The secret life of African slaves
-
There was a large population of Muslim African slaves who struggled to practice their religion upon arrival to the Western lands, the Americas and Europe. In a society that praised Christianity and looked down upon Islam. A Muslim black nationalist group stated that "Islam was the original religion of black Americans of which they were stripped during slavery" (Ghane Bassiri 15)
During that period, the fight against the possible spread of Islam had been an intense preoccupation in the Spanish colonies since the beginning of the 16th century" (Diouf 71).
As mentioned by the author many of them would secretly practice their religion or even pretend to be Christians in a majority-white Christian environment. Some Muslims were even forced to convert. The American Colonization Society wanted to Christianize Africa, by going as far as "begging them" and "showing them the light" (GhaneaBassiri 28). Additionally, the forced conversion policy spread to the protestant colonies. Due to this, there was a rise of pseudo conversions, in which African Muslim slaves adopted the outward signs of the religion imposed on them but secretly kept their own Islamic beliefs. What I found shocking is how there had been cases where the majority of them were even baptized but still secretly remained Muslims (Diouf 78-79). Furthermore, the author mentions an old woman in South Carolina who was considered a Methodist. Even after so many years in Christianity, she hinted at her original religion by using the name of the prophet Muhammad instead of the prophet Jesus (Diouf 81).There are many ways these Muslims struggled to practice their religion. For example, some Africans were not able to pray 5 times a day and had to limit their number of prayers (Diouf 90). To add on, in Rio Muslims had to pray alone secretly in their homes to prevent getting discovered (Diouf 89). The efforts of these slaves regardless of their lack of freedom and continuous struggles in society are very inspirational and much respected.