Liminality and De-Islamicization
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In the readings by Diouf and GhaneaBassiri, we see how enslaved African Muslims relate to their culture and faith, as well as how their outward markers of religious custom are perceived and acted upon by their captors. For some slaves, especially literate and well-educated ones, being perceived as Muslim or being perceived as "Moorish," i.e. Arab, could confer admiration and favorable treatment. However, this usually came in the form of model minorities, certain African Muslims who were "exceptional" in spite of their faith, or because they had converted to Christianity. It also often conferred a distance from Blackness, wherein an African Muslim is actually Arab, or "Moorish," rather than Black. GhaneaBassiri terms these processes de-Islamicization and de-negroification, processes which slaves have sought out as a survival mechanism, and which have also been externally applied by whites (these processes can also be undone externally in situations where a Black / Muslim person is being disparaged or demonized). As Diouf tells us, African Muslim slaves methodically ensured that they could upkeep at least four of the five pillars (and a semblance of the fifth) of Islam while seeming outwardly Christian. Passing for Christian was, as previously expressed, a survival mechanism, especially for those in places where Islam was associated with violence, as in Bahia following the 1835 revolts. But slaves nonetheless held fast to their cultural and religious heritage, finding time to pray, to give alms (often with food), and even to recall the hajj with a dance that mimicked the circles taken around the Kaaba. This allowed slaves to retain a sense of purpose in the face of menial labor while also providing postmortem security for a class of people whose average lifespan after capture was around 15 years (Diouf, 94). Some managed to survive in this kind of in-between space of external Christianity and internal Islam, becoming what GhaneaBassiri calls "liminal figures."
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As you mentioned, in addition to having their Faith dissected and used as both boon and curse to argue for/against the idea of Educated Muslim Slaves, there was a serious attempt to distinguish Black from Muslim both on behalf of Whites and the Enslaved. Regardless of the fact that African Muslims were enslaved right alongside both African Pagans, a conceited effort to separate these groups led to some African Muslims to declare themselves "Not Black", which led to preferential treatment by their Enslavers (e.g. the belief that these Muslims were better for "domestic servers" and not "qualified for the ruder labours of the field"). What I find noteworthy here is two-fold: the prescribed identity attributed to African Muslims by Whites, going back to the triple gaze discussion; the idea that "Muslim-Passing" Africans were able to "use Orientalism to their advantage" similar to our prior discussion of Bengali merchants and Black people who were able to pass for South Asian. And again we return to the idea that the only way a certain minority can increase its position in the "Racial Hierarchy" is through the slander and oppression of another minority group.
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I love both @rufus_seward and @nickolas_mazza's posts and the dialogue here!