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Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas
Servants of Allah African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas Author:Sylviane A. Diouf Despite the explosion of works on African Americans and religious history, little is known about the Muslims who came to America as slaves. Most assume that what Muslim faith any Africans did bring with them was quickly absorbed into the new Christian milieu. But, surprisingly, as Sylviane A. Diouf shows in this new, meticulously researched volu... more »me, Islam flourished during slavery. This book presents a history of African Muslims following them from West Africa to the Americas. It details how, even while enslaved, many Muslims managed to follow most of the precepts of Islam. Literate in Arabic, urbane and well-traveled, they drew on their organization and the strength of their faith to maintain successful, cohesive communities and to play a major role in the most well-known slave uprisings. Servants of Allah is the first book to examine the role of Islam in the lives of both individual practitioners and in the American slave community as a whole, while also shedding light on the legacy of Islam in today's American and Caribbean cultures.« less