Mazrui’s 3Gs could explain contemporary tenets of faith
The late Prof Ali Mazrui at a past function. The first piece of thinking from Prof Ali Mazrui that thoroughly impressed me was a book that he wrote about his friend Okigbo. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Perhaps Mazrui’s thinking in The trial of Christopher Okigbo could provide good food for thought for many of us as we do the things that God ordained us to do.
His thesis is that this spread was guided by what he calls the three Gs i.e. God, Gold and Glory.
There are many people in our society who do things that they were not made for.
This weekend, I wish to celebrate the ideas that have made our world what it is.
Many great thinkers through the centuries have enriched humanity by developing models that have culminated in the great social, economic, political, technological and even philosophical structures that shape the world.
For one to be able to come up with ideas that determine the destiny of humanity, they have, in my view, to have the capacity to think in the abstract.
Many of the destructive activities that we see around us are on the other hand brought about by thinking that is purely concrete in nature.
In this regard, I wish to pay tribute to a man who I never managed to interact with directly except when I attended two lectures that he gave and through reading several of his works.
The first piece of thinking from Prof Ali Mazrui that thoroughly impressed me was a book that he wrote about his friend Okigbo who converted himself from a university don and a poet into a soldier during the Biafra War in Nigeria.
In this work of fiction, Mazrui visualises Okigbo being tried in the after here for choosing to become what he was not created to be.
There are many people in our society who do things that they were not made for.
Some try to be politicians while, in fact, they could be good teachers or doctors.
Perhaps Mazrui’s thinking in The trial of Christopher Okigbo could provide good food for thought for many of us as we do the things that God ordained us to do.
THE THREE GS
The other thought-provoking work by Mazrui which could be relevant to our society today is a book he wrote in 1991 which he calls Cultural Forces in World Politics.
In it, he investigates the principles that guided the spread of the Three Monotheistic Religions of the world namely Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
His thesis is that this spread was guided by what he calls the three Gs i.e. God, Gold and Glory.
He argues that as Islam spread, it was clothed in Arabic culture and those who were responsible for spreading it were also in search of wealth and territory and hence glory.
Christianity too had the trappings of European culture and European nations exploited the natural resources of the lands they colonised.
Even in our times, religion continues to be a key factor of social transformation.
The manner in which it is practiced has also evolved a great deal and I am convinced that Mazrui’s theory of the three Gs can still be used to analyse what the key guiding elements are in religious behaviour.
Could money (Gold) be the overriding factor today?
Father Wamugunda is Dean of Students, University of Nairobi; [email protected]
