Ifa Says...

As you probably know, I've been studying Arabic and Islam along with African languages and culture for the past few years, and for my sr thesis I decided to write about the seemingly curious relationship between Islam and this traditional Yoruba divination form called Ifa. If you'd like a more detailed description of what Ifa is and how it works, please just send me an e-mail, but for now, Ifa Divination is used as a method for the priests of Orunmila, an incredibly wise Yoruba deity, to find out why people are having trouble in their lives and prescribe solutions. I and lots of other people have found Ifa fascinating since it is a very intricate and powerful tradition that is still very much alive and requires an incredible amount of training and knowledge (much of it secret) on the part of the Babalawos (Orunmila's priests who do the actualy divination). At any rate, I was particularly interested because one of my professors said that many of these Babalawos are simultaneously practicing Muslims, and the Ifa corpus (a group of poems, stories, and other largely oral material that the Babalawos use) has a fair amount to say about Islam as well. So my project this summer, and hopefully my thesis for the next school year, is exploring and hopefully explaining how these priests are able to practice Ifa and Islam together, and what Ifa's stance on Islam is. So with the help of Uncle Harvey, I went right to the source!

Fortunately for me, Dr. Ajibade is a vigorous student and professor of Yoruba culture and language, and has really taught me the meaning of the saying "a gentleman and a scholar." He immediately asked me what I wanted to do and how he could help. Within a few minutes he made a list of Babalawos I could interview and said he would take me to one the next day and then to another one about an hour or more away this coming Saturday. He also said he would translate for me and find someone to transcribe my interviews since they are all being recorded. The man is really amazing and almost single-handedly put my research in motion!

Another professor I met here at Obafemi Awolowo is Aunty Remi's good friend Uche, who also happens to teach French! I've had a lot of fun practicing French with him and lamenting how our proficiency in the language seems to slowly seep away like an atrophying muscle when stuck in a completely anglophone environment. He really likes my "parisian" accent and wants me to come talk to his students to prove that Nigerians can and should speak French and that the West African accent isn't the only one out there. He lives right by the Sonaiyas house and is trying to finish his Masters, and then hopefully leave the country to work on a PhD since acadmeic resources are so scant in quantity and quality here. He's told me several times that he wants to just escape the madness here and go to Senegal or Benin where people are more sane and he can really soak up the French language and Francophone culture. I really hope he gets the chance, because he's very bright and like those other famous francophiles like Cesaire and Senghor he has an almost irrepresible passion for the language.

Just yesterday I got back from conducting my very first interview here in Ife with one of the friends of Dr. Ajibade. We left at about 8:30am and after carefully navigating the tumultuous waves of broken pavement that constitute Nigerian roads we finally got to the house Babalawo, called the Awise of Modakeke. He was really big and kind of reminded me of a bear, to be honest, but he was quite friendly and had a very commanding presence. I could tell as soon as we sat down with him that the guy had all kinds of knowledge and power stored up in his head. It was strange how it hit me, but it was very apparent from the beginning. I gave him the traditional greeting called "dobale" which has now become an abbreviated prostration, and said "Ekaaro sir." He seemed pretty happy that I could greet him in Yoruba and got a bit of a kick out of the fact that I could introduce myself and tell him where my family came from, where I live, and why I am "Oyinbo" or "white" since anything outside of or lighter than the general Nigerian skintone gets put into this category.

Our interview took about an hour with me asking Dr. Ajibade a question and he in turn phrasing it in Yoruba for the Awise. I was surprised that part of the time I could actually understand the responses even though I certainly didn't know what words were being said, but I would always wait for Dr. Ajibade to translate so I wouldn't miss anything and because the interview is getting recorded. I learned more than I ever could have from reading books back at school in that 1 hour, and most significantly for me, I learned that at least this Babalawo says Ifa and Islam really aren't different. According to him they have been almost one religion since God, or Olodumare in Yoruba, sent them both down from heaven. He told me very matter-of-factly that Orunmila the god himself was a Muslim, that his own grandfather (also a Babalawo) was a Muslim, and that Orunmila told God to send a long-bearded servant he had named "Afa" down to earth with the Qur'an to put people on earth back in order. The overall message of the interview, among lots of other smaller points and another interview of Ifa and Islam origin mythology that will come later, was that Ifa and Islam are completely compatible and have been intertwined if not one practically since the dawn of time even though most Muslims will vehemently reject this idea. Those who do, the Awise said, "lack true understanding". Interestingly enough the Awise himself is not a Muslim, and while we were leaving, Dr. Ajibade and I ran into a priest of the god of iron and war, Ogun (the same Ogun in my last name), who happens to be a Christian. So don't accpect any statistics about how many people follow different religions in Nigeria at face value!

This interview was absolutely perfect for my thesis and if I could get even just a few more like this I would probably have all that I need, but Dr. Ajibade and I will to to milk it for all we can get. The more the better! So everyday, after getting up at 6-6:30 and praying and eating breakfast with Uncle Funso, I go to campus and visit either Uche or Dr. Ajibade to talk about/work on my project and by about noon or shortly after I come to Uncel Funso's department where I steal their internet and work in their conference room. Until they kick me out that is... There's almost always power here, and since the internet is free while I can "borrow" the conference room I should be able to get at my e-mail periodically so feel free to get in touch with me!

Hope you're all well
~Deji

PS I just bought myself a little treat of a bottle of "ground nut," which is really just peanuts in a glass bottle. I'm not sure why that's how they are sold, but they are so good I couldn't pass up the opportunity to "chop small"