The issue of his ethnicity is rather politically sensitive to many Somalis, as he has been re-imagined as a Somali hero and crusader (or jihadist, rather) against a hostile Christian Ethiopian state. This stems not from a willful revisionism, but rather a merging of two important characters from the same time frame. For you see, there were two Adalite leaders with the name Ahmed/Ahmad and the sobriquet "the left-handed." From Didier Morin (Dictionnaire historique afare (1288-1982) - "Historical Afar Dictionary (1288-1982)"), with some diacritics dropped and spellings changed for ease (my additions in brackets []) :
Deux remarques peuvent être faites à propos de ce sobriquet de "gaucher". La première est qu'il est d'origine éthiopienne (voir la chronique taduite par Conti Rossini en 1894). Le caractère apocryphe de la forme somalie Ahmed-Guray, "Ahmed Gaucher" ressort de l'analyse grammaticale en étant le décalcque de la forme adjectivée éthiopienne Ahmed-Gragn. En outre, dans la chronique arab (Basset, ibid. : 72), le surnom de gaucher n'est pas donné à l'imam, mais à un Somali Habar Magaadi, homonyme de l'imam, Ahmed Guray b. Husayn al-Somali. Lewis (1980) contourne ce fait historique, en écrivant, non sans ambiguïté:The Marrehan and the Habar Magadle [Magaadi] also play a very prominent role (...) The text refers to two Ahmad's with the nickname "Left-handed". One is regularly presented as "Ahmad Guray, the Somali" (...) identified as Ahmad Guray Xuseyn, chief of the Habar Magadle. Another reference, however, appears to link the Habar Magadle with the Marrehan. The other Ahmad is simply refered to as "Imam Ahmad" or Simply the "Imam". This Ahmad is not qualified by the adjective Somali (...) The two Ahmad's have been conflated into one figure, the heroic Ahmed Guray (...).
Translation:
Two remarks can be made regarding this sobriquet of "left-handed." The first is that it is of Ethiopian origin (see the chronicle translated by Conti Rossini in 1894). The apocryphal character of the Somali form Ahmed-Guray, "Ahmed the left-handed," emerges from grammatical analysis as being the transformation [i.e. calcque] of the Ethiopian adjectival form Ahmed-Gragn. Moreover, in the Arab chronicle (Basset, ibid. 72), the surname of left-handed is not given to the Imam, but to a Habar Magaadi Somali with the same name of the imam, Ahmed Guray b. Husayn al-Somali. Lewis (1980) skirts this historical fact, in writing, not without ambiguity:The Marrehan and the Habar Magadle [Magaadi] also play a very prominent role (...) The text refers to two Ahmad's with the nickname "Left-handed". One is regularly presented as "Ahmad Guray, the Somali" (...) identified as Ahmad Guray Xuseyn, chief of the Habar Magadle. Another reference, however, appears to link the Habar Magadle with the Marrehan. The other Ahmad is simply refered to as "Imam Ahmad" or Simply the "Imam". This Ahmad is not qualified by the adjective Somali (...) The two Ahmad's have been conflated into one figure, the heroic Ahmed Guray (...).
Although I.M. Lewis implies that Imam Ahmad b. Ibrahim was referred to as "the left-handed," this epithet is actually never used for him in the text.
Here's a direct quote from the Futuh al-Habasha on the Somali leader:
The first of the tribes to reach the imam was Habr Maqdi with their lord and chieftain Ahmad Girri bin Husain, the Somali.
One of the "Ahmad Guray"s was the famous Imam Ahmed ibn Ibrahim (Ahmed Gragn), while the other was Ahmed Xuseyn, a Somali chief (Ahmed Guray). The existence of two such characters, of course, does not eliminate the possibility that both were Somali, however, the fact that Ahmed Gragn is never described as Somali while other important characters are named "as-Somali" ("the Somali") would strongly suggest against it. More importantly, there is strong evidence that Ahmed may have been, at least on his father's side, a Belew. "Belew" is a name used for a group that was either Bejas who were Arabized or Arabs who migrated from the Hijaz ("Balliy") and mixed with the Beja population and became Bejaized (v. their entry in the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica vol. 1. I will probably post more on this subject later). For one, Ahmed Gragn's father, Ibrahim, may have been a Belew chief. The only character by the name of "Ibrahim" actually mentioned in the Futuh is a certain Belew chief of Hubat, a village/town near Harar (diacritics dropped for convenience, again):
Returing to his country Sultan Muhammad was murdered by his in-law Muhammad bin Abu Bakr bin Mahfuz, a prominent person in the country, who ruled the country after him for one year. Then Muhammad bin Abu Bakr bin Mahfuz was in turn, murdered. His killer was Ibrahim bin Ahmad, ruler of the country of Hubat, of the tribe of Balaw, a prominent person in the country who ruled the country for three months.
This Ibrahim bin Ahmad (the only person with the name "Ibrahim" mentioned in the Futuh) is later referred to as "Garad Ibrahim" (Garad, or more properly Garaad; Gerad in Amharic/Ge'ez, is a Cushitic title for a leader, used by a number of medieval Muslim kingdoms in Ethiopia such as Hadiya, Adal, and other southern kingdoms; it is also used to this day among East Cushitic speakers). It is almost certain that these two are one in the same, as Ibrahim was himself ruler of Adal for a time, and the Futuh constantly refers to Adal's leaders as "Garad" and "Emir." The connection between Ahmad Gragn and Garad Ibrahim is made twice in the Futuh:
They gathered in Amajah where they stayed three days. It was one of the towns in Abyssinia that had Muslims living in it. But it belonged to the king. Its inhabitants then went to the imam Ahmad and said, "The king of Abyssinia has a mighty force with him; the number of his horses is incalculable. Only the Most High God knows the number of his coats of mail, helmets, foot-soldiers and shields made of hide. Your fathers, your ancestors, the emir `Ali, the emir Mahfuz your father-in-law, along with Garad Ibrahim and the sultans who long ago used to rule in the country of Sa`d ad-Din - not one of them has ever attacked the king of Abyssinia in his own country, in his own dwelling-place.
While there's an "emir `Ali" who fights alongside Ahmad b. Ibrahim throughout the Futuh, it seems more likely to me that the `Ali referred to is a sultan of Adal, like "emir Mahfuz" and "Garad Ibrahim" were. It is perhaps referring to `Ali, son of Abu Bakr (grandson of Sa`ad ad-Din) and grandfather of the sultan Barakat (r. after 1555). The names of `Ali's children are highly convoluted, and he may have been the father of the Sultan Muhammad bin Azr/ibn Azhar ad-Din. To be specific, his sons are called in the Futuh - `Umar-Din bin Muhammad bin Azhar ad-Din bin `Ali bin Abu Bakr bin Sa`d ad-Din" and "Azar bin Abu Bakr," who is called the grandfather of the sultan "Muhammad bin Abu Bakr bin Muhammad bin Azar bin Abu Bakr bin Sa`d ad-Din."
Either way, these individuals all seem to be related to him - they are not just connected by their ruling Adal, but also by blood (or marriage in emir Mahfuz's case).
Further, more concrete, evidence (the third and final mention of Ibrahim bin Ahmad/Garad Ibrahim) is provided by a letter of the Ethiopian noble ("patrician") Wasan Sagad that was sent to Imam Ahmad (via Shihab ad-Din):
It was I who long ago killed your brother Garad Abun, son of Garad Ibrahim, who was older than you in years. I routed his army, and did so more than once. Don't imagine that I am like any of the patricians whom you've encountered up till now. I am Wasan Sagad.
This letter implies clearly that Garad Abun, a former "sultan" (I use the terms "emir," "sultan," "garad," and others interchangeably, as this is also how the Futuh uses them) of Adal, was Ahmad b. Ibrahim's older brother, and that Garad Ibrahim was his father.
This interpretation is bolstered by the fact that Ahmad Gragn first served as a knight under Garad Abun, upon whom Shihab ad-Din bestows many praises.
After this Garad Abun came against him, and ruled for seven years. He clung to the truth, and exercised justice and authority in a fair way, banning what was forbidden, killing highwaymen, forbidding wine, games, and dances accompanied by drums. The country flourished. He cultivated the nobles and the Qur'anic teachers, the dervishes and the sheikhs. He ruled over his kingdom and worked for the good of his subjects.
Our lord the imam of the Muslims, Ahmad bin Ibrahim al-Ghazi was at that time a knight under Garad Abun, endowed with intelligence and foresight who consulted, in his youth and his prime, the inspiration of God the Most High in regard to the commission that God willed should be entrusted to him. Garad Abun loved him mightily, when he saw how courageous and astute he was.
That Shihab ad-Din does not mention their relation at this point would imply an argument from silence but is in fact very characteristic of the work. Very few mentions of relations of Imam Ahmad's ancestry or family are made or explained, even when they would seem appropriate.
Further solidifying Ahmad's connection to Garad Ibrahim of Hubat are the Imam's ties to the land, which seems to have been one of Ahmed Gragn's bases (although his home was in Za`ka):
He [Ahmad] went to his home in a town called Za`ka, a day's journey from the town of the sultan.
...
The imam went ceaselessly from village to village until he arrived at the country of Hubat. There he was joined by the emir Hussain al-Gaturi as a support.
The sultan, meanwhile, never ceased sending out spies into every place so that information could be secretly obtained about the imam whom he wanted to kill. Hearing that the imam was in the country of Hubat, the sultan Abu Bakr set out with his infantry and his cavalry and went to the village of the imam Ahmad. He burnt his home, and looted the possessions of the Muslims there.
...
His forces, which were scattered to the winds, regrouped in the country called Hubat.
Additional ties to Belews comes from the fact that, during his campaign in western Tigray (right before his attack of Aksum), his base is again made among the Belew people (spelling of Tigray changed from Tegrē):
The imam pitched camp in Ara`da and made his base there. Some of the local people who belonged to the tribe of the Balaw, went to him. These dwelt in [Tigray]. They were Muslims.
Finally, there is the issue of the origin of his sobriquet "the left-handed." Left-handedness is associated with dirtyness (being the hand used for wiping one's nether regions) and wickedness in both the dominant Christian and Muslim religions of East Africa. It would make sense, therefore, if it were primarily and originally used by his enemies rather than by his followers. Didier Morin makes a connection to pre-Islamic Beja culture (Bejas were still in the process of conversion, most having done so in the 14th-15th century, and even today, old pre-Islamic cultural beliefs and practices are maintained - see Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa, p. 102) and the positive connotations associated with left-handedness.
La seconde remarque concerne la valeur dépréciative qu'a la gauche dans un contexte musulman, notamment en somali, autre indice du caractère tardif du calque lexical "Ahmed-Guray". Par contre, si l'on retient l'origine Balaw (donc Bedja) de l'imam (indépendamment du fait que ce dernier était effectivement gaucher), cette mention de "Gaucher" est conforme à la titulature ancienne, pré-islamique, des Bejas, encore conservée dans les contes populaires où le roi des animaux, le Lion, est "Lion le Gaucher" (talha-b). Il reste à déterminer ce que ce concept de gauche recouvre. V. Kalib. On remarque que la forme bedja Ahmed-Talhab est appositive, comme le nom du lignage afar Hadarmo (v.), dorigin bedja, Awli-Gura, littéralement "Tuteur la Gauche". L'origine Balaw de l'imam de l'Adal est indirectement confirmée par le fait qu'après sa défaite, c'est dans le pays de Mazaga (de Daka) fief Balaw, sans doute dirigé par des groupes différants de ceux qui desccendirent du Tigré vers lAdal au temps de Sa`ad ad-Din, mais alliés, que sa veuve Dele-wan-badha (v.) se réfugie en tentant une nouvelle offensive. Avant de piller Axoum, l'imam campe chez les Balaw du Tigre (Basset : 420-21).
The second remark concerning the disparaging quality that "left" has in a Muslim context, especially in Somali, further indicates the late origin of the lexical calque "Ahmed Guray". On the other hand, if we recall the Balaw origin of the Imam (aside from the fact that this latter was effectively left-handed), this mention of "left-handed" conforms to the ancient pre-Islamic titulary of Bejas, still conserved in the popular stories where the king of animals, the lion, is "the left-handed lion" (talha-b). It remains to be determined what this concept of left-handedness corresponds to. S. Kalib. We note that the Beja form "Ahmed-Talhab" is appositive, like the name of the Hadarmo (v.) Afar lineage of Awli Gura, of Beja origin, literally "the left-handed teacher." The Balaw origin of the Imam of Adal is indirectly confirmed by the fact that, after his defeat, it's in the country of Mazaga (of Daka), a Balaw fief, doubtlessly ruled by groups different from those who descended from Tigre towards Adal during the time of Sa`ad ad-Din, but allied, that his widow Dele-wan-badha found refuge in attempting a new offensive. Before pillaging Axum, the Imam camps with the Balaw of Tigray.
There are strong reasons to believe Imam Ahmad Gragn was of Belew paternal ancestry (his maternal ancestry I'll leave for another post). Although it's still possible his father was of a different ethnic group, it does not seem likely that he was Somali. Very often, Shihab ad-Din makes constrasts between the Imam and his homeland and Somali people and tribes. He did, however, have strong ties to Somalis (who made up a significant portion of his army in his early years), including high-ranking Somalis in his army.
