Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas
"A sophisticated and important book. This creative and refreshing interpretation of West African-Islamic spiritual continuities in the African diaspora is fascinating and very readable."  --American Historical Review"The scholarship is innovative in debunking the myth that Christianity quickly absorbed Islam. . . The writing is clear and accessible and the arguments are supported with well-researched facts and statistics." --Religious Studies Review"Diouf's account of Muslim life in the most horrific of circumstances is a truly moving one and at times an inspiring one." --Middle East Quarterly"Diouf shows a remarkably detailed knowledge of her subject and her work is meticulously researched"  --Journal of the Early Republic"Makes a major contribution.... Diouf' s well-written and interesting book opens new avenues of inquiry and research."  --The Journal of American History"Servants of Allahopens a new door on the African Diaspora and provides readers with even more insight into Islam, as well as enslaved Africans. Diouf's study greatly enhances current literature on the Diaspora."-Jason Zappe,Copley News Service, Dec '98"This historical study is ground-breaking not only in its theme but also its approach, which can be described as pan-Africanist to the extent that it relates the histories of these deported Muslims to the political upheavals of medieval Africa...; forges links between the varied sites of their dispersal from the 16th to the 19th century...; and examines the issue of return to Africa and the lineage (or the absence thereof) of this first American Islam."-Sylvie Kandé,QBR Jan/Feb '99"Servants of Allahis constructed in a highly classical manner: the sobriety of its analysis lets the facts speak for themselves, with a minimum of editorializing; it is structured logically and symmetrically in a manner that illuminates the nodal point of the Muslim's distinctiveness within the slave system, namely, their mastery of writing....Servants of Allahhas a wealth of arguments that provoke reflection and that will not leave the reader indifferent or lacking in references for further reading." -Quarterly Black Review,"Sylviane A. Diouf's book makes a major contribution by focusing on Muslim participation in the slave trade and Muslims' impacts on the Americas...Diouf presents a convincing and original picture of the life of enslaved Muslims, who, she claims, remained primarily servants of Allah than subjects of Christian masters...The chapter on resistance and revolts is especially interesting. According to the author, Muslims, as a result of their literacy and military skills, played essential roles in the Haitian Revolution and the early-nineteenth-century revolts in Bahia. Diouf's well-written and interesting book opens new avenues of inquiry and research. It will interest and perhaps inspire students of the African diaspora and slavery in the Americas."-Journal of American History"Sylviane Diouf's Servants of Allahis a welcome contribution to our understanding of a critical moment in the African Diaspora. Her focus is the collective experience of African Muslims enslaved in the New World. Diouf's premise is that Muslims maintained their religious and cultural integrity, indeed their identity, in the face of daunting odds…The author's insight into Islamic almsgiving in the form of saraka cakes in the Georgia Sea islands is intriguing. The section on Muslim dress in the third chapter is well presented. Perhaps the most fascinating parts of the work concern the probability that Muslim holy books were transferred from the Old World to the New via networks of black sailors and that the blues are most likely informed by the musical creativity of West African Muslims.”-Journal of Southern History,