page_title: Horn of Africa
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Horn of Africa / Religion
caption_attribution_description: Outbuilding supposedly containing the Ark of the Covenant at Tzion Maryam church in Axum Ethiopia.
context_page_description: The Horn of Africa: is a peninsula in Africa. It lies along the southern side of the Red Sea and extends hundreds of kilometers into the Gulf of Aden, Somali Sea and Guardafui Channel. The area is the easternmost projection of the African continent. Referred to in ancient and medieval times as the land of the Barbara and Habesha, the Horn of Africa denotes the region containing the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.
  It covers approximately 2 million km² and is inhabited by roughly 115 million people. Regional studies on the Horn of Africa are carried out, among others, in the fields of Ethiopian Studies as well as Somali Studies.
context_section_description: Most inhabitants in the Horn of Africa follow one of the three major Abrahamic faiths. These religions have had a longstanding adherence and the region is shown in the Mosaic account.
  The ancient Axumite Kingdom produced coins and stelae associated with the disc and crescent symbols of the deity Ashtar. The kingdom later became one of the earliest states to adopt Christianity, following the conversion of King Ezana II in the 4th century.
  Islam was introduced to the northern Somali coast early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. Zeila's two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque in Africa. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. He also mentioned that the Adal kingdom had its capital in the city, suggesting that the Adal Sultanate with Zeila as its headquarters dates back to at least the 9th or 10th century. According to I.M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local Somali dynasties, who also ruled over the similarly-established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the littoral Benadir region to the south. Adal's history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighbouring Abyssinia.
  Islam was introduced to the region early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. At Muhammad's urging, a band of persecuted Muslims had fled across the Red Sea into the Horn. There, the Muslims were granted protection by the Aksumite King Aṣḥama ibn Abjar.
  Additionally, Judaism has a long presence in the region. The Kebra Negast ("Book of the Glory of Kings") relates that Israelite tribes arrived in Ethiopia with Menelik I, purported to be the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Makeda). The legend relates that Menelik as an adult returned to his father in Jerusalem, and then resettled in Ethiopia, and that he took with him the Ark of the Covenant. The Beta Israel today primarily follow the Orit (from Aramaic "Oraita" – "Torah"), which consists of the Five Books of Moses and the books Joshua, Judges and Ruth.
  A number of ethnic minority groups in southern Ethiopia also adhere to various traditional faiths. Among these belief systems are the Nilo-Saharan Surma people's acknowledgment of the sky god Tumu.
caption: The Chapel of the Tablet at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion allegedly houses the original Ark of the Covenant.
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