CHAPTER ONE
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION OF EVIL IN YORUBA THOUGHT SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION
The concept of evil has been a long ranging metaphysical issue in the Yoruba thought system. It is however understood by the Yoruba thought system that evil “Ibi” is not esu itself and while esu is not totally evil.
Esu in the Yoruba thought system is a law enforcer and a supervisor to Olodumare, which the Yoruba belief that Olodumare is a God who has dominion over everything in existence, who is also attributed to be the all powerful, all knowing, all loving God, to this end Olodumare is a God who does not embrace evil or evil act by human. Esu who is said to be a law enforcer his also assigned to be a deity who listens to the voice of Olodumare and declaring his will to the world but wherever the former declaration is not deed, it is the duty of Esu to bring some calamity “Ibi” that is evil as a way of punishment he enforced on human, but whenever he is not satisfied with the feeding he takes it upon himself to destroy the good works of Olodumare. This can be regarded as a philosophical problem of all good and all powerful God which does not have total control or dominion over all things he created.
WHAT IS EVIL?
Within the context of the Yoruba concept on evil, it is however believed that evil “ibi” is as real as the existence of man itself. This brings us to a logical conclusion that where ever we find man, we find evil. The Yoruba society also have the saying which says “tibi ti re la da ile aye” meaning the world is created with both good and evil.
For the universe is made up of conflict and clash of opposite, conflict is the very condition of life; it is through conflict that things come into being and remain in existence. The system of the universe is made up of opposite good and evil, light and darkness etc. They are complementary for they complement each other and the endless conflict or strife between them is the condition of life.
“We must recognize that war is common and strife
is justice and all things happen according to strife
and necessity”.1
This means that without war there cannot be peace therefore without good and evil there can’t be life. Also the Yoruba will always regard the placenta has Ibi omo, that is, the evil and regard the baby as good. A woman who is in labour will always go through pain before delivery of the baby, the Yoruba thought system will greet such person who just delivered a baby has “eku ewu omo”. The Yoruba also have a saying which says “bi ekun ba pe de ale kan, ayo bo lowuro” that is sorrow may last for a night but joy comes in the morning. These notions of the Yoruba though system holds that evil and good that is “Ibi” and “Ire” work hand in hand likewise Esu and Olodumare.
However it is believed that where good exist there must be a trace of evil. The Yoruba also is of the view that “for a man to be successful in life he must have gone through and overcome, so many challenges and tribulations before he could be successful, the Yoruba have a saying for this which says “Eni to ba fe je oyin inu apata ko gbodo wo enu ake” that is a person who want to be successful in life must not relent no matter what challenges or evil he face. Therefore for every good “ire” it must have pass through or overcome “ibi” that is evil, before it achieves liberation.
This word for evil “Ibi” in the Yoruba thought system denotes something that is not good, in justice, painful, hurtful or calamity, it can also be the absence of good or the corruption of goodness. This explains why to the Yoruba anything that impedes the achievement of goals, Ideal happiness or general well being may be regarded as a form of evil. For instance, if a nursing mother has just lost her baby, the Yoruba would not hesitate to regard such loss as evil “ibi” because such as loss will definitely bring a form of pain or sorrow to the mother or the entire family and if such occurrence is persistent in the family, the Yoruba would exclaim “Olorun a dawo Ibi duro” God will put an end to the evil, further more if a person has just been involved in a fatal accident that eventually led to the amputation of his/her hands or legs such accident to the Yoruba connotes some evil because of injurious pain that the fellow will suffer. In other words the Yoruba see evil as a vice or a misfortune. 2
Evil is refer to the Africans as vices like killing, stealing, adultery, disrespect to elders, telling lies, incest and crucity or doing harm in any way to other people.3
1.2 AJALU AS A FORM OF EVIL
The Yoruba society and thought system refer ajalu as a form of evil which could be catastrophe, disaster, tragic or calamity. Ajalu is a form of evil which takes a negative effect in human life from one crude state to another. This may also be a cause of disastrous, pain, affliction, sorrow, distress etc, upon an individual among everyone or an entire family, society, community or a state.
However it is most believed in the Yoruba tradition and thought system that ajalu could be a natural disaster which could come from the supernatural beings such as the gods and goddess, or it could be from physical cause from man himself, this could be referred to as “afowofa” in some cases, where one is the cause of one’s own problem. The natural cause in the Yoruba thought is believed to be that which happen within the concept of the divinities. These mostly occur or take place when the divinities are angry or not in good terms with the people or the whole entire community that is when ajalu befall them. In some cases the divinities get angry due to improper ritual or by not giving the divinities there rites at the right time. Some divinities like Ogun, Osun, Olokun and many other must be offered sacrifice to, before the land could be blessed and before things could move on perfectly. An example to site is of an entire family who had a car accident and they all died eventually, the Yoruba will call this “Ajalu buruku”.
Some families and communities in the Yoruba thought system have some divinities that they pay their dues and rites to before they could progress or before things could move on perfectly. The consequence for an individual, family or community who does not perform these rites could end up in some form of calamity which mostly leads to death. The Yoruba society gives more regard and respect to these divinities than olodumare himself. They believed that the divinities take issues into action and also react to things such as judgment or punishment faster and give justices to issues within a short period of time than olodumare, especially in the time of vengeance.
1.3 TYPES OF EVIL AND SOCIAL LIFE
The Yoruba sees evil as a vice to good; they see morality as an essentially interpersonal and social in contest, anchored on the well-being of human being. They believed when a person is his brother’s keeper than he is said to be doing a good thing or to be a good person but if otherwise he or she is evil. We can deduce that evil is majorly of various kinds which one of this is physical evil which comprises of all the pain and discomforts arises from disease, accident or from dues upon the body like headaches, thirst, disasters “ajalu” and calamity are regarded as form of evil.4
Esu is a law enforcer that watches and monitors the right and wrong of peoples actions, which he then go back to Olodumare to give report of peoples actions, which leads to an authority from Olodumare to Esu to punish anyone who does not obey to the rules or does not follow the moral conduct which Olodumare has lay down. The actions of human either of good or evil. Is a form of moral conduct which is ethical in nature, that is dealing with the rightness and wrongness of people’s action. Esu is said to maintain a good relationship with Olodumare and Omo araye in this sense we can’t say Esu is totally evil because he is a divinity who follow instructions to monitor the good and evil deeds of “Omoaraye”. If Omo araye does anything evil then Esu will punish such person, but if a person or omo araye do good he get his or her reward from Olodumare, we can say to this end that esu is related to both good “Ire” and “Ibi” which is Evil.
In the Yoruba thought system one will not be left with any other option than to conceive Esu of having dual attributes, he is both of good and evil. We can logically deduce that if Esu is only of evil some people in the Yoruba society will not name there child or children after Esu or call their children, son’s and daughter’s of Esu such as “Esu biyi”, “Esudade”, “Esufunke” “Esudara” “Esuola” etc. which meanings are “Esu gives birth to this”, “Esu where the crown”, “Esu gave me to nurse,” “Esu perform wonder,” “Esu glorious” respectively. All other lesser gods and goddess are also a fearful divinities such that they have a greater and effective benefit to man and his environment, these divinities are fearful and sometimes terrifying to mankind and sometimes when they react they make man loses his hope of existence, their anger can come in different form which could bringing disaster, calamity, destruction, sickness, pain, agony, sorrow and most times it leads to death.
The Yoruba believe that death is a compulsory price we all have to pay for. They strongly believe that no matter how old a person lives someday he or she is still going to die, they also believe that life is a market place where everybody comes and buy and sell but at the end man will end up going home, which heaven is said to be the home, with this the Yoruba have a saying which says “Aye loja Orun ni ile” that is life is a market and heaven is the home. The morality of the Yoruba people went far to the extent that if a person is a wicked being on earth and such being does a lot of evil by killing, stealing, adultery, fornication, rape and so many others. It is said that he or she will start to get reward of the sin committed here on earth before he or she dies and which the punishment for the evil act continues from the grave to heaven when he or she get to Olodumare. This also applies to a good and noble person who is kind, loving, caring, friendly, peacemaking, a giver, a forgiver and that who is not of corruption and injustice but that who has a good moral conduct, he or she get his or her reward from here on earth before death and after death he or she also get is reward from olodumare.
All other lesser gods are also fearful divinities such as Sango “the god of thunder and lightning”, Ogun “the god of Iron”, Osun “the favourite wife of Sango who is a river goddess” Sopona “the god of small pox”, Olokun “Patron Orisha” Oya “Orisha of the Niger river associated with wind, lighting, fertility, fire and magic”, Yemoja “mother goddess patron deity of woman and Ogun State river”, Erinle “Orosha of medicine, healing and comfort, physical to the gods”, to mention but few these gods and goddess have these special roles to play in human life and society of the Yoruba thought system, both positive or negative. For instance if a person steal in the Yoruba society and he or she is being caught, the person may then refer to Esu as the cause of his or her action by saying “Esu lo se mi” or “Ise Esu ni” meaning, it is the devil hand work. Another example to examine and to prove the function and duty of some divinities is when a person steal or commit an atrocity but people of the community could not identify the person who commit such thing, it is then they consult the oracle to identify the person by calling for help from some of the divinities such as Sango the god of thunder and lighting to strike down the person or call on Esu to bring calamity upon the person as a form of punishment.
These divinities are mostly called upon by the Yoruba people mostly in time of help, tribulation and conflict; they call on each god and goddess according to what kind of help they need. Through sacrifice and rituals by doing these the Yoruba however believe that when this is done they can seek the assistance and whatever help they need. Another example to site is when calamity and disaster befall the people of the land but could not find any positive reason for the cause such as farming, erosion, affliction, war, conflict or death among youths of the community, this is where the elders will stand for the community by visiting or inviting the babalawo or the Ifa priest to consult the oracle to know what is to be done at the appropriate time, to determine the main cause of the problem facing the community.
CONCLUSION
The Yoruba people have a strong believe in the divinities and deities and also run to them for assistance or help, in the time of tribulation instead of running to olodumare as the Christian religion people do. In the Yoruba thought system, they belief that gods and goddess take fast actions in judgment but not like olodumare.
REFERENCES
1J.I.Omoregbe, Knowing Philosophy; A General Introduction, Lagos: Joja Educational Research and Publishers, 1990.P.76.
2O.A.Balogun, “The Nature of Evil and Human Wickedness in Traditional African Thought; Further Reflections on the Philosophical Problem of Evil”, Lumina, Vol.20, No.2, 2009. P.2.
3M.A Izibili, “African Traditional Approach to the Problem of Evil”, Kamla- Ray: Studies Tribes Tribals, 2009. P.12.
4O.A. Balogun, Op. cit., P.2.
5O.S. Layi, “A Western Centric Philosophical Analysis of the Concept of Esu in Yoruba World View”, in Journal of Social Science and Humanities, Vol.1, No. 4, www.peak Journal.org/sub-Journals-PJSSH.Html. 2013. P.45.
6https:// en.m. wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Yoruba_deities,last edited 1 month ago by BD2412
Read chapter two here>>>http://inthesecretroom.blogspot.com.ng/2018/02/chapter-two-problem-of-evil-in-yoruba.html
Read chapter two here>>>http://inthesecretroom.blogspot.com.ng/2018/02/chapter-two-problem-of-evil-in-yoruba.html
Thinking is one of the hardest thing to do. To some, it's just like wasting ones time, but you have to remember that the more you work your brain the more it gives you result.
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