Sheikh Hussein is a village in south-eastern Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. Located in the Bale Zone

Bale Zone

Bale is one of the 17 zones in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Bale is named for the former kingdom of Bale, which was in approximately the same area...

 of the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...

, it has a longitude and latitude of 7°45′N 40°42′E with an elevation of 1386 meters above sea level. The Central Statistical Agency

Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)

The Central Statistical Agency is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth, as well as to act as an official training center in that field. It is part of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and...

 has not published an estimate for this village's 2005 population.

Overview

On 23 December, 2007, Addis Fortune reported that SATCON Construction, an Ethiopian-owned firm, completed a four-year effort to build a 170 kilometer road through the mountainous area of the Oromia Region connecting Sheikh Hussein with the town of Micheta, located in the Darolebu

Darolebu

Darolebu is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Mirab Hararghe Zone, Darolebu is bordered on the south by the Shebelle River which separates it from the Bale Zone, on the west by the Arsi Zone, on the northwest by Guba Koricha, on the north by the Habro, and on the...

 woreda of the Mirab Hararghe Zone

Mirab Hararghe Zone

Mirab Hararghe is one of the 17 Zones in the Ethiopian Region of Oromia. Mirab Hararghe takes its name from the former province of Hararghe. Mirab Harerge is bordered on the south by the Shebelle River which separates it from Bale, on the southwest by Arsi, on the northwest by the Afar Region, on...

. The road was formally inaugurated 19 December.

Arthur Donaldson Smith

Arthur Donaldson Smith

Dr. Arthur Donaldson Smith was an American explorer of Africa. In the 1890s he made a geological expedition to Lake Rudolph , passing through what was then Somaliland, southern Ethiopia and Kenya.-External links:*...

 arrived at Sheikh Hussein 21 September 1894, where he spent several days, and afterwards his companion visited the tomb of Sheikh Hussein's assistant Sheikh Mohammed.

Tomb of the Saint

The village is name after what, in Ethiopian Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 eyes, is the most sacred place in that country: the tomb

Tomb

A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes...

 of the thirteenth century Sheikh Hussein

Sheikh Hussein (saint)

Sheikh Hussein was a 13th century missionary from the Red Sea coast, now honored as a saint, who lived in Ethiopia. He is credited with introducing Islam to the Sidamo people living in the area at the time, and is said to have performed many miracles...

, who introduced Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 to the Sidamo

Sidama people

The Sidama people of southern Ethiopia are an ethnic group whose homeland is in the Sidama Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. They number 2,966,474 of whom 149,480 are urban inhabitants, the fifth most populous nation in Ethiopia...

 people living in the area at the time, and is said to have performed many miracles. A number of these miracles have been recorded in a hagiography

Hagiography

Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...

 published in Cairo in the 1920s, entitled Rabi` al-Qulub. Although this village is now within the homelands of the Oromo

Oromo people

The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...

 people, it has continued to be the destination of approximately 50,000 pilgrims from Moslem Ethiopia twice a year during the Muslim months of Hajj

Hajj

The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...

 and Rabi' al-Awwal

Rabi' al-awwal

Rabi' al-awwal is the third month in the Islamic calendar. During this month, Muslims around the world celebrate Mawlid - the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Sunni Muslims believe the exact date of birth of Muhammad to have been on the twelfth of this month, whereas Shi'a Muslims believe...

. The first pilgrimage is to celebrate his birth, the second his death. They traditionally carry cleft sticks known as "Oulle Sheikh Hussein", which are too small to serve as walking sticks and are not utilized for any practical purpose. Once they arrive at the shrine, the pilgrims take their turns entering the saint's tomb by crawling through a small doorway.

The extensive religious complex dedicated to the saint includes the village and the nearby valley of Kachamsare. In the 18th century, Emir

Emir

Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...

 `Abd al-Shakur ibn Yusuf

`Abd al-Shakur ibn Yusuf

Ahmad I ibn Abi Bakr was Emir of Harar . In the first years of his reign, the Emir went with afriend to the Jarso and Nole Oromo, taking bales of sheetings for the first time to these Oromo in order to civilize them...

 of Harar

Harar

Harar is an eastern city in Ethiopia, and the capital of the modern Harari ethno-political division of Ethiopia...

 constructed a shrine to the Baghdadi saint `Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani near the tomb of Sheikh Hussein, inside the shrine compound. A graveyard

Graveyard

A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...

 has also been consecrated as part of the complex. Other landmarks of the complex include the pond of Dinkiro, 300 meters south of the mosque, built in dry stone masonry; associated with the pond is a spring with "miraculous" water. At the entrance of the holy area are two wild fig trees called kiltu (identified as Ficus sycomorus

Ficus sycomorus

Ficus sycomorus, called the sycamore fig or the fig-mulberry , sycamore, or sycomore, is a fig species that has been cultivated since ancient times...

) in the Oromo language

Oromo language

Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...

. Near another pond, of Imaro, there is the mosque of Sheikh Hussein's father, both with a gubba of Harar type. Also nearby are several caves -- a "cave of serpents", a "cave of herbs", and a "cave of honey" -- and rock formations said to be petrified persons.

Further reading

• I.M. Lewis, "The Western Somali Liberation Front
  Western Somali Liberation Front
  The Western Somali Liberation Front was a separatist rebel group fighting in eastern Ethiopia to create an independent state. It played a major role in the Ogaden War of 1977-78 assisting the invading Somali Army...
  
   (WSLF) and the Legacy of Sheikh Hussein of Bale" in Tubiana, Joseph (ed.). Modern Ethiopia from the Accession of Menelik II to the Present. Rotterdam: Balkema, 1980.

External links

• An Addis Tribune article on the Sof Omar Caves
• The Tradition of Pilgrimage in Ethiopia - with pictures of the Sheikh Hussein shrine in Bale
• Jeylan W. Hussein, , African Study Monographs, 26(1): 15-58, March 2005, especially. pp. 32-46.