ኣባይና ሳዋ ልካይድ
ሴማ እንደይ ተሓገዛ 1853*
ጸላኢና
ሳዋ ይውረድ ፥ ትርጉም ካብ ቓንቓ ትግራይት
ግጥሚ
ብ ደርመስ ወድ ትንሥኤው መንሳዕ ቤት አብርሀ 1853
እዛ
ግጥሚ እዚኣ ኣብ ግዜ ወራራት ግብጺ ኣብ ምዕራባዊ ቆላታት ኤርትራ ዝተጻሕፈት እያ። ዝተጨውዩ ሰባት ክረድኡ ንሳዋ ወሪዶም ምስተመልሱ
ዝጻሓፍዋ እያ። ክልተ ካብ ሓሙሽተ ጥንታውያን ንግስነታት ቤጃ (Beja kingdoms**) አብ ናይ ሎሚ ኤርትራ ምንባረን ዝዝከር
ኮይኑ ፣ ኣብ ሐንቲ ካብ፤አተን መደብር ወተሃደራዊ ታዕሊም መእሰያት ኣብ ኣብ ሳዋ ነይርዋ ።
“Cursed
is the one who is forced to go to Sawa” is a poem in Tigrait by Dermas wed
Tensaew in 1853. The poem was written during the Egyptian occupation of the
western lowlands where they killed and abducted people. The poet and his
companions went to find the abducted to Sawa and found out they had been taken
to Sudan. He wrote the poem when they came back from Sawa. Their description
fits today’s Sawa and its environs. It worthy to note that two of the ancient
Beja Kingdoms were in present Eritrea and in one of them, Sawa was a military training outpost.
م"ملعون من أجبر على الذهاب إلى ساوا"
قصيدة بالتيقرايت الفها درماس ود تينسؤ
عام ١٨٥٣. كتبت القصيدة أثناء الاحتلال المصري لأراضي المنخفضة الغربية حيث قتلوا
واختطفوا الناس. ذهب الشاعر ورفاقه للعثور على المختطفين إلى ساوا واكتشفوا أنهم
نقلوا إلى السودان. كتب القصيدة عندما عادوا من ساوا. يناسب وصفهم اليوم ساوا
وضواحيها. وتجدر الإشارة إلى أن اثنتين
من ممالك البجا القديمة كانتا في مايعرف
بإريتريا اليوم ، وفي أحدهما كانت ساوا مركزًا عسكريًا للتدريب.د
*Enno Littmann,
Publication of the Princeton Expedition to Abyssinia, Vol. III, Tigre Text,
Leyden, 1913, pp. 22-23.
**
Five Independent Beja Kingdoms
between the Nile and the Red Sea ]1]
Al-Ya‘qubi, in his history
which was composed about A.D. 872, gives a description of the political
situation in the north of this region in his own time after the Beja
overrunning of part of the Axumite kingdom. [2] Between
the Nile and the Red Sea were five independent kingdoms.
The first, called Naqis, extended
from the Nile near Aswan to the lower Baraka. Its capital, Hajar, was visited
by the Muslims for trading purposes.[3] The various Beja tribes in the kingdom were the Hadareb, Hiab,’Ama’ar, [4] Kawbar, Manasa (Mensa?), Rasifa, ‘Arbarb’a, and Zanafaj [5].
In their country were mines of gold and precious stones worked by Muslims with
whom they were on good terms.
Next came the Baqlin (Rora Baqla?),
covering the Eritrean Sahil, the Rora region of the plateau, and the middle
course of the Baraka. Their religion resembled that of the Magians and
Dualists. They called God Az-Zabjir [6] and
the Devil Sahay Haraqa.
The third kingdom was called Bazin
in the region between the Christian Nuba kingdom of ‘Alwa and the Baqlin with
whom they were formerly at war. The Bazin were possibly the Kunama who are
called Bazen by the Abyssinians.
The fourth, called Jarin, had a powerful king whose rule extended from the coastal town called Badi [7]
The fifth, called Qaţ’a, was the
last Beja kingdom and extended from the border of Badi’ to a place
called Faykun. They were a brave and powerful people and had a military training
school called dar
as-sawa where the young men were trained in arms. These tribes were
all pagan with the exception of the southernmost who were Christians subject to the
Abyssinian king.
The gradual spread of Islam amongst the
Beja began with the settlement of Muslims in the mining district. Maqrizi
records that the excursion of the Beja against Egypt let to the governor of
Aswan sending ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Jahm against them. He concluded a treaty with
their chief, Kanun ibn ‘Abdal-‘Aziz, whose headquarters was at Hajar in the
year A.H. 216 (A.D. 831). His account shows that the Arab traders and mine
owners who were active in northern Beja territory may have influenced the
chiefs, and that mosques for the benefit of these Muslims existed, two of which
are named, one at Hajar, the capital of Naqis, and another at Şinjat.
- ]7] Crowfoot identifies Badi with Airi (Ar-Rib) near ‘Aqiq
(‘Some Red Sea Ports…’, Geog.Jour. xxxvii, 1911,542ff), while Wiet
identifies it with Massawah, which even today is called Batsi in
Tigre and Badi in Bedawie.
