Although relatively weak in its organizational capacity and material and manpower resources, open armed resistance to Yohannes's edict and his coercive measures was organized and sustained over a number of years by some of the local Muslim religious leaders. The resistance both preceded and outlined the essentially politically-motivated Wallo rebellions of the mid-1888s (89). Islam played a crucial role in the new development: as a source of inspiration and ideology for the leadership of the opposition, and as a means for recruiting followers and soliciting assistance from local sources.

The earliest militant cleric remembered in Wallo as a leader of armed opposition against the policy of forcible conversion was Shaykh 'Ali Adam, popularly known as Shaykh Ali Jerru, because his family originally came from Jerru in Menz, northen Shawa (90). He was a disciple of Shaykh Mohammad Shaff of Jama Negus, who is believed to have given him the permission to fight for the cause of Islam. Shaykh Ali's shrine on the sourthern outskirt of Dessie at a place called Bilan, where he was born and buried, later became a centre of local pilgrimage.

Shaykh 'Ali also inherited the spirit of militancy from his own father, Shaykh Adem, who had been renowned for his Jihadist activates in Reqqe. For many years in the 1850s, Shaykh Adam fought the Christians of that area in order to convert them to Islam. Although he did not have many followers and his activities were limited and clandestine, his career seems to have had a strong impact on his more famous son.

Under his command Shaykh 'Ali had a force of about five hundred horseman armed with spears and shields. Determined to confront Yohannes in spite of his weak position in military terms, he engaged the emperor's contingent at Wahelo to the northwest of Lake Hayq. His overzealous warriors were defeated and he himself died in the course of the fighting, while his son, Shaykh Yusuf, was wounded (91). Shaykh 'Ali was buried at Wahelo but six years later his body was exhumed and reburied at his birthplace at Bilan (92).

Although the resistance led by Shaykh 'Ali was no more than a show of defiance by a militant cleric and did not affect the course of subsequent events in Wallo, it traditionally represents the earliest manifestation of local, cleric-led armed opposition to a policy perceived to be inimical to Islam and the interests of the Muslim communities, and was the first organized attempt made to prevent the implementation of that policy. It was the precursor of the later, more widespread and better-organized revolt led by Shaykh Talha.

The most famous cleric and militant leader in Wallo in the 1880s was Shaykh Talha bin Jafar. [The career and activities of Shaykh Talha go beyond the first decade of the reign of Menilek. Readers are advised to read the complete article on this uniquely courageous Mujahid, Alim, … of the 19th century Ethiopian Muslims: THE LIFE AND CAREER OF SHAYKH TALHA B. JAFAR (C. 1853-1936)]

More coming soon…., insha Allah