Negashi OJ is upgraded and moved to another address (http://blog.ethiopianmuslims.net or http://negashi-oj.ethiopianmuslims.net). It is our hope that the new look and functionality will provide a better platform to communicate and exchange ideas. The page still carries a bulk of important material occumulated over the last four years. Untill we finalize exporting all our data to the new database, this page will remain accessible to visiters. We won’t however add new enteries here any more. Please follow us there.
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful the Compassionate!
HAVE WE NOT opened up for you your heart,
and lifted from you your burden,
that had weighed so heavily on your back?
And [have We not] raised you high in dignity?
And, behold, with every hardship comes ease:-
verily, with every hardship comes ease!
Hence, when you are freed [from distress], remain steadfast,
and unto Your Sustainer turn with love.
[Q94:1-8]
“With Challenges Come Opportunities”
With a theme: “With challenges Come Opportunities“, the second annual conference of the Network of Ethiopian Muslims in Europe (NEME), sets to assess the challenges the organization faces and the opportunities it has to challenge the challenges. The current state of affairs of Ethiopian Muslims will also make a headline of the conference discussions. The theme reminds us that we may not bow down to challenges - they rather should give us hope and strength to do more and struggle with resolve.
As part of the overall full three days program, a special plenary session is also planned with the objective of accessing the merits and application of the “Negashi Model of Interfaith Relationship” as a potential model for religious and cultural understandings. Known scholars and experts in the area, from around Belgium and oversees, are invited to join the penal discussion. Several high level diplomats and officials are also invited for the event.
The presence among us of our renowned and loved scholars will indubitably be one that makes the event colorful. The conference will be an opportunity to replenish our soul and mind; vow and renew our commitment to stand united and work for the good of ourselves, our communities and our fellow mankind at large.
Indeed with every challenge comes all sort of opportunities. Let’s use them … The second annual conference is just one that help us take this very fact a step ahead. Let’s not miss it then.
During the last few years Ethiopian Muslims have lost several precious personalities - within the seven months alone we lost at least three people of exemplary devotion and success: Professor Hussien Ahmed of AAU (June 2009), Shaykh Mohammed Rafae (Ethiopian Bukhari, July 2009), and very recently Al-Hajji Dawud Bashir (January 2010). These fathers devoted the whole of their life for the benefit of their community and their country so much so that their work surpassed their name while they were alive but destined to keep them alive long after they departed us. May Allah Reward them with the best of rewards and admit them to Janat-ul Firdous.
At every stage of their history, communities/nations produce unique figures and these individuals passed leaving a legacy that remained alive long after their generation. However, the greatness of the nation is determined not only by what these people could achieve during their life time but by its determination to continue with the works and visions these pioneering individuals started with. As a community Ethiopian Muslims have also given birth to several distinguished fathers and have their own way of upholding at least keeping their memory. Naming their children, mosque, village etc after them are just few examples. This trend has lately got another dimension by establishing funds and prizes that directly contribute to Muslim oriented research work and education. The Mufti Dawud Fundation established by the Addis Ababa Islamic Research and Cultural Center (IRCC) is just an example.
Shortly after the death of Prof. Hussein Ahmed last June, 2009, his students and colleagues came to the conclusion that the best way to keep the unique work of the late professor alive is by establishing a foundation in his name. The foundation was inaugurated immediately and since then the founders toiled day and night to turn the dream a reality.
Last Sunday, February 14, 2010, a special program was organized at Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa. About 200 people attended the program. Two Ministers and senior staff members of AAU were among the attendees. During the program the life history and the works of the professor were displayed. Distinguished figures went on the podium and shared their memories of the late professor, expressed the gap his death created in the study of Islam and Muslims in Ethiopia and emphasised on the need to fill that gap as soon as possible. What was remarkable was a passionate speech delivered by his daughter, sister Semira Hussien. Her words and unique love, respect and admiration she displayed for her late father sent every participant to tears. It was not only tears. The participants immediately went to action and promised a total sum of about 375, 000 birr (three hundred seventy five thousand) to support the work the professor started with.
It is to be recalled that the diaspora Muslim organizations particularly the Badr Ethiopia and Network of Ethiopian Muslims promised to set up Prof. Hussien Foundation on their own with the objective of promoting the study of Ethiopian Muslims at international level. It is time that these organizations live up to their words and fulfill their promise by formalizing the initiative. While working on launching their intended foundation, it is important that they help the initiative at home by providing both technical and financial support.
Insha Allah Negashi OJ will try to get a video clip of the last program held at Ghion Hotel.
[EEJ] It is quite natural that “Unity” resonates well with all. That is why we often see the term being used by political, religious or social/ community organizations. Unity is something that should be pursued , and all unnecessary divisions which may lead to failure need to be avoided , and in Islam emphasizes on the importance of Unity.
However, for some unity appear be to synonymous to uniformity. Some Muslims appear to pursue a unity through which all Muslims think and act in an identical way in every issue. The moment they see diversified ideas among the Muslims on a given issue, they declare failure!
This kind of unity is ideal, and unachievable. People should look unity through their natural diversity. Otherwise, any effort to crush this natural diversity to `uniformity` would rather lead to fractured community with little opportunity to come together.
As long as there is unity in the objective, the variation in the process to get into the objective shouldn’t generate enmity. True, that at most attempt should be made to narrow the gap based on mutual understanding that, at the end of the day, they all share the same dream.
Naturally, this would bring the majority, and not all of the community members, share similar vision-not necessarily identical. It is from this stage onward that many seem to fail to carry on forward.
All groups who have similar visions are supposed to concentrate to on their activities and use their energy to prove that they are on the right path, unfortunately they turn against each other.We commonly waste our time and energy to smearing each other. Instead of establishing how better our approach is through our activities and results, we try to get this by discrediting our `opponent` who may be even turned as our `primary enemy` by now. If all sides were to focus on their objective, at the end of the day we may have one of them succeeded, which is a blessing of natural diversity- rather than putting all of our eggs in one basket.
Islam is a religion of tolerance, and we practically show this with our non-Muslim country fellows. I just wonder why we fail to exercise a fraction of it when it is among ourselves.
Uniformity is unachievable , and you may listen for more on this issue to Radio Negashi Editorail on how diversity should be considered as source of our strength rather than weakness.
It has become common these days to hear one declaring the other as Hypocrite (Munafiq) and a certain deed hypocrisy (Nifq). Often times it is used as a tool to silence those who disagree with one’s ideas … no matter how trivial that maybe. As a comprehensive code of life, Islam is clear on the term itself, its use, to whom it should be used and who may invoke it. In fact ,the Quran has given the issue a great position when it holds a chapter with the title: Al-Munafiqun, the Hypocrites (the 63rd sura of the Qur’an with its 11 ayat).
Learnt men of all times have also warned their folk to take the maximum pre-caution and never to be tempted by whatever reason to use it carelessly. As the Hypocrites are the worst enemies of true believers and the religion, believers are provided with the common feature a likely hypocrite exhibits. This might help us take an immediate corrective action (Tawuba) if one or more of those listed are part of our personality. It is equally important so that we protect ourselves from their evil schemes.
Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, ‘The signs of a Munaafiq are three; When he speaks, he lies; When he disputes, he is vulgar; and When he makes a promise, he breaks it.’ (Mishkaat). Please read below for more of the characteristics of the Munafiqun.
Ethiopia - the Second Worst Jailer of Journalists!
Ethiopia jails editor whose paper challenged Zenawi New York, February 1, 2010—An Ethiopian judge sentenced a journalist to prison on Friday in connection with a January 2008 column that criticized Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s statements about religious affairs in Ethiopia, according to local journalists.
Federal High Court Judge Mohammed Omar sentenced Editor Ezedin Mohamed of the Muslim-oriented newspaper Al-Quds to one year in prison. The precise charges were not immediately available but were related to a January 30, 2008, column that came in response to Zenawi’s interview with The Guardian of London that month, according to CPJ sources.
The Al-Quds column challenged Zenawi’s characterization of his country as “Orthodox Christian Ethiopia,” one source said. Mohamed has begun serving his sentence at Kality Prison outside the capital, Addis Ababa, sources said. “The jailing of Ezedin Mohamed is another example of Ethiopia’s intolerance of independent and critical voices,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “It is high time for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to demonstrate his commitment to democratic values by ending the practice of imprisoning journalists.”
Mohamed is the fifth journalist imprisoned in Ethiopia, which is the second worst jailer of journalists in Africa, according to CPJ research. Only Eritrea jails more.
In the Islamic worldview, justice denotes placing things in their rightful place. It also means giving others equal treatment. In Islam, justice is also a moral virtue and an attribute of human personality, as it is in the Western tradition. Justice is close to equality in the sense that it creates a state of equilibrium in the distribution of rights and duties, but they are not identical. Sometimes, justice is achieved through inequality, like in unequal distribution of wealth. The Prophet of Islam declared:
“There are seven categories of people whom God will shelter under His shade on the Day when there will be no shade except His. [One is] the just leader.”(Saheeh Muslim)
God spoke to His Messenger in this manner:
“O My slaves, I have forbidden injustice for Myself and forbade it also for you. So avoid being unjust to one another.” (Saheeh Muslim)
The above poster (original 420 mm x 594 mm), presented at LUQMAN Exhibition of Dec. 2009 (organised by LEBMA vzw, Belgium as part of its activity marking the annual celebration of the 1430th Eid Al Adha - Arefa) - portrays the Majestic Mosque in Negashi town (North Ethiopia) built in memory of the Just and First Muslim King - King Ashama ibn Abjar (Negashi). The Mosque is the First Mosque on African Soil. Click on picture to enlarge.
The text below is taken from an article (Christmas gift) by Kamran Pasha, a Muslim Hollywood filmmaker and the author of Mother of the Believers, a novel on the birth of Islam as told by Prophet Muhammad’s wife Aisha (ra).This well composed article can only be seen just as an introduction to a maginficient legacy of the Islamic history of Ethiopia that has long been forgotten and buried but lately being a re-discovered reality. Enjoyable reading.
*****
How the story of Christmas saved Islam
by Kamran Pasha
….
Six hundred years after the birth of Jesus Christ, the once tiny and persecuted faith founded in his name had become a global power. Christianity had become the official state religion of the Roman Empire and its successor, Byzantium. But as Jesus warned, power corrupts, and his simple message of love for God and humanity had been eclipsed by the cruel politics of governing an empire.
Christianity at the time was threatened by both external enemies and internal division. The Byzantines were locked in a struggle of superpowers with the neighboring Persian Empire, and millions were dying in the never-ending state of war between these two societies. Internally, arguments about theology had split the Church into a variety of factions and sects, each claiming to properly understand the nature of Christ and his teachings. Groups like the Egyptian Copts that failed to follow the “official” theological line coming out of Rome and Byzantium were persecuted by their fellow Christians. Jews were prohibited from living in Jerusalem and suffered mightily under the yoke of their Christian overlords.
Yet in the midst of this turbulent time, something unusual was happening in the desert wastes of Arabia. The Arabs had for centuries lived outside the boundaries of civilization, ignored by the great empires around them as nomadic herders with no government and limited social order based on tribal affiliation. There were no courts of law, and justice was meted out through the tribal principle of retaliation. If a member of a powerful tribe killed someone from another strong clan, a blood feud would ensue between the two groups, continuing sometimes for generations. But if someone came from a poor family, from a weak tribe, there would be no one to come to their aid or avenge any injustice against them. Women were regularly subjected to rape by bandits and raiders, and infant girls were often buried alive by fathers angry that their wives had not given them sons.
Poverty and illiteracy was the norm, and survival of the fittest the only principle of life. Religion had had little to offer to alleviate the suffering of the people; indeed the religious life of Arabia added to its misery. The Arabs worshipped a pantheon of competing gods, nature spirits that they prayed to but which offered little back in terms of spiritual comfort, and no hope for any life past the grave. The profound truths that Jesus Christ had proclaimed of faith being about service and love for mankind had not penetrated into the hearts of these hardened desert survivors, and the idea of religion being the basis for charity and social justice was beyond their comprehension.
The world of 7th century Arabia would have made modern day Afghanistan look like an advanced civilization.
And yet despite its primitive state of affairs, something truly remarkable was happening in Arabia at that time. A man named Muhammad had a vision of the Angel Gabriel telling him that God had sent him as a Prophet to lead the Arabs out of darkness into light. That the time had come that the children of Abraham though his son Ishmael rejoin their father’s community by worshipping the One God, the God of Moses and Jesus. A God of love and justice, who enjoined charity and mercy among mankind. A God who commanded men to treat women with honor and to protect their children, not bury them alive.
The Prophet’s message was met as a new faith always is - with derision and ridicule. The wealthy oligarchs of his city Mecca found his admonitions to give to the poor offensive, his call for an end to the blood feuds and the cruel traditions of their ancestors an insult to their culture. And more importantly, Muhammad’s proclamation of One God was a direct threat to their pocketbooks. Mecca had become the center of trade in the region, as it hosted the Kaaba, an ancient shrine once built by Abraham for his God, but now dedicated to the local tribal deities. The annual pilgrimage when Arabs from all over the peninsula came to worship their gods at the Kaaba brought in huge revenue - and the Prophet’s proclamation that these deities were illusory was a dagger at the heart of Mecca’s wealth.
The early followers of Prophet Muhammad were, not surprisingly, from the poor and the weak. Those who had no protection from the ravages of society found hope in the new movement, known as Islam, which meant simply “to surrender oneself to God” - the essential teaching of all of God’s messengers, from Abraham through Jesus Christ. And yet, as persecution worsened, and Meccans began to attack and kill the Muslims (”those who had surrendered to God”), it became clear that the movement had to escape from the clutches of the tribal lords and find safety elsewhere.
Many may be familiar with the “hijrah” or “emigration” - the famous moment in 622 C.E. when Prophet Muhammad escaped from Mecca and established a community in the oasis of Medina to the north. From there, Islam blossomed and become a global religion and civilization within only a few years. The hijrah was the turning point of Islam, and Muslims to this day mark it as Year 1 of their calendar.
Yet the hijrah to Medina was not the first emigration in Islam. It was the second.
And our Christmas story begins with that first emigration, to the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia, in modern day Ethiopia.
In 615 C.E., five years after the prophet’s first vision of Gabriel, persecution of the Muslims had become a life-and-death matter. A Muslim woman named Sumaya, the first martyr of Islam, had been publicly murdered by a Meccan tribal chief. The weakest members of the community, such as the African slave Bilal, were subjected to torture. And the Arab chieftains were coming together to proclaim a ban of trade with the Muslims, prohibiting citizens of Mecca from providing food and medicine to members of the new movement.
Facing the very real possibility of extinction, a small group of Muslims led by the Prophet’s daughter Ruqayya and his son-in-law Uthman, escaped Meccan patrols and managed to get to the Red Sea, where they fled to Abyssinia by boat. They sought the protection of the Negus, the Christian king who had a reputation for justice.
The Meccan chieftains were outraged when they learned of the Muslim escape to Abyssinia. Trade with Africa was important to their economic power, and the arrival of dissident Arabs in the Abyssinian court could create an embarrassing diplomatic problem. The tribal lords dispatched Amr ibn al-As, a respected merchant who had befriended the Negus, to recover the Muslim refugees before they could harm Mecca’s image with its trading partners.
Amr arrived with expensive gifts and honeyed words for the Negus. He advised the king that Muslim refugees were criminals and asked that they be repatriated to Mecca. The Negus was concerned that he could be harboring troublemakers in his kingdom and summoned the Muslim refugees to his court to answer the allegations.
It was a tense moment, as the Muslims were brought before the Negus and the Meccan delegation. If things went badly, they would be handed over to Amr to taken back against their will. In reality, they knew that once they were in Amr’s hands, they would probably never see Mecca. In all likelihood, they would be killed long before they reached their erstwhile home.
When the Muslims responded that they were not criminals but victims of religious persecution, the Negus asked: “What is this religion wherein you have become separate from your people, though you have not entered my religion nor that of any other of the folk that surround us?”
The Prophet’s cousin Ja’far, known for his eloquent speech, stepped forward and said:
“O King, we were people steeped in ignorance, worshiping idols, eating unsacrificed carrion, committing abominations, and the strong would devour the weak. Thus we were, until God sent us a Messenger from out of our midst, one whose lineage we knew, and his veracity and his worthiness of trust and his integrity. He called us unto God, that we should testify to His Oneness and worship Him and renounce what we and our fathers had worshiped in the way of stones and idols; and he commanded us to speak truly, to fulfill our promises, to respect the ties of kinship and the rights of our neighbors, and to refrain from crimes and from bloodshed. So we worship God alone, setting naught beside Him, counting as forbidden what He has forbidden and as licit what He has allowed. For these reasons have our people turned against us, and have persecuted us to make us forsake our religion and revert from the worship of God to the worship of idols. That is why we have come to your country, having chosen you above all others; and we have been happy in thy protection, and it is our hope, O King, that here with you we shall not suffer wrong.”
The Negus, a devout Christian, was intrigued by Ja’far’s words and asked him if this Prophet had brought a scripture like the messengers of old. Ja’far nodded, saying that their Scripture was the Qur’an, which means recitation in Arabic. The Negus asked them to recite from their holy book.
And Ja’far recited for them a verse that had been revealed to the Prophet about the birth of Jesus Christ, who was revered as one of God’s messenger’s by the Muslims.
“And make mention of Mary in the Book, when she withdrew from her people unto a place towards the east, and secluded herself from them; and We sent unto her Our Spirit, and it appeared unto her in the likeness of a perfect man. She said: I take refuge from you in the Infinitely Good, if any piety you have. He said: I am none other than a messenger from your Lord that I may bestow on you a son most pure. She said: How can there be for me a son, when no man has touched me, nor am I unchaste? He said: Even so shall it be; your Lord says: It is easy for Me. That We may make him a sign for mankind and a mercy from Us; and it is a thing ordained.” (19:16-21)
The Negus was deeply moved to hear the story of Christ’s miraculous conception in the Muslim scripture. He said to his guests:
“This has truly come from the same source as that which Jesus brought.”
The Meccans became alarmed. The shared love for Jesus and Mary had created a bond between the Christians and Muslims that threatened to disrupt the Meccan scheme. Amr, who knew that the Muslims saw Jesus as a human messenger of God rather than a divine being, quickly tried to create rift between the two communities.
“O King, they utter an enormous lie about Jesus the son of Mary. They call him a slave!”
The Abyssinian priests gasped at this apparent blasphemy. The Christian king tensed. He turned to the Muslims with a frown.
“What do you say about Jesus?”
Ja’far could only tell the truth.
“We say of him what our Prophet brought unto us, that he is the servant of God and His Messenger and His Spirit and His Word which He cast unto Mary the blessed virgin.”
A tense silence fell on the crowd. And then the Negus smiled.
For him, the differences between Christian and Muslim visions of Jesus were just semantics. He had tired of the kind of theological disputes that had torn apart his fellow Christians and had led to never-ending accusations of heresy and warfare between competing Christian groups. Arguments over complicated theologies about the nature of Christ were not what mattered to him as a Christian. What mattered was that God had sent Jesus Christ to teach humanity love. And the Muslims clearly loved Jesus Christ.
“Go your ways, for you are safe in my land. Not for mountains of gold would I harm a single man of you.”
And then he sent his attendant to the Meccan envoys.
“Return unto these two men their gifts, for I have no use for them.”
This is a short clip from the movie called “The Message” directed by Moustapha Akkad in 1976, and was nominated for an Oscar in 1978.
The movie is based on the life of Prophet Muhammad (sw). This clip focusses on the time when muslims were fleeing to Abyssynia to be saved from further persecution at the hands of the Meccans. Abyssinia at that time was ruled by a Christian king famous for his mercy and equity, King Negus. A delegation of the Quraish (Meccan tribe) went to meet King Negus- here is what happened.
And in that moment, Islam found its first refuge. In a Christian land, under the protection of a Christian king who viewed Muslims as his brothers and sisters.
Another poster (original 420 mm x 594 mm) from LUQMAN Exhibition (Belgium, Dec. 06 2009). Click on the picture to enlarge.
The history of Christianity’s relationship with Islam has not always been so cordial. From the Crusades to the horrors of September 11th, both communities have committed atrocities against the other.
And yet it was not so at the beginning. And perhaps it will not be so at the end.
For me as a Muslim, this story of how Christians and Muslims could get past theology and see the truth in each other’s hearts is one of the most beautiful tales to unite our communities as we struggle to define faith in the 21st century.
And like the story of Christmas itself, I believe that the tale of the Christian king and the Muslim refugees is not just a memory of a time long past. It is, I hope, a vision of a world still to come. A world that will be built by sincere people of faith, who care more about love for humanity than about the triumph of their own tribe or theology.
It is, God-willing, a prophecy.
*****
NOTE: As is typical to all fanatic Ethiopian Christians medias, Ethiomedia.com has used this article to advance its fanatic view and position against tolerance and co-existence in Ethiopia. A lot has been said earlier about the futility of describing Ethiopia as a “Christian Nation”. No more time and effort to play fool with the disillusioned. Lets however invite them to contemplate on the message of a poster from LUQMAN Exhibition of Dec. O6, 2009, if they ever have a sense to come out of their dream and be contained with reality. We will continue in the upcoming postings to further story on the FORGOTTEN LEGACY of ETHIOPIA as it is indeed a vision and rescuer of the world to come.
