Amin Tawfiq Al-Tayyibi – a Palestinian university professor at Oxford says:
“The land that is now known as Ethiopia was known to the Arabs in pre-Islamic times only as Al-Habasha and from this Arabic word for the name of the area, the Europeans got their name for the area – Abyssinia. The Arabic name Al-Habasha comes from the tribe Habshat that entered the area from Yemen (Mahra Hadramout or Tihama Yemen) in the millennium before the birth of Christ (AS) . They settled in the Eritrean highlands and the area of Tigrai – the northern hills of Abyssinia. Aksum, which was one of their kingdoms, became well-know the first century after the birth of Christ (AS). “
[image]
The British historian A. Paul says in his book The History of the Beja Tribes of the Eastern Sudan:
“The Sabeans, who were the main power in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, crossed the Red Sea in search of trade and they occupied the Dahlak Archipelago. From there they penetrated deeply into the interior and settled in the land of Tigrai, which is found in what is called Eritrea and Ethiopia today. This happened long before the coming of Christ (AS) – perhaps in 1000 B.C. or 600 B.C.”
[image]
Endubis
Aksumite king
Doctor Jawad Ali says in his book Details About the History of the Arabs Before Islam:
“The relations between the Arabs and the Abyssinians were old, well-known relations which go back to times before Christ (AS). There were strong contacts and exchanges of citizens between the coastal towns of the Arabian Peninsula and the facing coastal towns of Africa because the Arabs of the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula migrated to the African coast and formed communities there. Also Africans migrated to the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula and ruled it time and time again. The last time that they ruled the area was a short time before the Islamic period. Some researchers believe that the origin of the Abyssinians (AlHabash) is from the western part of Yemen from the foot of the mountains. There is a mountain in Yemen called Mount ‘Hubaish’ . Perhaps there is a connection between the name of this mountain and the Habash (Abyssinians) who emigrated to Africa and gave their name to the land that adopted their name – Habshat or Al-Habasha. They also say that Ge’ez or Ge’ezan, as they are also called, are Cesani who Pliiny (23–79 AD) says are from an area near Aden. They are of southern Arab origin and they migrated to Abyssinia and established a kingdom there. The Abyssinian language – called Ge’ez or the language of the Ge’ez – was named after them.”
[center][image]
Original Areas of Semitic Languages
[image]
Sabean Script
[image]
Thamudi Script
[image]
Ge’ez Script
[image]
Sabean Script Next to Ge’ez Script
The Wikipedia says:
“The Sabaean (or Sabaic) language was an Old South Arabian language spoken in Yemen from c. 1000 BC to the 6th century AD, by the Sabaeans; it was used as a written language by some other peoples (sha`bs) of Ancient Yemen, including the Hashidites, Sirwahites, Humlanites, Ghaymanites, Himyarites, Radmanites etc.[1] It was written in the South Arabian alphabet.
The South Arabic alphabet used in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Yemen beginning in the 8th century BCE (all three locations) later evolved into the Ge’ez alphabet. Ge’ez language is no longer thought, as previously assumed, to be an offshoot of Sabaean or Old South Arabian,[2] and there is linguistic evidence of Semitic languages being spoken in Eritrea and Ethiopia since at least 2000 BC.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaean_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge%27ez_language
Doctor Ja’afar Abdu Salih Al-Dhafari – Dean of the first university of Yemen says:
The Qudaa’a tribes set out – in their first emigration – from the hills of Habshat and Mount Habash and Mount Mahrat which form the highlands that were known as the hills of Habshat found in the land of Mahra. From there their clans spread to Mukha and Mouzi’ along the Red Sea. They set up their tents in that part of the southern Arabian Peninsula, but a part of them that settled in Tihama remained there for a while. Then they crossed the Red Sea – departing from Mouzi’ or a coastal town nearby – and they settle on the western bank of the Red Sea (“Africa”).”
The Axumite kings used to have the title:
“King of the Ge’ez Ramhaz Zubaiman, King of Saba and Dhu Raidan and Hadramout and Its Nomads in Najaad and Tihama”.
ملك الجعزيين رمحز زبيمان ملك سبأ وذو ريدان وحضرموت وأعرابها في النجاد وفي تهام
ة
