History department msu

Cosmology of African Religion

-term is derived from the Greek word kosmos meaning world and logos which means discourse.

-It is a study of the origin, structure and development of the world or universe in its totality.

-can be loosely defined as that branch of metaphysics after ontology (which is the study of meaning and nature of being).

-Nwala defines it as a framework of concepts and relations which men erect in satisfaction of some emotional or intellectual drive for the purpose of bringing descriptive order into the world as a whole including himself as one of its elements.

-Bourdillon further highlights that cosmos refers to the world or universe as an ordered system.

-It defines the way different people in different cultures understand the world of their experience.

-structures or relations can be explained using myths.

For more information on that, refer to David Lan, Guns and Rain, 1985.

-Etim E Okon has seen cosmology as the sum total of people’s opinion concerning life, happiness, fears, purpose of life, death and after.

-basically, there are 2 types of worldviews- material and religious.

-material sees cosmos as a product of chance which has no meaning and no end. For those who accept this view, every happening eg sickness or natural disasters is a product of chance.

-to those who accept the religious world view, there is meaning attached to everything. For example, if a man is threatened with death and then stuck dead by a car on the same day, it may show that he has been bewitched.

-generally, Africans have a religious world view- look and various wars that have been fought on the continent.

-the traditional God is the same as the Christian God. He has various names however.

-there are myths associated with creation.

according to Mbiti, in some accounts, God made the heavenly part of the universe first and then standing on it, he created the earth.

-some myths believe that God created the earth first, then standing on it, he created the heavens.

-there are still others who forward that the entire universe was created in one act.

-Africans believe that the universe is made up of the visible (material) and the invisible (immaterial).

-universe is made of 3 partitions- the heavens, the earth and the underworld.

-much of what was used to describe Africans was done by outsiders who were viewing the continent and its inhabitants from their own cultural perspective.

-knowledge is still to be Africanised.

Islamic Penetration of Africa

Islam just like other great world religions such as Christianity is doctrinally concerned with ultimate causation, truth and morality and man’s relationship with his Creator. It has its own code of ethics and code of beliefs and it enables people from different parts of the world to share in what its adherence consider to be universal truths and the culture associated with that dispensation.

Islam is both a religion and a culture or way of life. The agents of Islam would include virtually all segments of the believing community- soldiers, traders, immigrants, teachers and preachers belonging to many nationalities.

Historically, Arabs were the first agents who carried the faith to all parts of the Middle East and North Africa. According to S S Nyang, when Muhammad’s followers were under great persecution, he advised them to seek refuge in Mecca. In Muslim tradition, this event is called hijrah. They returned when it was safe to do so- when Muslims had defeated kafirun infidels. The returnees joined Muhammad in Medina. Africa was thus their place of refuge.

How did Islam enter Africa? What impact did it have on African societies?

Origins

Muhammad was the founder of the Islamic faith and recognized by the Muslims as the last of the prophets of God. He was born in Mecca about AD 570. After a retreat in Mecca in about AD 610 at the age of 40, he claimed to have received divine messages. After meeting hostility in Mecca, he fled to Medina in about AD 622. His flight is often referred to as Lifra or Holy Flight.

-Muslims are heavily concentrated in Nigeria, Senegal, Guinea, Niger, Mali and Egypt.

-they make up almost the entire population of Zanzibar, the Somali Republic and all North Africa.

-they form a clear majority in Sudan and form a small part within the population of Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe and the DRC.
Egypt and North Africa

Following its conquest by the Arabs about AD 639, Egypt became the first stronghold of Islam on the African continent.

-through military conquest followed by religious and cultural domination, they extended their sway to the Maghrib- Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

-the Berbers who were the major indigenous group in this area revolted against Arab domination but eventually accepted Islam.

-by the beginning of the 9^th century, the Berbers had become active agents of Islam, first into the immediate interior and then over the Trans-Saharan trade routes.

-the city of Kaironan was built by the Muslims in Tunisia around AD 670 and became the base for military operations into Berber territory.

-it was among the militant Berber Muslims in the interior that Almoravid and Almohad revivalist movements emerged in the 11^th and 12^th centuries respectively.

-adherence to the traditional interpretation of the Koran and the stressing of the direct contact of the individual soul with God dominated the thinking and politics of the Maghrib.

-important to the new religion was the Koran- the collection of divine messages which God commanded Muhammad to preach.

-literally, Islam means submission- submission to the will of God. It is the belief of the Muslims that Allah’s will is enshrined in the Koran. The Koran lays down Muslim law, perceptions and morality which range from matrimonial laws and obligations, inheritance, laws governing drinking and eating habits to laws regulating inter-personal relations.

-it also contains political ideas which were used to establish relationships in a political system based on Islamic beliefs.

-those receiving Islamic education are required not only to memorize the Koran, but also to study the hadiths- a collection of the sayings and actions of Muhammad as a basis of the Muslim way of life.

-adherents of the Islamic religion must a) pray facing towards Mecca, at 5 specified times daily.

b) affirm the oneness of God- there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. c) participate in the 30 day fast during the month of Ramadan. d) go on a pilgrimage to Islam’s holy cities of Medina and Mecca at least once their lifetime.

Regional distribution and spread

-the period from the 13^th to the 16^th century witnessed the emergence of Sufism- a Muslim mysticism which soon became an active agent of Islamization.

-the Berbers came to dominate Saharan trade routes and accompanied their religious forays with intense commercial activity.

-from south of the Sahara came slaves (who were used to provide cheap labor and as domestics), gold and to a lesser extent ivory. In return, camel caravans carried manufactured goods such as textiles, steel weapons and metal bars from North Africa or at times imports from Europe and across the Sahara.

-salt produced in Saharan mines at Taghaza was an important part of the thriving Trans-Saharan commercial activity linking the Maghrib with Western Sudan.

-market towns and major oases in the desert became vital to the Muslim commercial and religious enterprise.

-by the turn of the 16^th century, almost every corner of West Africa had been Islamized and Arabized.

Although during the 19^th century and early part of the 20^th century, the region was subjected to European colonial rule, Islamic faith and culture did not diminish.

West Africa

-Islam in West Africa is closely linked to the Maghrib for it owes its origins in many areas to the converted Berbers who had for many years been involved in the trans-Saharan trade. Berbers and the nomadic Tuaregs began making converts and the introduction of this new religion was of great importance in that it provided a common bond and a sense of community among various ethnic groups and commercial interests.

-the conversion of Ghana to Islam entailed a change of dynasty- hence the administration was subject to Islamic influence.

-Muslim clerics were employed as envoys and interpreters in domestic matters and external contacts. When Ghana was in decline, it was overwhelmed by its non-Muslim neighbours, the Soso.

-the Malinke kingdom of Mali emerged as a leading power in Western Sudan under its Muslim rulers. Sudanese traders became part of a wider economic system and made contacts with African Muslim merchants thus acquiring an outlook broader than their own cultural backgrounds.

-Sudanese rulers were also exposed to the influence of Islam. They reaped huge benefits from the trade; they employed Muslim scholars as advisers, ambassadors and administrators. Even though some kings were converted to Islam, the common people did not wish to renounce their traditional faith nor did the king himself abandon old ways which bound traditional society together. Thus a religious dualism, an accommodation of the traditional and Islamic faiths in a peaceful coexistence assured social harmony.

-in Mali, during the reign of Mansa Musa (1312-1337), an administration based on a literate bureaucracy was establishing contacts with distant lands especially Morocco and Egypt and centers of Islamic learning in Timbuktu, Jenne and other places. Mali rulers went on pilgrimages to Mecca.

-the contribution of Malinke- spreading Dyula merchants who were famed for their entrepreneurial skills and wide commercial network was acknowledged by the Arab historian Ibn Batuta.

-the establishment of centers of Islamic learning in Timbuktu and Jenne and their strategic location at crossroads of commercial activities facilitated the dissemination of Islamic culture to different parts of the region.

-like Harar in the Horn of Africa, the mosques of Timbuktu and Jenne could be considered universities in their own right, centers of intellectual ferment and academic disputation where students and scholars from far and wide occupied themselves in theological and canonical questions. Their activities fostered the spread of Islam as the disciples of each scholar in turn trained another generation of Muslim teachers.

-Kanem in the Chad basin maintained a strong military force and by its control of the Fezzan, it was able to safeguard its commercial and diplomatic relations with rulers of Tunis.

-the most dramatic revolution in the penetration of Islam penetration to West Africa was the 18^th to 19^th century- a period called the age of Islamic revolutions. This witnessed a series of jihads or holy wars led mainly by Fulani zealots, preachers and warriors.

Why revolution

-historians have argued that the Fulani wanted new grazing lands for their cattle but there were also dominant religious and political motives. The Fulani wanted to conquer new land for Islam and sought political and economic control of the area in which each jihad was waged.

-the Fulani holy wars in West Africa can be divided into 5 phases or separate wars.
Conclusion

-The introduction of Islam benefitted from long distance trade and trade routes. The Muslim brotherhoods (in Western Sudan), the Qadriyya and the Tijaniyya contributed in their own way to the spread of the faith.

Eastern Sudan and the Horn of Africa
-The Eastern Sudan was subject to Islamic influence from two directions- Egypt and Arabia. Each left its mark on the socio-cultural development of the area.

-Egyptian efforts to conquer the area in the 7^th century were repulsed by Christian kingdoms of Nubia. However, through a slow process of interaction and mixing of Arab nomads and immigrants from Egypt with the indigenous Hamitic people of Sudan, Islamic culture became so entrenched in the area.

-Islamic orders often built around individual holy men and their families dominated the religious scene and confirmed the basic Islamic patterns of Sudanese society.

-this direct encounter with Arabian Islam and culture explains the sense of belonging to an Arab rather than an African nation.

-the predominantly Nilotic and Negroid ethnic groups in South Sudan remained unaffected by these religious and cultural influences.

-in 1820, Egyptian forces under the instigation of Muhammad ali Pasha, the Ottoman Turkish governor of Egypt invaded the Sudan and occupied the northern and central regions.

-with the conquest of Darfur in 1884, Islam began to spread westwards.

-spread of Islam went hand in hand with the expansion of slave trade.

-1880 saw social discontent, political turmoil and interference by colonial administration. This made the Egyptian regime unpopular.

-Societies opposed to the Egyptian regime looked for a Sudanese liberator- a Mahdi or second coming of the prophet and found one Muhammad Abdullah.

-in 1898, Mahdists were dislodged and there began Anglo-Egyptian colonial period which ended with the proclamation of independence in 1956.

-Islam failed to gain converts in Ethiopia because of vigorous resistance to it by Christian Amhara.

-in Zeila, Mogadishu and other Muslim settlements, several important Muslim settlements developed in the process of expanding commerce and Islam in the interior. The Islamisers came into conflict with the Christians of Abyssinia. The long struggle for supremacy between the Muslims and Christians ended with the defeat of the former in 1542.

-the failure left a legacy of distrust between Christian and Muslim communities of the region.

East and Central Africa

-Muslim trading activities in East Africa were for long restricted to the coast.

-the hinterland people were not Muslims and the under populated hinterland failed to attract the Arab merchants other than those trading in slaves, ivory and gold coming from the Western coastal settlements though monopolized by Muslims eg islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, Mombasa and Comoros.

-Beginning 14^th and end of 15^th century, East Africa witnessed Afro-Arab interaction which culminated in the emergence of a new language Swahili.

-Portuguese colonial rule resulted in the total ruin of Muslim commercial concerns with the coming of Vasco da Gama and Pedro Cabral.

-by the 18^th century Omani hegemony had been established in the coastal towns and governors loyal to Omani appointed to administer and collect taxes.

Islam and democracy: contemporary challenges

According to Abdullah An-Na’Im, Islam has been manipulated to legitimize extremely repressive, authoritarian and unjust regimes that have nothing to do with the values and objectives of democracy.

-on the other hand, Islam has also provided the rationale and motivation for resistance to tyranny and despotism throughout history.

-however, as in Sudan, manipulation continued under new forms to perpetuate authoritarianism and repression rather than liberty and freedom. The particular Islamic ideology articulated and implemented in the name of Islam has run contrary to essence of Islam. It has been engaged in gross and massive human rights violations.

-there have been severe and distinctive civil wars resulting in massive displacement and untold suffering for defenseless civilians, persecution of non-Muslims eg Sudanese harassment of women, torture etc.

-No Muslim could accept this as justified by Islam but the challenge has to be through Islamic discourse.

-Look also at the activities of Boko Haram and Al Queada.

Gender and Religion

To a greater extent, religion has exacerbated gender inequality especially in the Islam and to a certain extent, Christianity. The human rights of women throughout Africa and the Middle East are systematically denied by each of the countries in the region, despite the diversity of their political systems. Many governments routinely suppress civil society by restricting freedom of the press, expression, and assembly. These restrictions adversely affect both men and women; however, women are subject to a host of additional gender-specific human rights violations. For example, family, penal, and citizenship laws throughout the region relegate women to a subordinate status compared to their male counterparts. This legal discrimination undermines women’s full personhood and equal participation in society and puts women at an increased risk for violence.

Family matters in countries as diverse as Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Sudan are governed by religion-based personal status codes. Many of these laws treat women essentially as legal minors under the eternal guardianship of their male family members. Family decision-making is thought to be the exclusive domain of men, who enjoy by default the legal status of “head of household.” These notions are supported by family courts in the region that often reinforce the primacy of male decision-making power.

Sex differences in religion can be classified as either "internal" or "external". Internal religious issues are studied from the perspective of a given religion, and might include religious beliefs and practices about the roles and rights of men and women in government, education and worship; beliefs about the sex or gender of deities and religious figures; and beliefs about the origin and meaning of human gender. External religious issues can be broadly defined as an examination of a given religion from an outsider's perspective, including possible clashes between religious leaders and laity;¹ and the influence of, and differences between, religious perspectives on social issues. For example, various religious perspectives have either endorsed or condemned alternative family structures, homosexual relationships, and abortion.² External religious issues can also be examined from the "lens of gender" perspective embraced by some in feminism and/or critical theory and its offshoots.

In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive, or even ride bikes, and men are not allowed to drive women they are not closely related to. The kingdom is currently dealing with the dilemma of how to get 367,000 girls to school on buses that can only be driven by men. The logical question at this point is this:³ If no men are allowed to come in contact with schoolgirls, and women are not allowed to drive, who will be driving the school buses? The Ministry of Education is currently recruiting “Al-Ameen” or trustworthy men for this initiative. It may be hard for some to take this term seriously considering the way Saudi Arabia’s religious police infamously broke the trust of 15 girls’ parents in 2002 when a girls’ school was on fire. The police forbade them from leaving the building, and in some cases beat them to keep them from leaving, because the girls’ heads were not properly veiled. The girls all died in the fire.⁴One has to wonder how the Ministry of Education plans to handle school-bus breakdowns or accidents near similarly inclined men. This is a typical example of how religion has exacerbated gender inequality.

In 2001 a militant group called Lashkar-e-Jabar demanded that Muslim women in Kashmir wear burqas, head to toe garments that cover their clothes, or risk being attacked. Men threw acid in the faces of two women for not covering up in public. The group also demanded that Hindu and Sikh women dress so as to identify themselves: they said that Hindu women should wear a bindi (the traditional coloured dot) on their foreheads, and Sikh women should cover their heads with saffron-coloured cloth.⁵this therefore supports the assertion in question that religion as played a role in promoting gender inequality since such “religious” practices have dealt a blow to efforts to a society with gender balance.

In many countries, while husbands can divorce their spouses easily (often instantaneously through oral repudiation), wives’ access to divorce is often extremely limited, and they frequently confront near insurmountable legal and financial obstacles. In Libya, battered women cannot file for divorce on the basis of abuse without the testimony of an eyewitness.⁶ A medical certificate from a doctor documenting physical abuse is simply not good enough. Although women in Egypt can now legally initiate a divorce without cause, they must agree not only to renounce all rights to the couple’s finances, but must also repay their dowries. Essentially, they have to buy their freedom. In Israel, a man must grant his wife a get,a Jewish divorce writ that can only be given by a man to his wife – never the other way earound.⁶Yet another example of how religion has downplayed gender inequality.

In many areas of Tunisia, girls are often taken out of school when they hit puberty. Cultural factors related to the ‘correctness’ of sending girls to school, reluctance to send girls and boys to the same school after third grade, as well as the perceived and real security threats related to girls walking to school and attending classes all contribute to slowing down the enrolment of girls in schools. Likewise, the enormous lack of female teachers, who are fundamental in a country where girls cannot be taught by a man after a certain age, is having a negative impact on girls’ education. While progress has been made since the fall of the Taliban, women are still struggling to see their rights fulfilled. Literacy rates among young Tunizian women are disturbingly low: only 18 per cent of women between 15 and 24 can read. While the total number of children enrolled in primary schools is increasing tremendously, the percentage of female students is not.⁷

Husbands in Egypt and Bahrain can file an official complaint at the airport to forbid their wives from leaving the country for any reason. In Syria, a husband can prevent his wife from leaving the country. In Iraq, Libya, Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Yemen, married women must have their husband’s written permission to travel abroad, and they may be prevented from doing so for any reason. In Saudi Arabia, women must obtain written permission from their closest male relative to leave the country or travel on public transportation between different parts of the kingdom.⁸Women’s unequal legal rights increase their vulnerability to violence. This can basically be blamed on religion, in this case Islam, which places the women in a subordinate position.

In countries in like Libya, no specific laws or provisions exist to penalize domestic violence, even though domestic violence is a widespread problem. Domestic violence is generally considered to be a private matter outside the state’s jurisdiction. Battered women are told to go home if they attempt to file a complaint with the police. Few shelters exist to protect women who fear for their lives. Spousal rape has not been criminalized; husbands have an absolute right to their wives’ bodies at all times. Penal codes in several countries in the region also contain provisions that authorize the police and judges to drop charges against a rapist if he agrees to marry his victim.⁹ Islam, is therefore by no doubt a religion that gives gender inequality no place in the sun.

In Bahrain, where family law is not codified, judges have complete power to deny women custody of their children for the most arbitrary reasons. Bahraini women who have been courageous enough to expose and challenge these violations in 2003 were sued for slander by eleven family court judges.¹⁰Most countries in the region-with the exception of Iran, Tunisia, Israel, and to a limited extent Egypt-have permitted only fathers to pass citizenship on to their children. Women married to non-nationals are denied this fundamental right.

Many countries criminalize adult, consensual sex outside of marriage. In Morocco, women are much more likely to be charged with having violated penal code prohibitions on sexual relations outside of marriage than men. Unmarried pregnant women are particularly at risk of prosecution. The Moroccan penal code also considers the rape of a virgin as an aggravating circumstance of assault.¹¹The message is clear: the degree of punishment of the perpetrator is determined by the sexual experience of the victim. As such this promotes inequality.

The earliest documented religions, and some contemporary animist religions, involve deification of characteristics of the natural world. These spirits are typically, but not always, gendered. It has been proposed, since the 19th century, that polytheism arose out of animism, as religious epic provided personalities to indigenous animist spirits in various parts of the world, notably in the development of ancient near eastern and Indo-European literature. Polytheistic gods are also typically gendered. The earliest evidence of monotheism is the worship of the goddess Eurynome, Aten in Egypt, the teaching of Moses in the Torah and Zoroastrianism in Persia. Aten, Yahweh and Ahura Mazda are all masculine deities, embodied only in metaphor, so masculine rather than reproductively male.¹²This, therefore, shows how religion has an inclination in terms of gender equality.

Some scholars suggest that ancient religious goddesses have been reinterpreted to follow specific gender roles. For example, the Nordic goddess Freya first represented war and love, but after centuries, she was transformed into only representing love and a sexual behaviour. The Hindu goddess Kali is interesting because she breaks the typical gendered role of women representing love, sex, fertility and beauty because she is simultaneously the goddess of the life cycle as well as destructive war. An example of the typical female goddess is Aphrodite, who is shown as vain, simple, and beautiful.¹³This specialisation of roles also promotes inequality amongst people who would be exposed to the teachings.

In Christianity, one entity of the Trinity, the Son, is believed to have become incarnate as a human male. Christians believe that the other two entities in the Trinity, the Father and the Holy Spirit, have never been incarnated, hence having masculine gender rather than male sex. Islam, on the other hand, has a tradition that the name Allah, like its referent, can be allocated neither grammatical nor natural gender. Masculine pronouns for Allah in the Qur'an are also interpreted as generic. In other accounts, man is created first, followed by woman. This is the case in the creation account of Genesis, where the first woman (Eve) is created from the rib of the first man (Adam), as a companion and helper. This version is normally cited by Jewish authorities in support of patriarchy, and likewise by Christian interpreters. A similar story appears in the Qur'an.There is an interesting correlation between the two gender creation stories, both stories imagine the ideal of the unitary self. However, the unitary self is either asexual or physically male; both of which are masculine in configuration. Thus male and female are to become one; meaning that she is to become male.

Some Christians religious sects restrict leadership to men. The ordination of women has been a controversial issue in some denominations like the Johane Marange and Paul Mwazha sects where either the rite of ordination, or the role that an ordained person fulfills, has traditionally been restricted to men because of cultural or theological prohibitions. Beginning in the 19th century, some Christian denominations have ordained women. Among those who do not, many believe it is forbidden by 1 Timothy 2. Some of those denominations ordain women to the diaconate, believing this is encouraged by 1 Timothy 3-4. Some Islamic communities have recently appointed women as imams, normally with ministries restricted to leading women in prayer and other charitable ministries.¹⁴

Christianity is typically androcentric. The texts, leaders, experiences, and rituals were focused on men, and women were seen as the deviants from the cultural normality. It is patriarchal. All of the leaders were men and assumed to be strong and assertive, whereas women were seen as subservient, passive and weak and thus unfit to be in a high position within religion. In support of these claims, feminists have noted that some religious leaders considered women as morally inferior to men, and many have considered women the source of temptations,¹⁵ especially sexual temptations, for men. In traditions where God is considered male, there is sometimes a view that men are more like God than women. For example, in 1 Corinthians 11:7, Paul asserts that man "is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man". In some cases leading to a view of male superiority and female inferiority.

Pierre Chaunu also contends that the very recognition of women as full fledge human beings depends on moral and ethical categories that derive ultimately from the Bible. He points out, for example, in his book Foi et histoire (Faith and History, 1980), that it is only in those cultures where the biblical text and Christianity have had some long term influence, that the status of women has gradually improved from that of property and progenitor to that of a full human being, equal to man. In cultures where the biblical text has not had any significant impact, women are regarded as property whose main purpose is to produce children. In such cultures, women are married as soon as they are able to procreate, they have little or no access to formal education, and they are allowed little self-determination. The main reason behind this social transformation is fundamentally linked to a statement found in Genesis 1:27: 'God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.'¹⁶ This text affirms the intrinsic dignity of both men and women regardless of their gender or social status. This is in stark contrast to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia where the value of human beings was primarily determined on the basis of their social standing.

All said and done, it is plausible to conclude that, religion, particularly Christianity and Islam have exacerbated gender inequality among societies due to the patriarchal teachings offered by the Bible and the Qur’an. Religious values and beliefs such as the Sharia law and the Holy Trinity doctrine have placed women in a subordinate position as such one can argue, beyond reasonable doubt that, religion has largely exacerbated gender inequality.

End notes

Ahmed, L., Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate, New Haven, Yale University Press

Boyarin, Daniel, "Gender." In ed. M.C. Taylor,Critical Terms for Religious Studies, Chicago, University of Chicago Press

Davidson, Deborah, Introduction to Women's Studies,Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo

Göçek, F. M. &Balaghi, S., Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity & Power, New York, Columbia University Press

Hessini, L., Wearing the Hijab in Contemporary Morocco: Choice and Identity, Routledge, New York,

Hinnels, J.,TheRoutledge Companion to the Study of Religion, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge