He returned from Arabia with ten horsemen, as well as military supplies provided by his family's patron Nasir Ahmad.
An unnamed commander with ten chiefs, in charge of 20,000 men, moved into area for a year hoping to restore the lost "Amhara rule".
Sabr ad-Din was able to send his brother Muhammad with Harb Jaush, a defector from the Christian side, to attack the imperial forces.
He entrusted his brother Muhammad with the task of capturing a fort at Barut and then instructed one of his commanders, Omar to raid the land of Jab.
This was so well defended by the imperial forces as by their sheer number as Maqrizi relates as "numerous as locusts", Omar's men were all killed by spears.