by Proff. FREDERICK J. SIMOONS
NORTHWEST ETHIOPIA (PEOPLES AND ECONOMY)
Frederick J Simoons
Jabartis
ORIGIN AND SOCIAL POSITION.-
Following J. Spencer Trimingham, I have used the term Jabartis to refer to native Moslems living in Christian areas of Ethiopia[1], where they constitute perhaps one-tenth of the population. The Jabartis are similar in race to the Cushitic and Semitic peoples among whom they live, for many are the direct descendants of local people who were converted to Islam
by other Ethiopian Moslems, especially at the time when the Sultanate of Shoa was flourishing,[2] and when the Moslem armies of Ahmed Gragn conquered Christian Abyssinia in the sixteenth century.[3] Other Jabartis are descended from Arabs and other foreign Moslems who have become assimilated in language and in some customs, though not in religion.[4]
The Jabartis are scattered across Northwest Ethiopia as individual or small groups of families among the Christians, or in villages of their own. Generally they are on good terms with their Amhara Christian neighbours, and there has even been some intermarriage between leading Moslem and Christian families in Ethiopia.[5] On the other hand, at many times in the past there has been considerable anti-Moslem feeling, stemming partially from the fear that the Jabartis would side with the foreign Moslem enemies of Ethiopia in times of clanger. Such feeling has led to the levying of special imposts on the Jabartis, to their persecution, and even to their forced conversion. King Theodore, for example, dealt with the Jabarti problem in 1864 by simply issuing a decree forbidding Islam and declaring that those Moslems who refused to become Christians would be regarded as rebels. Most Moslems submitted to Theodore's will and became Christians, but others left their homes and possessions and took refuge in the woods. Several times in the past, moreover, Imperial decrees have deprived Jabartis of land held by hereditary right, which has led many rural Moslems to turn to weaving and trade to supplement their agricultural income. Others left the land altogether, settling in towns and cities and earning their livelihood entirely as merchants. Largely because of this, the Jabartis today are on the average more prosperous than their Christian neighbours. Nevertheless, they are looked down upon because of their alien creed and because they work at merchandising and weaving, which are inferior occupations in the eyes of most Christian Ethiopians.
ECONOMIC LIFE: -
Jabarti farmers do not differ in their agricultural techniques from their neighbours, and they raise the same crops, with a few additions such as tobacco and chat. Some rural Jabartis, however, supplement their agricultural earnings or replace them entirely by income gained from trading or from weaving cloth.
Jabarti homes are similar in form to those of other Ethiopians, though they tend to be larger and many have two entrances instead of one,[6] the latter a characteristic that may have developed because of the need for a means of escape. Jabarti villages in Northwest Ethiopia, too, give one the feeling that the inhabitants do not consider themselves secure, for commonly the houses are clustered together in sites away from the main trails that cross the country, and in spots that can readily be defended. In the Jabarti village of lslamgie in Semyen, house compounds are even walled with stone, because the settlement is occasionally raided by bandits, who may be encouraged to do this because of the alien status of its inhabitants.
In larger towns, Moslems have traditionally occupied separate quarters. In Gondar even today the Moslems still live in their ancient quarter, Addis Alem ("New World"), which is located on a hill slope to the south of the city proper. Addis Alem is a settlement difficult of access, with crooked, narrow paths and a stone wall surrounding each house and mosque compound.
Their tics with the Islamic world which almost surrounds Ethiopia have given the Jabartis an advantage over other Ethiopians in trade, for they have had a greater awareness of the nature of commerce and the variety of goods available in the outside world. Still, the Ethiopian Moslems have not been as successful as the many Yemen Arab merchants who have established shops in the larger towns, for success in shop trade involves stocking a variety of goods and planning future needs carefully, abilities which seem to come much more readily to Yemen Arabs than to Ethiopian Moslems.
RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL LIFE:-
Jabarti villages usually have a mosque (Mesgid) which looks much like the other houses and is far less elaborate than the Christian churches. In Gondar, however, there is an impressive white minaret and mosque of Italian construction, a structure reminiscent of the outside Islamic world, but not typical of Moslem places of worship in the province. Jabartis have sheikhs who perform much the same functions that priests do in Christian society.
[1] Trimingham, 1952: 150-51. As Trimingham points out, Ethiopians themselves commonly use the term Jabartis to refer to Ethiopian Moslems in general, though sometimes they use it in the narrow sense of native Moslems living in Christian parts of the country. Trimingham, however, uses the term Jabartis in a somewhat different sense than that used in this book, for he does not consider the Jabartis to comprise an ethnic unit, which is implied here despite the fact that some of them speak Amharic, and others Tigrinya, or Agaw.
[2] Trimingham, 1952: 152. 'Grottanelli, 1939: 152.
[3] Trimingham, 1952: 152. 'T Trimingham, 1952: 152.
[4] Trimingham, 1952: 118.
[5] Grottanelli, 1939: 155-56.
[6] Grottanelli, 1939: 155-56.
