OMAR IBN SAID MANUSCRIPTS SERIES
More recently, Ala Alryyes’ A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar Ibn Said (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011) offers a translation of Ibn Sayyid’s autobiography, accompanied by a series of critical essays.Īrabic Slave Writings and the American Canon seeks to extend these efforts, applying them and adapting them to classroom environments. Austin first made available the writings of ‘Abd ar-Rahman and Ibn Sayyid, with his African Muslims in Antebellum America: A Sourcebook (1984) uncovering primary texts and documentary contexts. Produced during the first half of the 19 th century, these early African-American autobiographical writings possess unique value, standing at the intersection of distinct languages, geographies and ethnicities, negotiating a wide diversity of concerns, including literary aesthetics, political rights, and religious difference.Īlthough largely absent from contemporary curriculum, the exceptional character of such writings has succeeded in attracting significant notice, both within and without the academy. 1770-1863) – African Muslims who were enslaved in antebellum America, and who authored their own stories of captivity and liberation, writing in the literary language of their birth culture: Arabic. Particularly resistant to curricular integration has been figures such as Ibrahim ‘Abd ar-Rahman (ca. Literature, Arabic Slave Writings and the American Canon seeks to relocate our national tradition within a global frame, studying texts authored from cultural, linguistic and religious perspectives traditionally understood as beyond the borders of the young republic. The primary sources include: the narrative of Job ben Solomon, the two autobiographical pieces of Muhammad Said of Bornu, the Arabic autobiography of 'Umar ibn Said, the Jamaican narrative of Abu Bakr Said, a discussion of coverage on Bilali Muhammad's excerpts from the Risalah of Abi Zaid, Theodore Dwight's articles on the teaching methods of the Serachule teacher slave Lamen Kebe, and a letter describing Salih Bilali.Reflecting an increasingly prevalent approach to early U.S. By reexamining these often overlooked narratives we can get insight into African Islam, the turmoil of integration into a foreign culture, life in Africa, and life as a slave in the Americas. In fact the first biography was that of a former Maryland slave, Job Ben Solomon, published in 1730 in Britain. The presentation of Africa, Islam and slavery in the American slave Narratives of Muslim slaves in the Americas is a topic that is often overlooked in discussing the genre of slave narratives and the birth of African American Literature. This letter, currently housed in Andover Theological Seminary, is reprinted in Allen Austin's African Muslims in Antebellum America: A Sourcebook.įurther coverage of Omar's writings within the context of Slave Narratives and Muslim Slave Narratives can be found in Five Classic Muslim Slave Narratives by Muhammed Al-Ahari. Said was also the author of a letter dated 1819 and addressed to James Owen's brother, Major John Owen, written in Arabic and containing numerous Quranic references (including from the above-mentioned Surat Al-Mulk), which also includes several several geometric symbols and shapes which point to its possible esoteric intentions. Transcribing from memory, ibn Said made some mistakes in his work, notably at the start of Surat An-Nasr. Most of Said's other work consisted of Islamic manuscripts in Arabic, including a handwritten copy of some short chapters (surat) from the Qur'an that are now part of the North Carolina Collection in the Wilson Library at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On the surface the document may appear to be tolerant towards slavery, however Said begins it with Surat Al-Mulk, a chapter from the Qur'an, which states that only God has sovereignty over human beings. It describes some of the events of his life and includes reflections on his steadfast adherence to Islam and his openness towards other 'God fearing' people. Out of all of his Arabic manuscripts, he is best known for his autobiographical essay written in 1831. Omar ibn Said is widely known for fourteen manuscripts that he wrote in Arabic.