Standing over the body of Prince Khaled, General Abel raised his head to the heavens, arms wide and howled a cry of triumph which reverberated throughout the palace. Although not a large man, General Khaled had about him an air of quiet authority which hinted at ferocious inner strength. Five feet nine inches tall, slender and dark-skinned, clad in a suit of iron armor and kilt, bleeding from a shoulder wound sustained during his fierce battle against the Arab leader, the General was the picture of virility and serenity.
Everywhere he looked, he saw his men, some bloody and barely standing, some hale and hearty but all of them stalwart and strong. The Ethiopian warlord nodded to them, and bent down to attend to a particularly nasty piece of business which could not wait. Such is the business of war, gruesome and bloody, but absolutely necessary at times. In his forty three years, General Abel, son of Ethiopian prince Adama and his consort princess Jerusalem, had seen much of war. He'd fought Somalis, whom the Arabs enslaved before mass-converting them to Islam during their conquest of a wide swatch of East Africa. He never dreamed the defense of his beloved motherland would take him as far away as Mauritania, where the Arabs ruled.
Grabbing the slain Arabian princeling by his blood-matted turban, Abel cleanly cut off his head. Brandishing it in his fist, he showed it to his men. Let no man forget what happens to those who invade the Ethiopian motherland, Abel bellowed, before hurling his vanquished foe's head into the air. His men cheered loudly, their chants filling the remnants of the palace. The Ethiopian warriors cheered their stalwart leader, who had proven once and for all that the fierce Arabian warriors weren't invincible. Before their very eyes he slew one of the most powerful leaders of the Arab world, Prince Khaled, ruler of Mauritania.
General Abel sighed, and crossed himself. Everything he did today he did for the sake of Christendom and the Ethiopian motherland. The Arabs were relentless, eager to subjugate all of Africa and forcing those kissed by the sun to bow to their religion everywhere they went. Already Somalia and many other African kingdoms had fallen before them. Not the Kingdom of Ethiopia, Abel thought bitterly. We are a Christian nation and so we shall remain until Jesus Christ himself comes back. The motherland of Ethiopia will not bow to Arab tyranny disguised as religion. The Arabs first came to the Kingdom of Ethiopia claiming to be messengers of peace, intent on sharing the religion of Islam with the Ethiopians. The reigning ruler of Ethiopia at the time, King Getachew ignored the dire warnings of his closest advisers and actually welcomed the Arabian preachers and scholars into Ethiopia.
At the time of the Arabs arrival, the Kingdom of Ethiopia was made up of Christians and Jews, along with a few Pagans. The wily Arabs proclaimed to love Jesus Christ, whom they called Isa Al Masih in the Arabic language. While many Ethiopians welcomed the Arab visitors and their preachers, General Abel did not number among them. He saw the look of revulsion on the Arab men's faces when they saw semi-nude young Ethiopian men racing through the streets of Arba Minch, southern Ethiopia. Surely men who claim to speak for the One True God couldn't feel disdain bordering on hatred for their fellow man based on appearance?
Out of curiosity, Abel asked one of the Arab preachers for a copy of the Quran. Interesting book, to say the least. The prophet Mohammed clearly stated that the Black man was not below the Arab man or the White man and that feelings of superiority based on race were haram or forbidden in Islam. Yet the Arabs behaved like princes among paupers while visiting the Kingdom Ethiopia, insulting and mistreating the locals on their own soil. They mocked Ethiopian architecture and history, referring to Ethiopians as ignorant savages. While they seemed to barely contain their disdain for Ethiopian men, the lust that Arabian men felt for Ethiopian ladies was evident. They took many Ethiopian women as 'bedroom companions' as they visited town after town, village after village.
General Abel recalled an incident which forever altered his view of the Arabs, whom he had been willing to give the benefit of the doubt until they revealed themselves as the hate-filled wretches they were. In the City of Debre Berhan, central Ethiopia, the General was forced to intervene when Youssef, an Arabian scribe attached to the entourage of Imam Ali Abdullah, got in a row with Laban, a young Ethiopian scholar who accosted Fatouma, a lovely young Arabian woman whom Youssef evidently considered his slave and concubine. Laban told Youssef that in Ethiopia, slavery was illegal and women had rights, which incensed the Arabian scholar to the point that he drew his sword on Laban. The stalwart young Ethiopian promptly disarmed the insolent Arabian scholar, who knew more about literature and religion than combat, and had been ready to spear him when General Abel intervene. Even though the Arabian wretch had insulted Laban's honor and threatened his life, the King of Ethiopia looked on the Arabian visitors fondly and killing any of them without his permission would be considered a crime.
When he questioned Laban about what happened, the General learned that the young Ethiopian only intervened when he saw Youssef the Arabian scholar smack his Arabian female companion in public, as if she was nothing. The resigned look on the beautiful young Arabian woman's face chagrined Laban, and he chivalrously intervened. After helping Youssef to his feet, the General warned him that while in Arabia women were slaves for men, in the Kingdom of Ethiopia, a woman was considered a citizen of the nation, with basically the same rights as men. For Christian values and principles dictated public and private life as well as law and culture in Ethiopian society. When he learned this, Youssef actually scoffed and declared that when Islam became law of the land in Ethiopia, Ethiopian men would be kings and Ethiopian women would be slaves. As it is among men and women in every country dominated by Islam.
The Arab scholar's absolute confidence stunned General Abel, who reiterated that Ethiopian was a Christian country and no force on earth would change that. The Arab had laughed, and General Abel inwardly fought for self-control, asking his savior the Lord Jesus Christ to give him the strength to resist the temptation to gut the insolent Arab where he stood. The Arabs went throughout Ethiopia, sharing their faith to those who would listen. Then came the mosques, and the preachers. All of a sudden, Ethiopian society found itself in turmoil. Many Ethiopians were surprised by what happened, General Abel wasn't one of them.
Men who were once proud Christians converted to Islam and overnight they became filled with arrogance and intolerance, viewing Christians with disdain and superiority, and becoming dictators instead of husbands to their wives at home. The change wasn't just limited to men. Feisty, hot-blooded and fiercely independent Ethiopian Christian women became fascinated by Islam, converted, and actually embraced the values of male domination, female subjugation and religious tyranny fostered onto the new converts of Islam. As their numbers grew, Ethiopian Muslims began threatening the social order. Scandal erupted when Ethiopia's very own King Adama converted to Islam, taking the name Malik Hassan. The King began dismissing his ministers, replacing them with Muslim scholars. He declared that he had seen the light thanks to Islam and that Ethiopian society had to change. He wanted to impose Sharia Law. Only one man dared to oppose the maddened King Adama, and that man was Prince Bekeret, General Abel's older brother.
