# Futuh al-Habasha: the 16th-century chronicle of Imam Ahmad's wars

> Futuh al-Habasha by Arab Faqih: who wrote it, what it says about Imam Ahmad, Adal and Somali fighters, its translations and where to read it.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/history/futuh-al-habasha/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## What it is

Futuh al-Habasha ("The Conquest of Abyssinia") is a history written in Arabic in the 16th century. Its author was Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Abd al-Qadir ibn Salim ibn Uthman, known as **Arab Faqih** ("the Arab jurist"), a scholar of Adal-era Harar who took part in the Adal army ([Futuh al-Habasha, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuh_al-Habasha)).

It is a first-hand account of the war between the Adal Sultanate and the Ethiopian kingdom led by **Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi**, known in Somali as Axmed Gurey, from 1529 to 1543 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuh_al-Habasha)). The war itself is told on [Imam Ahmad and Adal, 1527 to 1543](/en/history/imam-ahmad-and-adal-1527-1543/).

## What it records

The chronicle describes the Adal army's campaigns into the northern, central and southern highlands of today's Ethiopia ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuh_al-Habasha)). The author names his informants, including Emir Hussain ibn Abu Bakr al-Gaturi ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuh_al-Habasha)).

It is one of the earliest texts to name Somali groups by name. It mentions fighters from several Somali clan groups in the Imam's army, among them the Harti, Marraihan (Marehan), Girri, Jarso, Hawiye and Habr Magadle, and it describes their part in battles ([Futuh al-Habasha, English translation by Stenhouse, Tsehai Publishers](https://www.store.tsehaipublishers.com/product_info.php/history/the-conquest-of-abyssinia-p-58); [I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali, Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/modernhistoryofs0000lewi)). Historians use these passages to show where Somali groups lived and how they took part in Adal's wars in the 16th century.

The linguist Giorgio Banti places the work within Harari literature, as it was written in the Harar of the Adal period ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuh_al-Habasha)).

## Translations and editions

- **French, 1897 to 1909.** René Basset published the Arabic text and a French translation in Paris, Histoire de la conquête de l'Abyssinie ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuh_al-Habasha)). Later scholars still cite Basset's edition of the Arabic.
- **English, 2003.** Paul Lester Stenhouse translated it into English as The Conquest of Abyssinia, with annotations by Richard Pankhurst, published by Tsehai Publishers; the publisher describes it as the first complete English translation ([Tsehai Publishers](https://www.store.tsehaipublishers.com/product_info.php/history/the-conquest-of-abyssinia-p-58)).
- **Doctoral study, 2013.** Amélie Chekroun wrote a doctoral thesis in Paris on the text and the Adal sultanate ([CORE, Chekroun thesis PDF](https://core.ac.uk/download/46817155.pdf); [Annales islamologiques, IFAO](https://www.ifao.egnet.net/anisl/46/16)).

## How it has been received

The book is the main written source for the wars of the 1530s, and every major history of Adal and of Imam Ahmad cites it. The Ethiopian historian Hussein Ahmed reviewed the English translation ([Wikipedia, references](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuh_al-Habasha)). Ethiopian Christian chronicles, such as the chronicle of Emperor Lebna Dengel, cover the same war from the other side, and historians read the two together.

The text as it survives stops before the Imam's death in battle in 1543. The author refers to a second part, which has not been found ([Futuh al-Habasha, Tsehai Publishers](https://www.store.tsehaipublishers.com/product_info.php/history/the-conquest-of-abyssinia-p-58)).

## Where to read it

- English translation: [The Conquest of Abyssinia, Tsehai Publishers](https://www.store.tsehaipublishers.com/product_info.php/history/the-conquest-of-abyssinia-p-58)
- Find it in a library: [WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=Futuh+al-Habasha)
- French translation by Basset: [WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=Histoire+de+la+conqu%C3%AAte+de+l%27Abyssinie+Basset)

## Related pages

- [Imam Ahmad and Adal, 1527 to 1543](/en/history/imam-ahmad-and-adal-1527-1543/)
- [Books about Somalis, 1500 to 1884](/en/history/books-about-somalis-1500-1884/)
- [Books about Somalis: every era](/en/history/books-about-somalis/)
- [Imam Ahmad's son and the end of the war, 1543–1560](/en/history/imam-ahmads-son-and-the-end-of-the-war-1543-1560/)

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