[Introduction]

The opening of the second half of the nineteenth century was a turning point not only in the political history of north-central Ethiopia in general, and of Wallo in particular, but also marked the onset of reverses for Islam within the region. The revival and reconstitution of imperial power, and the ascendancy of centralized authority, which was a culmination of long drawn-out struggle between the forces of regionalism and the monarchy, inaugurated a new phase in the relationship between the Christian court and Islam.

Two of the most outstanding emperors of the period under consideration, Tewodros II and Yohannes IV, perceived Islam, especially Islam in Wllo, as an internal source of direct challenge to their policy of unification and centralization, and allegedly, as a domestic ally of external expansionist powers, Egypt and (for Yohannes IV) the Mahdist Sudan. It also appears that the two monarchs were alarmed by the progress and revival of Islam, an aspect that was analysed in third chapter [of the book]. In their overall perception of Ethiopian Islam, they did not therefore show any departure from the old mediaeval Christian view which identified Islam as a force of disintegration and a threat to the very survival of the Christian state and society. It was only in the specific policies which they adopted towards Muslims, and in the intensity and ruthlessness with which they attempted to implement them, that they differed radically from their predecessors. Needless to say the main objective of this chapter is not to dwell on the motives, aims and the degree of success or failure of the policies, not because this aspect is irrelevant to the subject under discussion, but because it is fairly well-known and amply documented.

Most of the contemporary sources and later studies specifically dealing with the reign of Tewodros and Yohannes have described, commented on, and in some cases explained away, the background to, and the political factors which had prompted the adoption of, their religious policies (1). What has so far remained relatively obscure is the whole question of the impact, on the local communities, of the measures taken by the monarchs in order to implement the policies, the nature and extent of local reactions, and the immediate and long-term political, social and economic consequences for the region as a whole.

The present chapter seeks to provide an insight into this neglected aspect of the history of indigenous Islam in a crucial period of its existence when it was assaulted by the combined forces of the resurgent Christian state and church, on the one hand, and of the regional political allies of the state, on the other. It attempts to redress the imbalance inherent in some of the available historic accounts which have treated the relationship between the Christian monarchs and Islam, by presenting the traditions and views of the indigenous Muslims. The discussion which follows will address itself to these crucial questions: How did local Muslims see and interpret the policies of Tewodros and Yohannes regarding Islam? To what extent did the Muslim communities suffer from them? Were the uprisings of the 1880s religious, political, social, or a combination of all these? The study will especially focus on, and analyse, the armed struggle waged by the Wallo Muslim lords of the region, led by the resistance against forced conversion to Christianity. The discussion of the lives and activity of two well-known leaders of this opposition will shed light on the nature and limitation of the resistance.

Tewodros and Wallo: 1855-1865

Yohannes and Islam in Wallo

The Resistence of the Militant Muslim Clerics