Futuh Al-Habasha: The Conquest of Abyssinia (Futuh Al-habasa) Paperback – September 1, 2003

This is a highly detailed description of an attempt by Imam Ahmad bin Ibrahim of Yemen to conquer the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia (aka. Abyssinia). It provides invaluable information on the nature of armed forces and warfare in the Horn of Africa at a time when hand-held firearms were becoming an increasingly important factor on the battlefield. But it also conveys information about Yamani and Ethiopian society in general. Anyone seeking to learn about the history of Ethiopia, warfare in Africa during the Age of Exploration, and the nature of Early Modern Islam in the Arabian Peninsula will benefit greatly from reading this work.

This was assigned for our ancient african civ class it is about the Jihad of Imam Ahmad Gradn (Sp? I think I have it right but book is not right in front of me)... and when they conquered Ethiopia the last surviving Christian nation in Africa. It is a very one-sided telling and war based but I am not usually a war liking book but it was good. Ethiopia ends up driving them back out and they remain mainly Christian today and still today harbor anyone being oppressed (Jewish, Muslim, Christian) they are an amazing nation. Spoke through Muslim viewpoint but you can see other view points. IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THIS WAS in 1500's and DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ALL MUSLIMS.

I would say, this is the orginal book to tell about what happened during 16th century Ethiopia which structured the current Ethiopia.

Futuh is an illuminating piece of earnestly composed documentation as observed through the eyes of a believer - absolute mandatory reading for students of Medieval Africana - offers priceless insights, otherwise lost, into the mind of a charismatic 16th century imam and his followers.. No AEthiopic library is complete without this document.

As I expected, excellent!

Great delivery from every angle.

Excellent

This is eye witnesses account of how a jihadist imam named Ahmed (customarily called Ahmed Gragn: meaning Ahmed the left handed) invaded the christian Abyssinian kingdom with the support of Arabs and Ottoman Turks. The book is written from the perspective of a jihadist chronicler and had an obvious bias against Christians (infidels in the language of the book). It exaggerates the battle field achievements of the Muslims and belittles that of the Christians. Amidst this inherent weakness, the book is important to understand the amount of devastation caused by the jihad and the geographical distribution of Christians and Muslims in 16th century Ethiopia. It is also helpful to understand the then society of Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) and to know place names: some of them still the same to this day and some disappeared.The writer explained in detail how the treasury of historical churches -- including those built thousands of years ago and were full of Gold and silver-- are looted and torched. Some of the churches as explained in the book were built with gold and silver. The book narrates in detail how: the defeated were enslaved or executed, foreign troops from Arabia, Ottoman Turkey, north Africa and even from India took part in the war -- mostly on the side of the Muslims.Futuh Al-Habasha is part one of a supposed 2 parts book -- the second one is not found yet -- and you have to refer other history books to know how the war culminated. In order to get a full picture from the perspective of the Christians and the later part of the war, the following two sources could be helpful: the writings of Portuguese soldiers, who joined the war at its final chapter on the side of the Christians; the chronicle of Emperor Gelawdiwos ( 1522 -1559) -- who killed Imam Ahmed and defeated his army at the battle of Woina Dega to end the war.

Historical book