Learn More About Satan In Africa Today!
11th December 2023
In this article, we are going to study Satan in Africa, that’s to learn what Africans think, say, do or know about Satan, how we know what they know about Satan, and are it important that we know or study what Africans know about Satan. Finally, we will look at what you think about this topic, personally. Is it true that the word, Satan is foreign to Africans until when the Arabs and the Western missionaries came? Let’s read the whole article below for the answers to this question and many other questions.
What Is Satan In Africa?
This is a topic that asks whether the name Satan was there in Africa long before the Arabs and Christian Western missionaries set foot on the African soil. Research has shown that there was no such a name or concept in what most writers and scholars termed as the African Traditional Religions as if there are many religion sin it.
“The Devil, also referred to as Satan, is best known as the personification of evil and the nemesis of good people everywhere.” ~ https://www.history.com
I have a personal philosophical issue with the ATR because is have a hidden message in it, which most African scholars either don’t see or ignore. I prefer to refer to the African religious life as Africa Religion, not even African Religion, and I can explain my points.
This is because religion is not only African but human. Therefore, Africa Religion simply means religion in Africa, in the African context. African Religion means this particular religion belongs to the African people, only.
Category: Life Coaching
Africa has no religions but Religion, just like Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism; even though Buddhists might protest that their system has nothing to do with religion. On the other hand, every world religion has its traditions and practices. Why don’t we refer to all religions as traditional religions?
“Take note that I said ‘’what’’ is Satan, not ‘’who’’ is Satan because the question of ‘’who’’ is Satan is a misunderstanding of the fact that Satan is a metaphor denoting a principle, not a person. I need to say so before I begin, because so many lies have been told in this world, so much that we’re virtually living on heap of lies and our whole existence have been constructed on lies.” ~ africason.com
For example, why don’t we say, Islamic Traditional Religions? Why don’t we say Christian Traditional Religions?
The impression I get when we say or write African Traditional Religions is that this religion or these groups of religions are primitive and traditional. The same thing comes to mind when we talk or write about our African languages. People write or say something like Dinka dialect, and this is false, not true. The Dinka language, for example, has many dialects in it. Just because you don’t understand a language doesn’t make it a dialect. Ask the owner and he or she will tell you more. However, we Africans somehow believe in these wrong assertions either knowingly or unknowingly, and this is too bad.
In the same way, there are terms we use in our modern Africa when we don’t even understand their roots and meaning. These words include the word Satan. This is a Hebrew word, which means the dragon, serpent, and devil. It also refers to the deceiver and enemy of God and His people.
How Do We Know About Satan In Africa?
We can only transfer our new knowledge of Satan into the African vocabulary because nothing as such existed in it before the coming of new religions to the continent. However, evil was a reality in Africa, and we now know and believe Satan and his satanic demons and angels cause it.
Today, we have both the Bible and the Quran to tell us something about this personified figure known as Satan, the Devil, the ancient Serpent, and the Dragon. We are told he will be cast into the burning lake of fire where he and his followers will burn forever. What a terrible place! We can only imagine how painful that will be.
According to research, it seems Satan and the concepts about it originated from Persia after the Israelites were taken captive there for years. Before that period, there was no mentioning of Satan and his works. This means even the Bible and Quran, the idea evolved and it was developed later on.
In both African and Eastern religions, there is no mentioning of such a name or concept in all the sacred texts known to us today. This makes it difficult for us to pinpoint exactly where the concepts and the name originated from. But we still hear the name from Christians and Muslims today because both believe in Satan.
In the Upper Nile State, if you ask an elderly Nuer or Dinka man about Satan even in 2023, he is likely to answer your questions based on the new concepts mainly from Christians and Muslims.
This is because the old man might be struggling on what to say. If he is open enough, he’ll ask you about what you mean because he has no idea. This is because originally in Africa, people know God as the cause of all good and evil events in nature. God and God alone is king in the African philosophy.
Is It Important To Know About Satan In Africa?
It’s a good thing to know what the Africans know about Satan long before Christianity and Islam came to this piece of land. It doesn’t matter whether the Africans called him Satan or something else, as long as they were referring to the person, the character behind these evil deeds, they were addressing him.
In 2021, I was asked to contribute an article to an upcoming book and the title was Satan in Africa, and I found it almost impossible to find articles and books about the topic.
This is because African scholars ahead of me never bothered to talk about the topic in the African terms because there was none. We might have been referring to Satan unknowingly in Africa, but evil is never personified. Evil was known only as an act, the opposite to good works.
However, in the modern Africa, we know his name is Satan, the deceiver, the one who comes to us in the form of demons who possess our very own relatives, children, siblings, or even parents. These are realities to us. We even know about false prophets who cause us to fight against each other as tribes, and their aim is always to steal, to kill, and to destroy us.
If we don’t believe in the existence of Satan in a personal form, let’s not ignore his works because they are real and visible to us, even in 2023. If you want to see satanic acts, just visit a village in South Sudan. You will just see for yourself that satanic acts are real. They are as real as you and I are. There is no need to believe in them because you can just watch them as they happen. Supernatural.
What Do You Think About This Article?
Now, what is your take about this article? Do you believe Satan is real and that he has been present and working in Africa though we didn’t have a personal name for him? Do you know that this name came with the newer world religion such as Islam, Christianity and Judaism? Did you know that Eastern religions such as Buddhism don’t have a name or concept for Satan?
These are reflective questions. You can answer them, yourself. They will help you look deeper into the topic at hand. This is because I believe you have a place, a side to take. If you agree with my findings in this article, that’s one thing, one side. If you don’t agree with my findings, that also is another thing. However, whether you agree or don’t, let’s look at facts, not imaginations.
Based on this assertion, is it important for us to know and study this topic? If it is important, how do we come to learn more about Satan in Africa when we don’t have sources? Who do we ask? Who will teach us? These again are questions for us to answer. We need to think. We need to make a decision.
Conclusion
In summary, we have said a lot about the idea of Satan in Africa, how we know about it, how important it is for us to study this topic here in Africa, and finally, what you personally think about it. What do you think about this article?
Have you ever read something like this before? What did you learn after reading this article? I would like to hear from you. You can start a live chat with me on this website. You can leave me a comment at the end of this article below. I and my 1.6k readers would love to hear from you. I will respond to your comments as soon as I can.
Thank you very much for reading this article. God bless you abundantly.
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Further Readings
- The Devil—history.com
- How African spirituality got tied to Satan—humanparts.medium.com
- What is Satan?—africason.com
