MUSLIM LIFE IN EARLY AMERICA

Throughout Omar, the protagonist’s devotion to his Islamic faith is a central theme. From the first moments of the opera, he finds solace in his conviction that Allah will guide him toward the straight path, even when his future appears precarious. While Omar’s faith sets him apart in the context of the opera, Muslims actually comprised a significant portion of the enslaved population in early America. Islam had been present in West Africa as early as the eighth century, linking the region to the global Islamic world. The European demand for slaves generated by the rise of the transatlantic slave trade, coupled with a series of military conflicts within West Africa, created conditions in which vast numbers of Muslims in the region were forced into captivity. Muslim students, traders, and clerics (marabouts), in particular, traveled frequently, and they were exceptionally vulnerable to abduction by slavers.

Once they arrived in the Americas, West African Muslims faced both racial and religious oppression.

social mobility, and work toward their own emancipation. In some cases, their literacy skills enabled them to pursue more specialized work, such as bookkeeping, or even paid labor, such that they could eventually buy their own freedom. And by writing treatises, letters, and narratives for one another, enslaved Muslims maintained a sense of community. These acts of writing also provided opportunities for resistance: for example, they might copy verses from the Qur’an that denounced slavery as a means of protesting their own enslavement.

Scholars estimate that as many as 20% of enslaved people in the Americas were Muslims, but in a Christiandominated society, they struggled to maintain their religious identity. They were often forced to convert to Christianity or denied the opportunity to practice their faith. Despite these hostile circumstances, many enslaved Muslims maintained a commitment to Islam. Unlike European societies of the era, which tended to restrict literacy to men and members of elite classes, African Muslim cultures prioritized literacy for all, based on the belief that Arabic literacy equipped believers to fully comprehend the Qur’an and lead devout lives. Enslaved Muslims carried this knowledge with them, and they persisted in reading the Qur’an and producing Arabic writing – activities which ultimately helped them not only to maintain their religious practices, but also helped them to resist enslavement, attain a degree of

Enslaved Muslims also found ways to maintain a relationship to Islam via customs and rituals. For example, they engaged in harvest rituals which involved nightlong chanting; made offerings of food and drink to the ancestors called saraka; and created a dance known as the “ring shout,” which echoes the practice of circling the Kaaba in Mecca. These practices, many of which have survived in some form to the present day, have become part of enslaved Muslims’ cultural legacy.

REFLECT:

What kind of customs and rituals are meaningful in your culture and religion? How do they create a sense of community? Do you practice these customs and rituals differently from how your parents and grandparents did?