Harar-wallo Relations Revisited: Historical, Religious and Cultural Dimensions

Since at least the sixteenth century, the areas of the present day regions of Harar and Wallo have been important centres of teaching and diffusion of Islam as well as of preservation of Islamic culture and education. Preachers and scholars from these areas played a decisive role in the introduction and dissemination of the faith in the country, especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They contributed to the further development and consolidation of both Islamic institutions and law, and mysticism as manifested in the propagation of the religious orders, veneration of saints, and visits to shines. They also actively promoted and sustained a tradition of Islamic reform and renewal. Overcoming their geographical distance, the two regions maintained close contacts through the Islamic school system, movement of teachers, students and instructional materials, and exchange of goods and services. This paper examines the nature and extent of the interregional relationships, the part that learned men and merchants played in strengthening those relationships, as well as their impact on the lives of the common people and elites of the two communities. It then suggests new areas for further research, which may shed more light on some controversial aspects of the Harari-Wallo links.