Black Americas Islamic roots

Do you think the ancestors of black Americans would have benefited from staying true to their original abrahamic religion. They have to a large degree reverted back, but was Christianity a positive influence on black Americans?

Nearly all the ancestors of black Americans were animist

Directly from Wikipedia.

Some of the slaves brought to colonial America from Africa were Muslims whose ancestors were converted to Islam by Arab invaders when they conquered most of North Africa.[6][10] Between 1701 and 1800, some 500,000 Africans arrived in what became the United States.[39] Historians estimate that between 15 and 30 percent of all enslaved African men and less than 15 percent of the enslaved African women were Muslims. According to 21st century researchers Donna Meigs-Jaques and R. Kevin Jaques, "[t]hese enslaved Muslims stood out from their compatriots because of their resistance, determination and education."[40]

It is estimated that over 50% of the slaves imported to North America came from areas where Islam was followed by at least a minority population. Thus, no less than 200,000 came from regions influenced by Islam. Substantial numbers originated from Senegambia, a region with an established community of Muslim inhabitants extending to the 11th century.[41]

Through a series of conflicts, primarily with the Fulani jihad states, about half of the Senegambian Mandinka were converted to Islam, while as many as a third were sold into slavery to the Americas through capture in conflict.[42]

Michael A. Gomez speculated that Muslim slaves may have accounted for "thousands, if not tens of thousands", but does not offer a precise estimate. He also suggests many non-Muslim slaves were acquainted with some tenets of Islam, due to Muslim trading and proselytizing activities.[43] Historical records indicate many enslaved Muslims conversed in the Arabic language. Some even composed literature (such as autobiographies) and commentaries on the Quran.[44]

Some newly arrived Muslim slaves assembled for communal salat (prayers). Some were provided a private praying area by their owner. The two best documented Muslim slaves were Ayuba Suleiman Diallo and Omar Ibn Said. Suleiman was brought to America in 1731 and returned to Africa in 1734.

Plantation owners forcing the worst version of Christianity on us was one of the the worst things to happen to black people in America


t blackie

Pardon my ignorance

Cont.
[41] Like many Muslim slaves, he often encountered impediments when attempting to perform religious rituals and was eventually allotted a private location for prayer by his master.[44]

Omar Ibn Said (c. 1770–1864) is among the best documented examples of a practicing-Muslim slave. He lived on a colonial North Carolina plantation and wrote many Arabic texts while enslaved. Born in the kingdom of Futa Tooro (modern Senegal), he arrived in America in 1807, one month before the U.S. abolished importation of slaves. Some of his works include the Lords Prayer, the Bismillah, this is How You Pray, Quranic phases, the 23rd Psalm, and an autobiography. In 1857, he produced his last known writing on Surah 110 of the Quran. In 1819, Omar received an Arabic translation of the Christian Bible from his master, James Owen. Omar converted to Christianity in 1820, an episode widely used throughout the South to "prove" the benevolence of slavery. However, some scholars believe he continued to be a practicing Muslim, based on dedications to Muhammad written in his Bible.[45][46]

I'm not saying animism wasn't practiced, but for this thread I'm asking about abrahamic religions.

Enslaved folks can turn any faith into one of perservence and unity
False nearly a third were atleast partially influenced by Islam. It's the reason why Gris-gris (islamic amulets) persist to this day in Louisiana where Wolof predominated. It's also the reason why "ring shouts" an Islamic African practice was absorbed in black Christianity through the upper and lower South.

Muslim literate men were well sought out their literacy and generally the grandeur with which they retained in bondage was often recognized.

Fulani, Wolof, Mande, Mauritanian amongst some other made up the majority of their ranks and many were noted.

Their faith did in some ways persist for a generation or two but eventually they absorbed Christianity with no community to practice amongst.

In Brazil they called for Jihad and the Male Revolt scared the fuck out of the Brazilian government. Muslim slaves in Santo Domingo and elsewhere were feared for their resistance to enslavement and conversion and Spain made edicts to not enslave them.

Thanks user, beat me to it

If Veeky Forums has taught me anything it is that black Americans are arguably the most misunderstood ethnic group in the world. It's not uncommon. It's the result of piss poor education systems with an agenda.

There is no point bringing this point out. It false on dead ear usually. The degree with which black American history is severely undermined or outright denied is a result of systemic issue a Veeky Forums convo can't alleviate.

That goes for most African groups as well

True.

But if they were "thousands, if not tens of thousands" it's still a really small % among million of animist slaves, why would they care about Islam? That would be some imposed religion as much as christianism.

Except we as a nation did not go to Angola where a great majority of slaves were purchased.

In the US we stuck mostly from Senegal to Yorubaland.

>Gris-gris (islamic amulets)
They're not Islamic, it's a practice that carried over from pre-Islamic times. Once they were fully Islamiscized they just inscribed the amulets with verses from the Quran

That estimate is off and misleading, and it is only referring to those less than 500,000 that were brought to the states.

Even if they weren't practicing Muslims themselves, they were from areas heavily influenced by Islamic conversion and warfare. Those on the losing side of the jihads in those areas provided the slaves for the American colonists in the first place.

No that is zinzin and wanga, those were absorbed into what we now call Gris-gris but Gris-gris was specifically an African Islamic amulet that's power resided in the texts of Islam where as zinzin and wanga were the objects imbued with something

The funny thing is that a lot of their ancestors come from Christians and pagans sold off by west African Muslims.

>Christians

No, early West African Christianity was moreso based around notions of Whiteness. It was less a faith as much as a "gettup" that aligned them in their minds culturally and literally with Europeans.

Secondly everyone was enslaving everyone else to not be enslaved themselves.

>trying to deflect the blame for slavery onto muslims

gross......

There is no evidence that they were exposed to Christianity prior to being brought to the new world. In all likelihood most probably happily renounced Islam and converted at the time, because Islam was a more repressive religion and was all they knew. I believe embracing the easier of the two religions was a huge mistake on their part.

Islam is the conqueror faith nonetheless, one of the backbones of west african islamic economy was the slave market of animist blacks so american negros turning to it like some kind of negro uniting religion is hilarious.

Islam in West Africa was one of trade until the Fulani chimped out "WE IZ WHITE, WE IS TRUE ISLAM" and fought off all the animist Fulani and other groups around them for like a century.

Islam came from trade of people and gold yes but it was not the cause of slavery in Africa

The word "slave" as we know it, is a gross conceptual oversimplification. The number sold to the colonists was a drop in the bucket, most remained in Africa and fully integrated into Islamic society. Were there brutal inhumane aspects to so called slavery, absolutely, does that even begin to accurately portray it in its entirety, absolutely not.