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Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas
Despite the explosion in work on African American and religious history, little is known about Black Muslims who came to America as slaves. Most assume that what Muslim faith any Africans did bring with them was quickly absorbed into the new Christian milieu. But, surprisingly, as Sylviane Diouf shows in this new, meticulously researched volume, Islam flourished during slavery on a large scale.
Servants of Allah presents a history of African Muslim slaves, following them from Africa to the Americas. It details how, even while enslaved many Black Muslims managed to follow most of the precepts of their religion. Literate, urban, and well traveled, Black Muslims drew on their organization and the strength of their beliefs to play a major part in the most well known slave uprisings. Though Islam did not survive in the Americas in its orthodox form, its mark can be found in certain religions, traditions, and artistic creations of people of African descent.
But for all their accomplishments and contributions to the cultures of the African Diaspora, the Muslim slaves have been largely ignored. Servants of Allah is the first book to examine the role of Islam in the lives of both individual practitioners and in the American slave community as a whole, while also shedding light on the legacy of Islam in today's American and Caribbean cultures.
Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 1999.
Servants of Allah presents a history of African Muslim slaves, following them from Africa to the Americas. It details how, even while enslaved many Black Muslims managed to follow most of the precepts of their religion. Literate, urban, and well traveled, Black Muslims drew on their organization and the strength of their beliefs to play a major part in the most well known slave uprisings. Though Islam did not survive in the Americas in its orthodox form, its mark can be found in certain religions, traditions, and artistic creations of people of African descent.
But for all their accomplishments and contributions to the cultures of the African Diaspora, the Muslim slaves have been largely ignored. Servants of Allah is the first book to examine the role of Islam in the lives of both individual practitioners and in the American slave community as a whole, while also shedding light on the legacy of Islam in today's American and Caribbean cultures.
Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 1999.
265 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
March 14, 2019
What a shame that this narrative is not more widely known!
Almost 25% of the Slaves taken from West Africa were Muslims. Muslims constituted the largest religious group amongst the Slaves taken. Yet today you will find that these facts are almost unheard of!
This incredible book lays out the story of the societal makeup and conditions that led to them becoming enslaved, their subsequent arrivals in the Americas, efforts to maintain their Islamic identity and religious practises and even attempts at rebellion against their Slave Masters.
The narrative that Slaves were 'uneducated primitive people' is also shattered in this book. The argument is established that wherever Islam spreads, literacy and education too follow since studying, memorising and learning the religion is compulsory for Muslims. As such, many of the Slaves working on the American Plantations were more literate in Arabic than their Masters were in English. Instances of Slaves keeping property records for their Masters in Arabic are bought to light, examples which illustrate how false the narrative of all Slaves being uneducated really is.
While we know that Islam as brought by the African Muslims eventually died out (it is established that there is no direct link between current African American Muslims and the original African Muslim Slaves), we are taught a tale of Muslims clinging to their religion despite the most oppressive of circumstances, we learn that the Muslims maintained their knowledge by way of Islamic networks established to keep their way of life alive. It is sad that the religion was stopped from spreading vertically and horizontally (explained in the book), and this is what eventually led to Islam becoming almost extinct amongst the descendants of these Slaves.
This book inspires the reader to know that these Muslims fought to the last to maintain their religion, even if it came at great risk to their own lives. Their tale of bravery, sacrifice and making the best of a bad situation is a proud source of honour for Muslims today, and a poignant reminder for us all to remain firm and steadfast in our identity.
This book should be required reading for any Muslim who wishes to know the stories and struggles of their predecessors in faith, or indeed for any non-Muslims who too are interested in this fascinating, but oft overlooked part of history.
Highly recommended read.
Signed,
A fellow Servant of Allah
Almost 25% of the Slaves taken from West Africa were Muslims. Muslims constituted the largest religious group amongst the Slaves taken. Yet today you will find that these facts are almost unheard of!
This incredible book lays out the story of the societal makeup and conditions that led to them becoming enslaved, their subsequent arrivals in the Americas, efforts to maintain their Islamic identity and religious practises and even attempts at rebellion against their Slave Masters.
The narrative that Slaves were 'uneducated primitive people' is also shattered in this book. The argument is established that wherever Islam spreads, literacy and education too follow since studying, memorising and learning the religion is compulsory for Muslims. As such, many of the Slaves working on the American Plantations were more literate in Arabic than their Masters were in English. Instances of Slaves keeping property records for their Masters in Arabic are bought to light, examples which illustrate how false the narrative of all Slaves being uneducated really is.
While we know that Islam as brought by the African Muslims eventually died out (it is established that there is no direct link between current African American Muslims and the original African Muslim Slaves), we are taught a tale of Muslims clinging to their religion despite the most oppressive of circumstances, we learn that the Muslims maintained their knowledge by way of Islamic networks established to keep their way of life alive. It is sad that the religion was stopped from spreading vertically and horizontally (explained in the book), and this is what eventually led to Islam becoming almost extinct amongst the descendants of these Slaves.
This book inspires the reader to know that these Muslims fought to the last to maintain their religion, even if it came at great risk to their own lives. Their tale of bravery, sacrifice and making the best of a bad situation is a proud source of honour for Muslims today, and a poignant reminder for us all to remain firm and steadfast in our identity.
This book should be required reading for any Muslim who wishes to know the stories and struggles of their predecessors in faith, or indeed for any non-Muslims who too are interested in this fascinating, but oft overlooked part of history.
Highly recommended read.
Signed,
A fellow Servant of Allah
March 16, 2017
Asalaamu alaykum. This book is a must-read for anyone from the Americas (US, Caribbean, South America...), whether Muslim or not! This is an important piece of our collective history that is widely overlooked and unknown to most of us. I recently read this book for a Muslim book club that I lead. Below are my notes -- I highly recommend it for a book group, as it covers many issues that are incredibly relevant today (page numbers correspond to the edition published in 1998):
Servants of Allah by Sylviane Diouf: Guideline for Discussion
-Highlights difference between slavery/treatment of slaves in Africa and the Americas
-Slavery in Islam
-Challenges idea of enslaved Africans as helpless/nameless/uneducated:
--“Ulama, qadi, marabouts - all these men who had devoted years of studying spent most of their lives performing the most menial and tedious work, which was the lot of slaves on the American plantation” (Pg. 35)
-Challenges idea that enslaved people lack agency:
--“They were agents of their own destiny” (Pgs. 40-41)
--“They made decisions, planned, gathered...all unbeknownst to white society; and they met with success” (Pg. 118)
--This approach should be applied to understanding of other groups such as forced migrants/refugees today
-Racial hierarchy/pseudo-ethnography:
--Many educated Muslims were referred to as “Arabs” or “Moors” because whites could not accept the idea that African slaves were literate...sometimes more so than their owners (pg. 109)
-Dominant views then and now:
--Islamophobia: in early days of (Spanish) slave trade, African Muslims were brought to Europe to be Christianized before going to Americas due to fear of spread of Islam to new colonies → Trump/Muslim ban/etc.
--Literacy: novelty of literate/educated people of African descent; whites were fascinated by Africans’ abilities to write in Arabic → today white America still comments on African Americans who are “articulate” or “well-spoken”
--Ignorance about Africa: Lamine Kebe - “There are good men in America, but all are very ignorant of Africa…” (Pg. 144). No comment!
-Other thoughts:
--How different would race relations be in the US if a more complete history of Africa were taught in schools? What if enslaved Africans were presented as thinking/acting people with names, families, religions, as opposed to silent masses only to be pitied?
--How different would the understanding of Islam’s place in the US be, if its origins in this country were more widely known?
--Best quote of the book!! : “There were thus multilingual men in the Americas and the Caribbean who spoke African and European languages, mastered a dead language, and could read and write in two very diverse alphabets. Only a handful of these were European American intellectuals; most were Africans working as cotton pickers and cane cutters.” (Pg. 122)
Servants of Allah by Sylviane Diouf: Guideline for Discussion
-Highlights difference between slavery/treatment of slaves in Africa and the Americas
-Slavery in Islam
-Challenges idea of enslaved Africans as helpless/nameless/uneducated:
--“Ulama, qadi, marabouts - all these men who had devoted years of studying spent most of their lives performing the most menial and tedious work, which was the lot of slaves on the American plantation” (Pg. 35)
-Challenges idea that enslaved people lack agency:
--“They were agents of their own destiny” (Pgs. 40-41)
--“They made decisions, planned, gathered...all unbeknownst to white society; and they met with success” (Pg. 118)
--This approach should be applied to understanding of other groups such as forced migrants/refugees today
-Racial hierarchy/pseudo-ethnography:
--Many educated Muslims were referred to as “Arabs” or “Moors” because whites could not accept the idea that African slaves were literate...sometimes more so than their owners (pg. 109)
-Dominant views then and now:
--Islamophobia: in early days of (Spanish) slave trade, African Muslims were brought to Europe to be Christianized before going to Americas due to fear of spread of Islam to new colonies → Trump/Muslim ban/etc.
--Literacy: novelty of literate/educated people of African descent; whites were fascinated by Africans’ abilities to write in Arabic → today white America still comments on African Americans who are “articulate” or “well-spoken”
--Ignorance about Africa: Lamine Kebe - “There are good men in America, but all are very ignorant of Africa…” (Pg. 144). No comment!
-Other thoughts:
--How different would race relations be in the US if a more complete history of Africa were taught in schools? What if enslaved Africans were presented as thinking/acting people with names, families, religions, as opposed to silent masses only to be pitied?
--How different would the understanding of Islam’s place in the US be, if its origins in this country were more widely known?
--Best quote of the book!! : “There were thus multilingual men in the Americas and the Caribbean who spoke African and European languages, mastered a dead language, and could read and write in two very diverse alphabets. Only a handful of these were European American intellectuals; most were Africans working as cotton pickers and cane cutters.” (Pg. 122)
March 2, 2010
The most important book one can read to get an in depth understanding of how African Muslims reacted to the advent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and how their presence affected the plantation societies of the New World.
December 5, 2025
Interesting, at times moving, book on the neglected subject of the Muslims among the millions of SubSaharan Africans carried across the Atlantic to be slaves in what became the USA and Latin America from the 16th - 19th Centuries. Some tried, so far as their circumstances as slaves allowed, to remain true to their religion. However, without mosques, preachers, religious schools or, in most cases, Scriptures, they were unable in this hostile environment to pass on their religion in full to their children and grandchildren. Some of their descendants, even in the early 20th Century, still followed ancestral customs that had roots in Islam, even if by then they were mostly just 'what grandmother used to do' rather than 'We are Muslims'.
Thus, there are records of e.g. black slaves refusing on principle to drink alcohol and eat pork, even when the often meagre rations for slaves meant that to refuse salt pork when offered to them, and consequently go hungry, was a real hardship.
A report of some slaves in the 19th Century USA removing their shoes before entering a church is probably a custom carried over from Islam, where shoes are removed before entering a mosque.
There is mention of slaves, and even some American blacks after the abolition of slavery, prostrating themselves on a mat in prayer 3 times a day. This probably began as the nearest a slave was likely to get away with to the Muslim practice of stopping work to pray 5 times a day. Some garbled phrases used in these prayers seem to be corrupted forms of Arabic prayers and sayings, whose original meaning was forgotten.
On one plantation in the West Indies in the early 19th Century, the plantation's accounts were kept in Arabic, by a slave.
Surviving memoirs by, and recorded interviews with, non-Muslin slaves and ex-slaves in the Americas, mostly from the 19th Century, only occasionally refer to the presence of Muslims among their fellow slaves. When they do, they tend to portray the Muslims as aloof and acting superior among the other slaves.
In the 20th Century, movements towards kinds of Islam grew among some black people in the USA (e.g. causing boxer Cassius Clay to change his name to Mohammed Ali), although the best known, the Nation of Islam (also called the 'Black Muslims') adopted some beliefs, including Black racial supremacy and the incarnation of Allah as a man on Earth, that to mainstream Muslims are bizarre heresies. However, these are modern developments not directly related to the traditions, which had by that time petered out, preserved for a time among slaves imported from Africa.
Unlike the majority of those reviewing 'Servants of Allah' here, I am not Muslim and am critical of various things about Islam, which I shall not go into here. It is fair to point out that while in this book we see African Muslims as victims of slavery, Muslims were themselves also large-scale enslavers and slave traders. The TransSahara and Indian Ocean slave routes bringing black slaves to the Muslim Middle East and North Africa were in their own ways as deadly and horrifying as the Middle Passage across the Atlantic, and lasted longer.
However, two wrongs don't make a right. This book's story of the suffering of Muslim slaves in the New World, and their attempts to preserve their religion, is sometimes moving as well as interesting.
It also makes me wonder if centuries earlier fragments of Christian practices in Algeria and Sudan or Buddhist or Zoroastrian practices in Afghanistan survived in similar ways among the common people for generations after they disappeared as organised religions in those countries, following Islamic Conquest, or indeed Muslim customs in Sicily, Spain and Portugal after Christian reconquest centuries ago.
However, that is getting beyond the subject of this book.
Thus, there are records of e.g. black slaves refusing on principle to drink alcohol and eat pork, even when the often meagre rations for slaves meant that to refuse salt pork when offered to them, and consequently go hungry, was a real hardship.
A report of some slaves in the 19th Century USA removing their shoes before entering a church is probably a custom carried over from Islam, where shoes are removed before entering a mosque.
There is mention of slaves, and even some American blacks after the abolition of slavery, prostrating themselves on a mat in prayer 3 times a day. This probably began as the nearest a slave was likely to get away with to the Muslim practice of stopping work to pray 5 times a day. Some garbled phrases used in these prayers seem to be corrupted forms of Arabic prayers and sayings, whose original meaning was forgotten.
On one plantation in the West Indies in the early 19th Century, the plantation's accounts were kept in Arabic, by a slave.
Surviving memoirs by, and recorded interviews with, non-Muslin slaves and ex-slaves in the Americas, mostly from the 19th Century, only occasionally refer to the presence of Muslims among their fellow slaves. When they do, they tend to portray the Muslims as aloof and acting superior among the other slaves.
In the 20th Century, movements towards kinds of Islam grew among some black people in the USA (e.g. causing boxer Cassius Clay to change his name to Mohammed Ali), although the best known, the Nation of Islam (also called the 'Black Muslims') adopted some beliefs, including Black racial supremacy and the incarnation of Allah as a man on Earth, that to mainstream Muslims are bizarre heresies. However, these are modern developments not directly related to the traditions, which had by that time petered out, preserved for a time among slaves imported from Africa.
Unlike the majority of those reviewing 'Servants of Allah' here, I am not Muslim and am critical of various things about Islam, which I shall not go into here. It is fair to point out that while in this book we see African Muslims as victims of slavery, Muslims were themselves also large-scale enslavers and slave traders. The TransSahara and Indian Ocean slave routes bringing black slaves to the Muslim Middle East and North Africa were in their own ways as deadly and horrifying as the Middle Passage across the Atlantic, and lasted longer.
However, two wrongs don't make a right. This book's story of the suffering of Muslim slaves in the New World, and their attempts to preserve their religion, is sometimes moving as well as interesting.
It also makes me wonder if centuries earlier fragments of Christian practices in Algeria and Sudan or Buddhist or Zoroastrian practices in Afghanistan survived in similar ways among the common people for generations after they disappeared as organised religions in those countries, following Islamic Conquest, or indeed Muslim customs in Sicily, Spain and Portugal after Christian reconquest centuries ago.
However, that is getting beyond the subject of this book.
July 13, 2020
A totally fresh account of African Muslims history. If you have ever wondered what was the fate of enslaved Muslims in the diaspora this is absolutely recommended. The struggle of a literate society of slaves in a new community hostile to their faith and race is an interesting topic to learn about. This community was resistant to conversion and looked down to the ways of the masters. They retained their names. They struggled to connect to their fellow faithful. They craved home and learning. Literacy upgraded their status and troublesome in certain cases.They hustled for their manumission and helped to free fellow Muslims.
October 2, 2016
This is truly a groundbreaking book in its field. I learned so much about the history of Muslims not only in the USA but also in Central America and South America. I found it extremely intriguing that the USA is the only country on earth that completely lost its Islamic background. I didn't even know we had one for a long time honestly. I highly recommend this book to those who wish to have their horizons widened.
September 3, 2020
Almost all the information in this book was new for me. There's so much we don't know about African history especially of those Muslims who were enslaved. I didn't even know the amount of Muslims who were enslaved in the Americas. Very detailed accounts. Inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time.
June 12, 2015
Really informative book, it's on my recommended reading list for my cultural sensitivity/Islamic trainings. It helps Americans understand how intricately immersed is the Muslim experience within the American experience. For all those who think Muslims are newcomers/immigrants, this is a must-read.
September 21, 2012
Much of her research came from original French and Spanish resources; as a result, Diouf presents entirely new material about the enslaved Muslim Africans who came to the West.
April 1, 2026
Full review to come
November 28, 2013
This book is often described as groundbreaking, and I agree with that assessment. It is a look at Muslims enslaved in America, how they were enslaved, how they practiced their beliefs, how some managed a return to Africa, and how their beliefs and traditions were transmitted to future generations (only partially - most was lost). The author can be forgiven for only touching on some very important and interesting areas (for example, the WPA interviews with former slaves) because there really hasn't been enough research in these areas and there must be so little to go on. Still, I think the book suffers by the author's superficial understanding of Islam. This surprised me, because with a name like "Diouf" one assumes she's of Senegalese Muslim origin, though this is not necessarily the case. For example, she explains that the 1835 Bahia slave rebellion could not be considered a jihad because supposedly according to Islam, jihad must fulfill certain requirements: Muslims must be at least 50% of the people in the territory and must have the same weapons as their oppressors, etc. I doubt that most of those rebelling though of it as a jihad, but where did these supposed restrictions on Jihad come from? It's certainly not the common way jihad is understood by Muslims nowadays, though it may have been the understanding of West African Muslims back then, and if this is the case, then some citation is needed.
Anyway, I know I often focus on a book's negatives rather than the positives, and I don't want to do that in this case. This book is really excellent despite its few failings, and I do think it is worthy of all the praise that is heaped upon it. I particularly liked that it did not limit its focus to any one specific geographical area, but too into account slavery in all of the Americas.
Anyway, I know I often focus on a book's negatives rather than the positives, and I don't want to do that in this case. This book is really excellent despite its few failings, and I do think it is worthy of all the praise that is heaped upon it. I particularly liked that it did not limit its focus to any one specific geographical area, but too into account slavery in all of the Americas.
May 10, 2017
Diouf offers one of the most important pieces of literature on the study of the African Muslims enslaved in the Americas. The scope of her research is both extensive and altogether moving in the profound insights she provides about the hardships and struggles of an almost forgotten group of individuals. She charts their African origins, their Islamic backgrounds, their harrowing journeys, their unrelenting courage, and their invaluable contributions to American culture. Most of the African Muslims were highly intelligent, and many came from noble backgrounds. Her study is both dense and rich with details that cover the most intricate aspects of the lives of the African Muslim slaves from their clothes and diet, to their literacy skills and worshiping commitments, and even to their musical influences on the American blues. She acknowledges their fortitude and tenacity in preserving their Islamic faith against any attempts by their enslavers to force their conversion to Christianity. She chronicles the high level of their literacy in Arabic and other African languages and the impressive learning they possessed of the Koran. With a literary flair in her prose, Diouf lends an intimate glimpse into the lives of these fascinating and devout Muslims. Servants of Allah is an outstanding work of historical scholarship.
February 26, 2025
I had to read this book for a history of religion class and if I’m being honest i was not excited to read it. However, I now have a different understanding of it now. While I don’t have the same viewpoint as the writer i genuinely appreciated how living as a Muslim in America was portrayed. From their ability to still have a drive to practice their religion through the struggle of being a slave and having no control over their lives was enlightening. They found every second available to pray or read their scriptures and used it even though they were being beaten and humiliated. It truly gave me a hunger and a drive to know God more and focus what I’m really putting my time and effort into. This turned into an unexpected amazing experience of reading this book.
July 2, 2020
I read this book in the wake of the BLM movement. I found it to be a very interesting account of the journey of Muslim slaves from Africa. It has completely changed my perception of the Muslim community in the USA and broadened my perspective of the horrors of slavery. Public Enemy have a song in which they quote the late black nationalist leader Khalid Abdul Muhammad: "Have you forgotten that once we were brought here, we were robbed of our name, robbed of our language. We lost our religion, our culture, our god ... and many of us, by the way we act, we even lost our minds." After I read this book I understood how accurate this speech was.
July 26, 2021
Very well researched, documented, presented and highlighted the existence of Islam during early slave times if the America’s. The book shed a light on Muslim slaves and the role they played in the development of today’s USa. This book represents an important piece of our history as human beings. The author dissected history in a very understandable way and the pictures/ documented included in the middle are very helpful.
February 27, 2018
Very informative. I believe it’s more for an academic setting. The copious historical details could only be appreciated academically. I was looking more for a few personal narratives, which was touched upon only briefly. However, overall, it’s worth reading and understanding how African Muslims arrived and survived in the Americas.
December 26, 2021
An absolute must-read.
Totally engrossing from start to finish.
An incredible book about the sheer struggles, grit & determination of an incredible and inspirational set of people.
An amazing book full of largely neglected and unknown Muslim history - and one that needs to be re-read as a must.
Totally engrossing from start to finish.
An incredible book about the sheer struggles, grit & determination of an incredible and inspirational set of people.
An amazing book full of largely neglected and unknown Muslim history - and one that needs to be re-read as a must.
June 26, 2017
One of those books that truly amazes you with the stories it contains. West African Muslims kept their religion despite enslavement in the Americas. American-born descendants rarely were Muslims, but the influence of Islam on other black religions of the Americas is profound.
January 21, 2009
Very date and detail specific, but an amazing read. Diouf discusses, in depth, an area of the slave trade and African migration that is rarely if ever addressed. Interesting and informative.
July 7, 2012
Highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of slavery, Islam and America.
April 25, 2016
well researched and accessible
Read
June 2, 2016very well researched
November 24, 2020
This is an important book. However, it was not written as a popular fiction. Because it is academic, it tends to be repetitive. The reading pass picks up as you proceed. Worthwhile, in the end.
Read
December 30, 2021Had to read for school it’s interesting though
Read
October 29, 2022أكثر من 30 % من الأفارقة الرقيق (المستعبدين) الذين نُقلوا إلى الأمريكتين كانوا من المسلمين، ذهبت الأغلبية الساحقة منهم إلى منطقة البحر الكاريبي وأمريكا الجنوبية وتحديدًا البرازيل.
يستعرض كتاب «عباد الله» للمؤرخة الفرنسية سيلفيان ضيوف، الذي أعيد نشره في عام 2013 (نشر الكتاب أولا في عام 1998)، بالتفصيل كيف تصدى الأفارقة المستعبدين في منطقة البحر الكاريبي والأمريكتين لسيطرة البيض وتسلطهم، وظلوا على تواصل مع غيرهم من الأفارقة سواء في الشتات أو في قارة أفريقيا، كما تمكنوا من إيجاد سبل لممارسة شعائر دينهم التي كانوا يمنعون من ممارستها لأنهم تحت المراقبة المكثفة دوما.
ويُسلط الكتاب الضوء على عديد من الشخصيات المسلمة المهمة من ذوي البشرة السمراء في الأمريكتين، ومنهم عمر بن سعيد وبلالي محمد وكلاهما من الكتّاب والعلماء المسلمين الذي لا يزال إرثهم الفكري باقيًا حتى اليوم.
وأشارت المؤلفة إلى عديد من المسلمين المستعبدين الذين كانوا جنودًا مدربين استخدموا معرفتهم التكتيكية كسلاح لقيادة ثورات الرقيق. على سبيل المثال، قاد المسلمون- العبيد والأحرار منهم- الانتفاضة الإسلامية «انتفاضة مالي» في مدينة سلفادور عاصمة ولاية باهيا البرازيلية خلال شهر رمضان عام 1835، وبرغم هزيمة الثوار وإخماد ثورتهم في النهاية، كان لهذه الانتفاضة دورًا حاسمًا للضغط على البرازيل لإلغاء الرق.
«عباد الله» من أوائل الكتب الصادرة باللغة الإنجليزية التي نُشرت عن المسلمين الأفارقة وتجارة الرقيق عبر المحيط الأطلسي، إلى جانب كتابي ألان أوستن ومايكل جوميز عن الأفارقة المستعبدين في الأمريكتين، (والمنشورين في عامي 1997، 2012 على التوالي).
في هذا الكتاب، انتقلت المؤرخة الفرنسية إلى ما وراء السير الذاتية للمسلمين كأفراد إلى استقراء طبيعة الشتات الإسلامي في الأمريكيتين ومنطقة البحر الكاريبي.
وبعد 11 سبتمبر/أيلول، أصبح الكتاب مشهورًا بعد ثلاث سنوات من إصداره الأولى، لأنه استعرض جذور المسلمين الممتدة في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، وتصدى الكتاب للافتراضات التي تزعم بأن الإسلام دخيل وجديد على الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، مع أن المسلمين من غير ذوي البشرة السمراء كانوا «حريصين على إثبات أن الإسل��م دينًا أمريكيًا كغيره من الأديان»، كما يساعد الكتاب الأمريكيين السود في شرعنة علاقتهم بالإسلام والمسلمين من غير السود الذين كانوا يشككون في أصالتها.
- من ترجمة تقرير للكاتبة كايلا رينيه ويلر، الأستاذ المساعد للدراسات العرقية النقدية في جامعة كزافييه بولاية أوهايو الأمريكية، نشره موقع «ميدل إيست أي» البريطاني. https://www.sasapost.com/translation/...
يستعرض كتاب «عباد الله» للمؤرخة الفرنسية سيلفيان ضيوف، الذي أعيد نشره في عام 2013 (نشر الكتاب أولا في عام 1998)، بالتفصيل كيف تصدى الأفارقة المستعبدين في منطقة البحر الكاريبي والأمريكتين لسيطرة البيض وتسلطهم، وظلوا على تواصل مع غيرهم من الأفارقة سواء في الشتات أو في قارة أفريقيا، كما تمكنوا من إيجاد سبل لممارسة شعائر دينهم التي كانوا يمنعون من ممارستها لأنهم تحت المراقبة المكثفة دوما.
ويُسلط الكتاب الضوء على عديد من الشخصيات المسلمة المهمة من ذوي البشرة السمراء في الأمريكتين، ومنهم عمر بن سعيد وبلالي محمد وكلاهما من الكتّاب والعلماء المسلمين الذي لا يزال إرثهم الفكري باقيًا حتى اليوم.
وأشارت المؤلفة إلى عديد من المسلمين المستعبدين الذين كانوا جنودًا مدربين استخدموا معرفتهم التكتيكية كسلاح لقيادة ثورات الرقيق. على سبيل المثال، قاد المسلمون- العبيد والأحرار منهم- الانتفاضة الإسلامية «انتفاضة مالي» في مدينة سلفادور عاصمة ولاية باهيا البرازيلية خلال شهر رمضان عام 1835، وبرغم هزيمة الثوار وإخماد ثورتهم في النهاية، كان لهذه الانتفاضة دورًا حاسمًا للضغط على البرازيل لإلغاء الرق.
«عباد الله» من أوائل الكتب الصادرة باللغة الإنجليزية التي نُشرت عن المسلمين الأفارقة وتجارة الرقيق عبر المحيط الأطلسي، إلى جانب كتابي ألان أوستن ومايكل جوميز عن الأفارقة المستعبدين في الأمريكتين، (والمنشورين في عامي 1997، 2012 على التوالي).
في هذا الكتاب، انتقلت المؤرخة الفرنسية إلى ما وراء السير الذاتية للمسلمين كأفراد إلى استقراء طبيعة الشتات الإسلامي في الأمريكيتين ومنطقة البحر الكاريبي.
وبعد 11 سبتمبر/أيلول، أصبح الكتاب مشهورًا بعد ثلاث سنوات من إصداره الأولى، لأنه استعرض جذور المسلمين الممتدة في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، وتصدى الكتاب للافتراضات التي تزعم بأن الإسلام دخيل وجديد على الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، مع أن المسلمين من غير ذوي البشرة السمراء كانوا «حريصين على إثبات أن الإسل��م دينًا أمريكيًا كغيره من الأديان»، كما يساعد الكتاب الأمريكيين السود في شرعنة علاقتهم بالإسلام والمسلمين من غير السود الذين كانوا يشككون في أصالتها.
- من ترجمة تقرير للكاتبة كايلا رينيه ويلر، الأستاذ المساعد للدراسات العرقية النقدية في جامعة كزافييه بولاية أوهايو الأمريكية، نشره موقع «ميدل إيست أي» البريطاني. https://www.sasapost.com/translation/...
September 14, 2020
Prior to reading this book, I had studied the history of the slave trade from West Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean. And I was well-aware that Muslims were a good share of those slaves coming over.
This book provides much more evidence of that, with various documented stories of those who migrated during the slave trade. We find that Muslims, more so than those of other faiths, were well-educated, literate, and many had respectable positions in society in their native homeland.
We also find that slave owners recognized that these Muslims were educated and sought to classify them as Arabs, or being influenced by Arabs, to separate them from the broader base of slaves that they racially discriminated as being low and unworthy.
Also, this book disputes the narrative that some try to push that Islam is a foreign religion to the Americas. It's clear that Muslims had been travelling there pre-slave trade, and even more clear that Muslims came across during the slave trade and made concerted efforts to try and preserve their faith.
This book provides much more evidence of that, with various documented stories of those who migrated during the slave trade. We find that Muslims, more so than those of other faiths, were well-educated, literate, and many had respectable positions in society in their native homeland.
We also find that slave owners recognized that these Muslims were educated and sought to classify them as Arabs, or being influenced by Arabs, to separate them from the broader base of slaves that they racially discriminated as being low and unworthy.
Also, this book disputes the narrative that some try to push that Islam is a foreign religion to the Americas. It's clear that Muslims had been travelling there pre-slave trade, and even more clear that Muslims came across during the slave trade and made concerted efforts to try and preserve their faith.
January 5, 2023
This book is a must read for the entire African Muslim diaspora, especially those who are reverts to the faith. Diouf does the work of uncovering how those who found Islam while living free in Africa struggled to maintain their faith in the face of the Trans-atlantic slave trade. She makes connections across all of the Americas, but African muslims living in the US will be surprised to find how much she uncovered about the routines and fate of Africans enslaved in New Orleans, Georgia and South Carolina. She makes connections between everything from the rice cakes many of us grew up eating, to the Blues music tradition. Ultimately, the history of African muslims in the US has been stomped out and erased, but there is no way to walk away from reading this book feeling anything but pride and gratefulness.
July 4, 2024
I heard this book referenced on a podcast several years ago (BackStory, I think?) during a story about the extreme similarities between early blues recordings and calls to prayer in West Africa. I was fascinated and surprised, and then immediately wondered why I should be surprised. After all, I knew many West Africans were Muslims and I knew many enslaved people in the Americas were from West Africa. It would be much more surprising if Islam hadn't survived for some time in the Americas and influenced the cultural and religious practices of African descended people in the Americas. (In fact, I ended up surprised that Islam didn't survive among enslaved populations, although Diouf gives a convincing explanation of why it didn't.)
Diouf traces how Muslims enslaved in the Americas endeavored to preserve their faith and resist slavery and forced conversion to Christianity. They went to extraordinary ends to stay literate and acquire copies of the Qur'an and other religious texts and supplies, and they were able to create tight-knit communities whose religious solidarity made them particularly successful in freeing their community and even managing to return to Africa.
There were many arguments in this book that felt so obvious that Diouf shouldn't have had to made them--of course devout Muslims would have tried to find ways to retain their faith tradition in the US. Of course it makes sense that Qur'ans, whether written from memory or imported, would have found their way into the Americas. Of course Muslim slaves would have been, on average, literate and much more educated than most people around them, including their enslavers, and of course that literacy would make them more sympathetic/human to some whites and more dangerous to others (in part because Arabic could be used to pass messages and in part because they threatened the notion that Africans were primitive). Of course there would have been networks of enslaved and free Muslims in the Americas who could pass religious information and information about their homelands to each other. Of course syncretic religious traditions like Voudon and Candomble would have taken elements from Islam. And yet, all of these points were radically new to me. It was a book that constantly made me think "How was I never taught this?" and "How did I never wonder about this before?"
This book also made me realize just how US-centric my understanding of slavery is. For instance, as an American, I only knew of the nineteenth-century colonization movement as one largely led by whites who feared a growing free black population. I had no idea that, in other countries with less restrictive manumission laws, some first-generation enslaved people actually managed to free themselves and a small portion of them were able to find a way to return to Africa. A few even went back and forth between Africa and Brazil, bringing information and goods to the free and enslaved Muslim community who stayed behind in Brazil!
Diouf traces how Muslims enslaved in the Americas endeavored to preserve their faith and resist slavery and forced conversion to Christianity. They went to extraordinary ends to stay literate and acquire copies of the Qur'an and other religious texts and supplies, and they were able to create tight-knit communities whose religious solidarity made them particularly successful in freeing their community and even managing to return to Africa.
There were many arguments in this book that felt so obvious that Diouf shouldn't have had to made them--of course devout Muslims would have tried to find ways to retain their faith tradition in the US. Of course it makes sense that Qur'ans, whether written from memory or imported, would have found their way into the Americas. Of course Muslim slaves would have been, on average, literate and much more educated than most people around them, including their enslavers, and of course that literacy would make them more sympathetic/human to some whites and more dangerous to others (in part because Arabic could be used to pass messages and in part because they threatened the notion that Africans were primitive). Of course there would have been networks of enslaved and free Muslims in the Americas who could pass religious information and information about their homelands to each other. Of course syncretic religious traditions like Voudon and Candomble would have taken elements from Islam. And yet, all of these points were radically new to me. It was a book that constantly made me think "How was I never taught this?" and "How did I never wonder about this before?"
This book also made me realize just how US-centric my understanding of slavery is. For instance, as an American, I only knew of the nineteenth-century colonization movement as one largely led by whites who feared a growing free black population. I had no idea that, in other countries with less restrictive manumission laws, some first-generation enslaved people actually managed to free themselves and a small portion of them were able to find a way to return to Africa. A few even went back and forth between Africa and Brazil, bringing information and goods to the free and enslaved Muslim community who stayed behind in Brazil!
May 6, 2024
Really really dense but extremely well-researched and written. The thought of this much unearthed knowledge just dying out over time is so sad. I hope we start trending more towards dissemination and discussion of these ideas because the legacy of African Muslims (specifically slaves) is so massively under-appreciated.
Notes below:
- I like the points countering the slaveholders false assumptions that slaves were intelligent solely because of Arab influence, how they valued North Africans over West, etc. Very telling of the racial/colorist hierarchy within the continent from an American and/or British pov
- Learning about how much they cherished ink, pen, paper, literacy in general was nice
- Seeing all of the ostenibly Christian/Catholic/Protestant/Evangelical whatever people actually be Muslims was really insightful and thought-provoking
- Even though I don’t know or think Diouf is Muslim–she writes with a certain indifference almost or maybe that’s just the academic tone–I think a lot of the sacrifices she describes across Africa, during the slave trade, once in service, upon freedom is very very inspirational and source of gratitude for all of us privileged to not endure these things. Also forces you to think about the sahaba who endured similar trials and all of the people who didn’t get credit who provided a lifeline to Muslims, ie. the Black sailors who brought copies of the Quran from port to port and carried messages back and forth. Islam might’ve died out in America without these men
- On the point of the author potentially not being Muslim, some inaccuracies were jarring. The insistent amulet thing, the prayer mat, the dancing/rituals. Sometimes I think she conflated culture with religion. For the most part, she does really really good work and research, I can’t imagine how long the fact-checking process was for all the nomenclature and beliefs but I think you can tell that the narrative isn’t from a practicing Muslim at least. And that’s not to be a snob or look down upon her or her editors or anything, I’m not in the least someone considered very practicing or religious (may Allah guide me) but I think when you’re writing such an expansive book on this, better editing must be done. Imho.
Notes below:
- I like the points countering the slaveholders false assumptions that slaves were intelligent solely because of Arab influence, how they valued North Africans over West, etc. Very telling of the racial/colorist hierarchy within the continent from an American and/or British pov
- Learning about how much they cherished ink, pen, paper, literacy in general was nice
- Seeing all of the ostenibly Christian/Catholic/Protestant/Evangelical whatever people actually be Muslims was really insightful and thought-provoking
- Even though I don’t know or think Diouf is Muslim–she writes with a certain indifference almost or maybe that’s just the academic tone–I think a lot of the sacrifices she describes across Africa, during the slave trade, once in service, upon freedom is very very inspirational and source of gratitude for all of us privileged to not endure these things. Also forces you to think about the sahaba who endured similar trials and all of the people who didn’t get credit who provided a lifeline to Muslims, ie. the Black sailors who brought copies of the Quran from port to port and carried messages back and forth. Islam might’ve died out in America without these men
- On the point of the author potentially not being Muslim, some inaccuracies were jarring. The insistent amulet thing, the prayer mat, the dancing/rituals. Sometimes I think she conflated culture with religion. For the most part, she does really really good work and research, I can’t imagine how long the fact-checking process was for all the nomenclature and beliefs but I think you can tell that the narrative isn’t from a practicing Muslim at least. And that’s not to be a snob or look down upon her or her editors or anything, I’m not in the least someone considered very practicing or religious (may Allah guide me) but I think when you’re writing such an expansive book on this, better editing must be done. Imho.
July 29, 2021
Very insightful book on the enslaved people brought from West Africa to the New World. The people they had been in Africa determined the people they were in the Americas.
To understand the communities of the African Diaspora, it is essential to search for the African story of the uprooted men and women who peopled the Americas as evidenced by the study of the Muslims.
Powerful statements at the end:
Turbaned men and women, their prayer beads around their necks, chopped cotton, cut cane, and rolled tobacco from sunup to sundown. Like other slaves, they were beaten, whipped, cursed, raped, maimed and humiliated. They saw their families torn apart and their loved ones killed. In the midst of abuse and contempt, they continued to pray, fast, be charitable, read, write on the sand, help one another, sing their lonesome tunes, and display pride in themselves, their religion and their culture.
The African Muslims may have been, in the Americas, the slaves of Christian masters, but their minds were free.
They were the servants of Allah
To understand the communities of the African Diaspora, it is essential to search for the African story of the uprooted men and women who peopled the Americas as evidenced by the study of the Muslims.
Powerful statements at the end:
Turbaned men and women, their prayer beads around their necks, chopped cotton, cut cane, and rolled tobacco from sunup to sundown. Like other slaves, they were beaten, whipped, cursed, raped, maimed and humiliated. They saw their families torn apart and their loved ones killed. In the midst of abuse and contempt, they continued to pray, fast, be charitable, read, write on the sand, help one another, sing their lonesome tunes, and display pride in themselves, their religion and their culture.
The African Muslims may have been, in the Americas, the slaves of Christian masters, but their minds were free.
They were the servants of Allah
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