Rabat I was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. According to James Bruce

James Bruce

James Bruce was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia, where he traced the origins of the Blue Nile.-Youth:...

, he was the son of Badi I

Badi I

Badi I , also known as Badi el Kawam, was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. During his reign, Sennar was at peace with its neighbor, Ethiopia...

.

He intrigued in Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

n politics a number of times. Early in his reign he detained the Copt

Copt

The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....

ic bishop Abba Yeshaq, who had passed through Sennar on his way to Ethiopia. A later act was his attempt to convert Saga Krestos, the son of Emperor

Emperor of Ethiopia

The Emperor of Ethiopia was the hereditary ruler of Ethiopia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1974. The Emperor was the head of state and head of government, with ultimate executive, judicial and legislative power in that country...

 Yaqob of Ethiopia

Yaqob of Ethiopia

Yaqob I was of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the eldest surviving son of Sarsa Dengel; his mother was either Queen Maryam Sena Yaqob I (Ge'ez ያዕቆብ yāʿiqōb, Amh. yā'iqōb) was (throne name Malak Sagad II, መልአክ ሰገድ, mal'ak sagad, Amh. mel'āk seged, "to whom the angel...

, to Islam, which resulted in Saga Krestos' departure.

In response to a slave raid by Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia

Susenyos of Ethiopia

Susenyos was of Ethiopia...

in 1619, Rabat led a great army against the Ethiopians, and slew one of the Imperial officials, a Muslim named Muhammed Sayed. In response, Emperor Susenyos marched to the border and defeated Rabat's army.