Ahmad Gragn

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim
Imam and General of the Adal Sultanatefage79
Reign	c. 1527 – February 21, 1543
Predecessor	Mahfuz
Successor	Nur ibn Mujahid
Born	c. 1506 Zeila, Adal Sultanate (modern Awdal, Somalia)
Died	February 21, 1543 Wayna Daga
Spouse	Bati del Wambara
Issue	Mohammad ibn Ahmad
House	Walashma dynasty
Religion	Islam

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Somali: Axmad bin Ibrahim al-Ghazi, Harari: አሕመድ ኢቢን ኢብራሂም አል ጋዚ, "Acmad Ibni Ibrahim Al-Gaazi" [Afar], Arabic: أحمد بن إبراهيم الغازي‎‎ ) "the Conqueror" (c. 1506 – February 21, 1543) was a Imam and General of the Adal Sultanate who invaded Abyssinia and defeated several Abyssinian emperors. With the help of an army mainly composed of Somalis, Harla (Hararis), Afars, Arabs and Ottoman Turks, Imam Ahmad (nicknamed Gurey in Somali, "Gura" in Afar and Gragn in Amharic (ግራኝ Graññ), all meaning "the left-handed"), embarked on a conquest which brought three-quarters of Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia) under the power of the Muslim Sultanate of Adal during the Abyssinian-Adal War from 1529-43.

Imam Ahmad is regarded by many scholars as an ethnic Somali. However, other historians have disputed his ethnicity, with Ahmad sometimes interpreted as being an Arab or Harari in Ethiopia. Many Somali clans played a strong role in Gurey's conquest of Abyssinia, however these clans went to war not so much as Somalis but as Muslims."

Imam Ahmad was born in 1506 just 30 miles away from Harar. Ahmad spent most of his childhood in the city of Harar. Due to the unislamic rule during the reign of Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad, Ahmad would leave Harar for Hubat. He married Bati del Wambara, the daughter of Mahfuz, the Governor of Zeila. In 1531, Bati would give birth to their first child named Muhammad.

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