Omar Ibn Said is well-known in the world of African-American and Islamic studies, but Omar and people like him need to be a part of everyone’s history (every month).pic.twitter.com/TImAAIZgXU
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Omar Ibn Said is well-known in the world of African-American and Islamic studies, but Omar and people like him need to be a part of everyone’s history (every month).pic.twitter.com/TImAAIZgXU
Fortunately for us, he left a short autobiography, written in Arabic, which is available in English translation. He was born in what is now Senegal circa 1770.pic.twitter.com/O3ccjzIJ1M
He starts: “You asked me to write my life. I cannot write my life for I have forgotten much of my talk, as well as the talk of the Arabs.” His first language (probably Fula or Wolof) has faded from his mind over the years, as has his Arabic.
He continues: “My name is Omar Ibn Said. My birthplace is Fūt Tūr between “the two seas.” I sought knowledge in Bundu and Fūt (Tūr)… I continued seeking knowledge for twenty-five years.” He must have been very well-educated.
Then the asshats arrive: “(Then there) came to our country a big army. It killed many people. It took me, walked me to the big sea, and sold me… We sailed in the big sea for a month and a half until we came to a place called Shartun (Charleston, South Carolina).
His Arabic is rusty (hey, give the man a break!) but in a way that is strikingly beautiful and tragic and blunt, he calls the colonial process of enslavement “the great harm.”
A particularly nasty asshat named “Johnson” obtains Omar, and he quickly runs away. On foot, he goes 220 miles from Charleston to Fayetteville, North Carolina. He stops to pray somewhere and gets caught and through in jail.
He is bought again and ends up enslaved by General Jim Owen, brother of the governor. Omar says he thinks Owen is a “good” man. “…whatever they eat, I eat. Whatever they wear, they give me to wear.”
They read the Gospel to Omar “a lot,” and he seems to kinda become a Christian (maybe). But he remembers his past self, “Before I came to the Christian country, my religion is (?) the religion of Muḥammad, the Messenger of God — may God bless him and grant him peace.”
He even went on Ḥajj! "I am Omar. I love to read the book, the great Qurʾān. General Jim Owen and his wife used to read the Gospel. They used to read the Gospel to me a lot.” He says he prays the Lord’s Prayer now.
Omar continues to speak well of the Owens and their children. “I cannot do difficult work because I am a tiny, sick man. For the last twenty years I have not seen any harm at the hands of Jim Owen.”
But there’s something else. Omar was an educated man and it seems in his youth he memorized some Quran. His autobiography begins with a full quotation of the Quranic chapter called “Dominion,” or “Ownership” (Sūrat al-Mulk).
He recalls the passage perfectly, save that he adds in the words “May God bless our Master Muḥammad” at the beginning. Muḥammad is the only person Omar ever calls “Master” in the whole document.
In a way, the Quran he remembered from his youth tells us what he really thinks. Here are some noteworthy passages in that sura of the Quran that Omar memorized years before and now used to preface his whole difficult life:
Omar knows who the real “owner” is: “Blessed is he in whose hand is the ownership (mulk) of all things — He is powerful over everything — who created death and life to test which of you is best in deed. He is merciful and forgiving”
Omar wants to see beauty and purpose in the world: “You do not see any mistake in the creation of the Merciful. Cast your sight again! Do you see any crack? Then cast your sight again and again! Your sight will come crawling back to you worn out”
Omar knows he is still a Muslim, even if he has to playact as a Christian: “Keep your word secret or speak it publicly — surely he knows what is in (your) hearts. Does the one who created you not know, when he is the Gentle, the Aware?”
Although enslaved, Omar is the one who is in the right: “Is the one who walks bent over on his face better guided, or (is it) the one who walks upright on a straight path?”
And most beautifully, Omar longs to go home again: “He (it is) who scattered you on the earth. And to him you will be gathered.”
If you don't already know, Omar Ibn Said is American history. You should get to know him and those like him. And check out Ala Alryyes’s great book on him. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=omar+ibn+said&sprefix=Omar+Ibn+Sa%2Caps%2C154&crid=2BYJRRZ7HQ3YW …
And for a classic overview of Muslims enslaved in the Americas: https://www.amazon.com/Servants-Allah-Enslaved-Americas-Anniversary/dp/1479847119/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1479847119&pd_rd_r=NC1J38SAWAYS1PKK99TE&pd_rd_w=SCqOV&pd_rd_wg=J3pBm&psc=1&refRID=NC1J38SAWAYS1PKK99TE …
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