July 22, 2013 | Geda Ganamo via Facebook
Whenever we speak about Islam in Ethiopia, we can’t exclude Muslim Oromos, the Somalis, the Afars, the Argobas, the Siltie, the Harari etc. These communities see Islam as one part of their national identity values. Whenever we speak of the present aspects of Islam in Ethiopia, we are speaking about one component of the identity marks of these people. On the other …hand, these nations and nationalities were being oppressed not only for their being non-Abyssinians (the nation of ruling class) but also for their being Muslims. Accordingly, whenever they were fighting for their national rights, they were also struggling to vanquish the bad embargo put on their Islamic identity as well. What proof can I provide for this argument? I have one good example which can easily demonstrate the case.
The Ethipian Orthodox Church, which represented the official religion of the country until the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie, was serving the state as a weapon to deep-root identity crisis and inferiority complex in the minds of the subjects of the empire. And during the imperial era, the church had underlined that the two dangerous enemies of the empire were the “Galla” (a very bad word in which it used to call the Oromo people), and “Eslam” (meaning “Ethiopian Muslims”). And in one of its sacred books titled “ራዕየ ማሪያም”, the church was openly preaching a very bad thing about the two enemies it called “Galla” and “Eslam”.
“ራዕየ ማሪያም”” talks about Saint Mary’s visit of the heaven. It narrated what it claimed Mary had seen in the heavenly world on the invitation of her only Son, Jesus Christ. It said that Mary visited this and that, and Jesus Christ gave her an explanation for everything she saw. And in one scene, it said, Mary saw people who were being burned in deep valley of fire. The people there, it continued, shout in a very loud voice out of the pain and suffering. They wouldn’t die but burnt by the fire forever. So Mary asked “Who are these people? Why they are being punished in this way?” She got the following response.
“These are those who had sex with Galla and Eslam (Ethiopian Muslims)?”
The current “ራዕየ ማሪያም”” was edited during Derg and has no the aforementioned idea but if need arise we can upload the original video on YouTube. (Ubah Abdusalam)
Are these peoples preaching Politics or religion?
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