History of Gat¿ Shrine [From Its Foundation to 2000]

Although the field of Islam has been neglected in Ethiopian historiography for the last many decades, there are two comprehensive works on national and regional history of Islam in which the coverage given to the institutions of traditional Islam and of shrines is extremely insignificant. This makes our knowledge on dynamics of local Islam incomplete, and of course this triggered the present writer to conduct this research. Sufism is an intellectual and philosophical development has been felt in different shrines of Ethiopia and especially of Wollo. Gat¿ during the time of the ¿saint¿ was an effective center of Muslim resistance for Christian domination, Islamic scholarship and was indeed center of diffusion for orthodox orientations. Currently, however, this status of Gat¿ is completely transformed into center of saint worshipping, syncretistic culture, and become one of the notorious shrines of Wollo. The mythology of miracles in the tradition of the shrine has ensured its sustenance by creating emotional and psychological suspense on its audience, and indeed attached pilgrims to the shrine.