RELIGION
History of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church
Ethiopia is mentioned often in the Bible. The wife of Moses is said to have been an Ethiopian, and Ethiopians claim the Queen of Sheba as their own. She is said to have returned from Jerusalem pregnant with the son of King Solomon, and this son, later Emperor Menelik I, would found the dynasty that would rule Ethiopia for most of it's history to the 1970's.
The first person baptized into the Christian faith in the Acts of the Apostles, was an Ethiopian Eunich in the service of the Ethiopian Queen Candace (Hindake as she was known locally). He was baptized in the Gazan desert by St. Philip. Ethiopian tradition also maintains that the Apostle Matthew evangelized Ethiopia, and there was most certainly a very early Christian presence in Ethiopia from the first century A.D.
The ancient Axumite Empire was certainly a mix of Jewish, Pagan and Christian people, exposed as it was to a wide array of merchants and travelers from throughout the middle east and beyond. The monarchs of the era used the symbols of the sun and the crecent moon on their coins and erected monuments with inscriptions mentioning the gods of the earth and the sky, the moon and the sun, and probably worshiped these as well as others.
A strong Jewish presence has existed in Ethiopia from early times, and the local traditions maintain that the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Ethiopia by Menelik I following his visit to his father King Solomon in Jerusalem. More contemporary research by Graham Hancock argues that the Ark is indeed in Ethiopia, but that it arrived much later, brought by Israelite Priests fleeing a heretical king in Jerusalem. The Ark is kept at the Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion in Axum, the holiest shrine in Ethiopia.
The Haven of the First Hijra (Migration): An African nation is the Muslims' first refuge
In Islamic history and tradition, Ethiopia (Abyssinia or Al-Habasha) is known as the "Haven of the First Migration or Hijra."
For Muslims, Ethiopia is synonymous with freedom from persecution and emancipation from fear.
Ethiopia was a land where its king, Negus or Al-Najashi, was a person renowned for justice and in whose land human rights were cherished.
The meaning and the significance of "Hijra" is embodied in the Islamic calendar. Since its inception, the Islamic calendar represents a history of perpetual struggle between truth and falsehood, faith and blasphemy, freedom and oppression, light and darkness, and between peace and war.
The first migration [Hijra] of the Companions and relatives of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) to Ethiopia celebrates the birth of freedom of expression and beliefs, whereas, the Second Migration of the Prophet Muhammad to the Madinah celebrates the end of oppression.
"And dispute you not with the People of the Book, except with means better, unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong; But say, we believe in the Revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you: Our God and your God is one; and it is to Him we bow in Islam: (Quran 29:46).
History has shown that the first migration to Ethiopia and the second migration to Madinah have indeed laid down the foundation on which Islam, as a universal religion, was built. Ever since that experience, the Muslim community, wherever they settled, shifted from the positive of minority to majority, from weakness to permanent strength, from tribalism to universal brotherhood that knows no defined political boundaries.