Emir-Stein Center, Jan 16, 2023 UNITED STATES
Islam has been part of the American religious fabric
since the first colonial settlers arrived in North America, and African Muslims
were an integral part of creating the United States, from mapping its borders
to fighting against British rule.
In this video, Ayla Amon, scholar of Islam in the United States, offers a fascinating narrative of the history of African Muslims in early America. She tells the story of the amazing men, women, and children who tried to preserve their faith against all odds.
Ms Amon is a Curator of Social and Political History at the North Carolina Museum of History. You can read her biography at https://www.emir-stein.org/presenters....
For more information, read Ms Amon's "African Muslims in Early America" on the Smithsonian website:https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories....
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a 2023 YouTube video entitled "African Muslims in Early America".
YouTube's transcript of that video is also included in this post.
The Addendum of this pancocojams post presents an excerpt of the Wikipedia page entitled "African American Muslims In The United States".
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, educational, and religious purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
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TRANSCRIPT OF "AFRICAN MUSLIMS IN EARLY AMERICA"
Narrator-
"Islam has been part of the American religious fabric. Since the first colonial settlers arrived in North America. And African Muslims were an integral part of creating the United States, from mapping its borders to fighting against British rule.
While we do not know exactly how many African Americans were enslaved and forcibly transported to the Western Atlantic world, scholars believe that roughly 10 to 15% of all enslaved Africans were Muslim and a much larger number would've been familiar with the religious and cultural practices of Islam due to the religion's spread throughout Western Africa.
Despite the fact that there are no concrete records of the
number of Muslims, there are remnants of their presence in historical records
dating back to the 16th century, and we can also see them in existing cultural and
religious traditions today.
Although enslaved Africans were not brought to the modern United States for sale until the early 1600s, they were present on American shores around a century earlier.
Spanish colonialists brought enslaved Africans, including
enslaved African Muslims, with them to Florida and the southern coast as early
as 1513.
One of these men, Mustafa Azemmouri, called Estevanico was
sold by the Portuguese into slavery in 1522.
While enslaved by Spanish conquistador Andrés Dorantes de
Carranza, Estevanico became one of the first Africans to set foot on the North
American continent.
He explored Florida and the Gulf Coast, eventually traveling
as far west as modern New Mexico.
In addition to exploration, enslaved African Muslims also
helped militarily expand British American colonial frontiers.
During the French and Indian War, which pitted British
America against New France, British Major-General Edward Braddock was defeated
at Fort Duquesne in 1755.
The British retreated east and built a line of forts in
modern Huntington County, Pennsylvania. One
called Fort Shirley was quickly abandoned, but not before a blacksmith could
forge a small, circular charm featuring the phrase "No God but Allah"
in Arabic.
This shows the presence of at least one Muslim man in the
British military during the colonial period and hints at a larger community.
African Muslims also fought on both sides of the
Revolutionary War. Multiple men with
Muslim names appear on the military muster rolls including the Patriots Bampett
Muhamed, Yusuf Ben Ali also known as Joseph Benhaley, and Joseph Saba.
Other men listed on muster rolls have names that are likely
connected to Islamic practice such as Salem Poor and Peter Salem whose names
may reflect a form of the Arabic "salam" meaning peace.
These men often distinguish themselves on the battlefield. They also attained high ranking positions such as Civil War Union Captain Moses Osman who is the highest ranking known Muslim in that conflict.
Despite significant obstacles, enslaved Muslims use their
faith to build communities, resist their enslavement, and pursue their freedom.
They left numerous written accounts of their experiences in
America in the form of letters, diaries, and autobiographies most of them in
Arabic.
Omar Ibn Said penned an autobiography in 1831, the only known autobiography of an enslaved person in a native African language. They also wrote pages of Arabic for their enslavers and other members of white society like the American Colonization Society.
But instead of writing what the recipient's believed was a
Bible verse or the Lord's Prayer, they wrote Quranic verses, made genealogical
lists, and even pleaded to return home to Africa.
They also blended Islam and Christianity. For example, they combined the Basmala and Lord's prayer in documents and they inscribed Islam into Christian spaces such as etching "Surah Al-Nas" into a pew at the First African Church of Savannah. This final chapter of the Quran is meant as a protection, in this case symbolically used against their enslavers.
Enslaved Muslims also created objects to practice their faith. In the 1730s, Ayuba Suleiman Diallo wrote multiple copies of the Quran from memory for use in devotion and education. And the WPA Narratives, a series of interviews conducted in the 1930s and forties with formerly enslaved persons and their descendants, are filled with references to other important objects of religious practice, namely beads called Tesbih and prayer mats.
As Katie Brown, the great-granddaughter of Belali Mohomet who
was enslaved on Sapelo Island, Georgia, recalls, quote,
"Belali and his wife, Phoebe, pray on the bead. They bow to the sun and have a little mat to
kneel on.
The bead is on a long string. Belali, he'd pull bead, and he
say, 'Belambi hakabara muhamadu.'
Phoebe, she'd say, 'Ameen, ameen.'" End quote.
However, enslaved African Muslims also experienced open
hostility and hardship when practicing their faith. Ayuba Suleiman Diallo was pelted with dirt by a white boy in Kent Island, Maryland, as he prayed. Others were forced to wear sacrilegious
clothing, abandoned dietary rules and religious fasting, or abstain from the required daily
prayers.
An unnamed Moorish slave in Louisiana confirmed this
hardship in 1822 when he quote
"lamented that his situation as a slave in America prevents him from
obeying the dictates of his religion." End quote.
Nevertheless, they persevered and lived their faith. Some became pseudo-converts to Christianity in order to protect themselves and their families or secure their freedom.
Lamine Kebe pretended to convert to Christianity to secure passage back to Africa through the American Colonization Society in 1834. However, after returning to Africa, Kebe disappeared into Sierra Leone. Surely, quote, "Still retaining his Mohammedan creed." End quote.
The Islam initially brought to America by enslaved Africans did not survive many generations, but it left traces in traditions that are still visible today.
The practice of ring shout, a form of religious dance in
which men and women rotate counterclockwise while singing, clapping their
hands, and shuffling their feet, (singing) may have been inherited from enslaved
Muslims such as Belali Mohomet and Salih Belali in the Georgia Sea Islands.
The movement mimics the ritual circling of the Kaaba in
Mecca by Muslim pilgrims called Tawaf, and the name "shout" may come
from the Arabic "shawt" meaning a single run.
The WPA Narratives also contain reminisces of rice cakes called sarakah, which were handed out during rituals and feast days. From the Arabic word "sadaqah" or free will offering, this charity is an aspect of zakat, one of the pillars of Islam.
And early blue singers, like those recorded by
ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax in "Levee Camp Holler," employed singing
styles reminiscent of the adhan or call to prayer.
(singing)
They use sweeping and extended vocalizations to fill the
words with intense emotions.
(singing)
Enslaved Muslims were brought to the United States with distinct cultural and
religious beliefs, caught in the middle of complicated social and legal attitudes from the very moment they landed on
America's Atlantic shores.
They succeeded in forming networks and communities and they
maintained their religious identity despite overwhelming odds.
The material culture enslaved Muslims left behind, books,
writings, clothing, beads, and rugs, and the traditions they cultivated help
tell their stories today.
Islam has always been an important religion in America.
It's essential to develop a national conversation that
fosters and augments our collective memory of these men, women, and children.
One that honors how the call to prayer has been sounding from
sea to shining sea for more than 500 years.
(singing)
ADDENDUM- EXCERPT FROM THE WIKIPEDIA PAGE "AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSLIMS IN THE UNITED STATES"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Muslims
"
History
Historically, an estimated 30% of slaves brought to the
Americas from West/Central Africa were Muslims.[5] They were overwhelmingly
literate in contrast to other slaves, and thus were given supervisory roles.[5]
Most of these captives were forced into Christianity during the era of American
slavery;[6] however, there are records of individuals such as Omar ibn Said
practicing Islam for the rest of their lives in the United States.[6][7] During
the twentieth century, some African Americans converted to Islam, mainly
through the influence of black nationalist groups that preached with
distinctive Islamic practices including the Moorish Science Temple of America,
founded in 1913,[8] and the Nation of Islam, founded in the 1930s, which
attracted at least 20,000 people by 1963.[9][10] Prominent members included
activist Malcolm X and boxer Muhammad Ali.[11] Ahmadiyya Muslim groups also
sought converts among African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s.[12]
Malcolm X is considered the first person to start the movement among African Americans towards mainstream Islam, after he left the Nation and made the pilgrimage to Mecca.[13] In 1975, Warith Deen Mohammed, the son of Elijah Muhammad took control of the Nation after his father's death and guided the majority of its members towards mainstream Sunni Islam.[14] However, a few members rejected these changes, leading Louis Farrakhan to revive the Nation of Islam in 1978 based largely on the ideals of its founder, Wallace Fard Muhammad.
Demographics
African-American Muslims constitute 20% of the total U.S.
Muslim population.[16][17] Despite this, 3% of Black Americans are Muslim (most
adhere to various sects of Christianity, particularly Protestantism).[18]
The majority are Sunni Muslims; a substantial proportion of these identify under the community of W. Deen Mohammed.[19][20] Cities with large concentration of African-American Muslims include Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Newark, Washington. D.C, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. The Nation of Islam led by Louis Farrakhan has a membership ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 members.[21]”…
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