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

2 5 0Islam i n World Cult u r e sgious fanaticism that, fortunately, did not reverse the loyalty of the Muslimsto previous conditions mentioned above. Therefore, even if the Orthodoxperson left his faith, he always remained a goal difficult to obtainin the face of Muslim missionaries, despite the existence of individualcases that are not statistically significant. This mutual aversion restrictedinteraction between the followers of the two religions. Behavioral appearancesstrengthened this aversion, such as the Muslim refusal to eat meatslaughtered by Christians, in spite of the Qur’anic text declaring it permissible,and similarly, the refusal to ever marry Christian women. Likethe fanatical Christian washes many times or gets rid of utensils that theMuslim touched, hatred and similar things are fanatical behavior.NotesFor the funding that made research for this chapter possible, thanks and appreciationare due to the Social Science Research Council International PredissertationFellowship, Fulbright-Hays, and the We n n e r-Gren Foundation forAnthropological Research.1 . This paragraph and the following are based on Anonymous 1930.2 . Its pagination runs 6–13, but I never saw any other pages from the larger documentof which this is clearly one part. I would like to thank Malik Balla for checkingmy translation against the original Arabic version.3 . In fact, this practice can be traced back much further, though under a differentguise. In the mid-1950s, elderly Harari reminiscing about the then largely defunct m u-g a d s (that is, formal groups of young boys and girls) described similar activities, especiallyduring the Arafa feast (Duri 1955, 15).4 . Legal in Ethiopia, as well as Great Britain and other countries in Europe, q a t is illegalin Saudi Arabia, other strictly Islamic nations, and the United States. In Harar, it ischewed weekly by a majority of adult men and many adult women.5 . The basic unit of currency was provocatively named the nakfa, the name of abattlefield where Eritrean forces won a major victory over Ethiopian forces in 1988.6 . Somali support was influenced by fears that instability in southern Somaliawould spread into eastern Ethiopia, and Harari support was influenced by the fear ofOromo domination.7. There is, sadly, a horrific exception. It was clear to me that feelings in Hararand Jijjiga toward Eritrea and Eritreans varied widely from those dominant in AddisAbaba. Because the two eastern cities were largely insulated from the conflict and becauseof the constant bombardment of government propaganda and the despicabledeportations of Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean descent, people there supportedthe Ethiopian cause but expressed concern for their Eritrean “brothers and sisters.”In Addis Ababa, nationalist fervor and anti-Eritrean hostility had been stirred up to afar greater degree, and in many cases, the deportees (as well as “mixed” Eritrean-