Essay 1

Sultan Almosbeh

Dr. Sharon Albert

Islam In America

23 February 2025

Anchoring Faith: Islam’s Transcendence of Slavery

State-sponsored slavery remains a permanent and pervasive stain on the nation, marked by extreme cruelty inflicted on enslaved Africans. Groups that have experienced subjugation at the hands of others become intimately connected, allowing for shared experiences to resonate among people with otherwise little in common. African Muslims are recognized as the chief example of such a phenomenon; those who were enslaved in the United States were subjected to abhorrent treatment, yet their experience was well documented concerning the unusual effect it had on their faith. Their struggles illustrate how Islam functioned as a bonding mechanism, allowing slaves from all over the continent of Africa to find a community in the most dire of circumstances. From the moment Muslims were forced onto the soils of the continent, they fought their oppression and used various tools like shared morals, language, and clothing to hold on to their faith in an environment where they were viewed as beings devoid of humanity.

Enslaved Africans were immediately noted for their unusual skill set related to other enslaved people: literacy, religious practices, and a deep attraction to each other based on shared values, to name a few. Enslavement carries with it an obvious crushing toll on communities, splitting people into unrecognizable groups and forcing them into an amalgamation of people sought after only for their physical ability; even though all the enslaved Muslims “… came from different countries, these Muslims all shared a religion, a language, a writing system, a set of values, and habits that transcended the traditional categories of identification and belonging, such as the ethnic group, the caste, or the region. European and American observers noted this Muslim communality and cohesiveness. One of the first to mention it was Father Sandoval, who wrote in 1620 that the Wolof, Mandingo, Berbesie (Mandingo from Sine), and Fulani of Cartagena, Colombia, had different languages and were of different “races” but communicated well with one another because they all belonged to the ‘cursed sect of Mahomet.’ ”(Diouf, 100) It is clear that the Muslims in bondage quickly made themselves quantized together under the commonality of their faith; a historically dangerous and concerning precedent for enslavers who capitalize on the disunion of their subjugated. This phenomenon highlights an essential aspect of the African Muslim community and builds the foundational elements of the communities of today. In regards to African Muslim slaves, it was noted that “…whatever their origin, they all shared a number of characteristics that made them stand out.” (Diouf, 101) African slaves were dehumanized and eventually forced into a rather ambiguous group of “African-Americans” which, by definition, ignores their varied cultural backgrounds. Muslim African Slaves were subject to identical treatment, but this unique aspect of a unifying, shared religion withstood the bondage of slavery and allowed them to remain connected to their religion and fellow worshipers, if nothing else. Some descendants of African Muslims today still hold firmly to the bond of their great great..grandfathers’ religion and identify themselves as African-American Muslims; it is important to note that their nation of origin has evaporated into “African” but their religion has survived.

Clothing served as a powerful tool for subjugated Muslims to hold onto their religious identities despite the trials of enslavement. A clear distinction between Muslims and other religions on the continent was their dress, women were clothed in very distinct wear and “Men were similarly preoccupied with preserving their distinctive Muslim appearance. Bilali, the patriarch of Sapelo, “always wore a cap that resembled a Turkish fez,” noted a white woman who met him and his family in the late 1850s. The Turkish fez is still worn by some West African Muslims, but one can wonder how and where Bilali got his. … Nevertheless Bilali, who spent all his adult life in America, was so attached to the Islamic dress that he managed to find or create its accessories on an isolated Georgia island.” (Diouf, 104) Bilali is a man who does not have as deep a connection to his home as other enslaved people, yet he holds firmly onto his culture through his dress. Still worn by muslims of today, Bilal’s struggle to retain his Islamic identity is a clear example of how clothing serves as a powerful form of resistance and cultural preservation in trying times. Despite being wholly removed from his home, Bilalis’s determination to maintain his clothing underscores the true meaning of clothing as much more than mere fabric, it is a powerful representation of one’s religious and cultural practices that has even maintained its effect into modern times. “One very typical Islamic headdress was worn by “ole man Israel,” … The old man clearly wore a white turban … Omar ibn Said, when he was not wearing a skullcap, wore a white turban. This symbol of the Islamic faith can still be seen in the Dominican Republic, where the leader of the religious community called the Morenos wears a distinctive white turban and, though a Catholic, holds the same functions as a marabout ” (Diouf, 104) It is clear that some enslaved Muslims have been able to hold onto their religious dress, but the broader implications for this resonate into communities that are generations removed from slavery. In the absence of their own religious and cultural dress, some Catholic communities in the Dominican Republic adopted the Islamic style of dress due to it being preserved so well. An enduring symbol of resilience in the face of erasure, the Islamic dress was well maintained by African Slaves who inadvertently conflated culture with religion as generations passed, resulting in a well-preserved Islamic-African identity majorly based on Islamic identity.

Slave colonies had differing ideas regarding the religious aspects of their enslaved, but two common systems were conversion and non-conversion “policies” which were prevalent in different parts of the world. Some colonies accepted the idea that Christians were entitled to equal rights as any other Christian and therefore did not allow slaves to convert, thus keeping them as “heathens” worthy of subjugation. This differed from the idea that was followed in many American colonies; slaves were forced to convert to the faith of their owner but received no rights. The thought process of Muslim slaves was apparent as “…the forced-conversion policy spread to the Protestant colonies, these pseudo conversions followed. In Kingston, Jamaica, Magistrate Richard Robert Madden, who met many Muslims, noted that “very few” Africans who had received a Muslim education renounced their religion. “But this,” he wrote in a letter in 1834, “they do not acknowledge, because they are afraid to do so.” Just as was the case in the Catholic colonies, the slaves risked punishment if they openly defied their owners.” (Diouf, 79) Many Muslims in places all over the world seemed to hold firmly onto their faith despite being actively forced to convert to Christianity. As Muslims were forced into Christianity “…some Muslims read the Bible and were active in the church, but, as noted earlier, they were also using their Arabic literacy to discreetly write religious and secular manuscripts in which they clearly identified themselves as Muslims” (Diouf, 258) Somewhere along the way Muslims realized they had a unique skill set relative to other enslaved Africans: their mastery of the Arabic language. A unifying factor of African Muslims was indeed their Arabic language, which they utilized to communicate with each other and, more importantly, to hold on to Islam. A testament to pure faith, the strife endured by African Muslims culminated in an even deeper connection to their faith, risking the draconian measures employed by enslavers to convert them.

Forged in a furnace of unadulterated cruelty, the resilience of American Muslims is orders of magnitude greater than other groups. Despite being torn from their home shores, African Muslims were distinct in their shared faith and Arabic language, contributing massively to their retention of religion and their attachment to their root cultures, although not as greatly. Unlike other African religions of the day, Muslims had a meager strength in numbers, which allowed them to form a small sense of community, even maintaining their faiths after undergoing forced conversion. Heinous crimes and torment could not force the African Muslims to abandon Islam, and it even led to them holding tighter onto their religion; the ultimate testament to their faith.

Works Cited:

Diouf, Sylviane A.. Servants of Allah : African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas, New York University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/muhlenberg/detail.action?docID=1387161. Created from Muhlenberg on 2025-02-16 22:02:48.