Sheikh Hussein Pilgrimage

Twice yearly, roughly fifty thousand Ethiopian Muslim pilgrims travel to the remote shrine of Sheikh Hussein in Oromia's Bale Zone, commemorating the birth and death of the thirteenth-century saint credited with introducing Islam to the region and founding the Sultanate of Bale. Pilgrims carry devotional cleft sticks and crawl through a small doorway to enter the tomb, at a religious complex including sacred caves, ponds and a nearby shrine to a Baghdadi saint.

Roughly fifty thousand Ethiopian Muslim pilgrims travel twice each year to the remote town of Sheikh Hussein in the Bale Zone of Oromia, to the tomb of the thirteenth-century saint who introduced Islam to the Sidama peoples of the area and is credited with founding the historic Sultanate of Bale, one commemorating his birth during the Islamic month of Rabi al-Awwal and the other his death during the season of Hajj.