Sheikh Hussein

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Sheikh Hussein
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pushpin_label_position = right
pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ethiopia
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Ethiopia
subdivision_type1 = Region
subdivision_name1 = Oromia
subdivision_type2 = Zone
subdivision_name2 = Bale
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timezone = EAT
utc_offset = +3
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latd=7 |latm=45 |latNS=N
longd=40 |longm=42 |longEW=E
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elevation_m = 1386
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footnotes = __NOTOC__Sheikh Hussein is a village in south eastern Ethiopia. Located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region, the village has a longitude and latitude of coord|7|45|N|40|42|E with an elevation of 1386 meters above sea level. The Central Statistical Agency has not published an estimate for this village's 2005 population.

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 woreda of the Mirab Hararghe Zone. The road was formally inaugurated 19 December. [ [http://www.addisfortune.com/Vol%208%20No%20399%20Archive/Locally-Owned%20SATCON%20Completes%20Showcase%20Mountain%20Road.htm Locally-Owned SATCON Completes Showcase Mountain Road] ("Addis Fortune")]

Tomb of the Saint

The village is name after what, in Ethiopian Muslim eyes, is the most sacred place in that country: the tomb of the thirteenth century Sheikh Hussein, who introduced Islam to the Sidamo 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 published in Cairo in the 1920s, entitled "Rabi` al-Qulub." Although this village is now within the homelands of the Oromo 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 and Rabi' al-Awwal.J. Spencer Trimingham, "Islam in Ethiopia" (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), pp. 253-256.] 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.PDFlink| [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/s/ORTSHE.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] |134 KiB The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 3 December 2007)]

The extensive religious complex dedicated to the saint includes the village and the nearby valley of Kachamsare. In the 18th century, Emir `Abd al-Shakur ibn Yusuf of Harar constructed a shrine to the Baghdadi saint `Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani near the tomb of Sheikh Hussein, inside the shrine compound. A graveyard 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") in the Oromo language. 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.

References

Further reading

* I.M. Lewis, "The Western Somali Liberation Front (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

* [http://www.addistribune.com/Archives/2001/07/27-07-01/National.htm An "Addis Tribune" article on the Sof Omar Caves]
* [http://www.uni-mainz.de/Organisationen/ETHIOPIA/cross-and-crescent/pilgrimage.html "The Tradition of Pilgrimage in Ethiopia" - with pictures of the Sheikh Hussein shrine in Bale ]
* Jeylan W. Hussein, PDFlink| [http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kiroku/asm_normal/abstracts/pdf/26-1/26-1-2.pdf "The Functions of African "(sic)" Oral Arts: The Arsi-Oromo Oral Arts in Focus"] |259 KiB , "African Study Monographs", 26(1): 15-58, March 2005, especially. pp. 32-46.