Viewpoints on Waaqeffannaa Oromo Religion, Islam and Ancient Egyptian Religion
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
May 28, 2008
As I intended to extensively comment on that text that serves as a founding text for a new phase of Waaqeffannaa, as written religion, I encrusted numbers in the text. Two parts of the commentary have already been published (´Ancient Egyptian and Kushitic Religions and Waaqeffannaa Oromo Religion´ / http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/61419 and Waaqeffannaa Oromo Religion and the Unavoidable Death of Fake ´Ethiopia´ / http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/63090). I will continue in the present article. My present comments relate to the numerated points in Mr. Nadhabaasaa´s text (as above).
Commentary
33. The author is probably acquainted with Islamic extremist literature on Islam, and all modern currents of Islamic theology derived from Wahhabism and Ibn Taimiya. In this, he is as wrong as all the Western Evangelicals and others who depict Islam through the words and the analyses of the deformers of Islam, namely the sheikhs who promise to stick to the tradition and, in doing so, they idealize the form and they deplete the contents. This view of the after death life was not shared by the great Islamic philosophers of the Golden Era of Islam, who were much closer to the theoretical approach of the Ancient Egyptians. The ´reward´ concept reflects typically polytheistic and idolatrous approaches, and in this regard Ibn Hanbal and Ibn Taimiya did the greatest harm to Islam; if one goes through pages of Mohyieldin Ibn al Arabi and Ibn Hazm, one realizes that there was a ´function´ concept (in contrast with the ´reward´ concept) among Islamic philosophers.
34. This is very wrong; it does not make honour to an Oromo theologian to misinterpret terms of another religion. Behind this expression is hidden a misinterpretation of the name of ´Islam´; it does not mean ´slavery´ but ´submission´. It makes a vast difference! In fact, there is no great disparity between Waaqeffannaa and Islam in this regard; what is considered as righteous and peaceful path for the Man to follow in life in Waaqeffannaa is called Islam (submission to God) within the context of Islam. Different names for the same concept. In fact, both religions demand of their followers to engage in the path of personal peace and integrity; slavery is totally impermissible in Islam. Malpractices of rulers rejected by the majority of Muslims in their times cannot be opportunistically used by a theologian of another religion because the act in itself reveals dishonesty. There is a vast difference between asserting that one religion has been the object of malpractice and using unrepresentative moments and denounced practices and persons to portentously denigrate the religion in question.
35. There is nothing Arabian or Arabic or Arab in Islam. This is a naïve reproduction of colonial historiography; for a victim of multileveled colonial plots and policies like any Oromo, and more particularly an Oromo intellectual and theologian like the author of the text, this is a grave mistake. There is no Oromo theology, no Oromo philosophy, no Oromo political ideology, no Oromo theoretical approach, no Oromo historical analysis that could possibly reproduce concepts, pillars, elements, parts, methods, values and approaches of the Colonial theoretical construction as regards anything, Aramaean Christian Theology, Egyptian History, Iranian Pre-Islamic Religions, Islamic Philosophy or Assyrian Sargonid Political Ideology. A colonial viewpoint on History cannot virtually be adopted by an Oromo.
In fact, Modern Oromo intellectuals have a colossal task in front of them; its fulfillment will be the only measure of success and survival of the Oromo Culture, Religion and Civilization. They have to rewrite Oromo History, African History, Ancient Egyptian and Kushitic Ethiopian History, Oriental History, and World History through a new method that, rejecting the Colonial School of Orientalism (which was excellent in robbing Africa from its values, historical truth, and cultural essence), will be founded on, and will reflect, Oromo values and principles.
I don´t want to expand much on the issue, as I have already published on the subject. Here, I want to suggest for further reading on the topic four earlier articles, namely http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-13-2005-74807.asp, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pan-arabism-inhuman-progenitor-islamic-terrorism.html, http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-9-2005-74536.asp and http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-17-2005-75015.asp. In fact, if one wants to describe in the most accurate terms what Prophet Muhammad attempted to do among Arabs, one will describe the preaching of the new doctrine as ´total de-Arabization´ and ´comprehensive Aramaization´ of the Arabs.
36. Allah is not the ´Arabian Supreme Being´; Allah means ´God´ in Arabic. The word is similar in almost all the other Semitic languages, El or Elohim in Hebrew, and before all the other languages, Ilu in Assyrian - Babylonian. The author´s mistake is the same as saying that ´God´ is ´the English Supreme Being´. As a matter of fact, it is very clear that the Supreme Being has no nationality….
37. Over-generalizations are never correct, and apparently, politics are not the strongest point of the author. The sentence is not historico-religious but political of context. By only ´rejecting´ something (a system, an ideology or a religion), three or more parties cannot be associated to one another or put in the same category. America, England and the USSR rejected Hitler, but they were not ´in the same category´. Judaism, Christianity and Hinduism reject Islam, but they were not ´in the same category´.
In fact, there is nothing in common among the three religions´ followers, except their rejection of Waaqeffannaa; furthermore, their rejection of the traditional Oromo religion is based on very different argumentation, approaches and viewpoints. The Monophysitic Abyssinians view the Oromo Waaqeffannaa religion as a primary obstacle in their evil and racist plans of national, cultural and religious extermination of the Oromos through their absorption by, and assimilation among, the Amhara Abyssinians.
As far as the ´Evangelical European´ missionaries are concerned, I don´t understand the combination of the terms; I would view the issue more spherically, speaking of European and American Catholic, Lutheran (Protestant), Anglican, Evangelical, Pentecostal and Baptist missionaries. Evangelicals are mainly an American, not European, phenomenon. All the Western Christian denominations share basically the same viewpoint over the Oromo Waaqeffannaa religion. In a most peremptory way, they make of it a subject of Ethnography and Social Anthropology, denying the Oromos any skills of Theology, let alone Philosophy. Hypocritically (because they mainly emanate form academic background), they deny to study and analyze, explore and reconstruct systematically the Waaqeffannaa theology. In a most racist approach, they categorize Waaqeffannaa as a poor, inconsistent and unarticulated system, ascribing it to primitivism. Even in doing so, they do not develop an analytical argumentation; it´s just an entire aberration.
The Muslims of today do not represent the real historical Islam as a Science, a system of Knowledge and Erudition, as Philosophy and Art. The so-called Islamic universities, spread in various countries all over the world, are Western colonial constructions indeed, like the theories of Islamic Fundamentalism and Pan-Arabism, and the colonial countries Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, Emirates, Kuwait, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and all the rest. Every country that is the result of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the Safevid and Qadjar Empires of Iran, and the Mughal Empire of India is an illegal, colonial fabrication. It does not represent either a local wish for national emancipation or a historical need and reality. All these fake countries are the result of colonial infiltration, premeditated diffusion of ignorance, self-hatred and confusion, and criminal practices of inducement substituted by blackmailing. Through academic trickery and psychological machinations, the Islamic extremist ´reaction´ is a prefab response, not freely shaped by its formulators by rather projected in them (by the colonial establishment) without them knowing. The modern Islamic approach to Waaqeffannaa reflects no real and historical considerations of the Muslim erudite scholars of the Golden Age of Islam but political needs of the various Islamic parties and organizations; but there is no racism in it.
An authentic Islamic approach to Waaqeffannaa would highlight the monotheistic and aniconic character of the Oromo religion, rather interpreting the fact as due to the (otherwise historically unknown but potential) appearance of a Prophet among the Kushitic ancestors of the Oromos, who – in an unknown to us moment of the past - would have led them to Waaqeffannaa – a religion with markedly monotheistic characteristics.
38. The concept of Ekeraa (Ancestor´s Holy Ghost) seems to be the Modern Oromo survival of the Ancient Egyptian and Kushitic Ethiopian ontological concept of Ba, about which we already briefly spoke in the previous comments (see comment 24 in http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/63090).
As a matter of fact, the ba of the average Egyptians was scarcely mentioned during their lifetime. Some scholars have interpreted this fact through the plausible assumption that, according to the Ancient Egyptian beliefs, the average people did not possess a ba before death. Quite contrarily, a Middle Kingdom religious text entitled "Dialogue of a Man with His Ba", seems to refute this idea, but it is rather a rare theological approach. In that text, a man discusses with his ba about the merits of life, portraying them as opposed to the uncertain nature of life after death, a difficult period according to all evidences. As conclusion, the ba advises that person that he should "Desire me here (in the present life) and reject the West (the land of the dead)".
However, throughout all known textual references to Ba in Ancient Egypt and Kushitic Ethiopia, the ba is most evident in texts that deal with the afterlife. These texts identify Ba primarily as the vehicle of the defunct person's existence after his physical death; at the same time, the ba is also considered as a component of the deceased, just as in his life. The Pyramid Texts inform the gods that the dead individual "is a ba among you"; we even find confirmatory assertions expressed toward a dead, such as "your ba is within you". From the Book of the Gates, one of the holiest texts of the Ancient Egyptians and the Kushitic Ethiopians, we learn that the Bas of the blessed dead individuals are sustained by means of food in the 9th hour of the night. The destiny desired by Paheri (who lived at the times of the 18th dynasty, so ca. 1550 – 1300 BCE) and inscribed in his tomb nearby the modern village El Kab in Upper Egypt (in the south of Luqsor) was as follows: "Becoming a living ba having control of bread, water, and air".
39. This statement was absolutely valid in Ancient Egypt and Kushitic Ethiopia; in addition, it was considered of great significance for every person´s decision making at any moment in this life. The responsibility and the wise or poor choice were all evaluated in the psychostasis (soul weighing) procedure after the person´s death, when Anubis (the dimension of God´s Justice, represented by an anthropomorphic god with the head of a jackal) was weighing the dead person´s soul, before any further proceedings in the Other World.
40. It is critical to view the point as revelation of Oromoness; in Ancient Egypt and Kushitic Ethiopia, obeying the commandment of Ra for a peaceful and serene life was essential part of the national identity of every citizen. It would be viewed as practically impossible to be ´Egyptian´ and / or ´Kushitic´ (Ethiopian) and at the same time breaching the admonitions of Isis and the Ideology of Horus.
We will complete the commentary in a forthcoming article.
Note
Picture: Ancient Egyptian Nany judged in the Other World.
The scene depicted here shows the climax of the journey to the afterlife. Nany is in the Hall of Judgment. Holding her mouth and eyes in her hand, she stands to the left of a large scale. Her heart is being weighed against Maat, the goddess of justice and truth, who is represented as a tiny figure wearing her symbol, a single large feather, in her headband. On the right, Osiris, god of the underworld and rebirth, presides over the scene. He is identified by his tall crown with a knob at the top, by his long curving beard, his crook, and by his body, which appears to be wrapped like a mummy except for his hands. At his back hangs a menat as counterweight for his collar. In front of him is an offering of a joint of beef.
Jackal-headed Anubis, overseer of mummification, adjusts the scales, while a baboon--symbolizing Thoth, the god of wisdom and writing - sits on the balance beam and prepares to write down the result. Behind Nany stands the goddess Isis, both wife and sister of Osiris. She is identified by the hieroglyph above her head.
Nany has been questioned by the tribunal of forty-two gods about her behavior in life. She has had to answer negatively to every question asked in this examination, often called the negative confession. Examples of her denials include: I have not done wrong. . . . I have not killed people. . . . I have not told lies. . . . I have not caused weeping. . . . I have not done what the gods detest. . . . I have not made anyone suffer. . . . I have not made false statements in the place of truth. In this scene Nany has been found truthful and therefore worthy of entering the afterlife. Her heart is not heavier than the image of the goddess of Truth. Anubis says to Osiris, "Her heart is an accurate witness," and Osiris replies, "Give her her eyes and her mouth, since her heart is an accurate witness."
In the horizontal register above the judgment scene, Nany appears in three episodes: worshiping the divine palette with which all is written, praising a statue of Horus, and standing by her own tomb. Nany had a second papyrus roll with texts entitled What Is in the Underworld (Amduat) wrapped into her mummy in the area across her knees.
Read: http://www.crystalinks.com/anubis.html