While presenting an historical account of the internal dynamics of Islam in Wallo, Ethiopia, with particular emphasis on the modes of its introduction and dissemination, and on its relationship with the Ethiopian state and regional power structure, this book describes the background to, and manifestations of, the revival and consolidation of Islam in the region in the nineteenth century by assessing the role of Muslim scholars, traders and chiefs in that process. It also traces the origin of the tradition of Islamic renewal and reform, and analyzes the response of Wallo Muslim religious intellectuals to the attempt of the Ethiopian Christian monarchs of the period to bring about the political unification of the kingdom by imposing a policy of religious coercion on the Muslims of Wallo. Based largely on hitherto-untapped oral and written indigenous sources, and supplemented by external archival and documentary evidence, the study is aimed at redressing the historiographical and interpretive imbalance embedded in the scholarly, institutional and popular perceptions on Islam in Ethiopia.

Drawing on international and multidisciplinary expertise, this pioneering edited collection analyzing Islam in contemporary Ethiopia challenges the popular notion of a 'Christian Ethiopia' imagined as the century-old, never colonized Abyssinia, isolated in the highlands and dominated by Orthodox Christianity.

Discussing an armed insurgency in Ethiopia (1963-1970), this study offers a new perspective for understanding relations between religion and ethnicity.

This volume examines the impact of Islam upon the nomadic and settled peoples of North-East Africa, the reactions of the population to that impact and the existing state of Islam professed by those who have been won over to it.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

What is the significance of Islam¿s growing strength in Ethiopia? And what is the impetus for the Saudi financing of hundreds of new mosques and schools in the country, the establishment of welfare organizations, and the spread of the Arabic language? Haggai Erlich explores the interplay of religion and international politics as it has shaped the development of modern Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. Tracing Saudi-Ethiopian relations from the 1930s to the present, Erlich highlights the nexus of concrete politics and the conceptual messages of religion. His fresh approach encompasses discussions of the options and dilemmas facing Ethiopians, both Christians and Muslims, across multiple decades; the Saudis¿ nuanced conceptualization of their Islamic ¿self¿ in contrast to Christian and Islamic ¿others¿; and the present confrontation between Ethiopia¿s apolitical Islam and Wahhabi fundamentalism. It also provides new perspectives on both the current dilemmas of the Wahhabi kingdom and the global implications of the evolving Saudi-Ethiopian relationship.