In the Footsteps of the First Muhajirun

migrants’ return to Arabia.

In gratitude, the Prophet declared Axum a “favored land.” Upon learning of Al-Najashi’s passing, he honored him with a Muslim funeral prayer despite his Christian faith. Today, Ethiopia is about 35% Muslim. The eastern city of Harar (“City of Saints” in Arabic) is often referred to as Islam’s fourth holiest city due to its many mosques and shrines dating to the 10th century.

ETHIOPIA AND THE RED SEA REGION TODAY Ethiopia’s current status as a host country for millions of regional refugees echoes this event. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, as of June 2021 it was hosting nearly a million registered refugees and asylum-seekers, making it the third-largest host in Africa and tenth worldwide. As a reference of comparison: the US accepted zero Yemeni refugees in 2021 and only 50 during the Trump years; Ethiopia has hosted more than 3,000 Yemenis since 2016 and continually welcomes more.

Furthermore, in January 2019 Ethiopia’s Parliament passed one of the world’s most integrative refugee laws. While it has yet to be comprehensively implemented – in part due to challenges at the institutional level in the run-up to the current war – it grants refugees property rights, recognition of their degrees and certifications from their home country or previous country of residence, the right to attend school and work, freedom of movement and more expansive eligibility for asylum.

The First Hijra represents the region’s legacy of interreligious and inter-ethnic respect. This precedent, which can help resolve the current internal conflict, also speaks to how and why Ethiopia could be

Muslims have lived in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia since the earliest days of Islam

BY SARA SWETZOFF

Three historic mosques in the Horn of Africa chart the path of the first group of Muhajirun: Eritrea’s Sahaba Mosque, Ethiopia’s Al-Najashi Mosque and Somalia’s Mosque of the Two Qiblas.

The Sahaba Mosque, located in the Red Sea coastal town of Massawa, was built adjacent to the famous ancient port of Adulis, where they likely landed. In fact, many consider it the world’s oldest mosque. However, there is some uncertainty as to whether or not it predates the Quba Mosque on the outskirts of Madina.

The current structure is of later construction and now in disrepair, but the mosque retains its original qibla facing Jerusalem. Prayers are still held there occasionally, of course, with the worshippers facing the Kaaba in Makkah.

From the coast, the Muhajirun traveled about 190 miles southwest to Negash in current-day Ethiopia. The Christian Axumite king presumably permitted them to settle in that area, about 125 east of his capital city Axum. This city remains a sacred place for Ethiopian Christians, who believe that

THE MEANING AND

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF

‘HIJRA’ IS EMBODIED IN THE ISLAMIC CALENDAR. SINCE ITS INCEPTION, THE

ISLAMIC CALENDAR REPRESENTS A HISTORY OF PERPETUAL STRUGGLE

BETWEEN TRUTH AND

FALSEHOOD, FREEDOM AND OPPRESSION, LIGHT

AND DARKNESS, AND

BETWEEN PEACE AND WAR.”

AlNajashi Mosque, which was restored with Turkish government help, was damaged due to receiving fire during the current war.

the Ark of the Covenant remains in its oldest church. Both Axum and Negash are in the Tigray region, one of the country’s eleven ethnic states.

Negash is therefore widely recognized as the Muhajirun’s first settlement, as evidenced by the excavation of a local seventh-century cemetery. The name of the local mosque, Al-Najashi, is the Arabic transliteration of “Negus,” which means “king” in ancient Geez. The king who hosted the Muslim refugees is buried within the mosque’s compound, as are several of the Sahaba who remained in Ethiopia.

Most of the Muhajirun returned to Arabia to rejoin their community and then relocated to Madina; however, a small group settled in Zeila, contemporary Somalia. There, in 627, they constructed the Mosque of Two Qiblas. The first qibla faces Jerusalem, and the second one faces Makkah.

CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES AND LEGACIES In early 2018, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency completed a multiyear restoration of the Al-Najashi Mosque for a very specific purpose: In July, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a joint declaration of peace and reopened their shared border for the first time in decades. Eritrean Muslims celebrated on the 10th of Muharram by holding a gathering in the thousands at the mosque.

Unfortunately, it was damaged by shelling and reportedly looted during the current war. In December 2020, reports trickled out that Ethiopian and Eritrean troops were responsible for the damage. In an interview with BBC Amharic soon after, Abebaw Ayalew (deputy director, Ethiopian Heritage Preservation Authority), stated that a professional team was on its way to document the damage to both the Al-Najashi Mosque and a nearby church and to chart a plan for repairs. He stated, "These sites are not only places of worship. [They are] also the heritage of the whole of Ethiopia."

Meanwhile, members of both diasporas commemorate the First Hijra’s significance worldwide. In 1986, Ethiopian Muslims established The First Hijra Muslim Community Center in Washington, D.C. Located on Georgia Avenue just a mile north of the nation’s preeminent historically Black college, Howard University, this mosque has become an important part of Washington’s Pan-African landscape.

The foundation’s website explains the significance of its name:

“The meaning and the significance of ‘Hijra’ is embodied in the Islamic calendar. Since its inception, the Islamic calendar represents a history of perpetual struggle between truth and falsehood, freedom and oppression, light and darkness, and between peace and war. The migration to Ethiopia and generous offer of political asylum to the oppressed companions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was the birth of freedom of expression and beliefs, whereas the Second Migration of the Prophet Muhammad to Madinah celebrates the end of oppression.” ih an anchor of sociopolitical justice for all of Africa and the Middle East: Overcoming divisions to forge genuine solidarity is the only way to build grassroots power strong enough to bring about global justice. Divisions based on religion, ethnicity, or any other grouping pit people against each other and keep a region or country vulnerable to elite agendas, warmongers and extractive foreign interests.

THE YEMEN WAR AND THE ETHIO-YEMENI MIGRANT COMMUNITY Unfortunately, Yemenis are all too familiar with this equation. Over the past three years, I interviewed 50+ Yemeni refugees and Ethiopian returnees residing in Addis Ababa. The approximately 3,000 registered Yemeni refugees are part of a larger blended migrant community that includes Ethiopian nationals who repatriated with their Yemeni-citizen children, spouses, friends and relatives. Since the beginning of the war in Yemen, the International Organization for Migration has evacuated tens of thousands of Ethiopians, both recently arrived migrants heading overland for Saudi Arabia, as well as thousands of Ethiopian nationals who were longtime residents of Yemen.

While my interviews usually started by addressing migration pathways, economic challenges and bureaucratic hurdles to accessing services, they always wandered toward opportunities for intercultural understanding and unity. Yemeni refugees mentioned Ethiopia’s hospitality and acceptance, and Ethiopian returnees spoke nostalgically about pre-war Yemen’s quiet safety and general quality of life.

Many interviewees then turned to regional and deep historical analyses: If the precarity and opportunism of war deepens fanaticism and intolerance, how can Yemen heal itself? What’s the vision for a liberated and unified Yemen, and what role might religion and culture play in it? How did the many faiths and peoples live together when Arabia was home to equal numbers of indigenous Christians, Jews and Muslims? The two countries’ ancient special relationship extends back to the time of Prophet Sulayman and the Queen of Sheba. In fact, at the height of Axumite power, Yemen was most likely a province of the African kingdom. All of this was common knowledge to my interviewees. In one conversation with a North Yemeni refugee elder and his Ethiopian returnee wife, we might cover Najran, the Himyarites, Surat al-Fil (Quran, Chap. 105), the First Hijra, Oromo Sufism and the 1977 Red Sea “quadripartite summit” in Taiz. Based on this rich shared history, one interviewee even recommended that Yemen seek membership in the African Union!

Nearly all interviewees who had been in Ethiopia for over a year concurred that its multifaith national identity provides a compelling model for coexistence in Yemen. Religion is already a complex and intimate vehicle for solidarity and belonging, for among the refugees and returnees are converts to both Islam and Christianity. A small group of Yemenis hosts an Arabic-language Bible

A photo from the early Ethiopian evacuation missions during the Yemen War shows piles of suitcases, a testament to the settled lives that so many had to leave behind.

study every week; some participants identify as converts, whereas others attend to better appreciate the religious beliefs of their neighbors and colleagues in Addis Ababa.

THE LARGER VISION FOR PEACE In response to the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban, organizations such as San Francisco’s Arab Resource & Organizing Center rallied around the migration justice call: “Freedom to Stay, Freedom to Move, Freedom to Return, Freedom to Resist.” For Ethiopian lawyer Abadir Ibrahim, the First Hijra exemplifies this call. He refers to Ethiopia as “the birthplace of the Hijri Model of migrant rights,” which has “deep symbolic significance” to both peoples, as evidenced by its “positive impacts on the lives of migrants on both sides of the Red Sea.”

He elaborated, “[P]acked in that history one finds discourses and values connected with justice, liberty and non-discrimination; the freedom of thought, religion, expression and association; due process rights; and the rights of refugees to a hearing and to social services. Due to their historic and symbolic significance, these were values that easily found a home in Dimtsachin Yisema, a Muslim-based grassroots human rights movement in Ethiopia that was widely supported by the North American Ethiopian Muslim community.” [Note: Islamic Horizons covered this movement in its Sept./Oct. 2018 issue.]

This interrelationship between international migrant justice and domestic civil liberties gets at the core of how the First Hijra can open our political imagination to global prospects for peace. Although “democracy” has now become a hollow word, the imperative transcends terminology: to establish universal assurances that the core interests of diverse groups are secure, regardless of electoral turnover at the national level. As one of the world’s most diverse and multilingual democratic federations, the only never-colonized African country and a leading host of refugees and asylees, Ethiopia must find a pathway to sustainable peace — for the sake of the Ethiopians, the larger Red Sea region and the world. ih

Sara Swetzoff is a PhD candidate in African Studies at Howard University and a Fulbright Ethiopia 2020 awardee.

Al-Azhar Islamic Foundation in Barrington, IL

Job Summary: The AIF Al-Azhar Islamic Foundation (AIF) was founded by a group of Chicagoland’s American Muslims seeks a full-time Sunni Imam to grow with the organization and lead the community during religious and educational activities.

Minimum Qualifications: Education: › BA in Islamic Studies, Islamic theology, or a related field. › Strong knowledge of Quranic tajweed rules, Aqeeda, Fiqh,

Hadith & Seerah. › Fluency in Arabic and English (spoken and written).

Work Experience: › 2-4 years of work experience in an Islamic education or religious institution. › Experience with teaching at, or leading, an Islamic community or school.

Skills & Competencies: › Ability to interact with and relate to youth. › Commitment to knowledge seeking and Islamic education of youth and adults. › Strong understanding of Islam in the West, and challenges of

Muslims in America. › Ability to establish good working relationships with people of different backgrounds. › Proven ability to collaborate with higher administration of an institution. › Strong written and oral presentation skills. › Demonstrated ability to handle confidential information related to board activities

Certifications: US Permanent resident or Citizen

Working Conditions: › Work 40 hours per week. › Mosque environment. › Day, evening and weekend hours.

Salary and Benefits: Compensation package is very competitive and commensurate on qualifications and experience.

Application Documents: › Cover letter stating interest in position › Resume or CV › Recommendation letters (2) › List of references (3)

How to Apply: Please send application documents to: imamcommitte@azharamerica.org Additional details about responsibilities will be provided