Negash is a village in the

Tigray Region The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is ...

of Ethiopia, which straddles the Adigrat to Mekelle road north of

Wukro Wukro (Tigrigna: ውቕሮ) (also known as Wukro Kilte Awulaelo; Tigrigna: ውቕሮ ክልተ ኣውላዕሎ) (also transliterated Wuqro; is a town and separate woreda in Tigray, Ethiopia. Wukro is located along Genfel River, in the Misraqaw ...

. It is located in

woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas ( am, ወረዳ; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of ...

History

Negash is considered to be the earliest

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

settlement in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

; a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

from the 7th century CE has been excavated inside the village boundaries.Paul B. Henze, ''Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia'' (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 43. The ''Futuh al-Habasha'' records

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi ( so, Axmed Ibraahim al-Qaasi or Axmed Gurey, Harari: አሕመድ ኢብራሂም አል-ጋዚ, ar, أحمد بن إبراهيم الغازي ; 1506 – 21 February 1543) was an imam and general of the Adal Sultana ...

visited the tomb of Ashama ibn Abjar in Negash during his invasion of the province of Tigray (around 1537).Sihab ad-Din Ahmad bin 'Abd al-Qader, ''Futuh al-Habasa: The conquest of Ethiopia'', translated by Paul Lester Stenhouse with annotations by Richard Pankhurst (Hollywood: Tsehai, 2003), pp. 350f Negash is also known for having one of Africa's oldest

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

s, that is the

Al Nejashi Mosque The Al Nejashi Mosque is a mosque in Negash, Tigray Region, Ethiopia. History The mosque was established in the 7th century. In 2018, the mosque was renovated with funds from Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency. Accommodations, visitor ...

. In 2020 during Tigray War, the Al Nejashi Mosque was heavily damaged from shelling and looting.

Demographics

In the statistical tables of the 2007 census published by the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth ...

, the kebele Negash is located in is reported to have a total population of 7,753 of whom 3,607 are men and 4,146 women; they are distributed amongst 1,689 households in 1,626 housing units. Although it is known for its particular relationship with Islam, 98.2% of the population follows the

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...

, the 1.1% of the population is

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, and the remaining 0.7% is

."Tigray Statistical Table"
Annex Table 1B CSA website (accessed 27 August 2010)

References

{{Reflist Islam in Africa Populated places in the Tigray Region

History

Demographics

See also

References