The history of Aayyoo Momina- the founder of the pilgrimage center

The reconstruction of the early life and career of Aayyoo Momina is a daunting task due to the obscurity of her early life and career. There are two main reasons for this. The most important factor is the lack of written historical records or accounts of her life from her contemporaries. The lack of written historical accounts of her life is exacerbated by her frequent mobility from one part of the country to the other as a result of various factors. Her frequent travels and relatively short stays at many places are mostly accredited to her spiritual power that forbade her to remain at one village for a relatively longer period of time. In subsequent sections, I will discuss in detail additional factors that required Momina to travel and stay in various places. The other setback to reconstructing the life and early activities of Momina is the lack of consensus among informants on her religious and family backgrounds.

The narrations and stories about Momina appear to be influenced by the religious affiliations of informants. The majority of Muslim informants state that Momina was born a Muslim, while Christian informants state that she was Christian. This challenge, however, appears to be a normal phenomenon when it comes to local religious traditions in different parts of the world. Gore (2002: 207) states that because many local religious traditions and rituals are based upon oral traditions it is difficult to trace their historical development and the changes they underwent over the course of time.

There are diverse and often contradictory accounts regarding Momina’s origin, religious background, and ethnic origin. The first controversial point is her area of origin and her family background. Some writers and informants state that Momina was a local Arsi woman. For instance, Braukämper (1984: 769) states that she is “… an Arsi woman who established the famous center of magic in Faraqqasaa…” Habib Qasim (2001: 6) is the other writer that supports this proposition. He writes that Aayyoo Momina was born, grew up and died in present day Arsi zone. However, some informants, especially her relatives and descendants of her servants and assistants, oppose this proposition and ascertain that her original homeland was a place known by the name Sanqa in present day Wollo zone in northern Ethiopia. There is a consensus that her father was Dejjazmach Yimer Woldu. There is, however, a great deal of disagreement about her mother, and this has been a point of controversy among her followers and scholars. Some followers of her cult state that her

141

mother was a woman named Woizero Mersha Akalas while others, including her descendants and descendants of those who served her, claim that the name of her mother was Dinqitu Gedlu. One informant still claims that her mother’s real name was Worqit Gedlu.²¹⁷

On her father’s side on her mother’s side

Emperor Fasil’s brother Ahmed Gragn’s²¹⁸ line

Ras²¹⁹ Tetemqe’s sister

Mi’raf Wud Mariam Qewe

Getaw Lisige

Bitderes

Amele

Sime

Getaw Abuku Woldu

Yimer Shibbash (Momina) Dinqitu

Figure 23: Momina's genealogy.

The second controversial topic among scholars is the date of her birth. Nobody seems to know the exact date of her birth. Habib Qasim (2002: 7) stipulates that Momina was born towards the end of the nineteenth century. But this does not seem convincing since it is widely believed by informants that this was the period when Momina arrived in Arsi. Taking this last point as well as Braukämper’s (1984: 163) statement that Momina served Aw Ali (widely regarded as one of the nineteenth century Ethiopian Saints in Hararge, in Eastern Ethiopia

217 Wondimu K, 21 February 2011 in Abbomsa.

218 This is the name by which a military expert named Ahmad Ibn Ibrahim came to popularity. He led the Muslims in a number of victories against the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia from 1527 until his death in 1543 (Bahru Zewde 2001: 9). He was even referred to as “Attila of Ethiopia” (Sergew Hable Sellasie 1972: 18).

219 It means ‘head’ and it is the highest traditional rank only next to the king (Bahru Zewde 2001: 276).

142

until his death in 1890), it seems quite rational to assume that Momina was born earlier than the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

The third controversy revolves around Momina’s religious background. This is still a point of contention among Christians and Muslims of Arsi area and beyond. Most informants agree that she was a Muslim at the time she came to Arsi. The religion of Momina at birth as well as during her childhood still remains a point of contention. One narrative explains that she was born Christian but later converted to Islam. The narration of Muslim informants is that Momina has always been a Muslim and they state that she was one of the Muslim saints in Ethiopia. According to them, even her father’s name, which was Yimer, originated from the Arabic name, Umar.²²⁰ Although Christians accept the narrative that Momina arrived in Arsi as a Muslim, they sternly refute the idea that she was Muslim at birth. They assert that Momina was born a Christian and it was later in her life that she converted to Islam. Some even go as far as explaining that her Christian name, ehite Gabriel (Gabriel’s sister) was given to her because she was believed to have been born on St. Gabriel’s day.²²¹

Most Christian informants do not accept the developments leading to Momina’s conversion to Islam, nor the place where her conversion to Islam took place. An informant, Shiferaw contemplates that, Momina embraced Islam while she was still living with her parents.²²² However, this proposition is quite difficult if not impossible to accept, considering the social and family contexts in Ethiopia when Momina was said to have lived. Even today it is quite difficult to convert to a different religion from one’s parents’ while still living with them. According to another legend, Momina accepted Islam while working as a servant for a certain Sheikh Bar Ali Jami. It was Sheikh Bar Ali Jami who coined the name Momina (Gemechu J. Geda 2009: 42). Braukämper (1984: 163) also confirms the notion that Momina served Sheikh Aw Ali until his death in 1890. This sheikh played an important role in Momina’s conversion to Islam. This development took place at a place called Bishoftu in Hararge (eastern Ethiopia). He blessed and endowed her with power to enable her heal and help people in need. Legend has it that while she was serving the Sheikh as a kaddaamii (servant), one of her duties was washing his feet. She secretly drank the dirty water afterwards. The Sheikh, however, had observed everything. He asked Momina why she drank the dirty water. Momina explained to him that she had great reverence and admiration for him and for his abilities to heal the sick. The sheikh was said to have given her his blessings and prophesied that she would be a well-known and respected woman in the Hararge and Arsi

220 Mohammed T., 16 February 2011 at Faraqqasaa.

221 Alemitu B., 22 February 2011 in Abbomsa.

222 Shiferaw J., 23 February 2011 in Nazareth.

143

regions because of her spiritual and healing powers. It was only after receiving the Sheikh’s blessing and prophecy that she established her first spiritual and healing center at Gubbaaqoricha in Hararge and began the task of healing the sick. Shortly afterwards, her healing powers became well known and she became famous, respected, and venerated by adherents of her cult. ²²³

However, the role played by Aw Ali in Momina’s conversion to Islam is controversial.

Instead, her conversion to Islam was attributed to the wish of her karaamaa (spiritual power), who ordered her to convert to Islam. But nobody seems to know the exact period when her conversion took place. Her ability to heal and perform various miracles was first recognized while she was residing at Gubbaaqorichaa when pilgrims began to travel to her shrine to seek her help for various problems. It was at Gubbaaqorichaa that Momina was said to have performed one of the earliest miracles. She cleaned her teeth with a mafaqia (twig for cleaning teeth) and planted it. It started to grow and through time it became a big tree, which is now used as a place for rituals. However, even if she was accepted and respected by the community, Momina did not stay in Hararge for a longer time. She moved to and lived in many places in Arsi, where she stayed for the rest of her life. During her stay in Arsi, Momina established the Faraqqasaa pilgrimage center and other shrines.²²⁴

The controversies related to Momina’s origin and early religious life are important for the pilgrimage center as well as the pilgrims themselves. The center became appealing to people of various regions, ethnic groups, and religions. The pilgrims, be they Muslims or Christians, probably also use the controversy surrounding the early faith of Momina as a strategy to achieve two goals. First, it is a way of justifying or legitimizing the participation of pilgrims of different backgrounds in the various rituals and involvement in the pilgrimage center. Secondly, by associating their origin, ethnic and religious backgrounds with that of Momina, pilgrims are trying to increase their own status and distinguish themselves from the others.