African Vs Islam
OKQuincy
Date: 4/20/2000 3:17 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: OKQuincy
Message-id: <20000420151732...@ng-ch1.aol.com>
KCamm:
Thanks for sharing!
My take on this issue is similar to yours in the sense that both Christianity
and Islam are "foreign" to our native African culture and religions. However,
to the extent that we do not allow these foreign religions (cum cultural
practices) to completely submerge our own native practices, I think those
Africans who are converts to these religions should be encouraged to do so.
In most parts of Nigeria, the residents who claim to be either Christians or
Muslims are also frequently totally immersed in their own native religions,
mostly covertly but sometimes also overtly.
The Yoruba have a saying that goes like this:
"Imale Oni Ka Ma Se Oro; Igbagbo Oni Ka'ma Se Egungun."---roughly translated
this means:
"Islam (Imale--the "hard religion"--evoking its spread through violent Jihads)
does not (prohibit) or prevent us from engaging in our own "occult" native
religious practices; similarly Christianity (Igbagbo--religion of the
Believers) does not prevent or prohibt us from celebrating the Masquerades."
I was in Nigeria a few weeks ago and I must have heard this saying repeated
over half a dozen times to me by family members, friends and other acquistances
everytime I pointed out the contradictions in what they were doing.
In Southwest Nigeria, especially amongst the Yoruba natives, it is almost
impossible to find an extended family that does not have a mixture of
Christians, Muslims and Animists in their mist. In fact, most Yoruba are equal
opportunity religionists, celebrating Christmas, Easter, Eid El Fitr and other
Islamic holidays with family members and friends just as eagerly as they
celebrate the numerous Masquerade festivals. A significant number of the people
who donned the costumes for the recently concluded Eyo traditional festival in
Lagos were well known devout Muslims (including some Imams and Alhajis) as well
as many devout Christians.
Adib Rashad made some valid points in his article, which in my opinion is
relatively well researched. However, despite his obvious attempts not to sound
patronizing or condescending to the native African religious practices, his
article is replete with references to Islam having "concretized" the idea of
the oneness and nature of God in the mind of the African. This, from the same
author who wrote that many African ethnic groups had always (before contact
with Arabs and Europeans) believed in
the oneness of God--the Almighty and Creator even as they worshipped Him/Her
through their many gods (Orisa in Yoruba), who they consider as the agents of
God on earth and our intermediary to the Supreme Being.
Overall, I think there is an element of truth in Adib Rashad's main thesis,
which is that "Religion" or the belief in God (as the Supreme Being), is a
pervasive (almost universal) concept to all humanity. Hence, he encourages us
to downplay the cultural origin of any particular religion be it Christianity
or Islam, since by necessity IT had to start somewhere before reaching the rest
of humanity. But must Africans accept foreign religions "hook line and sinker"
along with all the related religious and cultural paraphenelia and related
dogmas?
If the cards were reversed, would the Arabs and the Europeans have eagerly
embraced our own native religions as eagerly as we have embraced theirs to the
neglect of our own religious and cultural practices?
Why does India, a nation of close to one billion peoples, (with a significant
Muslim population) still have over 70% of her population still practising their
own native Hindu religion? Why are the Japanese still so culturally immersed in
Shintoism even as they have become even more western than the Europeans and
Americans in some ways? Why are other South-asian countries very comfortable
with their native Bhuddism even as they are continuously bombarded with Islamic
and Christian dogmas?
The above are some of the questions that contemporary Africans all over the
world should continue to contemplate as we consider the role of the mainstream
organized religions in our individual lives and in our world. What price are we
prepared to pay? Does a guarantee of a ticket to heaven achieved through being
a devout and pious Christian, Muslim, Bhuddist or Bahai, compensate for the
loss (for all eternity, if we allow) of significant aspects of our native
cultures while we're here on earth?
Bye,
Quincy
Subject: African vs. Islam
Date: 4/20/2000 11:53 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Kcamm23063
Message-id: <20000420115324...@ng-bh1.aol.com>
Please note that I am not the author of this article. Also, I am neither
Islamic, nor Christian, and my personal stance is that these two religions are
foreign to Africa, planting the seed of chaos, division and destruction that we
see to this day. Just as surely as foreign politics and a foreign economy are
detrimental to Africa, so is a foreign religion - because one becomes what
their religion
is, which has nothing to do with what Africa is. I do not disrespect Islam,
it's just that to me it has no place in Africa - and neither does Western
Christianity.
Africans and Islam: A Response to the Anti-Islamists
By Adib Rashad (Ras...@aol.com)
The anti-Islamists posit that African traditional religion is metaphysically
valid; Islam and Christianity are invalid because they are considered alien to
the African milieu. They also posit that the African world view is a Black
world view that excludes the Arabs(Moors) of North Africa and the Arabs of
Egypt and the Arabized Africans of Sudan, Somalia and East Africa. These Arabs
are looked upon as white, agents of colonialism and traitors to
Africa. They also consider Islam to be a non-African colonizing religion, as
they do
Christianity. Professor Saleh Abu-Osba in his "Afro-Arab Centricity," raises
some
profound questions such as does African values differ from Arab values, or does
the
African world view differ from the Arab world view, or what similarities or
differences are between religion, socialization and the family structures of
Arabs and of Africans? Osba rightly points out that these questions are
necessary primarily because a significant percentage of Africans inhabit Arab
speaking areas and use the Arabic language, or derivatives of Arabic such as
Swahili. Indeed the Arabic language has more speakers on the African
continent in terms of number of speakers.
At this time, it is important to properly define the term Arab or Arabic. The
term is a cultural term and not ethnic designative. The so-called Arabs are a
mixture of various races--especially African. They freely intermarried with
all people, and they usually settled in various parts of Africa. Drusilla
Dunjee Houston contends that Arabia was originally settled by two distinct
races, an earlier Cushite Ethiopian race and a later Semitic Arabian.
The Cushites were the original Arabs and resided in what is
geographically referred to as Arabia today. They were in that area before
Ibrahim (Abraham) came to Canaan. Ancient literature assigns their first
settlement to the extreme southwestern point of the peninsula. From there they
spread northward and eastward over Yemen, Hadramout and Oman. John Baldwin in
"Prehistoric Nations" adds to this by proclaiming that Arabia was one of the
earliest colonies of the ancient Cushite Empire of Ethiopians. He
also claims that it was the original land of Cush. He adds the
following: "In the oldest recorded traditions, Arabia is the land of Cush, the
celebrated Ethiopia of very remote times." He continues, "In ages older than
Egypt or Chaldea, Arabia was the seat of an enlightened and enterprising
civilization that went far into neighboring countries. At that time Arabia was
the exalted and wonderful Ethiopians of older of older tradition, the center
and life of what in western Asia was known as the civilized world.
Tradition of the ancient world rightly interpreted can have no other
meaning. In the early traditions and records of Greece, Arabia was described
as
Ethiopia."
Considering the aforementioned information, it is within the realm of
historical veracity to study African history in conjunction with so-called Arab
history. Dr. Ali Mazrui accentuates this by stating: "The distinction between
Arab and Black Africans is not dichotomous but has the complexity of a
continuum... Within Africa itself the range of color among the Arabs runs
indeed from white to Black; even within Egypt, the range
of color is virtually as wide as it is in the Arab world as a whole." The
anti-Islamists tend to negate the historical/cultural relationship between
Arabs and Africans, believing that Arabs are so-called white and are bearers of
a religion/Islam that they erroneously exclaim has disrupted and destroyed
African traditional religions.
The anti-Islamists are primarily concerned with the African world perspective,
Africanity as a means of identity, and African (Blackness) cultural
assertiveness. Mazrui responds to these issues as follows: "What is often
overlooked is that Egypt was conquered by the Arabs from the deserts of the
Peninsula who were darker that the Egyptians they
subjected. The Arabs from the Peninsula were also darker than the Syrians whom
they
converted to Islam in that first wave of conquests... If the Sudanese Arabs
are dark, so are many of the inhabitants of Mecca and Medina. They may not be
as dark as the Sudanese, though some of them are. The Arabs of Mecca and
Medina are a blend of Asia and Africa."
It is imperative that the anti-Islamists--be they Nationalists,
Pan-Africanists, Marxists, African traditionalists, or Christians--consider
three important points: 1. The natural and political separation of Africa from
Arabia. 2. The indigenous Christian factor in Africa, and 3. The progressive
impact of Islam on Africa. It is within the interest of scholarship that the
anti-Islamists acknowledge that Islam did not disrupt or destroy African
customs and traditions; in fact, Islam enhanced the Africans' identity, gave
him a pragmatic world
outlook, and concretized his metaphysical awareness. To put it another way,
Islam has been more accommodating to indigenous African customs and traditions
than western Christianity or western cultural values. The profundity of Islam
in Africa is manifest by way of the large percentage of Muslims on the
continent. The above fact, however, is ignored by the anti-Islamists.
John S. Mbiti, African Christian theologian, is objective enough in his
research to find and declare points of similarity between Islam and traditional
religions in Africa. He considers the similarities as agents for smooth
conversions; furthermore, he believes that traditional African religions
accommodate Islam and Islam accommodate them. Edward Wilt Bylined, the pioneer
Pan-Africanist, was a Christian who greatly regarded the spiritual and
cultural significance of Islam. He always pointed to the equalitarianism of
Islam, as well as the social and political organizations it fosters. Most
importantly, he viewed Islam as a religion that helped to develop the African
personality, stimulated race pride, and
encouraged industry and scholarship. Moreover, Bylden acknowledged that Islam
kept most African customs and institutions intact and acted as a unifying
factor against tribal antagonisms Islam presented a support mechanism for the
African traditional way of
life. The African convert was able to retain the greater facets of his tribal
customs, and therefore, experienced a dual life style. Melville Herskovitz,
anthropologist, and founder of the first university program in African studies
stated this:
"From a theological point of view, there was not essential conflict between
Islamic and aboriginal beliefs; that polytheism is the only tenet inconsistent
with being a Muslim. Therefore, East Africans believing in a universe headed
by a single deity needed no far-reaching reorientation." With regard to the
invasion of Islam into Africa, the anti-Islamists would do well by studying
Philip Curtin, J. S. Trimingham, Ahmed Sekou Ture, Robert
W. July, T. M. Lewis, John G. Jackson, J. C. DeGraft Johnson, Carter G. Woodson
and others. They begin and end with the study of Chancellor Williams, and some
off points by Drusila Houston--this is not well-rounded research. The above
mentioned scholars have tried, as best they could, to place this subject in
proper historical perspective. They show that this so-called invasion was
never a factor simply because Arab and African relations are historically and
culturally extensive. What is equally important, and the
anti-Islamists must consider this is the fact that the history of Africa
is the history of migrations and ethnic intermingling. The African connection
with; the Mediterranean and other parts of the world is an ancient practice.
Furthermore, the contacts between the so-called Semitic and so-called Hamitic
peoples developed around the Fertile Crescent and Egypt.
The contact between Arabia and East Africa was developed in the Iron Age.
Relations between Ethiopia (Black Face in Greek) and so-called Arabs dates back
to 5000 B. C. Additionally, the contact between so-called Bantu and so-called
Arab in East Africa is approximately two thousand years. Thus African history
must be viewed and taught from the above framework. There was no forceful
Islamic invasion. Islam penetrated Africa in two ways: 1.
Trading or commercial means; 2. Arab and East Indian missionaries.
Hence, Islam was introduced through interpersonal means. Islam enabled the
Africans to establish and enhance their political, economic, and cultural
standards that were germane for a contemporary world. Islam brought a new and
different form of trading concepts to Africa (East and West) that the Africans
worked, and synthesized into patterns of their own.
Islam also introduced new concepts in law, education, and government. This, in
turn, gave birth to the great empires of Mali, Songhai, Timbuktu, and Ghana.
It even produced an intellectual mariner class that sailed to North America and
traded with Amerindians. Kofi Wangara has written extensively on this subject,
as has Clyde Ahmed Winters, the excerpts from Wangara are as follows: "We
learn that West African merchant-marine fleets periodically
left the Guinea Coast and sailed to the Americas with gold and other
merchandise. African merchants established trading stations in the Antilles
and around
the Gulf of Mexico. The African merchants in the Americas were Muslims and
exhibited many Islamic customs: they also bore Islamic names and titles
expressed in a Mandinga form."
Leo Wiener, Professor of Slavic Languages and literature, wrote in his "Africa
and the Discovery of America," that "Arabicised Negroes" (African Muslims)
profoundly influenced the culture of the Amerindians. This contact extended to
the African Muslim slaves and the Seminole Indians. Together they joined
forces, and fought the U. S. government to a standstill. To reiterate, the
introduction of Islam into Africa exerted a powerful influence on the
continent. Professor Blyden pointed out that Islam gave the initiative of
intellectual progress to the tribes of the interior. Through years of first
hand observation, he concluded that: "It is through Mohammedans that the
natives have acquired all they have of knowledge of the outside world, or of
past history, sacred or profane. Mohammedans have given unity, to the great
tribes of the continent, have placed millions of Africans--by means of
their language, letters, and books--under the same inspiration." He concludes
this observation by making this poignant statement: "Suppose Africa had been
obliged to wait till now for knowledge of letters and books from Europeans,
what would have been the condition of things, at this moment, in the interior."
There was never an external Jihad in Africa as the anti-Islamists claim; on
the contrary, the Jihad in Africa (Holy War) was internal. A
number ofscholars such as John Ralph Willis, Philip Curtin, Mervyn Hiskett,
Sulayman Nyang and others have unequivocally shown that the Jihadists were
spiritual
reformers.
Dr Osba and Dr Mbiti convey the similarities between Islam and African
traditional religions in four parts: 1. Believing in a Supreme God; 2. Uniting
between spirit and matter; 3. Believing in the hereafter; 4. Believing in
ancestor and spiritual forces.
Let us briefly focus on the most important of those systems and that is the
belief in a Supreme God. We should begin by focusing on what Mbiti has to say
about the subject. In studying the various tribes of Africa, he shows us that
Banyarwanda and Barundi regard God as their Supreme Ruler and Governor. When
the Bartose and Buluba pray, they address God as "The Great King." Who rules
over all things. The Akan, he tells us, say that God is the
Ruler of the sky, earth, and underworld. The Zulu consider him to be King of
Kings or Chief of Chiefs, an attribute which conveys Supreme authority and
absolute power. To the Yoruba, he is the Lord of Heaven. In every one of
these African tribes or societies, God is given these titles which indicates
that all respect and honor are due to Him, and man's attitude to Him is one of
humbleness and submissiveness.
Now let us compare that to the belief system of the Muslims. Islam exhorts the
belief in the oneness of God. Islam affirms the absolute unity of God. The
Holy Qu'ran states: "Your God is One God. There is No God Save Him, Most
Gracious, Most Merciful (Chapter 11: 63). Obviously, the African belief system
in a Supreme High God does not differ dramatically from what the Islamic belief
system states. It, therefore, should be clear that Islam only
brought to the African a more precise understanding of God. Ezekiel
Mphahele in his "The African Image" enhances the above information, and I think
we can
conclude this aspect of the subject with his words: "Allah absolute. Allah
standing outside of and above history. Free from man's recriminations,
innocent of man's recriminations, innocent of man's tragedies. Unaccountable
for the evil of this world. Man is free of Allah too. Africa and Islam are
integrated in a degree more profound than
Christianity could ever be with Africa. Where are the points of concord?
Islam: Is it the Muslim idea of the absolute in God and the African sense of
the absolute? Endeavor to live Islam in every department of life and the
African's totality of vision? Does a direct contact with God correspond with
the free and easy way to divinity through the African ancestors?" All of the
above sources point to an irrefutable conclusion that Islam has
been a highly contributory force in Africa, North America, Asia, and other
parts of the world. Therefore, it behooves the anti-Islamists to place this
information in a proper conceptual framework.
One of the contradictions that highlights the anti-Islamists is their emotional
acceptance of Malik Shabazz/Malcolm X, who was a Muslim, their embrace of the
Honorable Marcus Garvey, who respected Islam and was taught by a Muslim, Duse
Muhammad Ali. Finally, scholar, Josef Stamer, highlights this entire subject
by pointing out that in actuality the process of Islamization was essentially
carried out by Africans themselves. For African Muslims,
Africanity, or African-ness and Islam are in no way opposed. Thus, it is safe
to conclude that Islam, in its traditional form, is entirely a part of the
African cultural heritage and is in fact an African reality.
Footnote:
As far as Africa is concerned, Islam entered into East Africa at the beginning
of the Islamic period but remained confined to the coast for some time, only
the Sudan and Somalia became Arabized or Islamized. West Africa felt the
presence of Islam through North African traders (Moors) who traveled south of
the Sahara. By the 14th century there were already Muslim Sultanates in such
areas as Mali and Timbuktu in West Africa and Harar in East Africa
had become seats of learning.
Gradually, Islam penetrated both inland and southward. There also appeared
major charismatic figures who inspired intense resistance against European
colonialism. The process of Islamization of Africa did not cease during the
colonial period, on the contrary, many traditional Africanists accepted Islam
because of its militant stance against the European invaders. The Islamization
process continues to this day with the result that most Africans are
now Muslims carrying on a tradition which has had practically as long
a history in certain areas of Sub-Saharan Africa as Islam itself. As a matter
of fact, Africa has been called the "Muslim continent."
*=====
Adib Rashad (Ras...@aol.com) is an education consultant, education
program director, author, and historian. He has lived and taught in
West Africa and South East Asia.
KCAMM23063
<@>
Do not revile one older than you,
He has seen Re before you.
Instruction of Amenemope