Located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a longitude and latitude of 7°45′N 40°42′E / 7.750°N 40.700°E / 7.750; 40.700 with an elevation of 1386 meters above sea level.

On 23 December 2007, Addis Fortune reported that SATCON Construction, an Ethiopian-owned firm, completed a four-year effort to build a 170 kilometer road through the mountainous area of the Oromia connecting Sheikh Hussein with the town of Micheta, located in the Daru labu woreda of the West Hararghe Zone.

[2] The town is named after what, in some Ethiopian Muslim eyes, is the most sacred place in that country: the tomb of the thirteenth century Somali saint called Sheikh Hussein from a small village called Gela near Chinaksen, who introduced Islam to the Sidamo people living in the area at the time.

[6] The extensive religious complex dedicated to the saint includes the town and the nearby valley of Kachamsare.

At the entrance of the holy area are two wild fig trees called kiltu (identified as Ficus sycomorus) in the Oromo language.