Emirate of Harar

The Emirate of Harar was a Muslim kingdom founded in 1647 when the Harari people refused to accept Imām ʿUmardīn Ādan as their ruler and broke away from the Imamate of Aussa to form their own state under `Ali ibn Da`ud.

The city of Harar Gey served as its sole capital. Prior to its invasion by Shewan forces under Menelik II, the League of Nations noted that the Harar Emirate made up the area between the rivers Awash and Shebelle while the Ogaden was a tributary state. Originally however the Harar Emirate composed of present-day Somalia and to the south of eastern Ethiopia including the Arsi Province. Numerous Oromo and Somali clans in the region paid tax to the Emirate as late as the 18th century despite their gradual annexation of lands in the Harari state. Harar also dominated trade in Shewa.

Harar's influence began shrinking in the 19th century possibly due to lack of resources and famine. Like all Muslim states in the area, the Emirate of Harar was technically under the protection of the Ottoman Empire. Egypt annexed the Emirate in 1875. The British Empire defeated the Khedivate and occupied its territories in 1882 including Harar, but the British agreed to evacuate Harar and essentially cede the city to the Ethiopian Empire's sphere of influence in exchange for assistance against Mahdist forces in Sudan. As per the terms of their agreement (the Hewett Treaty), the British withdrew from Harar in 1884, leaving the city to the son of the former Emir of Harar with a few hundred rifles, some cannon and a handful of British trained officers. The Emirate would be finally destroyed and annexed by the armies of Negus Sahle Maryam of Shewa (the future Emperor Menelik II) in 1887 following the Emirate's defeat at the Battle of Chelenqo.

Formation and Preluding Strife


Sidney Waldron alludes to the destruction of the early Harari kingdom:

""The Harari who remained behind the new city walls were the sole survivors of a once much wider spread ethnic and linguistic community whose full extent may never be known, but whose last trace is the record of their decimation: By 1577 (the Oromo) had destroyed more than a hundred villages and besieged the city, Until the gates were filled with corpses""

Ali ibn Da'ud came to the throne after one of many internal crises which had torn the mini-states to shreds within the vicissitudes of their entire history. A certain Emir Ahmed, the son of Wazir Abram, had reigned for 10 days when 'Ali ibn Da'ud assumed the throne of Harar, thus founding a new dynasty of the Harari emirs. Prior to this incident, Ali ibn Da'ud had risen through the ranks with previous occupations such as being a head of a district and one of the ministers of Emir Siddiq. Having exhausted all office positions, came to be in possession of sovereign powers in the long run. On 1 September 1662 Emir Ali ibn Da'ud had to face a violent Illamo Oromo raid which, had reached as near as Asmadin Gate and killed his son Sabr ad-Din ibn al-Amir 'Ali b. Da'ud.

According to 18th century British traveler James Bruce who visited Abyssinia, the ruler of Shewa Amha Iyasus was in conflict with the leaders of the Harar Emirate. He further stated the inhabitants of Harar were called "Turks" by the Abyssinians and led by an emir.

Relationship with Oromos
The formation of the Emirate of Harar in the mid-seventeenth century failed to halt the decline, and eventually only the walled city remained to the Harari people. The Oromo could have sacked the city but had refrained from doing so. As herders, they had little interest in cities, beyond exacting payments, which the Harari willingly made to protect their commercial interests. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the Oromo tribes in the region of Harar were still slowly expanding their territories at the expense of their neighbors. They squeezed the Afar out of the last fertile areas which they possessed on the edges of the Harar plateau. They completely overran the region between Harar and Shewa, which was considered the property of the Amir. They fought the Somalis to the south and to the west of the town, and they slowly penetrated even the lands held by the Harari, a short distance from the town. According to Harari documents, even during the earlier emirs' epochs, marriages with Oromo women were frequent. Emir 'Abdallah ibn Ali, the successor of Ali ibn Da'ud, had two wives of Oromo heritage.

Occupation by the Egyptian Khedivate
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the opening of the Suez Canal drew the attention of the European states to East Africa. The Emirate of Harar found itself involved in events which later ended by terminating the independence of this old Muslim State. Above all, Egypt tried to make sure of benefits of precedence vis-à-vis European states by taking action first; and, during Khedive Ismail's reign, Werner Munzinger wrote to the Isma'il Pasha, urging him to seize Harar, the Swiss officer explained to the Egyptian ruler the economic and strategic advantages which would accrue from such a move, and that the revenue from the city’s taxes would be sufficient enough for the upkeep of an Egyptian garrison. In 1875, Muhammad Rauf Pasha led a well armed Egyptian force of 1,200 men from Zeila into the interior of eastern Ethiopia under the guise that it was a scientific expedition to find the source of the Tekezé River and without encountering any opposition, seized Harar on 11 October 1875 and obliged Emir Muhammed 'Abd ash-Shakur to consider himself under the protection of the Khedive.

Emir Muhammed 'Abd ash-Shakur submitted Harar to the Egyptian Khedivate and had signed a treaty ceding his powers to Muhammed Ra'uf Pasha. The treaty is written as follows: "Praise to be God alone and blessings and peace be upon him after whom there will be no prophet.

I declare [as follow]. I, Muhammad bin ‘Ali, the Emir of Harar, in obedience to God and His Prophet, and also in obedience to the most honored, the most illustrious, the glory of Islam and the Muslims, the supporter of the law of the Master of the prophets, the guarantor of victorious armies, Muhammad Ra‘uf Pasha – may God increase his power and fulfill his plans – who is under the mighty lord, the venerable ruler, endowed with conquests which are constantly repeated, and privileges which adorn themselves in the pearlstring of their beauty, the excellent of [our] time, our lord, Khedive Isma‘il, the son of our Lord Ibrahim – may the stars of his happiness rise in brightness and the squadrons of his soldiers advance in victory – surrender completely of my own free will and in full possession of all my senses, I and the people under my control and my country, as I have said [before] and even if I had not said so. I entreat God Almighty to make the authority of the Khedive everlasting. My desire is to be under the rule of the Khedive so that he may protect myself, my property and my family, and I hope that, as a reward for my friendship, His Highness the Khedive will issue a generous firman for me, so that the emirate will belong to me and my offspring after me. This will keep me and my offspring loyal forever. May God help me to fulfill the demands of my benefactor, the great Khedive. I ask you, O Pasha, to show this to the great Khedive."

After the ratification of this treaty, a power struggle took place between the Emir Muhammed 'Abd ash-Shakur and Muhammed Ra'uf Pasha. The Emir supposedly refused to come and see Ra'uf Pasha on his request, since he felt that it was below him and it is the Egyptian who should come to him. Ra'uf Pasha sent soldiers after him and the emir was strangled in the ensuing struggle. Harari informants claim that, Ali Abu Bakr, a relative of the emir who was imprisoned due to their political rivalry, conspired against the deposed emir and treacherously convinced the Egyptians that the emir and his loyalists to open the city gates to Oromo warriors during the night on October 26, 1875, as it was a Muslim festival called the Night of Power. It was Harari tradition that on that festival drums were played and Ali Abu Bakr supposedly deceived the Egyptians that on the sign of a drumbeat, the Oromo were supposed to attack them in their sleep. The Egyptians thus awaited the signal and killed the emir as soon as the drums sounded. After the death of Emir Muhammed 'Abd ash-Shakur, Ra'uf Pasha became the ruler of Harar with complete power. He had taken forcible measures to ensure that fallow land was planted with grain or coffee. He levied tax on crops and livestock in order to encourage settlement and further cultivation. He also reorganized and established a new local urban administration and its institutions; i.e. he introduced some additional systems, while keeping most with minor changes to strengthen his public administration. He noticed that western part of Harar was uncultivated and after suppressing rebellions encouraged the locals to cultivate their lands but those who hesitated to begin planting grain and coffee were attacked until they agreed to nominate leaders who would be responsible for parcels of virgin land. In March 1876, Rauf claimed that two hundred and fifty settlements had been founded in this way since the conquest. Each was under a notable who had been given the Harari title, Garad; a cape, turban and robe; and a deed entitling him to fixed units of land, in return for a fee in cattle and the commission to collect tithe on the harvest and herds of the new settlement. Communications improved, and substantial public works were undertaken during his tenure of office; most of the trade was routed through Jarso and Nole clans, to and from the coast. Some edifices were built in this period, such as the Arab Mosque, the premises of today’s municipality office.

Due to the unpopularity of Emir Muhammed 'Abd ash-Shakur due to his favoring of the neighboring Oromo people, the locals of Harar had a favorable approach to the Egyptians as they were seen as a gift sent from heaven that would remove the yoke of Afran-Qallo tyranny. The governor noticed this and encouraged his soldiers to marry local women as according to the Egyptian narrative, for a Harari to marry off his daughter to an Egyptian was seen as a desirable thing or even some sort of privilege. More than one hundred Egyptian soldiers decided to stay behind in Harar due to their marriages with Harari women. Major Hunter, an Anglo-Egyptian soldier, attested to these relationships where Harari women married Egyptian soldiers and established families According to Harari informants, they claimed that the Egyptian soldiers were notorious for raping local women. As Harari tradition stated, these violations caused women to begin wearing tight-fitting pants during the Egyptian occupation that would make such forceful assaults less easy to execute.