Synopses & Reviews
Born to a wealthy family in West Africa around 1770, Omar Ibn Said was abducted and sold into slavery in the United States, where he came to the attention of a prominent North Carolina family after filling andldquo;the walls of his room with piteous petitions to be released, all written in the Arabic language,andrdquo; as one local newspaper reported. Ibn Said soon became a local celebrity, and in 1831 he was asked to write his life story, producing the only known surviving American slave narrative written in Arabic.
and#160;and#160;and#160; In A Muslim American Slave, scholar and translator Ala Alryyes offers both a definitive translation and an authoritative edition of this singularly important work, lending new insights into the early history of Islam in America and exploring the multiple, shifting interpretations of Ibn Saidandrsquo;s narrative by the nineteenth-century missionaries, ethnographers, and intellectuals who championed it.
and#160;and#160;and#160; This edition presents the English translation on pages facing facsimile pages of Ibn Saidandrsquo;s Arabic narrative, augmented by Alryyesandrsquo;s comprehensive introduction, contextual essays and historical commentary by leading literary critics and scholars of Islam and the African diaspora, photographs, maps, and other writings by Omar Ibn Said. The result is an invaluable addition to our understanding of writings by enslaved Americans and a timely reminder that andldquo;Islamandrdquo; and andldquo;Americaandrdquo; are not mutually exclusive terms.
and#160;and#160;and#160; This edition presents the English translation on pages facing facsimile pages of Ibn Saidandrsquo;s Arabic narrative, augmented by Alryyesandrsquo;s comprehensive introduction and by photographs, maps, and other writings by Omar Ibn Said. The volume also includes contextual essays and historical commentary by literary critics and scholars of Islam and the African diaspora: Michael A. Gomez, Allan D. Austin, Robert J. Allison, Sylviane A. Diouf, Ghada Osman, and Camille F. Forbes.and#160; The result is an invaluable addition to our understanding of writings by enslaved Americans and a timely reminder that andldquo;Islamandrdquo; and andldquo;Americaandrdquo; are not mutually exclusive terms.
Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians
Review
andldquo;An indispensable introduction to the writing and world of Omar Ibn Said, whose Arabic slave narrative, masterfully translated and contextualized here, challenges our every assumption about American literature.andrdquo;andmdash;Keith Cartwright, University of North Florida
Review
andldquo;Expertly introduced, edited, and translated from the Arabic by Ala Alryyes, A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar Ibn Said offers the fullest historical, cultural, linguistic, and religious contexts for an understanding of this fascinating American slave narrative.andrdquo;andmdash;Werner Sollors, Harvard University
Review
andldquo;This critical study will enrich any undergraduate and graduate seminar on slavery, religion, literary resistance, and the development of an African American Islamic tradition under slavery.andrdquo;andmdash;H-Net Reviews
Review
andldquo;A rich exploration into the history of Islam and slavery in America.andrdquo;andmdash;
Library JournalReview
andldquo;In andlsquo;A Muslim American Slave,andrsquo; Mr. Alryyesandrsquo;s excellent commentary is accompanied by other scholarly essays that examine Ibn Saidandrsquo;s West African homeland and Michael Gomezandrsquo;s history of the antebellum influx of Muslim slaves to the United States. The reader gleans a sense not only of Omar Ibn Said but also of the historical forces that shaped him.andrdquo;andmdash;
The Wall Street Journal Synopsis
This authoritative edition and translation of the only surviving American slave narrative written in Arabic offers an invaluable addition to our understanding of the literature written by enslaved Americans and a timely reminder that andldquo;Islamandrdquo; and andldquo;Americaandrdquo; are not mutually exclusive terms.
About the Author
Ala Alryyes is associate professor of comparative literature and English at Yale. He is author of Original Subjects: The Child, the Novel, and the Nation. He lives in Brooklyn.and#160;
Table of Contents
List of Illustrationsand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
Acknowledgmentsand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
Chronologyand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
Introduction: andquot;Arabic Work,andquot; Islam, and American Literatureand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
and#160;and#160; and#160;Ala Alryyes
The Life
The Life of Omar ibn Said, Written by Himselfand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
and#160;and#160; and#160;Translated by Ala Alryyes
Autobiography of Omar ibn Said, Slave in North Carolina, 1831 (The American Historical Review, 1925, translated by Isaac Bird)and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
Contextual Essays
Muslims in Early Americaand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
and#160;and#160; and#160;Michael A. Gomez
Contemporary Contexts for Omar's Life and Lifeand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
and#160;and#160; and#160;Allan D. Austin
The United States and Barbary Coast Slaveryand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
and#160;and#160; and#160;Robert J. Allison
andquot;God Does Not Allow Kings to Enslave Their Peopleandquot;: Islamic Reformists and the Transatlantic Slave Tradeand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
and#160;and#160; and#160;Sylviane A. Diouf
Representing the West in the Arabic