Aḥbāsh movement in Subsaharan Africa - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Østebø, Terje
Leiden
Brill
(793 words)
Aḥbāsh (lit., Ethiopians) is a name for the Jamʿiyyat al-Mashāriʿ al-Khayriyya al-Islāmiyya (Association of Islamic Charitable Projects), headquartered in Beirut. The name reflects the image of Ethiopia as an ideal case of inter-religious peace and coexistence, which has been one of Aḥbāsh's main ideological hallmarks. The connection between the organisation and Ethiopia was also embodied in Shaykh ʿAbdallāh b. Muḥammad b. Yūsuf al-Hararī (d. 2008), from Harar, in Ethiopia. He escaped Ethiopia because of his involvement in the nationalist struggle in Harar in the