Kemetic (Egyptian) Spirituality: The Oldest Faith Tradition

“The earliest forms of religions can only be found when we study the Anthropological Ethnology of earliest man”

-Albert Churchward

“By the almost unanimous testimony of ancient historians, they [the Egyptians] belonged to a Negro race which first settled in Ethiopia, on the Middle Nile, following the course of the river”

-Gaston Maspero

(I will use the words Afrikan and Black interchangeable for people of African descent)

The 42 laws of Ma’at are the oldest moral and ethical codes known to human beings. Ma’at, when translated from the Medu Neter into english, means for truth, justice, harmony, righteousness, order, balance, reciprocity, and propriety). Ma’at was found in the Pert Em Heru (The Book Coming Forth By Day), which the invaders of Afrika called this text, “The Book of the Dead.” Medu Neter is the ancient language of Kemet (Egypt). When the European and Arab invaders of Afrika conquered Kemet (Egypt), they changed the Afrikan names of Kemet’s nation, architecture, leaders, scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, and theologians to foreign names. The name Kemet was changed to Egypt. Kemet means the land of the Blacks. The conquers rename its language of Medu Neter to the hieroglyphics. Afrika’s invaders made Kemet’s spirituality illegal. They closed all the faith temples of Kemet for hundred years. Although Kemet was taken over by colonizers, the Medu Neter still existed. It documents the recorded history of Kemet, its culture, its spirituality, its sciences, its theology, and its philosophical traditions. Ma’at comes from ancient Kemetic spirituality. In the contemporary world, Kemet’s, faith tradition is slowly becoming the spirituality and philosophies of the modern world, particularly in the Afrikan world community.

The following are the 42 laws of Ma’at:

1) I have not committed sin.

2) I have not committed robbery with violence.

3) I have not stolen.

4) I have not slain men or women.

5) I have not stolen food.

6) I have not swindled offerings.

7) I have not stolen from God/Goddess.

8) I have not told lies.

9) I have not carried away food.

10) I have not cursed.

11) I have not closed my ears to truth.

12) I have not committed adultery.

13) I have not made anyone cry.

14) I have not felt sorrow without reason.

15) I have not assaulted anyone.

16) I am not deceitful.

17) I have not stolen anyone’s land.

18) I have not been an eavesdropper.

19) I have not falsely accused anyone.

20) I have not been angry without reason.

21) I have not seduced anyone’s wife.

22) I have not polluted myself.

23) I have not terrorized anyone.

24) I have not disobeyed the Law.

25) I have not been exclusively angry.

26) I have not cursed God/Goddess.

27) I have not behaved with violence.

28) I have not caused disruption of peace.

29) I have not acted hastily or without thought.

30) I have not overstepped my boundaries of concern.

31) I have not exaggerated my words when speaking.

32) I have not worked evil.

33) I have not used evil thoughts, words or deeds.

34) I have not polluted the water.

35) I have not spoken angrily or arrogantly.

36) I have not cursed anyone in thought, word or deeds.

37) I have not placed myself on a pedestal.

38) I have not stolen what belongs to God/Goddess.

39) I have not stolen from or disrespected the deceased.

40) I have not taken food from a child.

41) I have not acted with insolence.

42) I have not destroyed property belonging to God/Goddess

The 42 laws of Ma’at were “discovered” in ancient Kemet (Egypt), Afrika’s greatest high culture Nile Valley Civilization. Scholars of Ma’at realize that Afrika’s 42 laws of Ma’at are the origins of the world’s major religious (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Al-Islam) code of ethics and morals. The 42 laws of Ma’at existed thousands of years before Judaism, Christianity, and Al-Islam came into existence. In fact, many respected theologians, Egyptologist, and history scholars have written books presenting to humanity that the world’s western religions plagiarized Ma’at to develop their own versions of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic ethical and moral codes. Like many people that have exploited Afrika of its people, land, treasures, and resources, so too were her religious traditions plundered. Unfortunately, the world’s major religions did not give credit back to Afrika for her helping them find their pathway to a code of ethics and morality.

During slave trade of the European and Arab world, they had to justify the enslavement of Black people in Afrika by fabricating a myth that Afrikan culture and spirituality were subhuman, savage, uncivilized, satanic, and polytheistic.

White supremacy, and systemic racism, made the world, and us, believe that Afrikan people had no concept of a one God, or spirituality, or any real code of ethics or morals. But nothing can further from the truth.

According to Egyptologist Anthony Browder, Afrika is the mother of world’s major religions. In 1992, he published a phenomenal and groundbreaking history book on Kemet called-Nile Valley Contributions To Civilization. Professor Browder writes on page 88 about the Pert Em Heru (the Book Coming Forth By Day. He says, “there are a number of significant religious references which have emerged from the Book of the Coming Forth by Day, they include: the conception of heaven, the soul of man going to heaven, the soul of man sitting on a throne by the side of God, the heavenly blessed eating from the tree of life, God molding man from clay, God breathing the breath of life into man’s nostrils, the concept of creation through the spoken word, moral concepts of good and evil, and traditions of hell and hell fire.”

the Ten Commandments:(Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)

1) "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out ofthe land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other godsbefore Me.”

2) "You shall not make for yourself a carved image,or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earthbeneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down tothem nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting theiniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations ofthose who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me andkeep My Commandments.”

3) "You shall not take the name of the Lord yourGod in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”

4) "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Sixdays you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbathof the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor yourdaughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, noryour stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made theheavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventhday. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

5) "Honor your father and your mother, that yourdays may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”

6) "You shall not murder.”

7) “You shall not commit adultery.”

8) "You shall not steal.”

9) "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

10) "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”

If you compare the Ten Commandments with the 42 Laws of Ma'at, you can clearly see similarities between the two. In another part of the book, Nile Valley Contributions to Civilizations, Egyptologist Dr. Browder writes on page 92, "by conservative estimates, the 42 Declarations of Ma'at were written approximately 1, 500 years before the writing of the Ten Commandments. By comparing the two documents, one will find striking comparisons. The following list reflects the numbering most commonly used in English-language references to the Ten Commandments, and those which are similar to the Declarations (Ma'at) are highlighted by parenthesis.
1) I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (41)
2) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images…..
3) Thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy God in vain…. (7, 37, 41)
4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy……
5) Honor thy father and mother. (1, 12, 28)
6) Thou shall not kill. (4)
7) Thou shall not commit adultery. (11, 20, 21)
8) Thou shall not steal. (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 39, 40)
9) Though shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (8, 13, 18, 29)
10) Thou shalt not covert thy neighbor's house or wife. (13, 20, 21, 29, 33)"

The late Dr.Yosef A. A. ben-Jochannan, one of the world’s most respected Afrikan Egyptologists, documented the Kemetic origins of the “Ten Commandments” coming from the Pert Em Heru (the Book Coming Forth By Day). In his pioneering book titled, African Origins of The Major “Western Religions,” Dr. Jochannan writes on page 11, “the Ten Commandments spoken of in each of the so-called “Western Religions” moral code of ethics are based upon extensions of philosophical developments by the indigenous Africans-the so-called “Negroes” and “Bantus” - of the Nile Valley Civilizations from pre-recorded history. The laws that say… “Thou Shalt Not Kill……., etc.” and “Thou Shall Not Steal……etc” were used in Egypt (Sais) and Ethiopia (Kush or Cush thousands of years before the birth of Moses of the Hebrew (Jewish) Torah. Yet these two laws, including all of the other ten that make up so-called “western religions” basic moral codes, are still being taught as if the first time they ever came to the knowledge of mankind was when they were allegedly “………given to Moses on Mount Sinai.” At least, this is the manner in which they are presently taught in Europe, the Americans and wherever Europeans and European American religious and economic controls are in evidence.”

Dr. Jochannan's analysis of Kemetic spirituality and Ma’at being discredited by the white and Arab world is right on point. He speaks to the white supremacy and systemic racism continually perpetuated by non-Black people. We see that in a book like, General History Collections: Types of Mankind: or Ethnological Researches... Illustrated by Selections from the Inedited papers of S.G. Morton.... and by additional contributions from L. Agassiz, W. Usher... H.S Patterson co-authored by two white men named Dr. Josiah Clark Nott and Dr. George Robbins Gliddon.

This book first published in 1854. Nott and Gliddon fabricated beliefs in racial myths that whites were born "genetically superior" to Black people, would not allow them to accept the facts on Kemet (Egypt) being a Black civilization. They argued on page 461 in their book the greatness of Kemet's (Egypt's) civilization. But that greatness was because of whiteness. They said, "the earliest civilization known to us is that of Egypt; and from this foundation, it is commonly said, all more modern civilizations derived.... From Egypt, the stream is supposed to have flowed steadily on, through Assyria, Palestine, Tyre, Persia, Greece, Rome, Gaul, Germany, Spain, Britain, until it crossed the Atlantic to our Federal Union." These two white supremacist scholars argued that the great Egypt (Kemet) of the ancient world was a white civilization, not a Black civilization.

But on the very next page of 462 of their of book, Josiah Nott supports his racism by quoting another white racist historian named Theodore Parker in the text to justify Kemet's (Egypt's) whiteness and the racial supremacy of white people. He writes, "the Caucasian race differs from all other races: he is humane, he is civilized, and progresses. He conquers with his head, as well as with his hand. It is intellect after all that conquers-not the strength of a man's arm. The Caucasian has been often master of the other races-never their slave. He has carried his religion to other races, but never taken theirs. In history, all religions are of Caucasian origin. All the great limited forms of monarchies are Caucasian. Republics are Caucasian. All the great sciences are of Caucasian origin; all inventions are Caucasian; literature and romance come of the same stock; all the great poets are of Caucasian origin; Moses, Luther, Jesus Christ, Zoroaster, Buddha, Pythagoras, were Caucasian. No other race can bring up to memory such celebrated names as the Caucasian race...... To the Caucasian race belong the Arabian, Persian, Hebrew, Egyptian; and all the European nations are descendants of the Caucasian race."

But whatever they case may be, in this day in time, we have the 42 laws of Ma’at translated for us to study and incorporate into our daily lives. Many of us that are Afrikan centered struggle to help our people, and the world, understand that Ma’at is Afrika’s original set of ethics and moral principles.

Ma’at is amazingly simple to understand family. Unfortunately, we as human beings make it difficult to know, understand, and follow.

I am one of many Afrikan centered Black people that incorporates Ma’at into my daily life.

Every day, I read, study, and mediate on Ma’at. It gives me peace and challenges me to live in balance with the Creator and nature. I have even made some of the principles of Ma’at my morning and nightly affirmations.

The two books that I use to develop my spiritual and philosophical conscious understanding of Ma’at are written by Dr. Maulana Karenga and Dr. Rkhty Amen. They both can read and translate Medu Neter.

Dr. Rkhty Amen studied (Kemetic) Egyptian Hieroglyphs in the PhD program at the University of Chicago, Oriental Institute, Department of Near Eastern Studies. She is a founding member of ASCAC (Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations). The organization called ASCAC was also founded by Drs. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Jacob Carruthers, Dr. Maulana Karenga, and Dr. Yosef A.A. ben Jochannan in 1984. Dr. Amen is a cofounder of Chicago, Illinois’ Kemetic Institute and the Kemetic Temple. She is fluent in Medu Neter, English, Chinese, French, German, and Hebrew. She lectures all over the world. Dr. Amen has publised many books on Kemetic spirituality and Medu Neter. However, my favorite book of hers is called-A Life Centered Life Living Ma’at.

Her book is outstanding. Dr. Amen explains the definition of the words and the symbols in Medu Neter and the meaning of Ma’at. Dr. Amen breaks down Ma’at’s importance to the equal balancing of men and women in all things on earth and in the hereafter. But according to Ma’at, as interpreted by Dr. Amen, it is equally important to understand that in Kemetic spirituality the Creator is always represented by the male and female principle.

In her book, A Life Centered Life Living Ma’at, Dr. Amen writes, Ma’at is symbolized by a woman wearing a wing feather of a male ostrich on her head and sometimes by the feather alone. There are then two main aspects of this symbol, a female and a male aspect. In a famous relief from Kemet, which depicts the Day of judgement at the end of person’s life, Ma’at is shown placed on a scale and weighed against one’s ib (person’s consciousness). The Ma’at feather in this representation symbolizes balance and harmony depicted by female and male combined. The scene also implies that one’s consciousness should be light as a feather. The color white of the feather symbolizes light and pureness. The fact that Ma’at is both male and female is highly significant. The female is the one who nourishes the young, the caregiver, the mediator / harmonizer in the family, the first teacher of Ma’at to the young. The female is a natural embodiment of Ma’at in the sense of caring for, nourishing, mediating, and harmonizing in the family, the community, and the nation. The male ostrich wing feather combined with the female represents balance and harmony.”

Dr. Maulana Karenga is the creator of the Kawaida philosophy. He is a professor of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach. Dr Karenga also co-founded the Us Organization-a revolutionary cultural nationalist Black Power movement, established on September 7, 1965, in Los Angeles, California. He is also a founder of ASCAC. Kawaida is a kiswahili word meaning "tradition" and "reason." It is pronounced as ka-wa-EE-da. Dr. Karenga defines Kawaida as, "a communitarian African philosophy created in the context of the African American liberation struggle and developed as an ongoing synthesis of the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world." Kawaida is the foundation for Kwanzaa - a Pan African centered holiday celebrated from December 26 to January 1 all over the world. The philosophy of Kawaida is largely responsible for the 1972 National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana, the increase of Black elected officials in America, and the seizure of Black political power in Newark, NJ.

Dr. Karenga has published many books on Afrikan history and culture. The most important book he has published on Kemet’s spirituality to this date is called-The Selections From the Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt.

The 42 laws of Ma’at are translated into english in the Husia. Whenever I finish reading and mediating on Ma’at, I read also from the Husia the following passages from the Medu Neter. Our ancestors instruct us after living Ma’at, we must turn to the Creator to recite them. In the Husia, on page 111-112, Medu Neter says that the our ancestors wrote, “I live on Ma’at, I satisfy myself with the righteousness of my heart. For I have done that which men and women request and that which pleases God. I have found favor with God by doing that which he loves. I have given bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes to the naked and a boat to those without one. I have made due offerings to God and funeral offerings to the departed. Deliver me then, and protect me. Make no report against me in the presence of the great God. For I am one whose mouth is pure and whose hands are clean. Therefore, let it be said to me: “Welcome, come in peace” by those who shall see me.”

In America, there are a growing number of Kemetic temples being established in the Afrikan / Afrkan American community to provide alternatives to the faith traditions of the major religions in the western world. They are dedicated to the practice of Kemetic spirituality and Ma’at, such as the Temple of Anu in Newark, NJ, The Shine of Ma’at in Harlem, NYC, the Kemetic Temple in Chicago, Illinois, and The Ausar Auset Society headquartered in Brooklyn, NYC. (The Ausar Auset Society has chapters in several major cities in the United States as well as international chapters in London, England, Toronto, Canada, Bermuda, and Trinidad & Tobago.)

In summation, the 42 laws of Ma’at are the oldest moral and ethical codes in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people on the planet earth either follow or study its spiritual and philosophical path, particularly Afrikan people. If Ma’at is applied correctly in society, it could be the basis for revolutionary change in the Afrikan world community and in humanity.

Hotep (Medu Neter for Peace)!

Bashir Muhammad Akinyele is a History and Africana Studies teacher. He is also the co-coordinator for ASCAC's (the Association for Study of Classical African Civilizations) Study Group Chapter in Newark, NJ. (https://ascac.org/)

Note: Spelling Afrika with a k is not a typo. Using the k in Afrika is the Kiswahili way of writing Africa. Kiswahili is a Pan -Afrikan language. It is spoken in many countries in Africa. Kiswahili is the language used in Kwanzaa. The holiday of Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26 to January 1.