Religion Part II

Tabaski/The Feast of Sacrifice is the largest Muslim holiday in Senegal. During this time, many Muslims will make their pilgrimage to Mecca. According to the Qur'an, Allah asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Ishmael ( not Isaac - as the Bible teaches). Abraham agreed to perform the sacrifice as a sign of his obedience. But just before Abraham began the sacrifice, Allah told him to offer a sheep instead.

To remember Abraham's offering, every Muslim family is to sacrifice a sheep on Tabaski morning. My brother, (whom I learned about Tabaski from) shared that last year, according to the newspaper, over 660,000 sheep were sacrificed in Dakar. Families feast on roast sheep, share some w/ friends & give thanks to Allah.

At this time, rams sell for inflated prices of aprx $200 USD - more than many Senegalese earn in a month. In addition they purchase other foods to serve, everyone wears new clothes & parents give their children presents & money.

Tabaski "highlights" one point where the contrasts between Christianity & Islam are distinct. Muslims believe they must "sacrifice, do & give"all their lives in hope that they've sacrificed, done & given enough to get into heaven. Christians believe:

¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
John 3:16 - 17

¹⁴because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. ¹⁵The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
¹⁶"This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds. ¹⁷Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more." ¹⁸And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

Hebrews 10:14

Posted by Joyce

Religion

Edit: when I originally posted this I mistakenly indicated that another major difference between Islam & Christianity is highlighted in Ramadan...when I should have said "Tabaski"... which I plan to post on in the future.


Senegal is about 95% Muslim. My brother & his wife, live across the street from a mosque so each morning they hear the morning call to prayers amplified through huge speakers reverberating through the house at about 5:30 a.m. Guess we won't need to bring an alarm clock?! :)

I'm no expert here so I gleaned from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Pillars_of_Islam some basic info about the five "pillars" (essential duties/practices) of Islam:

Shahadah/profession of their faith - professing that there is no other god but Allah & accepting Muhammad as his messenger.

Salat/ prayers - Five specific times a day, facing toward Mecca - & wherever they pray must be cleaned.

Sawm/fasting - Ritual fasting is an obligatory act (except to those for whom it would be dangerous - children, sick, nursing mothers, etc.) during the month of Ramadan. Muslims are expected to put more effort into following the teachings of Islam & must abstain from food, drink, and sexual intercourse from dawn to dusk during this month, and are to be especially mindful of other sins. The fast is meant to allow Muslims to seek nearness to Allah, to express their gratitude to and dependence on him, to atone for their past sins, and to remind them of the needy.

Zakat/giving of alms - There are four principles that should be followed when giving the Zakah: The giver must declare to Allah his intention to give the Zakah, The Zakah must be paid on the day that it's due, Payment must be in kind....eiter 2.5% of his income, or If he does not have much money, he needs to pay in a different way such as good deeds and good behavior toward others, and the Zakah must be distributed in the community from which it was taken.

Hajj/ Pilgrimage to Mecca - Every able Muslim is obliged to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime if he or she can afford it. The main rituals of the Hajj include walking seven times around the kabba, touching the Black Stone, traveling seven times between Mt. Safa and Mt. Marwah, and symbolically stoning the devil in Mina,

***

Based on the little I know of Islam, there are some big differences I see between it & Christianity. One is "highlighted" in the celebration called Tabaski, and I plan to share more on that in a future post. Another is that I gather a follower of Islam is not supposed to be in the position of relying only on faith to gain salvation. Rather, "in the end" they must be have earned it by being "good enough" as determined by their good works & obedience/adherence to Islamic law, whereas the Bible clearly teaches much differently:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

Romans 3: 21 - 25

&

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2: 8 - 10

Posted by Joyce

Bits & Pieces

A few things I've learned about Senegal via info my brother has shared:

- Senegal is a relatively peaceful country. However, corruption, frequent power outages, and the high cost of nearly everything including food are fueling unrest. Crime is increasing. West Africa in general is becoming less stable.

- Gas is about $6 - $7 per gallon.

- Cars cost more than 150% of what they do in the US.

- electronics and appliances (as well as almost everything else) costs about two times as much as in the United States.

- During the rainy season in West Africa it is hot, humid, and quite uncomfortable. There is not enough electrical power in the city so parts of the city are shut off for several hours at a time. Most outages last about four hours, but some last much longer. It is also the time when mosquitoes are very prevalent so malaria is too.

- The rainy season is an inconvenient and uncomfortable time of year. However, it is a critical time for West Africa. Senegal is mostly desert, and the rains are desperately needed. The villages grow millet, which is used for bird seed in the U.S. However, it is a major food source for them. Equally important as the rains coming, is that they stop at the appropriate time so the crops can be harvested before they mold. Last year’s rains were good, but for several years earlier the area was in famine. The balance of life is so fragile in this part of the world.

- To learn more about the dry season (which is now - thankfully!) read the previous post.

Harmattans

My brother shared recently:

An interesting reality of living in West Africa during the dry season is the harmattan winds. These hot, dry winds blow off the Sahara Desert carrying the finest, floury, dust hundreds of mile into the Atlantic Ocean. Considering that 60 percent of the dust in the earth's atmosphere comes from the Sahara Desert, it is not surprising that these small pieces of the Sahara even find their way to America.

Harmattans last from a few to several days at a time and are appropriately called the dry fog. I walk to school before it is light and when I look up at a light the dust forms a halo, much like heavy fog. It penetrates everything and is impossible to keep out of homes. Floors must be mopped and horizontal surfaces dusted nearly every day. It is especially harmful to electronics like computers.

Posted by Joyce

Grocery Shopping, etc.

Cut & Pasted from Aunt Ramona's Blog:

Living in Africa

One of our day to day tasks here are purchasing fruits and vegetables at the market. The first thing we have to do when we get them home is to soak them in a bleach/water solution for 20 minutes. This must be done to kill any germs or diseases that might be on them. Then we rinse them with filtered water and put them in the refrigerator. We also do this same process when purchasing eggs. If you don’t, when you crack the eggs, germs could get in whatever you are doing with your eggs.

Another thing we must do is when we buy flour, we have to put it in the freezer for a few days. This is so that any bugs that are in the flour will be killed.

Sometimes when I want to buy meat, I go down to the local meat shop pictured. You have to hope that the piece of meat you are buying hasn’t had too many flies on it! The meat hanging here is sheep that someone just brought into the shop to sell. They had it loaded in the back of an old station wagon and got it out and hung it up. I guess you would call that special delivery!

Just day to day food preparation takes a lot of time here. Everything must be made from scratch. Any convenience foods that might be available here are usually too expensive to consider buying.

We also need to filter all of our water. Even when brushing our teeth, we must use filtered water. A bucket water filter system like this one is the most common ways to filter water. However, this year the home we live in has 3 built-in water filters, so that is a real luxury.

Even though we must do a lot to just live day by day, we have a lot more than most Senegalese people have. We have so much to be thankful for; we have water that doesn’t have to be hauled, electricity, a stove and oven to cook on and so much more.

Laundry

It won't be long now & we'll be on plane bound for Senegal! Airline tickets have been purchased, passports are in hand & we've gotten all the necessary vaccines (I needed 6... ouch!)

For these first few pre-trip posts, I'll cut & paste info I've gleaned from various sources, including photos & excerpts from Aunt Ramona's blog, to give a better idea of how daily living in Senegal is quite different from what we're used to. Let's start by letting Aunt Ramona share about something as "mundane" as doing laundry....

I thought I would just give you a little glimpse of what it takes to "just live" in Africa. Some of the tasks for "just living" takes much more time and energy than it does in the States.

The mundane, like doing the laundry, is an example of what takes much of our time these days. It's great to have a washing machine but when the electricity goes off, a load can take a long time! Once it's washed and hung out to dry, the rains often come and it has to be taken in. On the low wall in the house or possibly on stair railings, we lay our clothes out, but in the humidity of this rainy season, it can take 12 hours to dry. Are we in the second day yet? Finally, most things need to be ironed to kill any mango worms in the clothes. Will the electricity stay on for the ironing? Will the load be finished the third day?

- Posted by Joyce