Zar'a Ya'Eqob's Argument for the Existence of God

distinctive feature of philosophy. These questions are questions about human life, about knowledge and truth, good and bad, right and wrong, mind and matter; about human nature and the universe, we inhabit. Any thought about these questions counts as philosophy. Thus philosophy is likely to be found in every human society, past and present- wherever there are people struggling to live and make sense of their lives. Hence, 2
Ethiopia is not an exception to this. It is an obvious foolishness to consider Ethiopia as a country where there is/was no a single thinker.
Ethiopian philosophy is expressed in oral and written literatures 2 both playing a significant and an inspiring role for the current development of Ethiopian philosophy. There are many written works of philosophy in Ethiopia by Ethiopians. The major distinction to be made within this philosophical literature is between translations and original works. The translation includes the Fisalgwos or The physiologue (in the beginning or middle of V century), The Book of The philosophers) (1510/22), and The life and Maxims of Skendas (in the first quarter of XVI century). 3
On the other hand, the original work in Ethiopian philosophy includes the Treatise of Zar'a Ya'eqob (1667) and The Treatise of Walda Heywot, the pupil of Zar'a Ya'eqob (in the early XVIII century). Other Ethiopian scholars have also reflected on different aspects of Ethiopian philosophy (see, for instance, The Oromo conception of their environment, a book by Dr. Workineh Kalbessa, The meditations of Zar'a Ya'eqob a 17th century Ethiopian philosopher, a Paper by Tedros Kiros, The Role of sages in conflict Resolution, an article by Dr. Bekele Gutema, the Works of Messay Kebede, The Works of Wondifraw Ambaye, and many others).
3
In this short paper, I have attempted to disclose Zar'a Ya'eqob's theory of God, the argument he raised to prove the existence of God. The paper has three parts. The first part deals with the need for proving the...