imams had ambitions to expand into HOA. their main goal was religious, since their aim was spreading Islam. the main motivation for this vision came from Qadi Hasan bin Ahmad Al-Haymi the yemeni ambassador to the emperor of ethiopia, who was terrified by the conditions in Ethiopia, the extreme poverty the ignorance , lack of development , oppression by local rulers and their blind following of Christianity .
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🔹️[ In the year 1066 the Imam considered and consulted those close to him at the time about sending his soldiers army and cavalry to Abyssinia because of the poems written by Hasan bin Ahmad al-Haymi, who had entered the region but later gave that up after reconsidering and followed the advice of his close associates ]

the historian Yahya ibn al-Qasim explains some of the challenges and consequences that may result from this step saying : [ Al-Qadi Hassan opinion about conquering and subjugating Abyssinia is a sound one but not the right time because the situation in Yemen and its tribes is known for frequent disagreements. If the Imam soldiers crossed the sea to Abyssinia some corrupt people would see this as an opportunity for rebellion. moreover the land of Abyssinia can only be reached by crossing the Ottoman coasts where pashas still reside and rule this would be a conflict with two great states ]

Source : بهجة الزمن في تاريخ اليمن
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The poem which Al-Haimi encouraged the Imam to conquer Al-Habasha :

Source : رحلة الحبشة
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After a few years the Imam’s desire to expand returned Al-mutawakil Ala-Allah took control of Zeila and appointed a man named Ibrahim pasha as governor . In the year 1123 hijri he sent his men deeper into Somali land to capture Awsa but his troops felt a big difference in strength between the two sides

🔹️[ In this year 1123 the Imam desired to take Awsa, its people are named Al-Somal ...

... Abdullah Al-Jameel, the leader of the expedition was informed that the Somalis were many nations, and neither his troops nor many times their number had the strength to fight them ]

The expedition fell short, unable to overcome the Somalis the troops retreated to Zeila, ending the campaign .

و الـــلـــَّهـــُمَّ صـــَلِّ وَســــلـــــِّمْ وَبــــَارِكْ عــــلــــى نــبـــِيـــِّنــَا םבםב ﷺ

 

[Midas]

You should change the title to indicate your talking about the islamic 11th century.

 

[makadoor]

You should change the title to indicate your talking about the islamic 11th century.

Ma Aqaan se o badalo walal lakin mahadsanid .
Cida akhrisa post-ka way akhrin doonan comment-kaga

 

[Midas]

I'd be intrestined to know more about post 1500s yemen to compare it to somalia. Since if you look at somaliweyn the pouplation is about equal to yemen.

This sultnate you mention spefically seems to have been incredibly powerful in the late 1600s . They apparently unifed all of yemen under the late 1600s ruler although they became very weak in the 1700s so they probably didn't rule zeila for long.

 

[Riftvalley]

How accurate is this. I would say it is questionable some of these events happened. Especially reports of Yemenis trying go into Somali interior.

 

[Idilinaa]

It says

"In the 11th Islamic century the Qasimi Yemeni Imams had ambitions to expand into HOA. their main goal was religious, since their aim was spreading Islam. the main motivation for this vision came from Qadi Hasan bin Ahmad Al-Haymi the yemeni ambassador to the emperor of ethiopia, who was terrified by the conditions in Ethiopia, the extreme poverty the ignorance , lack of development , oppression by local rulers and their blind following of Christianity ."

Ethiopia is still living under feudal oppression and backwardness to this day. It is ironic how only Muslims sought to save them from it, whereas Europeans basically enabled its continuation.

1123 Hijrah in the Islamic calendar is year 1712 , the Ottomans in Yemen were able to capture Zeila but failed to expand further inland or elsewhere.

It also says:

"After a few years the Imam’s desire to expand returned Al-mutawakil Ala-Allah took control of Zeila and appointed a man named Ibrahim pasha as governor . In the year 1123 hijri he sent his men deeper into Somali land to capture Awsa but his troops felt a big difference in strength between the two sides

.. Abdullah Al-Jameel, the leader of the expedition was informed that the Somalis were many nations, and neither his troops nor many times their number had the strength to fight them ]

The expedition fell short, unable to overcome the Somalis the troops retreated to Zeila, ending the campaign ."

Doesn’t this imply that Zeila was already weakened? By the 1800s, it was practically a shell of its former self. This also confirms what we know through genealogical records , that Awsa was a Somali stronghold. It implies it was connected to Zeila at this point.