Part 1: Response To Reno Omokri On Some Muslim Practices & Beliefs

By: Dr. Salihu Lukman

Dear Hassan,

Thank you for your feedback. Much of what you practice in Islam was learnt from the people of Habesha.

Many Muslims are unaware that the first Hijrah in Islam was to Ethiopia, then known as Abyssinia in English and Habesha in Amharic. Many of the cultures of Islam were actually derived from the Ethiopians.

If you Google Ethiopian Christian monks, you may be surprised at how similar their dressing is to the Islamic way of dressing. Yet, they have been dressing that way for over 2000 years, as described in their holy book, Kebra Nagast, and as testified to by ancient drawings and illustrations. Islam, as revealed to prophet Muhammad (SAW) and practised by his followers, is 1400 years old. You do the maths.

The attached photo is of a Tewahedo monk. I took it myself. Does he not look like a Sheikh? My wife and daughter wear a netala (hijab) to go to church. All Tewahedo women wear one to enter the church. And they enter from a different entrance and do not mingle with men in church.

Tewahedo means the oneness of God, without a partner, equal or confederate, as revealed to Moses (Nabi Musa) in Deuteronomy 6:4. The Islamic Tawhid means the same thing. Please fact-check me: Tewahedo, as a practice, is older than Tawhid. Again, you do the math.

Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) nurse, Umm Ayman, was an Ethiopian. She was present on the day the prophet was born and on the day he died.

Ruqayyah, the daughter of the holy prophet Muhammad (SAW), lived in Ethiopia for almost a decade with her husband, Uthman, the third Caliph of Islam.

In one of the Hadiths, it is recorded that the Christian Negus (king) of Ethiopia gifted prophet Muhammad (SAW) two items of clothing.

There are more descendants of prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wasalaam, (these descendants are called Sayyids) in Ethiopia, than in Saudi Arabia. In fact, they formed their tribe, called the Sirte.

Harar in Ethiopia is the fourth holiest Muslim city in the world. The Muslims who returned to Medina from Habashah (as Ethiopia is called in Arabic). The word Habashah means “to collect” in Arabic. It is believed to be so called because the early Muslims collected so much from Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian king (Negus) militarily protected the Muslims from the Quraysh of Mecca, who wanted to kill them, and they flourished during their time in Ethiopia. Do the math, Hassan.

Thanks again, and may God bless you.

#TableShaker #GrowNairaBuyNaija

My Response:

To say that “Much of what you practice in Islam was learnt from the people of Habesha” is an unsubstantiated claim and a clear depiction of a lack of knowledge of the origins of Islamic practices and beliefs. You are a learned follower of prophet Isa (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and an erudite pastor, but that does not qualify you to be an expert on the origins of Islamic practices and beliefs even though you have lived with the Muslims in the Northern part of Nigeria and have read widely about Islam.

For you to conclude that “Many of the cultures of Islam were actually derived from the Ethiopians” just because of the shear resemblance of some Islamic dressings with the Ethiopians and because of the Islamic concept of Tauhid resembling the Tawahedo concept of the oneness of God which came before Islam speaks volumes of your lack of knowledge on the origins of these two important Islamic practice and belief. This sweeping and simplistic conclusion is devoid of any concrete evidence. Relying on Muslim migration to Ethiopia during the 5^th year of prophethood, an Ethiopian nurse, and a gift of clothing to prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to further support your conclusion only points to the fact you need to study the origins of Islamic practices and beliefs in greater details so that you don’t misinform your audience who might believe your every word. When you quoted that prophet Musa (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) practiced Tauhid, you never inferred that his Tauhid was also derived from the Ethiopians. The million-dollar question here is when prophet Isa (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) practiced Tauhid, did he also derive it or learn it from the Ethiopians and not from God’s revelations in the Scripture?

I am sorry to say that your assertion that “Harar in Ethiopia is the fourth holiest Muslim city in the world” is not true, because there is nothing like the fourth holiest Muslim city in the world. Muslims only know of the 3 holiest Muslim cities, i.e., Mecca (1^st), Medina (2^nd), and Al-Aqsa (3^rd) in Jerusalem because of the Sacred Mosques in these cities as illustrated in the Hadith below.

Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “A prayer in the Sacred Mosque (in Mecca) is worth 100,000 prayers; a prayer in my mosque (in Medina) is worth 10,000 prayers; and a prayer in al-Aqsa Mosque is worth 1,000 prayers.” (Sahih al-Bukhari)

There are numerous other Hadiths similar to the one I quoted above that clearly assert greater holiness of these 3 cities compared to other places but Harar in Ethiopia was never mentioned as the fourth holiest Muslim city in the world anywhere.

You see, I follow you on all your social media handles, read posts daily like a daily ritual, and have written in your favor before and shared your posts in my articles, groups, and status because your logical and critical analyses on most topics are superb and extraordinary. However, reducing core Muslim practices and beliefs that were derived directly from the Qur’an and ancient Arab cultures and passing them off as mere appendages of some ancient Ethiopian practices and religious beliefs is at best highly misinformative and at worst extremely disinformative.

Salihu Lukman is an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Hafr Al Batin, Saudi Arabia