[From the introduction by the editors]
Zera Yacob (1599-1692) was the son of a poor Ethiopian farmer. He attended traditional Ethiopian school, studying the Psalms, sacred music, and Ethiopian literature. The school encouraged questions and discussions; it taught reflection, criticism, and the power of thought. Following a period of devastation brought about by foreign invasion, Ethiopia was undergoing a religious revival and suffering various religious conflicts. [In 1626, political actions ordered by the King, combined with false charges leveled by a treacherous religious leader, made for things dangerous for Yacob.] Only twenty-seven years old, Zera Yacob fled for his life, taking nothing but a small amount of gold and his copy of the Psalms. On his way to the region around Addis Ababa, he found a cave in a beautiful valley, where he stayed for two years until the King died. In the cave, he formulated the basic ideas of his philosophy.
Watch the 11:55 video or listen to the audio file.
[From The Treatise of Zera Yacob]
I understand that there is a creator, greater than all creatures . . . . He is intelligent who understands all, for he created us as intelligent from the abundance of his intelligence . . . . God did not create me intelligent without a purpose, that is to look for him and to grasp him and his wisdom in the path he has opened for me and to worship him as long as I live. . . .
. . . .
Why is it that all men do not adhere to truth, instead of believing falsehood? The cause seemed to be the nature of man which is weak and sluggish. Man aspires to know truth and the hidden things of nature, but his endeavor is difficult and can only be attained with great labor and patience, as Solomon said: “With the help of wisdom I have been at pains to study all that is done under heaven; oh, what a weary task God has given mankind to labor at!
. . . .
To the person who seeks it, truth is immediately revealed. Indeed, he who investigates with the pure intelligence set by the creator in the heart of each man and scrutinizes the order and laws of creation will discover truth.
[Comment. Yacob represents an early and very advanced version of the Enlightenment concept of reason, much superior, in my opinion, to what evolved in Europe during the Enlightenment. Notice, from different portions of his Treatise the two sides of the labor of reason. On the one hand, the quest for truth is long and difficult. On the other hand, truth comes immediately and intuitively from “the pure intelligence set by the creator in the heart of each man.” Like Plato, Yacob used the term reason to symbolize an experience in which different levels are blended: reason as a power of the human mind, and the pure intelligence of the spirit of God within. It seems clear that both of these were successfully illuminating the mind of Zera Yacob. A more complex religious philosophy can add to the list—see my next book (but don’t ask when it will be available—smile).]
The creator of man made us equal, like brothers, so that we call our creator our Father.
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All who violate the law of the creator fall into the trap made by their own hands. God permits error and evil among men because our souls in this world live in a land of temptation, in which the chosen ones of God are put to the test, as the wise Solomon said: “God has put the virtuous to the test and proved them worthy to be with him; he has tested them like gold in a furnace, and accepted them as a burnt offering.” After our death, when we go back to our creator, we shall see how God made all things in justice and great wisdom and that all his ways are truthful and upright.
[He presents reasons to believe in the afterlife.] In this world complete justice is not achieved: wicked people are in possession of the goods of this world in a satisfying degree, the humble starve; some wicked men are happy, some good men are sad, some evil men exult with joy; some righteous men weep. Therefore, after our death there must needs be another life and another justice, a perfect one, in which retribution will be made to all according to their deeds, and those who have fulfilled the will of the creator revealed through the light of reason and have observed the law of their nature will be rewarded.
The will of God is known by this short statement from our reason that tells us: “Worship God your creator and love all men as yourself.” Moreover, our reason says: “Do not do unto others that which you do not like done to you, but do unto others as you would like others to do unto you.” . . . . God does not create us perfect but creates us with such a reason as to know that we are to strive for perfection as long as we live in this world and to be worthy for the reward that our creator has prepared for us in his wisdom. It was possible for God to have created us perfect and to make us enjoy beatitude [happiness] on earth; but he did not will to create us in this way; instead he created us with the capacity of striving for perfection, and placed us in the midst of the trials of the world so that we may become perfect . . . .
From The Treatise of Zera Yacob , selection reprinted from Claude Sumner, The Source of African Philosophy: The Ethiopian Philosophy of Man Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden GmbH, Sitz Stuttgart), reproduced in Daniel Bonevac, William Boon, and Stephen Phillips, eds. Beyond the Western Tradition: Readings in Moral and Political Philosophy (Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1992), pp. 32-38.
