Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al - Ghazi Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al - Ghazi ( , ) " the Conqueror " ( c . 1507 – February 21 , 1543 ) was an Imam and General of Adal who invaded Ethiopia and defeated several Ethiopian emperors . With the help of an army mainly composed of Somalis , Imam Ahmad ( nicknamed " Gurey " in Somali and " Gragn " in Amharic ( ግራኝ " Graññ " ) , both meaning " the left - handed " ) , embarked on a conquest which brought three - quarters of Ethiopia under the power of the Muslim Sultanate of Adal during the Ethiopian - Adal War from 1529 - 43 . Ethnicity . Imam Ahmad is most often identified by scholars and historical sources as an ethnic Somali . He has traditionally sometimes been interpreted as being an Arab in Ethiopia or sometimes also as a Harari . However , " although Somali clans — principally the Habar Magadle Isaaq , the Harti Daarood , and the Mareehaan — played a strong role in Gran ' s conquest of Abyssinia , these clans went to war not so much as Somalis but as Muslims . " Early years . Imam Ahmad was born around 1507 in Zeila or in the district of Hubat located between Zeila and Harar , around the current town of Fugnan Bira . Ahmed initially lived in Harar during the reign of Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad but due to the Sultans unislamic rule , he left to Hubat . He married Bati del Wambara , the daughter of Mahfuz , governor of Zeila . When Mahfuz was killed returning from a campaign against the Ethiopia n emperor Lebna Dengel in 1517 , the Adal sultanate lapsed into anarchy for several years , until Imam Ahmad killed the last of the contenders for power and took control of Harar . In retaliation for an attack on Adal the previous year by the Ethiopian general Degalhan , Imam Ahmad invaded Ethiopia in 1529 , supplementing his force with considerable numbers muskets purchased from the Ottomans , which would panick the Ethiopian troops . Although his troops were fearful of their opponents and attempted to desert upon news that the Ethiopian army was approaching , Imam Ahmad maintained the discipline of most of his men , defeating Emperor Lebna Dengel at Shimbra Kure that March . The Ethiopian troops were panicked by his firearms . Attempt to conquer Abyssinia . The chronicle of Imam Ahmad ' s invasion of Ethiopia is depicted in various Somali , Ethiopian and other foreign sources . Imam Ahmad campaigned in Ethiopia in 1531 , breaking Emperor Lebna Dengel ' s ability to resist in the Battle of Amba Sel on October 28 . The Muslim army of Imam Ahmad then marched northward to loot the island monastery of Lake Hayq and the stone churches of Lalibela . When the Imam entered the province of Tigray , he defeated an Ethiopian army that confronted him there . On reaching Axum , he destroyed the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion , in which the Ethiopian emperors had for centuries been crowned . The Ethiopians were forced to ask for help from the Portuguese , who landed at the port of Massawa on February 10 , 1541 , during the reign of the emperor Gelawdewos . The force was led by Cristóvão da Gama and included 400 musketeers as well as a number of artisans and other non - combatants . Da Gama and Imam Ahmad met on April 1 , 1542 at Jarte , which Trimingham has identified with Anasa , between Amba Alagi and Lake Ashenge . Here the Portuguese had their first glimpse of Ahmad , as recorded by Castanhoso : On April 4 , after the two unfamiliar armies had exchanged messages and stared at each other for a few days , da Gama formed his troops into an infantry square and marched against the Imam ' s lines , repelling successive waves of Muslim attacks with musket and cannon . This battle ended when Imam Ahmad was wounded in the leg by a chance shot ; seeing his banners signal retreat , the Portuguese and their Ethiopian allies fell upon the disorganized Muslims , who suffered losses but managed to reform next to the river on the distant side . Over the next several days , Imam Ahmad ' s forces were reinforced by arrivals of fresh troops . Understanding the need to act swiftly , da Gama on April 16 again formed a square which he led against Imam Ahmad ' s camp . Although the Muslims fought with more determination than two weeks earlier — their horse almost broke the Portuguese square — an opportune explosion of some gunpowder traumatized the horses on the Imam ' s side , and his army fled in disorder . Castanhoso laments that " the victory would have been complete this day had we only one hundred horses to finish it : for the King was carried on men ' s shoulders in a bed , accompanied by horsemen , and they fled in no order . " Reinforced by the arrival of the Bahr negus Yeshaq , da Gama marched southward after Imam Ahmad ' s force , coming within sight of him ten days later . However , the onset of the rainy season prevented da Gama from engaging Ahmad a third time . On the advice of Queen Sabla Wengel , da Gama made winter camp at Wofla near Lake Ashenge , still within sight of his opponent , while the Imam made his winter camp on Mount Zobil . Knowing that victory lay in the number of firearms an army had , the Imam sent to his fellow Muslims for help . According to Abbé , Imam Ahmad received 2000 musketeers from Arabia , and artillery and 900 picked men from the Ottomans to assist him . Meanwhile , due to casualties and other duties , da Gama ' s force was reduced to 300 musketeers . After the rains ended , Imam Ahmad attacked the Portuguese camp and through weight of numbers killed all but 140 of da Gama ' s troops . Da Gama himself , badly wounded , was captured with ten of his men and , after refusing an offer to spare his life if he would convert to Islam , was executed . The survivors and Emperor Gelawdewos were afterward able to join forces and , drawing on the Portuguese supplies of muskets , attacked Ahmad on February 21 , 1543 in the Battle of Wayna Daga , where their 9 , 000 troops managed to defeat the 15 , 000 soldiers under Imam Ahmad . The Imam was killed by a Portuguese musketeer , who was mortally wounded in avenging da Gama ' s death . His wife Bati del Wambara managed to escape the battlefield with a remnant of the Turkish soldiers , and they made their way back to Harar , where she rallied his followers . Intent on avenging her husband ' s death , she married his nephew Nur ibn Mujahid on condition that Nur would avenge Imam Ahmad ' s defeat . However , she was unable to salvage the situation , and the Adal forces had to withdraw from Ethiopia . This left both kingdoms weakened . Legacy . " In Ethiopia the damage which Ahmad Gragn did has never been forgotten , " wrote Paul B . Henze . " Every Christian highlander still hears tales of Gragn in his childhood . Haile Selassie referred to him in his memoirs , " I have often had villagers in northern Ethiopia point out sites of towns , forts , churches and monasteries destroyed by Gragn as if these catastrophes had occurred only yesterday . " To some in the Horn of Africa Ahmad is a national hero . Sources . Ahmad ' s invasion of Ethiopia is described in detail in the " Futuh al - habaša " ( " The Conquest of Ethiopia " ) , written in Arabic by Ahmad ' s follower Sihab ad - Din Admad ibn ' Abd - al - Qadir , in its current version incomplete , covering the story only to 1537 , narrating the Imam ' s raids on the islands of Lake Tana . Richard Burton the explorer claimed that the second part could be found " in Mocha or Hudaydah " ; but , despite later investigation , no one else has reported seeing a copy of this second part . The surviving first part was translated into French by René Basset and published 1897 - 1901 . Richard Pankhurst made a partial translation into English as part of his " The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles " ( Addis Ababa : Oxford University Press , 1967 ) , and a complete translation of the " Futuh al - habaša " by Paul Lester Stenhouse was published by Tsehai in 2003 ( ISBN 978 - 0 - 9723172 - 5 - 2 ) . Primary sources of the Portuguese expedition under Gama have been collected and translated by R . S . Whiteway , " The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1541 - 1543 " , 1902 ( Nendeln , Liechtenstein : Kraus Reprint Limited , 1967 ) . The Solomonic side of the story is represented in the royal chronicles of Emperor Lebna Dengel and his son , Emperor Gelawdewos .