Abstract:

The concept of “Amen” translated as “Ase” in Okun language is a term that cuts across nations, cultures and religions, even though it may be translated or transliterated differently in terms of linguistic and discourse structures. Amen could probably be assumed to be the commonest word of human speech. Its use among the three great religions—Christianity, Islam and Traditional religion—cannot be overemphasized. For instance, the Old Testament usage of it is always at the end of a speech, while in the New Testament, Jesus used it mostly at the beginning of his message to his audience. Paul the Apostle oftentimes used it at the end of his letters to close his doxological statements and greetings to the churches. And also, the term is being used as a seal of an oath for legal backing or pronouncement of a curse as it is in the book of Deuteronomy 27 and Nehemiah 5:13. Jeremiah at another instance used Amen as an affirmation of God’s statements of the blessings and the curses of the covenant in Jeremiah 11:5. In our contemporary time, the Christians use it intermittently in the middle of a message delivery to show complete agreement with the minister. Similarly, in the socio-cultural and religious settings of the Okun speakers, Ase is an African philosophical concept through which the Okun people affirm the power to make things happen and produce change. It is used most often at the end of the pronouncement of a blessing, prayers offered, declaration of curse on certain norms or laws if broken, or to prove the innocence of a person in a controversial issue. In any case, the meanings are similar or the same in accordance to the context in which they are being used culturally and religiously. As the saying goes, “As it was in the beginning, it is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen”; in Okun language it is Ase, ase. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen” (Psalm 41:13).