By HA Hellyer
“We are sorry if you get woken up by the Muslim call to prayer in the morning.” Those were some of the first words I heard at my hotel when I arrived in Addis Ababa, on my first trip to Ethiopia. I confess – I was a bit confused. Call to prayer? In the capital of a “Christian country in a sea of Muslims”, as Ethiopia is sometimes called? Perhaps I was in a Muslim quarter of Addis Ababa that had been recently established?
No, the situation was far more complicated than that, and one about which I had a surprisingly limited awareness. Most non-Ethiopians, including the immediate neighbours of Ethiopia, also believe that Ethiopia is predominantly Christian. The more sophisticated might believe that there is a Muslim minority – and it was to learn about that population that drew me to Ethiopia in the first place. But it is not a minority. About 55 per cent of Ethiopia’s parliament is Muslim and representatives from the country’s Islamic community insist they are at least 50 per cent of the population. While the US State Department estimates that this number is a bit lower, Islam might actually be the religion with the most adherents in Ethiopia.
If there is any “Muslim quarter” in Addis, it must be an old one. Christianity was the first religion to arrive in Ethiopia – but only in the north of the country. Where the capital, Addis Ababa, is located, the area of Shawa, was the domain of a Muslim sultanate in the early 8th century. Most historical narratives portray Ethiopia’s as a Christian story. If Islam is even mentioned, it is associated with disconnected tribesman in the lowlands who battled Christian kingdoms in the highlands. But history is written by the powerful and now academics are rediscovering the Muslim history of this country of such noble heritage.
As I met people from Ethiopia’s Muslim community, I was struck by their diversity. Most Ethiopian Muslims are influenced by Sufism, and follow the same Sunni rites as their neighbours in Yemen, Somalia and Djibouti (the Shafi’i rite) – but there are also adherents of other Sunni rites, and a significant Salafi movement within Ethiopia. There are dozens of ethnic and linguistic groups among Muslim Ethiopians, from all areas of the country.
But what they share is a long history of discrimination against them. Early Christian-Muslims relations in Ethiopia were very good – the Prophet of Islam sent several Muslim refugees to live among Christians in Ethiopia, who had a very high opinion of the king at that time, who later became Muslim. In the medieval era, Christian Ethiopians under the Zagwes refused to be drawn into the European crusades against the Muslim world, which led to Saladin giving the Ethiopian Orthodox Church a monastery in Jerusalem. In the same era, Muslims and Christians lived in separate kingdoms and sultanates in Ethiopia, but in peaceful coexistence – and their example proves that deeply religious and pious people of different religions need not be at war with one another.
But with the rise of the Solomonic dynasty in 1270 that came to an end. That dynasty, like many others of its age, was expansionist and aggressive, leading to a great number of conflicts with Muslim sultanates over a period of hundreds of years in Ethiopia. The length of the Solomonic dynasty is staggering – Haile Selassie was its last Emperor, and his reign ended in 1974. He saw the establishment of a modern Ethiopia, but not a modern educational system – at least, not for Muslim Ethiopians. The historians and educators I interviewed in Ethiopia bemoaned the standard of education among Muslim Ethiopians, explaining to me that during Haile Selassie’s tenure, Muslim regions did not receive the same attention as Christian regions and few modern educational institutions were established. Haile Selassie had a formula for Ethiopia: one country, one people, one religion. Muslims were not part of that equation. The revolutionary regime that overthrew Haile Selassie, the Derg, introduced education for all, but as a communist movement, Muslim communities still suffered discrimination.
Many of those whom I met were from that generation – a generation that had access to education, and began to learn about their religion in a modern sense. With the establishment of a more democratic constitution in 1994, Muslim Ethiopians began to try to build more institutions for themselves.
Much of the contemporary analysis surrounding Ethiopia’s relationship with the Muslim world revolves around Somalia, and Ethiopia’s invasion of that country in 2006. I saw quite a different face, however, to the nation. I saw a huge number of Muslims speaking excellent Arabic (perhaps more than any non-Arabic speaking country I had ever been to), proud of the history of this ancient land that had never been conquered. On the other hand, I also saw the sadness of many Muslim Ethiopians, who were frustrated that while rich Muslim countries might provide funds to build mosques, or provide food during Ramadan, they would not contribute to provide for the institutions needed to improve the capacity of this thriving community. And it’s not hard to see why – many simply do not believe there is a community there to support in the first place.
But there is an Ethiopian Muslim community there: a community that has learnt to thrive against the odds, and one that teaches lessons about identity in a diverse society and the role of religion in the modern world. It is a community that deserves to be known.
(H A Hellyer is a Fellow of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations at the University of Warwick, UK, and director of the Visionary Consultants Group)
48 thoughts on “An Islamic history is a vital part of Ethiopia’s richness”
This is one of the reasons why Iran Islamic Republic must NOT be allowed to have a nuclear bomb at any cost.
Even though we read history who wrote by the winners were not all true and correct. Thank you ER as usual for posting balanced opinion and brothers and sisters back to reality..Let we define What is Ethiopiawinet…I love all Ethiopians but let we accept what is true behind the curtain…Peace to all.
I do not beleive this article is based on faily collected historical data. It is rather a political agitation. i don not feel it an important issue at this time. We have more critical problems to deal with.
I wonder where the writer gets the fifty percent figure??? The last census done does not reflect that and if the numbers are not right your analysis based onthese nubers is would also be wrong. Can you leave us to live peacefully or when you are done with your ethnic discord now you want to saw aseed of religious hatred among Ethiopians..If you have any time or energy help Ethiopians to get rid of the unelected tplf junta, since we are sick and tired of your mechanisms of creating discord among brothers. Thank you.
“H A Hellyer is a Fellow of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations at the University of Warwick, UK”
Ethnic relations professor from Britain LOL can it get any more stereotypical than that?
Also, I like how Mr. Hellyer came up with the 55% number right out of his butt and to think he is a professor LOL. Good lord.
Mr. Hellyer the Ethiopian census, which is approved by the same government you are praising, said Muslims are merely 30% of the Ethiopian population. This number will be reduced to 20% within the next decade as the Pentecostals make inroads into their religion.
Mr. HELL, what nightmare beginning from his name. wow!
GUYS:
H A HELLYER is an Arab who has changed his name to sound more British. I know British people LET ALONE BRITISH PROFESSOR; they would not be so stupid as to simply pull out statistics from their butt. The guy is a university professor who might have an agenda that probably colluded with the TPLF for now. Reason? I do not know but it is interesting how TPLF is recruiting every kind of lunatic on its side. It must be afraid of the comming backlash against it. Look how the TPLF fed this pseudo-professor with AMHARA is your religion’s enemy :) AHH! TPLF, don’t fall but if you do you are going to be in hell.
yes,Muslim is part of Ethiopian history and the amzaing thing is threre is a great deal of respect b/n muslim and christian Ethiopians. i do not if i agree with writer on suffering of Muslims through out history…i do not think there was anything done to hurt the muslim group only. we all suffered during the durg era and at the present time. if we all back and see how we lived with our muslim brothers and sister, we learn that we have unbreakable bond between us. take for example..a christian family that throws a wedding party…never forgets to prepare a feast to their muslim neighbours. and if you go to any Orthodox church…one can find a muslim men and women trying to recieve their healing from the holly water. so i say we have to be very careful of those who try to creat a conflict between two groups who have been living together through out their history and have to show our opposition to those who are trying to creat that conflict between us.
as usual this is the kind of cancer most westerners like to do. to go to other country in the name of research and live a cancer in side to divide and destroy a nation they do not care about other history accept only when it is useful to them.Please people red this book if u get a Chan’s..THE DESTRACTION OF AFRICAN CIVILASATION i dont know the writer’s name.
love Ethiopia and all Ethiopians.
Well, this article has some truth how Ethiopian muslims were pushed as a second citezens in the past. However, this article fails to mention one important concern that “radicalism’ is also mooshrooming among the young Ethiopian muslim community which is very dangerous not only for the country but also for the muslim community themselves. Unless the government takes a very tough measures against these radical islamists, the tragedy that recently happened in Nigeria wil definately happen in Ethiopia too. Secondly, the muslim population represents about 50% is again wrong. The two censuses conducted for the last ten years revealed that the muslim population is only 32.8%. To be frank, the recent census was very transparent and many muslim scholars and officials were involved and monitored the situation. Therefore, some of the ‘radical Islamist websites’ like “BADR Muslim Federation” that are financed by external forces are deliberately fabricating new figures(once 50%, sometimes 65%, even sometimes 80%) that are groundless.
I ,at least, open Ethiopian review web page three times a day. This was because of the trust i have for Ethiopian review . But now i am seeing that this web page is getting down.I am lossing my trust for ur web page when i read article like this .
Who made Ethiopian muslim population 55%? . At least u could have consulted CIA fact book.
Are u sure that the king who accepted the refugees was changed to Islam? This is written in no part of Ethiopian history except articels like this and its similars.
Besides i am really sorry of the bias the writer made . Is history written by winners? Why not u write the history of Ahmed gragn who ruled Ethiopia for arourd 15 years and the civilizations he gave us?. Be balaned. Let alone history, news shall be balanced .
Why not ur historic research tell us that the first Amharic kuran was published during the Solomonic King Haile Sellasie time.
Musolloni was doing the same during its occupation during 1928. He was telling Muslims the same history and try to divide and rule. This articel theme sounds like that.
Leave history for historians and if at all u dare to write history, be balnced and genuine.
Last but not least is message to the editor of Ethiopian review. Ethiopian review shall never be dumpstair of garbage article like this. We used to trust ur web page. dont make us loose our trust by allowing such rubbish articles
Dear Ewnetu,
The figures are out there, in fact, I believe Ethiopian Muslims are more than 50% of our population. But hey, let us not be diverted by our religious lines from the real work at hand, overthrowing the thugs in Addis and cleaning up our house. We’ve look forward and reach out accross the religious line to have a nation called “Ethiopia,” where Muslims and Christians live side by side happily!
Oni says:
This is one of the reasons why Iran Islamic Republic must NOT be allowed to have a nuclear bomb at any cost.
Hey Oni that is a good observation for a 3rd grader.Did you really understand what you wrote?? what has iran’s nuclear politics got to do with ethiopian muslims?? Here is my advice for you…..Next time before you write something like this, try to think twice!!! as far as the article is concerned i didn’t find an iota of absurdity in it.
I have gone through the article: Is really blindly written. It seems the writer has hidden agenda.
Let me show you one example: The Ethiopian Population Census (2007) depicts Total Christians= 62.8 %(46,421,740, Orthodox = 43.5%,
32,138,126),Protestant= (13.7 Million) 18.6 %,
Catholic = (536,827) 0.7%,Traditional= 2.7 %,Others = 0.6 %
Muslims = 33.9%,(25.045,550)- the figure depicts actuality
The writer didn’t want to refer to Ethiopian history; instead, he/she just wanted to base his/her writing listening to some complainers biased information. As we all know the rise of Gragne Ahmed (15 th century) had brought devastation in Ethiopian history, especially Christianity. If you had the chance to communicate the Muslims’ elders in Bale (go to “Shekena Hussien”, Wollo , Kebri Beya (Somali region), the name of Mokadishu itself would tell you Christianity vs Muslim before and after Geragne in those places. All these areas were converted to Muslim had not been by convincing but solely by war, slaying the clean who kept the word of God. A couple of years before the same events have been seen in Eastern and South Western parts of Ethiopia.
Hopefully, the writer will review the Ethiopian history and come up with unbiased information for the next time in the same venture. As he/she begins with biased information his/her decision will also biased: FAILARITY
To Humm,
Humm is wasting his time in fantasy with the expectation of the world will be muslim after 30/40 years. But, he didn’t understand two important things: (i) hatching children without any control is an indicator of ignorance and under-development; (ii) the more the population becomes muslim, the more the country becomes poor. Because, it is obvious that most of the time for a muslim is wasted not for technology innovation or modern education, but for archaic type of religious practices, in Darasa schools, for ill-minded activities such as how to kill innocent people, excluding women that represnt half of the population from education and office works.
Anyhow, Humm has expressed his fantasy dream and he has the right to do it unless he is shy from being a stock of lough.
Ha Hellyer,
This is a Typical western journalist who has no faith of God but money/material. The oil money coming to the Muslim/Arabs from the material worshipers west is buying the faithless and corrupt western journalists, politicians and so on to work for them.
This is the Arabs propaganda using the inhuman and corrupt western individuals to make the readers believe despite how the story is a total lie.
Writer! Thank you for bringing different perspectives to what made up ethiopianism. I think we can only know little by being fastidious about the accuracy of such articles, lets focus on the main theme of the paper. Of course, its true that the latest census, by far the most ‘unequivocal evidence’ of any country national statistics, reveled that Muslim population is 33.9 %, far below what you stated (http://www.csa.gov.et/pdf/Cen2007_firstdraft.pdf). However i don’t think the thesis of your article is about the accuracy of the figures. The focus is and i think you are right, that Islamic history and Muslims are a vital parts of Ethiopianism period
Dear really sorry.. U wrote your disappointment of the article and u went farther to the point that u doubt the trustworthness of the site.To be frank with you we are already familiar with such trickery of people to use any opportunity available to defame the site. you are one big cadre of the blood thirsty weyane regime.One of your laughable statments is “Who made Ethiopian muslim population 55%? . At least u could have consulted CIA fact book.” The article clearly states that the 55% reperesents the percentage of muslim parliament reperesentatives. You just blindly put words in the writer’s mouth. Ok let me agree with you for the sake of ur argument that the muslim population is not 55%.In favour of your argument u stated one should refer a reliable source like CIA fact book.Alright i do agree with this but the datum available on the site is compiled in 1994.Which shows the source is unreliable at all.I think on the basis of the year of compilation,The writer opted to refer the US state department’s data for his article which puts Ethiopian Orthodox Christian 40%, Sunni Muslim 45-50%, Protestant 5% ,the rest 5%.Therefore it is childish to question the writer’s right to choose one source over the other as far as both sources are independent and reported by US government.Generally , no favoritism is involved in this article.The other point you raised was that your futile attempt to show us the translation of the Quran from arabic During emperior haileselassie was a big achievment for the muslim community which indirectly shows the religious right exercised by the community.Are you kidding me?? How many percent of the then muslims were literate?? merely 1% or 2%. Emperior Haileselassie was well aware of the fact of printing the translation meant nothing at all. It was just a mere showmanship of the emperior as if he cared for the muslims.If he really cared, he could have built mosques where illiterates could have get religious knowledge oraly.Why not building schools for the muslims??. Anyway peace for mother Ethiopia!
How can he says the emperor that gave a place for the islamic refugees from Mecca was later converted to islam? Does he has any historical proof for this? It is just fabricated by modern day fundamentalists
I am a bit confused and even amazed what people wish to believe as fact.Those who come from Christian background do not seem to know anything about the other faith–Islam because they have already formed an opinion around hate.I am not a follower of Islam, but I know very well they are badly treated in Christian dominated and expanded Abyssinia known as Ethiopia. Under Hailesellassie muslims were not allowed in the military, their religious holidays were not recognized as national holidays. The only State holidays were those of Christain. Ofcouse educational opportunitis and advancement has always favored chritians of the Orthodox brand. SO when a scholarly paper or text book comes out to shed some light on such topics some people tend to show immediate resistance not to know or learn anything other than the bias they already harbor.It is such hang-ups that lead to conflict and blood-shed. Those who are willing to learn usually live and let live in peace and harmony among others. Let us not jump to unfounded conclusion . TPLF is not a legitmate government in Ethiopia.. Why would anybody other than their followers take the so called National census as fact and argue over it.It is a politically motivated figure and it has been controversial ever since it is made public. Even the number of Tigrai people keep swinging from 12% in 1994 to 6.something in 2008. That too is purly political. It is not real. Let us keep an open mind, learn as much as possible about each other. The more we understand, the more we accommodate , tolerate and respect and co exist with each other.
Thanks
Biru
i really don’t believe what is written in this article. it is far from the real truth. Ethiopian Muslim and Christian have lived together for long long time. we don’t have a problem like others….i believe the article was written in his hotel room with out exploring the real truth.
before u come to conclusion on the most sensitive issue…u have to go out, stay with the people and understand everything.
we have big problem of government leadership for centuries but not that much exaggerated religious conflict.
go back where you belong and preach your separation theory
why we talk about muslims now pls
we do not need this kind of talk I’m Eri but love to see Ethiopan to be A holy Christian Land Pls pls.
Let have it at it was.
At least I can vist addis for holly water.
Yes Eth have Muslims but 10% so what it is still a Holly land.
Good for you my Eth…. bro and sis
This nothing but a continuation of Arab Islamic propaganda! The is very clear to sew the animosity and bring about religious war.
It is an important topic that need to be dealt with in detail. But it is unacceptable that an European scholar engages him/herself with this complicated issue after staying in addis for only couple of weeks. The information mentioned by the author is not only twisted but also shallow.
selamta
The writer of this article is well versed in the English language. However, the gist of his writing is political than a scientific research into religious life of Ethiopians.
We have enough historians of our own who can truly tell us what our religions are and how many follow which domination.
The writer’s political opinion are clear from his article where he states that there are Ethiopian muslims who speak Arabic better than other arab speaking countries.He blows things out of proportion.
He also lies or perputuates some lies about Ethiopian kings conversion to Islam. Christian King of Ethiopia gave them Asylum protection.
Islam has never been and will never be the official religion of Ethiopia.
Emperor Haile Selassie’s words: “one people, one religion” stand still shining in the land of Christianity – Ethiopia. Ethiopian Arab-Muslims have never given any significant contributions to the Ethiopian society except that they have been shop keepers, dealers, merchants, and weavers.
The Ethiopian Arab-Muslims have been a serious malaise to the Ethiopian Christian Kingdom: When Gragn Ahmed tried to destroy Christianity in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Arab-Muslims supported him and joined in destroying several Churches and monasteries. During World War II, when the Ethiopian Christian army was retreating from Mussolini’s poison gas, the Wollo Muslims attacked the retreating Christian army, and that wound has not healed yet, and the Ethiopian Christians will never forget it.
Supported and financed by the Saudi Arabia, Ethiopian Arab-Muslims have burned many Christian Churches and destroyed Christian properties and Christian lives, mostly in the Oromia region where the majorities of the population are Muslims. Therefore, the relationship between the indigenous Ethiopian Christians and the Ethiopian Arab-Muslim refugees whose ancestors came from Mecca is symbiotic, and it will stay that way until the Ethiopian Arab-Muslims denounce their corrupt faith – Islam- and their false prophet – Muhammad – and join Christianity, the true religion of over two billion people.
The author of the article is dishonest when he blatantly asserted “…the prophet of Islam sent several Muslim refugees to live among Christians in Ethiopia…the king at that time…later became Muslim.” This is a blind distortion of historical facts and shows that the author of the article is a Muslim. First, the author has failed to mention the name of the king of Axum who was converted to Islam; second, he cannot support his assertion with an evidence; and third, the writer is simply putting what the Arab authors told him to do, i.e., to spread Islam by writing a unsubstantiated story.
In fact, Ato Tekele Thadik Mekuria states in detail that the Arab writers assumed that the good hospitality King Armah of Axum gave to the Arab-Muslim refugee from Mecca as a sign that the King had accepted Islam, which was absolutely ravish and insincere. (Read Ethiopian History: Nubia-Axum-Zaguie by Tekele Thadik Mekuria, chapters 65 & 66, Amharic Version.)
The author of the article seems very happy to see the majority of the Ethiopian population is Muslim and that most of the Ethiopian Arab-Muslims speak, not the Ethiopian official language, Amharic, but the Arab-Muslim language – Arabic. This shows that the author’s agenda is to promote Islam in Ethiopia and to degrade the Ethiopian Christian religion, their culture, and their language. He is also very happy to see that Emperor Haile Selassie, a Christian King, was overthrown because, the author believes, that King Haile Selassie had oppressed the Ethiopian Arab-Muslims and considered them second citizens. His statement: “Muslims were not part of that equation.” What he is saying is that Ethiopian Arab-Muslims had never benefited from the progress Ethiopia had made during the time of King Haile Selassie I. He wants to encourage the Arab-Muslim world to give money to the Ethiopian Arab-Muslims to build Mosques and to spread Islam throughout the Ethiopian Christian Kingdom. It is his wish to see more Muslim Children to excel in education and take power from the falling Ethiopian Christian Kingdom as he proudly declares that 55 percent of the Ethiopian population is Muslims. In short, the author wants to see Christianity in Ethiopia to be completely destroyed and replaced by Islam, and that is the main purpose of the article.
Mr. /Ms. / HA Hellyer, be assured that Christianity in Ethiopia is still blooming, producing fruits in thousands, and expanding all over the world. Your Islamic message to the Ethiopian Christians has no significance because the Ethiopian Christians never accept Islam, the false religion, and Muhammad, the false prophet, and his followers, the Jihadist Muslims.
If your mission is to spread Islam with its demonic Sharia law, you have failed in your evil mission and false propaganda about unsubstantiated report regarding the Ethiopian Axumite Christian Kings and the history of the Ethiopian Christianity.
I think you are the mouth piece of the false religion, Islam, and the false prophet, Muhammad, the rapist who raped Aisha when she was just 8 years old according to Hadith. Muhammad is a well-known illiterate and false prophet who denied that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he did not die on the cross. These are some of the fundamental reasons why there will be no relations between the indigenous Ethiopian Christians and the Ethiopian Arab-Muslim refugees from Mecca.
The relationship between the two, as I mentioned earlier, is symbiotic, and there will never be any real relationships between the two as far as there is a gap between the two religions:
Hadith and Quran testify that Muhammad slept with different women during their periods while God said: “Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.” (Leviticus 18:19) One in every 55 verses in the Quran incites Muslims to make war on the unbelievers. Muhammad himself slaughtered his enemies and anyone who disagreed with him (Surah 9:5), but Jesus Christ cared for his enemies (Matthew 5:43-44).
To the Muslim, Jesus Christ is merely one of the many Prophets of Allah (Surah 4:171; 5:74). According to Islam, Jesus Christ is not the Son of God (Surah 5:17; 5:116; 19:35). We Christians believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God (John 3:16). We also believe that Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1; 10:30-33; 20:28; Col. 2:9).
Jesus was a miracle worker (John 14:11; Matthew 2:2-7). Muhammad confirmed that he could not perform any miracle (Surah 17:90-95; 13:183). Muhammad ordered his adopted son to divorce his wife so that she would become his wife (Surah 33:36-38). On the other hand, Jesus valued marriage and hated divorce (Matthew 19:7-8).
There are many other significant differences that the Ethiopian Christians never accept the Ethiopian Arab-Muslim refugees as equal citizens because the Ethiopian Arab-Muslims have been tested many times to express their loyalties to the Ethiopian Christendom, but they affirmed their loyalties to Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and to many other Arab-Muslim countries. For this reason, we Ethiopian Christians will never trust the Ethiopian Arab-Muslims in time of war and peace. We abhor their religion, and we hate their prophet who sanctioned the Sharia law that maims the human body and allows a Muslim to marry several wives and enslave women throughout history.
Dear writer:
Be it Jews, a Christians, or Muslims (according to their time of arrival in Ethiopia),we are not going to be victims of your divisive writings. We have had enough of the West’s made up history who claim to know more about us. Ahun ante man neh, keyets new yemetahew? Please leave us alone, we know how to handle for ourselves.
1.”About 55 per cent of Ethiopia’s parliament is Muslim and representatives from the country’s Islamic community insist they are at least 50 per cent of the population”
It is not because we want it, it just is the fact and we have to accept the fact. One can see the results of the three population censuses, one during the last regime, and two during the current regime. So it is the result counted by Ehtiopians not by the US State department, not by people in the Middle East.
2.”Haile Selassie had a formula for Ethiopia: one country, one people, one religion”
He has a lot of formulae, but this one is not one of his (I don’t know where you got it from). What is documented in the audiovisual is: ager yegara nat, haimanot yegel new.
3. “Christianity was the first religion to arrive in Ethiopia ”
What about Judaism? at least there is documented evidence including worship places. One place is on the island of lake Tana (Graham Hankok, and many other authors, also see the place).
4.”the area of Shawa, was the domain of a Muslim sultanate in the early 8th century”
Could you give us reference. Looks like you want to paint whole of Shawa (Showa) as ruled by the Sultanates if at all it is the same Showa we know of today.
5. “But what they share is a long history of discrimination against them”
I am not quite sure of where you are heading but no one denies that there wasn’t discrimination not only in relegion but along ethnic and blood lines even within the same tribe. But I know that since 1974 things were fine untill recently where some incidents of relegious conflicts were seen.
What about the current discrimination in the Middle East? can you tell us? especially what is being done to our sisters most of them maids? NOw in the 21st century?
6. “But with the rise of the Solomonic dynasty in 1270 that came to an end. That dynasty, like many others of its age, was expansionist and aggressive, leading to a great number of conflicts with Muslim sultanates over a period of hundreds of years in Ethiopia.”
So what did yo expect them to be, 21st century democrats? That was the way how Kings rule, they collect tax and if you don’t … And this is not only practiced by the Solomonic Dynasty alone, it was also practiced by the Sultanates as well and was common every where in the world. Thats just the way they govern in those days.
7. “I saw a huge number of Muslims speaking excellent Arabic (perhaps more than any non-Arabic speaking country I had ever been to), proud of the history of this ancient land that had never been conquered.”
My friend Arabic language is spoken in the western part of Ethiopia. But the way you made it looks like it is only few muslims that don’t speak Arabic (what is the intention here). It is true that our sisters work as maids (with subhuman treatment) in the Middle East and so they may speak, but I am not sure if it is as perfect as the Arabs. I know that there are Muslim Scholars who teach the Koran and are well versed in Arabic (read, write and speak Arabic).
minew jal, yemen tega tega new? Ye englizonchu aybekanem ende? we have over 85 different languages and Arabic is one of them. We can also teach Koran in these local languages too, not necessarly in Arabic alone.
PLEASE WE ARE FADE UP WITH YOUR divisive FOURMULAE!
The article carries few truth but the intention is polictical, may be the Egyptian way. They are always behind for every conflict in Ethiopia.
Dear Selam, you need some education please read this speech.
****
In praise of Islamic civilization
Extract from a speech by Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.
It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.
One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known. The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.
And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration.
Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.
When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.
While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.
Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians. Sufi poet-philosophers like Rumi challenged our notions of self and truth. Leaders like Suleiman contributed to our notions of tolerance and civic leadership.
And perhaps we can learn a lesson from his example: It was leadership based on meritocracy, not inheritance. It was leadership that harnessed the full capabilities of a very diverse population–that included Christianity, Islamic, and Jewish traditions.
This kind of enlightened leadership — leadership that nurtured culture, sustainability, diversity and courage — led to 800 years of invention and prosperity.
In dark and serious times like this, we must affirm our commitment to building societies and institutions that aspire to this kind of greatness. More than ever, we must focus on the importance of leadership– bold acts of leadership and decidedly personal acts of leadership.
Truth is not always palatable but there is no substitution for it.Muslims are the largest group of any other religious groups in Ethiopia.And in this 21th century,Ethiopian muslim would not accept to be second class citizens in their own country.To Hamid,If you think that Meles Zanawi and his TPLF are not harsh enough on the Muslims in Ethiopia,go and visit in Ogaden.
Dear selam You need to have some education please read former HP CEO’s speech about islam and civilizatin please stop your “teret teret”
http://www.islamfortoday.com/hewlettpackard.htm
I would like thank you for ER for such enlightening article..we were obsessed with one religion, one language..one…one..etc..and Thank you Dr. H.A who tells us what is true like crystal clear in his best way. Not only my friends but my self have a problem of accepting which we don’t like it…but we have to start slowly ..even though it is bitter…and I like the lady who used to be CEO of HP and campaigner to rep. presidential candidate McLean about contribution of Islamic civilization for the world.
አምላክ ይድረስላት!
ዛሬም እንደ ዘመነ-ኣጼ
እራስን የመካብ የግነት ቅላጼ
ተረትን ታሪክ አርጎ የለመደ
መች ከውነት ተዛመደ?
አይኑ እያየ ፍጥጥ
ጆሮዉ ሰምቶ ሽምጥጥ
ዛሬም አረ-ጎራዉ ዘራፍ
ሰመምን ገብቶ ሐቅን መጠየፍ
” አይ ትዉልድ!”
ይሔዳል ይተማል ሊኖር እንድ ያኔ
ሌላዉን ይክዳል ሳይፈራ ኩነኔ
እራሱን ይዋሻል በመዋሸት ወኔ
በራብ ተሽሞንሙኖ ልመናን ተክኖ
ይዋሻል ዳግመኛ ዉሸቱን ተማምኖ
ለመከራ የጻፈዉ ቢነግድ አይተርፈው
አያያዙን አይቶ ጭብጦዉን ቀማዉ
ታሪክ ብሎ ወሬ እዉነት ክዶ ወሬ
አምላክ ይድረስላት ለእናት አገሬ
i appreciate ER you are the first to edit such topics let us know our histry. ER is real journalist that is why you went to ERITREA to find the truth from other siode too.
i appreciate again and again.
we want to know about the histry of Islam in Ethiopia too some very few radical Orthodox christians don’t want to know about other religion’s right.
as ethiopian we have to stand together for all our right all religions because we are Ethiopians.
as some radicals Ethiopia never move forward. it is essential to respect all religion with love and respect.
Ethiopian muslims are not Arabs some closedmind people may think like that now the world is changed we have to change ourself too.
Arabic alphabet is not for Islam some Ethiopian think like that it serves for arab christians also
thks
Writer! Thank you for bringing different perspectives to what make up ethiopianism. I think we can only know little by being fastidious about the accuracy of such articles, lets focus on the main theme of the paper. Of course, its true that the latest census, by far the most ‘unequivocal evidence’ of any country national statistics, reveled that Muslim copmposes 33.9 % of Ethiopian population, far below what you stated (http://www.csa.gov.et/pdf/Cen2007_firstdraft.pdf). However i don’t think the thesis of your article is about the accuracy of the figures. The focus is and i think you are right, that Islamic history and Muslims are a vital parts of Ethiopianism period
Thank you
Dar Salam,
Your two important points are well taken and recorded in the Ethiopian history books. Thank you for raising those two significant issues.
As you know, the false prophet Muhammad commanded his followers to marry many wives and populate the earth with only Arab-Muslims. He himself had 66 wives, and one of them by the name Aisha was 8 years old when he raped her.
An Arab-Muslim man can impregnate 1200 women in a year, and when he reached to age 60, he would have impregnated 4800 women. If one Arab-Muslim man can impregnate 4800 women in 60 years, how many millions of Muslim men would impregnate Arab-Muslim women in one year and how many children will be born from such breeding animals?
If this trend of breeding like dogs continues, Ethiopia will be out of its natural resources to feed all these Arab-Muslim hymenopterous insects.
Christianity limits one man to one woman or one woman to one man, and because of this reasonable rule, Ethiopian Christians are outnumbered by the multitude of Arab Muslim children. If there are no other alternatives to curve the Ethiopian Arab-Muslim population, then we must apply the ancient Egyptian rules (Exodus 1:8-22). It is cruel, but what can we do?
Dear dante,
Elias Kifle didn’t travel to Asmara to study the Arab-Muslims’ history; he went there to interview Issayas Afeworki about the future working relationships between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the result of his mission to Asmara is not HA Hellyer’ article or Humm’s videos. Watch the 6 hours videos as the result of the interviews.
Ethiopian Arab-Muslims have enjoyed the freedom of worshiping their Allah under the protection of the Ethiopian Christian Kingdom for thousands of years. The reward the Ethiopian Christians got from the Ethiopian Arab-Muslims was disloyalty or perfidy.
You wrote: “it is essential to respect all religion with love and respect.” Islam is not a religion; therefore, it will have no respect in Ethiopia as well as in other Christian countries.
Does Christianity have any respect in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and in many other Arab-Muslim countries? Do our Christian girls have any dignity in the Arab-Muslim world? You will be the judge.
For your information: Yesterday, August 1, 2009, CNN reported that Arab-Muslims burned 65 Christian homes in Pakistan for an alleged desecration of some of the pages in Quran. Islam is a religion of violence and should not be given any respect at all; it should be destroyed by any means, and its Quran and Hadith with its satanic Sharia law should be desecrated and burned down.
Ethiopian Arab-Muslims came from the Arab land – Mecca – and they have the same false prophet Muhammad and the same false religion Islam. For this reason, Ethiopian Arab-Muslims are not indigenous Ethiopians; they are Ethiopian Arab-Muslim refugees from Mecca.
It is true there are Arab Christians whose language is Arabic and their religion is Christianity, but Ethiopian Arab-Muslims have a national language – Amharic – and they can use Amharic instead of Arabic as far as they are living in Ethiopia under the protection of the Ethiopian Christian Kingdom
This is a very divisive and insidious article written by someone who purports to be a researcher in ethnic relations. It is written in a devious and calculated style. The author is a foreign visitor to Ethiopia with an ulterior motive of creating religious strife. Foreigners must feel unhappy and cannot fathom that Christians and Muslims have lived peacefully in Ethiopia for centuries. The article also insinuates that there is some kind of ethnicity/religion divide, as if there is discrimination against certain ethnic groups because they are Muslims.
To begin with the author ignores the fact that there was a country called Ethiopia long before many of the other countries of the continent of Africa ever existed. He should know that Ethiopia’s boundaries stretched over several countries to the North, East, South and West of Africa.
The writer’s viewpoint is mostly based on hearsay and deliberate alterations of passages in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Ethiopia. The distortions in the article are so obvious that even the name of the location of the early sultanate is erroneous.
There are many situations where we Ethiopians do not trust the TPLF government about, but there is no reason why the government would lie about statistics on religion, as the leaders claim to be agnostic and have no interest in religion.
I have gone through the 35 comments. All I can say is we have long long way ahead before we attain real and mutual respect toward each other.
It is interesting to note that many who like to boost a nation who set unprecedented example in tolerance, are intolerant to an article which brings Ethiopian Muslims to the light.
Some couldn’t stand the writer assertion that Muslims are half of the population.Some even resort to statistical data of the the very government they give 0 credibility. As long as it goes against muslim, they are fine with it. Better say, fundamentally you are against Muslims and not EPRDF.
The statics is rejected well before the incumbent government and for obvious reasons. If the crooked statics which is mainly politically motivated there would have been no muslim. Even H/sellasei used to claim that muslims hardly exist in the country till he was brought to blink of collapse. Ethiopia is changing that tradition , but in a very low pace and it will only take as long as the corrupt elites of the monarchies in the bureaucracy are substituted by the new generation.
In any case, any person who has fair minded would not argue much on numbers and simply urge verifiable survey, unless the person is bigot who want to coerce others.
You may die with your anger, but Islamic History is Vital part of Ethiopian richness!!
Assta B. Gettu,you are a very angry and hateful person.What you said about Islam and the faith of your fellow country men and women is very sad indeed.It says more about you than anybody else.A person of faith never talks like that.
Anyone who knows Ethiopian geography does not need to be told what percentage Muslim’s account in their country Ethiopia. There are only three Ethiopian provinces were Christian majority is prevails (Gonder, Gojem and Tigray). The most populous Ethiopian ethnic group, Oromo is 80 percent Muslim, Afar, Harari, and Somalia are 100 percent Muslim. If you add these ethnic groups by themselves, you could easily see Muslim majority in the beloved country of ours. If we put the above facts together we could easily come up with min 55 percent Muslim majority. The Weyane gov’t issued the 2009 stats for political reasons. The same data puts the population of Addis at 2.7 million. Only politically skewed mind with accept this figure. Some estimates put our nation’s capital population in the rage of 6 to 8 million. Let is be realistic and accept facts not emotions based on hate.
Thanks to the Ethiopian Review for making this discussion possible.
1. Anyone who knows Ethiopian geography does not need to be told what percentage Muslims account in their country Ethiopia. There are only three Ethiopian provinces were Christian majority prevails (Gonder, Gojem and Tigray). The most populous Ethiopian ethnic group, Oromo is 80 percent Muslim. Afar, Harari, and Somalia are 100 percent Muslim. If you add these ethnic groups by themselves, you could easily see Muslim majority in the beloved country of ours. Putting the above facts together someone could easily come up with min 55 percent Muslim majority. The Weyane gov’t issued the 2009 population data for political reasons. The same data puts the population of Addis at 2.7 million. Only politically skewed mind will accept this figure. Some estimates put our nation’s capital population in the rage of 6 to 8 million. Let us be realistic and accept facts not emotions based on hate. Some diehard and ignorant Christian supermists in our country are blinded by their irrational dream and outdated slogan “Ethiopian is a Christian Island”. They forget the fact that Ethiopia is a multi religion and multi culture Ethiopians Island. All of us should believe in one vital fact which is Ethiopia is for all Ethiopians and religion is a private matter that should be respected and that all of us should work for equality among Ethiopians regardless of their religion or ethnic background. Any other alternative will lead our country into distraction as a country which is a nightmare for true Ethiopians.
Thanks to the Ethiopian Review for making this discussion possible.
As a Proud Ethiopian Muslim,I understand one thing, we have a long way to go before we even have a change.because Ethiopian Christians need to be changed, orthodox Christians need to abort their fanatic measures.
Yet the devoted believer’s are running away to evangelical church or Islam, still you can’t forgo your fanatic pride, you are still behind on this globalization age, the west is mocking you,they knew you are fanatic and useless nationalistic backwards, you try to play their game by pointing finger towards peace loving Ethiopian Muslims.
let me assure you one thing no matter what Ethiopian Muslims are with you don’t get overwhelmed by your paranoia dizziness.I am my Ethiopian keeper regardless of their religion. I do have respect for you if you are Muslim, Christan, Jew or any other religion or no religion. the problem you will never change because you are still flag worshiper, accustomed to be (neber) generation, you deny reality you deny yourself. perhaps, you feel inferiority because your grandfather or great grand father used to be Muslim so you have to echo your voice. or you are controlled by you hate. while you are in deep sleep and echo your bogus voice that Muslims are minority in Ethiopia,your children are slipping away to Islam. ask your self don’t tell me, even the clergy is embracing Islam…don’t tell me you know that..you whisper that each other change.the dream of “Haile Silase The negede wushetam” is true one nation one religion, today 55%Ethiopian Parliament is Muslim wait 10 years it might be 75% what happen? your son and daughter were running away from your old-fashioned orthodox-fan tic mentality and they embrace new religion, so can we predict fifty years from now you tell me…that is the real change, thank you for being the agents of change.this is the reality on the Ethiopian streets, Islam is growing because you are fanatic. you are drunk on your “maber bet tela” you have 360 days of Holidays,where is your son? maybe at the mosque…Change is coming in ethiopia because of you, but you will never change.thank you for your great contributation.
I am one of a non believers Ethiopia. No matter which religion you believe in you believe in the unseen. In the era of cloning it is your right to believe in any religion if you opt to.
However, I would like to consider the article as most successful in terms of provoking individuals’ feelings. Thanks to this article that individuals have shown their deep seated hidden feelings about Ethiopia and Ethiopian Muslims. It is a lesson for Ethiopian Muslims as what some of their Christian brothers think about their position in Ethiopia. It is also a lesson for other Christians what their some fellow Christian brothers envision Ethiopia and what they think about Ethiopian Muslims. The whole discussion thought me how archaic our thinking as people is as the economic figures show and how far distant we are to achieve unity and prosperity in our country. I wish none of those hostile and moribund ideas were written by non Ethiopians as it might be true.
It is full of lies.
To real sorry #11:
The reason you cant find the king who converted to islam in ethiopian history is because the king armac the second or a’asem abher was the ruler of “midri bahri” in today eritrea not ethiopia,if you search eritrean history you will find his whole life story,The migration of the prophet mohamed companions including his daughter was to midri bahri and they stayed in the capital (debrawa),the prophet muhamed daughter (raqiyah) lived and died in debarbwa and had 2 daughters who lived and married among the local population in later years…so get your facts right everyone knows of this fact except the ethiopians.Infact its soo detailed that king armac fought the ethiopian across the mereb and declined when the prophet companion offered to help to fight the ruler south of mereb,abdullah ben zubair accompany the king acroos the mereb and asked all the companions and the prophet’s daughetr to pray for him and his soldiers which he came out victorius.the first time islam entered highland of ethiopia was with the afars 500-600 years after,do you wonder why when gragn he destroyed ethiopian and burned everything didnt go to the highland of eritrea even though it was just acroos the river??he was asked by his soldiers to continue he replied “The prophet pbuh has wished that no muslim attack the christians protectors of his companions and family” and rightlly so through out history no muslim army has attacked the eritrean highland and shed their blood.
To h/m #14
You talk about gragn but how about you talk of the pre-gragn times starting with the za-agwe and solominc cleansing and we can work out who started this provokations.
To b.gettu #35
Keep you insult going on on islam and prophet mohamed pbuh because it doesnt suprise me the ethiopians are very very racist and you wonder why the arabs hates you and treat u’s like garbage,when a religious war happens in ethiopia in the near future its your comments that might explain the hatred you create…with comments like this i can see another gragn born again.
PS the writer was right king armac the second did convert to islam a copy of his letter accepting islam is still around today,you can see it on the net you might need to read arabic though…the christians of eritrea knows that and admitt it but his conversion to islam was an individual act.
Sad!! We are bunch of emotional and erratic thinkers. The article has not claimed for certain that Ethiopian Muslim to be 55% but the parliamentarians. So, the writer, based his own biased Eurocentric cultural experience he assumed that the Muslim population to be at least 50%. Though it is absolutely ok for the Muslim population to be over 50%, the actual and the statistical findings could be different. As for me, the writer has actually has failed to recognize that in a land where the government claim Christians to be the majority, having 55% Muslims in the parliament shows how progressive Ethiopians are in general both in respecting religion or recognizing individuals as individual. Yet I saw the confrontation and back and forth insult that come from many who only guide themselves with emotion rather than reasoning.
Let us start addressing all issues raised by the writer one by one:
1) Is Islam Vital part of Ethiopian History?
I hope we all agree it is very vital.
2) Were there some unhappiness and disenfranchise feeling observed on Ethiopian Muslims during the Emperor Hilesellase’s time?
Yes I have heard several complaints from many of my Muslim friends and neighbors growing up (I am old enough to remember Muslim holidays not to be recognized as national holiday but Christians)
3) Is this fact and evidence based article that is expected from a claiming to be a scholar?
Not at all. Take for instance the following claims by the writer:
“the Prophet of Islam sent several Muslim refugees to live among Christians in Ethiopia, who had a very high opinion of the king at that time, who later became Muslim.”
Where did he get this to claim it as fact?
“In the medieval era, Christian Ethiopians under the Zagwes refused to be drawn into the European crusades against the Muslim world, which led to Saladin giving the Ethiopian Orthodox Church a monastery in Jerusalem.”
Ethiopian Christians and their existence in Jerusalem predate Islam. Even the bible claims the Ethiopian and the road to Jericho were among the earliest to be baptized.
Well there are many factual errors he raised important issue that we have to deal as a nation soon or later. In addition to this factual errors I have also seen erratic responses from many perceived to be Muslim and Christians who only exhibit an attitude of their own bias. Some were just vulgar in their response, some were trying to persuade us to accept everything the writer said as fact, and other try their own statistics and logic to tell us that Muslims are actually over 50%.
For instance one even claimed “There are only three Ethiopian provinces were Christian majority is prevails (Gonder, Gojem and Tigray). The most populous Ethiopian ethnic group, Oromo is 80 percent Muslim, Afar, Harari, and Somalia are 100 percent Muslim. If you add these ethnic groups by themselves, you could easily see Muslim majority”
My brother, a size of a region is not always synonymous with density of population. In Ethiopia, Arsi used to be the smallest province but had duble the population of Bale and almost the same as Hararge the two large land mass provinces with smaller population size relative to Arsi. By the way these three provinces were predominantly Muslim. Yet Shoa province has a population almost duble the size of all three and 11 predominantly Christian sub-provinces (awrajas). Even in the sub province such as Yererna-Kereyu the number of Christians in Minjar far more exceed the indigenous Kereyu, Itu, or Muslims in that Awraja. In Ethiopia, the most densely populated provinces such like Wolega (evangelic), Gojam (christian) Gonder (christian) Shoa (at least 2/3 christian) have almost half of the entire population. So when you add few Christians here and there, it is not harder for me to accept the government clim that Christians are majority.
In conclusion, my dream of Ethiopia is neither Christian nor Muslim. It is simply Ethiopia.
I wish the constitution assert the separation of state and religion.
I support the banning of religion based schools in al states, Christian or Muslim.
No religion based holiday be official government holyday
No interference by the government in people’s religion
No religion based law would be recognized by the constitution. (for instance Christians could get married in the church with their bible and qurban or Muslim could get married at mosque with Shrea-law but if they wish to legitimize their marriage they have to come to get with the law of the land.)
Brothers and sisters, I wish I could have said a lot more, but let me stop here.
Dear Editor,
I came across this post at Ethiopian Recycler
and thought to share with your viewers. Thanks. Abel
Not So Fast
“An Islamic history is a vital part of Ethiopia’s richness,” writes Dr. Hisham Hellyer on his recent trip to Addis. We could not agree more. Our problem is what the seemingly innocuous title is doing to the facts. You see, Dr. Hellyer is on a crusade to make our world a place where communities live in harmony on a 50-50 or so basis. That is, 50 percent Muslim and 50 the rest. That may be the reason for his plane ride out of London to a destination that has held a fascination for him.
Ethiopia, according to “Christian” Europe, was “an island of Christianity in a sea of pagans/Islam” [Dr. Hellyer prefers, “a Christian country in a sea of Muslims”.] What is unique in this case is that Ethiopia’s two dominant faith communities lived in peaceful coexistence for centuries which, understandably, is the envy of a fragmenting world and a condition that demanded the professor to investigate. By Dr. Hellyer’s own admission, his long-held views of a pre-dominantly “Christian” Ethiopia was shattered when his hotel attendant in typical Ethiopian hospitality alerted his foreign visitor not to be discomfited if a muezzin’s call to prayer woke him up in the morning [let’s remember that such tips could result in baksheesh for the attendant].
And so a benign comment by his host precipitated a review of the glory of Ethiopian Islamic history and its detractors up to the year 1994 when “a more democratic Constitution” allowed Muslims to build “more institutions for themselves”. The anecdotal evidence in turn led to the suggestion that Muslims were, contrary to readily available information, “at least 50 percent of the population”.
We would have let the sleeping dog lie had not Dr. Hellyer been an academe and well-versed in the power and intricacies of the mass media [google to check where his article was posted; we are sending this write-up to several sites including Ethiomedia and Ethiopolitics]. Ironically, Dr. Hellyer complained that history is usually written by the powerful [like himself?] It is unbelievable that a person of his caliber would make such a rash judgment purely based on impressions [“a huge number of Muslims speak excellent Arabic”; “saw the sadness of many Muslim Ethiopians”] and assume he could re-write in so short a time the history of [religious] discrimination in Ethiopia from his hotel window. The problem is that that view would not allow him to also document “Christian” Ethiopia’s wanton aggression on “Christian” communities in Gondar, Showa, Wollo, Tigray and Gojjam or that of the Imperial and Socialist regimes on Protestant Christians and Muslims on “pagans”. He should have pulled back the curtain to see that the Derg was an equal opportunity repressor and that, in fact, Muslims fared relatively better under its rule [that is, as part of the Derg’s rapprochement with Arab nations and a pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist policy].
We recognize that any credible census-taking has to satisfy basic international norms and could not be arbitrarily determined by a state. Dr. Hellyer could have saved himself time and his patron’s precious resources had he simply checked the data from UN, CIA, etc., websites. In regard to religious demography, therefore, the most recent report puts Muslims at roughly a third of the population [nothing wrong or right with that!]
It could be that Dr. Hellyer was privy to privileged information courtesy of Woizero Samia Zekaria [Director General of the Central Statistics Authority and a fellow Muslim] who could have been coerced into overlooking such a glaring discrepancy, in which case she should resign her post immediately. Of course, we are speculating having found no firm clues to corroborate Director Samia’s complicity. Or perhaps as a “specialist” in ethnic relations Dr. Hellyer meant to start a good dialogue on international level. If, however, the above estimates are correct [and we have no reason to doubt that, knowing the minority government in Ethiopia is insidiously working hard to weaken the Orthodox Church] then we would suggest that Dr. Hellyer reimburse his sponsors expenses he incurred and in the future resist the temptation to make data fit his noble interests.
Dear all,
Firstly, you must please excuse me for not having written before now. I did not write this piece for ‘EthiopianReview.com’, and as such, did not even know it was published here.
I shan’t comment on the quite virulent hate speech that has found its way into some of the responses to my piece – I think they speak volumes on their own.
But let me frank about some assertions that were made, so as not to allow any confusion which seems to have taken place. No one seemed to bother to attempt to contact me, as the author, which speaks volumes as well.
1. I was not commissioned by anyone, at all, to write this piece. I did so purely on my own initiative, after visiting Ethiopia and developing a great love for the country. All of the responses that indicate some sort of involvement with Arab regimes/Islamic parties/etc should consider whether they have the slightest bit of evidence for their claims.
2. My mentioning the Arabic language should certainly not be taken as some sort of sign that I support some kind of Arab imperialism – far from it. Please understand this article was contributed to a newspaper that is published in the Arab world – and as such, the readership would be interested to know that a large number of Ethiopian Muslims speak Arabic. Secondly, the command of the language indicates a certain type of multi-lingual education: that in itself is impressive.
3. The proportion of Muslims in Ethiopia is most certainly a contentious matter, as the responses here show. In the responses, some are arguing it is even less than 30%! Be that as it may, many community activists and representatives in Ethiopia insisted the number was at least 50%. I wanted to point out that there was a controversy – I certainly did not want to build a controversy.
4. Perhaps most importantly: I had no intention, and I think any fair reader can see this, in inspiring tension between Muslims and non-Muslims in Ethiopia. Far from it – your country’s future lies, as do so many of our countries in the world today, in recognising and appreciating all parts of its history and its people. Of all of the attacks made of the article, this is the one that is most painful to see, because I truly developed warm feelings towards Ethiopia and its people. I sincerely hope you move forward in strides, and that we from outside of Ethiopia can learn from the successes of your nation.