oloṣaoko ọbatala oṣagbemi :
In The History of the Yorubas, Rev. Samuel Johnson does not connect Ifá to Saudi Arabia or Mecca, and he explicitly rejects the idea that Ifá came from an Islamic or Arabian origin.
He discredits any link between Ifá, Mecca, and Islam through two key arguments in Chapter I and Chapter III:
1. Rejection of Arabian Origins for Yoruba Traditions
Johnson directly dismisses the popular notion that Yoruba religious and ancestral roots originate in Mecca:
He states that while oral stories mention coming from "the East," the Yoruba people simply used "Mecca" as a catch-all word for any direction or country to the East ("With them the East is Mecca, and Mecca is the East").
He asserts that the Yoruba are "certainly not of the Arabian family, and could not have come from Mecca," pointing out that no Arabian records mention them and that traditional Yoruba practices—including Ifá—predate and stand distinct from Islamic customs.
2. Tracing Ifá's Origin to Nupe (Tapa), Not Arabia
When Johnson details the origins of Ifá divination in Chapter III, he places its roots firmly in West Africa rather than the Middle East:
The Founder (Setilu): Johnson attributes the origin of Ifá to a blind man named Setilu (or Setu) who was native to the Nupe (Tapa) country in central Nigeria.
Migration to Ile-Ife: Setilu was driven out of Nupe land by local priests, crossed the Niger River, and settled at Ile-Ife, where he established the 16-palm-nut divination system and introduced it to the Yorubas.
Pre-Islamic Origin: Johnson presents Ifá as an indigenous, regional West African development that grew out of Nupe and Ife, entirely separate from Islamic or Middle Eastern influences.
2026-11-06 11:41:20