Islam in Ethiopia - History

History

Muslims arrived in the Axumite Empire as immigrants from Mecca, persecuted by the ruling Quraysh tribe. They were received by the ruler of Axum, whom Arabic tradition has named Ashama ibn Abjar, and he settled them in Negash. Located in the Tigray Region. On the other hand, the principal center of Islamic culture, learning, and propagation has been Harar in Eastern Ethiopia. The Quraysh sent emissaries to bring them back to Arabia, but the King of Axum refused their demands. The Prophet himself instructed his followers who came to the Axumite empire, to respect and protect Axum as well as live in peace with the native Christians. While the city of Medina, north of Mecca, ultimately became the new home of most of the exiles from Mecca, a 7th century cemetery excavated inside the boundaries of Negash shows the Muslim community survived their departure.

Islam later developed more in the coastal regions of the southern horn of Africa, particularly among the Somali. This was challenged by the mostly Christian northern people of Abyssinia, including Amhara, Tigray and north western Oromo. However the north and northeastern expansion of the Oromo, who practiced mainstream traditional Waaqa, affected the growth of Islam in its early days. Historian Ulrich Braukamper says, "the expansion of the non-Muslim Oromo people during subsequent centuries mostly eliminated Islam in those areas." However, following the centralization of some Oromo communities, some of them adopted Islam and today constitutes over 40% of their population.

In the 16th century, Muslims from Adal invaded the Ethiopian Empire under the command Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi.

Under the former Emperor Haile Selassie, Muslim communities could bring matters of personal and family Law and inheritance before Islamic courts; many did so and probably continued to do so under the revolutionary regime. However, many Muslims dealt with such matters in terms of customary law. For example, the Somali and other pastoralists tended not to follow the requirement that daughters inherit half as much property as sons, particularly when livestock was at issue. In parts of Eritrea, the tendency to treat land as the corporate property of a descent group (lineage or clan) precluded following the Islamic principle of division of property among one's heirs.