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

Religion, Language, and Nat i o n a l i s m 2 4 9ance of their Islamic religious rituals. All of this had its effect on thespread of the Islamic religion and the increase in its followers. Thebiggest example of that Arab immigrant influence was on the city of DireDawa, which is the third-largest Ethiopian city and located in theprovince of Harar, where Arabic gained ascendancy over all the languagesand dialects, including Harari and Amharic, because of the densityof existence of Arabic, which caused the Arabization of other langu a g e s .And to the Arabs who immigrated to them, the Abyssinian Muslimssincerely showed all kindness, and their respect was the greatest, and theygave to them their daughters to marry, and enabled them to farm lands.They accorded them love and honor and dignity that exceeds description.And all that regard and generosity is a link in the relationship thatbinds Arabs through the merciful Prophet Mustafa [that is, Muhammad],may the prayers of God, and peace, be upon him. And the brotherhood in God was so beautiful and respectful that most of the immigrantsforgot their people and their nations, and they got used to thec o u n t ry and its people and were reassured by the abundant life, the love,and the exquisite hospitality that encircled them. Most of these Arabswere from simple rural areas and left their country in search of sustenance.They kept to their religion and its culture, like religious zeal, goodrepute, haughtiness over vile things, and adherence to religious rituals.They brought up their women and children like that, or, say they exertedtheir greatest effort in that direction. And they were deserving of theh o n o r, the welcoming and the open-armed reception with which theywere met.It is worth mentioning that Islam spread widely among the pastoraltribes that remained away from the influence and authority of the feudalOrthodox Church, where the imposition of the serfdom system on theinhabitants was associated with the order to convert to Christianity. Indicativeof that were the pastoral Arsi tribes, who live in the province ofArsi, southwest of the province of Harar, who converted to Islam, whilethe Darasa and Guji tribes in the province of Sidamo [in the south] remaineddifficult for Christianity, which makes them a good target for Islamicmissionary work.Religion occupies a broad and very important part in the Orthodoxp e r s o n ’s life. This is apparent from the large number of priests andmonks [and from] the increase in symbols, rites, rituals, and religiousevents devoted to the saints, to the extent that no day in the year was lackingthem. For these link the Christian to his church through strong ties,which are strengthened by the traditional separation from other Christiansects and from Islam, which is the issue that creates a state of reli-