Pseudoconverts and "True" Muslims

[zainah_islam]

Diouf gives many examples of West African Muslims who pseudoconvert to Christianity. Omar ibn Said was considered to have converted to Christianity in 1819, but 10 years later is recorded saying "May Gold bless our Lord
Mohammad.” Another example is the story of Old Lizzy Gray who was born a Muslim, but considered a Methodist after conversion. She is said to affirmed her commitment to Islam by replacing the name of Jesus with the name of the Prophet Muhammad. For many of these slaves, conversion to Christianity was forced upon them by their owners. Often it resulted in better work conditions and treatment, such as in the case of Omar.

However, due to this inferior treatment of Muslims, West African slaves who still wanted to practice Islam were faced with a challenge. If they were forced to convert to Christianity by slave owners, outward practices would give them away. The beauty of the Quran is that there are accommodations for everyone to practice. I am sure some Muslims believe West African pseudoconverts to be not “true” Muslims, but I think they are a pure example of true devotion to Allah. Even when forced to convert to Christianity, they still held on to their faith in Allah through it all. It is after all the first pillar of Islam for a reason.

As we see in the Ghanea Bassiri reading, the West African jihads are an example of Muslims who did not believe West African slaves were "true" Muslims. Muslim reformers who wanted to purify the Islam practiced in West Africa set upon these jihads, which resulted in the trade of West Africans who practiced "unpure" Islam to the Americas. It is a sentiment we see in Muslim circles today still, where practices of Islam that incorporate different practices from the norm are identified as impious and wrong.

Additionally, the need to supplement biographical knowledge with historical context is crucial to not perpetuate our society's obsession with Black exceptionalism. Ghanea Bassiri writes that the biographical accounts that exist of Muslim slaves focus on exceptional cases such as the "fortunate slave" or the "prince among slaves." It shows that the need for Black individuals to be exceptional in order to be recognized or even identified as existing has been present for ages.