The long odyssey of Maat

Melki Sedek So

Description

In this book that takes us far from the beaten paths of history, mathematician and essayist Melki Sedek So portrays the dangers that religion poses to African renaissance and continental unity. He shows how Africa brought humanity out of darkness by establishing the bases of monotheism and even buddhism. He invites the African public to discover this truth demonstrating that Maat, the moral code principles of truth and justice, is the light that radiated forth from Africa to illuminate the rest of the world.

Sujets

• Religion
• Anthropologie
• Ethnologie
• Civilisation
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: L'Harmattan
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• EAN13: 9782336398211
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

Melki SEDEK SO THE LONG ODYSSEY OF MAAT

THE LONG ODYSSEY OF MAAT

BY MELKI SEDEK SO

Translated by Daniela Ginsburg

MELKI SEDEK SO

THE LONG ODYSSEY OF MAAT

Translated by Daniela Ginsburg

© L’H ARMATTAN , 2015 5-7, rue de l’École-Polytechnique;75005 Paris http://www.librairieharmattan.com [e-mail] [e-mail] ISBN : 978-2-343-08090-1 ISBN : 9782343080901

F OREWORD

I dedicate this book to my father who, from my earliest childhood, taught me the fundamentals of impartial analysis. Our Soninke relatives, great proclaimers of the Eternal, had the unfortunate habit of crying so loudly that some wondered if this was a way for them to express their omnipotence. They did not ask too many questions about what surrounded them: instead, they observed. They have a proverb that says “When you enter a place and see the children playing, wait until mealtime to figure out which of them is an orphan.At that time, the child who continues playing is the one you are seeking, for the others will already be next to their mothers.” This proverb is true forAfrica, which seems to have broken from its spiritual roots.

In the following homage toCheikhAntaDiop, we will see how this came to pass; we will have to cross the sinuous and treacherous landscape of history, and he will be our guide. In taking this journey, we will also help his monumental work reach a wider audience.

I could inspiration

never have written this book without the of eminent researchers: Jean-CharlesCoovi

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M ELKI S EDEK SO

Gomez, Jean-Philippe Omotunde, MbogBassong, and DoumbiFakoli. I would also like to thank a friend who was availa- ble to help me with all aspects of the documentary research that went into this book.

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I NTRODUCTION

In the priceless heritage he bequeathed to us,Cheikh AntaDiop, the exceptionalAfrican scholar who decisively established the Negro origins of ancient Egypt andEgypt’s relation to blackAfrica, relates 1 several testimonies from the satirical poet Juvenal. These accounts focus on theEgyptians’ enormous cultural and political regression in conjunction with events that took place around 126A.D., and they depictEgyptian society bowing to totemic divinities and giving in to re-tribalization.As a result of uninterrup-ted colonization – first by the Persians and then by theGreeks and Romans – this country, which had made some of the most brilliant contributions to science, technology, art, philosophy, and cosmogony that the world had ever seen, was plunged back into barbarism. In hisSatires, Juvenal describes the bloody, fratricidal battles between two clans with enemy totems; according to him, these ended in cannibalism. This was the fate of the descendants of ancientEgypt, who no longer controlled their own education system and hence their own destiny, and were consequently exposed to all manners of pernicious influences.

1 CheikhAntaDiop,The African Origin ofCivilization: Myth or Reality(New York: Lawrence Hill, 1974), 243.

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