Isma'il was the ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar (1768 - 1776). He was the son of king Badi IV

Badi IV

Badi IV , also known as Badi abu Shilluk, was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar.When Emperor Iyasu II of Ethiopia invaded his realm in 1738, the army of Sennar under the leadership of Hamis, a prince of Darfur, inflicted a significant defeat of the invaders at the Battle of the Dindar River.He was...

, and brother of his predecessor Nasir

Nasir of Sennar

Nasir was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar. He was the son of Badi IV, the previous ruler.He deposed his father Badi, with the help of the vizer Sheikh Adelan and his brother Abu Kalec the governor of Kordofan. Badi fled to sanctuary in Ethiopia, where Emperor Iyoas I appointed the deposed king...

.

The Scottish traveller 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:...

 was his unwilling guest from 1 May to 5 September 1772, and acted as a physician to Isma'il's three wives. Bruce left this portrait of Isma'il:

His head was uncovered; he wore his own short black hair, and was as white in colour as an Arab. He seemed to be a man about thirty-four, his feet were bare but covered by his shirt. He had a very plebeian countenance, on which was stamped no decided character; I should rather have guessed him to be a soft, timid, irresolute man.

Bruce summarized Isma'il's political position at the time of his visit as follows, based on conversations with the Royal Executioner, Ahmed Sid el-Koum:

Ismain, the present king, stood upon very precarious ground; that both brothers, Adelan and Abou Kalec, were at the head of armies in the field; that Kittou [brother of Adelan and Abou Kalec] had at his disposal all the forces that were in Sennar; and that the king was little esteemed, and had neither experience, courage, friends, money, nor troops.