Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Bilal

Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Sheikh Bilal (1907?- October 31, 1988) was one of the famous Islamic Scholars of the Chercher Highlands of Harerghe province whom many people of Harerghe recall as the most authorized source of his time for the ancient history of Islam in Ethiopia.^[1] He is also remembered as a saver of indigenous knowledge, a teacher of many Ulama, a poet and author of many books. While his real name had been Sheikh Muhammed Rashid Sheikh Bilal, he appears on his written documents as Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad (shortening his own and his father's name who had been Mohammed Bilal, and adding then his grandfather’s name) and Muhammad ibn Muhammad Al-Bakri Al-siddiqi.^[2]

Early life

Sheikh Muhammad Rashid was a son of Sheikh Bilal Kabir Muhammad, a prominent Sheikh from the Qallu clan of the Ittu Oromo. He was born in 1906 at a rural village called Belbeleti-Chirratti, 15 km south of Gelemso town. His mother, known as Fatima Abdullahi Hammado, had died immediately after she gave birth to Sheikh Muhammad Rashid so that his father married another wife and had a daughter called Khalisa Sheikh Bilal who would become the Sheikh's only sister.

After the birth of Khalisa, Sheikh Bilal had changed his seat to a distant village called Chorre in today’s Guba Qoricha district of West Harerghe Zone where he became one of the early Muslim scholars who campaigned to Islamize the Ittu Oromo in Guba Qoricha.^[3] He then settled at that very place and took his assignments as a chief Islamic scholar with many disciples and a Qadi of the area. It was there that the infant Muhammad Rashid had started learning the Qur’an and other Islamic educations. But his father couldn’t live many years, and died and buried at that village of Chorre. So the duty of fostering the two orphans of Sheikh Bilal (Muhammad Rashid and Khalisa) lied on their uncles who brought them to their birthplace (Belbeleti).^[4]

His Education

After coming to Belbeliti, Muhammad Rashid continued his educational career. There, his chief teacher was his uncle called Kabir Ahmadee (Muhammad Rashid and the rest of his nephews call this uncle of theirs by his nickname Iddiidii). This Kabir (kabir meaning a learned scholar in the traditions of the Somali, Oromo and Harari peoples) was highly known in the area of al-Ilmu Lisan (“Linguistics) al-jabr (Algebra) and “Taarikh”(History). Muhammad Rashid was also educated under his other uncle called Kabir Khalid who was known for his knowledge of “Fiqh”. But these scholars couldn’t quench the young Muhammad Rashid’s thirst for knowledge.^[5]

So he had departed from his village and traveled in many areas of the Chercher highlands where he attended the companies of many Islamic scholars such as Sheikh Abubeker Sheikh Ali Jami, Sheikh Umare Sheikh Ali Jami, Haji Bashir Haji Umar Sawtani, Haji Mahmud Ahmad and the two well known scholars of the Chercher Highlands called Sheikh Muhammad Harar and Sheikh Umar Aliyye al-Galamisyyi.^[6]

When he completed his learning under the Ulama of the Chercher, the young Muhammad Rashid elongated his journey of education beyond the borders of his province. His eldest son Muttaqii Sheikh Muhammad Rashid narrated to the writer of this article (Aladdin Alevi) that Sheikh Muhammad Rashid’s journey of education took him as far as Jimma and the Gurage province in the west and the walled city of Harar in the east.^[7] But when he reached the former Gara Mulata Awraja of the Harerghe province, he met the ideal teachers whom he was looking for and passed the rest of his studentship life there.^[8] In those years, Muhammad Rashid stayed as a disciple of his most favorite scholars called “Sheikh Adam Gafra”^[9] and most notably the famous “Sheikh Sa’id Husein Faqii” who introduced the Sudanese Tidjani order of Sufism in the Harerghe Highlands.^[10]

And it was this Sheikh Sa’id Hussein Faqi who educated the young Muhammad Rashid deeply and gave him “ijaza” (declarations of full authority) to be a teacher and “Faqih” (Higher Islamic Jude that can give “fatwa” or Islamic decree) with full of rights and authority. Sheikh Muhammed Rashid was also trained in the Essentials and Rightful approaches of Sufism under this beloved Sheikh of him and took the “wazifa” (transmission right) of the Tidjani order of Sufism.^[11]

Sheikh Muhammad Rashid had been a friend of many distinguished Ulama while he was learning under different Sheikhs. Some of his scholarly mates were

• Hajji Umar Ibrahim Arboyye :- Popularly known as “Abbo Haji”. He founded a well known scholarship center at “Dereku”, 15 km south of Gelemso. Haji Umar was also a friend of Sheikh Muhammad Rashid during his pilgrimage to Makah and Medina.
• Sheikh Muhammad Jamal Sheikh Umar Aliyye: The eldest son of Sheikh Umar Aliyye of Gelemso. He was also another man with whom Sheikh Muhammad Rashid went for the Hajji jounery.
• Sheikh Shato Sheikh Mi’o of Gubba Qoricha. Well known scholar of Qur’an and the grandson of Sheikh Ali Jami (popularly known as Aw Ali). Sheikh Shato was not only a friend of Sheikh Muhammad Rashid but also married the latter’s widowed step mother (the mother of Khalisa, Sheikh Muhammad Rashid’s only sister) and had two daughters.
• Sheikh Abdulhalim Kabir Umara:- Cousin of Sheikh Muhammad Rashid who married Khalisa, the sheikh’s sister. He was a famous scholar who tutored many disciples such as Sheikh Mukhtar Aliyye, the current Imam of Gelemso’s grand mosque.
• Sheikh Hassen Anano: One of the well known Ulama in the whole of Harerghe region
• Sheikh Mohammed Abduli : A well known scholar around Deder. His center is located on the bank of the Ramis River.
• Sheikh Bakri Sapalo: A famous historian, traditionist, poet and Orthographer who created a new writing system for Afaan Oromoo (The Oromo Language).

A Popular Sheikh

After achieving his “ijaza” from Sheikh Sa’id Hussein Faqi of Gara Mulata in the late 1930s, Sheikh Muhammad Rashid returned to the Chercher highlands to start his career as a teacher.^[12] He was thinking “Belbeliti” to be his home then. However, as he received many calls from the people of “Chorre”, the seat of his father and where he passed his childhood life, he founded his scholarship center there and began his teachings. Our sources say that Sheikh Muhammad Rashid could bring a big change shortly after he launched his scholarly tutorship. And it was there that he was engaged to his first wife, a Somali woman called “Zeynaba Libaah”, and had a son who could live only for two weeks (The boy’s name was Muhammad Tahir and he died on his 16th day).^[13] During the Italian occupation of Ethiopia around 1940, Sheikh Muhammad Rashid moved his scholarship center to a small town of Kooraa on Ethio-Djibouti railway line and tutored there for some brief time. And there he had his second marriage with Mariyam Ahmed Hajji, mother of Muttaqi and Ahmad Taqi (He married the rest of his wives at Balbaletti)^[14]

Meanwhile, Sheikh Muhammed Rashid was informed that his own birthplace had lacked an able scholar, and famous Ulama like Sheikh Umar Aliyye summoned him to fill the gap so that he returned to “Belbeleti” and established his long-time education center.^[15]

It was in Belbeletti that the Sheikh could teach all sorts of Subjects, from the major Islamic disciplines up to the Arabian and Persian antiquities, from the Greeko-Roman philosophies up to the East African and Indian Medicine, from the Ethnology and History of the Oromos up to the classical Arabic Language and Poetry. Many students whom he taught had witnessed his ability to deliver sermons, his deep knowledge of Islamic subjects and their interpretations, his ability to handle his students, the harmonies community that he established, and above all his humanitarian approaches and his piety.^[16]

As time passes the fame of Sheikh Muhammed Rashid started to cross beyond the Chercher highlands and all of the Harerghe and since then, many students would come from Bale, Arsi and Wello to attend his school. He could get popularity even in the countries of Djibouti, Somalia and Yemen. That was why many citizens of Djibouti and Somalia were visiting the Sheikh frequently^[17]

When the health condition of the brilliant sheikh started to deteriorate in the 1970s, he was forced to stop his teaching career that lasted for about forty years. However, he continued to play his role as a community leader, humanitarian, historian, traditional mediciner, Faqih (Judge), agriculturalist and poet. In general the influence he left in the whole learning process of the traditional Islamic schools can be felt until now.

Among Sheikh Muhammad Rashid’s most distinguished students, we can mention the followings.

• Mufti Salah Ahmed: - who could become one of the early Ethiopian graduates of Al-Azhar University after he departed from his teacher (Sheikh Muhammed Rashid)
• Sheikh Abdurrahman Hussein Mussa (Muudaa) :- Who became the President of The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Ethiopia in the 1990s
• Sheikh Mohammed Rabi Sheikh Umar Aliyye
• Haji Sa’adu Sheikh Mi’o
• Sheikh Arabo Sheikh Yusufe
• Sheikh Abdinur Khalid
• His sons Muttaqii, Ahmad Taqi, Ahmad Sadiq, Aliyu, Israfil and Iskandar

The Norms of the Majlis of Sheikh Muhammad Rashid

During his lifetime, Sheikh Muhammad Rashid could establish one of the most noted scholarship centers of the “Chercher” highlands. This center, which we will call “Majlis” just for simplicity of our discussions, had lost many of its features after the death of the Sheikh. However, it is necessary to present some of its manners and traditions in order that we would get full understandings of the Sheikh’s outlooks, his interpretations of the Islamic law, his methodogies to address the mission of Islam, and how he was going the middle and most satisfactory way to avoid any disputes inside the Muslim community.

1. He rebuilt the mosque that was installed by his great grandfather called Kabir Ismael and to its vicinity, he had his own resting house called “Zawiyya” (Arabic for “private room”). It was in this Zawiyya that he greeted many of his distinguished guests. However, there is no restriction on any one to visit him in his Zawiyya as long as the manners and its of the Majlis are obeyed. For example, a woman can not enter to the Zawwiya alone and by any case, she must obey the Islamic dressing order. The Zawwiya’s entrance door is headed to the west direction facing the gate of the mosque. However, around his final years, when he had got serious health problem, Sheikh Muhammad Rashid used to stay and do his works (teaching, healing the sicks, story telling, directing the community etc.…) in the houses of either of his two latter wives called Amina Ibrahim and Madina Hajji Bashir. He used to interchange his stay between the two houses within three days.

2. Behind the “Zawiyya”, there is a big hay roofed house called “Bundaar” (Arabic “coffee house”) that served as a guest house and an assembly hall. The guests who were caming to visit the Sheikh would rest in that house and if in case they wanted to stay for some mored days, they sleep there. The house also served to host especial events like the celebration of Mawlid (the Birth of the prophet), Eid Al-Fatr (Ramadan), Shawal Eid (popularly called “Siddidto”), the Arafat (Eid al-Adha), Muharram (Ashura) and Mi’raj took place in this house called “Bundaar”.

3. Loughing in a loud voices, screeming, chatting in group with the opposite sex (especially for youngsters ), etc.. were not allowed in the Majlis of the Sheikh (But this doesn’t concern the children), and women wouldn’t enter “Bundar” at any time. If need be, they stay with any one of Sheikh Muhammed Rashid’s wives.

4. Throughout his life, Sheikh Muhammed Rashid had no “khadim” or “permanent servant” and he didn’t allow anyone to serve him except his children, his wives and his close relatives. He didn’t even want any of his children to serve him permanently. (But this doesn’t mean that he hadn’t hired man power. He used to employee some labouers on annual and monthly payments especially people who performed the farm works and looked after his cattle, goats and sheep )

5. Muttaqi Sheikh Muhammed Rashid, his eldest son, remembers that before giving up his teaching career, Sheikh Muhammed Rashid had a busy schedule. He started teaching his student at the sun-rise and he will have a breakfast break around 9:00 a.m. He would then continue his teaching until the mid day Zuhr Prayer.^[18] In the afternoon, he would welcome his visitors and perform his special responsibility of leading the community, and extra activities like treating the sicks with his knowledge of Arabian, African and Persian medicine. But after the Al-Asr prayer (around 4:00), he would again continue teaching his disciples until the senset prayer of Al-Maghrib.

In the evening, he would lead the supplication prayer called “al-azkar”at his mosque. Having prayed Salat Al-Isha’i, he would return to his home. It was in this time that the Sheikh would have a place for family affairs. However, he wouldn’t close his door to anyone who came to seek for his support even in the midnights.

The Islamic Traditions Set up By Sheikh Muhammad Rashid

Being an influential scholarly figure, Sheikh Muhammed Rashid had set up an Islamic tradition based on Qur’an and Sunnah, which is accepted in any Islamic school of law Mazhab, and that do considered the culture, norms, livelihood and customs of the local people. Here are some of the remarkable features of that tradition.

The Qur’an Gey

1. Every child in the village would go to the Qur’an Gey (Qur’an Center) when he reached the age of 4 and above. A newly enrolled student will learn the harfi (meaning script in Arabic but here, it is to mean written Arabic) and khattii (script writing) before starting to learn the Qur’an. It was after mastering over the written Arabic that the student will start learning the Qur’an.

2. The teacher of the Qur’an is called “Kabir”. He is from among the learned Ulama of the village. The “Kabir” has full authority over his students lesson. He teaches basic Ethics and manner in addition to the Qur’an.

3. Besides, the students learn verbally two main courses. One of them is popularly called Shahada (meaning “The two words of Submitting to Islam” ) just because it starts with “La’ilaha illa-llah Muhammadun Rasulullah”. However, this verbal course covers the Basic Theology of Islam, (The Five Pillars of Islam and the Six Articles of Belief), Siratu Rasulullah (The Life History of the Prophet of Allah), Short history of the Companions of the prophet, short history of the early scholars of Islam, the basics of Salat (prayer) and other pillars of Islam, and the basics of “Halal” (the lawful) and “Haram” (the unlawful) in Islam. The students learn this “Shahada” by dictation (listen what their teacher say and re-say it ) and it was held in the evening.

4. The other verbal course was called “Tawhid” and it was just a shortened form of the aforementioned “Shahada”. However, this “Tawhid” was composed in poetry. Sheikh Muhammad Rashid described that he set down the second verbal course (commonly called “Tawhid”) in 1350 years of Hijra, which mean 82 years ago according to Hijra calendar and 80 years ago according to Geregorian calendar. Both courses were learned in Afaan Oromoo.

5. The students usually start learning after they sing a song in which they count the Arabic abjad, praise the prophet, and pray to Allah for their people, their sheikh and themselves. They would do the same after the completion of the daily lessons. 6. There is no payment or tuition fee. A student shouldn’t be absent from his daily lesson without any reason. Anyone who was found so would be considered “Qur’an Farii’’ (meaning in Harar language “the one who run away from learning Qur’an”) and taken from his home forcibly by his class mates.

7. There were two learning sessions. One was held from the sunrise up to the mid of the morning. And the other is held in the evening (imiadetely after the sunset prayer and it lasts up 9:00 p.m). There is no class on Friday.

Practicing Islam

1. On Islamic practices, Sheikh Muhammad Rashid had strong stand on giving priority only to Qur’an and Sunnah. In the matters of jurisprudence (Fiqh), he mainly followed the Shafi’i school of law. However, he used to refer to other maz’habs and some pious “Ulama” if necessary. For example, when the Shehikh leads the non-compulsory prayer of the nights of Ramadan called “Tarawih”, he would pray a total of 36 “raka’t” in the manner of caliph Umar ibn Abdul Aziz and Imam Malik ibn Anas.

2. In the evenings and after the downfall (Al-fajr) prayer, the Sheikh leads the Muslims on “Al-Azkar”, a collection of supplication prayers from Qur’an and Sunnah. And after the completion of the obligatory prayers, the sheikh leads the public on “Salawaat” which he composed in poetry. The Salawat that to be invoked would change according to the seasons. For example, when the non-rainy months persisted for long time, the following Salawat will be invoked loudly in the mosque in order that the Almighty would bring the rain instantly.

“Allahumma Salli Alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin

Allazii yistasqaa bihi wajhil ghamaam

Wa yistashfaa bihii minal Asqa bihil Aalam

Wa alaa alihii wa Asahabihii Wa sallim”

Meaning

“O! our God! Send your “Salawat” up on Muhammad our leader

The one for whom the faces of clouds turn rainy

And from which (that rain) the world would drink and become healthy

O! God send your “Salawat” on his relatives and is companions too

And make peace be up on all of them.”

3. All able person in the village, young or and adult, would fast the 6 days of the month of “Shawwal” in addition to the mandatory fasting of the month of Ramadan. Further, many people would fast on the months of Muharram, Rajab, Sha’ban and the ten days of the month of Dhul Hijja.

4. Sheikh Muhammad Rashid also prohibited many of the non-Islamic customs of wedding and funerals.

His Family

Sheikh Muhammed Rashid was married to nine wives at different times. But this didn’t mean that the sheikh had broken the Islamic code of marriage which allows marrying only four wives at a time. The Islamic code allows the husband to have another wife if one of his wives is dead or if he lost her in divorce. Sheikh Muhammad Rashid was remarried three times because three of his wives were departed from him in death, and he divorced two of them on their own willing. His wives are (Listed in order of their marriage time).^[19]

• Zyenaba Libah:-Break up in divorce, mother of the infant Mohammed Tahir.
• Mariyam Ahmed Hajji: - Mother of Muttaqii, Ahmad Taqi and Israfil. She bore him a total of six children. But three of them (called Azka, Rumana and Al-Amin) were deceased at infancy. Maryam died in 1987, a year before Sheikh Muhammed Rashid’s death.
• Khadija Abdullah :-Mother of Hanifa and Muhammad Taqi (died at infancy). Khadija died while Hanifa was infant.
• Aisha Ahmed : She bore only a man called Ahmad Sadiq, and she died while Sadiq was infant
• Radiya Abdullahi :Mother of Aliyyu, Bahja and Taqiya. She died after Sheikh Muhammed Rashid’s death.
• Fatima Kabiir Mahmud :-She bore four children called Abdul-Khaliq, Abdul Bari, Ghazala and Jumanah but only Jumanah had grown to full age. Fatima died while Jumana was an infant.
• Amina Lamii : Break up in divorce,and she didn’t bear him a child.
• Madina Hajji Bashir :-Mother of Rumana, Bilal (died at infancy), Shamsuddin,Iskandar, Mustafa, Su'ad, Muqaddam and Jihbiz. Madina is still alive.
• Amina Ibrahim: Mother of Ya’suub, and she is still alive.

From the 27 children of Sheikh Muhammad Rashid, only 17 of them passed the stage of infancy. They are (according their birth date) Muttaqii, Hanifa, Ahmad Taqi, Ahmad Sadiq, Aliyyu, Israfil, Bahjaa, Rumana, Taqiyyaa, Shamsuddin, Jumana, Iskandar, Mustafa, Su’aad, Muqaddam, Ya’sub and Jihbiz. And from among these children, Ahmad Taqi, Aliyyu and Rumana are diseased and all the rest are alive.^[20]

His Latter Years and Death

As it's discussed in the above sections, Sheikh Muhammad Rashid had stopped the regular teaching sessions because of health problems. However, he didn't give up teaching his children and some the public on non-regular basis. For example, the writer of this article (Aladdin Alevi) remembers Sheikh Muhammed Rashid teaching his three boys called Iskandar, Mustafa (Ghadanfar) and Muqaddam. On the other hand, he stayed the community leader of the Belbeleti and its rural vicinities (Gara Dima, Mohammad Namo, Awwayye, Goro Tarre, Kallo Harre, Gabo, Mata Mura, Dikicha, Dereku, Defo etc...) until his final breath.

However, the Sheikh's suffering from illness might be counted as simple matter if we consider the greater sufferings that came to him from the military junta of the Dergue that hold the Ethiopian government in 1974. The Dergue, being an ant-faith regime, used to watch the sheikh's teaching and community leadership activities carefully. This was intensified when his patriotic son called Ahmad Taqi was martyred at the Battle of Tiro on September 6/ 1974. While the death of Ahmad Taqi was a great loss to the sheikh and his family by itself, the Dergue made it a reason to harass, loot, detain, and torture Sheikh Muahammad Rashid's family repeatedly. But the shiekh could go through all troubles boldly, and he had never stopped teaching the way of Allah and leading the community for the better outcomes.^[21]

On one Monday, the 28th day of the month of Rabiul Awwal of 1409 years after Hijra (October 31, 1988 G.C or Tikimt 21, 1981 E.C.), the wise sheikh of the public had passed at his own village and engraved at a public cemetery half a mile away from his village. An approximately 5-10 thousand people attended his funeral.

References