View source for Sa'ad ad-Din II

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{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Sa'ad ad-Din II<br> سعد الدين الثاني
| title        = [[Sultan]] of the [[Sultanate of Ifat]] <br> {{noitalic|[[Lord]] of Jabarta}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cerulli |first1=Enrico |title=Islam: Yesterday and Today |date=2013 |page=333 |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Islam.html?id=Hl3LwQEACAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
| image        = 
| caption      = 
| reign        = {{nowrap|1386/7 – 1402/3 or 1410 [[Common era|CE]]}}<br>(788 – 805 or 817 [[Islamic calendar|AH]])
| coronation   = 
| full name    = Sa'ad ad-Din II
| predecessor  = [[Haqq ad-Din II]]
| successor    = [[Sabr ad-Din III]]
| dynasty      = [[Walashma dynasty]]
| birth_date   = 
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 1403 or 1410
| death_place  = [[Zeila Archipelago]]
| religion     = [[Islam]]
}}

'''Sa'ad ad-Din II''' ({{langx|ar|سعد الدين الثاني}}), reigned {{circa|1386}} – c. 1403 or c. 1410,<ref>{{cite book |last=Trimingham |first=J. Spencer |author-link= J. Spencer Trimingham |date=2013 |orig-date= 1952|title=Islam in Ethiopia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UfrcAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=74 |isbn=9781136970221}} Trimingham reports that he died either in 805 [[Islamic calendar|AH]] / 1402-3 [[Common era|CE]] during the reign of [[Dawit I]] (according to [[al-Maqrizi]]) or in 817 AH / 1414-5 during the reign of [[Yeshaq I]] (according to a History of the Walashmaʿ edited by {{harvnb|Cerulli|1931|p=45}}).</ref> was a [[Sultan]] of the [[Ifat Sultanate]]. He was the brother of [[Haqq ad-Din II]], and the father of [[Mansur ad-Din of Adal|Mansur ad-Din]], [[Sabr ad-Din II]] and [[Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din]]. The historian [[Richard Pankhurst (academic)|Richard Pankhurst]] describes him as "the last great ruler of Ifat."<ref>Richard Pankhurst, ''The Ethiopian Borderlands'' (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1997), p. 50.</ref><ref>Asafa Jalata, State Crises, Globalisation, And National Movements In North-east Africa page 3-4</ref>

==Reign==
Sa'ad ad-Din II was born at the court of the Ethiopian Emperor [[Newaya Krestos]].<ref>Taddesse Tamrat,  ''Church and State in Ethiopia'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 147.</ref> He and his brother [[Haqq ad-Din II]] revolted against the Ethiopian Emperor and moved their capital to [[Adal (historical region)|Adal]] which was outside the sphere of Abyssinian control in the [[Harar]] plateau.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baba |first1=Tamon |title=NOTES ON MIGRATION BETWEEN YEMEN AND NORTHEAST AFRICA DURING THE 13–15TH CENTURIES |publisher=Kyushu University |pages=81–82 |url=http://www.cdmy.org/cmyhs/cmyhs01.pdf}}</ref>  Pankhurst adds that Sa'ad ad-Din also fought against the kingdom of the [[Hadiya Kingdom|Hadiya]] and a pastoral people called the Zalan, both of whom were Christian allies.<ref name=Pankhurst-51>Pankhurst, ''Borderlands'', p. 51</ref> However, as Taddesse Tamrat notes, these successes were short-lived, and in response to the growing [[Muslim]] power in the region Emperor [[Dawit I]] strengthened the Ethiopian defenses along the border and established his court at Tilq in [[Fatagar]].

Despite these steps, Sa'ad ad-Din's practice of making quick raids into Ethiopian territory presented a difficult challenge to the Ethiopian Emperor, there were several fights between the Abyssinians and it was not until the Sultan was pursued deep into Ifat territory that the Ethiopians would face him on in a pitched battle. After a battle between Sa'ad ad-Din and the Ethiopian general Barwa, in which the Ifat army was defeated and "no less than 400 elders, each of whom carried an iron bar as his insignia of office" were killed, Sa'ad ad-Din with his remaining supporters were chased to furthest part of [[Zeila]]<ref name=Pankhurst-51/> There, the Ethiopian army besieged Zeila, finally capturing the city and killing Sultan Sa'ad ad-Din on the island, Medieval Egyptian historian [[Al-Maqrizi]] narrates:
:the [[Amhara people|Amhara]] pursued Sa'd al-Din as far as the peninsula of [[Zeila]], in the ocean, where he took refuge. The Amhara besieged him there, and deprived him of water; at last one of the impious showed them a way by which they could reach him. When they came upon him a battle ensued; and after three days the water failed. Sa'd al Din was wounded in the forehead and fell to the ground, whereupon they pierced him with their swords. But he died happily, falling in God's cause.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pankhurst |first=Richard |year=1982 |title=History Of Ethiopian Towns |page=57 |isbn=9783515032049 }}</ref>

With Sa'ad ad-Din's death, the [[Walashma dynasty]] adopted the title of "kings of [[Adal Sultanate|Adal]]".<ref>J. Spencer Trimingham, ''Islam in Ethiopia'' (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), p. 74 n.7.</ref> His ten sons took refuge in [[Yemen]] at the court of King [[Al-Nasir Ahmad ibn Isma'il|Ahmad bin al-Ashraf]].<ref>Trimingham, p. 74.</ref>

==Legacy==
Sa'ad ad-Din's tomb stood as a hallowed site for centuries in Zeila. It was visited by [[Richard Burton]] the explorer in 1854, who described it as "a mound of rough stones surrounding an upright pole" near the cemetery, decorated with "the remains of votive banquets, broken stones, dried garbage, and stones blackened by the fire" showing how he was "properly venerated" as the current favorite saint of Zeila.<ref>Burton, ''First Footsteps in East Africa'', 1856; edited with additional material by Gordon Waterfield (New York: Praeger, 1966), p. 75.</ref> Trimingham notes that at the time he wrote his book (circa 1950), the tomb had been destroyed by the encroaching sea.<ref>Trimingham, p. 250.</ref>

Additionally, the [[Saad ad-Din Islands]] in northern [[Somalia]], off the coast of [[Zeila]], are named in Sa'ad ad-Din's honour.

According to the chronicle ''"Conquest of Abyssinia"'' by [[Shihab al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir ibn Sālim ibn ʿUthmān|Arab Faqīh]], [[Harla]] clans descendant from Sa'ad ad-Din II participated in the sixteenth century [[Ethiopian–Adal War]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chekroun |first1=Amélie |title=Le" Futuh al-Habasa": écriture de l'histoire, guerre et société dans le Bar Sa'ad ad-din |publisher=Université Panthéon-Sorbonn |pages=197–198 |url=https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01134623/document}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Walashma dynasty]]

===Works cited===
*{{cite journal|last1=Cerulli|first1=Enrico|author1-link=Enrico Cerulli|date=1931|title=Documenti arabi per la storia dell’Etiopia|journal=Memorie della Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei|volume=6|issue=4|pages=39–101|oclc=4178469}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

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{{s-aft|after=[[Sabr ad-Din II]]}}
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[[Category:Sultans of Ifat]]
[[Category:15th-century monarchs in Africa]]
[[Category:15th-century Somali people]]
[[Category:Somalian Muslims]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:Year of death missing]]
[[Category:People from Harari Region]]