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All
three religions (Godly) have strong roots in Africa. They are not imports,
as generally believed. Following historical records closely, they appear to
be offshoots of a continent that has for thousands of years been in a quest
for a sense of higher power (We covered that in our April 3, 2010 edition).
After all, at the very least, they are all regarded even today as “Semitic”
(meaning mixed dark and light race).
Religious quests started thousands of years ago, along the Nile that natured the first ancient human that walked the earth, four million years ago. That was how far back the carbon dating placed the archeological remains of that first humanoid. No intellectual today worth his professional name will doubt that Africa indeed is the cradle of mankind. The earliest humanoid remains have been found in the valleys of Ethiopia. The same area where it is believed today, the first human walked. And Ethiopia is just one of the communities of the Nile civilization.
How then, did religion begin among such a people of early civilization? How does the oldest civilization bore the idea of appeasing a greater power? It all started with a sense of limit to the power of man to control all his essential needs. For example, where does the power controlling the floods of the Nile reside; for its stability is important for the irrigation of the rich lands that border it. Where does the power controlling the fertility of the soil reside; for it is important for bountiful harvest. And by the way where does the power behind unceasing rain in the spring reside, for it provides the grass for pasture.
The answers were thought to lie in the forces of rain, forces of the rivers and those of the sky and earth. Man began to worship and make appeasing offerings to those forces. Later as the kingdom developed, still with similar idea of appeasing the one that controls man’s development and material survival, the Kings became the lords.
Meanwhile however, serious study into those forces and their influence on man continues. The reason for such quests was; it was not mainly based on material needs that these forces were being appeased, but for curiosity too. The persistent quest to answer greater questions that beset man’s mind, a natural inquisitiveness led a people to continue to seek knowledge. Man’s nature is always geared towards learning the truths behind every action, object or even the transient speech. Truths lead to acceptance and endearment. It brings peace into a mind and heart that is filled with doubts and uncertainty. For that the quests continued. It led to ancient sun dials, temples, dams and pyramids. It led to the construction of structures that defy the weathering of environmental elements for thousands of years, and defied the know-how of the arrogant technological braggarts of today, for none of them today, could replicate the technique used to erect such massive structures.
The idea that Islam is a problem on the African continent is part of the image destructive agenda. It grew over the years. But Islam was not introduced by force to Africans, but through commercial and cultural interactions that came with intercontinental trade. That was what made Islam relevant and adaptable to the continent. Over thousands of years, many cultural influences came and went, and the impact they had depended upon its adaptability, and value. The Greeks and the Romans, the Turks and the Persians all had their days. Either by explorations, war and conquest, or for spread of ideas they came and went. Some made great impact, some moderate and some almost none, when we are talking about incorporation of their ideas and ways into the daily lives on an average African.
Many of its Islamic ideas like allowance for more than one wife if one chooses to, discipline and timeliness in worship daily, the special attention to building the spiritual part of man rather than emphasis on materialism are some of the values that were easily adaptable to a continent natured for long along most of these basic life values. Some of the values that were common continent wide before Islamic influence include hospitality, so also the concept of family not stopping at the husband wife and children, but incorporating the grandparents, uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces, commonly termed as extended family.
Women were not only freer in African ancient culture, they were generally independent to a great degree to choose a profession, who to marry and have greater control of their life limitations in terms of hard work and contribution to family and community. There were the Queens and the warriors, like Queens Bilkis (Abyssinia 1000 BC), Nzinga (Angola 1583-1663 AD), Nefertiti (1370-1330BC, Egypt), Cleopatra (69 – 30BC, Egypt) and Hashepsut (1508 – 1458 BC, Egypt) Amina (1536-1583 AD, Nigeria) etc. They all led not just the political decisions, but military decisions and diplomacy. They led their people to battlefields too. Women in Ghanaian communities, even to date, regardless of religious background or language differences generally are freer than in most nations especially in commerce. Ask Ghanaians today about the Kalabule, and they will tell you a lot.
In earlier African agrarian culture, the concept of polygamy especially in rural communities was widespread. That allows men children as farmhands. To date adherents of other religions, including the Christian religion that is the one most identified with the concept of one-man-one-wife, still take more than one wives. Furthermore in African culture before then, you never hog material, or lock your door to your kin just because sharing will reduce the material comfort of your immediate primary family. The bonds of love and companionship transcend the barrier of greed, and material possession.
The extended families of grandparents are cherished as the possessors of wisdom. That is where you go when life is challenging, to gain wisdom from the sea of experience, and knowledge from the past. It is not only respect that is accorded the old, the young feel blessed to care for them. No one in a typical African setting goes hungry, even if he grows old alone, with no children or spouse to care for them. Their daily subsistence becomes the responsibility of their kin and neighbors.
Even those who had no children, or else those mad and handicapped, get their daily food from their neighbors. Everyone is part of his community. In fact as the historians will tell you, because of this bond many African languages do not have specific words for cousins, nephews and nieces, because your sister’s or brother’s children are automatically your children, so you treat as well as address them like your own biological children.
All these inherent cultural values made Islam adaptable in many ways. We say in many ways because it was not a perfect match however. Though not the worst of its practitioners in the world and definitely not the first; slavery had left a stigma for Arabs. That stigma extends beyond its cultural value into the realms of the religion of Islam. Restrictive values for women was also alien to ancient African culture, and to date even after the influence of Arab culture, women on the continent are generally freer that those in Arab countries. Most ancient African communities have strong matrilineal influence, while Arab culture is patrilineal.
But to be fair to the Arabs or as is sometimes used synonymously Islam, slavery predates the propagation of Islam and the popular adoption of Arab culture. Since the times of the father of all three scriptural religions, Patriarch Abraham, the Old Testament is full of examples of noble families who own and give out slaves. Slaves were gifted by wives to their husbands as in some versions of the story of Hagar, the ancestral mother of the Arabs, who they say was gifted to Sarah from the palace of the King of Egypt. Some other sources say she was a noble from the palace, not a slave. But even the Prophet Jacob (Israel) was related to have had sons with two slaves who were gifted to him as consorts by his two wives Leah and Rachel, who owned the two slaves.
To conclude therefore, history has not done justice to Africans. Not only did it deny African their birthright, it went to great lengths to hide and obliterate all positive influences of African knowledge and contributions to global development. Their legacy was in short stolen from them, and painted Caucasian and “white.” Pharaohs and rich Egyptian nobles are today depicted as people of white skin and European physique. And it was not until about mid last century 1900s, when Africans on the continent and also in the Diasporas, especially United States began the fight to free themselves from physical and psychological domination. Since then serious studies and books began to emerge in larger numbers challenging such lies and deceptions.
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