Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

Religion, Language, and Nat i o n a l i s m 2 4 7A m i r. These Arab tribes played a very important role in the Arabization ofa big part of Eritrea and the spread of Islam and the Arabic languagesouth into Ethiopia.Thus, the spread of Islam in most of the province of Wallo [in thenortheast] is explained by the dual influence of the Muslim Arab tribesin the north and the influence of Harar, which is located immediately tothe south of that province. The province of Wallo is considered todayone of the most important Islamic strongholds in the country. Althoughthe majority of the inhabitants of that province are Muslim and others,they are Amhara.Harar and its freedom-fighting sons had the biggest role and largestparticipation when Harar was still the flashing, glittering origin of thedeeply rooted belief that spread the light of Islam to the corners of thec o u n t ry until it was possible to say that there was not a son of a Yemeni orArab immigrant in Ethiopia, let alone the Muslim sons of Ethiopia’s inhabitants,who had not acquired Qur’anic and Arabic learning at thehand of one of the sons of Harar. And Harar embodied the full glories inher traditions, including Islamic documents and culture in the Arabiclanguage, and Islamic folklore and dress. And why not? For Harar gavebirth to the great fighter Imam al-Ghazi Ahmad bin Ibrahim. Harar wasable to carry on this historical role during Islam’s history in Ethiopia, enjoyinggeographical advantages, deeply controlling Muslim territoriesand peoples represented in all the Afar and Somali tribes. Harar was aprosperous independent emirate ruling the east coast of the Horn ofAfrica and its deserts until the Egyptians ruled it between the year 1875and the year 1885. That is the date of the downfall of the Egyptian administrationat the hands of the British, who sent a British administrationto Harar when the Egyptian administration left.The Harari rebelled against this invading authority, as usual beingproud and rejecting any government that was not Muslim. And theyreestablished their emirate again.In the year 1887, the Ethiopian Emperor Menilek II dared, with thesupport of imperialist Britain and Italy, to invade Harar with a tremendousarmy including forty leaders of the rank of d a j j a z m a c h [a high levelm i l i t a ry title], with 4,000 fighters being led by each of them, while theHarari troops did not exceed 30,000 fighters. The two groups met in thearea called C’alanqo, where there were 300 hafiz [memorizers of] a l -Q u r ’ a n in the Muslim army to remind their brothers that “Allah hath purchasedof the Believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return)is the Garden (of Paradise)” [Qur’an 9:111] 8 and that “[i]f any doturn his back to them on such a day . . .he draws on himself the wrath ofAllah and his abode is Hell” [Qur’an 8:16]. 9 And Menilek’s forces, well-