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ETHIOPIA: AND THE ARAB WORLD
The book also shows that Ethiopia and the Arab world have contributed much to world civilization. it does this by showing that Ethiopian and the Arab world are old Societies with great civilizations. Ethiopian an the Arab World also shows that the relationship between the regions is multi-faceted. it demonstrates this by referring to the foreign convert (Mulazzin) to the Islamic faith who was an Ethiopian named Bilal Bin Robah. it then goes onto show that when the leaders of Koreish decided to launch a campaign of destruction against the followers of the Prophets Mohammed, the Prophet had told his people to flee to Ethiopia "the land of Peace where you find a just king under whose rule no one is wronged, the land there you can save both your souls and your religion" Ethiopia and the Arab World also documents that writers of Islamic history have recorded in their chronicles the kind of hospitality that was extended to the first Moslem emigrants who crossed the red sea to Ethiopia to seek refuge from religious persecution in their homeland. it then shows that the Prophet later on passed the message that was embodied in the Hadith saying, utruku -Al-Habasha Ma Torokukum meaning leave the Abyssinians alone so long as they don't take the offensive. this was an expiration of gratitude to Ethiopia for helping Islam. in fact this become the source of along and enduring legacy that laid the foundation that bolstered and strengthened Ethiopian's relations with the Arab World The rest of the book contains several chapters devoted to Ethiopian's bilateral relations with individual Arab states like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Jordan and the North Africa states of Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, etc as well as multilateral organizations like the Nile, Red Sea, the Middle east and Gulf states. No doubt, this book which is partly a consequence of the Ethio-Arab Symposium which Prof. Kinfe Abraham ably chairred at the Conference hall of the United Nations Economoic Commission for Africa , will continue to inspire all of us with the sprit of maintaining the momentum of strengthening Ethiopian's bilaterial and Multilaterial links with the Arab ststes in particular and the Middle East at large. Library of congress classification: Middle East and Ethiopia-History, Politics, Economics, Diplomacy, International relations etc. |
