The arrival of Aayyoo Momina in Arsi

In the previous section, I mentioned two differing narrations about the birth place of Aayyoo Momina: on one hand some argue that it was in Arsi, and on the other hand, some say it was in Wollo. The most widely acknowledged is the latter, that she was born in Wollo and subsequently traveled to Hararge and then to Arsi. However, if we accept Wollo as her original homeland, it raises other important questions: What factors contributed to Momina’s

223 Jilo K., 20 February 2011 in Abbomsa.

224 Sheikh Mohammed, 15 February 2011 in Gado.

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departure from Wollo? Why did she choose to travel first to Hararge and eventually to Arsi, where she stayed for the reminder of her life? What historical developments in the country at the time compelled her to abandon or flee Wollo? There are different approaches to attempt to tackle these questions. The reasons for her abandonment of Wollo are as mysterious as her religion and place of birth.

The first factor that forced her to abandon Wollo is attributed to her karaamaa (spiritual power). According to one informant, it is known that a bala-karaamaa (a person with spiritual power) like Aayyoo Momina, is not destined to remain at one place permanently.²²⁵ The second factor is related to the political situation of the country at the time. During the reign of Emperor Yohannes IV (r.1872-1889), the Muslims of Wollo were forced to abandon their religion and embrace Christianity or face confiscation of their property and land rights (Bahru Zewde 2001: 43-49). This can be seen from the perspective of what Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992:102) call a struggle within a certain field, and in this case the religious field, where the Christian empire at the zenith of its power within the religious field was in a position to impose its principles on the people of Wollo and punish those who resisted this domination.

The people of Wollo reacted to this order in many ways. Some sections of the society, especially the local rulers and their families, relinquished Islam and completely embraced Christianity. Others, however, publically accepted Christianity just to avoid repression but secretly adopted double identities. They became Christians who prayed to God during the daytime and remained Muslims who prayed to Allah in the evening. A few others, however, chose exile instead of accepting Christianity (Bahru Zewde 2001: 43-49). Aayyoo Momina was one of the few in the latter group who opted to abandon their region instead of facing forced conversion to Christianity.²²⁶If this was the cause of her migration from Wollo, it strengthens the narration that she and her family were originally Christians and Momina was converted to Islam sometime later.

There is yet another narrative explaining Momina’s leaving Wollo. This was related to her beauty. A certain Girazmach²²⁷ Wolde-Ghiorgis, who was said to be the nephew of Emperor Yohannes IV and the governor of Hararge, wanted to marry Momina, who was then known by the name Shibbash. Her parents accepted the request and they were married. After the marriage, her sister told Wolde-Ghiorgis to take Momina with him to Hararge without telling her brothers because she was afraid that they would not allow him to take Momina far

225 Hussien F., 18 February 2011 at Faraqqasaa.

226 Hussien F., 18 February 2011 at Faraqqasaa.

227 It was a military title and it means commander of the left in the Amharic language.

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from her home. As a result, Momina and her husband left Wollo in secret and travelled to Hararge where they settled. A few years later, she gave birth to Bayyanach, her only child.

When Bayyanach was five months old, Momina left her home and family and travelled to a place called Bokke (Bishoftu) in Western Hararge. It was while she was in Bishoftu that Momina was said to have started serving Sheikh Bar Ali Jami, a well-known fortune-teller (Gemechu J. Geda 2009: 45). These controversies have placed Momina and her pilgrimage center in an advantageous position in the religious field. The belief that she possessed a strong karaamaa made her cult appeal to diverse groups of people, regardless of their religious affiliations. Similarly, her adherence to Islam attracted a large number of moderate Muslim followers, while her marriage to a Christian exposed her cult to Christians who later joined it.

Momina is said to have travelled to and stayed at different places in Arsi before her travelling and settling in Faraqqasaa. Aayyoo Momina abandoned Hararge and arrived in Arsi along with her kaddaamii (servants) and aggaafaarii (supervisor) around 1884/1885 and settled at Gado-Galama. She performed her first miracle shortly after her arrival. Upon her arrival at Gado-Galama she was resting under a small acacia tree and saw some people walking and carrying a lame person. She asked them if it was okay if she could have a look at the man they were carrying. When they brought the man closer, she commanded him to walk.

The moment the man stood up and started walking, the tree under which she sat fell to the ground and assumed the exact shape of the lame legs of the man. This miracle is said to have helped Momina earn immediate acceptance and respect among the inhabitants of the surrounding areas (Gemechu J. Geda 2003: 23).

Momina requested the local balabbats (hereditary land owners) to give her forty sidaajaa (a skin/carpet used for prayers) that she and her followers could use. The balabbats, however, did not understand her request. After a long discussion and consultation they discovered that she was asking for a plot of land to build a religious centre for her and her followers. Most of the balabbats did not like her request for a piece of their precious land, but one of them was afraid she might use her spiritual power to curse them if they refused to comply to her request so he gave her a piece of his land. After she obtained the land, the surrounding community helped her build a residence and a religious hall for the various rituals and healing of patients. Soon afterwards, her popularity increased and began to spread to the neighboring areas. Pilgrims began to flock to her shrine to seek her help and her blessing and this increased the number of her followers in Gado-Galama and the surrounding

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areas. ²²⁸ Habib Qasim (2001: 14) even claims that the honorary name “Aayyoo” was given to her when she was residing at Gado-Galama.

However, despite the acceptance and respect she garnered in the area, Aayyoo Momina did not stay long in Gado-Galama. She soon abandoned Gado-Galama and traveled to Badu where she stayed for a short period of time. Other than attributing her frequent travels to her spiritual power, nobody seems to know for sure why she abandoned Gado-Galama. She also left Badu after a short sojourn and went to Ittisa. She again abandoned this place and travelled to the Bale zone where she ultimately established pilgrimage centers in Barbare and Zaliba.

After abandoning Barbare and Zaliba, she traveled through Gololcha, where she eventually established a pilgrimage center at Sole-Qawe and then returned to Arsi. She settled at Guna-Gannate and established the Guna-Guna-Gannate pilgrimage center (Mohammed Hassen 1998: 21).

This was very crucial in the career of Momina. Her popularity and reverence increased tremendously while she was at Guna-Gannate. It was at Guna-Gannate that her healing power increased tremendously. It was also here that her popularity and her ability to perform various types of miracles increased to a level never seen before (Gemechu J. Geda 2009: 46-47).

Momina’s popularity at Guna-Gannate was only eclipsed with the establishment of the Faraqqasaa pilgrimage center few years later. This pilgrimage center became her final destination; she spent the rest of her life here. This center became the most famous and most revered of all pilgrimage centers established by her and one of the well-known pilgrimage sites in Ethiopia. Her eventual arrival at Faraqqasaa was, however, triggered by a chain of events which were caused by antagonism to her and her activities while at Guna-Gannate (Gemechu J. Geda 2009: 47).