Sheikh Hussein is a village in south-eastern Ethiopia, located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region. The village is name after what, in Ethiopian Muslim eyes, is the most sacred place in that country: the tomb of the thirteenth century Sheikh Hussein, who introduced Islam to the Sidamo people living in the area at the time, and is said to have performed many miracles. A number of these miracles have been recorded in a hagiography published in Cairo in the 1920s, entitled Rabi` al-Qulub.

Although this village is now within the homelands of the Oromo people, it has continued to be the destination of approximately 50,000 pilgrims from Moslem Ethiopia twice a year during the Muslim months of Hajj and Rabi' al-Awwal. The first pilgrimage is to celebrate his birth, the second his death. They traditionally carry cleft sticks known as "Oulle Sheikh Hussein", which are too small to serve as walking sticks and are not utilized for any practical purpose. Once they arrive at the shrine, the pilgrims take their turns entering the saint's tomb by crawling through a small doorway.