Omar ibn Said - Wikipedia Omar ibn Said From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Omar Ibn Said Omar ibn Said, c. 1850 Born Omar ibn Sayyid 1770 Futa Tooro, Senegal, Died 1864 (aged 94) Bladen County, North Carolina, US Nationality Senegalese; African American Other names Uncle Moreau, Prince Omeroh Education Formal Islamic education in Senegal Known for Islamic Scholar, author of Slave narratives Omar ibn Said (Arabic: عمر بن سعيد‎ ʿUmar bin Saʿīd; 1770–1864) was a slave born in what is now Senegal in West Africa, who was enslaved and transported to the United States in 1807. There, while enslaved for the remainder of his life, he wrote a series of works of history and theology, including a posthumously famous autobiography. Contents 1 Biography 2 Manuscripts 3 Legacy 4 Gallery 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links Biography[edit] Omar ibn Said was born in present-day Senegal in Futa Toro,[1] a region along the Middle Senegal River in West Africa, to a wealthy family.[2] He was an Islamic scholar and a Fula who spent 25 years of his life studying with prominent Muslim scholars, learning subjects ranging from arithmetic to theology in Africa. In 1807, he was captured during a military conflict, enslaved and taken across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. He escaped from a cruel master in Charleston, South Carolina, and journeyed to Fayetteville, North Carolina. There he was recaptured and later sold to James Owen. Said lived into his mid-nineties and was still enslaved at the time of his death in 1864. He was buried in Bladen County, North Carolina. Omar ibn Sa'id was also known as Uncle Moreau and Prince Omeroh.[1] Omar ibn Said describing his two slave masters Although Omar was converted to Christianity on December 3, 1820, there are dedications to Muhammad written in his Bible, and a card dated 1857 on which he wrote Surat An-Nasr, a short sura which refers to the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam 'in multitudes.' The back of this card contains another person's handwriting in English misidentifying the sura as the Lord's Prayer and attesting to Omar's status as a good Christian.[3] Additionally, while others writing on Omar's behalf identified him as a Christian, his own autobiography and other writings offer more of an ambiguous position. In the autobiography, he still offers praise to Muhammad when describing his life in his own country; his references to "Jesus the Messiah" in fact parallel Quranic descriptions of Jesus (who is called المسيح 'the Messiah' a total of eleven times in the Quran), and descriptions of Jesus as 'our lord/master' (سيدنا‎ sayyidunā) employ the typical Islamic honorific for prophets and is not to be confused with Lord (ربّ‎ rabb); and description of Jesus as 'bringing grace and truth' (a reference to John 1:14) is equally appropriate to the conception of Jesus in Islam. Literary analysis of Said’s autobiography suggests that he wrote it for two audiences, the white literates who sought to exploit his conversion to Christianity and Muslim readers who would recognize Qur'anic literary devices and subtext and understand his position as a fellow Muslim living under persecution. In a letter written to Sheikh Hunter regarding the autobiography, he apologized for forgetting the "talk" of his homeland and ended the letter saying: "O my brothers, do not blame me," with the knowledge that Hunter would require Arabic-speaking translators to read the message. Scholar Basima Kamel Shaheen argues that Said’s spiritual ambiguity may have been purposefully cultivated to impress upon a wide readership the injustices of slavery.[4] Manuscripts[edit] Surat Al-Mulk from the Qur'an, copied by Omar ibn Sa'id in a rudimentary Fulani script. Omar ibn Said is widely known for fourteen manuscripts that he wrote in Arabic. Out of all of his Arabic manuscripts, he is best known for his autobiographical essay, The Life of Omar Ibn Said, written in 1831.[5] It describes some of the events of his life and includes reflections on his steadfast adherence to Islam and his openness towards other "God-fearing" people. On the surface, the document may appear to be tolerant towards slavery; however, Said begins it with Surat Al-Mulk, a chapter from the Qur'an, which states that only God has sovereignty over human beings.[6] The manuscript is the only known Arabic autobiography by a slave in America. It was sold within a collection of Sa'id's documents between private collectors prior to its acquisition by the Library of Congress in 2017. It has since been treated for preservation and made viewable online.[7] Most of Said's other work consisted of Islamic manuscripts in Arabic, including a handwritten copy of some short chapters (surat) from the Qur'an that are now part of the North Carolina Collection in the Wilson Library at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribing from memory, ibn Said made some mistakes in his work, notably at the start of Surat An-Nasr. His Bible, a translation into Arabic published by a missionary society, which has notations in Arabic by Omar, is part of the rare books collection at Davidson College.[8] Sa'id was also the author of a letter, dated 1819, addressed to James Owen's brother, Major John Owen, written in Arabic and containing numerous Quranic references (including from the above-mentioned Surat Al-Mulk), which also includes several geometric symbols and shapes which point to its possible esoteric intentions.[9] This letter, currently housed in Andover Theological Seminary, is reprinted in Allen Austin's African Muslims in Antebellum America: A Sourcebook. Legacy[edit] In 1991, a mosque in Fayetteville, North Carolina renamed itself Masjid Omar ibn Sayyid in his honor.[10] Gallery[edit] Ambrotype portrait, c. 1855 Photographic portrait, c. 1905 reverse of c. 1905 portrait. See also[edit] Islam in the United States List of slaves References[edit] ^ a b Omar ibn Said (1831). "Autobiography of Omar ibn Sa'id, Slave in North Carolina, 1831". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ^ Powell, William S. (1979). "Omar ibn Said, b. 1770?". Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. University of North Carolina Press. ^ Horn, Patrick E. "Omar ibn Sa'id, African Muslim Enslaved in the Carolinas". University Library, University of North Carolina. ^ Shaheen, Basima Kamel (2014). "Literary Form and Islamic Identity in The Life of Omar Ibn Said". In Aljoe, Nicole N.; Finseth, Ian (eds.). Journeys of the Slave Narrative in the Early Americas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. pp. 187–208. ISBN 978-0-8139-3637-6. ^ Curiel, Jonathan (2008). Al' America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots. New York: The New Press. pp. 30–32. ISBN 978-1-59558-352-9. ^ "Al-Quran Surah 67. Al-Mulk, Ayah 1". Alim - Islamic Software for Quran and Hadith. Retrieved 2019-04-30. ^ "Only Known Surviving Muslim American Slave Autobiography Goes Online at the Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2019-01-18. ^ Davidson College Archives Omar Ibn Sayyid ^ Hunwick, John O. (2004). "I Wish to be Seen in Our Land Called Afrika: Umar b. Sayyid's Appeal to be Released from Slavery (1819)" (PDF). Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 5. ^ Omar ibn Said Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine Davidson Encyclopedia Tammy Ivins, June 2007 Further reading[edit] Al-Ahari, Muhammed (2006). Five Classic Muslim Slave Narratives. Chicago: Magribine Press. ISBN 978-1-4635-9327-8. A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar Ibn Said. Translated by Alryyes, Ala. University of Wisconsin Press. 2011. ISBN 978-0-299-24954-0. Austin, Allan D. (1984). African Muslims in Antebellum America: A Sourcebook. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-9317-8. Parramore, Thomas C. (2000). "Muslim Slave Aristocrats in North Carolina". North Carolina Historical Review. 77 (2): 127–150. JSTOR 23522130. External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Omar Ibn Said. Omar Ibn Said Collection at Library of Congress Omar ibn Said at Find a Grave v t e Slave narratives Slave Narrative Collection Individuals by continent of enslavement Africa Robert Adams (c. 1790–?) Francis Bok (b. 1979) James Leander Cathcart (1767–1843) Ólafur Egilsson (1564–1639) Hark Olufs (1708–1754) Mende Nazer (b. 1982) Thomas Pellow (1705–?) Joseph Pitts (1663 – c. 1735) Guðríður Símonardóttir (1598–1682) Petro Kilekwa (late 19th c.) Europe Lovisa von Burghausen (1698–1733) Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 Nigeria – 31 March 1797 Eng) Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (c. 1705 Bornu – 1775 Eng) Jean Marteilhe (1684-1777) Roustam Raza (1783–1845) Brigitta Scherzenfeldt (1684–1736) North America: Canada Marie-Joseph Angélique (c. 1710 Portugal – 1734 Montreal) John R. Jewitt (1783 England – 1821 United States) North America: Caribbean Juan Francisco Manzano (1797–1854, Cuba) Esteban Montejo (1860–1965, Cuba) Mary Prince Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766 Saint-Dominque – June 30, 1853 NY) Marcos Xiorro (c. 1819 – ???, Puerto Rico) North America: United States Sam Aleckson Jordan Anderson William J. Anderson Jared Maurice Arter Solomon Bayley Polly Berry Henry Bibb Leonard Black James Bradley (1834) Henry "Box" Brown John Brown William Wells Brown Peter Bruner (1845 KY – 1938 OH) Ellen and William Craft Hannah Crafts Lucinda Davis Noah Davis Lucy Delaney Ayuba Suleiman Diallo Frederick Douglass Kate Drumgoold Jordan Winston Early (1814 – after 1894) Sarah Jane Woodson Early Peter Fossett (1815 Monticello–1901} David George Moses Grandy William Green (19th century MD) William Grimes Josiah Henson Fountain Hughes (1848/1854 VA – 1957) John Andrew Jackson Harriet Ann Jacobs John Jea Thomas James (minister) Paul Jennings (1799–1874) Elizabeth Keckley Boston King Lunsford Lane J. Vance Lewis Jermain Wesley Loguen Solomon Northup John Parker (1827 VA – 1900) William Parker James Robert Moses Roper Omar ibn Said William Henry Singleton Venture Smith Austin Steward (1793 VA – 1860) Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766 Saint-Dominque – 1853 NY) Harriet Tubman Wallace Turnage Bethany Veney Booker T. Washington Wallace Willis (19th century Indian Territory) Harriet E. Wilson Zamba Zembola (b. c. 1780 Congo) South America Osifekunde (c. 1795 Nigeria – ? Brazil) Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua (1845–1847, Brazil) Miguel de Buría (? Puerto Rico – 1555 Venezuela) Non-fiction books The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) The Narrative of Robert Adams (1816) American Slavery as It Is (1839) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) The Life of Josiah Henson (1849) Twelve Years a Slave (1853) My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) The Underground Railroad Records (1872) Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881) Up from Slavery (1901) Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States (1936–38) The Peculiar Institution (1956) The Slave Community (1972) Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" (2018) Fiction/novels Oroonoko (1688) Sab (1841) Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) The Heroic Slave (1852) Clotel (1853) Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856) The Bondwoman's Narrative (c. 1853 – c. 1861) Our Nig (1859) Jubilee (1966) The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967) Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976) Underground to Canada (1977) Kindred (1979) Dessa Rose (1986) Beloved (1987) Middle Passage (1990) Queen: The Story of an American Family (1993) Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons (1996) Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade (2001) Walk Through Darkness (2002) The Known World (2003) Unburnable (2006) Copper Sun (2006) The Book of Negroes (2007) The Underground Railroad (2016) Young adult books Amos Fortune, Free Man (1951) I, Juan de Pareja (1965) Essay To a Southern Slaveholder (1848) A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853) Plays The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (1858) The Octoroon (1859) Related African-American literature Atlantic slave trade Caribbean literature Films featuring slavery Songs of the Underground Railroad Book of Negroes (1783) Cotton Plantation Record and Account Book (1847) Slave Songs of the United States (1867) Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems about Slavery (2002) The Hemingses of Monticello (2008) Documentaries Unchained Memories (2003) Frederick Douglass and the White Negro (2008) Authority control BNF: cb166337667 (data) ISNI: 0000 0000 4476 2294 LCCN: no2003024989 NTA: 345414381 SNAC: w6sn3hrq SUDOC: 15767620X VIAF: 71074510 WorldCat Identities: lccn-no2003024989 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Omar_ibn_Said&oldid=999495531" Categories: African-American Muslims African-American people American people of Senegalese descent American people of Fulbe descent 19th-century American slaves 19th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 1770 births 1864 deaths American theologians American autobiographers American historians Muslim historians Senegalese non-fiction writers Writers from Charleston, South Carolina People from Bladen County, North Carolina Hidden categories: Webarchive template wayback links Articles with hCards Articles containing Arabic-language text Commons category link is on Wikidata Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages العربية Español Français Bahasa Indonesia Bahasa Melayu Edit links This page was last edited on 10 January 2021, at 13:39 (UTC). 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