Islam i władza polityczna w Rogu Afryki

This article tries to show the spread of Islam to the Horn of Africa and its relations with the political system of the countries in the region. The analysis mainly focuses on the political situations within the context of Islam in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan. The first contact of Islam with Ethiopia began in 615 AD, when the early followers of Islam were encouraged by Prophet Mohammed to flee Arabia because of persecution and sent to Ethiopia to seek protection from King Armah of Axum (North - Eastern part of modern Ethiopia). Among the group of refugees, there were Prophet Mohammed's wife and his cousin. Islam reached the Horn of Africa from across the Red Sea, mainly by Muslim traders. The spread of Islam can also be defined by the logic of the nearness of geographical location of the Horn of Africa to Arabia, the birth place of Islam, relatively easy for the transnational relations and cultural interaction. Today the vast majority of the people of the Horn of Africa are Muslims. During the colonial period in Somalia and Sudan Islam had played a unifying role to strengthen the struggle for freedom. In the Muslim countries of the Horn of Africa, such as Somalia and Sudan, Islam and political power is not separated. The imposition of sharia as the state law in Sudan in 1993 was the major factor of conflict between the North and the South in which more than two million people have lost their lives, and millions left their home as refugees.