Nejashi

Nejashi is a site of profound Islamic heritage, home to the Al-Nejashi Mosque, one of Africa's earliest. It is revered as the destination for the first Hijra (migration) in Islam, where followers of the Prophet Muhammad sought and received protection from the just Christian king, Negus Ashama ibn Abjar. The Negus is celebrated in Islamic tradition as the first king to embrace Islam, for whom the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself performed the funeral prayer in absentia (Salat al-Ghaib), a unique honor. This land, which offered sanctuary, is also the ancestral home of esteemed figures in Islam like Bilal ibn Rabah, the first Muezzin, and Umm Ayman, who played a motherly role in the Prophet's life, cementing Ethiopia's special place in Islamic history.