Stéphane Ancel∗
A Muslim Prophecy Justifying the Conversion of Ethiopian Muslims to Christianity during Yoh. ann es IV’s Reign. A Text Found in a Manuscript in Eastern Tigray
Une prophétie musulmane justi ant la conversion des musulmans éthiopiens au christianisme sous le règne de Yoh. ann es IV. Un texte issu d’un manuscrit du Tigré oriental
In 2 0 1 2 , a text dealing with a Muslim prophecy concerning king of kings Yoh. ann es IV (1 8 7 2 -1 8 8 9 ) was identi ed and photographed by the team of
Ethio -SPaRe project in Tämben, East Tigray. 1 This article aims at editing and brie y commenting on the text because of its historical signi cance. The text, written probably between 1 8 8 1 and 1 8 8 9 , has very speci c characteristics and raises questions concerning an ideological apparatus elaborated and developed at the court of Yoh. ann es IV. During his reign, Yoh. ann es aimed at imposing religious uniformity in his kingdom. At the council of Boru Meda in May 1 8 7 8 , the monarch, wishing to put an end to the internal divisions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, declared the täwah. edo doctrine as the only one authorized in the country. Yoh. ann es could count on help from each of the regional princes, especially from n eguś Menilek of Šäwa and ras Adal Täsämma of Go ˇ g ˇ gam,
∗ Institut des mondes africains, Paris. Contact : stephaneancel@ hotmail. com. The research resulting in this article was conducted for the project “ Ethio -SPaRe : Cultural Heritage of Christian Ethiopia, Salvation, Preservation, Research,” funded by the European Research Council within the EU 7 th Framework Program IDEAS ; http :// www 1 . uni -hamburg. de/ ethiostudies/ ETHIOSPARE. 1 Nosnitsin, 2 0 1 3 : 3 7 1 -3 7 6 .
Annales d’Éthiopie, 2015, 30, 315 -333
