Johannes Sebhatu’s perception of Ethiopia
By Aman in Canada: July 10, 2004

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Time has indeed changed, who would ever thought a time will come where Orthodox Christians who according to Johannes Sebhatu are the flag bearers complain of inequality in Ethiopia where for years believed that Ethiopia is the Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church is actually Ethiopia, regardless of the existence of other religions in the country.

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.