Sheikh Hussein was a 13th-century Somali

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 ...

proselytizer Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or ''Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as involu ...

who lived in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

and was from the famous port town of

Merca Merca ( so, Marka, Maay Maay, Maay: ''Marky'', ar, مركة) is a historic port city in the southern Lower Shebelle province of Somalia. It is located approximately to the southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu. Merca is the traditional home ...

, one of the power jurisdictions and cultural centers of the

Ajuran Empire The Ajuran Sultanate ( so, Saldanadda Ajuuraan, ar, سلطنة الأجورانية), also natively referred-to as Ajuuraan, and often simply Ajuran, was a Somali Empire in the Middle Ages in the Horn of Africa that dominated the trade in the ...

. He is now honored as a saint He is mostly known as being a member of the Somali 'Diwan al-awliya' (Famous Saints of Somali Origin).

History

Hussein was born in

. He is credited for introducing

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

to the Sidamo people living in the area at the time. He is also credited for founding and establishing the

Sultanate of Bale The Sultanate of Bale was a Sidama Muslim sultanate founded in the Bale Mountains of the southern Ethiopian Highlands and Horn of Africa. It corresponds roughly to the modern Bale Zone of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. History Establishment The ...

and is said to have performed many miracles. A number of these feats have been recorded in a

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

published in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

in the 1920s, entitled ''Rabi` al-Qulub.'' He gave his name to the town of

Sheikh Hussein __NOTOC__ Sheikh Hussein is a town in south-eastern Ethiopia. Located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a longitude and latitude of with an elevation of 1386 meters above sea level. The Central Statistical Agency has not published a ...

, which is now within the homelands of the Oromo people. The city is a popular destination for approximately 50,000 Muslim pilgrims from various parts Ethiopia, who congregate there twice a year during the Islamic months of

Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...

and Rabi' al-Awwal.J. Spencer Trimingham, ''Islam in Ethiopia'' (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), pp. 253-256. The first pilgrimage in February–March is to celebrate Sheikh Hussein's birth; the second in August–September is to commemorate his death. The pilgrims traditionally carry cleft sticks known as "Oulle Sheikh Hussein", which are too small to serve as walking sticks and are not utilized for any practical purpose. Once they arrive at the shrine, the pilgrims take their turn entering the saint's tomb by crawling through a small doorway."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 2 November 2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hussein, Sheikh 13th-century Ethiopian people Muslim missionaries