Egypt and Arabs’ reaction to fascist Italy’s occupation of Ethiopia. Long thread..
As students of the hydro-politics of the Nile Basin, we focused on one version of the story and depicted the relationship between Ethiopia and Egypt in realist terms.

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We often spoke of the two countries’ deep distrust, misunderstanding, unbridled competition for the Nile, and hegemonic dominance. We mentioned the military confrontations in Gura and Gundet, but ignore another and more intriguing story of the two countries.

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On this Ethiopian Patriots’ Day, let me share with you a story of solidarity and fraternity embodied in the Islamic idea of Ethiopia as the land of righteousness. The story is about the Egyptian and Arabs’ reaction to fascist Italy’s occupation of Ethiopia.

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During its 1936–1941 occupation, Fascist Italy used religion as a divide and conquer strategy. Bent on isolating Ethiopia, they forced the Ethiopian Orthodox church to cut “its relations with Egypt and declared the church autocephalous.”

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To exploit religious fault lines, and separate Ethiopia from the Arab world, they also commissioned a book titled, Islam in Ethiopia. As a colonial strategy, the book was an antithesis to the long-held Islamic view of Ethiopia as the land of justice and righteousness.

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In Islamic tradition, Ethiopia is the “haven of the first migration or Hijra.” It is also the first state that has had a relationship with Islam. In the early years of Islam, when Muslims were prosecuted by the leaders of Mecca, Prophet Muhammad (PBOH) told his companions...
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to go to Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) where they would “find a king under whom none are persecuted. It is a land of righteousness where God will give you relief from what you are suffering.” True to the words of the prophet, the Aksumite negus, Al-najashi, had given protection

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and shelter to the companions. As a showing of gratitude, the prophet commanded his companions to “leave the Abyssinians alone as long as they leave you alone.”
The book disregards this commandment and calls for the total distraction of Ethiopia.

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Explaining why the first hijra cannot justify Muslim countries’ support to Ethiopia, the author stated that the Sahaba were protected in Ethiopia “only by one man, najashi Ashama…As for the priests and the people, they gave the sahaba only troubles.”

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He also falsely claimed that “what the sahaba had met within Ethiopia was only hatred…If it had not been for the najashi, they would all have become Christians, died, or returned to Mecca so that the Quraysh could do with them as they pleased…”

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Thus, he asked, “what right do [the Ethiopians] have that we shall remember this story in their favor and help them in their struggle against Italy?”
Despite this fascistic propaganda, however, Egypt and all Arab Nations had supported Ethiopia.

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Al-Azhar university sent two scholars to Ethiopian to open a madrasa in AA and help rally support for the emperor. In late 1935, at the beginning of the Italian invasion, Egypt sent volunteers and medical professionals-Egyptian Red Crescent medical teams-to Ethiopia.

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The Young Men’s Muslim Associations established a Committee for the Defense of Ethiopia. The committee supervised the enlistment of volunteers and raised contributions for an “Ethiopian fund,” w/h financed transportation for the Red Crescent medical teams to the battlefield.
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Other Arab nations also showed enormous solidarity to Ethiopia. Palestinian Arabs, for instance, states that: “The Muslims always remember Abyssinian favor with early Islam, the same as they remember the Fascists’ recent atrocities against their fellow Muslims in Libya.

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The Arabs support Ethiopia because of Eastern solidarity and historical love.” A Syrian nationalist hero ‘Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar’ declared: “I shall not hesitate to sacrifice my life for Ethiopia just as I was not hesitant to do so for Syria in 1925.

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I do not hesitate to stand by Ethiopia and identify with her, for indeed the highest obligation to freedom and liberation commands us to do so. We are proud to see that we stand for freedom and that our brothers in the Arab world pursue a noble line with regard to Ethiopia.”
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A journalists in Iraq also wrote “all the Eastern people regard Ethiopia as their sister who is brutalized and with whom they identify,” and the Jewish poet Anwar Shawul equated Ethiopia with Joan of Arc, who “fights for justice when evil-doers try to extinguish freedom.”
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In 1935 and 1936, hundreds of books, newspaper articles, and pamphlets were published in the Arab world expressing solidarity with Ethiopia. Two books specifically dismantled the Italian narrative. The first book, by Abdallah al-Husayn...

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..., narrated the history first Hijra and explained the relevancy of the prophet’s order, “Leave the Ethiopians alone as long as they leave you alone.” He stated that “because of this order, none of the rulers of Islam ever even contemplated occupying Ethiopia or exerting...
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...their influence over it. On the contrary, the states and principalities of Islam always lived in peace and friendship with the Ethiopian Empire…”
The second book, entitled Between the African Lion and the Italian Tiger by Muhammad Lutfi, equated Haile Selassie with...

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...“a lion symbolizing the hopes of the East.” He stated “[i]f Europe is interested in the Ethiopian Crisis because of fear for the world order, or resistance to Italian aggression, with us, it is different. We are interested in Ethiopia because it represents both the East

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and Africa at their very best and most lofty—in terms of beauty, form, quality, and dignity. What is more honorable than maintaining freedom, generation after generation and era after era, and resisting foreign enemies whatever their might? And indeed the Ethiopians...

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conceive freedom to be the most precious value in life.”
End!

Happy Ethiopian Patriots’ Day! Absolute gratitude to Ethiopian patriots. Grateful to all who stood by our side!