Now that the
fallacy of
one heart, one mind, one religion and one country came to a halt,
writers like
Johannes are finding it difficult to re-orient themselves with the new
reality
on the ground. What amazes me is that these individuals will do
whatever it
takes to make a political point even if it means sowing the seed of
hatred
among the peaceful people of Ethiopia.
Having said that, I would like to rebuttal his argument if one can call
it an
argument in order to refute some of his baseless claims that do not
stand the
scrutiny of an astute reader familiar with the history of Ethiopia.
His
venomous attack of Ethiopian Muslims has emanated from his hatred of
Ethiopian
Muslims and as such anyone who wants to preserve the peaceful
co-existence of
both religions should stand up and call spate spate before writers like
Johannes achieve their ultimate goal of causing havoc in the country.
Although I believe that the Muslims of Ethiopia have to stand up and
challenge
these groundless fabrications, any Ethiopian who is concerned of the
well
being of the country should reject these types of fabrications that
might
create fear and hostility. Johannes can best be categorized as fear
monger and
opportunist.
His extreme hate to anything Islamic has clouded his thought process to
the
extent that he conjured up numbers that do not add up at all. For
instance,
he claims that the Muslim residents of Addis Ababa number 300,000
only. This
assertion is totally against the well established fact that the
majority are
indeed Muslims. Unless this individual is talking in one Kebele only.
As to
the 60% Christians in the country, may be he should look at the recent
CIA
report and even read an article written by the former US ambassador to
Ethiopia and I am sure he will find these sources more palatable to him
than
researching own his on in order to reach a conclusion by looking at the
demography of the country.
His article does not lack recommendations as to how the country should
conduct
itself, if he has a free ride on the matter, I am sure he would not
hesitate
to deploy King Yuhanes’ style of justice toward Ethiopian Muslims.
Give them
an ultimatum and if they don’t convert to Orthodox Christianity within
a year
exterminate them or expel them out of their country. This is what he
is
proposing the government to do. In fact he seems reminiscing of the
Haileselase era and wishes to see the law that was deemed inhuman and
racist
by the current government for excluding a portion of a society and
particularly Ethiopian Muslims to be reinstated. Those days are gone
forever. He also despises the fact the Ethiopian Muslims are becoming
more
assertive and becoming more visible than before. Well, at this point
there is
no return to the old days where a portion of the population was hidden
from
the outside world like the Oromos which Sebhatu seems to suggest. What
a
pity?
He also yapped a lot about women wearing the Hijab. Covering the hair
is not
a new phenomena in Ethiopian and in fact women in Ethiopia always wore
a hair
cover to guard their modesty. May be the writer lived outside of his
country
for so long that he fort that was the case and wanted to introduce
western
version of civility. As they say, the justifications given can be
worst than
the crime. His reasoning for not allowing the visibility of Muslims in
Addis
Ababa is because of the various headquarters and NGO offices and that
does not
befit city’s status and in order not to give the impression that
Muslims are
the majority. This is a pure deception technique that may not last for
ever
and won’t change the reality.
Sebhatu seems bothered by the fact that Muslim prayers in Addis block
the
streets during Friday prayer. Does this take a rocket scientist to
figure it
out? The answer is simple, the Anwar Mosque that was built by the
approval of
the Italians during their rule of the city, has become so small in
accommodating the growing number of the Muslim population of the city
and as
such it is very natural to see people praying outside the premises of
the
Mosque. Again the solution for this problem is easy and simple. Expand
the
size of the Mosque and problem solved.
In fact, recently I heard that some extreme Orthodox Christians, the
ilk of
Sebhatu went to the government officials to complain of the growing
number of
Mosques in the country and urge them to put and end to the trend. The
answer
of the officials was that unlike the Churches, Mosques are built in a
very
limited space and therefore it is normal to see the number of small
Mosques
mushrooming. Here again, I would like to indicate to the readers that
Ethiopian Muslims still face insurmountable barriers to build a place
of
worship that can accommodate their needs.
Sebhatu’s degrading of Muslims and Islam can be described as cheap and
ignorant and does not deserve a rebuttal and in fact the Qur’an has
instructed
Muslims not to get involved in an argument with people of ignorance
when they
open one with you and the best thing is to say peace and move own.
Having
said that, Sebhatu’s insult of Islam and Muslims was not limited to the
Ethiopian Muslims per se, but he went own to degrade other Muslims.
He lacks decency when describing the Muslim prayer. How is it the
prayer of
Muslims considered hitting ones forehead. To show his contempt to the
religion, he selected the word hitting. By the way, your own faith, I
am just
assuming here that you have one, also requires you to pray in the same
manner,
the fact that Muslims have not adulterated and kept their way of prayer
intact
is not a crime.
You did mention the injustice of Imam Ahmed (Grang Ahmed) and the
destruction
of Churches. I wish our history can be re-visited and the injustice
that was
done to the Ethiopian Muslims become the domain of the public and then
only
then the world would be able to see who committed unspeakable
atrocities.
Although my intention is to rebuttal his selective approach to the
historical
facts, I am fully aware that re-living the horror of the past will not
help us
to go forward but people like Sebhatu are bent in creating havoc no
matter of
the consequences as long as it satisfies their ego. If you need to
criticize
the current government, you may do so without using Muslims of Ethiopia
as a
scapegoat.
I will have to leave it there and the rest for the readers to judge as
to the
validity of his claims and I hope others will follow suit in informing
the
likes of Johannes to stop inciting hatred and among the peace loving
people of
Ethiopia.
