Battle of Ash-Shihr (1523)

Not to be confused with Battle of al-Shihr (1531) or Battle of al-Shihr (1548).

The Battle of Ash-Shihr was an attack launched by the Portuguese navy in 1523 on the city of Ash-Shihr which was a part of the Kathiri Sultanate.^[4]

Battle of Ash-Shihr
Painting depicting Portuguese soldiers attacking and burning the city
Date February 28 – March 2, 1523 (1523-02-28 – 1523-03-02) Location Ash-Shihr, Kathiri Sultanate Result Portuguese victory[1][2]
Belligerents
Kingdom of Portugal Mahra Sultanate	Kathiri Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Duarte de Meneses Luís de Meneses[2]	Badr Abu Tuairq al-Kathiri Mutran bin Mansur † Atif bin Dahdah Yaqoub Al-Haridi † Salem Baaween † Hussein Al-Aidaroos † Ahmed ba-Fadl † Fadl ba-Fadl † Ahmed bin Abdullah ba-Fadl †
Strength
8 ships[3] 6 galleons[2] 400-700 soldiers[3]	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	480+ killed

The battle

A 1523 letter from Henrique de Macedo to the King of Portugal, reporting the successful raid on Xael (Shihr). De Macedo writes, "This year I went to serve in the Straits with Dom Luis, in which expedition he attacked Xael and captured a large place (hum lugar grande) from them . . . he burnt and destroyed [the lugar grande] because it seemed to him to be to your service."

On Thursday, February 28, 1523 (or 9 Rabi’ II, 929 AH^[5]), the Portuguese governor of India, Duarte de Meneses, dispatched his brother, Luís de Meneses, to the Red Sea with a force of 6 galleons. Luís was tasked with delivering an ambassador to the Christian Emperor of Ethiopia and hunting hostile Muslim trade ships sailing between the Indian Ocean and Jeddah.^[2] Along the way, he called at the city of Ash-Shihr.

After claiming that the property of a Portuguese merchant who had died in al-Shiḥr had been unlawfully seized by the Kathīrī sultan, Dom Luís ordered the assault of the city.^[1] It was then successfully attacked and sacked while the inhabitants fled. Shihr was further plundered by the settlement's garrison, and by vagrants.^[6] The city's defenders attempted to face them on the beaches, but they were routed and the emir Mutran b. Mansur was killed in battle with a bullet.^[6] The battle continued for three days between the people of the city of Al-Shihr and the Portuguese forces.

Seven of Ash-Shihr's legal scholars and learned men were killed by the Portuguese. These men would collectively come to be a known as “The Seven Martyrs of al-Shiḥr” and whose tomb would become the site of an annual pilgrimage.^[1]

Losses

About 480 residents of the city of Al-Shehr were killed in the battle, in addition to the killing of seven resistance leaders in the city of Al-Sheher:^[7][8]

1. Prince Mutran bin Mansur - Emir of the city of Ash-Shihr
2. Yaqoub bin Saleh Al-Haridi
3. Salem bin Saleh Baaween
4. Hussein bin Abdullah Al-Aidaroos
5. Ahmed bin Radwan ba-Fadl
6. Fadl bin Radwan ba-Fadl

In addition to: Ahmed bin Abdullah Belhaj ba-Fadl,^[8] whose family at the time requested that he be buried next to his father in the Dome of Belhaj ba-Fadl.

Cultural significance

The Iddah dance

The people of Ash-Shihr built the Shrine of the Seven Martyrs, and its walls contained illustrations and evidence of the number of people buried there, in commemoration of their memory. The shrine became a place of visit every year once or twice, especially on the fourth or fifth day of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The visits include: popular dances such as the Baraa and the Iddah, the gathering of visitors, the selling of sweets, etc.^[9]

See also

• Yemen portal
• Portugal portal

• Siege of Aden
• Capture of Aden (1548)
• Battle of al-Shihr (1548)