Islam and other religions in Ethiopia

I wrote this awhile back. Ethiopia was brought to my attention again, and I found this. It could be polished up, but I thought I'd share it anyway (I am a procrastinating perfectionist, so I finish before I am done, otherwise I am never done :D)

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On my trip to Seattle I had encountered many Somalis and Ethiopians, at work and in the neighborhood I stayed in. One of my coworkers in particular had piqued my interest in learning more about Ethiopia. I knew a little bit about Amharic (their semitic language), Ge'ez (the ancient language of their liturgy), and a few other things, and this meant alot to him. In general, people didn't care about his culture, or even to correctly pronounce his name (he was thrilled I did, his name was Binyam). So I cracked the books (and google) to learn more about Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is famous for being the outpost of Christianity in Africa,  it is the second-oldest country to become officially Christian, after Armenia. The christian kings sought legitimacy by claiming descent of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba via their holy book Kebra Negast (glory of the kings). They also claim to have the Ark of the Covenant stolen from the Temple of Solomon by high priests who went to Ethiopia with Sheba's son.   It was the first place of Hijrah (migration) for muslims from the persecution of pagan Mecca before Madinah. Uthmaan, the third Caliph was in the group who made Hijrah to Ethiopia (Habasha in Arabic, where the name Abyssinia comes from). (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashama_ibn_Abjar, and http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/666/hr1.htm for more on Islam and Ethiopia)   There is a "native" jewish population, Beta Israel, or the Falashas (most of whom fled to israel with the collapse of the ethiopian government in the last 15-20 years ago), they think the claim of solominic descent is bs. They think they're descended from the tribe of Dan (and mixed with the ethiopians). They know no hebrew, their book (Orit, Torah in Ethiopian, related to Aram. Oraita) is the same as used by the christians (without the new testament of course), and they have a class of priests in addition to, but consider lower in status than the Rabbis called Qessim. They do not know Rabbinic Judaism, they do not have the Talmud (it can be claimed that they left before the formation of it, and were isolated from it). Rabbi Ovadiah Yare of Bertinoro wrote a letter from Jerusalem in 1488 saying:

Some of their practices resemble the Qaraite teaching...but in other things they appear to follow the instruction of the Rabbis; and they say they are related to the tribe of Dan.

Queen Makeda hears of the wisdom of King Solomon, and travels to Jerusalem to visit him. She is enthralled by his display of learning and knowledge, and declares "From this moment I will not worship the sun, but will worship the Creator of the sun, the God of Israel." (chapter 28) The night before she begins her journey home, Solomon tricks her into sleeping with him, and gives her a ring so that their child may identify himself to Solomon. Following her departure, Solomon has a dream in which the sun leaves Israel (chapter 30).

On the journey home, she gives birth to Menelik (chapter 32).

At the age of 22, Menelik travels to Jerusalem by way of Gaza, seeking Solomon's blessing, and identifies himself to his father with the ring. Overjoyed by this reunion, Solomon tries to convince Menelik to stay and succeed him as king, but Menelik insists on returning to his mother in Ethiopia. King Solomon then settles for sending home with him a company formed from the first-born sons of the elders of his kingdom, This company of young men, upset over leaving Jerusalem, then smuggle the Ark from the Temple and out of Solomon's kingdom (chapters 45-48) without Menelik's knowledge. He had asked of Solomon only for a single tassel from the covering over the Ark, and Solomon had given him the entire cloth.

During the journey home, Menelik learns the Ark is with him, and Solomon discovers that it is gone from his kingdom. The king attempts to pursue Menelik, but his son is magically flown home before he can leave his kingdom. King Solomon then turns to solace from his wife, the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt, and she seduces him into worshipping the idols of her land (chapter 64).

(chapters 66-83) describe Menelik's arrival at Axum, where he is feasted and Makeda abdicates the throne in his favor. Menelik then engages in a series of military campaigns with the Ark, and "no man conquered him, on the contrary, whosoever attacked him was conquered" (chapter 94).

After praising the book Domitius has found, which has established not only Ethiopia's possession of the true Ark of the Covenant, but that the Solomonic dynasty is descended from the first-born son of Solomon (chapter 95).

Gregory then delivers an extended speech with prophetic elements (chapters 95-112), forming what is called a "Patristic collection of Prophecies": Chapters 102-115 are written as polemic against, if not an evangel to, the Jews. These chapters seek to prove by "Old Testament" allegories and proof-texts the Messianic purpose of Jesus, the validity of the Ethiopian forms of worship, and the spiritual supremacy of Ethiopia over Israel. It is speculated that this selection from the Old Testament might be as old as Frumentius, who converted the Kingdom of Axum to Christianity.

The Kebra Nagast concludes with a final prophecy that the power of Rome will be eclipsed by the power of Ethiopia, and describes how king Kaleb of Axum, will subdue the Jews living in Najran, and make his younger son Gabra Masqal his heir (chapter 117).

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