1.
Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
2.
Islam
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Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
3.
Asmara
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Asmara, known locally as Asmera, is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea. Home to a population of just over 1,000,000 inhabitants, the city is located at the tip of an escarpment that is both the northwestern edge of the Eritrean highlands and the Great Rift Valley in neighbouring Ethiopia. Asmara is situated in Eritreas central Maekel Region and it is known for its well-preserved colonial Italian modernist architecture. These towns were attacked by clans from the low land. Until the women of each clan decided that to defeat their common enemy, the men accepted, hence the name Arbate Asmera. Arbate Asmara literally means, in the Tigrinya language, the four made them unite, eventually Arbate was dropped and it has been called Asmara which means they made them unite. There is still a district called Arbaete Asmara in the Administrations of Asmara and it is now called the Italianized version of the word Asmara. The westernized version of the name is used by a majority of non-Eritreans, while the inhabitants of Eritrea and neighboring peoples remain loyal to the original pronunciation. The missionary Remedius Prutky passed through Asmara in 1751, and described in his memoirs that a church there by Jesuit priests 130 years before was still intact. Asmara started to grow in a way when it was occupied by Italy in 1889 and was made the capital city of Italian Eritrea in preference to Massawa by Governor Martini in 1897. In the early 20th century, a line was built to the coast, passing through the town of Ghinda. In both 1913 and 1915 the city suffered only slight damage in large earthquakes, in the late 1930s the Italians changed the face of the town, with a new structure and new buildings, Asmara was called Piccola Roma. Asmara was populated by a large Italian community and consequently the city acquired an Italian architectural look, the city of Asmara had a population of 98,000, of which 53,000 were Italian according to the Italian census of 1939. This fact made Asmara the main Italian town of the Italian empire in Africa, in all of Eritrea the population of Italians was only 75,000 in total in that year, making Asmara by far their largest centre. Many industrial investments were made by Italy in Asmara, but the beginning of World War II stopped the blossoming industrialization of the area, in 1952, the United Nations resolved to federate the former colony under Ethiopian rule. During the federation, Asmara was no longer the capital city, the capital was now Addis Ababa, over 1,000 kilometres to the south. The national language of the city was replaced from Tigrinya language to the Ethiopian Amharic language. In 1961, emperor Haile Selassie I ended the federal arrangement, ethiopias biggest ally was the United States
4.
Abrahamic religions
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Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the largest Abrahamic religions in terms of numbers of adherents. As of 2005, estimates classified 54% of the population as adherents of an Abrahamic religion, about 32% as adherents of other religions. Christianity claims 33% of the population, Islam has 21%, Judaism has 0. 2%. It has been suggested that the phrase, Abrahamic religion, may mean that all these religions come from one spiritual source. Christians refer to Abraham as a father in faith, there is an Islamic religious term, Millat Ibrahim, indicating that Islam sees itself as having practices tied to the traditions of Abraham. Jewish tradition claims descent from Abraham, and adherents follow his practices and it is the Islamic tradition that Muhammad, as an Arab, is descended from Abrahams son Ishmael. Jewish tradition also equates the descendants of Ishmael, Ishmaelites, with Arabs, as the descendants of Isaac by Jacob, who was also later known as Israel, are the Israelites. The Báb, regarded by Baháís as a predecessor to Baháulláh, was a Sayyid, or a descendant of Muhammad. Tradition also holds that Baháulláh is a descendant of Abraham through his third wife, while there is commonality among the religions, in large measure their shared ancestry is peripheral to their respective foundational beliefs and thus conceals crucial differences. For example, the common Christian beliefs of Incarnation, Trinity, there are key beliefs in both Islam and Judaism that are not shared by most of Christianity, and key beliefs of Islam, Christianity, and the Baháí Faith not shared by Judaism. Judaism regards itself as the religion of the descendants of Jacob and it has a strictly unitary view of God, and the central holy book for almost all branches is the Masoretic Text as elucidated in the Oral Torah. In the 19th century and 20th centuries Judaism developed a number of branches, of which the most significant are Orthodox, Conservative. Christianity began as a sect of Judaism in the Mediterranean Basin of the first century CE and evolved into a separate religion—Christianity—with distinctive beliefs, Jesus is the central figure of Christianity, considered by almost all denominations to be God the Son, one person of the Trinity. The Christian biblical canons are usually held to be the ultimate authority, over many centuries, Christianity divided into three main branches, dozens of significant denominations, and hundreds of smaller ones. Islam arose in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century CE with a unitary view of God. Muslims hold the Quran to be the authority, as revealed and elucidated through the teachings and practices of a central. The Islamic faith consider all prophets and messengers from Adam through the messenger to carry the same Islamic monotheistic principles. Soon after its founding Islam split into two branches, each of which now have a number of denominations
5.
Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
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The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church is an Oriental Orthodox church with its headquarters in Asmara, Eritrea. Its autocephaly was recognised by Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria after Eritrea gained its independence in 1993, tewaḥido is a Geez word meaning being made one, cognate to Arabic tawhid. This separate Christian communion came to be known as Oriental Orthodoxy and these Churches themselves describe their Christology as miaphysite, but outsiders often incorrectly describe them as monophysite. Tewahedo Orthodoxy is an ethnoreligious group in Eritrea and the largest Christian group there. Christianity has been the majority religion since the 4th century and remains still the largest population, historically, they spoke Geez, which belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. However, the language is now almost extinct, and has been limited to liturgical use since the 10th century. Most also adhere to the Tewahdo Orthodox Church, Tewahdo is an identity and a religion as well for the adherent of Eritrean Tewahdos. The Eritrean Orthodox Church claims its origins from Philip the Evangelist and it became the state church of the Kingdom of Aksum under Ezana in the 4th century through the efforts of a Syrian Greek named Frumentius, known in the church as Abba Selama, Kesate Birhan. As a boy, Frumentius had been shipwrecked with his brother Aedesius on the Eritrean coast, the brothers managed to be brought to the royal court, where they rose to positions of influence and converted Emperor Ezana to Christianity, causing him to be baptised. Ezana sent Frumentius to Alexandria to ask the Patriarch, Athanasius of Alexandria, Athanasius appointed Frumentius himself, who returned to Axum as Bishop with the name of Abune Selama. For fifteen centuries afterward, the pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria always named a Copt to be Abuna metropolitan bishop of the Ethiopian Church, little else is known of church history down to the period of Jesuit influence, which broke the connection with Egypt. Union with the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria continued even after Arab conquests in Egypt, abu Saleh records in the 12th century that the patriarch sent letters twice a year to the kings of Abyssinia and Nubia, until Al Hakim stopped the practice. Coptic patriarch Cyril II sent Severus as bishop, with orders to suppress the practice of polygamy and these examples show the close relations of the two churches concurrent with the Middle Ages. Early in the 16th century the church was brought under the influence of a Portuguese mission, in 1507 Matthew, an Armenian, had been sent as Ethiopian envoy to Portugal to ask aid against the Adal Sultanate. In 1520 an embassy under Rodrigo de Lima landed in Ethiopia, an account of the Portuguese mission, which remained for several years, was written by the chaplain, Francisco Álvares. Later, Ignatius of Loyola wished to essay the task of conversion, instead, the pope sent out João Nunes Barreto as Patriarch of the East Indies, with Andrés de Oviedo as bishop, and from Goa envoys went to Ethiopia. After repeated failures, some measure of success was achieved under Susenyos I and he then expelled the Society of Jesus in 1633, and in 1665 Fasilides ordered all Jesuit books be burned. In the 1920s the Italian colonial power in Eritrea started the first attempts to found a separate Eritrean Orthodox Church
6.
Lutheranism
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luthers efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone and this is in contrast to the belief of the Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition. In addition, Lutheranism accepts the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church, unlike Calvinism, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Church, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lords Supper. Lutheran theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of Gods Law, the grace, the concept of perseverance of the saints. Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism, with approximately 80 million adherents, it constitutes the third most common Protestant denomination after historically Pentecostal denominations and Anglicanism. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest communion of Lutheran churches, Other Lutheran organizations include the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as independent churches. The name Lutheran originated as a term used against Luther by German Scholastic theologian Dr. Johann Maier von Eck during the Leipzig Debate in July 1519. Eck and other Catholics followed the practice of naming a heresy after its leader. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term Evangelical, which was derived from euangelion, the followers of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed. As time passed by, the word Evangelical was dropped, Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists. In 1597, theologians in Wittenberg defined the title Lutheran as referring to the true church, Lutheranism has its roots in the work of Martin Luther, who sought to reform the Western Church to what he considered a more biblical foundation. Lutheranism spread through all of Scandinavia during the 16th century, as the monarch of Denmark–Norway, through Baltic-German and Swedish rule, Lutheranism also spread into Estonia and Latvia. Since 1520, regular Lutheran services have been held in Copenhagen, under the reign of Frederick I, Denmark-Norway remained officially Catholic. Although Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers. During Fredericks reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads in Denmark, at an open meeting in Copenhagen attended by the king in 1536, the people shouted, We will stand by the holy Gospel, and do not want such bishops anymore. Fredericks son Christian was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his fathers death, however, following his victory in the civil war that followed, in 1537 he became Christian III and advanced the Reformation in Denmark-Norway
7.
Worship
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Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group, or by a designated leader. The word is derived from the Old English weorþscipe, meaning worship, honour shown to an object, Worship in Buddhism may take innumerable forms given the doctrine of skillful means. Buddhist Devotion is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists, according to a spokesman of the Sasana Council of Burma, devotion to Buddhist spiritual practices inspires devotion to the Triple Gem. Most Buddhists use ritual in pursuit of their spiritual aspirations, in Buddhism, puja are expressions of honour, worship and devotional attention. Acts of puja include bowing, making offerings and chanting and these devotional acts are generally performed daily at home as well as during communal festivals and Uposatha days at a temple. Meditation is a form of worship in Buddhism. This practice is focused on the step of the Eightfold Path that ultimately leads to self awakening. Meditation promotes self-awareness and exploration of the mind and spirit, traditionally, Buddhist meditation had combined samatha and vipasyana to create a complete mind and body experience. By stopping ones everyday activities and focusing on something simple, the mind can open, by practicing the step of vipasyana, one does not achieve the final stage of awareness, but rather approaches one step closer. Mindful meditation teaches one to stop reacting quickly to thoughts and external objects that present themselves, although in traditional Buddhist faith, enlightenment is the desired end goal of meditation, it is more of a cycle in a literal sense that helps individuals better understand their minds. For example, meditation leads to understanding, leading to kindness, leading to peace, Anglican devotions are private prayers and practices used by Anglican Christians to promote spiritual growth and communion with God. Among members of the Anglican Communion, private devotional habits vary widely, depending on personal preference, roman Catholic devotions are external practices of piety which are not part of the official liturgy of the Catholic Church but are part of the popular spiritual practices of Catholics. Catholic devotions do not become part of worship, even if they are performed within a Catholic church, in a group. The Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican publishes a Directory on Popular Piety, the church service is the gathering together of Christians to be taught the Word of God and encouraged in their faith. Technically, the church in church service refers to the gathering of the rather than to the building in which it takes place. In Christianity, worship is reverent honor and homage paid to God, in the New Testament various words are used for worship. The word proskuneo to worship means to bow down to Gods or kings, in the New Testament various words are used for worship
8.
United States Department of State
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The Department was created in 1789 and was the first executive department established. The Department is headquartered in the Harry S Truman Building located at 2201 C Street, NW, the Department operates the diplomatic missions of the United States abroad and is responsible for implementing the foreign policy of the United States and U. S. diplomacy efforts. The Department is also the depositary for more than 200 multilateral treaties, the Department is led by the Secretary of State, who is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is a member of the Cabinet. The current Secretary of State is Rex Tillerson, beginning 1 February 2017, the Secretary of State is the second Cabinet official in the order of precedence and in the presidential line of succession, after the Vice President of the United States. This legislation remains the law of the Department of State. In September 1789, additional legislation changed the name of the agency to the Department of State and these responsibilities grew to include management of the United States Mint, keeper of the Great Seal of the United States, and the taking of the census. President George Washington signed the new legislation on September 15, most of these domestic duties of the Department of State were eventually turned over to various new Federal departments and agencies that were established during the 19th century. On September 29,1789, President Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, then Minister to France, from 1790 to 1800, the State Department had its headquarters in Philadelphia, the capital of the United States at the time. It occupied a building at Church and Fifth Streets, in 1800, it moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D. C. where it first occupied the Treasury Building and then the Seven Buildings at 19th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. It moved into the Six Buildings in September 1800, where it remained until May 1801 and it moved into the War Office Building due west of the White House in May 1801. It occupied the Treasury Building from September 1819 to November 1866 and it then occupied the Washington City Orphan Home from November 1866 to July 1875. It moved to the State, War, and Navy Building in 1875, since May 1947, it has occupied the Harry S. Truman Building in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, the State Department is therefore sometimes metonymically referred to as Foggy Bottom. Madeleine Albright became the first woman to become the United States Secretary of State, condoleezza Rice became the second female secretary of state in 2005. Hillary Rodham Clinton became the female secretary of state when she was appointed in 2009. In 2014, the State Department began expanding into the Navy Hill Complex across 23rd Street NW from the Truman Building, the Executive Branch and the U. S. Congress have constitutional responsibilities for U. S. foreign policy. Within the Executive Branch, the Department of State is the lead U. S, the Department advances U. S. objectives and interests in the world through its primary role in developing and implementing the Presidents foreign policy. It also provides an array of important services to U. S. citizens, the total Department of State budget, together with Other International Programs, costs about 45 cents a day for each resident of the United States. Keeping the public informed about U. S. foreign policy and relations with other countries, providing automobile registration for non-diplomatic staff vehicles and the vehicles of diplomats of foreign countries having diplomatic immunity in the United States
9.
Pew Research Center
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The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American fact tank, which is based in Washington, D. C. It provides information on issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States. It also conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis, Pew Research Center does not take explicit policy positions, and is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. In 1990 the Times Mirror Company founded the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press as a project, tasked with conducting polls on politics. Andrew Kohut became its director in 1993, and The Pew Charitable Trusts became its sponsor in 1996. In 2004, the trust established the Pew Research Center in Washington, in 2013, Kohut stepped down as president and became founding director, and Alan Murray became the second president of the center. In October 2014, Michael Dimock, a 14-year veteran of the Pew Research Center, was named president, the Pew Research Center is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501 organization and a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. Some projects are funded by the Evangelical Protestant John Templeton Foundation, the Centers research is divided into seven areas. Politics & Policy Journalism & Media Internet, Science & Tech Religion & Public Life Hispanic Trends Global Attitudes & Trends Social & Demographic Trends Official website The Pew Charitable Trusts
10.
Traditional African religions
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The traditional beliefs and practices of African people include various traditional religions. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural, include belief in a creator, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic. The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural, afro-American religions are practiced in the Americas such as Candomblé, Santería, and Haitian Vodou. One religious ceremony practiced in Gabon and Cameroon is the Okuyi, when this trance-like state is witnessed and understood, practitioners are privy to a way of contemplating the pure or symbolic embodiment of a particular mindset or frame of reference. This builds skills at separating the feelings elicited by this mindset from their situational manifestations in daily life, such separation and subsequent contemplation of the nature and sources of pure energy or feelings serves to help participants manage and accept them when they arise in mundane contexts. This facilitates better control and transformation of these energies into positive, culturally appropriate behavior, thought, followers of traditional African religions pray to various spirits as well as to their ancestors. These secondary spirits serve as intermediaries between humans and the primary God, most African societies believe in a single Supreme Creator God. Some recognize a dual God and Goddess such as Mawu-Lisa, there are more similarities than differences in all traditional African religions. Often, the supreme God is worshiped through consultation or communion with lesser deities, the deities and spirits are honored through libation, sacrifice. The will of God is sought by the believer also through consultation of oracular deities, in many traditional African religions, there is a belief in a cyclical nature of reality. The living stand between their ancestors and the unborn, Traditional African religions embrace natural phenomena – ebb and tide, waxing and waning moon, rain and drought – and the rhythmic pattern of agriculture. According to Gottlieb and Mbiti, The environment and nature are infused in every aspect of traditional African religions and this is largely because cosmology and beliefs are intricately intertwined with the natural phenomena and environment. All aspects of weather, thunder, lightning, rain, day, moon, sun, stars, natural phenomena are responsible for providing people with their daily needs. For example, in the Serer religion, one of the most sacred stars in the cosmos is called Yoonir the, since Africa is a large continent with many ethnic groups and cultures, there is not one single technique of casting divination. The practice of casting may be done with small objects, such as bones, cowrie shells, stones, strips of leather, some castings are done using sacred divination plates made of wood or performed on the ground. In traditional African societies, many people seek out diviners on a regular basis, there are generally no prohibitions against the practice. Those who divine for a living are also sought for their wisdom as counselors in life, virtue in traditional African religion is often connected with carrying out obligations of the communal aspect of life. Examples include social behaviors such as the respect for parents and elders, raising children appropriately, providing hospitality, and being honest, trustworthy, in some traditional African religions, morality is associated with obedience or disobedience to God regarding the way a person or a community lives
11.
Animism
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Animism is the worlds oldest religion. Animism teaches that objects, places, and creatures all possess distinctive spiritual qualities, potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and perhaps even words—as animate and alive. Animism is the oldest known type of system in the world that even predates paganism. It is still practiced in a variety of forms in traditional societies. Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, animism is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples spiritual or supernatural perspectives. The currently accepted definition of animism was only developed in the late 19th century by Sir Edward Tylor, Animism may further attribute souls to abstract concepts such as words, true names, or metaphors in mythology. Some members of the world also consider themselves animists. Earlier anthropological perspectives – since termed the old animism – were concerned with knowledge surrounding what is alive, the old animism assumed that animists were individuals who were unable to understand the difference between persons and things. Critics of the old animism have accused it of preserving colonialist and dualist worldviews, according to Tylor, animism often includes an idea of pervading life and will in nature, i. e. a belief that natural objects other than humans have souls. This formulation was little different from that proposed by Auguste Comte as fetishism, thus, for Tylor, animism was fundamentally seen as a mistake, a basic error from which all religion grew. The earliest known usage in English appeared in 1819, Tylors definition of animism was a part of a growing international debate on the nature of primitive society by lawyers, theologians, and philologists. The debate defined the field of research of a new science – anthropology and their religion was animism – the belief that natural species and objects had souls. With the development of property, these descent groups were displaced by the emergence of the territorial state. These rituals and beliefs eventually evolved over time into the vast array of developed religions, in 1869, the Edinburgh lawyer, John Ferguson McLellan, argued that the animistic thinking evident in fetishism gave rise to a religion he named Totemism. Primitive people believed, he argued, that they were descended of the species as their totemic animal. Subsequent debate by the armchair anthropologists remained focused on totemism rather than animism, indeed, anthropologists have commonly avoided the issue of Animism and even the term itself rather than revisit this prevalent notion in light of their new and rich ethnographies. Certain indigenous religious groups such as the Australian Aboriginals are more typically totemic, stewart Guthrie saw animism – or attribution as he preferred it – as an evolutionary strategy to aid survival. He argued that humans and other animal species view inanimate objects as potentially alive as a means of being constantly on guard against potential threats
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Kingdom of Aksum
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The Kingdom of Aksum or Axum, also known as the Aksumite Empire, was a Habasha trading nation in the modern-day area of Eritrea and the Tigray region of Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 100 AD to 940 AD, the Persian Prophet Mani regarded Axum as one of the four great powers of his time, alongside Persia, Rome, and China. The Axumites erected a number of stelae, which served a religious purpose in pre-Christian times. One of these columns is the largest such structure in the world. In the 7th century, early Muslims from Mecca sought refuge from Quraysh persecution by travelling to the kingdom and its ancient capital, also called Aksum, was in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name Ethiopia as early as the 4th century, tradition claims Axum as the alleged resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the purported home of the Queen of Sheba. Aksum is mentioned in the 1st-century AD Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as an important market place for ivory, which was exported throughout the ancient world. It states that the ruler of Aksum in the 1st century AD was Zoskales and he is also said to have been familiar with Greek literature. They also cite evidence indicating that the Sabaean settlers resided in the region for more than a few decades. Over 95% of Aksum remains unexplored beneath the city and its surrounding area. The Kingdom of Aksum was an empire centered in Eritrea. It existed from approximately 100–940 AD, growing from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period c. 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD, according to the Book of Aksum, Aksums first capital, Mazaber, was built by Itiyopis, son of Cush. The capital was moved to Aksum in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name Ethiopia as early as the 4th century, the Empire of Aksum at its height at times extended across most of present-day Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The capital city of the empire was Aksum, now in northern Ethiopia, today a smaller community, the city of Aksum was once a bustling metropolis, cultural and economic center. Two hills and two lie on the east and west expanses of the city, perhaps providing the initial impetus for settling this area. Along the hills and plain outside the city, the Aksumites had cemeteries with elaborate grave stones called stelae, other important cities included Yeha, Hawulti-Melazo, Matara, Adulis, and Qohaito, the last three of which are now in Eritrea. By the reign of Endubis in the late 3rd century, it had begun minting its own currency and was named by Mani as one of the four powers of his time along with Persia, Rome
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Tigray Region
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Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine regions of Ethiopia. Tigray is the homeland of the Tigray, Irob and Kunama people, Tigray is also known as Region 1 according to the federal constitution. Tigray is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, the Afar Region to the east, and the Amhara Region to the south and southwest. Besides Mekele, major cities include Hawzen, Abiy Addi, Alamata, Mekoni, Adigrat, Adwa, Axum, Humera, Korem, Maychew, Qwiha, Shire, Wukro, there is also the historically significant town of Yeha. For the history of the Tigray area prior to 1991, see Tigray Province, at the same time, a growing urban middle class of traders, businessmen and government officials emerged which was both suspicious and distant from the victorious EPRDF. In 1998, war erupted between Eritrea and Ethiopia over a portion of territory that had been administered at part of Tigray, with an estimated area of 41,409.95 square kilometers, this region has an estimated density of 100 people per square kilometer. In the previous census, conducted in 1994, the Regions population was 3,136,267, of whom 1,542,165 were men and 1,594,102 women, urban inhabitants numbered 621,210 or 14% of the population. According to the CSA, as of 2004,53. 99% of the population had access to safe drinking water. At 96. 55% of the population, the region is predominantly inhabited by the Tigrinya speaking Tigray people. The Tigrinya language is classified as belonging to the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages, most other residents hail from other Afro-Asiatic speaking communities, including the Amhara, Irob, Afar, Agaw and Oromo. There are also a minority of Nilo-Saharan-speaking Kunama Nilotes, the working language is Tigrinya, although most urban people are also able to speak Amharic, which was taught in schools. A distinctive feature of Tigray are its rock-hewn churches, similar in design to those of Lalibela in the Amhara Region, these churches are found in four or five clusters – Gheralta, Teka-Tesfay, Atsbi and Tembien – with Wukro sometimes included. Some of the churches are considered earlier than those of Lalibela, mostly monolithic, with designs partly inspired by classical architecture, they are often located at the top of cliffs or steep hills, for security. For example, Tigrays ancient Debre Damo monastery is only by climbing a rope 25 meters up a sheer cliff. Looting has become an issue in the Tigray Region, as archaeological sites have become sources for construction materials. The area is famous for a single rock sculptured 23 meter long obelisk in Axum as well as for other fallen obelisks, the Axum treasure site of ancient Tigrayan history is a major landmark. Yeha is another important local landmark that is little-known outside the region
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Stele
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A stele is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in ancient Western culture as a monument. Grave steles were often used for funerary or commemorative purposes, Stelae as slabs of stone would also be used as ancient Greek and Roman government notices or as boundary markers to mark borders or property lines. The surface of the stele usually has text, ornamentation, or both, the ornamentation may be inscribed, carved in relief, or painted. Traditional Western gravestones may technically be considered the equivalent of ancient stelae. The most famous example of an inscribed stela leading to increased understanding is the Rosetta Stone, an informative stele of Tiglath-Pileser III is preserved in the British Museum. Two steles built into the walls of a church are major documents relating to the Etruscan language, unfinished standing stones, set up without inscriptions from Libya in North Africa to Scotland were monuments of pre-literate Megalithic cultures in the Late Stone Age. The Pictish stones of Scotland, often carved, date from between the 6th and 9th centuries. An obelisk is a kind of stele. The Insular high crosses of Ireland and Britain are specialized steles, totem poles of North and South America that are made out of stone may also be considered a specialized type of stele. Gravestones, typically with inscribed name and often with inscribed epitaph, are among the most common types of stele seen in Western culture. Most recently, in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, the memorial is meant to be read not only as the field, but also as an erasure of data that refer to memory of the Holocaust. Steles have been the medium of stone inscription in China since the Tang dynasty. Chinese steles are generally rectangular stone tablets upon which Chinese characters are carved intaglio with a funerary, commemorative and they can commemorate talented writers and officials, inscribe poems, portraits, or maps, and frequently contain the calligraphy of famous historical figures. During the Han dynasty, tomb inscriptions containing biographical information on deceased people began to be written on stone tablets rather than wooden ones, erecting steles at tombs or temples eventually became a widespread social and religious phenomenon. Emperors found it necessary to promulgate laws, regulating the use of funerary steles by the population, Steles are found at nearly every significant mountain and historical site in China. The First Emperor made five tours of his domain in the 3rd century BC and had Li Si make seven stone inscriptions commemorating and praising his work, of which fragments of two survive. One of the most famous mountain steles is the 13 m high stele at Mount Tai with the calligraphy of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang commemorating his imperial sacrifices there in 725. A number of stone monuments have preserved the origin and history of Chinas minority religious communities
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Ezana of Axum
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Ezana of Axum was ruler of the Kingdom of Aksum located in present-day Eritrea, Northern Ethiopia, Yemen, southern Saudi Arabia, northern Somalia, Djibouti, northern Sudan, and southern Egypt. He himself employed the style king of Saba and Salhen, Himyar, tradition states that Ezana succeeded his father Ella Amida while still a child and his mother, Sofya served as regent. Ezana was the first monarch of Axum to embrace Christianity, and the first after Zoskales to be mentioned by contemporary historians, munro-Hay to comment that he was the most famous of the Aksumite kings before Kaleb. He appointed his tutor, the Syrian Christian Frumentius, head of the Ethiopian Church. Ezana also launched military campaigns, which he recorded in his inscriptions. A pair of inscriptions in Geez have been found at Meroe, on some of the coins minted during Ezanas reign appears the motto in Greek TOYTOAPECHTHXWPA – May this please the people. Munro-Hay comments that this motto is a rather attractive peculiarity of Aksumite coinage, giving a feeling of concern and responsibility towards the peoples wishes. A number of coins minted bearing his name were found in the late 1990s at archeological sites in India, a remarkable feature of the coins is a shift from a pagan motif with disc and crescent to a design with a cross. Ezana is also credited for erecting several structures and obelisks, Ezana is unknown in the King Lists even though the coins bear this name. According to tradition, Emperors Abreha and Asbeha ruled Ethiopia when Christianity was introduced and it may be that these names were later applied to Ezana and his brother or that these were their baptismal names. Along with his brother, Seazana, Ezana is regarded as a saint by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Ezana Stone King Ezanas Stele Yuri M. Kobishchanov. University Park, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania,1979, ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270. African Zion, the Sacred Art of Ethiopia
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Mecca
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Mecca or Makkah is a city in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia that is also capital of the Makkah Region. The city is located 70 km inland from Jeddah in a valley at a height of 277 m above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was roughly 2 million, although more than triple this number every year during the hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah. Mecca is home to the Kaaba, by majority description Islams holiest site, Mecca was long ruled by Muhammads descendants, the sharifs, acting either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger polities. It was conquered by Ibn Saud in 1925, during this expansion, Mecca has lost some historical structures and archaeological sites, such as the Ajyad Fortress. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj, as a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the Muslim world, despite the fact that non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the city. The Saudi government adopted Makkah as the spelling in the 1980s. The full official name is Makkah al-Mukarramah or Makkatu l-Mukarramah, which means Mecca the Honored, the ancient or early name for the site of Mecca is Bakkah. An Arabic language word, its etymology, like that of Mecca, is obscure, the form Bakkah is used for the name Mecca in the Quran in 3,96, while the form Mecca is used in 48,24. In South Arabic, the language in use in the portion of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad. Other references to Mecca in the Quran call it Umm al-Qurā, another name of Mecca is Tihamah. Arab and Islamic tradition holds that the wilderness of Paran, broadly speaking, is the Tihamah, yaqut al-Hamawi, the 12th century Syrian geographer, wrote that Fārān was an arabized Hebrew word. One of the names of Mecca mentioned in the Torah, Mecca is governed by the Municipality of Mecca, a municipal council of fourteen locally elected members headed by a mayor appointed by the Saudi government. As of May 2015, the mayor of the city was Dr. Osama bin Fadhel Al-Bar, Mecca is the capital of the Makkah Region, which includes neighboring Jeddah. The provincial governor was prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud from 2000 until his death in 2007, on 16 May 2007, prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud was appointed as the new governor. The early history of Mecca is still disputed, as there are no unambiguous references to it in ancient literature prior to the rise of Islam. The Roman Empire took control of part of the Hejaz in 106 AD, ruling cities such as Hegra, even though detailed descriptions were established of Western Arabia by Rome, such as by Procopius, there are no references of a pilgrimage and trading outpost such as Mecca. The first direct mention of Mecca in external literature occurs in 741 AD in the Byzantine-Arab Chronicle, claims have been made this could be a reference to the Kaaba in Mecca
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Protestantism
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Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists
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Seventh-day Adventist Church
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The denomination grew out of the Millerite movement in the United States during the mid-19th century and was formally established in 1863. Among its founders was Ellen G. White, whose writings are still held in high regard by the church. Much of the theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church corresponds to common Protestant Christian teachings, such as the Trinity, distinctive teachings include the unconscious state of the dead and the doctrine of an investigative judgment. The church is known for its emphasis on diet and health, its understanding of the person, promotion of religious liberty. The world church is governed by a General Conference, with smaller regions administered by divisions, union conferences and it currently has a worldwide baptized membership of over 20 million people, and 25 million adherents. As of May 2007, it was the twelfth-largest religious body in the world, and it is ethnically and culturally diverse, and maintains a missionary presence in over 200 countries and territories. The church operates schools, hospitals, and publishing houses worldwide, as well as a humanitarian aid organization known as the Adventist Development. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the largest of several Adventist groups which arose from the Millerite movement of the 1840s in upstate New York, a phase of the Second Great Awakening. William Miller predicted on the basis of Daniel 8, 14–16, in the summer of 1844, Millerites came to believe that Jesus would return on October 22,1844, understood to be the biblical Day of Atonement for that year. When this did not happen, most of his followers disbanded and returned to their original churches. Hiram Edson and other Millerites came to believe that Millers calculations were correct and these Adventists came to the conviction that Daniel 8,14 foretold Christs entrance into the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary rather than his Second Coming. As the early Adventist movement consolidated its beliefs, the question of the day of rest. The foremost proponent of Sabbath-keeping among early Adventists was Joseph Bates, Bates was introduced to the Sabbath doctrine through a tract written by Millerite preacher Thomas M. Preble, who in turn had been influenced by Rachel Oakes Preston, a young Seventh Day Baptist. This message was accepted and formed the topic of the first edition of the church publication The Present Truth. They embraced the doctrines of the Sabbath, the heavenly sanctuary interpretation of Daniel 8,14, conditional immortality, among its most prominent figures were Joseph Bates, James White, and Ellen G. White. Ellen White came to occupy a central role, her many visions. The church was established in Battle Creek, Michigan, on May 21,1863. The denominational headquarters were moved from Battle Creek to Takoma Park, Maryland
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Jehovah's Witnesses
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Jehovahs Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a membership of more than 8.3 million adherents involved in evangelism. Jehovahs Witnesses are directed by the Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses, a group of elders in Warwick, New York and they prefer to use their own translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, although their literature occasionally quotes and cites other Bible translations. The name Jehovahs witnesses was adopted in 1931 to distinguish themselves from other Bible Student groups, Jehovahs Witnesses are best known for their door-to-door preaching, distributing literature such as The Watchtower and Awake. and refusing military service and blood transfusions. They consider use of the name Jehovah vital for proper worship and they reject Trinitarianism, inherent immortality of the soul, and hellfire, which they consider to be unscriptural doctrines. They do not observe Christmas, Easter, birthdays or other holidays, adherents commonly refer to their body of beliefs as the truth and consider themselves to be in the truth. They consider secular society to be corrupt and under the influence of Satan. Congregational disciplinary actions include disfellowshipping, their term for formal expulsion, baptized individuals who formally leave are considered disassociated and are also shunned. Disfellowshipped and disassociated individuals may eventually be reinstated if deemed repentant, the religions position regarding conscientious objection to military service and refusal to salute national flags has brought it into conflict with some governments. Consequently, some Jehovahs Witnesses have been persecuted and their activities are banned or restricted in some countries, persistent legal challenges by Jehovahs Witnesses have influenced legislation related to civil rights in several countries. The organization has received criticism over issues surrounding biblical translation, doctrines, handling of abuse cases. The claims are rejected by the leaders, and some have been disputed by courts. In 1870, Charles Taze Russell and others formed a group in Pittsburgh, in 1876, Russell met Nelson H. Barbour, later that year they jointly produced the book Three Worlds, which combined restitutionist views with end time prophecy. Beginning in 1878 Russell and Barbour jointly edited a religious journal, from 1879, Watch Tower supporters gathered as autonomous congregations to study the Bible topically. Thirty congregations were founded, and during 1879 and 1880, Russell visited each to provide the format he recommended for conducting meetings, as congregations continued to form during Russells ministry, they each remained self-administrative, functioning under the congregationalist style of church governance. In 1881, Zions Watch Tower Tract Society was presided over by William Henry Conley, by about 1900, Russell had organized thousands of part- and full-time colporteurs, and was appointing foreign missionaries and establishing branch offices. By the 1910s, Russells organization maintained nearly a hundred pilgrims, Russell engaged in significant global publishing efforts during his ministry, and by 1912, he was the most distributed Christian author in the United States. He identified the movement as Bible Students, and more formally as the International Bible Students Association
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Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
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Hindu
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Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
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Shia Islam
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Shia is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor. Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor, instead they consider Abu Bakr to be the correct Caliph. Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias of Ali, Shias or the Shia as a collective or Shii individually, Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam, in 2009, Shia Muslims constituted 10–13% of the worlds Muslim population. Twelver Shia is the largest branch of Shia Islam, in 2012 it was estimated that perhaps 85 percent of Shias were Twelvers. Shia Islam is based on the Quran and the message of Muhammad attested in hadith, Shia consider Ali to have been divinely appointed as the successor to Muhammad, and as the first Imam. The word Shia means follower and is the form of the historic phrase shīʻatu ʻAlī, meaning followers of Ali, faction of Ali. Shia and Shiism are forms used in English, while Shiite or Shiite, as well as Shia, the term for the first time was used at the time of Muhammad. At present, the word refers to the Muslims who believe that the leadership of the community after Muhammad belongs to Ali, nawbakhti states that the term Shia refers to a group of Muslims that at the time of Muhammad and after him regarded Ali as the Imam and Caliph. Al-Shahrastani expresses that the term Shia refers to those who believe that Ali is designated as the Heir, Imam and caliph by Muhammad, for the Shia, this conviction is implicit in the Quran and history of Islam. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing, Shia search for the true meaning of the revelation to get the purpose of the life blood and the human destiny. Shia Muslims believe that just as a prophet is appointed by God alone and they believe God chose Ali to be Muhammads successor, infallible, the first caliph of Islam. The Shias believe that Muhammad designated Ali as his successor by Gods command, Ali was Muhammads first cousin and closest living male relative as well as his son-in-law, having married Muhammads daughter Fatimah. Ali would eventually become the fourth Muslim caliph, after the Farewell Pilgrimage, Muhammad ordered the gathering of Muslims at the pond of Khumm and it was there that Shia Muslims believe Muhammad nominated Ali to be his successor. The hadith of the pond of Khumm was narrated on 18th of Dhu al-Hijjah of 10 AH in the Islamic calendar at a place called Ghadir Khumm, located near the city of al-Juhfah, Saudi Arabia. Muhammad there stated, Shia Muslims believe this to be Muhammads appointment of Ali as his successor, when Muhammad died in 632 CE, Ali and Muhammads closest relatives made the funeral arrangements. While they were preparing his body, Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali and his family accepted the appointment for the sake of unity in the early Muslim community. Alis rule over the early Muslim community was often contested, as a result, he had to struggle to maintain his power against the groups who betrayed him after giving allegiance to his succession, or those who wished to take his position. This dispute eventually led to the First Fitna, which was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate, the Fitna began as a series of revolts fought against Ali ibn Abi Talib, caused by the assassination of his political predecessor, Uthman ibn Affan
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Atheism
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Atheism is, in the broadest sense, the absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is the rejection of belief that any deities exist, in an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which, in its most general form, is the belief that at least one deity exists, the etymological root for the word atheism originated before the 5th century BCE from the ancient Greek ἄθεος, meaning without god. The term denoted a social category created by orthodox religionists into which those who did not share their religious beliefs were placed, the actual term atheism emerged first in the 16th century. With the spread of freethought, skeptical inquiry, and subsequent increase in criticism of religion, application of the term narrowed in scope, the first individuals to identify themselves using the word atheist lived in the 18th century during the Age of Enlightenment. The French Revolution, noted for its unprecedented atheism, witnessed the first major movement in history to advocate for the supremacy of human reason. Arguments for atheism range from the philosophical to social and historical approaches, although some atheists have adopted secular philosophies, there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere. Since conceptions of atheism vary, accurate estimations of current numbers of atheists are difficult, an older survey by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2004 recorded atheists as comprising 8% of the worlds population. Other older estimates have indicated that atheists comprise 2% of the worlds population, according to these polls, Europe and East Asia are the regions with the highest rates of atheism. In 2015, 61% of people in China reported that they were atheists, the figures for a 2010 Eurobarometer survey in the European Union reported that 20% of the EU population claimed not to believe in any sort of spirit, God or life force. Atheism has been regarded as compatible with agnosticism, and has also been contrasted with it, a variety of categories have been used to distinguish the different forms of atheism. Some of the ambiguity and controversy involved in defining atheism arises from difficulty in reaching a consensus for the definitions of words like deity, the plurality of wildly different conceptions of God and deities leads to differing ideas regarding atheisms applicability. The ancient Romans accused Christians of being atheists for not worshiping the pagan deities, gradually, this view fell into disfavor as theism came to be understood as encompassing belief in any divinity. Definitions of atheism also vary in the degree of consideration a person must put to the idea of gods to be considered an atheist, Atheism has sometimes been defined to include the simple absence of belief that any deities exist. This broad definition would include newborns and other people who have not been exposed to theistic ideas, as far back as 1772, Baron dHolbach said that All children are born Atheists, they have no idea of God. Similarly, George H. Smith suggested that, The man who is unacquainted with theism is an atheist because he does not believe in a god. This category would include the child with the conceptual capacity to grasp the issues involved. The fact that this child does not believe in god qualifies him as an atheist, ernest Nagel contradicts Smiths definition of atheism as merely absence of theism, acknowledging only explicit atheism as true atheism
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Politics of Eritrea
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The popularly elected National Assembly of 150 seats, formed in 1993 shortly after independence, elected the current president, Isaias Afewerki. There have been no elections since its official rise to power in 1993. They are governed under the constitution of 1993, a new constitution was ratified in 1997, but has not been implemented. Commission members have traveled throughout the country and to Eritrean communities abroad holding meetings to explain constitutional options to the people, a new constitution was promulgated in 1997 but has not yet been implemented, and general elections have been postponed. A National Assembly, composed entirely of the PFDJ, was established as a transitional legislature, in 2004 the U. S. State Department declared Eritrea a Country of Particular Concern for its alleged record of religious persecution. At independence, the government faced formidable challenges, beginning with a nascent judicial system, and an education system in shambles, it has attempted to build the institutions of government from scratch, with varying success. Since then, the impact of the war with Ethiopia. The present government includes legislative, executive, and judicial bodies, the President nominates individuals to head the various ministries, authorities, commissions, and offices, and the National Assembly ratifies those nominations. The cabinet is the executive branch. It is composed of 18 ministries and chaired by the president and it implements policies, regulations, and laws and is, in theory, accountable to the National Assembly. The Ministries are, The legislature, the National Assembly appointed in 1993, includes 75 members of the Peoples Front for Democracy, the National Assembly is the highest legal power in the government until the establishment of a democratic, constitutional government. Within the Eritrean Constitution the Legislature would remain the strongest arm of the government, the legislature sets the internal and external policies of the government, regulates implementation of those policies, approves the budget, and elects the president of the country. Its membership has not been renewed through national elections, lower Regional Assemblies are also in each of Eritreas six zones. These Assemblies are responsible setting an agenda in the case that they are not overruled by the National Assembly. These Regional Assemblies are popularly elected within each region, unlike the National Assembly however, the Regional administrator is not selected by the Regional Assembly. Eritrea is a single-party state, run by the Peoples Front for Democracy, no other political groups are allowed to organize, although the non-implemented Constitution of 1997 provided for the existence of multi-party politics. Local elections have continued in Eritrea, the most recent round of local government elections were held in May 2003. On further elections, the Presidents Chief of Staff, Yemane Ghebremeskel said, the national assembly has also mandated the electoral commission to set the date for national elections, so whenever the electoral commission sets the date there will be national elections
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Central Region (Eritrea)
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Central Region, also known as the Maekel or Maakel Region is an administrative region in central Eritrea. The region was formed on 15 April 1996, from the province of Hamasien. The region is located on the plateau, and sits at an average of about 2,250 metres above sea level. It contains Asmara, the capital and largest city of Eritrea, Central is the smallest region in Eritrea, and contains the major city and national capital, Asmara. As of 2005, the region had a population of 675,700 compared to a population of 595,900 in 2001, the net growth rate was 11.81 per cent. The total area of the province was 1300.00 sq. km, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, an authoritarian government, rules the country and the region. The regional and local elections are conducted on a basis on a restricted framework. All men and women of any ethnic or religious background are eligible to vote, no parties or groups other than PFDJ are allowed to contest and the elections are presided by representatives from PDFJ. Central is the smallest region in Eritrea, and contains the city and national capital. Maekel is situated inland, and borders Anseba to the north-west, the Northern Red Sea region to the north-east, the Debub region to the south, much of the architecture in the region reflects Italian colonial influences. The topography of the region has highland plateau, which are cooler than the regions around the coastal plains, there are two rainy seasons, the heavier one during summer and the lighter one during spring. The climate and geography of the region along with other regions of Eritrea is similar to the one of Ethiopia, the average elevation in the region is around 1,800 m to 2,100 m. The hottest month is May recording temperatures up to 30 °C, the region received around 508 mm of rainfall and the soil is conducive for agriculture. As of 2002, the Total Fertility Rate, defined as the children per woman was 3.4, the General Fertility Rate, defined as the births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 45 remained at 109.0. The Crude Birth Rate, the number of births per 1,000 population, was 27.0, the percentage of women pregnant as of 2002 out of the total population was 7.1 per cent. The mean number of children ever born stood at 4.8, the under-5 mortality rate stood at 60.0. The number of children with the prevalence of Acute Respiratory Infection was 1069, fever was 1069, the number of women with the knowledge of AIDS was 2,264 and the number of people with no knowledge of the disease or its prevention was 0.2 per cent. As of 2005, the region had a population of 675,700 compared to a population of 595,900 in 2001, the net growth rate was 11.81 per cent
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Southern Region (Eritrea)
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Debub Region, also known as the Southern Region, is a region of Eritrea. It lies along a portion of the border with Ethiopia. As of 2005, the region had a population of 952,100 compared to a population of 839,700 in 2001, the net growth rate was 11.81 per cent. The total area of the province was 8000.00 sq. km, the highest point in Eritrea, is Mount Soira 3,018 m, is located in the region, situated east of Senafe. It shares borders with Central Region in the north, Zoba Northern Red Sea in the east, Gash Barka in the west and it is the largest region in the country by population. The People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, a government, rules the country. The regional and local elections are conducted on a basis on a restricted framework. All men and women of any ethnic or religious background are eligible to vote, no parties or groups other than PFDJ are allowed to contest and the elections are presided by representatives from PDFJ. Zoba Debub is one of the six Zbobas of Eritrea which is located in the part of the country with longitude of 38°15 - 39°40 East. It shares borders with Zoba Maekel in the north, Zoba Northern Red Sea in the east, Gash Barka in the west and it is the largest region in the country by population. This region has an area of around 8,000 square kilometers, other towns in Debub include Adi Keyh, Adi Quala, Dekemhare, Debarwa and Senafe. The archeological sites of Metera and Qohaito are also located here, the highest point in this region, and in Eritrea, is Mount Soira 3,018 m, situated east of Senafe. The topography of the region has plains, which are hotter than the regions around the highland plateau. There are two seasons, the heavier one during summer and the lighter one during spring. The climate and geography of the region along with other regions of Eritrea is similar to the one of Ethiopia, the hottest month is May recording temperatures up to 30 °C, while the coldest month is December to February when it reaches freezing temperature. The region received around 200 mm of rainfall and the soil is salty, as of 2005, the region had a population of 952,100 compared to a population of 839,700 in 2001. The net growth rate was 11.81 per cent, the total area of the province was 8000.00 sq. km and the density was 119.01 persons per sq. km. As of 2002, the Total Fertility Rate, defined as the children per woman was 5.7, the General Fertility Rate, defined as the births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 45 remained at 172.0
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Gash-Barka Region
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Gash-Barka is one of the six regions of Eritrea. The capital of Gash-barka is Barentu, other towns include Agordat, Molki, Sebderat and Teseney. As of 2005, the region had a population of 708,800 compared to a population of 625,100 in 2001, the net growth rate was 11.81 per cent. The total area of the province was 33200.00 sq. km, the region is dubbed as the breadbasket of the country as it is rich in agriculture. The region is rich in marble, and other important minerals. In Augaro, there are some old mineshafts and machinery from the days when the Italians mined gold here, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, an authoritarian government, rules the country and the region. The regional and local elections are conducted on a basis on a restricted framework. All men and women of any ethnic or religious background are eligible to vote, no parties or groups other than PFDJ are allowed to contest and the elections are presided by representatives from PDFJ. The major crops in the region are Bananas, Tomatoes, Cotton, Onions, Millet, Sesame, Green pepper, the topography of the region has highland plateau, which are cooler than the regions around the coastal plains. There are two seasons, the heavier one during summer and the lighter one during spring. The climate and geography of the region along with other regions of Eritrea is similar to the one of Ethiopia, the average elevation in the region is around 1,800 m to 2,100 m. The hottest month is May recording temperatures up to 30 °C, the region received around 508 mm of rainfall and the soil is conducive for agriculture. As of 2005, the region had a population of 708,800 compared to a population of 625,100 in 2001, the net growth rate was 11.81 per cent. The total area of the province was 33200.00 sq. km, as of 2002, the Total Fertility Rate, defined as the children per woman was 5.1. The General Fertility Rate, defined as the births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 45 remained at 168.0, the Crude Birth Rate, the number of births per 1,000 population, was 34.0. The percentage of women pregnant as of 2002 out of the population was 10.2 per cent. The mean number of children ever born stood at 6.3, the under-5 mortality rate stood at 123.0. The number of children with the prevalence of Acute Respiratory Infection was 1039, fever was 1039, the number of women with the knowledge of AIDS was 1,500 and the number of people with no knowledge of the disease or its prevention was 0.0 per cent
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Anseba Region
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Anseba Region is one of the six administrative region, located in the northern Eritrea. The capital and the most populous city in the region is Keren, the region is named after Anseba River, which passed through most parts of the region. The average elevation in the region is around 1,800 m to 2,100 m, the hottest month is May recording temperatures up to 30 °C, while the coldest month is December to February when it reaches freezing temperature. The region received around 508 mm of rainfall and the soil is conducive for agriculture, as of 2005, the region had a population of 549,000 compared to a population of 484,200 in 2001. The net growth rate was 11.80 per cent, the total area of the province was 23200.00 sq. km and the density was 23.66 persons per sq. km. The People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, a government, rules the country. The regional and local elections are conducted on a basis on a restricted framework. All men and women of any ethnic or religious background are eligible to vote, no parties or groups other than PFDJ are allowed to contest and the elections are presided by representatives from PDFJ. The capital of Anseba region is Keren and it has an area of about 23,000 km2 and it is named after the Anseba River around which the region is situated. The river begins in the central Eritrean highland plateau, in the suburbs northwest of the capital Asmara and it then descends northwards into the northwestern lowlands, traversing the mountains of Rora Habab and Sahel before joining the Barka River near the border with Sudan. Other towns in this region include Halhal, the region borders Gash-Barka to the south, the Maekel region to the south-east, the Northern Red Sea Region to the east and north, and the Sudan to the west. The topography of the region has highland plateau, which are cooler than the regions around the coastal plains, there are two rainy seasons, the heavier one during summer and the lighter one during spring. The climate and geography of the region along with other regions of Eritrea is similar to the one of Ethiopia, the average elevation in the region is around 1,800 m to 2,100 m. The hottest month is May recording temperatures up to 30 °C, the region received around 508 mm of rainfall and the soil is conducive for agriculture. There are a number of flora and fauna species within this region, notably this was historic habitat for the endangered painted hunting dog, a canid which is now thought to be extirpated from the region. Eritrea as a whole was extensively forested as recently as 1900, however, at present the total forest cover of Eritrea is less than one percent. As of 2005, the region had a population of 549,000 compared to a population of 484,200 in 2001, the net growth rate was 11.80 per cent. The total area of the province was 23200.00 sq. km, as of 2002, the Total Fertility Rate, defined as the children per woman was 5.6
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Northern Red Sea Region
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The Northern Red Sea Region of Eritrea is one of the countrys six regions. It lies along the three quarters of the Red Sea, and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and the coastal city of Massawa. As of 2005, the region had a population of 653,300 compared to a population of 576,200 in 2001, the net growth rate was 11.80 per cent. The total area of the province was 27800.00 sq. km, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, an authoritarian government, rules the country and the region. The regional and local elections are conducted on a basis on a restricted framework. All men and women of any ethnic or religious background are eligible to vote, no parties or groups other than PFDJ are allowed to contest and the elections are presided by representatives from PDFJ. The Northern Red Sea Region borders the Anseba, Maekel and Debub regions to the west, and it has an area of around 27,800 km². The lowest point in Eritrea, Lake Kulul, is in this region, the topography of the region has coastal plains, which are hotter than the regions around the highland plateau. There are two seasons, the heavier one during summer and the lighter one during spring. The climate and geography of the region along with other regions of Eritrea is similar to the one of Ethiopia, the hottest month is May recording temperatures up to 30 °C, while the coldest month is December to February when it reaches freezing temperature. The region received around 508 mm of rainfall and the soil is salty, as of 2005, the region had a population of 653,300 compared to a population of 576,200 in 2001. The net growth rate was 11.80 per cent, the total area of the province was 27800.00 sq. km and the density was 23.50 persons per sq. km. As of 2002, the Total Fertility Rate, defined as the children per woman was 4.5, the General Fertility Rate, defined as the births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 45 remained at 156.0. The Crude Birth Rate, the number of births per 1,000 population, was 33.0, the percentage of women pregnant as of 2002 out of the total population was 8.9 per cent. The mean number of children ever born stood at 5.8, the under-5 mortality rate stood at 154.0. The number of children with the prevalence of Acute Respiratory Infection was 778, fever was 778, the number of women with the knowledge of AIDS was 1,148 and the number of people with no knowledge of the disease or its prevention was 0.0 per cent. As of 2002, the number of males completing or attending highest level of schooling in the region was 1,893 while it was 2,216 females, the percentage of literate males was 48.10 and the percentage of literate females was 28.00. A fraction of 52.70 males had no education, while the number for females was 69.20
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Southern Red Sea Region
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The Southern Red Sea Region is a region of Eritrea. It lies along the half of the Red Sea. It borders the Northern Red Sea Region, and has an area of around 27,600 km2, as of 2005, the region had a population of 83,500 compared to a population of 73,700 in 2001. The net growth rate was 11.74 per cent, the total area of the province was 27600.00 sq. km and the density was 3.03 persons per sq. km. The People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, a government, rules the country. The regional and local elections are conducted on a basis on a restricted framework. All men and women of any ethnic or religious background are eligible to vote, no parties or groups other than PFDJ are allowed to contest and the elections are presided by representatives from PDFJ. The Southern Red Sea Region extends over 500 km along Red Sea coast but is only around 50 km wide, forming the major part of the Danakil Desert, its major towns include Asseb, Beilul, Rahaita and Tio. The highest point in region is Mount Ramlu. It is generally considered as one of the hottest, driest and most inhospitable regions in the country, the topography of the region has coastal plains, which are hotter than the regions around the highland plateau. There are two seasons, the heavier one during summer and the lighter one during spring. The climate and geography of the region along with other regions of Eritrea is similar to the one of Ethiopia, the hottest month is May recording temperatures up to 30 °C, while the coldest month is December to February when it reaches freezing temperature. The region received around 200 mm of rainfall and the soil is salty, african wild dog was also found in this region, but their present condition is unknown. There have been reports of cheetah occurring in this region, and it is extremely likely that both cheetah and wild dog are extinct in Eritrea. As of 2005, the region had a population of 83,500 compared to a population of 73,700 in 2001, the net growth rate was 11.74 per cent. The total area of the province was 27600.00 sq. km, as of 2002, the Total Fertility Rate, defined as the children per woman was 3.9. The General Fertility Rate, defined as the births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 45 remained at 135.0, the Crude Birth Rate, the number of births per 1,000 population, was 34.0. The percentage of women pregnant as of 2002 out of the population was 8.9 per cent
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Judaism
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Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is an ancient monotheistic Abrahamic religion, with the Torah as its text, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the relationship that God established with the Children of Israel. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth-largest religion in the world, Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Modern branches of Judaism such as Humanistic Judaism may be nontheistic, today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Major sources of difference between groups are their approaches to Jewish law, the authority of the Rabbinic tradition. Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and Jewish law are divine in origin, eternal and unalterable, Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism generally promoting a more traditional interpretation of Judaisms requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Historically, special courts enforced Jewish law, today, these still exist. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, the history of Judaism spans more than 3,000 years. Judaism has its roots as a religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions, the Hebrews and Israelites were already referred to as Jews in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title Children of Israel. Judaisms texts, traditions and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam, many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law. Jews are a group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2015, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14.3 million, Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism, the belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of humankind. According to the Tanakh, God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation, many generations later, he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God, that is, the Jewish nation is to reciprocate Gods concern for the world. He also commanded the Jewish people to one another, that is. These commandments are but two of a corpus of commandments and laws that constitute this covenant, which is the substance of Judaism
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Migration to Abyssinia
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They sought refuge in the Christian Kingdom of Aksum, present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea, in 9 BH or 7 BH. The Aksumite monarch who received them is known in Islamic sources as the Negus Ashama ibn Abjar, modern historians have alternatively identified him with King Armah and Ella Tsaham. Some of the returned to Mecca and made the hijra to Medina with Muhammad. According to the view, members of the early Muslim community in Mecca faced persecution. Thereupon his companions went to Abyssinia, being afraid of apostasy and this was the first hijra in Islam. According to Muslims historians, there were two migrations, although there are differences of opinion with respect to the dates. The first group of emigrants, comprising men and four women, was granted asylum in the year 7 BH under Ashama ibn-Abjar. This group included Uthman ibn Affan, who became the third caliph. Mohammed chose Uthman bin Mazoon, one of his most important companions, after a year the exiles heard rumors that the Quraysh had accepted Islam, which prompted them to return to Mecca. Confronted with the reality, they set out to Abyssinia again in 6 BH, western historians, such as Leone Caetani and Montgomery Watt have questioned the account of two migrations. Although Ibn Ishaq provides two partially overlapping lists of migrants, he does not mention that the first group returned, events that took place after the emigration are reported by Ibn Ishaq. When the Quraysh learned that Muhammads companions could safely practice their religion in Abyssinia and they selected two envoys and gave them gifts for the king and his generals. The king granted them audience, but he refused to hand over people who had sought his protection until he heard their side of the story, the Muslims were brought in front of the Negus and his bishops. Ja‘far ibn Abī Tālib, who acted as the leader of the exiles and he described to the king how they lived before Islam, Muhammads prophetic mission, and what he had taught them. He also spoke of the persecution they had faced at the hands of the Quraysh, the king asked if they had with them anything which had come from God. When Ja‘far confirmed, the king commanded him to read it, Ja‘far then recited a passage from the Surah of Mary. When the king heard it, he wept and exclaimed, verily and he then affirmed that he would never give up the Muslims. However, one of the envoys, ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, thought of another tactic, on the following day he returned to the king and told him that the Muslims had said a dreadful thing about Jesus
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Uthman
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Uthman ibn Affan, also known in English by the Turkish and Persian rendering, Osman, was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the third of the Rashidun, or Rightly Guided Caliphs. Born into a prominent Meccan clan of the Quraysh tribe, he played a role in early Islamic history. Uthman was married to Ruqayyah, and then upon her death to Umm Kulthum, under the leadership of Uthman, the empire expanded into Farsi in 650, and some areas of Khorasan in 651. The empires conquest of Armenia began by the 640s, seven years after Muhammad, Uthman was born in Taif to the wealthy Umayyad clan of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca. Uthmans father, Affan, died young while travelling abroad but left Uthman a large inheritance, Uthman became a merchant, like his father. His business flourished, making him one of the richest men among the Qurayshi tribe and his mother was Arwa, daughter of Um Hakim bint Abdul Mutalib, the twin sister of Abdullah, father of Muhammad, making Uthman Muhammads first cousin. On returning from a trip to Syria in 611, Uthman found out that Muhammad had declared his mission. After a discussion with his friend Abu Bakr, Uthman decided to convert to Islam, Uthman thus became one of the earliest converts to Islam, following Ali, Zayd, Abu Bakr and a few others. His conversion to Islam angered his clan, the Banu Ummayyah, Uthman and his wife Ruqayya migrated to Abyssinia in 614–15, along with 11 men and 11 women, all Muslims. As Uthman already had business contacts in Abyssinia, he continued to practice his profession as a trader. After two years, the news had spread among the Muslims in Abyssinia that the Quraysh of Mecca had accepted Islam, however, when they reached Mecca, they found that the news about the Qurayshs acceptance of Islam was false. Some of the Muslims who had come from Abyssinia returned, but Uthman, in Mecca, Uthman had to start his business afresh, but the contacts that he had already established in Abyssinia worked in his favour and his business prospered once again. In 622 Uthman and his wife, Ruqayya, migrated to Medina and they were amongst the third batch of Muslims who migrated to Medina. On arrival in Medina, Uthman stayed with Abu Talha ibn Thabit, after a short while, Uthman purchased a house of his own and moved there. In Medina, the Muslims were generally farmers and were not very interested in trade, thus, there was considerable space for the Muslims in promoting trade. Uthman took advantage of position, soon establishing himself as a trader in Medina. He worked hard and honestly, and his business flourished, soon becoming one of the richest men in Medina, when Ali married Fatimah, Uthman bought Alis armor for five hundred dirhams. Four hundred was set aside as mahr for Fatimahs marriage, leaving a hundred for all other expenses, later Uthman presented the armor back to Ali as a wedding present
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Sahabah
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The term aṣ-ṣaḥābah refers to the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. This form is definite plural, the singular is masculine sahabi. Later scholars accepted their testimony of the words and deeds of Muhammad, the testimony of the companions, as it was passed down through trusted chains of narrators, was the basis of the developing Islamic tradition. The most widespread definition of a companion is someone who met Muhammad, believed in him and died as a Muslim. ”Anyone who died after rejecting Islam and those who saw him but held off believing in him until after his passing are not considered Sahaba but Tabiin. In their view, the Quran has outlined a high level of faith as one of the qualities of the Sahabah. Hence, they admit to this list only those individuals who had contact with Muhammad, lived with him. This view has implications in Islamic law since narrations of Muhammad transmitted through the Sahabah acquire a status of authenticity. Lists of prominent companions usually run to 50 or 60 names, the book entitled Istîâb fî marifat-il-Ashâb by Hafidh Yusuf bin Muhammad bin Qurtubi consists of 2,770 biographies of male and 381 biographies of female Sahabah. According to an observation in the book entitled Mawâhib-i-ladunniyya, a number of persons had already converted to Islam by the time Muhammad died. There were 10,000 by the time Mecca was conquered and 70,000 during the Battle of Tabouk in 630. Some Muslims assert that they were more than 200,000 in number, indeed, He was to them Kind and Merciful. In Islam, there are three types of Sahabah, The people who were Muslims at the time of Badr, but those who believed and did not emigrate - for you there is no guardianship of them until they emigrate. And if they seek help of you for the religion, then you must help, and Allah is Seeing of what you do. Quran, sura 8, ayah 72 And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, and you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those with him are forceful against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves. You see them bowing and prostrating, seeking bounty from Allah and their mark is on their faces from the trace of prostration. That is their description in the Torah, Allah has promised those who believe and do righteous deeds among them forgiveness and a great reward. The people who were Muslims before victory at Mecca and went into exile and they are also high in degree, especially those who were present at Hudabiyah
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Muhammad
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Muhammad is the prophet of Islam. From a secular historical perspective he was a religious, political, from an Islamic perspective, he was Gods Messenger sent to confirm the essential teachings of monotheism preached previously by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is viewed as the prophet of God in all branches of Islam. Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity and ensured that his teachings, practices, born approximately 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, Muhammad was orphaned at an early age, he was raised under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib. Muhammad gained few early followers, and met hostility from some Meccan tribes, to escape persecution, Muhammad sent some followers to Abyssinia before he and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, in Medina, Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina. In December 629, after eight years of intermittent conflict with Meccan tribes, Muhammad gathered an army of 10,000 Muslim converts, the attack went largely uncontested and Muhammad seized the city with little bloodshed. In 632, a few months after returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage, he fell ill, before his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam. The revelations, which Muhammad reported receiving until his death, form the verses of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the Word of God and around which the religion is based. Besides the Quran, Muhammads teachings and practices, found in the Hadith and sira literature, are upheld by Muslims. The name Muhammad means praiseworthy and appears four times in the Quran, Muhammad is sometimes addressed by designations deriving from his state at the time of the address, thus he is referred to as the enwrapped in Quran 73,1 and the shrouded in Quran 74,1. In Sura Al-Ahzab 33,40 God singles out Muhammad as the Seal of the Prophets, the Quran also refers to Muhammad as Aḥmad more praiseworthy. The name Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim, begins with the kunya Abū, the Quran is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe it represents the words of God revealed by the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad, the Quran, however, provides minimal assistance for Muhammads chronological biography, most Quranic verses do not provide significant historical context. An important source may be found in the works by writers of the 2nd. These include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad, which additional information about Muhammads life. The earliest surviving written sira is Ibn Ishaqs Life of Gods Messenger written c.767 CE, although the work was lost, this sira was used verbatim at great length by Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari. Another early history source is the history of Muhammads campaigns by al-Waqidi, many scholars accept the earliest biographies as accurate, though their accuracy is unascertainable
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Saudi Arabia
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Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast and Yemen to the south. It is separated from Israel and Egypt by the Gulf of Aqaba and it is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast and most of its terrain consists of arid desert and mountains. The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four regions, Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud and he united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. Saudi Arabia has since been a monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamic lines. The ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called the predominant feature of Saudi culture, with its global spread largely financed by the oil and gas trade. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called the Land of the Two Holy Mosques in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the state has a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million are Saudi nationals and 8 million are foreigners. The states official language is Arabic, petroleum was discovered on 3 March 1938 and followed up by several other finds in the Eastern Province. Saudi Arabia has since become the worlds largest oil producer and exporter, controlling the second largest oil reserves. The kingdom is categorized as a World Bank high-income economy with a high Human Development Index and is the only Arab country to be part of the G-20 major economies. However, the economy of Saudi Arabia is the least diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the state has attracted criticism for its treatment of women and use of capital punishment. Saudi Arabia is an autocracy, has the fourth highest military expenditure in the world. Saudi Arabia is considered a regional and middle power, in addition to the GCC, it is an active member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and OPEC. Following the unification of the Hejaz and Nejd kingdoms, the new state was named al-Mamlakah al-ʻArabīyah as-Suʻūdīyah by royal decree on 23 September 1932 by its founder, Abdulaziz Al Saud. Although this is translated as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in English it literally means the Saudi Arab kingdom. Its inclusion expresses the view that the country is the possession of the royal family. Al Saud is an Arabic name formed by adding the word Al, meaning family of or House of, in the case of the Al Saud, this is the father of the dynastys 18th century founder, Muhammad bin Saud. There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 125,000 years ago
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Axum
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Axum or Aksum is a city in the northern part of Ethiopia. The town has a population of 56,500 residents, and is governed as an urban wäräda, the original capital of the Kingdom of Aksum, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Africa. Axum was a naval and trading power that ruled the region from about 400 BCE into the 10th century, in 1980 UNESCO added Aksums archaeological sites to its list of World Heritage Sites due to their historic value. Located in the Mehakelegnaw Zone of the Tigray Region near the base of the Adwa mountains, Axum is surrounded by Lailay Maychew wäräda. Axum was the center of the trading power known as the Aksumite Kingdom. Around 356 CE, its ruler was converted to Christianity by Frumentius, later, under the reign of Kaleb, Axum was a quasi-ally of Byzantium against the Sasanian Persian Empire which had adopted Zoroastrianism. The historical record is unclear, with ancient church records the primary contemporary sources and it is believed it began a long slow decline after the 7th century due partly to the Persians and finally the Arabs contesting old Red sea trade routes. Eventually Aksum was cut off from its principal markets in Alexandria, Byzantium and Southern Europe, the Kingdom of Aksum was finally destroyed by Gudit, and eventually some of the people of Aksum were forced south and their civilization declined. As the kingdoms power declined so did the influence of the city, the last known king to reign was crowned in about the 10th century, but the kingdoms influence and power ended long before that. Its decline in population and trade contributed to the shift of the power center of the Ethiopian Empire south to the Agaw region as it moved further inland. The city of Axum was the seat of an empire spanning 1 million square miles. Eventually, the name was adopted by the central region, and subsequently. The Kingdom of Axum had its own language, Geez, and developed a distinctive architecture exemplified by giant obelisks. The kingdom was at its height under King Ezana, baptized as Abreha, the historical records and Ethiopian traditions suggest that it was from Axum that Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, journeyed to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem. She had a son, Menelik, fathered by Solomon and he grew up in Ethiopia but traveled to Jerusalem as a young man to visit his fathers homeland. He lived several years in Jerusalem before returning to his country with the Ark of the Covenant, according to the Ethiopian Church and Ethiopian tradition, the Ark still exists in Axum. This same church was the site where Ethiopian emperors were crowned for centuries until the reign of Fasilides, Axum is considered to be the holiest city in Ethiopia and is an important destination of pilgrimages. Significant religious festivals are the Timkat festival on 19 January and the Festival of Maryam Zion on November 24
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Armah
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Armah was a king of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known through the coins that were minted during his reign, however, it has been suggested as long ago as 1895 that he was identical to Ashama ibn-Abjar or Sahama, who gave shelter to the Muslim emigrants around 615-6 at Axum. Munro-Hay states that either Armah or Gersem were the last Axumite kings to issue coins, armahs silver coins have an unusual reverse, showing a structure with three crosses, the middle one gilded. Hahn as suggesting that this is an allusion to the Holy Sepulchre, as a reference to the Persian capture of Jerusalem in 614, if this is correct, it provides a date for Armah
39.
Adansonia
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Baobab is the common name for each of the nine species of tree in the genus Adansonia. The generic name honours Michel Adanson, the French naturalist and explorer who described Adansonia digitata, of the nine species, six are native to Madagascar, two are native to mainland Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and one is native to Australia. One of the mainland African species also occurs on Madagascar, and it was introduced in ancient times to south Asia and during the colonial era to the Caribbean. It is also present in the nation of Cape Verde. The ninth species was described in 2012, and is found in populations of southern and eastern Africa. The African and Australian baobabs are almost identical, having separated more than 100 million years ago, Baobabs reach heights of 5 to 30 m and have trunk diameters of 7 to 11 m. The tree has since split into two parts, so the widest individual trunk may now be that of the Sunland baobab, or Platland tree, the diameter of this tree at ground level is 9.3 m and its circumference at breast height is 34 m. Adansonia trees produce faint growth rings, probably annually, but they are not reliable for aging specimens, because they are difficult to count, radiocarbon dating has provided data on a few individuals. A specimen of A. digitata known as Grootboom was dated and found to be at least 1275 years old, the Malagasy species are important components of the Madagascar dry deciduous forests. Within that biome, Adansonia madagascariensis and A. rubrostipa occur specifically in the Anjajavy Forest, a. digitata has been called a defining icon of African bushland. Species include, Adansonia digitata L. – African baobab, dead-rat-tree, monkey-bread-tree Adansonia grandidieri Baill, – Grandidiers baobab, giant baobab Adansonia gregorii F. Muell. – boab, Australian baobab, bottletree, cream-of-tartar-tree, gouty-stem Adansonia kilima Pettigrew, – Madagascar baobab Adansonia perrieri Capuron – Perriers baobab Adansonia rubrostipa Jum. & H. Perrier – fony baobab Adansonia suarezensis H. Perrier – Suarez baobab Adansonia za Baill, – za baobab Baobabs store water in the trunk to endure harsh drought conditions. All occur in arid areas, and are deciduous, shedding their leaves during the dry season. Some baobab species are sources of fiber, dye, and fuel, indigenous Australians used the native species A. gregorii for several products, making string from the root fibers and decorative crafts from the fruits. A large, hollow baobab south of Derby, Western Australia, is said to have used in the 1890s as a prison for convicts on their way to Derby for sentencing. The Boab Prison Tree, Derby still stands and is now a tourist attraction, although the baobab tree near Derby might not have been used as a prison, a similar hollow baobab tree near Wyndham Australia actually was. Since 2008, interest has been increasing for developing baobab seeds or dried fruit powder for consumer products, in 2008, baobab dried fruit pulp was authorized in the EU as a safe food ingredient, and it was later granted GRAS status in the United States
40.
Imam
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Imam is the name of an Islamic leadership position. It is most commonly used as the title of a leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, serve as community leaders, the Sunni branch of Islam does not have imams in the same sense as the Shia, an important distinction often overlooked by those outside of the Islamic faith. Friday sermon is most often given by an appointed imam, all mosques have an imam to lead the prayers, even though it may sometimes just be a member from the gathered congregation rather than an officially appointed salaried person. Women imams may only lead amongst female-only congregations, the person that should be chosen, according to Hadith, is one who has most knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah and is of good character, the age being irrelevant. The term is used for a recognized religious scholar or authority in Islam, often for the founding scholars of the four Sunni madhhabs. It may also refer to the Muslim scholars who created the analytical sciences related to Hadith or it may refer to the heads of the Prophet Muhammads family in their generational times, Imams have a meaning more central to belief, referring to leaders of the community. Twelver and Ismaili Shia believe that these imams are chosen by God to be perfect examples for the faithful and they also believe that all the imams chosen are free from committing any sin, impeccability which is called ismah. These leaders must be followed since they are appointed by God, here follows a list of the Twelvers imams, Fatimah, also Fatimah al-Zahraa, daughter of Muhammed, is also considered infallible but not an Imam. Shia believe that the last Imam will one day return, see Imamah and List of Ismaili imams for Ismaili imams. At times, imams have held both secular and religious authority and this was the case in Oman among the Kharijite or Ibadi sects. At times, the imams were elected, at other times the position was inherited, as with the Yaruba dynasty from 1624 and 1742. The Imamate of Futa Jallon was a Fulani state in West Africa where secular power alternated between two lines of hereditary Imams, or almami, in the Zaidi Shiite sect, imams were secular as well as spiritual leaders who held power in Yemen for more than a thousand years. In 897, a Zaidi ruler, al-Hadi ilal-Haqq Yahya, founded a line of such imams, ruhollah Khomeini and his successor Ali Khamenei are officially referred to as Imams in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Several Iranian places and institutions are named Imam Khomeini, including a city, an airport, a hospital. Women as imams Mufti Encyclopædia Britannica Online, center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University. Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Muslim world, vol.1, encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Translated by Sherrard, Liadain, Sherrard, Philip, london, Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies
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Harar
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Harar, formerly written as Harrar or Harer and known to its inhabitants as Gēy, is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It was formerly the capital of Hararghe and now the capital of the modern Harari Region of Ethiopia, the city is located on a hilltop in the eastern extension of the Ethiopian Highlands, about five hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa at an elevation of 1,885 meters. Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Harar had a total population of 122,000. According to the census of 1994, on which estimate is based. Harar Jugol, the old walled city, was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2006 by UNESCO in recognition of its cultural heritage and it is sometimes known in Arabic as مدينة الأَوْلِيَاء the City of Saints. According to UNESCO, it is considered the holy city of Islam with 110 mosques. The Fath Madinat Harar records that the cleric Abadir Umar ar-Rida, Harar was later made the new capital of the Adal Sultanate in 1520 by the Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad. The city saw a decline during the ensuing Emirate of Harar. During the Ethiopian Empire, the city decayed while maintaining a certain cultural prestige, today, it is the seat of the Harari Region. It is likely the inhabitants of the region were the Harla people. The Argobba and the ancestors of the Harari people are believed to be founders of the city, called Gēy by its inhabitants, Harar emerged as the center of Islamic culture and religion in the Horn of Africa during end of the Middle Ages. Abadir was met by the Harla, Gaturi and Argobba, abadirs brother Fakr ad-Din subsequently founded the Sultanate of Mogadishu. According to the 14th century chronicles of Amda Seyon I, Gēt was an Arab colony in Harla country, during the Middle Ages, Harar was part of the Adal Sultanate, becoming its capital in 1520 under Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad. The sixteenth century was the citys Golden Age, the local culture flourished, and many poets lived and wrote there. It also became known for coffee, weaving, basketry and bookbinding and his successor, Emir Nur ibn Mujahid, built a protective wall around the city. Four meters in height with five gates, this structure, called Jugol, is intact and is a symbol of the town to the inhabitants. Silte, Wolane and Harari, lived in Harar while the two moved to the Gurage region. Following the death of Emir Nur, Harar began a decline in wealth
42.
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi
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Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi the Conqueror was a Imam and General of the Adal Sultanate who invaded Abyssinia and defeated several Abyssinian emperors. Imam Ahmad is regarded by scholars as an ethnic Somali. Imam Ahmad was born in 1506 just 30 miles away from Harar, Ahmad spent most of his childhood in the city of Harar. Due to the rule during the reign of Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad, Ahmad would leave Harar for Hubat. He married Bati del Wambara, the daughter of Mahfuz, the Governor of Zeila, in 1531, Bati would give birth to their first child named Muhammad. Ethiopian historians such as Azazh Tino and Bahrey have written that during the period of his rise to power, Imam Ahmad maintained the discipline of most of his men, defeating Emperor Lebna Dengel at Shimbra Kure that March. The chronicle of Imam Ahmads invasion of Abyssinia is depicted in various Somali, Abyssinian, Imam Ahmad campaigned in Abyssinia in 1531, breaking Emperor Lebna Dengels ability to resist in the Battle of Amba Sel on October 28. The Muslim army of Imam Ahmad then marched northward to loot the island monastery of Lake Hayq, when the Imam entered the province of Tigray, he defeated an Abyssinian army that confronted him there. On reaching Axum, he destroyed the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, the Abyssinians were forced to ask for help from the Portuguese, who landed at the port of Massawa on February 10,1541, during the reign of the emperor Gelawdewos. The force was led by Cristóvão da Gama and included 400 musketeers as well as a number of artisans, da Gama and Imam Ahmad met on April 1,1542 at Jarte, which Trimingham has identified with Anasa, between Amba Alagi and Lake Ashenge. Over the next days, Imam Ahmads forces were reinforced by arrivals of fresh troops. Understanding the need to act swiftly, da Gama on April 16 again formed a square which he led against Imam Ahmads camp, reinforced by the arrival of the Bahr negus Yeshaq, da Gama marched southward after Imam Ahmads force, coming within sight of him ten days later. However, the onset of the season prevented da Gama from engaging Ahmad a third time. On the advice of Queen Sabla Wengel, da Gama made winter camp at Wofla near Lake Ashenge, still within sight of his opponent, knowing that victory lay in the number of firearms an army had, the Imam sent to his fellow Muslims for help. According to Abbé João Bermudes, Imam Ahmad received 2000 musketeers from Arabia, meanwhile, due to casualties and other duties, da Gamas force was reduced to 300 musketeers. After the rains ended, Imam Ahmad attacked the Portuguese camp, da Gama himself, badly wounded, was captured with ten of his men and, after refusing an offer to spare his life if he would convert to Islam, was executed. Gragn was killed by a Portuguese musketeer, who was wounded in avenging da Gamas death. His wife Bati del Wambara managed to escape the battlefield with a remnant of the Turkish soldiers, and they made their way back to Harar, intent on avenging her husbands death, she married his nephew Nur ibn Mujahid on condition that Nur would avenge Imam Ahmads defeat
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Somalis
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Somalis are an ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, ethnic Somalis number around 16-20 million and are principally concentrated in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti. Expatriate Somalis are also found in parts of the Middle East, North America, Oceania, Samaale, the oldest common ancestor of several Somali clans, is generally regarded as the source of the ethnonym Somali. The name Somali is, in turn, held to be derived from the words soo and maal, another plausible etymology proposes that the term Somali is derived from the Arabic for wealthy, again referring to Somali riches in livestock. The first clear reference of the sobriquet Somali, however. Simur was also an ancient Harari alias for the Somali people, Ancient rock paintings, which date back 5000 years, have been found in the northern part of Somalia, these depict early life in the territory. In other places, such as the northern Dhambalin region, a depiction of a man on a horse is postulated as being one of the earliest known examples of a mounted huntsman. Inscriptions have been found many of the rock paintings. During the Stone age, the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here with their industries and factories. The oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to 4th millennium BC. The stone implements from the Jalelo site in northern Somalia are said to be the most important link in evidence of the universality in palaeolithic times between the East and the West. In antiquity, the ancestors of the Somali people were an important link in the Horn of Africa connecting the regions commerce with the rest of the ancient world. According to most scholars, the ancient Land of Punt and its inhabitants formed part of the ethnogenesis of the Somali people, the ancient Puntites were a nation of people that had close relations with Pharaonic Egypt during the times of Pharaoh Sahure and Queen Hatshepsut. The pyramidal structures, temples and ancient houses of dressed stone littered around Somalia are said to date from this period, the city of Mogadishu came to be known as the City of Islam, and controlled the East African gold trade for several centuries. The Sultanate of Ifat, led by the Walashma dynasty with its capital at Zeila, ruled parts of what is now eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti. The historian al-Umari records that Ifat was situated near the Red Sea coast and its army numbered 15,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers. Al-Umari also credits Ifat with seven cities, Belqulzar, Kuljura, Shimi, Shewa, Adal, Jamme. The Harla, an early Hamitic group of tall stature who inhabited parts of Somalia, Tchertcher and other areas in the Horn and these masons are believed to have been ancestral to the Somalis
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Harari people
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The Harari people, also called Geyusu, are an ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. Members traditionally reside in the city of Harar, situated in the Harari Region of eastern Ethiopia and they speak Harari, a member of the Ethiosemitic within the Afroasiatic family. The Harla people are considered, the precursor to the Harari people, upon the arrival of Arab cleric Abadir in the 10th century, he was met by the Harla, Gaturi and Argobba tribes. By the thirteenth century, Hararis were one of the administrators of the Ifat Sultanate, in the fourteenth century raids on Harar town of Get by Abyssinian Emperor Amda Seyon I, Hararis are referred to as Harla Arabs. In the sixteenth century, walls built around the city of Harar during the reign of Emir Nur, according to Ulrich Braukämper, Harla-Harari semitic group were most likely active in the region prior to the Adal Sultanates Islamic invasion of Ethiopia. During the Abyssinian-Adal war, some Harari militia settled in Gurage territory forming the Silte ethnic group, Hararis were furious when Muhammad Jasa decided to move the Adal Sultanates capital from Harar to Aussa in 1577. In less than a year after its relocation Adal would collapse, among the assimilated peoples were Arab Muslims that arrived during the start of the Islamic period, as well as Argobba and other migrants that were drawn to Harars well-developed culture. The Great Oromo Migrations have effectively split this putative ethnolinguistic block to the Lake Zway islands, Gurage territory, following the decline of the Adal Sultanates ascendancy in the area, a large number of the Harari were in turn reportedly absorbed into the Oromo community. In the Emirate of Harar period, Hararis sent missionaries to convert Oromo to Islam, the loss in the crucial Battle of Chelenqo marked the end of Harars independence in 1887. Hararis supported the designated but uncrowned Emperor of Ethiopia Iyasu V, Iyasu was however overthrown in 1916, and many of his Harari followers were jailed. Due to severe violation of Harari rights during Abyssinian rule, Hararis made several attempts to cut ties with Ethiopia, launching the nationalist Kulub movement linked to the Somali Youth League. These events led to the Haile Selassie governments systematic displacement efforts on Hararis, Harar Oromo proverb, allude to this occasion as, On that day Hararis were eliminated from earth. Haile Selassies overthrow by the Derg communist regime made minor differences for the Harari, after Ethiopians won the war in Ogaden, Derg soldiers began massacring civilians in Harari areas of Addis Ababa for collaborating with Somalis. Today Hararis are outnumbered in their own state by the Amhara, the ruling Ethiopian government ushered in 1991 has favored Hararis tremendously. They now control their Harari Region again and have given special rights not offered to other groups in the region. The Harari people themselves assert descent from Abadir Umar ar-Rida, also known as Fiqi Umar, the Harari were previously known as Adere, although this term is now considered derogatory. The Harari people speak the Harari language, an Ethiosemitic language referred to as Gey Ritma and it is closely related to the Eastern Gurage languages and similar to Zay and Silte. After the Egyptian conquest of Harar, numerous loanwords were borrowed from Arabic
45.
Oromo people
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The Oromo people are an ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia, who are also found in northern Kenya and Somalia. They are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa, at approximately 34. 5% of Ethiopias population according to the 2007 census, with an estimated total Ethiopian population of over 102 million, the number of Oromo people exceed 35 million in Ethiopia alone. Oromos speak the Oromo language as a tongue, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. They were referred to as Galla through much of the history, the word Oromo appeared for the first time in 1893, then slowly became common in the second half of the 20th century. The Oromo people subscribed to their Traditional Religion, had the system of governance in their medieval history which consisted of elections of their leaders. An elected leader by gadaa system stays on power only for 8 years, from 15 to 17 century Oromos were the dominant players in Northern Ethiopian Zemene Mesafinit era politics. The Oromo people became Christians or Muslims over the centuries, while some retained their traditional beliefs and they have been one of the parties to historic migrations, and wars particularly with northern Christians and with southern and eastern Muslims, in the Horn of Africa. Older and subsequent colonial era documents mention Oromo people as Galla, anthropologists and historians such as Herbert S. Lewis consider these indirect literature as full of distortions, biases and misunderstandings. Historical linguistics and comparative ethnology studies suggest that the Oromo people likely originated around the lakes Shamo and they are Cushitic people who have inhabited the East and Northeast Africa from at least the early 1st millennium. The first verifiable record mentioning the Oromo people by a European cartographer is in the map of Italian Fra Mauro in 1460, the map was likely drawn after consultations with Ethiopian monks who visited Italy in 1441. It is a term for a river and a forest, as well as for the people established in the highlands of southern Ethiopia. This historical information, according to Mohammed Hassen, is consistent with the written, Fra Mauros term Galla is the most used term, however, through early 20th century. The earliest primary account of Oromo ethnography, and often cited, is the 16th-century History of Galla by Christian monk Bahrey who comes from the Sidama country of Gammo and he begins his treatise on the Oromo by introducing them with prejudicial terms. According to an 1861 book by DAbbadie, a French explorer who traveled up to Kaffa by 1843, he was told that the word Galla was derived from a war cry and used by the Gallas themselves. A journal published by International African Institute suggests it is an Oromo word for there is a word galla wandering in their language, the first known use of the word Oromo to refer to this ethnic group is traceable to 1893. The historic term for them has been Galla and this term, stated Juxon Barton in 1924, was in use for these people by Abyssinians and Arabs. The word Galla has been interpreted, such as it means to go home. In Afar language, states Morin, Galli means crowd, foreigners and carries derogatory connotation ordinary, other societies such as the Anuak people refer all the migrant highlanders consisting of largely Amharas as Galla people while the Tigreans, in the past, refer Amharas as half Galla
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Afar people
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The Afar, also known as the Danakil, Adali and Odali, are an ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. They primarily live in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, Afars speak the Afar language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. Afar society has traditionally been organized into independent kingdoms, each ruled by its own Sultan, among these were the Sultanate of Aussa, Sultanate of Girrifo, Sultanate of Dawe, Sultanate of Tadjourah, Sultanate of Rahaito, and Sultanate of Goobad. During its existence, Adal had relations and engaged in trade with other polities in Northeast Africa, the Afar Sultanate succeeded the earlier Imamate of Aussa. The latter polity had come into existence in 1577, when Muhammed Jasa moved his capital from Harar to Aussa with the split of the Adal Sultanate into Aussa and the Harari city-state. At some point after 1672, Aussa declined and temporarily came to an end in conjunction with Imam Umar Din bin Adams recorded ascension to the throne, the Sultanate was subsequently re-established by Kedafu around the year 1734, and was thereafter ruled by his Mudaito Dynasty. The primary symbol of the Sultan was a baton, which was considered to have magical properties. Following an unsuccessful rebellion led by the Afar Sultan, Alimirah Hanfare, Sultan Hanfadhe was shortly afterwards exiled to Saudi Arabia. Ethiopias then-ruling communist Derg regime later established the Autonomous Region of Assab, in Djibouti, a similar movement simmered throughout the 1980s, eventually culminating in the Afar Insurgency in 1991. After the fall of the Derg that same year, Sultan Hanfadhe returned from exile, in March 1993, the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Front was established. A political party, it aims to protect Afar interests, as of 2012, the ARDUF is part of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces coalition opposition party. The Afar principally reside in the Danakil Desert in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, as well as in Eritrea and they number 1,276,867 people in Ethiopia, of whom 105,551 are urban inhabitants, according to the most recent census. The Afar make up over a third of the population of Djibouti, Afars speak the Afar language as a mother tongue. It is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, the Afar language is spoken by ethnic Afars in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, as well as in southern Eritrea and northern Djibouti. However, since the Afar are traditionally nomadic herders, Afar speakers may be found further afield, together, with the Saho language Afar constitutes the Saho–Afar dialect cluster. They have an association with Islam through the various local Muslim polities. The Afar are traditionally pastoralists, raising goats, sheep, in addition, the Afar are reputed for their martial prowess. Men traditionally sport the jile, a curved knife
47.
Saho people
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The Saho, sometimes called Soho, are an ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. They are principally concentrated in Eritrea, with some living in adjacent parts of Ethiopia. Historical evidence confirm that the Saho occupied their present home much earlier than their claims of originating from the Arabian peninsula, the Saho can be traced back to 2000 BC. They speak Saho as a tongue, which belongs to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family and is closely related to Afar. According to Ethnologue, there were approximately 213,800 Saho speakers in 2006, most are concentrated in Eritrea, with the remainder inhabiting Ethiopia. Within Eritrea, the Saho primarily reside in the Southern and Northern Red Sea regions, the Saho have a system of clans, which are in turn divided into kinship groups. Clan loyalty is an important factor in Saho politics, the Saho people speak the Saho language as a mother tongue. A Lowland East Cushitic Languages, it is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family and is similar to Afar. The Irob dialect is spoken in Ethiopia. A few Christians, who are known as the Irob, live in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Regarding the customary law of the Saho, when there is an issue the Saho tend to call for a meeting or conference which they call rahbe. In such a meeting the Saho people discuss how to solve issues related to water, pasture or land, clan disputes and this is also discussed with neighboring tribes or ethnic groups and sub-clans to reach a consensus. A skilled representative is chosen for this meeting, this representative is called a madarre, a madarre brings forth arguments to his audience and sub-clans or tribes who are involved and tries to win them over. This is discussed with clan or tribal wise men or elders, dabri-Mela Alades Are Labhalet Are 2. Assa-Awurta Fokroti Are Lelish Are Assa- Kare Asa-Lesan Sarma Are Faqih Dik Urus Abusa 3, gaaso Arabic قعسو Shum Abdalla Gaisha Yofish Gaisha Shum Ahmad Gaisha Hassan Gaisha Silyan Gaisha Asa-Ushmaal Oni - Maal Salmunta Gadafur 4. Dasamo Abdallah Harak Naefie Harak Mosat Harak Subakum Are Daili Are Kundes Illaishe Asa Bora 5, faqat Harak Faqih Abubakar Faqih Omar Faqih Ahmad 6. Silaita Hakatti Are Qomma Are Zella Are Halato Abbarior 7, idda, one of the earliest known Saho communities in Eritrea, also known as “Bado Ambalish” or bearers of land. Irob, a Christian community in the highlands of the Tigray Region, torra, Serrah Aria and Mussa Aria List of Saho communities Saho videos