Posted by: antihellenistic
« on: March 24, 2024, 02:47:45 am »Quote
Historians say more than one-third of the Africans brought to America practiced Islam, a fact that is still stamped on the identity and religion of Black America.9 However, very little has been recorded about Islam among enslaved Africans because many Muslims worshipped in secret, and non- Muslims often did not recognize the religion. “There was one man on this plantation, who prayed five times every day,” explained Ball, “always turning his face to the east, when in the performance of his devotion.” Ball was describing salah, the Muslim prayer. Among Sierra Leone’s Mandingo people, Islam was so prevalent that slave traders eventually began using “Mandingo” to describe Muslim slaves. Because enslaved Muslims were more likely to be literate, many of the interpretations and translations of the Christian Bible came from Muslims. The Muslim practice of circling the Kaaba is still prevalent in Black churches during the collecting of tithes and praise breaks for dancing a “ring shout.”
In some of Georgia’s coastal communities, the majority of the enslaved practiced Islam. In the 1820s, Bilal Muhammad, enslaved on Sapelo Island in Georgia, wrote a thirteen-page text in Arabic. Belali and Hester Mohomet, also enslaved on Sapelo Island, reflected their family’s Muslim beliefs in their children’s names, in the family’s use of Muslim prayer beads, and in how they observed their hours of prayer, explained their great-grandniece, Shad Hall:
Belali hab plenty daughtuhs, Medina, Yaruba, Fatima, Bentoo, Hestuh, Magret, and Chaalut . . . Magret an uh daughtuh Cotto use tuh say dat Belali an he wife Phoebe pray on duh bead. Dey wuz bery puhticluh bout duh time dey pray an dey bery regluh bout duh hour. Wen duh sun come up, wen it straight obuh head an wen it set, das duh time dey pray. Dey bow tuh duh sun an hab lill mat tuh kneel on. Duh beads is on a long string. Belali he pull bead an he say, “Belambi, Hakabara, Mahamadu.” Phoebe she say, “Ameen, Ameen.”10
Source :
Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America page 123, 124