Religions

Christianity

Ethiopian tradition holds that Christianity first arrived in the Aksumite Empire at the time of the Apostles, and that many of its inhabitants by then believed in the new faith. The conversion of the Aksumite state was around 330 AD. The Aksumite inscription began to refer to the Christian God, and Aksumite coins to bear the Cross of Christ. The first Ethiopian church has been founded at Aksum, and to date from the time of the country’s conversion, in the early fourth century. This historic place of worship was dedicated to Saint Mary, and came to be known as St Mary of Seyon, i.e. the Ethiopian form of the name Zion. The church holds that the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Ethiopia by Menilek the first, King Solomon’s son by the Queen of Sheba. The Ark according to traditional belief was taken to Aksum, and is housed in the store-house of this church, to this day.

Islam

Ethiopia’s ties with Islam date back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Muslim tradition holds that at the beginning of his teaching the prophet’s early disciples fell under bitter persecution in Arabia. Muhammad, it is recalled, then pointed across the Red Sea, westwards towards Abyssinia, and, apparently echoing the ancient Greek idea of the “blameless Ethiopia,” declared, “Yonder lieth a country where no one is wronged, a land of righteousness. Depart thither; and remain there until it pleases the Lord to open the way”.

A group of the first Muslim accordingly made their way, in 615 AD, to Aksum, where they were most hospitably received. More refugees soon joined them, their number before long exceeding a hundred. They stayed in Tigray Region at Negash village which is known as the earliest Muslim settlement in Africa and build Amedin Mesgid (Mosque).