Every faith says it alone is true. Since they cannot all be right, test each claim by the reason God gave to all people.
Zera Yacob · Ethiopian rationalism
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Summary
Philosopher
Last reviewed:
Zera Yacob
1599–1692 · Ethiopian rationalism · Early modern
Zera Yacob (Zärʾa Yaʿəqob) is the name given to the author of the Hatata (Inquiry), a Ge'ez treatise said to be written in 1667 by a scholar from Aksum who hid in a cave during religious persecution. The text argues that every faith calls itself true and the others false, so a person must test claims by the light of reason that God gave everyone.
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It defends the equality of all people, men and women, and rejects slavery and ascetic rules that go against human nature. In the twentieth century Carlo Conti Rossini argued the work was a forgery by the Italian missionary Giusto d'Urbino. Claude Sumner defended Ethiopian authorship; the 2023 translation by Ralph Lee, Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher reopens the question, and some now propose an Ethiopian original later reworked, so the cards here are summaries of the text, not sentences pinned to a person.
No single sentence is given as a well attested quote because the authorship is debated and English versions differ. Summary cards only.
Start here
The Hatata in Claude Sumner's translation, chapters on the cave and the examination of faiths.
Short, readable, and the method is plain on the page.
Quotations
Key ideas
Reason as the test
Rival faiths cannot all be right. What God gave everyone, the light of the intellect, is the judge.
Equality
All people are equal before the Creator. Customs that rank one sex or people over another are human, not divine.
Order of nature
What goes against the nature God made, such as forced fasting or celibacy, is suspect.
Major works
Hatata (Inquiry) (1667 (stated))
Sumner's and Kiros' translations. Authorship debated.
Influences
None listed in this library.
Influenced
- Walda Heywat
Common misreadings
- He is not an atheist. The argument is for reason within belief in a Creator.
- The authorship question is open, not settled in either direction.
Famous lines Zera Yacob never said
None of the lines this library files for Zera Yacob is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
The Hatata in Claude Sumner's translation, chapters on the cave and the examination of faiths. Short, readable, and the method is plain on the page.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Zera Yacob that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Every faith says it alone is true. Since they cannot all be right, test each claim by the reason God gave to all people.” (Hatata, ch. 4–5, summary, Summary).
What is the most misquoted line?
None of the lines this library files for Zera Yacob is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
Reason as the test: Rival faiths cannot all be right. What God gave everyone, the light of the intellect, is the judge.