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I started out out wanting to make two or three posts about reaching the Manya, once I started typing I quickly realized that I have a lot more material to discuss than can be covered in a few posts. Maybe one day I will write a book about this topic, but for now I'm sticking to Xanga.
Those of us who have been raised as Christians in the Western world for the most part have very distinct categories in our minds for the natural and the supernatural. God, Satan, angels, and demons exist, but on a very different plane of existence than our own. Practically speaking for most of us, their existence has little to do with the day to day occurrences in our lives. We are trained to interpret the events around us as having chiefly rationalistic causes, rather than spiritual.
For folk Muslims like the Manya on the other hand, there is no such separation between the spiritual and the material world. Practically everything has a spiritual cause. Sickness and accidents may be caused by the work of malevolent spirits or curses, or they may simply be the will of God. Last month, I came across a terrible motorbike accident. In a freak occurrence, the passenger’s foot had gotten stuck in the spokes of the back tire. His leg was broken badly, and the spokes had cut deeply into his heal. I remarked to someone in the crowd that I was surprised that such a thing could happen. His remark was typical of a folk Muslim, “It is just God’s will!” A car may be seriously overloaded and poorly maintained, but any accident that takes place will most likely not be attributed to negligence on the driver’s part, but rather God’s will.
In Islam, God is a very distant, unknowable, and impersonal being. He is the Sovereign Lord of Worlds and Law-Giver, but certainly not a Father who lovingly cares for his children on a personal level. Because God is so far away, those in need of help must access his power through a hierarchy of mediators. Folk Muslims find answers to their day to day problems through certain holy men who have direct access to the spirit world. Between God and mankind in the Manya’s worldview are a variety of spirit beings. These include Setana (Satan), the “jeena”, and the ancestor spirits.
The position of Satan is somewhat confusing in Islam, since God himself is not holy according to the Koran. “Allah leads astray whomsoever he wills.” (Sura 14:4) Satan is seen as an evil force, but the battle between good and evil is not as clearly defined in the Koran as in the Bible. The Koran states that Satan fell when he refused to bow down to Adam with the rest of the angels. In general, the existence of Satan is not of much concern to the typical Manya Muslim.
The “jeena” (from the Arabic jinn) are a species of spirit beings of much more immediate concern to the Manya. They occupy a position somewhere between the physical and the spiritual realm. They live in cotton trees, mountains, forests, rivers, or other locations and are able to manifest themselves in physical forms. Some also have the power to possess and indwell people. For the most part, they not regarded as being either good or evil. They are simply powerful, and their power can be possessed through certain incantations or sacrifices to either bless or curse someone. One such jeena is the “kumaden” or dwarf. These dwarfs appear in the form of a very short people, with the notable distinction of having feet that face backwards. A person may enter a relationship with such dwarf and obtain great wealth, although the sacrifice required may be as great as a human life.
Another variety of spirits in the Manya worldview are the ancestor spirits. These are the souls of the deceased who linger around the communities in which they live. They do not typically manifest themselves in physical forms, but may appear to their relatives in dreams. The ancestor spirits must be appeased with the proper sacrifices (salaka) to maintain harmony in the community. After a person dies, certain sacrifices must be offered forty days after the death to allow the spirit of the deceased to rest in peace. Offerings to the ancestor spirits may be as large as a sheep, or as small as a bowl of rice dust and kola nuts. An interesting thing about these sacrifices is that after the have been blessed with the proper Arabic prayer, they are divided among the community members and eaten. So rather than being a financial or material “loss” like the burnt offering of the Bible, the event is more like a community feast.
The issue of having a proper funeral is extremely important across Liberia. Believe it or not, for many professing Christians here, their primary reason for attending church is to ensure an elaborate funeral for themselves after they die. For the Manya, being buried according to Islamic custom is essential to having a having a better chance of being accepted into paradise. Apparently several months ago in Voinjama, the imam was speaking in the mosque against some of the Manya believers who are working with me. Although they were not obviously present in the mosque he told the congregation, “They should know that if they do not come back to Islam, we will not bury them when they die!” While I almost laughed when this news was reported to me, to many people in the mosque this warning undoubtedly served as a serious threat. How glad I am that I can be sure of my salvation in Christ, and that what happens to my body after death is irrelevant. I am happy to see that many of the Manya believers have come to this realization as well, as they have matured in their faith.
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| | Posted 8/21/2008 10:27 AM - 78 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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