[1] Haqq was the first Sultan to move the capital of Ifat to the Harar plateau (Adal) hence Taddesse Tamrat credits him as "the founder of the kingdom of Adal as we know it in its protracted struggle with the Christian kingdom [of Abyssinia]"[2][3] Although Al-Maqrizi states that both Haqq ad-Din and his brother Sa'ad ad-Din II were born at the Ethiopian court, both grew up to be the strongest champions of Islam in the Ethiopian region.
According to Tamrat Taddesse, due to the antipathy the rest of the Walashmas had to his father Ahmad for his collaboration over the Ethiopians, Haqq started his career as an outlaw at odds with both his grandfather Ali ibn Sabr ad-Din and his uncle Mola Asfah.
They turned to the Ethiopian Emperor Newaya Krestos for help, but in a series of engagements he defeated their combined army, and his uncle Mola Asfah was killed in battle.
)[5] Taddesse Tamrat notes that while this new location helped preserve Ifat's autonomy under Ethiopia, it had a cost in that it gave up all of the dynastic political influence over Shewa and the neighboring Muslim kingdoms of Dawaro, Hadiya and Bale.
[6] Haqq ad-Din ruled for ten years, until he was killed in action against soldiers of the Ethiopian Emperor.