# Sultan Jamal ad-Din II of Adal

> Jamal ad-Din II (d. c.1432): Sultan of Adal from 1424, son of Sa'ad ad-Din II.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/jamal-ad-din-ii/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who was he?

Jamal ad-Din II was a Sultan of the [Adal Sultanate](/en/history/imam-ahmad-and-adal-1527-1543/) and the youngest son of Sa'ad ad-Din II ([Wikipedia, Jamal ad-Din II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_ad-Din_II)). He succeeded his brother Mansur in 1424 (same source). He belonged to the [Walashma](/en/history/sultanate-of-shewa-and-founding-of-ifat/) dynasty (same source). See [Dakar, lost capital of Adal](/en/history/dakar-lost-capital-of-adal-1415-1520/) and [Awfat and the Walashma tombs](/en/history/awfat-capital-of-ifat-and-walashma-tombs/).

## Wars with Emperor Yeshaq

He reorganised the army with the help of Harb Jaush, a commander who had come over from the Ethiopian side ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_ad-Din_II)). He sent Harb Jaush as an envoy to Emperor Yeshaq to seek peace, and when talks failed his forces defeated the emperor's army (same source). Wikipedia, drawing on al-Maqrizi, records further Adal victories at the second Battle of Yedaya and at Jazja, and raids into Bali that took many captives (same source).

When Yeshaq's forces attacked Adal's heartland, Jamal ad-Din returned in three days over a distance of twenty days' march and defeated them at Harjah ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_ad-Din_II)). Al-Maqrizi wrote that Yeshaq was killed in this battle (same source).

## Justice

Al-Maqrizi tells that when one of the sultan's sons broke a smaller child's hand, Jamal ad-Din broke his own son's hand in public as punishment, despite pleas for mercy from his court and from the injured child's family ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_ad-Din_II)). Al-Maqrizi remarks that his subjects followed the law strictly as a result (same source).

## Death

Weakened by constant fighting, he was attacked and killed by his cousins around 1432, and was succeeded by his brother Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_ad-Din_II)).

## In short

An Adal sultan of the 1420s known from al-Maqrizi for his wars with Ethiopia and his strict justice.

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