As a starting point, since the beginning of the civil right movement, some light has been shed on many individual stories of African slaves who were abducted from their homeland in Africa and shipped to Americas that include North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbeans. However, a little, if any, is known about African Muslim slaves who most of them were literate, educated and skilled in trades. These Muslim slaves were rarely evoked in the mainstream African-American history.
The majority of writers and historians on slavery claim that the faith of African Muslim slaves was quickly dissolved in their new life of slaves. Nevertheless, there were many African Muslim slaves who, despite living in harsh circumstances where they were whipped, raped, maimed and even killed, kept their faith high and they never gave up. On the walls, on the trees, on the sand and on the dirt, these Muslim slaves kept writing and showing their tradition of Arabic literacy that they undoubtedly struggled to preserve.
Historically speaking, records show that the number of African Muslim slaves who set foot in North America vary between 15% and 30%. Umar Ibn Said was one among these
Muslim slaves who like the majority of African slaves never saw his homeland nor his family again. Indeed. Umar lived like a slave and died like a slave. Umar Ibn Said was born in 1770 in West Africa in a region called Futa Tooro located exactly in Northern Senegal close to the border of Mauritania. Nonetheless, he became a slave at the age of 37. As another Muslim victim of the Atlantic trade slave, Umar Ibn Said lived almost 60 years in slavery. In his autobiography in Arabic, Umar wrote that his life took a dramatic turn when a big army invaded his village and killed many men and women while he was taken as a prisoner.
Shortly after that, he was sold as a slave and shipped to the United States. Umar Ibn Said was among the last African slaves to reach the United States shortly prior to the outlawing of the overseas slave trade at the end of 1807. He was enslaved exactly in Charleston, South Carolina. Such incident left deep scar in Umar's soul who was not an ordinary slave. Indeed, he was a dignified and a religious man. He was also a scholar and a teacher in his community back in Africa. Umar was raised in a rich and an educated. family. Some historians even claimed that he was the son of a king back in Africa but there was no proof of that.
While his first owner in Charleston was relatively kind, his second owner was a wicked and an evil man who would keep his slaves hungry and cold for days after long hours of hard work in the rice plantation. Plus, he was a violent human being who would torture his slaves daily for any disobedience. After three pitiless and harsh years, Umar Ibn Said escaped the plantation and found himself in North Carolina where he was captured and imprisoned. While in jail for few weeks, Omar used pieces of coal that he could find in his cell to write in Arabic on the jail walls. All his writing was a sort of prayers to the Almighty. Despite being in bondage, Umar's mind and spirit were entirely free thanks to the power of his creed.
Local authorities tried to locate his original owner but in vain. As a result, he was sold to General James Owen who was a much nicer and more caring than the former ones. His name has been changed to MORO and also UMROH. Umar Ibn Said noticed that Owen's family was a religious family. They were all respectful. They themselves noticed quickly that Umar was not an ordinary slave. John Owen the future governor of North Carolina back then had a great interest in Umar's personality and his knowledge. All the Owen family was intrigued by his Arabic writing. Umar will often write verses of Qu'ran that he knew by heart.
Umar actively practiced his Islamic faith on the Owen's plantation. James Owen procured for him a copy of the Qu'ran in English in order to facilitate Umar's learning of English. As Umar learned some English, the Owens hoped that he might convert to Christianity and to that end, James Owen, with the help of North Carolina Chief Justice John Louis Taylor and Francis Scott Key, procured a Bible in Arabic for him in 1819. For the record, that same Bible book can be found today in Davidson College in North Carolina.
Umar Ibn Said left a variety of artifacts through which many scholars continue to be intrigued as he was reckoned to be the most educated slave in North Carolina and one of the best documented practicing Muslim slave in America. Although few reports claimthat Umar converted to Christianity while he was with the Owen's family, so many scholars, conclude that Umar maintained his Muslim faith throughout his life. He even included Muslim prayers and texts in his writings, as in his 1831 autobiography, written in Arabic and translated into English, which begins with memorized verses from the Qu'ran.
Omar Ibn Said died in 1864 and was buried in the private cemetery of Owen's family. In his honor, a mosque in Fayetteville, North Carolina was renamed Masjid Umar Ibn Said in 1991.
0 Comments