by Idris Ahmed Osman
Every political analyst looks into the global events in the political arena from different perspective. I personally prefer to dig out the roots of its source. Why Ethiopia is involved in the Somali civil conflict?!. Why is it braving and calling for far troubles outside its borders?!. Is it partially settling scores of the past?! Or was it a pre-emptive strike meant to weaken a potentially growing threat of the Islamist movement next door?! Who is behind its mobilization?!. Many of us, except few, would have been surprised that a prophecy by the prophet (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) fell twice on Ethiopia in its past and future history. The first was about a Monarch in whose territory none would be oppressed. The Abyssinian king called Nagesh, was foretold by the messenger to had been a just ruler who would have had followed the truth and protected the virtuous. King Nagesh, then a true Christian, gave asylum to the Muslim migrants, companions of the prophet (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) who fled from the persecution of Koreishi idolaters in Makka. King Nagesh reverted to Islam and died as a Muslim (may Allah be pleased with him). That was a prophecy of good omen. Islam came into Ethiopia well before the start of the Muslim Hijri calendar while the prophet (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) was still in Makka and that is great honour for our neighbours.
The second prophecy that is definitely set, by the leave of Allah, to occur one day inspires obnoxious dilemma and we never take it on all of you generally on individual basis. The prophet (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) prophesied in the coming future of a man from among the Abyssinian people (Ethiopia) whose physical character was described as with flimsy legs and demolishing the Kaabah with an axe in his hand. This was obviously a prophecy of bad omen. It is apparent from these two allegorical juxtapositions that there is potentially both previous good and future bad intention within our neighbours. It would be worthwhile though to cultivate the former rather than the latter. The course of both the current affairs and earlier negative incidents depict that the balance was lately shifting towards the flimsy legged character in whose hand would be the axe to reduce one of our most noble shrines to debris. If your government claims to be a democratic country, then you the Ethiopian people are the decision makers.
You know well that Somalis have been preoccupied with their own internal civil conflicts for the past seventeen years and no single stray bullet of theirs swayed into your territory. Your government chose to deploy your troops and carry out a massive massacre in Mogadishu, using helicopter gunships and heavy weaponry. There is loss of lives on both sides, yet as you might have seen or heard in the media, mostly innocent children and women were, in the most recent confrontations, either victimized or killed. Your beloved ones are dying in strange remote lands, helpless, humiliated and without reasonable objective. It is not time to ask who is responsible as most of the casualties are infants, suckling mothers and old people; hence a sudden cease fire on both sides and an immediate halt of your aggression is extremely necessary. Had there been a referendum by your government in which you voted YES to this deliberate aggression and attack of your government in our country, we urge you to say NO and demand from your government an immediate strategic pull out and return of your troops. Your government is fighting a pre-emptive war in which there is not direct threat or national security interest and benefit for you as a citizen. Your government might seek a pretext of invasion in apprehending a threat next door; but to be safe and secure, it would be sufficient that it fortified its borders and stood aside from the neighbourhood conflict.
Most Somalis are now convinced blatantly or subconsciously that you are settling old scores and unfinished long standing vengeance with Somalia. To prove to the contrary, your government should rush to pull back and stop this heinous aggression. Even if the intention of your government were sincere to restore peace and enforce it by the AU mandate, likes poles repel. Long history of hostility and feudalism between our two countries tarnished the image of you, once considered bitter neighbourhood foe by Somalis, becoming a neutral peace keeping force. I would always personally like us Somalis to see the image of Ethiopian people representing the ex-Christian monarch Nagesh who was more subjective and followed (Islam) the true religion of Jesus Christ (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) and Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wasallam). When one of the companions recited the chapter in the Quran by the name of Mary, the mother of Jesus (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) for your ancestral monarch Nagesh (may Allah bless him), he shed tears of faith, full of emotions, humbleness and humility. He stood up from his throne and picked up a small stick and uttered his famous statement: By my Lord, there is no difference equal even to this small stick between the religion of Jesus (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) and that of Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wasallam). He followed the biblical text by virtue of "Seek ye the truth and the truth shall set you free". He was then hailed and praised in the noble Quran as an example of the faithful and just Christian scholars.
I opted to address you in my open letter rather than your leaders, because you individually as the people of Ethiopia may hearken and behold my sincere and honest overt intent and attitude. The hostile counter-reaction of the Somalis can now be justified as self defense after an invasion. I wonder why your government chose to take this hostile path which aggravates the existing negative perception of Ethiopia among Somalis as natural enemy of Somalia. The criminal action of your government contributes to the prevailing negative trend among Somalis. While you on behalf of your government are meant to follow the pacifist teachings of your Bible as: "He who smites you on your left cheek, render him thy right one." Today our homes are kindled with fire and your government is adding more fuel to it. In the above mentioned dark prophecy of the Abyssinian destroyer with an axe in hand, no name of the evil perpetrator has been mentioned apart from his physical appearance, this implies that unless everyone of you endeavoured to be a candidate to fulfil it; everyone of you is potentially a blessed Nagesh (may Allah bless him). If you are a soldier, brother or parent of the latter, I would kindly call you to think twice as this is not a crusader war fighting a natural enemy. We know that you are more prone to accept the truth and the right. We would like to see you share with us the last testament and the religion of Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) and Jesus (sallalahu alaihi wasallam). You as the Ethiopian people and your country are linked with our religious history both in good and bad prospects and aspects. There were Ethiopian Muslims who stayed with the Muslims in Medina at the time of the prophet (sallalahu alaihi wasallam).
One of the greatest companions of our prophet (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) was an Ethiopian called Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him). Unfortunately an evil monger and morally-wretched Ethiopian called Abraha mobilized an army mounted on elephants to destroy the Kaabah in the same year our prophet (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) would be born in 571 CE. As these two bright good and dark evil axis run parallel in your history affiliated in our religion, we would not like to see the domination of the latter in our current history. History repeats itself and we would like you to rid your government of inducing a diabolic similarity and resemblance of Abraha in the 21st century on Tanks and Helicopters coming to destroy our Mosques. We would invite you to read the songs of Solomon referring to Muhammad (salallahu alaihi wasallam) in chapter 5 verse 16 of your Bible in its original manuscript: ''Hikko Mamittakim we kullo Muhammadim Zehdoodeh wa Zehraee Bayna Jerusalem'' meaning: " His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." The death of you as a Christian or even a renegade Muslim, invading and fighting in our territories is no martyrdom, as much as the life of you as a Muslim neighbour, in the footsteps of your King Nagesh and Bilal (may Allah be pleased with them all), would be a great achievement for us. I leave you with this brief memory and the choice is totally yours.
Idris Ahmed Osman
E-mail: [email protected]