Travel Guide Sheikh Hussein

Located 178 km from Robé, north of Sof Omar, this is the largest Muslim pilgrimage site in Ethiopia. The religious sanctuary is dominated by the sheikh's mausoleum, set within a vast enclosure of immaculate white walls and topped by a pagoda-shaped dome. It is to this tomb that thousands of pilgrims converge every year for the Hajji and Zahra festivals. Determined by the Muslim lunar calendar, the dates of these celebrations are subject to change. It seems that the major multi-day festivals take place during the months of February, May, September and October.The veneration of Sheikh Hussein, considered one of the first Islamic missionaries in the Arsi and Bale regions, far from the Christianized territories of the time, dates back to the 13th century, when he was canonized as a Sufi. According to legend, he lived in different parts of the world for 240 years, including 70 years in these parts. However, the saint is best known for his religious teachings, his great devotion and his miraculous powers. It was undoubtedly the latter factor which, from the 16th century onwards, attracted the spirit-sensitive Oromo to the area, and led them to choose the caves near the site as a place of pilgrimage to celebrate their pagan rituals of Abba Muda, combining the worship of the serpent and the god Waq. In the early 20th century, in view of the size of these gatherings, the imperial authorities set out to ban these pilgrimages, which were perceived as a potential hotbed of Oromo rebellion. However, in the interests of religious coexistence, the pilgrimage dedicated to Hussein was maintained.Since then, a kind of syncretism has developed between the two religions, blending devotion to the Muslim saint with ancestral animist beliefs. Having come to bring a new religion to animist populations, Sof Omar and Sheikh Hussein were eventually transformed over the centuries into spirits of the pagan pantheon by the invincible power of ancestral superstitions.