ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA By J. SPENCER TRIMINGHAM GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Londen New York Tarcato 1952Loo1-fory Oxford Univetiy Pro diner Has, Landon B.C 4 Srey Gere Gombe, Pabst the Unvertiy of the indigenous cultures, Islam professed by those been made to | peoples who have been won over to em assess the influence of Isfiy in the history and presen these peoples, to show habit has moulded ther lives, and how they in turn have moulded tha Idam which they received. Further, since the Christian state of Ethiopia has for centuries been surrounded by Islamic peoples it deals with the effect of Islam upon that State and the centuries of conflict between the two is task of giving 2 cleat picture of the infuence of Islamic culture in such a vast region i complicated because account must be taken of the fact that its Islam presents the greatest possible diversity, ranging from fanatical orthodoxy tothe merest veneer, from the earning ofthe Scholiast to the semi-pagarypatterer of a few Arabic formulae, 1 hope that this study will at least Serve to bring together the material upon Which a genuine estimate of Uie depth and influence of Islam in noreh- cast Afticn may be based. DISCARDED To avoid confusion the word ‘Abyssinia’ is employed to the xdom of the”highlands which was influenced Ser jon of South ‘A: 13724 @ much wider sense to embrace the wh survey. It has also been necessary to use ‘Ethiopia’ when referring to the modern state of this name founded by Menelik {1 and ruled today used, therefore, for the of the Christian kingdom and ‘Ethiopia’ for the wider geographical region, except when it refers to the modern state. on of my sources to enable me to raphy, but in particular I wish to acknowledge able work done by Ttalian scholars in various included in thisFebruary 1951 PREFACE CONTENTS PREFACE, ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION ‘THE REGION AND ITS FOLK THE LAKD ‘ru rEORLE (@) Ethnological and Cultural History of the Region (8) Social and Economie Life (©) Religions and their Distribution: (a) Pagenises B) Jodaism ® nity () Distribution of Islam 2. THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA Semitic Colonization in Abyssinia (8) The Kingdom of Axum (©) The Introdaction of Christian ‘nto the Kingdom of Axum int in History of Region (8) The Bh ofthe Abyeinian Nation ‘The Challenge and the Response: ‘The Conversion of the Abyssinians to Christianity ‘The Zagwé Dynasty Islamic Kingdoms in Eastern Shoa ‘The First Expansion of Islam (©) The ‘Solomonid? Dynasty “The Mustim Sultanates ‘The Stugele with the Sultanates 3. THE MUSLIM CONQUEST OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY (@) Introductory: F ; ‘Ortomans and Portaguese in the Arabian Sea ‘The Empire of Bthiopia ‘The Fikdd and Tribal Movements Abyssinia before the Conquest (0) The Great Conquest Effect of the Conquest on Christians and Muslimsviii contents contents (2) Paral Recovery o ro, ‘APAR ox pasa. : © The Gala Mi 93 sao : % : 12, stokMA % 13. cusict 4: PERIOD OF ISOLATION AND REGION: 98 ae ee (2) Culture Contact and Change ‘The People Institutions of the Pagan Galla (@) Roman Propaganda and Nationalist Reaction 9B (®) Aczophy of Abyssinian Christianity and Renewed Progres iad (© Muslim Galla Groups: ‘alias 1 (a) Gels ofthe Abyssinian Platexu al ie (B) Galla of the Upper Gibe tenon ofthe Empire and Gals Supremacy over G) The South-Eastern Galla (Harar Province) eThrone : 205 @) The Ars or Aris (2) Progress of Islim daring the Period of Regionalism 199 eat LATION OF THE ETHIOPIAN EOPIRE m4 telat atta ata (2) The Renaissance of Islam in the Nineteenth Century ang (@) Baris and Kontma ‘The New gp and Abysin 1h Bani Shangal Region jwakening in the Sudan 16 empts at Unification ad (©) Bantw and Somalized Banta Groups Renewal of Egyptian Plan¢ for Expansion 19 NOR GROUPS ‘Phe Emperor John’s attempt at 123 (@) Arabs iyya of the Sudan and Al 3 (8) West African Sudanese 135 (0) The Argobb 129 (2 Ovteaste Peoples 138 bis 4. SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ISLAM IN THE 135 REGION 6 138 1. Tie oRTH0D0x sysTEAE 138 (2) Orthodox Observance (Abyssinian History and the Challenge of Islam 43 (B) samic Law end Customary Codes 3. ‘TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION OF ISLAM 47 ” (4) Propagation of the Orders 1. nerxooverion 147 (8) Organization of the Orders Gaeaxni) (6) Qedliriyya 22, ABYSSINIAN MUSLIRS (JABARTI 150 4s Ro saat 153 (2) Abmediyys 4. a 7 ‘(Rashidiyya) pee ne 7 7 Mirghaniyya or Khatmiyya 6. uae 4D RANT JUK 162 @ sammaniyya 7. BILEX on nocot 164 5. sane wosane 8. acinsa 167 (2) Saints and their Tombs (9. NONOR GROUPS IN ERITREA 368 (8) Pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Shaith Husainx contents 44+ THE PRE-ISLAMIC SEDIMENT. 256 (4) The Concept ofthe Sapernatural 37 VIATIONS (8) Forms of Religious Behaviour 262 ABBREVIATION $< 7H ASIDGEATION OF ISAM BY FAGAN 269 Archive pr Pdutrepeagia ela Etelgi. \ R Baset, Bruder sur Uhre d'Ethiopc, Pais, 882. Se eee oe eee 275, Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorvm, ed, de Gosje. 5 Bruce, Travels Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, 1790. x : fe 383 BSGI. Ballettino della R. Sec. Geog. It Cerulli, EO. E. Cerulli, Eriopia Occidentale, Rome, 1933. MAPS CSCO. Corpus Script Cirtianoram Orienaliun: Scriptaes Aetpich seis stern: Historia ot Hagiogeephic. { tacuaces OF NonrioRAse AFRICA ising poge x DAL. B. Litinann, Deatice dlsim Expedition 1913 Engy bs. The Emcclpocdia of len. 2. MUSLIN STATES ITE TIME OF “aNDA SON 1 (A. 1514 6 2 olin IME OF sr6n 1 ( ‘S14-44) 4 E Shihab ad-Din, FutwA al-Habasha, ed. and trans. R. Basset, Se THE congutsrs oF seEwnnie 126 itor, {THe TmIES oF nareaEA 1 Journal ofthe Reyel Gergrephical Sacer. zi Giornale dela Soceta Asiatica Teli SE aaa 18 Guida dell’ Africe Orientale Italiana, Milan, 1938. 6, nE1so10%8 oF NORTH-EAST ATRICA at ond Magia, ol lindm 61 aklbtr mes bi ard at Habashe min Melah at-Islém, ed. G. Zaidtn, Cairo, 1895. Journal asiatigue. ournal of the Royel Anthrepoegical Institute, Yournat ofthe Royal Asiatic Society. Oriente Moderao. ignc, Petrlegiae Curses Complets, Series Graeca. igne, Patrolegice Carsus Completes, Series Latina. Patrolegia Orientali. C. Beccari, Rerum Aethispicarum: Seritores Occidentalet Reoue de monde musalaan. Rendiconti della Reale decademia dei Lineei (Chase di scienze, morali,striche e lologiche). Reassegna di Studi Bengt. Recue sémitique, Rivista degli Studi Oriental, Rome. Sedan Notes and Records. Zeitsbrifeder Deatichn Morgenlindichen Gesllchaft.INTRODUCTION sa basis for the genesis and expansi ASE the most favourable areas of a higher type of Africa in regard to by the desert and the steppe. ‘The physical conditions of the Sudan, the great desert and steppe plain between the Adantic and the plateau, with its long story of tribal migrations in search of land for stockbreeding or cultivation, have never been favourable to the formation of a civilized society. Thus the Christian, pagan, or Muslim kingdoms of this great plain (Maqurra and‘ Alwa of the Nile, Gina, Mali, and Songhay of the Ni Dahomey, and Benin) have never achieved true cohes remained on the level of derived or p originally ftom the Yaman, spread throughout the northern Eshiopan highlands and the bord of common Semnite cilfraion ‘was established across the Red Sea. ‘These colonists and the Arabs, of new blood, when united right well have influenced other parts of Africa. But when Abyssinia and Arabia were indeed associated in religion, a new religious idea ‘ame to birth in the seventh century in Arabia which was destined to break between the two associated regions as clear-cut as the physi fracture of the Red Sea, and completely divided Abyssinians and Arabs. ‘These two peoples, opposed from henceforth in mutually hostile camps, barred the road to outside influence upon the interior of Africa the era of Western expansion, and exhausted their energies in th one another. us cultures did not at first come into decisive confit.xiv INTRODUCTION Daring one of the most obscure periods of especially to Hamite or Negroid-Hamite pastoral nomads, and there is scarcely a nomad tribe in Africa north of the Equator which has not accepted it. Christianity, ‘on the other hand, tied to its priesthood and its high éthos, has utterly failed to attract any such tribe. At the same time, with the decay of rnomadism, Islam appeals just as vividly and exerts an equally strong hold upon the Hamite when he adopts 2 settled agricultural or urban life. ‘North-east Africa was the only African region where Islam had a rival in the presentation of a new religious conception of life to Hamites and Negroes. Consequently, had Abyssinia become 2 inquest of the Imim Ahmad was the Isiamized Hamites who were the most effective missionaries. Around the Ethiopian plateau stretch vast territories, roamed by nomadic peoples to whom its great bastions have presented an almost le obstacle. ‘The weakest defences are in the north and west, is wide steppe area has been able to absorb waves of pastoralists who, even after they received driblets of Islamic culture, never built their natural fortress allowed their nge of Islam did not evoke any that which it evoked among the Christians in western Europe, The shock of the Islamic conquest of Ahmad Graf, more devastating ate propaganda of the Jes to exhausting internal uuggles and a withdrawal upon their INTRODUCTION L xv stance, for its people ity, has helped to change id fastnesses have been 2 rock against which the waves of expansion of the Islamic civilization from the Arabian Peninsula and East Aftican coast on the one hand, and re dashed themselves in vain that stable rule on the east and possibly the certain inland movement in peoples were ready to respond to the values inherent in the Is: Nilotic Nubia had been conque: the north, so that almost the wi sea-board to the frontiers of Aby hand, another vigorous by the forces of Western expansion during the spread throughout Africa south of th and become the unifying force of Southern and Central Africa, as ‘opposed to the unifying force of Islam in the north and the Sudan.I ‘The Region and its Folk HE LAND jae phrase north-east Africa is used in such a variety of ways that necessary to define the way in which it is used in this su the south-east by the Indian Ocean, on the south by Kenya Col ast and cast by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, This v te any natural homogeneous region, and eau now part ‘Amhara, Gojim, Shoa, and Jimma- elevation of 6,500 feet in which terrace rises above terrace to form high wide plateaux. It is clearly defined on the east by the steep edges ofa mountain wall which rift, having an average ing wall which drops abru the low, arid, and hot Dani Lake the western edge of the great East African itude of 8,000 feet. This ed towards the west and descends more or less vast tetraces towards the plains of the Nilotie Sudan, but in the north-west and south-west there is a rapid descent of several thousand feet. ‘The great line of the escarpment overlooking the Red Sea to the east and the Sudan plains to the west has acted as a barrier peoples. Towards the south-east beyond the Abay, access isles dificult, ise .2 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA row more numerous and give an is reece in the hitory and fe this great massif into fe of their inhabitants. Deep ravines divide t ° subordinate plateaux, above which as bases, rise several mountai nds have offen Been compared with Switzerland, but there is a very characteristic difference: ; oad an Jand, the heights aze barzen peaks, the valleys finy b vial ns isenened Th hgh we matiopen pate, depth. The population w the high ground, being formidable obstacles to tra “ i bas, which are steep and bare Characteristic ofthis rei are the alas which ate ateep and bare sure and crops can be abundant water where herds of cattle can pasture and grown, These ander have played an important part in iso for sey form natural self-supporting forweses whose few approaches cou snselves when their country has been een ued a prtons to segregate male of the are the abrupt offenders. Equally characte intersect the surface of these plateaux and have royal house and pol ind deep ravines whi oft be iene by the concentration of heavy tains ina short space of time, Many of the rivers flow thousands of feet below the general level of the ough plateaux, sometimes throug! mes trough snyons, These canyons, too, have played their parti Eeveeehe aie ‘sicher tsardove descent and cbs or F pews ‘which the Abay an and slow detour. The tremendous gorges snd iba tas have carved for themselves ave proved gest obstacles 0 om- jeations between Gojiim and the southern highlands and have giver inthe sof an island. Butall the Abyssinian regions and not esisted incor= a ics, For centuries some of these regions have resiste worn the empre a have fen ben ready ore aay Ti hese natural regional divisions which have made the unification ofthe i has always been a ‘country such a difficule problem, so that Aby "Head e Abyia comple yt Ra Fos fee THE REGION AND ITs FoLK 3 Reeration of countries whose ruler has rightly styled himself ‘king of ings’. ‘Another region is the Fascern Rift valley which runs from the Dane Kalf depression in the north where its defined by the River Hawish, Shrough Lakes Zway, Shala, Margherita, and Chamo, which separate the Ethiopian and central massifs thence through Lakes Stephanie ond Rudolf to its continua lakes. In the north, region, the plain known as the D: Eritrean Dankalia, ‘Afar (or Ethiopian Dani defined in the north and east by a mountain chain coast from 1 Bay of Thio to the Gulf of Tajars ‘of Harar, and in the west by the formidable inert of the Ethiopian plateau. This depression is an arid, sandy, and rocky waste jn which some rivers like the Hawash disappear. Itinglud voleanic cones, some of which are fe and encloses a great depression 120 metres below sea-level with a succession of salt lakes at the bottom. In this depression even nor Next comes the central massif between d valley depression and the Galla-Somali plateau, Ie starts abrupt ie Rift valley frac- of basalt, punctuated by peaks, and h tablelands of Chercher, Boke, and Didda which are incised by numerous deep depressions. Stretching from Lake Chamo ts beyond Hiarar the great chain descends into the last region, the C- Somali plateau, in gentle slopes through which flow the river We three rivers which form the Jabs. ‘The Galla- Somali ree distinc regions, the interior plateau, a middle steppe, ‘The physical structure and relief of north-east Africa explain the dicections of the migratory movements of its peoples Tt was easy to move about the Galla-Somali plateau or the “Afar plain, it was possible matter if migrants ian massif against the wishes of is inhabitants, forthe walls of Tigra, Shon, Gurage, Gamo, and Barodda offer almost impenetrable obstacles to migratory mover ments, 11 the physical structure has affected the movements of men, the in that broken surface have exe!4 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA complex, the abundant rainfall of the central region and the lowlands, give it every variety of climate from that ‘of equatorial regions to that of temperate climes, ‘of the Red Sea coast and Gulfof Aden isone of the hottest ‘where the temperature varies very litle, but as one enters the plains inland the climate becomes that of desert regions with great variations between the heat of the day and the cold at night. On the iblands of the Ethiopian plateau and central plateau owing to the abundant rains we get temperatures les high than the first but subject to less variation than the second. Five climatic regions have been distinguished. In the north-east that uf of Aden and the Red Sea, affecting the Mijurtin, Warsan- scanty rains 1e Indian Ocean. wl falling in winter. In the south-east the affecting much of che Somali plateau is similar except that the weak rains in sammer. In the centre, south, and west the climate of Ogadén, ined by excesive tem= an climate, distinguished by tempera- rem heat to cold. ‘The people of the plateau, following the height, climate, and vegetable products, recognize three zones: the lowlands (lla) from 2,000 t0 5500-€,000 feet, which are hot, humid, and unhealthy and consequently are the most sparsely populated; the uplands (wzina dega) from 5,500 to 7,800-8,200 feet, which is the most favourable region for man; and the highlands (dega) above 7,500-8,200 feet. The central massif has f similar climate but with less variation in heat and cold, the rains are regular but not so heavy. Tn general the plateau regions have a single rainy season from April to September, but the intervention of periods when the rainfall is slighter has caused references to the ‘greater’ and ‘lesser’ rains. October to March is generally rainless, except in the south-west (Shoa-Gimira, Kaffa, and Jimma) where it may rain at any time of the year. On the south-eastern slope towards the Indian Ocean and over 2 large part of Boran the rains are divided into two periods: March-May and Octo- peratures tures varying of the Ethiopian plateau being towards the west its is in that direction. ‘The only river that flows east is the awash. This rises near Addis Ababa, flows with a great curve towards the Gulf of Aden, and finally loses itself in the sandy wastes west of THE REGION AND ITS FOLK jiu 4 Jibs 1¢ Omo, flows south into Lake Rudolf. The greater part of the rainfall drains into the Nile which is. re lds cence inte lover cour flowing into the main Nile, the Sobat in the south flowing ints the White Nile and the Ably between them. The Akiy fows from Laks Tina soe 3000 fet below the lof the plateau, then taming southeast i decrbes a huge loop and runs north-west rough the Ez 1¢ Blue Nile. It is this river which ny rp annual rise ofthe Nile. From the Somali pleas ovo ge _ fow outa the Juba (Ar, Al¥ubb, Som, randna) wl reaches th anc i Shabali whi swallowed up in sand-dunes pede cea ee 2. THE PEOPLE Abyssinians, babash which means ‘s mixture tion of the word, it does show how th " nw how they presented themselves Arabs? Ta ts eegion the concept of Lnsip has Ie earings guide tothe groupi to talk of peoples using or Semitic or Nilo oigny oF At some undetermined epoch Afi At con och Africa was invaded, possibly from South Arabia, by wares of Hamite-Caucasans belonging to the mae branch of mankind as most snc xl as most Europeans. The preeynastic Egyptian in who colonized the6 ISLAM UN ETHIOPIA the past and the Beja today are the almost unmodified representattve® Sfehio race, The Bani ‘Amir, who are characteristic represenmaives Of the Bajo, show them as long-headed, of medium height, with regular features of European type, nose straight and narrow, skin y coppery-brown, hair wavy oF put never everted, and the beard thin and s north-eastern Africa are usually known under Cushites. “These Hamites came in waves and through intermarriage aborigines gave rise t0 groups of bamitized Negroes, Fach ines land to other negeolands fan Agao migration) of the Keren regi the heart of the highlands (northern Ku ‘dima tribes (southern Kushites), to mention “he more important. These invaders oceupied the Abyssinian high= Jands proper, and though their lives have been completely changed by Somite invaders, the mixture was such that Hamitic blood stil pre= sFemnates amongst the Tigreans, Ambara, Gojamices, and Shoars so the proportion of 80 per cent. In the course of o me to adopt the languages and outlook oF waders but a few have remained alm ‘Dambya, Waaara, and Quara), in Agawmeder south 3n the neighbourhood of Damot. The Sidima vhole of the western and southern regions of Ethiopia, but they were decimated or absorbed elther by waves of nan conquest or by invading Galla hordes, and reduced to the Small groups which now exist around the River Ome, ‘er who mingled more profoundly with the Negroes lowlands south-west of Kaffa, ans with Shangela THE REGION AND ITS FOLK 7 (Negroes).1 Negroes of th 0 ascended bytemilteN eae ipofland along the whole western fone of Eloi, Amongs the pols epaing Nilo) Nib 5 Sudanie, and other Negro languages are the Kundima ani in ries, the Gunza, Abigat (Nut, Vamnbo hon) Mel ime, Gayi, Bussa,and Turkana id other stems have ions from Southern Arabia, which P 7 of the highlanc Semits spread ovr the igh plano ofthe north and sce hey ere uralists, settled down and mingl and mingled with the Kushites. One SE ny le ir nwa Hr ete fom whence some of them later migrated to the Gi evwreen the Ona an the Rif valley and ipod thet language up the Sidi amongst whom they sted othe Seite gene of the northern highlands belonged to 2 hi of faith, and have profound; changed the cultu ighlands. The "Abyesinians prog - (Tigreans, Ambara, Golémites, and Shoars) who have become the in the culture of these farther strengthened through the adoption of pr +many of the pagan Agao. TI Fata of the north-weiem provinces who phy famitic. Later, some elements of It the mest profound cull inne in the fourth centu h and fourteenth ce8 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA ist at the stme time absorbing many pagan Kushite and Jewish clements The Somali, Galla, and 'Afar-Saho also belong to one of the waves ‘which have already been mentioned who crossed he Bab al-Mai ions of East Africa, They belong fundament stem and are usually classified as ‘Low Kushite’ TI homeland seems to have been between the upper course of the Webi ‘coast of the Gulf of Aden. In consequence of migrations and in varying degreeswith Negroes, they into three great grougs. Those i depression and its coastal region are distinguished by the linguistic group names of “Afar and Saho. The Somali, who are probably the most recent ami i grants into East Africa, were confined for centuries co what is now ‘sh Somaliland. From this inhospitable 1 began to push couth and south-west towards the valleys of the Webi Shabali and ‘Taba, repel {nthe south-westand aboriginal Banta tribestothe absorbing elements of both groups ing a distinctively Hamitic ethnic group, the Soma, tual conquest of Islam become f the Oroma of Galla, as they are more general tapon the population of Abyssinia proper. The Galla were living in sneral Somali, from whence they iad expelled or absorbed the former Banta inhabitants, from whom they adopted non-Hamitic institutions such asthe gada-system of age-group’, Inthe sintenth century those ceerern Kushites ('Afar and Somali) who had been islamized from ‘Arabia began a great movement of expansion. The G: iy the Somali from the valleys of the Shabeli and Juba couthwards towards the River Tana in north-west Kenya and from thence they Spread northwards fanvwise, following in the wake of the Muslin "Sfaz) invasion of Abyssinia in the middle of the sixteenth veorury. They spread in the east throughout the Aisi and Harar regions; in the west towards the rwhelming the ‘existing Sidima peoples in both directions, w! very crest of the wave washed {ehlands of the Shoa and Wallo country, where They sled between Christian people as pagan islands, The Gal of the plateau regions (Wallo, Shoe, Jimma, and Harar) became settled agriculturalists and pastoral dhe main some adopted monarchical ~ Ethiopia, were not affected in their econor THE REGION AND ITS FOLK 9 undermine their pagan cf the Aras who rma who settled down to agri and their paganism, cot regen yosewesa geen being some 80 percent, Haris, Bus hatte "Abysnian en been sony inflwenced by the Semitic culture of South Arab, ts made more profound difernce than ail origins, O her Ki ates, however, have retained thei own eure; such are ly and sho in Erie islands of Ago on the cena the Kaficho, Walamo, and many ther Sim rb thesouthen the Galla, Somali and ‘Afar who ate Hamites ace Botte ephcl from he ther Kushites. ‘The noma G characteristic elements of their own cultur ‘ ‘own culture; so have the Somali an "Afar wi havests een subject toa certain Semitic nfeence shovon uence, thoug! in quite different way from the Aby: inguitea dierene way from the Abysinians since it eame through the (B) Social and Economic Life “Tounderstand the history of Tou rory of religion in north-east Affica we have to distinguish beoween two great spheres of peoples: the highly de ripe peoples of the plateau regions (Tigreans, Amhara, Agao, Sie sof the lowlands comprising the Beja madic and settled life of human societies does not depend fact but ionec tnd forest dweliow in geet end soto cated oi ent. Mountain «the people of the in search of pasture for their sho invaed Ethiopia were 1 who migrated into plateau cd herders of cae and agrcuratiss Ing those whe, lke the Boran, migrated into euthenn Esiona weer and social life. However, Seewein the two extremes ae many gradations for there ae fee medite cacguis of emisomads who move only shore dunce pally on the peripheries of the mountains, who also have settledISLAM IN ETHTOPIA im is shown in the mosaic of the environmen a ee tnane Samia region of Bren "These tes show ‘rt fe Bu are afr fn thir mode of subse, "everoms, and teligion. Most of them are semi= the winter season. . of the sedentary peatant who or animal husbandry, or, more i to. The sorrounding erp and fear the domain of te nomads. Inthe regen twat Red Senand the In "Mar a i, who are true {Red Sextant the Tadlan Ocean the ‘Ar and Sonal who ae tse oma inhabit the zone betwen the plateau and = cn In the exon which descends fom the pen toad he Nil i the iver. eee but the supply by field as been “The pute nomad ox are rather members of gets the shes 208 Uhldreny and for the same prac ‘camel, the community reasons; and his organized dl ed round his Socks so herds Bat though he has provided his means of sustenance yet, of .as to wander with them in search oa ee hemo aml wanes be and nt the ed} conse transported arch for animal ete seedons hve aa ola: or rivers to which they return fro definite assem! te i migrations with their Becks, ste winter period inthe lowlands or low-lying valleys and the winter pet hinsdlna is of the Sal ts who Se a nigh regions and the low eastern maritime plai grate between the high ent ofthe people were 73 “alan Som THE REGION AND ITS FOLK western and northern plain, The Sa flocks and herds in the summer and cul ‘The kind of animal bred also has its effect o for example, are essential ownersamong them, such as those of the Buri pen than the the sea coast to yssinian plateau, Such ife of the semi- Season wander far to the east and south towards and into the whilst the cat in close to the banks of the Gash. Idefined grazing area. Since upon their flocks and herds, they and the ‘dependent and ex entirely cultivators are economically modities. Some semi-nomads ¢ possess slaves who grow crops for a different race l ir flocks and may force a section of a tribe to turn to agricale he restof Africa, Abyssinian agriculture is very advanced. The agriculturalists are atta ached tenaciously to Jrhich passes from father to son as patrimony. Two types of farm found in the r 5 farming by hand with the hoe, dibble, or mattock: and farming with the plough and Ploughshare formed from a heav or horses is used by the Abyssini done by hoes, forks, and mattocks. The implem the Gall who have been introduced to agvic iss and drawn by bulls ion after ploughing rents of people such ture only since they arrived in the country, still eemain very primi 1¢ hoe, for instance, often consists merely ofa pole wich a ail fxed in ts head, but many at the Galla ofthe highlands have adopted the plough a implements. However diferent the forms of che dwellin they fall into only a few main types. The architecture and form of Awellings are ted to the resources of the country where they are built, teams and to the occupation of is people. In nomadie regions the homes are simple since they must be easy to pull down, transport, ind more advanced ig in the region may seemISLAM IN ETHIOPIA : and the ‘Afar use a hemi- nd a house, formed of ent Id ae ‘the same kind of hut. The Southern ith hemispherical domed roofs, grouped fies Te and surrounded by a thorn fence. The con: ion ‘heir wrod of life affect other elem besides their Picea ed by nomads must not be fragile, Se -ds, calabashes, and vessels of wood, skin, or % ee ike their own weapons and a smith-caste i 8 commo ae for example, the Tomal amongst the Somali of straw; osed by The vessels types of organi: “The pivot of social oF tribes on the central E sedentary Christian 1e northern part of sup (enda) which consists of a number ir rom common ancestor whose namie cnda is also a de | inion or the restated (and-onnes) and we azn ae eee ee eopland before the Reform Act of the rule that only the restenyatat can be elected to the offices if (chepasshum) and district chie! may be indicated. The enda : ial autonomy of, THE REGION AND ITs FoLx and districts embod have just been mer ‘representing or life, were the stabilizing factorin a system in which chan amalgamated n by the es of the age chief was in fact under both t military or civil admis tax-gatherers or regent-delegates who were the representa emperor. The result was that the 2 local chiefiain and the emperor the emperor is ruling by direct admi are under governors appointed by hi families. AA completely different type of social organiza Bilen- and Tigre-speaking tribes of Eritrea which a possessing both a ruling-caste and a serf-caste. Thes Mansa, Bait Asgade, and Bani ‘Arm kkinship-groups linked together in a ver they are all Muslim and mostly nomadic herdsmen, ion is one of great fluidity, 2 con takes place amongst the members and secti (tigr2) are the descendants of various groups vanced clan imposed who are organized as loose fashions the nomadic of exchange ions of tribes. The serfs upon whom a more ad- who, in order to gain protection or for themselves to a strong tribe and to.w they now regard themselves as belonging by common political asciae tion. The relationship between the two classes varies from tribe to tribe, but in general a reciprocal relationship, whereby the serfs received protection and to use their master’s land and livee Stock in return for services rendered, kept this system wor centuties, During recent years th ing degrees by the economic and a the new conditions of European rule, The “Afar nomads, who like these tribes are a mixture of racial elements, are also a political rather than an ethnic unit. But the two types of “Afar have coalesced into two classes, noble and plebeian, without too sharp distinctions, rather than into definite castes. Li jousness of uni 1M, PeaISLAM IN ETHIOPIA ibes although they possess in common the same language, ® religion, and mutual hatred of Galla and Abyssinian mn. ‘They are today under the pol ‘ut they formerly had 2 continues but into a number of ‘age-groups’, which after a fixed term of years pass successively from one grade of px y ‘which isin the lase grade but one provides the chief ar ights. ‘The organization of all the Sidima “The Kafiicho, for instance, possessed a highly com- read was the divine ki the lannd and supreme war-lord. The sated with the king the summit of the struc od the authority of the king and had power to depose ‘was divided into crown land and hereditary fiefs, the latter only owned by free Kafficho. Amongst these jon has suffered considerable change si 1 organization ofthe sedentary Kunama may be mentioned as an example of a more primitive negroid people which has remained tininfluenced by the highly developed peoples who have exploited them. id on clans which ate exogamous. Descent is counted in after marriage 2 man lives in his wife's home until the is born, “The clans have 2 totemistic background; the Gumma, for example, have an elephant, the Karka the moon, and for their symbol. Some clans are invested with powers which, though of little political significance, play an the social life of the whole tribe. Sovereignty was THE REGION AND IT. formerly based on the assembly of Ssh ne deputies. The clans which out the territorial units, AS north-east it isa region of {great monotheistic religions, and the and Islam are much more numerous tha of adherents of the various rel les who profess Christianity the pagans. The proportion [Pare emt 431555 eS Boone i. $20.909 | 496200 750900 esse “Biss 3245397 | boeco soem | poe sed " a ves.a dise judaism, or Islam which theyion Kesures THE REGION AND ITs FOLK 17 (@) Paganism ves a description of Agao of Gojam are pagans and much given to fetishism. They adore of Heaven, whom they call Dobtn, bus have ao idols, They 30 some species of trees and groves, sacrificing to them and offering cows, milk and butter, They bury their bodies in woods, ‘making chambers for them and placing near their heads hydromel and the cups which they were accustomed to use in drinking when alive! ‘The chief characteristics of Kushitic paganism from the peoples of the region were converted to mon sketched in this extract. Groups of the Agao retained their paganism * until very recent times, but today they ate cither Jews or Christians with the exception of the Qamant who are the last remnants of the pagan Agzo. The Qamant live in che mountains around Gondar, in Wogere, Kerker, and Chalga. Most of them are agricul Emperor Theodore considered forcing them to bee and did make them wear the mateb cord of the Cl known about their religion for they are regarded as lepers by Christians and Muslims and consequently conceal it. Ic has been suggested that itis a form of sun worship, because at daybreak they all turn to the east praying and chanting in celebration of the rising of the sun. Their religious gatherings take place in sacred groves, knowledge of whose existence is jealously guarded since no one other than themselves isallowed to enter. In these groves they gather on their knees around a leader whom they call the svonter (stool) probably because he is the only one so seated. ‘Th jous ceremony seems to consist of a series of prayers said by the leader and repeated by the others.+ The residue of the cult of the pagan Agao also survives in in Agao, Ambara, and Tigreans. peoples which still remain pagan comprise the majority of the Sidama tribes, many of the Galla tribes of the south-west such as the Lega, and the great Boran group of the south between Lake Stephanie and the Juba. Each of the Sidama tribes have their own dis- ive religi smalgam constituted primarily from Hamitic con- derived elements such as neo-Sudanese beliefs Blue, The Reel Chronic of by * BLA. Stes, Wanderings among the Flashes (186:ttt toto ot toto oo oe ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA king and Christian ideas absorbed from the Abyss ty is the sky-god, in addition to whom fos Y veatmn of local natare-siris associated with natural eer ach a5 mountain peaks, steams, and treet. Some of thet ‘such as dtzte, the Galla goddess of fert ‘oddess of the River Omo. Many of these spirits ts who bind them by means of exorcism shoan conquests between 1890 and 1897 na state of Aux, and large numbers have has simply added to the complexity of and magical rites. Since 1e Siar their beliefs and practices. soe these Kushiti peoples who remain pagan, all the negrold res elle Shangelt by the Abyssinians are pagan. These include = iF some 3,000 of the Kundma of south-western. Eritrea, the tribes of the north-w ia bordering on the Sudan (130,000) compris ymuiz, Gubba, Suri, Tama, Murle, and Gi {eome 500,000 comprising the Como, Abigar (ues) Mao, {Masongo}, Yembo (Anvale), Mekan (Shuto), Damas soy and Gardulla). No attempt can be made here to give evel 2 ary of che types of belief amongst these tribes, about which dasseunny nor is ie necessary as a background to the study of hould be sufficient as an example of the pagat The chief feature of Kundma worship is ancestral ‘object the maintenance of the link that secures supernatural i essonduct of the clan’safairs and has resemblances to the of Kordofiin. They have a remnant con- aka bigh god, na, who created the heavens and the eatthy ening done that takes no further interest inthe clan's aflais, Fa aaa ecve are the spirits of their dead who, though freed from the body, remain imprisoned on earch and bring good and evi the xd with offerings and sacrifices. © Wied rites are agricultural, and two great annual festivals mark the beginning of cultivation and of harvesting. ‘These are the festival a pea (hina ferda) and that ofthe “eri! atthe end ofthe rains cere nc harvest, during which beverages are prepared from dura and Honey and are placed on the tombs of their ancestors (They Have 10 aetey of priests, sacrifices and other sites being performed by ee the 7 the oldest man of she family, the frst by the oldest of THE REGION AND ITS FOLK the clan whois called Furde Manna, Certain clans have special functions in control 19 chief of customary observances, 1g the spirits. Such clans are the Awla Manna who control the rain spirits and the Ula ‘Manna who protect against locust mi (8) Judaism We have seen that the settlement of 1e settlement of Semites from foundly changed the cultural characteristics ofthe he brought him a unified concept : pe brow hi ified conception of life embodied in Semites were the pagan colonizers of Axum, but whilst ic colonies were st ot per pane hhesion, Judaism was intro- early Jewish immigrants. Tr mon and the Queen of Sheba, ane panei 2 ee Sak id also from those Jews who fled to y dhout grounds because they know Jerusalem Talmud compiled between the nor do they observe the Feast of Pai ‘ 1¢ Feast of Parim, the {he deliverance ofthe Jews for Haman i -ISLAM JN ETHIOPIA whilst the cult of the Queen of Heave rddess of the Sabbat that some Jews, probably pre-ex Keres (465-425 B.C)s hed by the Agao but Jeure, ‘These judaized Agso ir highland fastnesses of racial point of view they were cof Susenyos, expelled from Semen, provinces where the major “These groups, who are ca Kechites. Their belief an 1d customs show a mixture of pagan, of their former paganism is f Sabbath, to whom offer- When a Falisha dabtara of Sanbat, goddess of ip b and incense are made. aby J. M, Flad how they were a mn we fei ‘ond Commandment he replied Sent she would withdraw her bising for she is the goddess of sun= "The answer recalls that of the iah.t Like the Christians and Muslims they ced with a great reputation which ate distinguished fs sorcerers. Their places of worshi ed earthenware pot placed on a "Jewish tabernacles, all enclosure containing an altar o £ unhewn stone where offerings snc reche’ South Arabi it woot Beate THY REGION AND ITS FOLK a ey are therefore the only Jews in the world whose ‘worship is focused upon the sacrifice on the altar. ‘Their priests, as is Churches, are not allowed to marry a . Both sexes are circumcised. Monday and Thursday, the new moon, and the vigil of the Passover are fast days. the Passover, Harvest, and Tabernacles (dut ic system. This is said foduced in the fourth century by one Abba Sabra wl nthe Cave of Hoharéwa chaho which ever si monks and nuns live strictly regulated lives, they must prepare their ‘own food and no lay person is allowed to enter th ‘The Falasha have no knowledge of Hebrew, bu alone are literate, use the canonical and apocryphal books of the Old ‘Testament in Ge'ez, which they have borrowed from the Abys- sinians. In the same language they possess a volume of extracts from the Pentateuch; the Arde'et which is read during the geremony of purification of the newly born by immersion (Temgat) ham (Gadla Abreké), Moses (Gadla Must), and other patriarchs and prophetss a tra of Josephus (Sana Aihud), and the Laws of the Sabbath (Te’zdza Senbat)? in which the Sabbath is per the daughter of God and mediatrix between God and man, Y ‘exception of the last and of collections of prayers, none of the books are of Jewish origin, but are adaptations of Christian Ge'ez, works. ‘The Falasha, who are said to number abo: thousand, live as agriculeuralists in Dambya, Wogara, and Armichchaho, but the complete elimination of their independent kingdoms has also led'to a dispersion. display the characteristic features of a penalized nga separate quarter of Ambara with whom they are sixty or seventy villages in the provinces ofISLAM IN ETHIOPIA i uses they are forbidden to enter. They jerined oe ‘who kniow them observe that their ethan those of their Christian neighbours, ss, killed in agriculture and the trades gy and pottery, bat even though yy have not adopted the normal version, that of commerce. 22 forbidden to eat they hs ‘characteristic occupation of a Jewish he official religion of the empire anc in nationality. Without some knowledge of it ra dam would be incomprehensible, whilst the the history of Ed student of living Ist St the Saviour of the World, which was destroyed by the Aby catching the visitor's eye, plays ts: spect of Monophysite Christianity. janity became the official re ely as a rest fusion of Greek Culture, but it did not spread far the ald by te 7 eiab " ‘he Axumite Church from the fir touch todo lower extent BY Vitianity, and when the larger part of the Soares So nonts were conquered bythe Mus- jos withthe Church of Euypt became stil closer is ay. During te historically obsute al fiom wo, 650 t0 1270 Cl y by some mich se eerhwants and the Monophysitism of defn: Ana Knglon say by ¢ roc of mt Fomor the carcino tespral he Abyssinians. Since the foundation of the Solomoni Janiey has been dominan fast hia proper, though outside . Islam om outside influences the oe oe bonne more and more degeere% forces of this Chris and reached its the disruptive period from the middle of f the nineteenth centuries. But even after duences began to affect the country more and lowest spiritual level during Gehoondh othe mide o y when Western inf THE REGION AND ITS FOLK 23 more in other spheres o! ‘moribund it was the sole repository of tradi and monastic school, it entered ful the observances of feast or fast, from birth to death excluded from the moral sphere. in 5 but was rigidly intained its faith as a remote outpost of the Church, cut off from all relationship with outside churches except that of the Copts. This enforced seclusion, the development ofa purely indigenous form of Christianity, and the integ: the symbol of Abyssinian nationality, enabled it to preserv against many dangers, although at the same time these factors paralysed its spiritual life. « Distribution. Reference to the map will show that Cl practically coextensive with the homeland of the Abyss igriftay for instance saraud Aheshtan (or higa kestan in Tigre), ‘the language Christians’. Tet should be remembered that the Eritrean boundary is not a natural one, and that the central Ex known as the Mareb Mellash, ‘Beyond the Mareb’ Hamistn, Akelt-Guzai, and Serii), and the Known as fe yern part of Ab 2 large cultural and ethnic block whose people are sts, speak Tigriia, and are Ethiopian Christians. né a large Saho group, the Irdb, is Chistian. Ambara, Christian in general except for settlements of Jabarti, Galla blocks, and Jewish remnants, comprises some twenty provinces of which the best known are Angot, Begamder with Debra Tabor, Walgayt, Dambya, Wagara, and Semen. Shoa, which has a large Galla Population, is Christian. These Galla tribes of Shoa who were chris feenth century from the small state of Shoa, Gombichcha, and Galan between Ankober and Entottos the Tulama, Horro, northern Jimma tribes (Rare, &2 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA THE REGION AND ITS FOLK Sibu, Chella and Liban to the outh of the Abays the Mecha ané Chur (obit h 25 ;, a consequent ali Niaza west of Ensortos the Becho, Keku, Hillu, and Sed penis dees yale een Cop spond by the the monks of the mo mastery of = ofthe upper course of the Haws and the Cha Ge iantinee Rat saan on on Mount Dendiy the Gudru near the i ioe pend Rare as thre Bren more than one biiop and ofen the Amaya near River Walgas also the Sul ‘Nonno east of ‘Alexandria and the 1¢ death of one before the seo of Limmu, Botor, Agato, Gullallé, and Oborra. soles of Egypt could be communicated Since Christa ‘of the dominant people, @ ee thel Church ar Aietaaa ide bate eed ae nominal conformity was enforced upon the chiefs of conquered pagan ita itha el iria. It is a mistake to call the aoa ashe Slama and Gall, but sine the conquest of Menele yam th elgos point of ew, Cop 5 many people ave Been great movements 0 Christi ularly amongst Chath Iie tones weed Che fa the came Cane) “anane Also Abyssinian offcals and garrisons throughout the Church itis dine: national Church in which the eit of the van, In Harar Province, which is predominantly ‘Alexandria is se expression. This long dependence upon ere were no Christians before the conquest of rationalist feeling of the he Cl 70 out of a total population of hops were consecrated to Y re Walle Galla of the plateau were forcibly converted ‘>The link with SITES: by che Emperor John, but many of them in fact remain on she rai n occupation but restored again are cil Christianity has also made renewed progres among breaking Sate iee Ca eee favoured se Gurtge, Kambata, and Kafficho who were fist influenced by the ce aellehs tebichi ice eset see Roman Catholic missionary propaganda has spread ‘agreement was ett s “imongst the Bilen and other tribe of Eritrea, and amon d between the Goptic and Ethiopian ¢groups of Galla and Sidima of southern Esti ia, Amongst protestant ly 1948. This agreement provided for ee dich mision has advanced farthest in building up an ion of five Ethiopian bishops by the Patriarch F governing Church, the lifetime Aspects of the Ch ia. The Abyssinian form of Chis et tae Coptic: Monophysite Church of Egypt, consider- by indigenous pagan and Jewish survivals eh che exception ofits adherence to the te theory of ur Lord's nature. Tt as the three orders of op ant the seven sacraments, of which the vee act important. Easter isthe chef feast, but “whichis celebrated with tremen= and the exact rela~ dous enthus "Phe canon law is that of the Egyptian Church which constnutes The Bishop of the Ethiopian tBrosgh26 SLAM IN ETHIOPIA atriarch of an Ethiopian as archbishop with aul Parnas bispet The lik withthe Copie Church therefore ain only through the succession of archbishops. sho are chosen from tr aasreing and ae therefore ignorant, greedy and lazy. A eas opened in 1943 Du hs nt yet had ime the clergy. These ae supported by dhe voluntary oferings ol ‘iches, and by the land conceded to them by the State he well-known ecclesiastical gui). The 3 amination ofthe Church promulged in 1942 1e Church or clergy shal wpvide that al landed property belonging to the Chis ee a shich shal go into che Church Treasury and be se be Fhe extension of the Chute, fr schools and sls purpose Tn pte tf these source income the reports ofthe wealth ofthe churchesand cree nich vag ai pres and monks dona fe we hid the peass ey serve. The Churc 2 fate usu renters to th whl fe ofthe ene Ti the three of excomm 3 ey eres tate ane Gime the peat of today well aware of wesknexe, Bonomi ccs oft mae im es many of ts ims upon him anshunger forces hire to encroach upon its property, and land disp mee ge village or in some parts ‘church (btakristyan) may serve one larg means a eee oy fear analler ones Tt vually perched up Sinerce overlooking the vilage, “The construction of the mast prevalent eype of church scarcely difers from that ofthe huts of the Prone, It round, often with stone walls, but a thatched roof. The Inthe cities are eight sided. The sketch (p. 31) shows Teh. "The sanctuary (magdas, sancta sanctorumn) into et deacons and he ing may enter iin the et om the view of the communicants in the surround= igambtory (he edt mn the ote ambulatory (fr ma) ae he dae privileged, whilst the mass of the con= she dare (ime oe nant’ because they 2 ot nari, sand outside the church altogether, ‘That not ne communica should be able tose sof smal account for ele hone’ (manber) is placed the ‘a sab of wood or stone ‘gregation, wh THE REGION AND ITs FOLK 27 inscribed with symbols and divine names and kept in a fat box. It is the tabot and not the church building which is consecrated by the bishop and gives sanctity to the church in which ie is placed. At the great festivals it is carried in procession atound the church, Monasticism plays a very important part in the life of the Church, In its form itis at an arrested stage, intermediate between anchoritism and the fully developed conventual life. ‘Theoretically the monks have aruleof life, butt is undeveloped and docs not include a rule of prayer. Some are extreme ascetics cutoff from the common life but the majority ‘work on the land or perform the general chores of the monastery such as the preparation of food. Monasteries exist in every region, most of which are of great age, though this does not apply to the visible buildings which consist of groups of ordinary huts. The monasteries used to hold large territorial fiefS but these have now been abolished and all their revenues have to be paid into the general Church Treasury. There are two great orders of monks, those of Takla Haymyinot whose head is the echagé, the Superi Monastery of Debra Libinos and the second ecclesiastical di and those of Ewostatwos who have no Elements in Exhiepian Christianity. The peculiar practices of the Ethiopian Church to which so much attention has been drawn are due to the isolation in which this Christian outpose developed and spread amongst pagan peoples, cut off as it was by its adherence to Monophysitism and its geographical isolation from the developing tradition of the Church. The gods of the pagans were not rooted out of the people’s lives, but continued underground fied form as good or evil spirits. But Abyssinian Ch compromised with pagan never atened treet pagan cements ints orthodox worship, and they have always remained illegitimate, however much priests have belioved in them and acted as witch. doctors. Dr. Cerulli has shown! how in recent times the gods of the Kushitic tribes of southern Ethiopia conquered by the Abyssinians continued to be worshipped by both conquered and conquerors, but ‘were changed in the process into minor deities or nature-sp the God of the conquerors became supreme even conquered. § a in the popular belief of the Abyssinians. In this way having acquired many of the elements of Kush * 8 Cenuli, B.0 it 35.ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA os ia, who speak Oromo but are of mixed Chabo of south-west Eth Stenophye Chrstinity. hi on arf the Muslim religion but nay Chi no aby ioalf many eemens ofthe onan peau. sso les superficially than Tad, depends not only on the erect par, on the f ans) bad already ‘peoples of the northern BE church services of the sstrum (4 kind of rattle) ha hrough the Nubian Church from the pagan worship of “The sacred groves around the churches have come doven fF ‘Agao cult. The excesive cut ofthe Virgin Mary fess 2 en enc mer abd fe Pe uenpone ela, belive whole host se everyone else, Tegride o* Tiger in cople mad or ills Pyjures children, For protection agal priests on sel ck and arms, anc translated from Ara for wizards, for the two a ar merch 2 < of rite being performed) perform many rites of 2 ee eine Peranchof the ghos tre withappropriaeincantat Poe ‘ch four oxen, four sheep, and four goats s oak attributed to AG Salih refers to thesanetioning. of esha P arch Cyrilabout an. 1o80,athough suchywst spot the practice of the Coptic Church? Certain feasts (Nativity, Ow THE REGION AND ITS FOLK 29 Lady, St. Michael, and others) are celebrated once a month, a practice which probably gors back to the ancient Semitic lunar calendar Many Jewish practices are observed by the Christians" such are the distinction between clean and unclean ani the main follows the Old Testament ruling deceased brother's wi 8 as well as Sunday (Sonbate Krestiyan) is not but a practice which had grown up and was final ival from Judaism forced by Emperor the unity of the Church. Itis probable that some of these practices ate direct sur= vivals of Judaism as a result of the absorption of Jewish Agao tribes, specially since a number of religious words (e.g. gahannam, hi #4'2t, idols fesb, Basters athara, purification) were tak Hebrew or Jewish Aramaic. On the other hand, some of these Jewish the observance of the Sabbath mentioned above, i since sure would make much of the Mosaic Law appear ns of Abyssinia. Roman Cathiliciom. The Roman Catholics of the Et should be mentioned. In the eighteenth ventut Giustino de Jacobis (d. 1860), realizing how dearly the a Jesuits to latinize the Ethiopians at the begins iopian liturgy and insisting ot ance of the Roman canons and dogmatic uni to form an indigenous ministry which is the indispensible p 7 to church life ofany permanence. In this way he succeeded in spreading a form of Roman Catholicisin which was indigenous in-liturgy and ministry, depending upon its own Eritrean bishop with his sce at Asmara. It has now some 40,000 member in Akele Guzai, Agame, Serai, Hamasen, amongs n, and in all the church waseerected over the grave of de Jacobis at Hebo neat Saganeti, on the slopes of ‘Addi Gabra, which is visited by both national Chu: Christians to pray for rain, Roman Catholic missions were begun in southern Ab in 1847 by Guglielmo Massaia, the great missionary to the Galla, and strong churches have been built up from pagans in the southern regions ras in Abyssinian Christianity cee C. Rathjenn, Die Faden ie Abesinion on of natioe Reman Cetholes i 1940 was owe: Frito30 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA (8) Distribution of Islam. Jon which is the subject of our survey is almost ent he religion of the Northern cof Kenyas only in the south and n countries in the Southern Sudan ‘Kenya. Owing to the proximity Egypt, Ata south-west does it border on pat and the n0 of Arabia felt since the days of the Prophet Ntattammna with the resule that today bal the people of the region are Muslims. ‘in the north all the indigenous tribes of the low- Muslim. They comp *Rmir and Bait Asgede (Habab, Ad rds of the Biléns the Manse, Bait JF, Marya, and Sahos that iy all except che pagan and Christian nority of the Bilén, and the Monophysite Ch ids of Hamasen, Akele Guaai, and Sera fs of entrenched Christianity there are many villages of i in all the towns. This it Jabarti for convenience? use the term ina much wider sense for ae” Muslim, Tn general, except for Yamanite colonies, these vue of the same racial stock as the Abyssinians and raps goes back to early wa i same race as the Ab rence being that between the son of a sreine ad the child of the ghetto. They are mainly merchants and aeons sath some peasants, Apart from the Jabarti a large Muslim Teak casts in the highlands, comprising the Galla groups known 25 the Raya (Azebo}, Yajju, and Wallo. The hunting caste ‘called Wayto Fe ane southern and western shores of Lake Tana are Muslims, re despised by their co-religionists. Te came west the Islamic current from the Sudan has entered jnto the Bani Shangal country where most ofthe Berta ofthat province Gaila are Muslims. In the east the nomadic roaming, over vast stretches of desert and ‘Tigri 2o7a4, Ambara 755 De Hara 2,388, Seas THE REGION AND ITS FOLK is found along the line then south of Aas Abaia hough the Gogh cee ne ‘Harar in the south-east isa strong Mi all the surrounding Galla tribes ( 3t 4 Ba aratles nominally be, consisting of the former kingdoms of Jim bee Ii Gera, Limmu Enirya, Gomm: “Guan whine iesereoaee name for they actually practice their old Kushitic pagan cult as do thei ours the Kambata who are n , The study of hho are nominally Christian. lam amongst the Muslims of northeeast Aft bl lows vd three main ens in the it wench sori we sal ty 0 show how i cams, how i presi aa te ure of con with Ch nthe second we shal give skh ofthe ma off soil scr li Shanes istics of each of the peoples who have been isla roster scant of wha 5 whilst the thir deal with the special characteristics of Islam nthe regs on ‘TYPICAL ETHIOPINN CHURCH + Sketch of Blevation and Plan.2 ‘The Conflict of Christianity and Islam in Ethiopia 1. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE REGION BEFORE THE RISE OF ISLAM cation in Abyssinia Sey aie he pastoral Kushitic tribes who ‘element in northern Abyssinia through Semitic th century ip have already shown how t formed the predominant suffered a profound 3p asthe Habathat who, migrating fom evince of Yamanz gave their name to the whe y sed by he setlement and occupied the northern parts of 1 the Ge'ez, whose language was Another important group was the Ge'en, whos language 8 3.6. The most important grou wer become nomad shepherds and eY: settled on the plateau. In Yaman the amano he pis ante on he aes Tass ‘econor ided uf . ae acing slong te ep slopes of the mountains WL used elaborate hydraulic devices. they had systems of can a0 1 The dam, “of Matib, whose construction is a hat tion (e750 Bc) was particularly famous, and i brea 544 i taionaly associated with the failure of ig Gavehctn Arabia although it was actually the cesult of the the Sabaean Kingdom. ‘The colonization of the northern i afore, cook place when South Arabia was ina high state of aaeerend the colonizers afer leaving the inhospitable cos it man ascending, to the platen, found a country which pos THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM 33 sessed the same temperate climate and vegetation as their own land. At the beginning of our era these immigrant Arab tribes had become fused with the original Kushites whom they had infused with Semitic culture, ‘The Sabsean language was changing to the Ethiopic form known as Ge'ez. "The Habashat had assumed predominance over all the other tribes, and ite chief took the kingdom of the Habashat con Bc, when i northern Tigeai. An ancient city of this Subaean civilizat (now called ‘Yeha) where monoliths, a temple to the sun-god, and Himyatitic inscriptions dating from the seventh to the fifth century B.c. have been discovered. Axum subsequently became where ‘a highly perfected form of stone-wo1 fices to the s ‘TheSemitic bes but the immigration of peasants and ists who came as sand colonizers, Thisisshown, not only by the fact that in Yaman they were organized not as tribal but as territorial units (ash'zd) w broughe their regional names with them, but also because they settled, rnot along the coastal plains which would attract nomads, but ia the regions most suitable for i now called ‘Tigrai. Wich them they brought the fu developed ci we Sabseans, They introduced the use of Is, ce ls, new plants, advanced systems of irti= n and agriculture, new forms of communal organization, and the art of writing. Thus these highlands became the ntre of a new civilization. This South Arabian immigration into Aftica cannot bbe compared in any way to the later Muslim Arab inflerations. By their policy of allowing only Islam in Arabia,® the Muslim rulers of Arabia completed the destruction of the Yaman begun by the Abys- in the lands of the former Byzantine and Persian Empi the Arabs were very he People of the Book’, taking over much of their civilization, to which Islam gave a new orientation. On the other hand, the Islamic immigrants from Arabia to north-east Africa were relatively small groups of traders, adventurers, and refugees * Ontherues of Yehlaee Bent, The Sacred Cy ofthe Bihiopian, DALE 98-895 Si 73-744 0 57-602 aman were expelled by" Umar ibn abKhafibin a 204 cf ase.34 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA whose erced had lost the vitaizing elements which gave an irresistible 19 the earlier Muslim Arab bands and spread them over the wt East. They were isolated elements which nserted themselves into groups of in the desert and steppe plains. Being without women they took African wives and gave birth to an aristocracy of Arab blood which aided the spread of Islam as ‘a factor in the Arab heritage. This aristocracy soon became a mere leaving traces in the genczlogy and customs of the indigenous tering the rhythm of their lives. In contrast to igration, the pre-Islamic Arabian Semitic oget ibes permeated and revolutionized the very thythm of life of the peoples amongst whom they settled and with whom they intermarried, and thereby created a social and cultural order ures to this day. The cultural achievements of the ancient be appreciated through the remains of and dams, scattered juence of its culture gion where was felt in regions which were extremely remote from the original centre of radiation. “The Axumite populat South Arabians with the or tions were introduced fully developed from ich as the patriarchate, the right of primogeniture, territori rn, and collective ownership took the place of the Hamitic jon based upon the matriarchate, the authority of the 1, and the assembly of elders, still retained by some of, bes of the region. The position of women was high among both the South Arabians and the Hamites with whom they ‘coalesced. ‘The farther away one gets from the original centre of cultural ra 1¢ weaker becomes the strength of the Ser of the people. (B) The Kingdom of Axum ‘When the various groups of Semitic, Kushitic, and negroid tribes hhad fused into a racial and cultural homogeneity and a ruling house had been recognized by the feudal chieftsins, the kingdom of Axum, securely established in the mountains, could influence the plains and THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM coastal areas, encourage commerce, develop the Red make expeditions into the Nubian fet not The colonizing Semites came and pol continual record for the inser ve or preda the Axumites had developed a characteristic i th owed littke to outside influences other ved, its commercial develo ment was to bring it into more direct touch with the outer worth, oe were those of the Greeks and Jews ‘The profound i ews. The profound infuence Greek culture had upon the world im general alected even this The Prolemies founded commercial ba the Red Sea coast and fonship that exi tes. Such colon its commercial relations with the Gracco-Egyptians and ol _Zoskales the king was ‘acquainted with Greek Ti re Greek influence was especially fe e and th development of ports and tion of the army and Ptolemaic practi com the Red Sea ies uence of the Jews was also considerable, Th not so much upon Axum itself as apon groups of unsemitized Agao. The Jewish diaspora was scattered throughout all the co ‘World and the aciviss ofthese colonies extended along the Red Sea seas and up the Nile through the kingdoms of Meroe and Axum Jewish commercial centres became cell of religious propagands, The Periplac of tha Brytr a Ses (trans. W. H, Scho, 29 cial centres of the Ancient BasISLAM IN ETHIOPIA n of Axum, but more ely between of groups of gz : tegrty against the other stream of se g from Avan. Mest ofthese judaized Agno Inter became hhysite Christians and were the primary source of the Jewish into the Sudan against but they were ; those across ir becoming the political masters of their from ‘whom they were now strongly differ- kings of Axum had been extend jes westwards and northwards. Their raids reached ‘eat least one Axumite king set up a throne to cele- brate his view reecive tribute, ‘The fit cempaign into South recorded inthe inserpton of Aduls (40. 377-90)! whic how the King of Axum waged war from Leuke Kome ) southwards as far as the land of the Sabaeans and from the of Inecns ia and Sasu in the one towards z and across the Takkazé into rs were against nomads such as the Beja in the north and the Saho in the south-east. The date and duration of this conquest is erruption in the series of royal inscriptions as far as Meroe who cal yimo, Beja and Kis’, seems lc before the accession of ‘Ezand® the Arabs of Yaman. had come under Axumite rule. Their occupation did not last long THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM 37 1s in ap. 378 and again conquered south-western of the kings of Axum, turned his imber of campaigns recorded nomadic Beja in his rule, One campaign was directed against the negroid Naba who by the beginning of the fourth century had occupied the kingdom of Meroe (Eth, Kasa, Meroitic Q), ‘We know little about the religion of the Axumites save the names of their chief deities. The deities and cults of the Sabaeans varied from Place to place and many could not survive the transmarine migeati without suffering profound m whose power was coextensive with a particular locality that could were the more uni these moulded themselves to god of the ky, who could survive mi ce the “Athtar of the Minaco-Sabaean inscriptions, whereas the North Arabian‘ 4starte (Heb, feminine, It was probably this god which was by into the Christian ‘God of the Heavens’ of the la ‘Ezani. Mabrem, the god of the royal how: himself, the great energies inland towards the Ni the Barth-Mother. The Ethiopian Christian word for Got Jebér, probably meant originally “Lord of Bebé” as well as the World”. All these names appear together on one inser i throne is dedicated to ‘Astar, Behr, and Meders offered to Mahrem, the god ‘who hegat the f the practice of the official cult, Cer . The temples were ived the offerings the favours of statues were erected to the various gods ‘on shows that bulls and captives were sacrificed to great founda colonies of priests, of the people who wished t0 pre their gods. “Thrones? and one Mabe,38 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA (Q The Introduction of Christianity into the Kingdom of dum Dari ies of our era Christian communities had grown up and in Egypt, where by the reign of Con stantine (4.0. 306-37) the mass of the people had become Cl ce form, became the bulwark of Egyptian nacional was introduced in igdom of Axum at an early date through its commercial and maritime relations with the Byzantine Emi ofthe monk Rufinus® (d. a.p. 410), who states that he go tion directly from Aedesius himself (pre dedesia referent es that Meropius, a philosopher (more Brot merchant) of Tyre, set out on a voyage of exploration in the dir sco : the elder of whom was the voyage the boat finances and rolls (rationes igue). On his death-bed the king appointed his wife regent, yy of his son "Eznd and released the two Sy: at the queen’s request they agreed to remain to asis in the admi tion of the country. Di to give them i advice about building prayer-houses, ... and to adopt all necessary and opportune methods whereby the Christian seed might spring up among them’. When the minority of the ‘wo brothers left the country and shortly afterwards Aedesius became 2 presbyter of the Church of Tyre where later he met Rufinus and told him the story. Frumentius, however, went to Alexandria where thanasius had recently been appointed bishop,? to urge him to send a bishop to supervise the Christians who had been gathered in Axam, Athanasius in council with his brother bishops carefully considered the request and then appointed Frumentius himself as the most suitable man to build up the Church in the Axumite kingdom. ss and "Ezina Christ religion of Axum, During the first century and a half: the official conversion the masses do not seem to have been grea influenced by the new faith and continued in their worship of the old gods. The ‘Lord of the Heavens’ of ‘Bzind’s inscription would not 2 Nama mgr40 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA appear to them to be other than ‘Astar. But when about a.p. 480 in the reign AL’Amida the monastic movement reached Ethiopia, the Axumite fusion of immigrants and aborigines, Semites and Kus! \were influenced in such a way that they became intolerant and fanatical adherents of Christianity. Tradition states that nine monks came from Syria as missionaries to reform the faith in Axum." They founded monasteries, introduced the Alexandrine liturgy and liturgical music, into Ge'ez, and, after their death, came to play a great role in local hagiography. These monks were Monophysites for this anti-Hellenic reaction was very strong in the strict of Edessa and West Syria from whence the ‘nine saint’ came, “They taught the Monophysice doctrine to the Axumite Christians and os ch had commenced earlier, for, from the ity was dependent upon Alexandria and dogma and Cosmas Indicopleustes confirms that g of the sixth century a.p, the court and country of The conversion to Christianity was the most revolutionary event in the history of Abyssinia. The way had been prepared by the radiation of the Hellenic civilization whereby Axum gained a cultural link with regarded itself as the protector of Christendom. At the same time Christianity had been spreading in South Arabia,t and this link with its former home once again drew Axum into South Arabian adventures, 1 See dete Seciram artd ot Past, eC, Cont Ros, C8..0, Ser. Athy sete x (900.8 4 ; "tte Che pedi 5 rhe endnote atin Di coro for hersyb the Coun of Cet, Sncthesiethcenary Monepytr hate often. {en Know Josten fer Joes Basen Bithyp of Boos but the lomopstes of tayot rosin be Syrae Ut The corte of South Ast to Cl ‘a CoE datas an mission is that of the Arian Theophilus Irn tee ecioel,Theopiae votes chatchersoreat heen Pago (Zale) sothr sche Roman markt of Mbinr (Aden tn theca elny onthe Bevin Sea which may base bres Horm oF ‘Kane. As-Saen'zni considers that Theopt converted the Christians who were from pganiss to Nevteriaiom in 2.45 THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM 41 imyarites with their capital at Zafir (near Yarim) had become ter the expulsion of the Axumites; and at the same time from the Hijaz colonies of Yathrib and Khaibar, gan to make rapid progress in Yaman.1 During the reign of Justin ‘one Masri or Dai Nuwas* became King of the Himyarites, embraced Judaism, and persecuted the Christians. The virtual extermination of warite Christians of Najran in ap, 523 caused them to appeal to Bla-Asbeh,* King of Axum, to intervene and defend his persecuted jonist. His army crossed the straits in a.p. 524, overthrew Dha Nuwas, and installed prefects or governors. Axum, now at the height of its power, possessing the richest port in Arabia, whose com- ‘mercial relations reached as far as Persia, Ceylon, and China, had become a recognized member of the circle of Christian powers ‘The Axumite conquest of Yaman as usual was but transitory. Abraha, viceroy of Gabra Masqal son of Kaleb, made himself virtually independent. He built a church at San‘a which he called al-Qullais (@echyoda) as a counter-attraction t0 the pilgrimage to Mecca and, ing to Muslim tradition, as the result of the assassination of a ian ally of his, attempted an expedition, which included 2 number of elephants, to desteoy Mecee itself. According to one account the ‘Quraish conceded a third of the Tihama to save the sanctuary; accord ing to another the Black Stone was saved by a miracle. A chapter (Sura cv) is named after this expedition in the Qur'an and it plays a teat part tion: the year of the Prophet’s birth, for instance, is called ‘the year of the elephant’ though this does not agree with the chronological facts.6 4 There were numerous Jesh communities in Veman i the time of Ci (557-61) ef. Phiosergian He, ap Mt ih The Bookof he Hingarites (eh. A. Moser, 1 Nuwa,in deta 8, Arthee. Proteror Moterg rest rather than eligi, pare ofthe ape-ong ice tote case by Masri ane the Axomiter 09 p hs), YS of Nain appears tobe eefered in ft now proved to be untenable Tis Cheivion Pepepraply of Comes he snd bythe Eebiopian chroniclers KES, which doesnot mevn oy at hat for that is fal in Ethiopic a Arabi, hot tthe Ethiopic form af Caleb 5 Procopivt, De 19-20} Ceamas Indicopieuter, Par, Gr, tans, MeCrintie,p. $5 4 This expeition took place between A. 540s 546, Proto-tsami ‘he eampaign to Kale (a, 0ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA n of Abraha was a great mistake for it led the Hi te the Persians into the country. By 4.D. 590 the ‘were masters of Himyir, Aden, Mukha, and other parts of “Arabia, and even ports on the African coast. By .0. 602. they had con- (quered the whole of Arabia, and Yaman remained in their control u its conquest by the Muslimsin the eighth year of the hijra(4.0.629/30). ‘Asa result of the Persian conquest of Yaman the Red Sea trade-routes ‘became insecure and from that time began the decline of the kingdom of Axum. 2. FIRST CONTACTS WITH ISLAM “The soventh cen am marked a decisive turn in the history of Axum, Throu influence of their prophet Muhammad the Arabs were united for the ‘one God. This politico-rel ties enabled the nomad masses, pressed by Fc feats of conquest to occupy and were weakened internally by gies warring against each other y by ies and religious strife, collapsed under the onslaught of infu re an ardent faith, Pals 640-2. Under the conquered peoples were able to ious system which we understand by e Jam today. ‘ Ch m ‘Africa was abandoned to its fate. Egypt remained a .n country for a long time with the Muslims as the do but through the machinery of the State the Church led and more and more of her peoples were absorbed state with ‘The THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY AND 15) Abyssinia throughout the centuries. Christianity had also p. to the kingdoms south of Aswan through the missionary e the Feyptian Monophysite and Mel northerly of these kingdoms, was converted by Monophy le kingdom of Makoria by Melkites in a.0. $69~ 7, whilst the southernmost, Alodia, which bordered on Abyssinia ‘whence Christianity first penetrated into it! was ofcally converted by Longinus, Bishop of Nobatia, in a.p. 580. These kingdoms defended their independence and their faith for many centuries until finally the northern kingdom of Maqurra (Nobatia and Makoria) came to an end during a period of internal troubles at the beginning of the fourteenth century, whilst that of “Alwa (Alodia) was finally destroyed in Aub. 1504 and Cl ‘erased from the lives of the Sudanese that n 2 trace remains. “The conquests of Islam marked a turning-point in Axumite ory. Before the tise of Islamic power, although a remote and barbaric Axum had been on the margin of a friendly civil the Byzantine Empire whose rulers, though they persecute Monophysites in their own dominion, regarded themselves Arab conquests of Axum suffered almost complete isolation and cence that for centuries ts very geographical position was unknown, “Encompassed on all sides by the enemiesof their ibbon writes, ‘the Ethiopians slept near a thousand ye: forgesful of the world by whom they were forgotten"? Axum's o relations with other Christians were with the Coptic Church of Egy those with the Sudanese kingdoms of Maqurra and ‘Alwa were of mutual hostility or indifference, although ste. Monophysite Christians threatened by the same menace.> Civilization had come to northern Ethiopia from across the sea and once its people lost control of ‘the sea-routes they relapsed Being primarily an agriculturaland warrior people44 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA they did not realize the dangers of isolation. The setements along the trade-routes and the coastal cowns were full of Yamanites, Jews, trolled Axumite commerce, and when weakened and the pagan Beja and Saho tribes betwreen plateau and the sea made the trade-routes so dangerous as to be jcable, the whole system broke down. Most ofthe foreign into the hands of Beja or became lairs of pivates. This completed the fsolation of Axum for its economic foundations were based primarily upon control of the trade-routes, Strangled by the isolation caused through the rise of the Islamic wed itself to be cut off econo nexions with the outside world by the pressure of Beja tribes; and the ruins of great temples and public buildings point the contrast between its splendid past and the sordid future which it was to experience, ‘The cultueal dectine of Axum, due to the atrophy of the constructive «thos of its Christianity cut of from outside stimulus through the isola tion caused by Islam, led to the resurgence of the pagan cults which had been forced underground or fossilized in mountain fastnesses and ‘eventually brought about the political ascendancy of the pagan Hamitic, Beja and Agao population. At the same time, during these dark ages the cultural translation of the alien Christianity into indigenous terms was proceeding which resulted in its naturalization and ultimate victory in the souls of the Agzo. First contacts with Iam. When the Arabian Prophet's followers , were being persecuted in Mecca by the Quraish, the Prophet bethought himself of a rofuge in the country which had sent such effective help to the persecuted Christian Arabs of Yaman. He told his followers, ‘if you go to Abyssinia you will find a king under whom none are perse- ‘cuted. Ie isa land of righteousness where God will give you relief from what you are suffering,” So in the fifth year of his call (4.p. 615) refugees began to cross the straits in small groups. This is referred to by Muslim writers as the first hijra (emigration). The story goes that the Quraish, dismayed by this defection, sent a deputation to the "Yin Kishi, Ste (Crit eds. 1937) 343."The uber of Ethiopie worden the Quin shros that Mukantad imelfmot have been in cortaet withthe Aaurte wider artists, nd sel rssleat on Mecea (ee K. Abrens, ‘Chritihes im Qoren', Z.D.4.G. xx THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY AND IsLaM 45 Najéshi to ask thatthe refugees might be returned. The Naji moned the refugees and said to them, ‘What you have abandoned your people and yet have neither adopted mine nor any other known religion?” Ja'far b. Abt Talib answered in words which, though apocryphal, reflect the early message of Islam and show the moral revolution wrought by Muhammad upon pagan Arab life: this religion for which cour stae until God sent us an apestle, from amongst ourselves, with whose Tineage, integrity, trustworthiness and parity of life we were acquainted, He summoned us to God, to believe in His unity, to worship Him and abandon the stones and idols which we ancl ovr fathers had worship commanded us to speak che truth, to be faithful in ou tru Gaties to cur Kinsfolk and neighbours, 10 refrain from forbidden things and bloodshed, from committing ts from consuming the property of onphans and from slendering virtuous women. He ordezed us «0 worship God and astociate no other with Him, to offer prayer, give alms and fast. (Then after ennumerating the duties of Islam he said): So we trusted in his word end followed the teachings he brought us from God. ... Wherefore our countrymen turned against us and pertecuted us to tzy and seduce us from ovr faith, that we might abandon the worship of God and retuin to the ‘worship of idols? Ja'far also quoted appropriate texts from the Qur'tn xix, 16-34) which made it appear that Islam was form of Christianity, and after hearing his defence the Najishi saw no reason to listen to the demands ofthe Qurash and gave his protection to che refugees, Later, when Muhammad kad exchanged his religious mission for a politcal career, he arranged for those exiles who wished to return to Atabia Some of chem, however, had become Christians and were therefore the an Arab asylum had not at last offered itself at Medina, the Prophet ight haply himself have emigrated to Abyssinia, and Mohammedan- ism dwindled, like Montanism, into an ephemeral Christian heresy’ (Of one of these converts, "Ubaid Allah ibn Jahsh, we read: : ‘Axum throught theie delegations Tbe Birkin op46 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA he emigrated toa puppy when i re the Prophet's references to the Abyssinians ing fanatical and exclusive about , he is reported to have ive.”? Atany rate in d pulse which spread the Arabs over co ted against Abyssinia. The Khalifa ‘Umar is reported to have dispatched a small naval expe feet in a.p. 640, but the Arab feet suffered so mar would have was really directed against pis Red Sea coasts, but the accounts are too vague for any reliance to be placed upon them. 83 Abyssinian pirates raided and sacked Jidda® and caused such a scare in Mecea that the Musi THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM 47 into taking active measures against them. In orde Sea commerce they decided to obtain anchorages on the opp and occupied the Dablak archipelago which lies off Masawwa' lam established the first bridgehead which was to lead to the occupa- of other coastal bases and the gradual penetration of Islam into East Africa, Bat the isolation caused by the conquests of Islam was not solely responsible for the decline of Axum and the reorie n kingdom southwards in the first half of the eig) ne was also due to the expansion of pagan Beja nomads, The ‘one of the most important ethnic factors in the region between the Nile and the Red Sea? Owing to the relative poverty of their country, they were subject, like other nomadic tribes, to waves of expansion which carried them into the richer lands of the Nile vs and the northern Ethiopian plateau. One of these waves had res in the formation of the Blemmy state on the Nile between Egypt and Nubia which was destroyed by Silko of Nubia about a.p. 543. Towards the end of she seventh century a powerful Beja tribe, the Zanafaj, had acquired a unified structure and penetrated the Eritrean plateau by way of the valley of the Baraka, They poured over the frontiers and pillaged at the most depressed period of its history and could do little to maintain its sovereignty over the plains. Much of the Hamasen was overrun and the pace of Shab a the prt of Meso op.ch the Blemmyes ofthe elatsial writers belooged shed by Et Ble48 ISLAM IN ETHIOPIA ic kingdom of Alodia and eastwards to the Red Sea ports strangled wurches and public bu b nobles warred against each other, and, still more significant, Judaism, iad probably received new accessions after the expulsion of the the Hijaz, colonies in a.p. 640, gained a greater hold t coins struck were those of may be anywhere between the che eighth and the beginning of the tenth centuries. The es were able to maintain their independence only in the moun= xs of ‘Tigrai, but from thence their influence spread, not 25, the north-west, but into the n and south-west occupied by © The Birth of the Abyssinian Nation “These obscure centuries are most important in the history of because out of them the Abyssinians proper emerge. The ig the highlands of what are now igrai, Bagamder, Dambya, Gojam (Guazim), Agaw-Meder, Damot, and Amhara, are ‘ancient population of the country.# ‘Those in the north, as we have seen, had fallen under the influence of Semites from South Arabia ig caste and extended their rule mai THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM 49 ‘Thelink between the Axumite Empireand the emerg State was provided by this semitized population of the tains who, dispossessed of their homes by the invasion of Beja nomads, settled in inaccessible districts of the interior of Tigrai, Amhara, and Shoa (Shawa) amongst pagan Agao, These Christian peoples, he Axumite tradition, spread the Ge'er language and the Chi ion deep into the interior and there began that process of fusion which produced the Abj ‘The modern Abyssinian 1 result of the complete fusion of the two elements: the Semitic aristocratic class and the indigenous Hamitic peoples, chief amongst whom were the Agao. In this fusion languages Ge'ez, Tigritia, and Amharic prevailed over Agao languages and their social structure was transformed, although ical point of view the Hamitic element was completely The Abyss fact, ate the Agio who had never ed by the Axumites, but who had received a second- ian heritage from the Axumite fusion of Semite and The Challenge and the Response: The Conversion of the Abyssinians to. Christianity. Al-Ya'qibi, in his history which was composed about 4.0. 872, gives a description of the political sie this region in his own time after the Beja overrunning of part of the ‘Axumite kingdom. Between the Nile and the Red Sea were fi pendent kingdoms. The ist, called Nagis, extended fiom the N Aswan to the lower Baraka ‘Muslims for trading purposes.2 The various Beja tribes in the kingdom were the Hadireb, Hijab, "Ama‘ar,? Kawbar, Manisa (Mansa?), Rasife, ‘Arbarb‘a, and the Zanifij.4 In their country were mines of gold and precious stones worked by Muslims with whom they were on {good rerms., Next came the Baglin (Rora Bagla?), covering the Eritrean Sahil, the Rora region of the plateau, and the middle course of the Baraka. ‘Their religion resembled that of the Magians and Dualists, ‘cesienly fr trading. Their Site ‘ofthe Hadirib, They have ro reveled awa merely worship