Aspects of African Civilization
(Person, Culture, Religion)

"Your action might have an impact comparable to that of a baobab seed."

"When a snake or some other animal leaps out of the forest, you throw at it whatever you have in your hand."

Bambara Proverbs

1. Why do all the prophets come from Arabia? Why are there no black prophets?

This very important question deserves a preliminary explanation. It is a matter of understanding the meaning of the word "Prophet" as it is understood in the revealed religions, and particularly in Islam.

There are, according to Islamic teaching, which follows from the contents of Qur'an and the words from the prophet Muhammad, three categories of men of God:

a. At the highest level are the Rassouls, literally: "Messengers" of God, or Great Messengers.

A Rassoul is chosen by God, by an act of His Grace, to be the instrument of a major Revelation from God, intended either for a people great in number, or for all of humanity.

God reveals to His Messenger His Word, which becomes a Sacred Book for mankind containing the commandments of God -- Divine Law governing exterior and interior behavior and the means of returning to the Lord.

These Great Messengers are very rare. Their appearance marks a new stage of Revelation, and consequently of human evolution. Each new "descent" of divine Revelation through them at the same time confirms and supplements the preceding revelations, perfects them on certain points, and adapts them to the new conditions of the time.

In Islamic tradition there are six Great Messengers: Adam, who descended to Earth "with the Words of His Lord", Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed ("Muhammad" in Arabic). They are sometimes called "messenger-legislators" because each of them received a new Law adapted to the needs of the time. They are also called "Prophets".

In general, with each of these Great Messengers there appeared a new religion, although actually they always preached a single and eternal religion, that of God, One and Eternal. Each of them left a Community.

b. Next there are the Nabbis, literally: the "Prophets".

These holy men have also received a divine revelation of which they are made the humble servants but, unlike the Rassouls, their message is generally intended only for a small group of people, and sometimes these must even keep it almost secret. Nabbis can be openly manifest or not, unlike the Rassoul who is always manifest.

The Nabbi, whatever the revelation he is charged to transmit, remains subject to the Law of Great Rassoul who preceded him. He never brings a new "Law" for mankind.

Such is the case for the Prophets of the Bible who exhorted the Jewish people to return to the pure Law of Moses. According to Islamic tradition, there have been 124,000 Nabbis.

c. Then come the Waly, who are usually called "Saints of God". Actually, the word Waly means "one who is close" to God, in union with Him, and alive in his Love. Their number is unknown; they exist at all times and among all races.

A Nabbi is always a Waly, i.e., a Saint of God, who receives a particular mission. In the same way, a Rassoul is also always a Waly, a Saint of God, with the quality of Nabbi, i.e., prophetic dignity, who in addition receives the great mission of revealing the Word of God to mankind.

The notion of "Revelation", of "Prophecy", is at the base of the three monotheistic religions -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- issuing from Abraham, father of monotheism.

It happens that the six Rassouls, or Great Messengers of God, belong to a particular branch of humanity: the Semitic branch. One could even say that they issue one from the other. Revelation thus had its cradle in the Middle East, in Palestine and on the Arabian peninsula.

Some of the 124,000 Nabbis, or Prophets, are cited in the Qur'an. Many came from the Middle East. Only four came from Arabia. It is not possible to say where and when the others appeared.

It should be emphasized that the quality of "Prophet" or "Great Messenger" is at the very heart of the quality of Waly: Saint and Sage of God living by and for the Love of God within the mysterious circle of the "Divine Presence". The quality Waly is not limited by time and space.

In this respect, Black Africa has been and still is a land particularly rich in Waly.

2. Why are the centers of "Kabaru" criticized?

The centers of Kabaru are reproached for ignorance, selfishness and sometimes for snobbery.

One should also point out that very often the followers of Kabaru, like all new converts, make embarrassing mistakes, for example by saying outrageous things about other Moslems. The Kabaru sometimes want to supplant their predecessors, but they do it very badly. The instinct of self-preservation then unleashes against them a normal and humanly understandable response.

In spite of this, it would be wise to consider the little divergences that bring the practices of the Kabaru into conflict with those of their rivals as the little pecks of the beak that chicks of the same brood give to each other at feeding time. The authorities must nevertheless take care that these little pecks do not degenerate into bloody brawls. Peace is a sacred thing and its maintenance is a pressing duty for which the authorities are responsible.

3. Why are there different ways of numbering the verses of Qur'an?

The divergence in the way the verses are numbered corresponds to different ways of dividing up certain verses.

Some verses were revealed to the Prophet once, others several times, i.e., several Revelations concerning the same subject were placed end to end. In the latter case, some gave only one number to the verse, while others preferred to assign a different number to each passage of the Revelation.

One should also point out that because punctuation does not exist in Arabic, one can find oneself faced with various ways of dividing up sentences. In fact, the numbering appeared well after the death of the Prophet.

So one ends up, among the various schools -- which moreover are not numerous -- with a discrepancy of 430 units over the entire set of Quranic verses.

One should also mention that this classification is closely linked to numerology, or the science of the numbers, which it would take too long to touch on here.

4. Do the Sufi live alone or in community? What is a Sabéen?

A Sufi is allowed to live either in isolation in the bush or in town, or to take part in normal community life, depending on his temperament or the temporary requirements of his spiritual life. One therefore sees Sufis spending a part of their life in a total retirement, then re-entering society in order to make God present among men and to be a source of blessings in their midst.

The Sufi who lives far from the noise and temptations of everyday life is generally considered, according to tradition, as less "realized" than one who succeeds in maintaining the same quality of interior life while leading a normal life among men. The latter is similar to a high cliff which is assaulted by waves all day long and successfully resists them.

This notion is undoubtedly due to the fact that the ideal of Islam is not the renunciation of the world, but its integration into the presence of God. It is not a question of giving up life, but of sacralizing it in each one of its acts, of connecting it to God in some way, and of ordering it according to the criteria of divinely revealed Law.

As for the Sabéens, these are the inhabitants Sheba, a region located in Arabia. This ancient country was ruled by a famous queen known as the "Queen of Sheba" (of whom the Bible and Qur'an speak) and who the Arabs call "Balqis". It is said that the Sabéens were worshipers of the stars. They acknowledged the existence of God, but they regarded Him as being "the soul of the world".

Tradition teaches us that in the end, the Queen of Sheba married the great king Solomon.

The Fulani regard Balqis as "their aunt".

5. Human beings are of different colors, and one yet speaks of the unity of man. Is this a scientific question or a religious truth?

I had a hard time grasping this question. I do not see how color, which is only skin deep, can stand in the way of the unity of man.

All cattle are of the same species even though they don't all have the same color of coat. There are red cattle, white cattle, white cattle with yellow spots, black cattle, etc.

Science will explain one day the reason for the color of the skin. But it will never be able to deny the unity of man as human being, everywhere subject to the same natural laws, inhabited by same essential feelings, and capable of reason and wisdom -- or evil -- regardless of his origin.

The unity of man is a religious truth, confirmed by science.

A verse of Qur'an says: "We (i.e., God) created all of you starting from a single being. Then you were grouped into families... "

6. What is the origin of belief in a single God?

It is not easy to determine, using modern methods of research, the origin of belief in a single God, and I am certainly not the one who will be able to do it.

In any case, I would like to point out that because the idea of God is fundamentally linked to an attitude of faith, desiring to discuss it or to reason about it in a "Cartesian" manner is like wanting to fill a perforated barrel with water.

Everything that has to do with God belongs to the realm of the Sacred, i.e., pertains to a world which eludes our instruments of analysis and ordinary human thought, [which are] essentially secular and quantitative rather than qualitative.

Whereas thought proceeds by analysis and deduction, separating the elements to better examine and compare them, faith proceeds by combination and integration, and is born of a certitude of the heart, or a certitude of the being, whichever you prefer.

Faith places man before a mystery whose existence he senses, whose grandeur he can keenly feel, and whose mysterious Presence he can even sometimes, either spontaneously or after a long religious discipline, discover and taste, even though no external physical law is able to weigh, dissect and explain this phenomenon. Could an external and purely physical quantitative law ever explain the mystery of Love?

Belief in a supreme God seems always to have dwelt at the heart of humanity, and one finds echoes of it in all traditions, even polytheism. There is often a question of a "father of the gods", or a "God of the gods", or of a "Supreme God" too distant to be addressed directly, so one addresses intermediate powers.

Perhaps this belief is like the echo, the reflection, of the unity of origin of mankind? Perhaps this is even a "pre-existential" memory?

The Qur'an teaches us in fact that well before descending to Earth, the souls of men were summoned into the presence of God, whose existence they witnessed. God called to these souls: "Am I not your Lord?" "Yes, certainly," they answered. "We bear witness to it!"

This memory is in us but our "corporeality", it could be said, obscures it. The noise of our thoughts, of our desires, of the forces which run through us, prevents us from remembering it, from hearing its echo. The heaviness of matter numbs us and carries us far from this center of our being.

It is this primordial echo, perpetually forgotten by humanity, that divine Revelation periodically comes to remind men of through the voices of its Great Messengers. In the Qur'an, Revelation is called the "Great Reminder", and one of the meanings of the word "dhikr" is "recollection", recollection of God.

The notion of a single God -- or monotheism properly so called -- is distinct from religious forms where one implicitly recognizes a unique or supreme God while acknowledging the existence of other gods.

The pure monotheistic perspective does away with intermediary forms and powers, or rather renews them at their origin by integrating them into the sole Power of God, of which they become, for example in Islam, the "Attributes" of God: the Mercy of God, the Generosity of God, the Justice of God, etc.

Judaism and its two branches -- Christianity and Islam -- are, theologically speaking, the true monotheisms. Abraham is the Father of monotheism. He transmitted it to his descendants through Isaac and Jacob. The one God of Abraham is the same one who appeared to Moses, blessed Jesus, and sent Muhammad (transformed into "Mahomet" in the French language) to complete and conclude Revelation in the current cycle of human history.

7. It is said that man is created in the image of God (Bible). Is it not man who created God in his image? Who invented Him to find the explanations he lacked?

The Bible says that man is created in the image of God. In my humble opinion, this expression ought to be understood not in the strict literal sense of the words, but as a metaphor.

This sentence should be understood to mean that God delegated to humanity a portion of his creative power. In fact, of all created beings, man is the only one who possesses creative power resembling that of the Creator, albeit relatively so. Man has the power to imagine and to conceive, i.e., to create in his mind, then give form and life to his thought by realizing it in the external world.

But whereas God-the-Creator is immaterial and eternal and His creatures can neither reach him nor harm him, man-the-creator is material and mortal and his creations (machines, vehicles, airplanes, weapons, chemicals or harmful ideas, etc.) can destroy him and kill him.

Many things can be said about this Biblical text, which also exists in Islam, but we do not want to weigh down this modest answer too much.

The various sacred Books say that "God breathed his Spirit into man." There is thus something of God in man. But perhaps this "something" did not find in man all the room due to him? Whence the need to conform to the teachings of the holy Prophets in order to purify our "interior house" little by little, to clean it out and make it into the receptacle of this forgotten divine Presence.

The witticism at the end of the question contains, in its own way, an element of truth which a theologian or a mystic would be able to understand in a different way.

God being transcendent and immaterial, He cannot in fact be realized except in the mind. But the minds of men differ from one another in quality, intensity, and receptivity. To put it another way, each man conceives of God according to the properties of his mind, i.e., in his own way, in his own image. Because God does not manifest himself to everyone with the same intensity.

But one has to admit also that many people, no matter what religion they are, have constructed an image of God that suits them, if not to say one that is "at their service". . .

It is to preserve us from these errors that God taught us, in His Revelations, through the voice of His holy Prophets, how to serve Him and turn us towards Him.

8. To say that God exists is a way to maintain peace and create tolerance among all men.

Affirming the existence of God is not sufficient to maintain peace. The wars of religion are evidence of this. To accept the existence of God and bear witness to it are not guaranteed ways to keep peace, much less establish tolerance among men.

Only genuine love of God can cause man to love and respect his neighbor, whomsoever he may be. Only this can establish peace in minds and hearts and from there make it reign in human relations.

9. You talk about a manifestation of God in men. What does that mean?

By "manifestation of God in man" I mean that God can illuminate the heart and mind of man by an act of His will. He can inspire man and facilitate his spiritual development.

Through an effort of interior purification supported by sacred Practices that promote the relationship between man and God, man can be led to discover within himself a presence -- or an action of God -- which his usual interior chaos prevents him from perceiving. It is as if the owner of a dark and musty house discovered, upon opening its doors and the windows, that the sun can illuminate every corner of his dwelling. The sun was always there. But one still must prepare the house to receive it.

10. Is God responsible for the destiny of every man?

To ask whether God is responsible for the destiny of every man is to revisit the whole problem of free will and predestination which the ancients tried to resolve, but which none could ever lay to rest. This problem has caused much ink to flow over long centuries and will cause some to flow still. It is therefore not a matter of me being able to answer this question.

Nevertheless, one cannot deny some sort of free will to man owing to the fact that God equipped him with a mind which enables him to choose and a will that allows him to act and be self-determined. But it is as if this free will were contained "on board" a general predestination of humanity just like a traveler on board a boat or a moving train. This traveler would not be able to change the general direction of the vehicle, but it is possible for him, inside the train car, for example, to take any seat he pleases or to behave in various ways. This is a result of his limited freedom.

Similarly, confronted with one of life's inescapable ordeals, a man can always choose between several possible attitudes: dignity, courage, generosity, tranquillity, or, to the contrary, baseness, cowardice, selfishness, aggressiveness, etc. Depending on the type of attitude chosen -- sometimes after an intense interior struggle -- a man will emerge from this test either increased or diminished in stature, that is, transformed in one direction or the other. He will emerge from it either better equipped -- or less well equipped -- to face the future events of his life.

If the question is so difficult for human logic to unravel, perhaps it is because it contains a double dimension: man is at the same time both free and not free; constrained by a certain number of general and particular determinations -- the train -- and free to undertake his voyage with nobility, or not.

11. God does not manifest Himself equally in each man. And yet it is God who created men. Why talk about punishments, hell, etc.?

As I said in question 7, the minds of men differ in quality, ability and receptivity. And as I said in question 9, each one of us, in his "interior house", has a window, more or less large, opening onto the heavens. But it is still necessary for the window to be cleaned well, or to be opened wide, in order for it to let in its share of light. Therefore, not all places on earth receive light with the same intensity or in the same way. But it is always the same light.

One could take yet another image: Each waterhole in the bush, small or large, is able to reflect the sun and reproduce its image in its entirety. Even the smallest puddle of water, the smallest drop of dew, or the most humble mirror, can in its own way contain the sun and reflect its light.

Thus from one sun in the sky, thousands of suns, small and large, can shine at the surface of the earth.

The Great Messengers of God, the great Saints, the great spiritual Masters, are like immense lakes whose perfectly peaceful and pure water reflects the light of the sun without altering a single ray. Immense crowds can come to quench their thirst in them.

Each one among us, even if he is only one very small pond in the bush, can try to keep the water of his heart pure and peaceful so that the sun comes to be reflected there in its entirety.

Alongside these two categories of men, there are also those who do good only for its own sake. They are motivated neither by a fear of hell nor by a desire for paradise. They do not have any reward in mind. This breed of man is symbolized in Islam by the Sufis who worship God because He is God and not because He distributes punishments or rewards.

12. The intensity of faith depends on God, not man, right?

Faith depends on God and man at the same time. The spark that lights the fire of faith comes to us from God, but it must be tended to intensify it within us, and this is our responsibility.

The athlete receives his strength from nature. But it is by continuous and appropriate exercise that he maintains and develops it.

13. When a devout man loses his faith, whose fault is it? When faith is lost, it would seem that this is the fault of God. It is He who wills it so.

As we have just said, it is God who lights the fire of faith in us. But it is up to us to maintain it using the means that God Himself has shown to us through his Messengers, the revealed Books, and inspired men.

My Master, Tierno Bokar, said that man is like a piece of charcoal in which a small red speck is on fire: the spark of faith. If he tends this fire and fans its flame in the appropriate ways -- sincere ritual prayer, dhikr, meditation, submission to the divine Will -- then the small red speck will grow little by little until the whole piece of charcoal becomes fire and light.

On the other hand, if man neglects this fire and does not stir it up with the breath of the spiritual life, ashes will cover it and it will not take long to die out. Nothing will remain but a piece of cold dark coal.

The question raises another issue also: What about the quality of faith? The Qur'an speaks of men who praise God when things are going their way, and who revolt when they are met with tribulation. As long as faith rests on a covert selfishness, on a desire to acquire something for oneself, it is prone to fluctuations, and a more or less violent shock can make it disappear altogether.

14. Because God knows all things and does whatever He wills, it is His fault that men do not have faith, that there is war, and all the rest!

As has been just been said, God endowed us with a mind, a will, and the capacity to choose and act. So He is not completely responsible for our actions. Moreover, He counseled us through His Apostles and His doctors. He gave us the ability to distinguish good from evil, in other words, between peace and war.

If men strictly applied the laws and the commandments of God, they would respect their neighbor and justice could be established on Earth.

Note: Translation in progress. Only the first 14 of the 51 questions in Chapter 3 are finished. Chapter 4 is completely translated.