My Uncle Malik Amber
The Siddis-Ahbash in the Gujarat and Maharashtra regions of India are of African ancestry. They were brought to India by the Arabs, the Dutch, and the Portuguese, as soldiers or slaves. From among them rose the famous Abyssinian ex-slave who became a Kingmaker known as Malik Ambar.
Malik Amber, original name Chapu, was born in 1548 around Kambata, in the Sultanate of Adal. As a child he was caught by enslavers in a village raid, taken to the Red Sea shores. He was then taken across the Red Sea to the port of Mocha, Yemen, and sold to Kassim, a trader from Baghdad. Kassim, raised Chapu and gave him a new name, Amber, which means a musk, a perfume. Years later, Kassim took Amber to India and sold him to an Abyssinian ex-slave Indian minister in the city of Ahmednagar, Gujrat.
Amber rose to become an excellent soldier and gained prominence. He garnered a wide fellowship of ex-slaves in several districts in the Decca region. When his owner died, and according to tradition in the region, a slave status was not passed to descendants, and if his owner died, a slave was considered free; Amber became a free man. Later, Malik married his daughter to son of the Sultan and became part of the royalty and continued rising in the ranks.
When the Moguls invaded the region and killed the Sultan, Amber who had formed a contingent of cavalry force of mercenaries offering his services to those interested, joined forces with other Habshi Mogul mercenary forces. His forces grew to the tens of thousands and one of the sultanates bestowed on him the title of Malik, a title that gave him fame and raised his status even more. To this day he is known in history as Malik Ambar.
By 1610 he commanded a force of 50,000 soldiers, well-trained in guerrilla warfare, and controlled much of the region. Malik Ambar, a kingmaker, had picked his son in law to become a Sultan replacing his killed father.
Malik Amber died in 1626 at age 78. His tomb, a protected Indian heritage site, is found in the city of Aurangabad, State of Maharashtra, east of Mumbai and Puna. To this day he is remembered as a revered Indian personality.
A Lesson Worth a Reflection
The story of Malik must humble anyone with fascistic tendencies—fascist is more of description that an insult; it describes people who think they are superior to others.
So, chauvinists should realize that their ancestors could only be either those who kidnapped and sold young Chapu to slavery, or his brothers and relatives. But fascists never admit, even remotely, that they are either descendants of slaves or enslavers! However, if no one is admitting their ancestors were slaves, who could be their descendants of today!
Slavery is not passed through DNA to the offspring. But how would those with fascistic tendencies feel if they found out they’re their ancestors were slaves? Doesn’t the primitive culture of many regions still consider people with dark complexion inferiors, and affectionately call dark skinned people slaves? The culture needs to come to terms with racism and that is why I will discuss my DNA test results.
My Cute DNA
I have mentioned a few times that I was going to do a DNA test and finally, I did it. Clearly the DNA sample pool from many underdeveloped and poor countries is meager, therefore, the information that can be extracted from our DNA samples is poor. Also, only a tiny portion of DNA, the mitochondrial, is very specific and a key in the test. However, the DNA analysis helps people trace their ancestry. And now I have mine so I will share with you.
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- The result told should me some relatives whom I already know, (those whose samples are available with the tester) For instance, I know I am related to Aboy Sunabera’s family and the Tsehira family and that’s because sample DNA from members of these families that matched mine.
- I was told about many distant cousins with unexpected names like Vaughn, Francis, Matlock, Al-Kassob, Clark, Berhelot, Rogers, Davis, Badenga, Salole, Stephens, Fligelman, Lewis—and others with names like the Naib family, a Gebrezghi, Gebre, Mengistu, Gizaw, Bekelech, from the region I come from.
- I also discovered my DNA is rooted in East Africa, and Southern Yemen originating in the area encompassing Eastern Sudan, Eritrea, and the Red Sea—then southwards to Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
- The results made me unhappy …I needed some heavy Arab lineage to send my fascist Agazian lots in a tangent. It would have been fun to see their reaction. Given the number of times I was called an Arab-Jihadi by the bigots, I thought they must know something to say that with so much confidence. Unfortunately, (I am not sure unfortunate for me or for the bigots) I have not enough Arab blood.
See, now I am challenging all the racists and ethnic chauvinists (ancestor worshippers to do a DNA test; I bet many of them will have an Arab dominated DNA signature.
Seriously though, no genes are better than the other, they are all colorful loops—something that should have been a lesson to the bigots. They think their DNA would act weirdly to confirm their 100% origin from the Villages they come from, extending to tens of generation—maybe thousands of years back. Thus prove their pure race! However, I bet DNA look like a Corona virus.
DNA tests doesn’t show the village of birth—and they have no records of their claimed ancestry—they depend on myth and folktales. If that is proof, I will tell you my folktale:
My 20th ancestor is the brother of Malik Amber in Kambata, 600 years ago. And it was the ancestors of the chauvinist who were kidnapping children and selling them to slave traders.
My great ancestor and his brother Chapu were playing in the fields when the child kidnappers run after them; they caught Chapu, but my ancestor, Chapu’s younger brother, was so daring he jumped into a crocodile infested river and swam away. He arrived somewhere, had children and I am one of his descendants.
Why Is the DNA Structure crooked!
A DNA structure diagram looks like a twisted ladder, but the fascists think their ancestry is straight ladder that came down all the way from the first rang where the DNA of their ancestor king Solomon, is, to their DNA on the last rang, uninterrupted. Their ancestry goes straight down in a 180 degree, doesn’t sway sideways, not the usual family growth Triangle growth. But DNA is like a wild ladder that keeps spreading and rebranching. Worse, DNA and genes are restless; they don’t sit in one place for too long. Invasions, displacements, rape, famine, disease, added to natural disasters, makes them travel aimlessly, like what the culture in the Horn of Africa is doing to this day.
How Many Relatives Do We Have?
Do you know how many relatives we have around the world?
Go back 1000 years and imagine your ancestors, a man, and a woman (not an ape, we don’t want to complicate it more than it is) and calculate the number of your relatives.
In 1000 years, a man and a woman who lived an uninterrupted life and reproduced normally, assuming a 25-year ager of generations, they’ll have 40 generations of descendants. At a steady growth of 2.6% per generation, the descendants will number in the millions–a very, very, flat bottom triangle. Go figure who your relatives are—it’s the whole of humanity and they come in different nationalities, citizenships, complexion, and features. A confusing cocktail of races!
I hope that exercise would help some people who might not have any relations to their imaginary abowat-emewat (ancestors). Worse, those they hate most could very well be their real ancestors. Considering yourself part of humanity frees you from such provincial thinking.
All humans are equal and deserve equal respect and treatment. Idiots regurgitating racism, chauvinism, and bigotry are not examples of knowledge and morality. They do not think as mortals like everyone else but make their short stay in this world miserable for themselves and for others. They can’t shed off their ancient savage traits but live just to kill each other.
The conclusion
The fascist Agazian hallucination has already been demolished. It died out though they inflicted on great damages when they reigned over social mediums and directed the noisy, ignorant, and annoying shouting matches—only a few are still active. But remember, the well-meaning Eritreans alone defeated them–the PFDJ watched silently while they wreaked havoc among many communities.
Humanity doesn’t need blood relations to belong to one nation called Eritrea, which is just an idea. Citizens connect through ideals of human values and national aspiration. And that’s deep.
It’s said that blood is thicker than water–but that is a misquote—the correct quote is, “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” And that should be the basis of human political relations, a covenant to serve the just causes of freedom, equality, and justice…. Persistently with steadfastness and enough tenacity—with determination, that is achievable. I am certain that goal will be achieved!
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