Afaizaru

Afaizaru (of uncertain date, perhaps fl. c. 13th century A.D.) was a saint of the Argobba, living south of Harär. Afaizaru is mentioned in the Fath Madinat Harar, an unpublished legendary history of Harär in the 13th century, as an ally of Abädir ‘Umar ar-Ridä, the chief saint of Harär, with whom he fought the infidels, whom the Fath anachronistically designates as “Portuguese” and “Italians”, near Afardabba (a village east of Harär) in 619 H. (1222 A. D.). But it is unlikely that this date is correct, for it is commonly supposed that the Argobba migrated to their present settlements near Harär only some centuries later. Afaizaru may thus be attributed to a later period.

Afaizaru gave his name to a village near Bisidimo in the Argobba region.

Ewald Wagner

Bibliography

R. Paret, “Eine fragwürdige arabische Chronic von Harar,” IV Congresso Internationale di Studi Etiopici, Roma, 1972, Vol. I (Roma, 1974): 428.

This article is reproduced, with permission, from The Dictionary of Ethiopian Biography, Vol. 1 ‘From Early Times to the End of the Zagwé Dynasty c. 1270 A.D.,’ copyright © 1975, edited by Belaynesh Michael, S. Chojnacki and Richard Pankhurst, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All rights reserved.