Greetings Fam,
Check out this “Hatata” (inquiry) into different religions that existed in Afrika during Zara Yacob’s lifetime. Yacob was born in Aksum in the 16th century. I’m sure you will find Yacob's Hatata, “The Truth of Different Religions”, very interesting!
Introduction: Yacob is most noted for ethical philosophy surrounding the principle of harmony. He proposed that an action's morality is decided by whether it advances or degrades overall harmony in the world.
While he did believe in a deity, whom he referred to as God, he rejected any set of particular religious beliefs. Rather than deriving beliefs from any organized religion, Yacob sought the truth in observing the natural world.
The 'Hatata' treatise of the 17th-century Ethiopian scholar Zärä Yaqob and his student Wäldä Heywät is one of the best-known and most celebrated works of African philosophy.
(https://en.wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Zera_Yacob_(philosopher)
Enjoy!!
--------------
"My Inquiry Regarding the Truth of Different Religions"
And later, I thought, ‘Is all that is written in the sacred books true?’ I thought a lot, but [in spite of this thinking,] I didn’t understand anything.
So, I said [to myself], ‘I will go, and I will ask learned people and those who question deeply, and they will tell me the truth’.
And after this, I thought, ‘What answer will people give me except that which is already present in their hearts?’
In fact, everyone says, ‘My religion is correct, and those who believe in another religion believe in something false, and they are enemies of God’.
Now, the färänǧ [ European Catholics ] say to us, ‘Our creed is good, and your creed is evil’. But we [Ethiopians] answer them, ‘It is not evil; rather your creed is evil and our creed is good’.
Now, suppose we asked Muslims and Jews [about their belief]? They would say the same thing to us.
Also, if they argued the case in this debate, who would be the judge? No human being [could judge] because all human beings have become judgmental, and they condemn each other.
First, I asked a färänǧ scholar about many things concerning our [Ethiopian] creed and he decided everything [was right or wrong] according to his own creed.
Afterwards, I asked a great Ethiopian teacher, and he [likewise] decided everything according to his creed.
If we asked Muslims and Jews about the same things, they would also decide according to their own religion.
Where will I find someone who will decide [on the religions and creeds] truthfully? Because [just as] my religion seems true to me, so does another’s religion seem true to them. But, there is only one truth.
As I turned these things over in my mind, I thought, ‘O wisest and most righteous Creator, who created me with the faculty of reason, give me understanding’.
For wisdom and truth are not found among human beings, but as David said [in Psalms], ‘‘indeed, everyone is a liar’
I thought and said [to myself], ‘Why do human beings lie about these vital matters [of religion], such that they destroy themselves?’
It seemed to me that they lie because they know nothing at all, although they think they are knowledgeable. Therefore, because they think they are knowledgeable, they don’t search to find out the truth”...
Walda Heywat's Hatata:
"My Inquiry regarding Religious Faith"
Concerning what remains—human teachings and books—we should not believe them hastily, without inquiry. Rather we should [only] accept these teachings intentionally, after extensive investigation, as long as we see them as being in harmony with our intelligence.
That is to say, our intelligence will be the measure of whether we should believe in them, and what our intelligence affirms as untrue we should not believe. Neither should we hastily say, ‘It’s a lie!’—for we don’t know whether it’s true or false. Instead, because of this [ignorance] let’s say, ‘We won’t believe it because we don’t understand it’.
If people say to me, ‘Why don’t you believe everything that is written in books, as those before us did?’
I would reply to them, ‘Because books are written by human beings who are capable of writing lies’.
If people further say to me, ‘Why don’t you believe?’ I would reply to them, ‘Tell me why you believe? After all, no reason is needed for not believing, but it is needed for believing. What reason do you have to believe in everything that is written? You have no reason except this alone: that you have heard from human mouths that what’s written is true.
But don’t you understand? [Just] because they tell you, “What’s written is true”, doesn’t mean they [actually] know whether it’s true or false. Rather, just as you heard this from them, they too heard it from those before them.
In the same way, all those ancestors believed in human words, even though they might have been lies, and not in God’s words. [And regarding that speech,] God does not speak to you except through the voice of your intelligence’.
If people say to me, ‘It’s not like that! Rather, God has spoken to human beings and revealed his truth to them!’
I would reply to them, ‘How do you know that God has spoken with human beings and revealed his truth to them? Isn’t it rather that you heard it from human mouths, who testified that they heard it from [other] human mouths? Must you always believe human words, even though they could be lies? Whether it’s true or false, you believe [it] unthinkingly’.
So, inquire! Don’t say in your hearts, ‘We are steadfast in our religion, which cannot be false!’ Pay attention! For human beings lie about religious matters, because religions are utterly inconsistent. Human beings don’t give reasonable explanations about what’s right for us to believe. So, they put an inquiring heart into a total quandary.
Look, one tells us, ‘Believe in the religion of Alexandria!’
Another tells us, ‘Believe in the religion of Rome!’
And a third tells us, ‘Believe in the religion of Moses!’
And a fourth tells us, ‘Believe in Mohammed’s religion, Islam!’
Further, Indians have a different religion!
So do Himyarites and Sabeans, and [many] other peoples.
They all say, ‘Our religion is from God!’
But how can God, who is righteous in all his actions, reveal one religion to one group, and another to another group? And how can all these different religions be from God? Which of them is true, requiring us to believe in it?
Tell me, if you know, because I don’t know! I will only believe what God has revealed to me [if it comes] through the light of my intelligence. That way I won’t be misled in my religious faith.
If someone should say to me, ‘Unless you believe, God’s judgement will fall on you!’
I will say to them, ‘God can’t order me to believe in lies. And he can’t judge me for a religious faith that I have rejected because it doesn’t seem true to me. For he gave me the light of my intelligence to distinguish good from evil, and truth from lies.
This intelligent light reveals absolutely nothing as to whether all human religions are true, but it does clarify for me that all religions arise from human error and not from God. Thus, for this reason I have rejected them [all]!
So, what are your thoughts on Yacob and his student Walda Heywat’s “Hatata”?
Share your comments!