Abu Bakr ibn Shaikh 'Umar

Abu Bakr ibn Shaikh 'Umar was the Somali sultan ruling Mogadishu when the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reached the city in 1331, at the height of its medieval prosperity. Ibn Battuta called him a Barbara, the medieval term for native Somalis.

He described Mogadishu as an exceedingly large city of wealthy merchants, famed for high-quality fabrics exported as far as Mamluk Egypt. The sultan spoke Somali and fluent Arabic alike, and kept a court of viziers, legal scholars, commanders and royal eunuchs.