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Annales d'Ethiopie A Muslim Prophecy Justifying the Conversion of Ethiopian Mus

Annales d'Ethiopie A Muslim Prophecy Justifying the Conversion of Ethiopian Muslims to Christianity during Yoḥannəs IV’s Reign. A Text Found in a Manuscript in Eastern Tigray / Une prophétie musulmane justifiant la conversion des musulmans éthiopiens au christianisme sous le règne de Yoḥannəs IV. Un texte issu d’un manuscrit du Tigré oriental Stéphane Ancel Citer ce document / Cite this document : Ancel Stéphane. A Muslim Prophecy Justifying the Conversion of Ethiopian Muslims to Christianity during Yoḥannəs IV’s Reign. A Text Found in a Manuscript in Eastern Tigray / Une prophétie musulmane justifiant la conversion des musulmans éthiopiens au christianisme sous le règne de Yoḥannəs IV. Un texte issu d’un manuscrit du Tigré oriental. In: Annales d'Ethiopie. Volume 30, année 2015. pp. 315-333; doi : 10.3406/ethio.2015.1592 http://www.persee.fr/doc/ethio_0066-2127_2015_num_30_1_1592 Document généré le 08/03/2018 Résumé Une prophétie musulmane justifiant la conversion des musulmans éthiopiens au christianisme sous le règne de Yohannes IV. Un texte issu d’un manuscrit du Tigré oriental – Cet article présente l’édition d’un court texte en Ge‘ez qui traite d’une prophétie musulmane concernant le Roi des Rois Yohannes IV (1872-1889). Ce texte, probablement rédigé entre 1881 et 1889, se présente comme une lettre écrite par les autorités musulmanes étrangères à l’attention des musulmans résidant dans la région du Wällo. Selon l’auteur de ce texte, Yohannes est le roi élu de Dieu, annoncé par une prophétie ; de fait, les musulmans du Wällo doivent se soumettre au monarque chrétien. Ce texte a des caractéristiques bien spécifiques dont l’analyse montre qu’il s’agit d’un document produit dans un milieu chrétien orthodoxe afin de justifier la politique agressive menée à l’encontre des musulmans éthiopiens à cette époque. Le texte soulève ainsi des questions concernant l’appareil idéologique élaboré à la cour de Yohannes IV. Abstract This paper presents the edition of a short Ge‘ez text dealing with a Muslim prophecy concerning king of kings Yohannes IV (1872-1889). This text, written probably between 1881 and 1889, is supposed to be a letter written by Muslim authorities from abroad to Muslims living in the Wällo region. According to the pseudo-author, Yohannes is the chosen king of God, announced by a prophecy ; thus Muslims from Wällo should submit immediately to the Christian monarch. This text has very specific characteristics and its analysis shows that it was a document produced in a Christian Orthodox milieu in order to justify the harsh policy directed against Muslims in Ethiopia at that time. This way the text raises questions concerning the ideological apparatus elaborated and developed at the court of Yohannes IV. Stéphane Ancel∗ A Muslim Prophecy Justifying the Conversion of Ethiopian Muslims to Christianity during Yoh .ann e s IV’s Reign. A Text Found in a Manuscript in Eastern Tigray Une prophétie musulmane justifant la conversion des musulmans éthiopiens au christianisme sous le règne de Yoh . ann e s IV. Un texte issu d’un manuscrit du Tigré oriental In 2012, a text dealing with a Muslim prophecy concerning king of kings Yoh .ann e s IV (1872-1889) was identifed and photographed by the team of Ethio-SPaRe project in Tämben, East Tigray.1 This article aims at editing and briefy commenting on the text because of its historical signifcance. The text, written probably between 1881 and 1889, has very specifc characteristics and raises questions concerning an ideological apparatus elaborated and developed at the court of Yoh .ann e s IV. During his reign, Yoh .ann e s aimed at imposing religious uniformity in his kingdom. At the council of Boru Meda in May 1878, the monarch, wishing to put an end to the internal divisions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, declared the täwah . e do doctrine as the only one authorized in the country. Yoh .ann e s could count on help from each of the regional princes, especially from n e guś Menilek of Šäwa and ras Adal Täsämma of Goˇ gˇ gam, ∗Institut des mondes africains, Paris. Contact: stephaneancel@hotmail.com. The research resulting in this article was conducted for the project “Ethio-SPaRe: Cultural Heritage of Christian Ethiopia, Salvation, Preservation, Research,” funded by the European Research Council within the EU 7th Framework Program IDEAS; http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/ethiostudies/ETHIOSPARE. 1 Nosnitsin, 2013: 371-376. Annales d’Éthiopie, 2015, 30, 315-333 316 Stéphane Ancel both present at the council of Boru Meda and for once in agreement with the monarch. Followers of the other two doctrines, Q e bat and Yäs .ägga l e ˇ gˇ g, were persecuted and obliged to recognize the new offcial faith of the kingdom. But at the council of Boru Meda, Yoh .ann e s also required Muslims and “pagans” to convert to Christianity within two years or to leave the country. Persecution against Muslims started, particularly in the Wällo region where forced and mass conversions were organized, the local rulers having converted to Christianity just after the council, ’im¯ am Mäh . ammäd Ali, ruler of Wärrä Himamo (subsequently ras and baptized as Mika‘el Ali) and ’im¯ am Amäde Libän “Abba Wa˙ täw,” ruler of Wärräbabbo (subsequently däˇ gˇ gazmač and baptized as Haylä Maryam).2 Historians have usually explained this new policy toward Muslims in Ethiopia in terms of the evolution of the Ethiopian monarchy characteristics. King of kings Tewodros II (1855-1867) and after him Yoh .ann e s IV rebuilt royal authority in Ethiopia. Supported by an intensive propaganda in which the so-called neo-Solomonic ideology was predominant, they struggled to reinforce the royal power, undermined during the zämänä mäsafent, and to unify, by force or negotiation, all the regions of Ethiopia under their personal authority.3 History and literature were mobilized to legitimate the new position of the king of kings: for instance, the k e brä nägäśt was used to legitimate Christian and authoritarian political culture in Ethiopia; the fekkare iyäsus justifed the messianic power of Tewodros II; while the Aksumite heritage and Christian character of Ethiopia were seized upon and monopolized by Yoh .ann e s IV, who styled himself as “Elect of God and King of Zion.” Creating and developing new royal regalia, monopolizing them and involving history, ideology and violence, the monarchs and their followers worked hard to legitimate their hegemonic position over the Ethiopian political scene. Apparently, the ideological apparatus used for justifying the royal position of Yoh .ann e s IV could have been seen as suffcient to justify also his confronta- tion with Muslims. If numerous historical studies analyzed the great evolution of the ideological apparatus used by Tewodros II or Yoh .ann e s IV to justify their royal authority, there is still a lack of studies concerning those engaged by Yoh .ann e s to justify his action against Muslims. Because it was based on the promotion of Christianity and the Christian aspect of the Ethiopian monar- chy, the neo-Solomonic ideology could have been understood as promoting religious and cultural uniformity of Ethiopia. Some historians consider that it is not a surprise to have seen Yoh .ann e s proclaiming religious uniformity for Ethiopia and thus engaging in confrontation with the Muslims. The position 2 On the religious policy of Yoh .ann e s IV, see Caulk, 1972: 23-41. 3 Crummey, 1988: 13-43. A Muslim Prophecy Justifying the Conversion of Ethiopian Muslims to Christianity 317 of the king of kings towards Muslims was like that seen by historians as the “natural” consequence of the evolution of Ethiopian monarchy.4 If so, having already analyzed the propaganda elaborated for imposing the royal authority in Ethiopia, one can be tempted to think that such analysis would not be necessary for the confrontation with Muslims. But a new fnding brings a new look at that period and, on the contrary, encourages such an analysis. 1. A Manuscript Preserved in Tämben In November-December 2012, the team of the Ethio-SPaRe project visited several churches and monasteries in the Tämben region (Däg‘a Tämben wäräda, Southern T e gray zone) and digitized a substantial portion of their parchment manuscript collections. Among the institutions visited was Däbrä Nazret Q e ddus Yoh .ann e s monastery in Tägoga.5 This monastery was established by Yoh .ann e s IV. Dr. Orlowska visited this monastery in 2003 and provided the land charter granted by Yoh .ann e s.6 The digitization of the parchment manuscript collection of the monastery brought to light that the monarch had also donated numerous manuscripts to the monastery. Among these manuscripts, nine have been identifed as previously belonging to the Mäqdäla library,7 but many others were written at the time of the donation. A parchment manuscript preserved in the collection of Tägoga monastery is particularly interesting. It is a fnely done manuscript of 104 folios (13 quires) including fve texts dealing with Oromos and Muslims in Ethiopia:8 The Book of the History of the Galla and the Vision of King L e bnä D e ng e l [mäs .h . afä tarik zä-galla wä-ra’ e yä n e gus e nä l e bnä d e ng e l] (fols. 3ra-41vb), The Book of the History of Wayzäro Argaya [mäs .h . afä tarik zä-wäyzäro argaya] (fols. uploads/Litterature/ ethio-0066-2127-2015-num-30-1-1592.pdf