Nur b  Mugahid (September 1567) was the ruler of Harär from 1551 to 1567. He was the son of wazir Mugahid b. CAli Sīha b. CAbdallah,one of the most influential generals of Ahmadb. Ibrahim alËazi (Grañ). Nur b  Mugahid started his career when, after Grañ’s death, some generals tried to save at least parts of the dissolving  Muslim  empire.  The  wazir  CAbbas  b. Abīñ b. Ibrahim took control over Bale, Fätägar and Däwaro, but already in October 1544 he was defeated and killed by ase Gälawdewos. Grañ’s widow, Bati Dél Wämbära, undertook the next attempt to assume the power with the help of her new husband, Nur b  Mugahid According to the “short chronicles”, Nur b  Mugahid had to promise her to avenge Grañ’s death before he could marry her. The Arabic History of N.M. contains another legend of how Nur b  Mugahid became the ruler of Harär the son of the sulian of Harär (possibly Muhammad b.  Abi  Bakr  b.  Muhammad  b.  Azhar[addin] once accidentally killed a child of an old woman who refused to accept the blood money and demanded death of the sulian’s son instead. Nur b  Mugahid who at that time was leading a God desired life in a cave near Harär, agreed to help her and killed the sulian and, later, his son. The inhabitants of Harär asked him then to become their new ruler, and he accepted provided they would follow him in the gihad against the Christians. This legend is indicative of the antagonism between the secu- lar  rulers  of  the  WalašmaC dynasty  on  the  one hand and religious leaders (such as imam Mahfīz b. Muhammad and Ahmad Grañ propagating the holy war on the other.

 

According to the Chronicle of ase Gälawde wos, one year after the Ethiopian general Fanuýel plundered Harär (March 1550), the Emperor himself marched against Barr SaCdaddin, to Harär and its surroundings, deposed the sulian and made Nur b  Mugahid leave his lands. The sulian may have been the  WalašmaC  ruler  CUmardin  b.  Muhammad b. Azharaddin, installed by Ahmad Grañ back in 1527. The defeats of the Muslims could have been among the reasons for Nur b  Mugahid to arise as ruler of Harär in 1551–52, whether through marriage to Bati Dél Wämbära or through killing the ruling sulian and his son. Both traditions may in fact be true if one presumes that, leaving Harär, Gälawdewos installed there a new sulian, possibly Muhammad b. Abi Bakr, later killed by Nur b  Mugahid who then married Bati Dél Wämbära. According to a marginal note in a copy of the WalašmaC chronicle made known by Cerulli, CAli b. CUmardin b. Muhammad became sulian of Harär on 24 December 1552. This seems to imply that N.M. installed a new puppet sulian.

 

Nur b  Mugahid had to fight not only Christian Ethiopians but also the Oromo who after Grañ’s death expanded into Ethiopia and by mid-16th cent. had reached the Harär area. At the very begin ning of his rule Nur b  Mugahid had to campaign against the Nole (a part of Afran Qallu Oromo, s. Qottu  who today inhabit the region north west of Harär, and at that time probably lived further south. Though Nur b  Mugahid. defeated many Nole and destroyed their villages, the Oromo undertook more raids into the area.

 

In March 1559 Nur b  Mugahid with his army reportedly consisting of ca. 1,800 cavalry, ca. 500 musket- eers and thousands traditionally armed soldiers (Infantry),  left  Harär  for  a  campaign  in  Fätä gar. Gälawdewos with his considerably weaker armed troops met his adversary at Näč Íar, on the border of Wällo, on 23 March 1559. The Muslims  were  victorious  Nur b  Mugahid is  said  to  have exhibited the defeated Christian emperor’s head in Harär for three more years.

 

In the meanwhile another Ethiopian army, headed by ras Hamälmal, used the opportunity of Harär being left without troops and attacked the town, plundering it and killing sulian Habib b. CUmardin. On his way to rescue his city, Nur b  Mugahid was stopped by the Oromo at the foot of Mount Azälo near Awaš. In the bloody battle that followed, the Oromo had more casualties than in any  raid  before  Nur b  Mugahid lost  many  soldiers  and won at a narrow margin. Back in Harär he found the city devastated. Afraid of further attacks, he ordered the erection of the famous city wall. It seems that shortly after ase Minas ascended to the throne, Hamälmal undertook another at- tempt to attack Nur b  Mugahid the outcome of this campaign is not known. Possibly as a result of the wars and Oromo raids, the country had to face a severe famine. Prices rose high and the popula tion was close to starvation with reported cases of cannibalism. Nur b  Mugahid tried to relieve the situation with his help the prices started to fall. After another attack of the Oromo, who devastated Šäwa, Nogob, Gidaya, Dakar and Hargaya, however, the famine returned, followed by a plague epidemic that took Nur b  Mugahid’s life. He was succeeded by the renegade CUôman b. Badlay.

 

Though Nur b  Mugahid was not always successful dur- ing the period of his reign he became very popular in Harär, mostly thanks to his victory over Gälawdewos and the construction of the city wall. Following Grañ, he was nicknamed sahib al  fath ai iani (‘the lord of the second conquest’ and achieved the status of a national saint  his grave in Harär is venerated (Pilgrimages zawiya). He is also celebrated in religious songs (Manzuma).

Source: 

Encyclopaedia-Aethiopica

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