Africans and their original religion: voodoo?
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Salam all,
I'm a little confused about a message that I just received from an African-American sister. She's muslim, but she practices voodoo and tells me that it's the original religion of Africans.
I quote
'We Africans were the first people on the planet it was us who taught the world about God. The Europeans,and Arabs that once enslaved us physically and who still have my people mentally colonized want to believe that they came and taught us "heathens" civilization but they were and are wrong. As for Islam,it is also called the "natural religion" or din al-fitrah. Well that in a nut shell is what African Traditional religion is. It is not like those Horror films portray it. We are not cannibals or ignorant pagans or idol worshippers. We are monotheists,always have been. The Original monotheists. But yes we do honor(not worship) our ancestors and various elementals or spirits. It is in the name of self knowledge,and finding out ones purpose in life and fulfilling it. I am vodou but my religion is Islam'
So in closing,there is no doubt in my mind that there is only one God,and that God sent many prophets to to many lands. But I am also of a powerful African spirit that to ignore it would be disastrious and possibly death and disease at worst.To honor it,means prosperity. I know everybody won't agree or understand but this is MY natural religion.
However,to say that race doesn't matter when blacks are generally found at the lower rungs of society and are continually oppressed in everyway,then yes call me a racist dear. Because race matters when you have dark skin and look like an African and yes we do exist. Only white people can pretend that race doesn't exist because for them it doesn't since they are the dominate group. But when I turn on my television,when I look at a magazine,when I see that my people are largely unemployed,uneducated and makeup the largest portioned incarcerated,addicted to drugs and alcohol and have serious self-hatred issues,when i see that my people in subsaharan africa don't have enough food,money or provisions to take care of themselves or their families,yes racism is alive and well and it is a tool that has helped to keep us continually enslaved. My people were forced to give up our language and culture,and the world today is all about globalism which is the same thing as colonialism. You want a world where everyone is the same. Okay so what language,culture,religion are these people going to be? Who are going to be on the bottom and on the top? I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.
She sounds very hurt because of the oppression of black people in the past (and that still occurs in the present time). But she justifies voodoo as a monotheistic religion and the worshipping of ancestors and spirits as something they honor. She has studied anthropology and claims to know all about evolution, but the claim that Africans were the first people on earth and that their original religion was voodoo doesn't seem logical to me.
Does any one know any websites where I can find more about this subject? Or any books? I'm intrigued to read and learn more about this subject.
Thanks in advance.
peace
Latifah
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Peace
Well I don't know anything about voodoo
But it seemed to me she was just saying she respects and honors her heritage... I don't see anything wrong with that .
You might want to ask her to clarify what she means by being "voodoo" because she may just be calling "pride in heritage" as voodoo or something like that.
Dunno but she sounds incredibly interesting actually. I'd love to learn more about her ideas of voodoo and how she reconciles it with Islam if she really does practice it, like black magic and stuff... -
I haven't read the quotes of what she said, but what does she mean by the original 'African' religion?
How many peoples are there in Africa and how diverse are they?
It's as crazy as me saying the original 'Eurasian' Religion, there either was an original religion of the first localised human ancestors or nothing at all, as you can't draw a line where the links end and where the diversity starts.
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Salam,
But it seemed to me she was just saying she respects and honors her heritage... I don't see anything wrong with that .
That's the thing. In my eyes she's not honouring, but is actually worshipping beings (she calls them spirits) and asks them for help in this earthly life. Because I'm familiair with the calling of spirits and voodoo, I therefore see it as ignorance that leads to 'shirk'. The only Being that can help us is the Supreme Being Himself.
There's nothing wrong in being proud of your roots, but I condemn the honouring of something else (who don't got any power at all) besides God.You might want to ask her to clarify what she means by being "voodoo" because she may just be calling "pride in heritage" as voodoo or something like that.
Nah, it's the practice of voodoo that she doesn't want to let go because she thinks it's a part of her African roots. She claims that the 'white men' (in the past) have stripped Africans from their culture and I think that's why she's holding tightly to it. I myself think that she holds a grudge for the behaviour of how black Africans got treated in the past and how they in the present time still get treated (discriminated).
I haven't read the quotes of what she said, but what does she mean by the original 'African' religion?
How many peoples are there in Africa and how diverse are they?
She's not talking about the present time. She's talking about the ancient Africans. Claiming that (black) Africans were the first people on earth and that their original religion was voodoo, which she refers to as a monotheistic religion. She's an anthropologist and claims to know a lot about the evolution of mankind, but her claims simply don't sound logical to me. That's why I hoped people here could tell me more about the history of Africans or/and evolution of mankind. Or basically refer me to some books that can help me increase in knowledge about this matter.
peace
Latifah
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Peace Latifah,
Well, since she's the anthropologist, she must be having some research that tells us 'voodoo' was the original religion. Ask her to show you what that is. Personally, I think her claims are quite contradictory, as in this
So in closing,there is no doubt in my mind that there is only one God,and that God sent many prophets to to many lands. But I am also of a powerful African spirit that to ignore it would be disastrious and possibly death and disease at worst.To honor it,means prosperity. I know everybody won't agree or understand but this is MY natural religion.
So, what you wrote is pretty much how I see it. I would find a monotheistic religion hard to reconcile with honouring something else that has the power to 'do' things...
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i'm not saying that voodoo wasn't a strong force in africa cause it still is but the Ancient Africans were Animist. this is more than a belief of being one with nature, it was the belief of being nature itself!!! i.e. If you were to die you're soul would join itself with the trees, plants or the wind. your soul would also pass into other people. Alot of occultic beliiefs still believe in this concept to this day.
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Peace
What occult system believes in the soul passing into other people? I'm not familiar with this among occult circles.
Joe
I do not know of any occult systems that deal with that subject but I do know that this is a subject often mentioned in Channeled writings. Google the term "Walk-ins", also check out this link http//infinity.usanethosting.com/Heart.Of.God/Hilarion/speq02.html#Walk-Ins
peace,
Khalil