Ethiopia's Religions, Part 3

After the Christian conversion of the Kingdom of Aksum, and before the asylum given to some of the first Muslims, there were Jews in Aksum. Referred to in Ge'ez as Beta Israel ("House of Israel"), they were Jews who refused to convert to Christianity during the time of Ezana and Frumentius.

According to tradition, the Jews rebelled against the Christians and established an independent state in the Semien Mountains, but there is no evidence to support this. There are other traditions. One of them is that a Jewish queen named Judith made an alliance with some pagans, the Agaw, and invaded Aksum's capital city, destroying churches and monasteries. Again, there is no evidence for this.

A 9th-century Jewish merchant and traveler, Eldad ha-Dani (c.851 - 900), claimed one of the 12 Tribes of Israel, the Tribe of Dan, went down the Nile and established themselves in Ethiopia. An Ethiopian Jewish community is also mentioned by both Marco Polo and Benjamin of Tudela.

The earliest recorded reference is found in the chronicles of Emperor Amda Seyon of Ethiopia, who sent troops to Semien to deal with unrest among Jews "and others." Ethiopian history and Beta Israel tradition both agree that Emperor Yeshaq (1414 - 1429) exerted pressure on Jews in Ethiopia. After the Jews rebelled against this, Yeshaq divided them into three regions with commissioners to watch over them. Jews were told to convert or lose their lands, and they were given second-class status below Christians.

Separated from Israel, Ethiopian Jews were different from the Middle Eastern brethren. A letter in 1435 by a Jewish traveler, Elijah of Ferrara, to his family tells of meeting an Ethiopian Jew. He recounts that they do not celebrate Hannukah, did not know the Talmud, and followed the Oral Torah, passed down through the generations orally.

The history of the Beta Israel had many twists and turns, and we will look at more tomorrow.

Ethiopia's Religions, Part 2

In the first part, we looked at the introduction of Christianity into what became Ethiopia during the 4th century. The Muslim presence in the area is almost as old, having fled there from Arabia very early in the 7th century while Ethiopia was still the Kingdom of Aksum.

Islam at its start was persecuted in Arabia by the Quraysh, the Arab confederation that controlled Mecca until its eventual takeover. Christian Aksum actually welcomed the asylum-seeking strangers. This event is called the Migration to Abyssinia (Abyssinia was the name for the Ethiopian and Eritrean region). Historians of Islam list two parts to this migration, a few years apart. The first was 12 men and four women in 613 or 615CE. One of the women was Ruqayyah, a daughter of Muhammad, whose husband Uthman ibn Affan became the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.

A year after arriving in Aksum, word came that the Quraysh had converted to Islam, so they sailed back east, only to discover in Mecca that the Quraysh had not changed. They returned to Aksum, a group of 83 men and 18 women.

The Quraysh ruler of Mecca considered them fugitives, and sent a messenger to the Negus (ruler) of Aksum, demanding the Muslims be returned to Mecca. The Negus said he needed to hear from the Muslims before he would consider it. The Muslim spokesperson explained to the Negus that they were once a wicked people but a holy prophet rose among them who taught them to give up idolatry and worship the one true god. There was more, and it closely allied with Christian beliefs; the Negus believed their change was inspired by Jesus, and was inclined to let them stay.

Some eventually returned to Mecca in 622 and made the pilgrimage to Medina with Muhammad. But it was clear that Muslims were welcome in Aksum, and their numbers grew until they populated the Dahlak Archipelago in the Red Sea. By the 11th century they had founded the Sultanate of Dahlak. The number of Muslims grew to fill a significant part of eastern Ethiopia, eventually clashing with Emperor of Ethiopia Amda Seyon in the early 14th century, when he managed to conquer all the Muslim-population territories.

The last of the Abrahamic religions in the region is, of course, Judaism. Tomorrow we look at the Beta Israel.

Ethiopia versus Muslims, Part 2

The Emperor of Ethiopia, Amda Seyon I, was surrounded by threats from Muslims who were opposed to Ethiopia's Coptic Christianity. Each side wished to convert the other. Amda's army was able to dominate some of the Muslim territories and install governors in them, but there were others outside his control that wanted to push back against his expansion.

One of these Muslim-controlled territories was Adal to the east, between Ethiopia and the Gulf of Aden. Amda repelled their attacks. His soldiers, feeling the job was done, asked to go home. Amda, however, told them:

Do not repeat in front me what you have just said, for I will not leave so long as the ungodly Muslims make war on me, who am the King of all the Muslims of Ethiopia, and I have confidence in the help of God.

When Jamal ad-Din, whom Amda had recently installed as governor of Ifat (after a rebellion of Muslims there) also asked him to return home and ravage their countryside no more, Amda told him:

While I am attacked by wolves and dogs, by the sons of vipers and children of evil who do not believe in the Son of God, I will never return to my kingdom, and if I leave without going as far as Adal I am no longer the son of my mother; let me no more be called a man, but a woman.

So Amda led his army into Adal, where they were attacked more than once, even during the night. In one attack, an enemy got so close to Amda that from behind the enemy's sword slashed Amda's belt, but Amda spun around and killed his attacker.

Jamal ad-Din, despite being made governor after Amda defeated Jamal's brother's rebellion, allied with Adal's rebellion. Soldiers of Ifat and Adal surrounded the Ethiopian army in the Battle of Das, but Ethiopia prevailed. The Ethiopian army then marched to the capital of Adal where the rulers surrendered. He then went to Ifat and replaced Jamal with another brother, Nasir ad-Din.

Amda spent two years traveling with his army, defeating Muslim rulers and plundering their lands. This event took place around either 1329 or 1332. Amda's reign secured Ethiopian influence over the region for the next two centuries.

How did Christianity come to Ethiopia so early and become so strong? That's a good topic for next time.

Ethiopia versus Muslims, Part 1

Emperor of Ethiopia Amda Seyon (reigned 1314 - 1344) was a Christian whose constant focus was fighting the surrounding Muslims and trying to expand Christianity. This did not sit well with the Muslims. Yesterday's post (see the link above) told how he invaded the Kingdom of Hadiya and defeated its ruler, Amano, who was later killed in battle by Amda.

A prophet/advisor of Amano's escaped Amda's approach and continued to speak out against him and Ethiopia. A chronicle of Amda's reign called The Glorious Victories says:

The false prophet fled to the land of Ifat and lived there propagating his false teaching... And when Sabr ad-Din asked him for council he told him saying: "The kingdom of the Christians has now come to an end; and it has been given to us, for you will reign on in Siyon [i.e. Ethiopia]. Go, ascend [the mountains], and fight the king of the Christians; you will defeat him, and rule him together with his peoples."

This was the same disastrous advice given to Amano. Sabr ad-Din was the brother of Haqq ad-Din, ruler of Ifat who had been killed by Amda after Haqq killed one of Amda's envoys. Sabr, living under Amda's rule since his brother's defeat, confiscated some of the goods traveling with merchants to Ethiopia, causing Amda to say:

You took away the commodities belonging to me obtained in exchange for the large quantity of gold and silver I had entrusted to the merchants... you imprisoned the traders who did business for me.

Sabr's rebellion was a grandiose plan to not just shake off Ethiopia's rule, but to conquer Ethiopia completely. He boasted:

"I wish to be King of all Ethiopia; ... I will destroy their churches...I will nominate governors in all the provinces of Ethiopia,...I will transform the churches into mosques. I will subjugate and convert the King of the Christians to my religion, I will make him a provincial governor, and if he refuses to be converted I will hand him over to one of the shepherds, ... that he may be made a keeper of camels. As for the Queen Jan Mangesha, his wife, I will employ her to grind corn.

Amda Seyon  met the approaching Muslim army and scattered them. Sabr fled and hid. Amda promised not to return to his kingdom until he had found Sabr and dealt with him. The Ethiopians destroyed Ifat's capital, plundered it of anything precious, and killed many men, women, and children.

Sabr ad-Din sent a message to Amda's queen, Jan Mengesha, asking for clemency, but she upheld her husband's vow not to return until Sabr had been found and dealt with. Sabr realized the only way to end the conflict was to surrender himself to Amda. Rather than execute Sabr, Amda had him imprisoned, and then appointed Sabr's brother, Jamal ad-Din, as Amda's governor in Ifat. Jamal urged Amda to stop ravaging Ifat, and let his people rebuild so that they could send their tribute to Amda.

Amda's soldiers also wanted to return home, but Amda had other uprisings to deal with from Muslims to the east. The story of Glorious Victories continues tomorrow.

Amda Seyon I

When Christians and Muslims were burning down each other's houses of worship in Egypt during the reign of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad (lived 1285 - 1341), the emperor of Ethiopia sent him a message: ensure the safety of the Coptic Christians, or else.

The "or else" was serious, and contained two parts. The first part was the threat to send a military legion to conquer Egypt. al-Nasir might not have balked at that: his armies were large and fierce. It was the second part that was the more serious threat: before attacking, they would divert the Nile River and cut off Egypt's greatest source of fresh water and transportation. This bold declaration came from Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia from 1314 to 1344. Let's talk about him.

Ge'ez chronicles, the source of much of what we know about Amda Seyon, were written a century later and get some events mixed with other emperors. (Ge'ez is an ancient Semitic language.)

He was part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, a Christian Church that existed long before European colonization. It was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria since the early 300s. The chief doctrine differs from Latin and Eastern Orthodox and others in that it believes in Miaphysitism, in one perfectly unified combination of the human and divine in Christ, not in two separate natures.

Most of Amda's fighting was against Muslims in the southeast in what is now Somalia, enlarging his kingdom and spreading Christianity. In one instance, after invading the Muslim Hadiya Kingdom and exiling its people, he demanded that its ruler, Amano, visit him to pay tribute. A Muslim prophet told Amano not to go and not to be afraid, because if Amda Seyon attacked, Amano would be triumphant. Quite the contrary. The angry Amda Seyon invaded Hadiya, killed many, and took Amano prisoner. Conquering Hadiya hindered the Muslim slave trade and affected Muslim wealth in that part of the world.

After giving Amda's warning to al-Nasir, the messenger on the way back to Ethiopia was captured by Haqq ad-Din I, sultan of Ifat, who was encouraged by al-Nasir to attack Ethiopia. Haqq ad-Din tried to convert the messenger to Islam; he failed, and killed the messenger. Hearing this, Amda Seyon called up his army to attack Ifat. Amada himself with only seven horsemen rode ahead of the army to Ifat and killed many of Haqq ad-Din's soldiers. The army then destroyed Ifat's capital, and Amda took much of its gold and other materials. Haqq ad-Din was killed in battle against Amda Seyon in 1328.

The prophet who had given such bad advice to Amano is credited with continuing to stir up Muslims in the region against the powerful Ethiopian Christian kingdom. This led to Haqq ad-Din's brother and successor deciding it was time to conquer Ethiopia. That is a story for next time.