Culture Friday — Daddieshinor

Introduction

Can you speak to God in your own language? It sounds like a simple question.  Yet the more I think about it, the more it challenges everything I have been taught about faith, identity, culture, and spirituality.

Growing up, I lived between two religious worlds. My father was Muslim. My mother was Christian. Because of this, I never saw religion from only one side. I was exposed to church services, Bible teachings, Arabic classes, Qur’anic recitations, and different ways of understanding God.

What fascinated me wasn’t the differences between Christianity and Islam.

It was the questions both experiences created inside me.

Questions about identity.

Questions about language.

Questions about culture.

Questions about whether a person can speak to God in their own language without first adopting another people’s culture.

This article is not an attack on Christianity.

It is not an attack on Islam.

It is a reflection.

A personal journey through questions that many people think about but rarely say out loud.

 

Learning Words Without Understanding Them

One of the earliest observations I made as a child was how differently I connected with religious texts. When reading the Bible, I could understand what I was reading. The stories were available in English.

The lessons felt close to my reality. I could connect the experiences of the people in scripture to my own life.

Arabic school felt different.

I learned how to pronounce verses.

I memorized passages.

I repeated words exactly as they were taught.

But often, I didn’t understand what I was saying.

I knew the sounds.

I didn’t know the meaning.

And that created a strange feeling.

I wasn’t questioning the sacredness of the text.

I was questioning my ability to connect with it.

How can a person truly internalize wisdom they cannot understand?

How can words transform a life if their meaning remains hidden?

That question stayed with me for years.

 

Can You Speak to God in Your Own Language?

The older I became, the more I returned to the same question.

Can you speak to God in your own language?

Not just your spoken language.

Your cultural language.

Your emotional language.

Your lived experience.

If God created all human beings, surely He understands all human languages.

Surely He understands Yoruba.

Surely He understands Hausa.

Surely He understands Igbo.

Surely He understands Swahili.

Surely He understands every language that has ever existed.

If that is true, then why do people sometimes feel as though certain languages are closer to God than others?

Why do some people feel that spirituality becomes more authentic when expressed through foreign words?

Perhaps the real question is not whether God understands us.

Perhaps the question is whether we have learned to trust that He does.

 

Does God Have a Preferred Language?

Imagine a child crying in fear.

Imagine a mother praying for her children.

Imagine a farmer asking for rain.

Imagine a student asking for wisdom.

Imagine a sick person asking for healing.

Would God refuse to listen because the prayer was spoken in the wrong language?

Most believers would answer no.

Because most believers understand that sincerity matters more than vocabulary.

Faith is not a pronunciation contest.

Spirituality is not a language examination.

A genuine prayer spoken from the heart in Yoruba should be as meaningful as one spoken in Arabic.

A sincere prayer in English should carry the same weight as one spoken in Hebrew.

If God truly sees the heart, then language becomes a bridge—not a barrier.

 

Africa Before Christianity and Islam

One question that continues to challenge me is this:

What happened before Christianity and Islam arrived in Africa?

Did Africans simply have no relationship with God?

Did spirituality begin only when foreign religions arrived?

History suggests otherwise.

Long before churches existed on African soil, Africans prayed.

Long before mosques were built, Africans worshipped.

Long before missionaries arrived, Africans reflected on morality, creation, life, death, and purpose.

Our ancestors asked the same questions humanity has always asked:

Who created us?

Why are we here?

What happens after death?

How should we live?

What is right?

What is wrong?

The search for meaning did not begin with colonial contact.

Human curiosity existed long before imported religions.

That reality deserves reflection.

 

The Question Many People Avoid

Sometimes I ask people a difficult question.

What about the people who existed before Christ?

What about the people who lived and died before hearing the message of Christianity?

What about communities that never encountered Islam?

Were they automatically condemned simply because they were born in a different place or a different era?

I do not claim to have the answer.

But I believe the question matters.

Because it forces us to think deeply about justice, mercy, and the nature of God.

A universal God must somehow account for the reality of diverse human experiences.

And that reality is larger than any single civilization.

 

Language, Power, and Colonial Influence

Language is not only a tool for communication.

Language is also a tool of power.

Throughout history, powerful civilizations spread not only their beliefs but also their languages.

Colonialism reshaped Africa in many ways.

It changed political systems.

It changed education.

It changed economics.

And it changed how many Africans viewed themselves.

In some cases, speaking a foreign language became associated with intelligence.

Traditional languages became associated with backwardness.

Over time, people began to see their own cultural identity as something to escape rather than something to understand.

The same pattern sometimes appeared in religion.

Foreign spiritual expressions gained prestige.

Indigenous perspectives lost value.

The result was an identity conflict that many Africans still struggle with today.

 

Why African Languages Matter

Language is more than words.

Language carries memory.

Language carries culture.

Language carries identity.

Every African language contains stories, wisdom, proverbs, and ways of understanding reality that cannot be perfectly translated.

When a Yoruba elder speaks a proverb, centuries of cultural understanding often sit behind those words.

The same is true for Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, Akan, Zulu, Swahili, and countless other African languages.

When we lose our language, we risk losing part of our worldview.

This does not mean rejecting other languages.

Learning other languages is valuable.

But abandoning our own voices is something different.

Growth should not require self-erasure.

 

The Cost of Rejecting Our Roots

One thing I find troubling is how easily Africans sometimes dismiss their own history.

Many people can explain foreign traditions in detail.

Yet they know almost nothing about their own ancestors.

Many people inherit opinions about African traditions without ever studying them.

Everything indigenous becomes labeled as primitive.

Everything foreign becomes labeled as superior.

But wisdom requires investigation.

No culture should be blindly worshipped.

And no culture should be blindly rejected.

Understanding should come before judgment.

A tree that forgets its roots cannot remain strong forever.

 

Faith Versus Religious Institutions

Over time, I began separating faith from institutions.

Faith is personal.

Faith is the search for truth.

Faith is a relationship between a person and God.

Institutions are different.

They create structures.

They establish rules.

They build communities.

Many institutions do tremendous good.

They provide support, guidance, and belonging.

But institutions can also become defensive.

Questions become dangerous.

Curiosity becomes rebellion.

Doubt becomes weakness.

Yet genuine truth should never fear questions.

Questions are often the beginning of wisdom.

 

Can Faith and African Identity Coexist?

I believe this is one of the most important questions of our generation.

Can a person be Christian and proudly African?

Can a person be Muslim and proudly African?

Can faith and cultural identity coexist?

I believe they can.

Being African does not require abandoning faith.

Being religious does not require abandoning identity.

The problem begins when people believe they must erase themselves in order to belong.

Faith should enrich identity, not replace it.

Spirituality should deepen self-understanding, not destroy it.

A healthy faith should allow people to appreciate both their beliefs and their heritage.

 

The Difference Between Fear and Freedom

Many people live under spiritual fear.

Fear of asking questions.

Fear of exploring ideas.

Fear of disagreeing.

Fear of thinking independently.

But real growth requires freedom.

Freedom to learn.

Freedom to investigate.

Freedom to reflect.

A belief system that cannot survive honest questions is weaker than it appears.

Truth does not fear examination.

Truth welcomes it.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you speak to God in your own language?

Many believers would argue yes. If God created humanity, then He understands every language and every sincere prayer.

Did Africans have spirituality before Christianity and Islam?

Yes. African societies developed diverse spiritual traditions, moral systems, and beliefs long before foreign religions arrived.

Is this article against religion?

No. This article explores questions about language, identity, and spirituality. It is not an attack on Christianity or Islam.

Can faith and African identity coexist?

Many people believe they can. Embracing faith does not require abandoning culture or heritage.

Final Thoughts

Can you speak to God in your own language?

I believe you can.

Not only in the language you learned at school.

Not only in the language found in sacred texts.

But in the language of your experiences.

The language of your culture.

The language of your history.

The language of your truth.

Perhaps the goal of spirituality is not to become someone else.

Perhaps it is to become more fully yourself.

Because if God truly created all people, then maybe He never intended for us to lose ourselves in order to find Him.

Maybe the journey was always about finding Him while remaining rooted in who we are.

And maybe that is where true freedom begins.

 

 

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