Tag Archives: Ancient Egypt

Restoring the Ruins of Afrocentric Thought: A Rebuttal to Anthony Browder’s 5 Patterns of Historical Erasure

Posted on by
Reply
In a rush? Check out this 6-minute summary.

Anthony Browder recently posted to his blog a piece titled 5 Patterns of Historical Erasure That Have Hidden Africa’s Greatest Civilization in Plain Sight promoting his final two tours to Luxor, Egypt (which he calls by its ancient name Waset). Although I’m sure Mr. Browder is well-intentioned (for Black people) in writing this post, his five patterns of historical erasure are weak, ill-informed, and antiquated. Not only are some of his assertions simply not true but they speak to the lack of sophistication and intellectual integrity that plagues Black Conscious circles that keep open-minded and educated individuals from ascribing to their theories. In the post, he wishes to highlight five recurring ways an unnamed villain uses to hide African history:

  1. The Name Change Pattern
  2. The Impossible Achievement Pattern
  3. The Religious Theft Pattern
  4. The Systematic Burial Pattern
  5. The Compartmentalization Pattern

Beyond the fact that the article reads like an AI generated blog post, I will take issue with points 1, 3, 4, and 5, and the anti-intellectual dichotomy between seeing primary evidence and textbooks.

Rebuttal of #1 The Name Change Pattern

Mr. Browder contends that the name of the city of Waset was changed by “conquerors” for sinister reasons. He does not mention what those reasons were, but the reader is left to assume that the Greeks, Arabs, and (Western) Europeans wanted to make their mark on the great civilization they conquered.

His claim that the name Luxur, the European pronunciation of the Arabic name al-’Uqṣur meaning castles is the origin of the word “luxury” is false. The English word actually has two Latin roots: luxus (excess) and luxuria (offensiveness). The two meanings were merged when it reached old English. As such, the word not only meant lasciviousness, but also debauchery and adultery. Spreading the idea that the word luxury has an African origin is not only wrong, but demonstrates a lack of academic negligence on his part. Furthermore, it might lead to some cognitive dissonance for his Afrocentric constituents who may consider Arabic, the language from which the name Luxor is derived, as non-African.

What is the issue with changing the name of a place if its history is preserved anyway? Many places around the world have undergone name changes, from ancient names to modern ones and vice versa. The people that live there have a right to change the name based on their current sentiments. Oftentimes, cities built around ancient sites have boarders and residences beyond the ancient city limits. So they are not the same exact cities from ancient times. Why can’t Afrocentrists acknowledge that over time people change, languages change, cultures change, and even religions change?

Rebuttal of #3 The Religious Theft Pattern

Mr. Browder claims that religious concepts such as the Annunciation, Immaculate Conception, Virgin Birth, and the Trinity of Ausar, Auset, and Heru were carved into the ancient monuments of Luxor. However, these concepts were appropriated and then plastered over and replaced with images of Jesus Christ and the 12 disciples by something he calls the “Coptic occupation” of 450 ACE. While it is true that certain religious concepts pass from one tradition to another and that there are Christians known as Copts in Egypt, Mr. Browder’s characterization of them is completely wrong.

First, the religious and linguistic traditions from ancient Egypt have been lost for at least two millennia (the coming of the Age of Pisces according to Bernal’s explanation of Egypt’s embrace of Christianity (Bernal and Gaballa, 1987, p. 125)). The Copts are the indigenous Egyptians. In fact, the name Egypt is a modern adaption of the word Copt, which the name of an Egyptian city Qifṭ. According to Medieval sources written by Egyptians themselves, Qifṭ was an ancestor of theirs. In some sources he is considered the son of Hermes (Ibn Nadīm, 1970) and in other sources he is one of the grandchildren of Ham (Suyuti and Ibrahim, 1968, page 35-36 vol. 1).

The Copts freely embraced Christianity shortly after what they consider the ascension of Christ by St. Mark, making them one of the oldest Christian traditions in the world. The fact that Copts are indigenous to Egypt and that their church dates back to the time of Christ makes me wonder what Mr. Browder is referring to when he says “Coptic occupation” at the date of 450.

Coptic Writing from the Tombs of Dayr al-Baḥrī

Perhaps a source of confusion for him is the Roman occupation of Egypt that extended from about 30 BCE until the Arab Muslim conquest of 641 CE. During that period the Copts were oppressed by the Romans, first due to the fact that they were Christians. Then, once the Romans officially embraced Christianity, they oppressed the Coptic Christians again because they did not accept the doctrine set at the Council of Chalcedon of 451 CE. The Copts, who see their version of Christianity and language as a continuation of their ancient religion and language, fled Roman persecution in the north of Egypt and naturally took refuge in the tombs and temples of southern Egypt. They repurposed those temples as monasteries and libraries for their monks and scholars. They added writing and imagery that reflected their current beliefs to some of the temples but did not deface all of them. Or else, we would not know about the ancient writing and imagery today.

It was the Muslims who ended Roman persecution of the Copts with their conquest. There was only a small faction of Arab Muslims who conquered Egypt in the 7th century, so the Muslim majority that you find in Egypt nowadays is largely pulled from Coptic converts as well as a myriad of non-Arab, non-Coptic ethnic groups who settled in the region. While Muslim – Coptic relations were turbulent at times in their history, Coptic Christians still make up about 10% of the population. In the same vein, while neither Muslims or Christians worship at the ancient Egyptian temples, they did not set out to systematically destroy or cover them up, which I will address in the next section.

Mr. Browder’s mischaracterizations of the Copts and their religion speaks to his dearth of knowledge about the full range of Egyptian language and history. Mr. Browder and other Egyptophiles only immerse themselves in a selective part of Egyptian history, to the neglect of other parts. This would not be so bad if only they would remain silent on aspects of history they have no knowledge of. Yet, they continually adopt/concoct spurious versions of subsequent Egyptian history that has no basis in reality.

Rebuttal of #4 The Systematic Burial Pattern

With regards to Mr. Browder’s points about “systematic burial,” this is yet another mischaracterization based on an ignorance of Egyptian history, environment, religion, and sociology. One need only to look at some of the early paintings and photos of ancient Egyptian monuments to find that many of the monuments we know and love today were actually covered in sand after being unused for several hundred years. This is why they required excavations to uncover. I lived in Egypt for several years and I can attest to the fact that if you leave your home for a few days without a thorough dusting, your home can easily succumb to the same fate.

Jokes aside. Obviously, this is not what Mr. Browder means by a “systematic burial.” Rather, he speaks of the Mosque of Abū al-Ḥaggāg (which he misspells as Abu el-Haggar). When I visited Karnak, I too was surprised to find a mosque decorated with hieroglyphs on its walls sitting on top of the temples. I entered and took a tour of the mosque. Unlike Mr. Browder in his 38 years of touring Egypt, I wanted to know the history of the mosque rather than just make my own assumptions.

Prior to becoming a mosque, it was a Coptic basilica and once occupied by a Coptic woman, Therese bint al-Qums. Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn ʿĪsā al-Zāhid, known as Abū al-Ḥajjāj, was a Sufi teacher from Baghdad. He moved to the area teaching Sufism and ultimately attracting most of the inhabitants to Islam (who were predominantly Coptic Christians by then). He acquired a piece of property from Therese, and his son made the basilica into a mosque after the death of his father in 1286 CE.

The mosque speaks to the continuity of socio-religious culture in Luxor rather than “systematic burial.” In fact, nothing is covered up or systematically destroyed. The structure and material is actually preserved by its repurposing. This is nothing new. All over Coptic, Fatimad, Mamluk, and Ayyubid Cairo, one will find mosques, schools, and other structures used from the same materials of structures that once lay in ruins. In contrast to our present sentiments, preservation of unused structures was not always a priority for the people of Egypt. Our current-day obsession with artifacts is partially the result of the European materialist mindset that has been programmed in us, which ties civilization with advancements in technology and buildings. However, for most societies it appears that preservation of culture and traditions takes a higher priority, even after their material wealth and imperial power diminishes and their religion and language change. Although, celebrations like the Mawlid of Abū al-Ḥajjāj (El-Daly, 2005, p. 92) and the planting fenugreek seeds in remembrance of Osiris (El-Daly, 2005, p. 82) retain some pre-Islamic elements, they are largely considered Egyptian cultural holidays.

Misunderstanding these facts and immediately casting suspicions of a cover up of African civilizations makes me question the veracity of Mr. Browder’s conclusions and ability to give a tour based on sound information, not just his personal beliefs. Such a methodology defeats the purpose of in-depth study and traveling in the pursuit of knowledge. As someone who was immersed in Afrocentric thought as a youth, I dared to put my beliefs about ancient Egypt to the test while living and studying there. I believe Mr. Browder can do the same.

Rebuttal to #5 The Compartmentalization Pattern

Mr. Browder’s fifth point is embarrassingly oblivious to how knowledge works and it makes me cringe to have to explain this. Mr. Browder claims that “compartmentalized knowledge” keeps people from seeing the “bigger picture” of how spirituality was embedded into ancient Egyptian structures. First, we call them temples because we imagine they were used for a spiritual purpose. That is obvious to anyone reading about them or seeing images of them. It has only been in recent years that people have begun to theorize that ancient Egyptian structures were built for non-religious reasons like celestial observatories, to mark a king’s legacy, or simply to awe visitors.

Secondly, he may not realize it, but every building and piece of technology we use today is a result of “integrated knowledge systems,” or as academics call it “interdisciplinary knowledge.” Art, philosophy, architecture, and even religion are employed to create the many gadgets, buildings, and objects we use everyday. I will give the example of an apartment building found in an urban or suburban area of the U.S. Every apartment building is a complex integration of architectural design, carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, thermodynamics, and legal codes among other things. Each building has a philosophy – no matter how dumb – about how people should live or want to live. To only look at an apartment as a unified system i.e., as just an apartment building, is to not appreciate its complexity. Therefore, we must argue the opposite of what Mr. Browder is trying to say. The only way to proper appreciate the ancient Egyptian temples  is through the various disciplines it took to create them.

Thirdly, I would take issue with his uncritical use of R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz as a source of information on this topic. For one, this is a selective use of European authors. If Mr. Browder, as an Afrocentrist, is going to cite an Egyptologist, he should at least cite someone who is respected in the field. Schwaller was not just a “mathematician” as Mr. Browder would have you believe, he was an occultist and Theosophist, who read his beliefs and theories into what he found in ancient Egypt. While interesting, his work, which was never accepted by other archaeologists, cannot serve as a definitive view on the temples of Luxor.

R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz

Rebuttal to “Why Primary Evidence Matters More Than Textbooks”

Finally, this faux pas in logic and scholarship have led him to make the statement:

“You cannot truly understand these patterns until you see the evidence with your own eyes.”

This is actually wrong. Many people think they can travel to Cairo and see all the sites they were shown on videos and in books, not realizing that only the pyramids and the Sphinx are located there. They will need to take another plane ride to Aswan or Luxor in the south of Egypt, and maybe take a ground trip to Abu Simbel and a boat ride down north (since the Nile flows north). This should let us know that a little bit of preliminary research can go a long way.

Mr. Browder’s above-mentioned quote also contradicts the point he was trying to make about “integrated knowledge systems.” It is possible to witness a thing and not understand it. Many of us use smart phones, but have no understanding of haptics or nanotechnology. Unless we have particular knowledge of a discipline it is difficult to appreciate a thing from that perspective.

Conclusion

It will behoove the potential traveler to learn all they can about Egypt (ancient, medieval, and modern) before traveling there. They should travel there with a well-researched an open-mind, rather than stirred by the emotionalism and anti-intellectualism Mr. Browder seeks to lure you with. Americans traveling to Egypt looking for remnants of ancient Egypt is like Egyptians traveling to the U.S. looking for remnants of the Native Americans. You can find what you are looking for if you researched it properly, but it might not be obvious in contemporary society. A lot has happened in America in the last 500 years. This is even more true of Egypt over the last 4000 years.

References

Bernal, Martin, and G. A. Gaballa. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. Rutgers University Press, 1987.
El-Daly, Okasha. Egyptology: The Missing Millennium, Ancient Egypt in Medieval Arabic Writings. UCL Press, 2005.

Ibn al-Nadīm, Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥaq. The Fihrist of Al-Nadim: A Tenth Century Survey of Muslim Culture. Translated by Bayard Dodge, vol. 2, Columbia University Press, 1970.
Redford, Donald, et al. “East Karnak Excavations, 1987-1989.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 28, 1991, pp. 75–106. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/40000573.

al-Suyuti, Jalal al-Din, and Muhammad Abu’l Faḍl Ibrahim. Ḥusn Al-Muḥāḍara Fī Tārīkh Miṣr Wa’l Qāhira. Dār Iḥyā’ al-Kutub al-’Arabīyya, 1968.

The Myth of “Arabized Islam” & Other Fallacies of Pseudo-Islam (Part 3)

Posted on by
Reply

There are a multitude of scholarly opinions in the tradition of Islam about a number of matters: who were the Ṣābi’ūn, what is the nature of prophecy, and what are the parameters of Sufism? Unfortunately, Kemetian Adept’s depiction of these are not represented in this scholarly tradition. In this post, I will not only demonstrate that his ideas have no merit, but I will show that he is clearly not qualified to speak on these topics.

Sabianism

Abdullah Samak presents seven opinions on the meaning of the word Ṣābi’. I will enumerate them in brief below:

  1. It is an Arabic word meaning to exit, convert, change, or switch religions.
  2. It is an Arabic word meaning to incline, detract, or long for (usually associated with young children).
  3. It is of Aramaic origin meaning to be submerged in water, bathe, purify, or baptize.
  4. It is of Hebrew origin meaning to cover in water.
  5. It is derived from the Hebrew word Ṣabāwūth, meaning warriors of the sky (i.e., the stars).
  6. It is derived from the names of two people mentioned in history: 1) Ṣābī the son of Methusaleh and 2) Ṣābī ibn Mārī, a contemporary of Abraham.
  7. It is related to the Yemeni city of Saba (Sheba) mentioned in the Qur’an, but this is an obvious mistake in Arabic because the words have two different etymologies (س rather than ص).
Kemetian promotes erroneous ideas about the Qur’an, Sabianism, and much more.

In one video, Kemetian admits that he and his brand of MST are Moors are Sabians, but it is obvious that he does not understand the implications of this claim. He attempts to provide his own interpretation of al-Baqarah: 62. He clumsily reads through the Arabic and comes to the word “Ṣābi’īn.” He starts to pontificate on his interpretation of the verse. He accuses “the Arab” of going against the meaning of this verse. Again, he makes another straw man argument, insinuating that Arab Muslims tell Christians that they are going to hell for what they believe in. While some individuals might have done this, it has never been the manner of Muslims (Arab or otherwise) to condemn Christians to hell.

The meaning of the al-Baqarah: 62 is that those amongst those who claim to be Jews, Christians, and Sabians who believe in God according to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, believe in the Last Day (as opposed to the eternity of the universe), and work deeds of righteousness they should not worry about the future nor should they grieve about their past. This is the traditional understanding of the verse. It is not a confirmation of all the beliefs of the above-mentioned classifications.

While insisting that “our ancestors” were the Sabians, not only does he reveal his lack of understanding of who the Sabians were, but also his lack of knowledge of the Arabic language. He corresponds the Ṣābi’īn mentioned in al-Baqarah: 62 with the people of Saba’ for which the 34th chapter of the Qur’an is named. This is a layman’s mistake, as mentioned by Samak. Although the two words look similar in English, they have two different roots in Arabic. He mischaracterizes the chapter Saba’ from the Qur’an, claiming that it gives a history of the Sabian people and how they went astray. This is not accurate. The Qur’an is not a history book and only scantly touches on the history of Saba’, who we know as the people of Sheba. Furthermore, if the Qur’an is describing how the Sabians went astray by being ungrateful, this would contradict his understanding of al-Baqarah: 62, which he claims validates the beliefs of all different religions.

He also claims that Sheba (Saba’) is where the word Shabazz comes from. This is yet another linguistic slip up. For one, its usage can be attributed to Fard Muhammad in the 120 Lessons in the early 20th century. However, its etymology is not known. We can say that it is most likely from the Persian shah baz, falcon king, but we cannot definitively claim its origin without solid historical evidence. Kemetian’s attempt to draw some connection between Sheba and Shabazz is pure speculation.

Prophecy

Kemetian attempts to use al-Naḥl: 89 to dispute the notion that the Prophet Muhammad was the last of the prophets. He claims that this verse alludes to God sending a prophet to every people from among themselves. In his teaching, a prophet is “a thought of Allah made manifest in the flesh,” a definition that has no basis in the Qur’an.

While his reading of the verse and its accompanying diatribe sounds as if he has definitively contradicted the orthodox view of Islam, he parades his fallacy in front of us as he fumbles through a reading of the word shahīd. No where in the verse is the word nabī (prophet) or rasūl (messenger) mentioned. A shahīd is not a prophet, but a prophet can be a shahīd. The explanation of the verse lies in knowing other verses from the Qur’an. For instance, al-Baqarah: 143 states: As such, We have made you a just ummah (religion/nation/epoch) in order to be witnesses over people, and the Messenger (Muhammad, not Drew Ali) is a witness over you…

Muhammad al-Qurṭubī, a true Moorish scholar of Islam who died in 1273, stated that the meaning of the verse was on that day (i.e., the Day of Judgment), God will bring forth in every ummah a witness from among themselves; they are the prophets who testify (i.e., bare witness) that they have conveyed the message from God to their respective ummahs and called them to faith. In every time there is a witness even if there is no prophet.

In other places in the Qur’an, God explains the people upon whom His grace is bestowed, as is repeated by Muslims in their reading of al-Fātiḥah. They are: al-nabīyyīn, al-ṣiddiqīn, al-shuhadā’, and al-ṣāliḥīn as explicated in al-Nisā: 69. These are clearly separate levels of people who will receive God’s grace. According to the exegete ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī, everyone who obeys Allah and His messenger according to his state and measure of what is incumbent upon him – whether male or female, young or old – those are the people that God will bestow His greatest blessings upon. This blessing brings the highest level of perfection, success, and felicity.

The prophets are those who Allah has favored with revelation to call people to faith in God (not Kemetian’s made up definition). The affirmers of truth are those who affirmed what the prophet has taught with certainty and acted upon that truth with everything they had. The witnesses or martyrs are those who have fought to raise the word of God and died in the process. The righteous are those whose inner states are purified and matches their outward behavior. All of these people will be granted the company of each other in paradise.

The verse was revealed to console the deep-rooted longing of Muhammad’s disciples to dwell with him eternally in paradise, which is a level of love and spirituality that the likes of Kemetian cannot comprehend because his understanding of Islam is too shallow. A true Muslim can connect to the Prophet Muhammad by following his Sunnah and through remembrance. Many Muslims see him in dreams and in an awakened state and continue to receive guidance and blessings from him to this day.

AI generated image with Hotpot.

Sufism

With regards to taṣawwuf, it is clear that Kemetian has no conception of it. Rather, he follows the footsteps of many Western Orientalists who deemed taṣawwuf as an Islamic form of “mysticism” and the pursuit of paranormal phenomena. This was the opinion of European Orientalists Henri Bergson and Reynold Nicholson. Rene Guenon, however, challenged them on the ground that mysticism is a Western concept equivalent to heresy, magic, occultism, which only leads to confusion and distraction from the true path of esoteric knowledge (i.e., taṣawwuf).

On the topic of Dhū al-Nūn, Kemetian contends that he was not Muslim and supposedly practiced ancient Egyptian mysticism which he inherited from Tahuti. In turn, he uses these baseless claims to assert that taṣawwuf is not Islam. I happened to write a paper for graduate school refuting this Orientalist view of mysticism, who attempted to change Dhū al-Nūn from a pious Muslim ascetic to a syncretic mystic. Nicholson characterized Dhū al-Nūn as a mystic, moving a sofa with his thoughts, which caused spectators to die out of astonishment. Yet I found none of this in his earliest biographical sources: Ṭabaqāt al-Ṣūfīyya by Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sullamī (d. 412/1021), Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ wa Ṭabaqāt al-Aṣfiyāʾ by Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī (d. 430/1039), and al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā al-Musammā Lawāqiḥ al-Anwār al-Qudusīyya fī Manāqib al-‘Ulamā wa’l-Sūfīyya by ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al- Sha’rānī (d. 973/1565).

From these works we can ascertain that Dhū al-Nūn was clearly an Islamic scholar who is listed in the chains of hadith narrators along with Mālik ibn Anas, Layth ibn Sa’d, and Sufyān ibn ‘Uyayna, a science Kemetian rejects. Al-Sullamī confirmed that he was a Nubian from Akhmīm, a city in the Sohag state of Upper Egypt. This is a site of ancient Egyptian temples, but the biographers do not relate much information about his background. They only relate that he his teachings as a true Sufi. He emphasized divine love (maḥabba), humility (tawāḍu’), repentance (tawba), sincerity (ikhlās), solitude (waḥda), and truthfulness (ṣidq). Furthermore, he stressed that people not make claims to gnosis (maʿrifa), which is a trope of Sabian groups who believe they have some secret knowledge that is not attainable by all people.

Al-Sha’rānī relates Dhū al-Nūn’s encounter with the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil, which demonstrates his brand of Sufism. After being accused of heresy, he was marched to Baghdad in chains. On the way, an old woman advised him not to be in awe of the caliph nor to look down on him or argue his case. Dhū al-Nūn thus avoided responding to the accusations. When asked why he did not answer, he said that if he denied the claims he would have made liars of Muslims, and if he confirmed them, then he would have lied about himself. So he left the decision up to the caliph. Upon hearing this al-Mutawakkil declared him innocent.

There was nothing “mystical” about Dhū al-Nūn’s Sufism and there is nothing to suggest that he secretly practiced ancient Egyptian mysticism. His earliest biographers reported about his loyalty to Islam and Sufism and did not report instances of telekinesis and other paranormal activity. Therefore, how can a 20th century European writer with no ties to Sufism bring a new report about him? It is clear that Kemetian is citing the European tradition of mysticism and not the African tradition of Sufism with regards to Dhū al-Nūn.

Kemetian presents the Orientalist perspective on Dhū al-Nūn.

Conclusion

The ability to create YouTube channels and gain recognition from less informed people has emboldened people to share half-baked theories and misinformation on the web. No qualifications or prior experience needed. It is noble the Mr. Kemetian is compiling information and pondering these topics, but his level of knowledge is premature and lacks the proper orientation. His information is faulty because he is not qualified to speak on much of what he claims to know. Experts can easily recognize other experts and he is surely not one of them. This is just a warning: although internet Sabians may seem smart and dazzling, it is important to supplement one’s understanding with actual source materials on the given topic and consult with experts. Or else you will be deceived into the crooked path of modern Sabianism.

References:

Guenon, Rene. Perspectives on Initiation. Edited by Samuel D. Fohr, Translated by Henry D. Fohr, Sophia Perennis, 1946.

Guenon, Rene. The Crisis of the Modern World. Translated by Marco Pallis et al., Sophia Perennis, 1946.

Iṣfahānī, Abū Nuʿaym al-. Ḥilyat Al-Awliyāʾ Wa Ṭabaqāt al-Aṣfiyāʾ. Dār al-Fikr, 1996.

Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne, et al. The Mystics of Islam. G. Bell and Sons, 1914.

Qurṭubī, Abū ʿAbd Allah Muḥammad ibn ʾAẖmad al-ʾAnṣārī. Al-Jāmiʿ Li ’Aḥkām al-Qur’ān. Dar Alam al-Kutub, 2003.

Samak, ʿAbdullah ʿAlī. Al-Ṣābiʼūn. 1st ed., Maktabat al-Ādāb, 1995.

Sha’rānī, ’Abd al-Wahhāb. Lawāqiḥ Al-Anwār al-Qudusīyya Fī Manāqib al-ʿUlamā Wa al-Ṣūfīyya. Maktabat al-Thaqāfa al-Dīnīyya, 2005.

Sullamī, Abū ’Abd al-Raḥmān al-. Ṭabaqāt Al-Ṣūfīyya. Maktabat al-Khanji, 1986.

Sabian Mumbo Jumbo: Ishmael Reed and the Polemics of the Modern Sabians

Posted on by
2

Ishmael Reed’s 1972 Afrofuturist novel, Mumbo Jumbo, is a classic and masterful literary work. However, behind the words on its pages lies a modern Sabian polemic and interpretatio afro-americana. The novel is set in a pandemic-era 1920’s America. The disease was a Vodoun-inspired, dance and free-love hysteria called “Jes Grew” that primarily infected African Americans, who needed to be quarantined if they succumb to the disease. It is obvious that Reed aligns with this behavior and sees it as the true means to liberation, while he directs his sharpest criticism to the “Atonists,” monotheists who follow a traditional religion but are secretly controlled by a Freemasonic cabal called the Wallflower Order. In other words, he believes that Traditionalists/Hanifs are close-minded prudes who oppose the essential elements of humanity.

Such a perspective is not new. The dialectic between Sabian/Spiritualists and Hanif/Traditionalists has been at the heart of metaphysical debates since the inception of religious history. Perhaps the fact that he was on of the first to articulate this concept in an African American context is his greatest feat and few, if any, have discussed this aspect of his book. In this post, I will examine Ishmael Reed’s novel in light of what we know of Sabianism. We will uncover his Sabian polemics, counter-narratives, and his vision for Black liberation.

Sabian Polemic

Mumbo Jumbo represents a modern-day Sabian polemic against the Hanifs of our times, or as he refers to them, the Atonists. Throughout the novel, Reed characterizes the Atonists as anti-nature, anti-fun, authoritarians who have made the world a terrible place to live by enforcing laws, making people work, and limiting freedom. They thrive on paranoia and a sense of control over people’s actions as demonstrated by his pairing the malevolent Wallflower Order with monotheism and the righteous virus known as Jes Grew with polytheism and liberation.

Reed constantly mocks Christian and Muslim sentiments throughout the novel. In Reed’s world, they are on the side of the Wallflower Order who oppress those they consider heretics and apostates. There is a Muslim character by the name Abdul Sufi Hamid (an allusion to Abdul Hamid Sufi, the Harlemite convert to Islam and labor leader who died in 1938) who had possession of an ancient Egyptian text that held the secret wisdom of the Black man. He is part of the Black resistance along with Papa LaBas (a Vodoun priest and the book’s protagonist) and Black Herman (a medicine man). However, because Abdul is Muslim he is incapacitated by his  “Atonist” belief that the people infected by the Jes Grew “Epidemic” are just primitive, superstitious heathens. He does not identify with them because he is an arbiter of people’s tastes and clings to a belief that Muslims are superior to pagans. In one instance, he belittles the epidemic by claiming it’s “a lot of people twisting they butts and getting happy. Old, primitive, superstitious jungle ways. Allah is the way. Allah be praised.”

In a dialogue in which Abdul attempts to distance himself from Christianity, Papa LaBas goes on a diatribe stating that Islam derived from Christianity. He repeats the theories of Orientalists who believe that Muhammad wanted to impress Christians with his knowledge of the Bible. He goes on to say that both Christianity and Islam find women to be evil and acknowledge the same angels like Gabriel and prophets like Abraham, Isaac, and Moses. Then he says that they both condemn the Jews because of the “pantheistic contingent” among them. Here he points out that the Jews are God’s chosen people and yet there are Sabians among them who do not deny the worship of other gods. Black Herman brings up the fact that the “Koran” has been accused of lacking chronology and Muhammad of being ambiguous and inaccurate with regards to the identity of Miriam, Moses’ sister, and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Abdul has no response but a scripted intolerant retort telling them not to criticize his religion. “Atonists Christians and Muslims don’t tolerate those who refuse to accept their modes,” he claims. Abdul is said to have “picked up the old Plymouth Rock bug and [is] calling it Mecca.” LaBas says that the images in the temples of ancient Egypt were so explicit that other nations burned them and called it obscene and pornographic.

While these extensive dialogues feature between the plot of the novel, they tell us a lot about the position of the author and the debates that existed in the Black community at the time of the book’s publishing. Reed skillfully brings the ancient Sabian polemic to 20th century Black urban America, a population situated for such influences. As Sabian movements with Islamic overtones like the Nation of Islam and Moorish Science Temple directed people from Christianity with their harsh critiques of the religion, their orientation to their roots, and programs for Black liberation, the Afrocentrists went one step further by calling Black people to reject the monotheistic Hanif paths all together and to join them in their polytheistic Sabian paths. This coupled with the Free Love Movement of the 60’s made Sabian-inspired ideas particularly attractive during that era.

Sabianism as Liberation

It is clear that Reed’s idea of Black liberation is a syncretic hedonism linked to jazz music and diasporic African cultures, a position taken by many Black cultural nationalists of the 60’s and 70’s. As early as 1962, Oseijeman Adefunmi (formerly Serge King), founder of the Yoruba Temple in Harlem, articulated a sentiment aimed to critique Islam’s austerity: “The African, being supremely creative and cosmopolitan, will eventually revolt against a culture which debars plastic sculpture and other traditionally African expressions such as dancing, syncopated singing, smoking and drinking.”

Moreover, Adefunmi challenged Islam’s efficacy in protesting White supremacy. He believed, as Reed insinuates, that Islam and Muslims detests the same things the White power structure hates about Africans: its pantheon of gods, dancing, and drumming. As such, Islam is not sufficiently African and is thus, more tolerated by White supremacists. The Islam of enslaved African Muslims, he contends, vanished because it was not authentically African, as opposed to other African spiritual and cultural elements that survived slavery. Of course, Adefunmi brings up the East African slave trade as another reason as to why Blacks should reject Islam. (Adefunmi, Oseijeman. Tribal Origins of African-Americans. New Oyo [Harlem]:Yoruba Temple, 1962, 1, cited in Knight, 2020, p. 33).

In my estimation, the things to which Afrocentric Sabians are calling are not a means to liberation but they are the means to bondage both physically and spiritually. Did the Europeans not trade alcohol for slaves? Did this addiction not lead certain tribes to fight others and sell them into slavery? Does sexual promiscuity not lead to broken families and disease; the exact things that destroy our communities in the U.S.? Were African people not singing and dancing before, during, and after slavery? If so, what difference does it make if they choose not to now? While it is natural for people to enjoy themselves (according to their personal tastes, which might or might not include singing and dancing), fun is not a sole means to ending oppression and other social ills.

Moreover, practicing a tribal religion did not protect Africans from capture and enslavement any more than practicing Islam or Christianity. At least Islamic law regulates the trade and treatment of slaves and prohibits slavery on the basis of race. The Mamluks of medieval Egypt were not Africans but Eastern Europeans and Central Asians. Likewise, the African Tippu Tib played a major role in the East African slave trade just as much as the Ibāḍī sultans from southern Arabia.

What is more, African Muslims played just as much a role in fighting the European slave trade as their participation in it. In fact, more Africans (including those who practice traditional religions) participated in the slave trade than Europeans. The Europeans that traded in slaves were a minority of rich and opportunistic royalty and businessmen. The peasants of Western Europe were not part of this.

Oba Oseijeman Adefunmi

Counternarratives and Interpretatio Afro-americana

Even deeper than than their challenge against a single Abrahamic religion is the neo-Sabian tendency to create counter-narratives to what we know of the scriptures. Starting in Chapter 52, Reed recounts a history of religious figures that has no basis in tradition or scripture. Rather, it is a myth (i.e. false story) that serves the purpose of undermining people’s beliefs about the prophets and their works.

In Reed’s myth, Osiris is the hero and hip prophetic personality who spread knowledge of agriculture, music, and most importantly dance. He was an Egyptian prince who studied at a university in the Arabian town of Nysa. He typified the Jes Grew infection discussed previously in the novel. Osiris even ventured to Teotihuacán and Olmeca in South America to spread his knowledge.

The first villain was Set, who opposed his brother, Osiris. Set was obsessed with war, hated nature and agriculture, and had an egotistical jealousy of Osiris. Plus the fact that Osiris married their sister, Isis, further intensified Set’s hatred. Reed writes of Set in the following words:

He went down as the 1st man to shut nature out of himself. He called it discipline. He is also the deity of the modern clerk, always tabulating, and perhaps invented taxes.

The next villain was Akhenaton, the devotee to Aton, from which the Atonists in the novel take their name. The Egyptians rejected his creed of monotheism and killed him.

Next in his succession of villains is Moses, the adopted son of a Pharaoh and initiate of the Osirian Mysteries. He sought leadership in the order by tricking Jethro, a genuine follower of Osiris, into teaching him the secret tunes that he inherited from Osiris as well as the Book of Thoth acquired from a conjured vision of Isis. Yet, his plan did not work. Moses only attained from it the aggressive and violent magic, which made the people mock and hate him. As a result, he loathed the book and hid it in a tabernacle.

The next villains were the Knights Templar, a Christian Atonist group modeled after the rogue Ismāʿīlī Assassins. A librarian for the Knights Templar named Hinckle Von Vampton found the copy of the Book of Thoth in their library. As the Knights Templar were being executed throughout Europe for worshiping the “Black god Baphomet,” Hinckle escaped with the book and lived for hundreds of years. He eventually ended up in the U.S., where the Wildflower Order, created by the Atonists, aimed to find him and the book in order to put an end to the Jes Grew pandemic, which evoked fun and benevolent magic.

These counter-narratives are reminiscent of the Mandaean (Sabian) narratives about Noah, Moses, Abraham, and Jesus. As we know, rejection of the prophets or a selection of them is a common trait of Sabianism. Beyond their simple rejection of the Hanif prophets is the Sabian proclivity to invert prophetic narratives to demean them and champion their beliefs. This inversion lies at the heart of the Sabian/Hanif divide and is at the heart of many religious conflicts as alluded to in the novel. I would even argue that this is why non-canonical texts like the Book of Enoch and the Nag Hammadi were rejected from inclusion in the Bible by some religious denominations. These books’ presentations of the prophets align too much with the counter-narratives of the Sabians. As the Hanifs sought to subdue the slander, turmoil, and licentiousness of the Sabians and prevailed, the Sabian response was to operate secretly and to foment doubt and rebellion from behind the scenes. The Afrocentrist, with his worship of ancient Kemet and infatuation with traditional African religions has succumb to the Jes Grew disease, and it has stunted their intellectual and spiritual growth as liberators for the Black community because they focus their efforts against the Hanifs among them. This mantle was picked up by Ishmael Reed in his novel. Though it will go down in history as a post-modern literary masterpiece it will forever be cast in the heap of Sabian mumbo jumbo.

References

Adefunmi, Oseijeman. Tribal Origins of African-Americans. New Oyo [Harlem]:Yoruba Temple, 1962

Knight, Michael Muhammad. Metaphysical Africa: Truth and Blackness in the Ansaru Allah Community. Pen State University Press, 2020.

Reed, Ishmael. Mumbo Jumbo: A Novel. Ebook. New York: Open Road Integrated Media, 1972.

Nationalism in the Nile: Egyptians, Afrocentrism, and Kevin Hart

Posted on by
1

A small faction of Egyptian neo-nationalists on social media has announced that the wholesome American comedian, Kevin Hart, is not welcome in Egypt leading up to his February 21, 2023 performance in the country. Behind this supposed “viral” campaign is a small cadre of under-educated Egyptians who have recently learned of something called Afrocentrism. In turn, they have erroneously made him the symbol of Afrocentrism due to some internet pictures of him dressed as an ancient Egyptian and some vague statements he made. A few people have brought this controversy to my attention and sought my opinion on it as someone who has bridged the gap between Afrocentricity and the Arab world in the past. As perhaps my final post from the city of Cairo, I will address this controversy and offer a voice of reason on the topic that I hope all interested parties can benefit from.

The Egyptian Neo-Nationalists Behind the Posts

The people behind the hashtags and the posts reflect a misplaced Egyptian nationalistic sentiment that only directs their energy at topics of no consequence for their country. They offer no solutions to class disparities, education, or discrimination within Egyptian society but they seem adamant that confronting Afrocentrism and banning African Americans will solve their problems. These neo-nationalists reject the fact that many of the ancient Egyptians were dark skinned; which can be considered a central tenant of Afrocentric thought. Furthermore, they might have encountered a hostile Hotep who might have spewed some rhetoric about taking back their ancestral homeland of Egypt in one of their vitriolic rants. But does this really warrant a protest movement? And what does it have to do with Kevin Hart?

Ahmad Youness

On December 13, he posted a video speaking out against the upcoming Kevin Hart show and Afrocentrism in general. He claims that the Egyptians of today are the Egyptians of the ancient past and he encouraged Egyptians to not tolerate the appropriation of their history by anyone, especially not “Africans.” Ahmad Youness is a 40-something year old radio personality who has been in the business since 2003. He is known for telling horror stories on the Radio 9090 station. According to his Wikipedia page, has a “license” (a low-level degree) in the English language but not much more of an educational background beyond that.

In one video, he states what could be translated as the following:

This is Ahmad Youness with you, an Egyptian media personality. Recently we heard about a show that will be held by the African actor, Kevin Hart. It should be a comedy show, but I don’t really see anything funny about it. The only funny thing about it is that there are people within Egypt who invited him and there is an Egyptian company that supports and organizes it…

This guy called Kevin Hart is one of the supporters of Afrocentrism. Afrocentrism, if you don’t know, is a movement that says that the ancient Egyptian civilization is not ours but it belongs to Africans and that we stole it. It has since then been falsely attributed to us and that they will take it back one way or another. They have a lot of supporters within and outside their ranks as well. There are also those who secretly support them. You might think that the idea is not widespread but it is very popular. The topic of Afrocentrism is one that has been discussed at length and there are big names that support it.

He shouldn’t come here to Egypt and we shouldn’t welcome him. He is not here. He is not welcome here. And he will not enter Egypt!

Of course, there are many things wrong with his diatribe. Kevin Hart is not an African actor but an American actor who happens to be African American. Racist Arabs often drop the American aspect of an African American’s identity to demean them. This was done to Barack Obama often in the Arab media throughout his presidency. While Kevin Hart might believe how most African Americans (and probably most non-Black Americans) believe, that the ancient Egyptians were Black Africans or dark skinned people, but he is not the poster boy for Afrocentrism by any means. In the US, Kevin Hart has a reputation as a wholesome comedian who is funny but not as edgy or raunchy as other well-known comedians such as Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock. His opposition to Kevin Hart amounts to nothing but a safe target of his campaign. Ahmad Youness is a labeling Kevin Hart with a term that he never claimed in the first place. And he is accusing him of something so minute that Hart probably has no clear recollection of.

Egyptian History Defenders

Another front in the campaign against Kevin Hart is the social media handle Egyptian History Defenders. Their social media accounts are full of anti-African American memes concerning their so-called appropriation of Egyptian history. These memes are directed at Afrocentric claims that Black people are at the root of Egyptian civilization. However, it is clear that they cannot differentiate between an Afrocentrist and an African American. Indeed, probably most African Americans believe that the ancient Egyptians were Black, but that does not make them Afrocentrists. This group probably only heard of the term Afrocentrism without researching it, then began to label everything that resembles it by that term. In truth, Afrocentrism is a scholarly approach stemming from the Black Studies movement that began to take shape in the mid-20th century. At its core, it intends to center the perspectives and experiences of Africans on the continent (Egyptians included) and throughout the diaspora in various fields of study starting with history. Molefi Asante, perhaps the most vocal proponent of the term who has since disavowed the concept, rejected the use of Afrocentrism as a response to Eurocentrism. Rather, he used the term Afrocentricity to denote a proactive cultural movement among Africans that shapes the adherent’s paradigm on various areas of human interest. The neo-nationalists have instead reduced Afrocentrism to a mere musing on the ancestors.

Interestingly enough, these Egyptian neo-nationalists in their anti-intellectualism have slipped into the same methodological fallacy as some Afrocentrists. Just as Afrocentrists juxtapose paintings and sculptures from ancient civilizations to pictures of contemporary African Americans to show that these ancient people would be classified as Black by present American standards, they too have taken to juxtaposing pictures of ancient Egyptians to show that they would be classified as Egyptians by today’s standards. While interesting to look at, this is not proof of descent, not for African Americans and not for current-day Egyptians.

On both sides, we should acknowledge that many changes have taken place on earth since the ancient days. While it is obvious that the original Egyptians were Black as we know it today that does not exclude any other people from greatness. Many of those dark skinned people continue to live in the region where you find most of the ancient Egyptian monuments in Luxor and Aswan along with many other Ṣaʿāyada (people of Upper Egypt), who all Egyptians identify as sumr (dark skinned). Why neo-nationalist Egyptians ignore them is indicative of their racism and colonial mindset. They are blinded by the metropolitan north which is dominated by descendants of Central Asians, Greeks, Anatolians, Circassians, and other people of European descent including the French and Germans, that they don’t even realize the dark skinned people that dominate the south of the country where the markers of ancient Egyptian civilization are found. But most Egyptians care nothing about ancient Egypt until foreigners show an interest in it.

No Protests Against European Egyptologists

Why don’t Egyptian neo-nationalists oppose European Egyptologists? They have done more damage than Afrocentrists ever have. In fact, Afrocentrists pose no threat to Egyptian society despite their fiery rhetoric. Yet, white Americans and Europeans are the only groups who have a proven track record of attacking Egypt and distorting its historical narrative under the guise of research. Not only did the French and British colonize Egypt, and the U.S. continues to influence its politics, but they stole artifacts, introduced the question of the ancient Egyptians’ race, and interfered in Egyptian politics, society, and media. Not only that, but it was the West who took the civilization away from Egypt and labeled it “world heritage,” effectively handing their history and artifacts over to the “world,” which just happens to be located in Western countries.

The debate over the race of the ancient Egyptians was started by European orientalists, who founded the field of Egyptology with the intention of barring indigenous scholarship and participation in it. But there are no hashtags and strong words from media personalities for them. The “red line” they draw supposedly at the tampering with Egyptian history is only for the imaginary threat of Black Americans and not the real threat of White Westerners. The neo-nationalist Egyptians should thank Africans and African Americans trained in the West like Carter G. Woodson, Cheikh Anta Diop, George G.M. James, Ivan van Sertima, and John Henrik Clarke among others, who loosened the grip of White colonialists on the narrative of ancient Egypt. In addition, it was the movie Black Panther that sparked the recent sentiment of returning antiquities to their countries of origin. This is an Afrocentric sentiment that Egyptians are tangibly benefiting from. If ancient Egypt is indeed world heritage, then scholars of all backgrounds with the interest and necessary qualifications should be able to contribute to the scholarship of that heritage.

Concluding Thoughts

One of the major accomplishments of the Afrocentric movement was that they dispelled the myth of colonizing European Egyptologists who spread the lie that the ancient Egyptians were “white” like them. I don’t know a single African American or other ethnicity from America for that fact who does not believe that the ancient Egyptians were dark skinned African people. Does Ahmad Youness and his cadre seek to disinvite all foreigners who hold these views regardless of race? Or is this ban exclusively for African Americans? I have lived in Egypt six years and met Egyptians who believe that the ancient Egyptians were Black Africans as well. Do they also think those Egyptians should be expelled? If so, when does the madness end?

Plus, who gave these people the authority to say who is and is not welcome in Egypt? They are not government officials or even intellectuals. They do not speak for the majority of Egyptians who have no idea what Afrocentrism is and more than likely do not care. Kevin Hart’s coming to Egypt would stimulate a depressed economy, which is suffering greatly now. It will also bring joy to a depressed people. Who are these protesters who care nothing about the poor condition of their country and their people? Tourists of all types, including African Americans, stimulate the Egyptian economy every year by taking tours throughout the country. What these protesters want to do effectively is deprive their country of this essential income for their economy. What did not make the headlines was the cancellation of the annual Afrocentric conference that takes place in Luxor. We can presume that it was at the behest of the same neo-nationalists. Baba James Small alerted me to this earlier in the year and I thought it was a bit uncharacteristic of the Egyptian tourist industry, which jumps at just about any and every opportunity to make a dollar. It is clear that Afrocentrism has benefited Egyptians financially and intellectually, more than it has harmed them. If only its detractors would research the matter more seriously.

What I see as vital to resolving the issues between my Afrocentric and Egyptian brethren is opening the lines of communication and the venues for dialogue. From my readings of contemporary Egyptian scholars like Okasha El Daly and Nadim al-Sayyar, as well as classical Arabic scholarship on ancient Egypt, I feel like the two sides have more in common than they might think. Currently, the exchange is almost all hostile and emotionally charged based on their own cultural sensitivities. But if a few level heads came together to discuss things on an intellectual level I am sure we will learn a lot from each other. If there is anyone out there interested in such an exchange please let me know. Until then, enjoy the Kevin Hart show.

Afrocentric Madness: Anti-Religiosity in Afrocentric Thought

Posted on by
1

Afrocentricism is a valid methodology of looking at history. With the idea that all history is subjective (HIStory, as they like to say), it is worth looking at history from the perspectives of Africans. However, the popularization of Afrocentricism in African American communities throughout the 20th century, and now into the 21st century, has taken a highly anti-religious tone, which has resulted in the dismissal of anyone associated with the three main Abrahamic religious paths. In this post, I will address some aspects of the methodology of those who have usurped Afrocentricism and highlight some of their fallacies using a video lecture from the 2000’s by Dr. Phil Valentine.

Classic Fallacies of Afrocentricism

In an attempt to avoid the pitfalls of religious communities, Dr. Phil Valentine, like others of his ilk, falls into a classic fallacy by regurgitating anti-religious rhetoric. His first course of action is to attack the history of the Christian Church in Europe and how it was used to colonize and enslave Africans. Then he looks at the Black Christian today, often attacking his character and psychology. Finally, he turns to other religious expressions adopted by African Americans, like Islam and the Hebrew Israelites.

Most Afrocentric thinkers make this false-equivalence, refusing to recognize: 1) the complex history of Christianity, 2) the complex history of Islam and other religions, 3) their own blind-spot regarding racial identity, and 4) their biases and prejudices.

Dr. Phil Valentine speaks on religion.

1) Failure to recognize the complex history of Christianity

  • Afrocentric thinkers do not always recognize that Christianity had “Western” versions and “Eastern” versions that diverged pretty early in its history. These doctrinal differences drew a wedge between them philosophically and geographically, resulting in completely different historical experiences.
  • Acknowledgment of these various forms of Christianity are almost always along racial lines rather than doctrinal lines. However, doctrinal differences under the Roman Empire at the advent of Christianity often trumped racial differences.

2) Failure to recognize the complex history of Islam and other religions

  • Islam has its own complex history that is starkly different from that of European Christianity.
  • Direct experience with God was never discouraged.
  • Power of interpretation was regional and lied with whoever possessed the knowledge, not upon charisma, descent, race, class, etc. (although debates existed)
  • There was no wide-scale dark age and rejection of science, systematic disenfranchisement of women and minorities, or even slavery based solely on race.
  • Not all societies see religion as a means for political and social control as it is imagined in the West.

3) Afrocentric blind-spot concerning race

  • Almost all Afrocentrics operate on a construct of race invented in the United States.
  • This is the duality of Blackness and Whiteness.
  • That Blackness is equivalent to African and Whiteness is equivalent to European.
  • Any noticeable amount of African descent counts as Black, except for Arabs.
  • Black Arabs must choose to identify either with their “Black African mothers” or with their “White Arab fathers.”
  • There is no room in this construct for a “Black” person to see oneself as possessing multiple identities or to reject them altogether. Any lack of conformity to this construct evokes ridicule.

4) Biases and Prejudices

  • Most Afrocentrics are Egyptophiles and have an unquestioning reverence for Kemet (ancient Egypt). This causes them to ignore information about it that might seem distasteful to them like homosexuality, violent conquest, honor killings, etc.
  • They are theoretically in favor of Blacks and Africans in all they do until their thinking and actions do not fit the mold that they have constructed. Therefore, African Christians and Muslims are all brainwashed; Africans that marry outside of their race are all self-hating; etc.
  • They are prejudiced against:
    • Europeans for slavery and oppression in America.
    • Arabs primarily for corner stores in Black neighborhoods, secondly due to post-9/11 propaganda, and tangentially for their history of slavery in East Africa.
  • They are prejudice against all Muslims for the actions of Arabs and Black Christians for the actions of Europeans.

Kemetan Exceptionalism

At one point in Dr. Valentine’s lecture, the crowd turns its attention directly to Islam and Muslims. One can observe that he does not know much about Islam and he would rather avoid the topic, but since audience members ask, he is compelled to say something. At around the (1:04:15) mark in the video, he makes the comment:

“Islam is an off shoot of the same triumvirate. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have the same prophets. If they share the same prophets, they share the same bullsh*t.”

After being prodded with specifics, Dr. Valentine states that the Muslims took the act of women covering from the ancient Africans. He said that it was done for protection from the sun and to guard against male pheromones that would cause them to ovulate. Then he said that it degenerated into something to keep a woman down. When addressing men praying in front and women in the back, he said that was also taken from Kemet. In his interpretation, women behind men meant that they were the support. He goes on to say that when the Arabs came and saw the hieroglyphs, they interpreted it to mean subservience based on their cultural values.

While Dr. Valentine appears to confirm the “correctness” of these Islamic practices in as much as they are conform to his brand of scientism and Kemetanism, he denies Muslims the intellectual capacity for having a similar reasoning. He assumes that the Muslim woman’s veil and her praying behind men are necessarily oppressive when coming from Muslims and cannot be interpreted in any other way. One person in the crowd states that he heard from a Muslim that women praying in front of or along side men could be a distraction, but he does not address this comment.

The conversation devolves into a rant against Christianity. In the process, he mentions a hallmark that distinguishes cultural nationalists from revolutionaries. He believes that at some point in the future when all Black people recognize their true selves, only then will we live happily ever after. This grand approach is not all dissimilar from some religious dogma that posit that everyone should believe the same in order for us to live happily ever after. It can also be argued that such a unity of thought and belief is pure fantasy and has never been achieved along racial or religious lines in history.

Revolutionaries, however, tend to take a different approach. They meet people where they are at and do not obligate them to buy into a particular paradigm before attempting to make a positive impact on people’s lives. Conflicts and controversy have always existed, and religious movements have historically helped people wade these waters. In waiting for an imaginative collective consciousness, Afrocentrics and other cultural nationalists fix a permanent chip on their shoulders and ensure that they will always have a reason to not take action.

Islam and the Ancient Egyptian Mystery Schools: The Works of Dr. Nadim al-Sayyar

Posted on by
3

The works of Dr. Nadim al-Sayyar are crucial to the discussion about the connection between Islam and the Ancient Mystery Schools (i.e. the ancient religion of the world). Though his first book on the topic, Qudamāʾ al-Miṣrīyīn ʾAwwal al-Muwaḥidīn (The Ancient Egyptians the First Monotheists), was published in 1995 and its second part, Laysū ʾĀlihah wa Lākin Malāʾikah (Not Gods, But Angels) in 2003, and had an impact in the Arab world, English readers are largely in the dark about his research. His works address the nature of ancient Egyptian religion, which was the major religious center of the ancient world, and seeks to dispel myths and misinterpretations concerning their worship of the pharaohs and multiple gods. George G.M. James and other authors have made this assertion, but none of them have performed studies with the same rigor of Dr. al-Sayyar’s works. I recently purchased his two publications at the Cairo International Book Fair and thought it would be worth sharing some thoughts about them.

“Knowledge Is the Lost Property of a Believer…”

There is a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to the effect that “knowledge (or wisdom) is the lost property of the believer; wherever he finds it he is the most deserving of it.” I preamble this discussion with this because many who might be intrigued by this topic may be stifled by their prejudice against Arabs and/or Muslims who speak on this topic. The arguments of the so-called Afrocentrists are that:

  • the current Egyptians, especially those light-skinned Egyptians, are not the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians
  • Arab Muslims, who are supposedly the majority in Egypt, are a colonizing force that supplanted the ancient Egyptian religion
  • the Qur’an, like the Bible, appears to condemn “Pharaoh” and the ancient religion of Egypt

Egyptian Ancestry

To the first point that current Egyptians are not descendants of the ancient Egyptians, this is not completely true. Egypt is a very diverse society. Its location in northeast Africa has always been a site for migration and traveling between the three continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Likewise, the Nile River and its yearly flooding made the land particularly fertile and ideal place to settle. The civilization that resulted from these environmental factors was also attractive to settlers from different places.

While the first inhabitants of this land were undoubtedly dark skinned people, they frequently intermarried with other groups that relocated to the region. In addition to this contact, Egypt also experienced many waves of migration and conquest: the Hyksos, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, etc. Egypt, during the middle ages was ruled by a myriad of Eastern European and Central Asian slaves… Today, most metropolitan Egyptians can count all these groups among their ancestors in addition to their black ancient Egyptian ancestors. Therefore, their offspring would not be cut off from the greatness of their black heritage merely due to the fact that some of their ancestors were from other places.

I understand that this runs counter to popular belief in Afrocentric thought. Unfortunately, Afrocentric thought relies too heavily on a contemporary American concept of race, which does not always allow for multilayers and ways of constructing identity. This is a major fallacy of Afrocentric thought alongside methodological issues in their research. I do, however, find it useful to approach subjects such as African history from a truly “African-centered” perspective. That is, to center the voices and perspectives of Africans on their own histories, which I think is important in the case of Dr. Nadim al-Sayyar.

Arab Muslims?

To the second point, a discussion of what it means to be Arab is beyond the scope of this post. However, it suffices me to say that Arab identity is not a racial identity, but rather a cultural-linguistic identity that includes a number of ethnic, racial, and genealogical groups, similar to the Latinx identity. Though the majority of Egyptians are Muslims, the majority are not “ethnically” Arab (if that is truly a thing), meaning that they track their lineage back to the Arabian peninsula. They are Arab in the sense that they adopted the Arabic language and ascribe to an Arab culture. Since the majority of Egyptians are not “Arab-proper,” we cannot say that they have colonized the land of Egypt. It is ludicrous to suggest, as many Afrocentrics think, that a small group of warriors from Arabia came and conquered all these lands, and changed the majority of people’s language and religion by force and continue to take on this identity to this day.

Furthermore, before Egypt and Nubia became Muslims they were Christian with a minority Jewish population. The same holds true for much of North Africa and the Levant. Why then are Muslims implicated as the ones who supplanted the ancient Egyptian religion when there were other religions that dominated Egypt prior to its spread?

Muslim Views of the Pharaoh

To the third point, which characterizes Islam as being antithetical to the ancient Egyptian religion, the aim of Dr. al-Sayyar’s work is to dispel this myth among other things. For instance, Dr. al-Sayyar holds that pharaoh was the title given to the ruler of Egypt, no matter what their ethnicity. He then finds that the pharaohs of Moses’ day was actually a ruler of foreign Hyksos extraction and that the religion they promoted and their practices was not representative of the ancient Egyptian religious practices. In addition, he brings to the reader’s attention the number of prophets and other noble figures recorded in the Muslim tradition who were from Egypt. One of the aims of his research is to clarify misunderstandings that Muslims have acquired about ancient Egyptian religion based on their reliance on Jewish and western sources.

Laysū ʾĀlihah wa Lākin Malāʾikah (Not Gods, But Angels) published in 2003.
Chapter 1: Egypt and the Prophets,
Chapter 2: The Myth of Multiple Gods,
Chapter 3: The Myth of Worshiping the Neter,
Chapter 4: The Myth of Worshiping the Pharaohs,
Chapter 5: God in the Beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians

Dr. Nadim al-Sayyar

I challenge my Afrocentric brethren to consider Dr. al-Sayyar’s works on its merits and not simply his ethnic, national, and racial background. He was originally a poet and oud player and later obtained a degree in medicine. Fused by the Naksa suffered by Egypt at the hands of the Israeli army in 1967 he began to bury himself in the reading of Egyptian history, which eventually led him to the study of Comparative Religion. In 1985, he traveled to Iraq to live amongst the lasting communities of Sabians (the name of the ancient Egyptian religion) and to study their ways. He would later acquire degrees in Islamic Studies from al-Azhar University and Coptic Studies from Ain Shams University, where he studied a number of languages such as Coptic, which includes Greek, Hebrew, and Ancient Egyptian, as well as Akkadian, Syriac, Armenian, and the ancient Yemeni language. The result of his studies are the three works he published on the topic of Ancient Egyptian religion. He passed away in 2018, but his daughters have since republished his first two books and plan to republish his third book, Al-Maṣrīyyūn al-Qudamāʾ ʾAwwal al-Ḥunafāʾ (The Ancient Egyptians, the First Hanifs) soon.

Al-Sayyar’s Description of the Egyptian Mystery Schools

The works of Dr. Nadim al-Sayyar firmly establish the connections between Islam and the Ancient Mystery Schools. He does this in Qudamāʾ, by taking a retroactive examination of the prophets and other notable religious figures from Egypt. He starts off discussing tawhid (monotheism) in Egypt under Greek rule by examining the likes of Plato, Herodotus, Luqman, and Akhenaton. Then he discusses prophets mentioned in the Qur’an who were either from Egypt or had a relationship with it such as Ibrahim, Hajar, Isma’il, Ya’qub, Yusuf, and Musa. He examines the misunderstandings about the pharaoh in the time of Musa, which he attributes to distortions propagated by Jewish scholars over centuries. He follows that by giving examples of monotheistic beliefs across various pharaonic dynasties. He concludes the book by discussing the prophethood of Idris and his impact on Egyptian beliefs.

In Laysū, he establishes that the original religion of Egypt was that which was brought by the Prophet Idris, who Muslim exegetes have believed since the early days of Islam to be the first prophet sent by God after the creation of Adam. That religion, according to al-Sayyar, was called the Saba’iyya (Sabianism), which is alluded to in the Qur’an on a few occasions. If you were like me, then the first time you came across the verses (Quran 2:62, Quran 5:69, and Quran 22:17) when Allah mentions the different Peoples of the Book, you probably glossed over the mention of the Sabians. While it was known to be the Mandeans of Southern Iraq, it was first the religion of ancient Egypt, according to al-Sayyar.

He then shifts into a rigorous linguistic and historical analysis of the Neter. There are many jewels regarding his analysis, in which he illuminates his hypothesis that the Neter referred to in the Book of the Dead are actually what Jews, Muslims, and Christians would deem to be angels. He starts off by making it clear that although Wallis Budge and other early Egyptologists translated this word as “god” (and Neteru as “gods”), they did not have a consensus on how to translate it, nor did they believe that god was the best translation of the word (42-45).

Starting from the premise that we have received mistranslations and misinterpretations, he begins to unravel the meaning of “Neter” linguistically. Then he performs a careful comparison between Egyptian perceptions of the Neter and contemporary beliefs about angels and spiritual beings. In each comparison he examines historical sources in their original languages. He concludes the book by examining the ancient Egyptian belief in God by their attributes for Him, which he found to correspond with common Islamic beliefs concerning the attributes of God.

In many ways, Dr. Nadim al-Sayyar has done a great service to those of us interested in the connections between Islam and the Ancient Mystery Schools. Before we can benefit from this scholarship, we need to overcome hurdles of language and prejudice with regards to scholarship coming from the Arab world. Likewise, as Westerners, we have been conditioned to devalue scholarship produced in other languages and overestimate the accuracy of Western scholarship. By overcoming these hurdles, we can gain greater access to the knowledge being produced in the world beyond our own intellectual borders.

Islam and the Ancient Mysteries (Part 2)

Posted on by
1

Based on George G. M. James’ theory, I wish to examine the historical connections and pedagogical parallels between Islam and the Ancient Mysteries. Here, I will to put forth my hypothesis for the historical transformation of the Ancient Mysteries into Islamic scholarship:

  • What Afrocentric, Masonic, and occult sources call the Ancient Mystery Schools represent the primordial religion of mankind from which all religions, major and traditional, are derived.
  • The Mystery Schools were the institutions that resulted from the knowledge brought by prophets (or enlightened individuals) in each epoch. They consisted of a class of people dedicated to preserving and building upon that knowledge.
  • The Mystery Schools had a particular set of objectives, curriculum, and ways of preserving their teachings that made their students and teachers recognizable to one another in various regions across the ancient world.
  • The Mystery Schools had faced decline due to the changes instituted by the Greeks, internal confusion and corruption, the rise of Hellenized Christianity, and later the linking of the Church to the political entity of the Roman Empire, as well as its hostile position to other interpretations (which were expressions of the Mysteries) all served to replace their dominance in the world.
  • Political conflicts, the destruction of the Mystery Schools, and the interruption of knowledge transmission led to religious confusion, forced migration, and factionalism.
  • Some of these migrants and religious factions ended up on the Arabian Peninsula, where they were free to maintain their religious practices and beliefs away from the persecution and conflicts of one of the prevailing empires of the time. Among these religious factions were those known in Islamic sources as the Hanifs, who upheld the teachings of the Ancient Mystery Schools.
  • The pluralism of the Arabian society along with the presence of the Hanifs made it fertile ground for the coming of the Prophet Muhammad to usher in a new age, confirm the truth in people’s practice and beliefs and correct the falsehoods therein, and re-establish the chain of transmission of prophetic knowledge in the world.
  • The disciples of the Prophet Muhammad “opened” many of the areas through conquest that were once hubs of the Ancient Mystery Schools, which allowed for the re-establishment of the schools under the prophetic transmission of Muhammad.
  • Many of the objectives, curricula, and teaching and learning methods coincided with those of the Ancient Mystery Schools.
  • As the Islamic schools developed in different regions, scholars sought out the written works of ancient civilizations and a movement to translate them into Arabic quickly spread. Islamic scholars read, used, and critiqued the works of the ancients and passed their knowledge on to the contemporary world.

 

Islam and the Ancient Mysteries (Part 1)

Posted on by
2

Is there a relationship between Islam and the mystery schools of the ancient world? This sounds like a strange comparison for someone who is only familiar with Freemasonry or for someone only familiar with the teachings of Islam. Yet, a close, open-minded reading of Freemasonic texts combined with a strong background in Islamic teachings and history will reveal a number of similarities between what is called the “Ancient Mysteries” and Islam as we know it.

I became aware of this relationship in my high school years when I read a book entitled, Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy, by George G. M. James, originally published in 1954. It stands as one of the pivotal works of African-centered studies of history. The author does not use the word Islam at all throughout the whole book, but he alludes to it in a section entitled, “How the African Continent gave its culture to the Western World,” where he states:

During the Persian, Greek and Roman invasions, large numbers of Egyptians fled not only to the desert and mountain regions, but also to adjacent lands in Africa, Arabia and Asia Minor, where they lived, and secretly developed the teachings which belonged to their mystery system. In the 8th century A.D. the Moors, i.e., natives of Mauritania in North Africa, invaded Spain and took with them, the Egyptian culture which they had preserved. Knowledge in the ancient days was centralized i.e., it belonged to a common parent and system, i.e., the Wisdom Teaching or Mysteries of Egypt, which the Greeks used to call Sophia. (p. 32)

This passage prompted me to study Islam more seriously and to look at it from this historical perspective. Over the years, I would make mental notes of information I came across in the Islamic canon alluding to the idea of the Ancient Mysteries. However, before I can discuss the Islamic sources and my interpretation of them, I must clarify exactly what the Ancient Mysteries are…

What were the Ancient Mysteries?

Also known as the Ancient Mystery Schools, this name is used by Freemasons, esotericists, and privy Afrocentrics to describe the catholic (i.e. universal) religion of the ancient world. More specifically, it refers to the initiatic organization that taught and preserved religious teachings, the physical sciences, legislation, and the liberal arts among other things. James gives a concise description of the Ancient Mystery Schools:

The ancient Egyptians had developed a very complex religious system, called the Mysteries, which was also the first system of salvation. As such, it regarded the human body as a prison house of the soul, which could be liberated from its bodily impediments, through the disciplines of the Arts and Sciences, and advanced from the level of a mortal to that of a God. This was the notion of the summum bonum or greatest good, to which all men must aspire, and it also became the basis of all ethical concepts. The Egyptian Mystery System was also a Secret Order, and membership was gained by initiation and a pledge to secrecy. The teaching was graded and delivered orally to the Neophyte; and under these circumstances of secrecy, the Egyptians developed secret systems of writing and teaching, and forbade their Initiates from writing what they had learnt. (p. 7)

Given my description and James’ statement above you might ask…

How can a universal religion be secret?

First, it should be remembered that these schools were called “mysteries” because the primordial religion of mankind had no name by which it was referred. True adherents to the religion recognized it in others by their moral rectitude, erudition in the arts and sciences, as well as their keen knowledge of the narratives and symbols that were shared between all the religious orders of that time.

Secondly, the notion of mystery and secrecy was used strategically. According to Albert Pike in his book, Morals and Dogma, secrecy was used to excite curiosity and to stir the emotions of those who might witness the passion plays of initiation. Likewise, they saw the spirit of mystery as coming from God Himself, Who reveals Himself to the human heart in a manner that is unspoken (p. 255).

Furthermore, the true interpretations of the symbols, myths, and allegories were maintained by a scholarly/priest class who were not at liberty to share them with people who were not prepared to receive them. This took spiritual purity, which was only gained through the long and painful process of initiation. Only through this process, could other scholars and priests know that an initiate was prepared, strong, and trustworthy enough to uphold the doctrine, teach it accurately, and shield it and himself from corruption.

Exclusivity in the scholarly/priest class maintained the chains of authorities within these schools and thus maintained the purity and accuracy of its doctrines and practices. As James alludes to later in his book, it was the Greeks who learned from the Egyptians who broke this oath and consequently posited incomplete knowledge, which led to inaccuracies and misunderstandings of the original doctrines and practices.

***

In future posts, I will demonstrate how Islam is tied to the Ancient Mysteries, historically and doctrinally. I will discuss some of the characteristics of the Mysteries, their decline in the ancient world, and their remnants in Arabia prior to Islam. Then I will take a brief look at early Islamic history to ask some important questions that might link the burgeoning Islamic civilization to the Ancient Mysteries as hinted to by James.