Ethiopia : The Historical Significance of Ethiopian Religions...

[Aqil]

From the forward by John Henrik Clarke:

"Cheikh Anta Diop is considered to be one of the greatest scholars to emerge in the African world in the 20th century..."

 

[Aqil]

"Islam, in Black Africa, finally became superimposed on the caste system, but in its essence, Islam ignored caste; therefore, no barrier of birth could prevent anyone from becoming a respected religious chief, if he were virtuous. Better yet, only the halo of holiness stemming from Islamic practice could erase and make meaningless a humble extraction, and thus eliminate the social hindrances it might entail: in this, Islam was socially revolutionary. It could, for these various reasons, mobilize the masses from all social strata who were ready to sweep away the supporters of traditional power, now considered completely de-sacralized heathens, because the traditional religion was dead..."

(Cheik Anta Diop)

 

[Aqil]

Even though the Aksumite kingdom of Ethiopia had accepted the arrival of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, during and after King Ezana, the Felashas (Beta Israel) refused to accept Christianity and continued to practice their Old Testament faith which they still do today. This shows that Ethiopia has an unbroken tradition of Old Testament and Judaic culture since the time of King Menelik...

 

[Omowale Jabali]

As Islam triumphed from the Middle Ages onward, the Muslim clergy undertook a social and political revolution by way of their religion. The terrain was eminently favorable. The traditional religion was dead in the people's heads…it had withered away. Heaven was no vain promise to converts to the new faith, which alone galvanized the masses.

Holy war was the dreamed-of opportunity that assured entrance into paradise: it meant volunteering for glorious death. The Tieddos of Cayor saw this at the battle of Samba Sadio against the fanatic soldiers of Ahmadu Cheikhu of Senegal.

Islam in Black Africa finally became superimposed on the caste system, but in its essence, Islam ignored caste; therefore, no barrier of birth could prevent anyone from becoming a respected religious chief, if he were virtuous. Better yet, only the halo of holiness stemming from Islamic practice could erase and make meaningless a humble extraction, and thus eliminate the social hindrances it might entail: in this, Islam was socially revolutionary. It could, for these various reasons, mobilize the masses from all social strata who were ready to sweep away the supporters of traditional power, now considered completely de-sacralized heathens, because the traditional religion was dead.

The fact that Islam was propagated by the nationals themselves radicalized the action: therefore, the revolution was able to succeed, but it came too late. The revolt of the marabouts of Koki, in Senegal, under the Darnel Amari Ngone Ndella, the help they received from the Almamy Abdul Qadir of Futa, the formation of the Lebu theocracy of Cape Verde, governed by Qur’anic law allied to custom, are so many facts that show the movement's self-awareness, and that it was to reach unusual size under the leadership of men such as Ousmane Dan Fodio and El-Hajj Omar.

Islam might have eliminated castes and started a social revolution, the basis of all progress; but the religious dignitaries of common origin preferred to become "ennobled," in a way, by marrying princesses, so that their children would be nobles through their mothers and marabouts through their fathers. Thus, outwardly, the model of the conquered aristocratic society continued to be conveyed, in some manner, by the subconscious of those whose mission had been to eradicate it from the mental universe of the people.

The failure of the social revolution was painful. However, some religious chiefs did at times put the nobility back in its place. This was the case with "Lamp Fall" (Cheikh Ibra Fall), creator of Muride subject of the Baye Fall. He had a calabash full of sun-dried “turds” given to all of his princess wives who were demanding the privilege of having their meals separately, apart from the other wives of popular or slave origin, and exclaimed indignantly: "Try to tell your 'turds' from those of the common women!"

Another specific feature of the aristocratic society survived. "Asking" is a normal act, not a humiliating one. From the bottom to the top of the social hierarchy, everyone - casted or not - may ask his social superior for various things. Even the marabout making a series of requests of God, after having sung his glory in beautiful poetry, is only transposing to the divine order the social reality of everyday life.

Be that as it may, aristocratic ideas, even after the destruction of the nobility as a class, survive in everyone's consciousness; the proletarian is often an aristocrat without knowing it.

The religious conceptual apparatus, essentially forged during the monarchial phase of human evolution, bears the imprint of that period. Thus, the language of the revealed religions, the relationship between God and humanity is one of master and slave: "Lord, we are your slaves." The idea of God on his throne is a symbol. Osiris was the first god in the story of religions to sit on a throne on Judgment Day, to judge the souls of men.

(Cheikh Anta Diop, CIVILIZATION OR BABARISM, An Authentic Anthropology, Lawrence Hill Books, pp. 148-149)

Very good information!

 

[nibs]

why are "pagans" and "animists" being disrespected? judiasm/christianity/islam are all basically watered down versions of these "paganist" traditions. what people are calling "paganist" here is essentially nile valley spirituality. as we know, the religious knowledge of kemet was derived from kush and punt.

the african caste systems are not the same as the abomination that aryans imposed in india (although originally the dravidians did have an african caste system). so let's not trash african culture just because diop wishes to elevate islam to a pedestal in favor of religions he may not understand.