With the anti-Arab sentiment rising among black
Africans on the heels of the inhumane treatment and enslavement of black
Africans in Libya and across the Middle East, the debate has taken a new turn
on social media, at least among Gambians (surprise!). The new narrative is the
stance of Islam on slavery, the history of the contact between sub-Saharan
Africa and the Arabs, the spread of Islam and the force-feeding of religious
dogma and indoctrination of blacks to submit to the God(s) of the Arabs and subsequently
that of the Christians from the western hemisphere.
Won’t do much help to invoke historical facts to
debunk the claims of Islam’s spread by the sword to sub-Saharan Africa and
beyond; the proponents of such a narrative have already made up their minds as
to what to uphold and what serves their narrative. So the argument to be had
now is whether those adhering to Islam today are under any duress to uphold the
belief or not. So respecting people’s individual choices and values is the
hallmark of a democratic and civilized society. Labeling, insulting,
denigrating people’s beliefs or those they hold in reverence degenerates into a
nasty situation fast and averting damage control is prudent; live and let live!
For those so called African idealists, the narrative
that “African Spirituality” has been kicked to the curb in favor of “foreign
doctrines” imposed on us is always a prominent presence. But what is African Spirituality?
A lot of them will fall short of giving you a coherent answer to that effect;
so are you really sincere about your pan African stance or you’re just
projecting disdain for others using the shield of a “proud descendant” of great
forebears with little to no insight as to what they stood for or believed in?
Let’s employ some logic here; logic may not always
be true but truth always stands on logic.
There are two distinct narratives as to who we are;
Creation vs Evolution – Faith or a lack of it. What category do you fall under?
If you are truly for African Spirituality then you
believe in Creation; shocked? Then you’ve been a hypocrite all along.
See our ancestors believed in the “Supreme Being”,
the creator of the universe and all life. They further believed that when we
die, our souls are in fact returning to that Supreme Being. One other thing to
take note of is that African Spirituality is all encompassing; spirituality
informs every aspect of human life, from culture to the environment and
especially the public sphere (governance) so let go of your separation of
church and state mantra. Even sickness has spiritual significance.
This by no means encompasses all of the various
versions of African Spirituality. The point here is that our ancestors believed
in a Supreme Being and a life beyond death; which is why the spirits of the ancestors
are invoked and the reason why shrines are built for them. Death is not the end
but rather it is an ascension to the spiritual realm, a return to the Supreme
Being Whom we invoke through those ancestors who have returned to be with Him.
You see the logic in this belief system? You and I
are direct descendants of the ancestors; the Supreme Being is the giver of
bounds and the healer, since our ancestors are with him it makes sense to call
on them to intercede on our behalf, what if that is what the shrines are for?
In fact that is the concept in some traditional African religions.
Beyond that African Spirituality is pluralistic and
flexible; it does not see other spiritual belief systems as mutually exclusive
but rather as a means to strengthen its own spirituality. When I was in
tourism, I use to tell this joke when tourists asked me; “why are there many
more Muslims than Christians?” I’d reply thus; “Africans have always been
polygamous, the Christian missionaries came and said a man can only have one
wife; the Africans rejected their call. Then came the Muslims and they preached
polygamy of up to four wives and no more, the Africans listened and opened up
to receive some more of the message of Islam.” That was a joke but it speaks to
the all-embracing nature of African spirituality, which further explains why
traditional belief systems are still upheld even with the adoption of Islam and
Christianity, are you wearing a Juju? Exactly!
So, now that we can agree that African Spirituality
upholds the belief in a Supreme Being, if you truly share that view then we
move on to the logic of conventional religion – Islam and Christianity. I’ll
lean more towards Islam since I know a little about that. The logical question
to ask then is why were we created? What is the purpose of our existence, who
is our creator?
How do we know our creator and our purpose?
Our purpose has to be communicated to us somehow,
through some medium. From the Islamic perspective, if not that of others this
is where the concept of Messengers and Prophets come in. Islam teaches that
from Adam, to Muhammad (peace be on them both), the mission was the same, the
message was the same; remind us of our purpose and who our maker is; worship
the one true God – the Supreme being. So those of you claiming plagiarism
understand the mission of the messengers; they come from the same source with
the same message; One God – worship Him.
It’s not that simplistic, but you get the gist of
it. The first man in this tradition was Adam, to whom was given guidance as to
how to live this life; that guidance was passed down from him to his children.
Like us today, after a few generations we deviate from the traditions of our
forebears and every so often a reminder is sent to get us back on course, and
on and on it went through the ages. In that long line of Prophets and
Messengers were blacks as well, who are all considered Muslims by the way. When
the Rastafarians claim that His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie
descended from the royal bloodline of King Solomon and David, they are unto
something. According to Islamic scholars, Solomon (Sulayman – the greatest king
that ever lived) and David (Dawood) peace be on them both were black. So too
was Moses and Jesus; peace be on them all. In fact through scientific research,
which caused some uproar recently, scientists concluded that the people who
inhabited the region that Jesus was said to have emerged from at the time he
emerged were of dark skin complexion. Before them, the last Prophet of Islam described
him as having dark skin. The Islamic Scripture gives further evidence to this;
“And verily We have raised
in every nation a messenger, (proclaiming): Serve Allah and shun false gods.
Then some of them (there were) whom Allah guided, and some of them (there were)
upon whom error had just hold. Do but travel in the land and see the nature of
the consequence for the deniers! (Quran 16: 36).
Nation here does not mean our current
nation states as can be spotted on the map, just for note.
So how would you feel if those ancestors and their
messages were rejected because of their ethnicity?
See it is absolutely okay to not believe in what
these various scriptures call to; but the people who adhere to them are not all
just blind followers. If you do not consider yourself as being full of blind
hatred or blind pride, then accord the same respect to those who adhere to
different beliefs than you do. Ridicule and open contempt is a direct attack on
an individual as our beliefs are an extension of who we are as humans. By all
means if someone tries to impose their beliefs on you, repel them any which way
you know how, but until then live your life and respect your fellow man.
If on the other hand you do not believe in the
Supreme Being as the originator of the universe and life as did our ancestors;
if evolution is what speaks to your rationality; then stop come off your liner
that faithful people are subjecting themselves to foreign doctrine. Simple reason
is that the concept of evolution is also a foreign doctrine to Africans which
begs the question; how different are you in that case? If truth be told, the
faithful are more African than you and your evolutionary theory, at least they
are upholding the faith and teachings of some of those great ancestors sent as
Prophets and Messengers; whose teaching are you holding on to?
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