PRISONER EXPRESS

Slavery -- ('slA-v (&-)rE)
1. Drudgery, toil
2. Submission to a dominating influence
3. A: The state of a person who is a chattel of another. B: The practice of slave holding.

You may wonder why I choose to bring this subject to light, in particular, for women. It is because women: mothers, wives, aunts, sisters, and daughters are the first teachers and storytellers in the world. This brief, but compelling, history lesson is one you will never forget and one you must pass on.

Who could imagine the plight of those who have been imprisoned into lost freedom and systematically beaten down into surrendering their religion?

In the early 17th century, African's and people of color in foreign lands suffered their fates at the hands of the European's and Caucasian settler's in the America's. The first slave ship landed on the American coastline in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619.

As early as 1638, the slave trade had begun in full force in Boston, Massachusetts. Since that time, Christian's began working overtime to convert the people they had enslaved. In their misguided opinion, to bring the slaves out of so-called "Barbarianism" and to "Christianize" them would make them more valuable and less rebellious to the slave masters they were sold to.

Alex Haley, the renowned author of "Roots" was one of the first to be publicly outspoken on the issue of Muslim's being brought from foreign lands for the slave trade in America. After researching his family background, he accounted how his Muslim African ancestors were kidnapped and enslaved. Many historians refuted his claims, and still do to this day. European historians, when met with this fact have often set the comparability of the Muslim Arab's, rather than their own ancestors. Therefore displacing the responsibility for the cruelty and injustice to Islam. Rather than the historical facts of the methodical oppression of the Muslim people into Christian slavery.

Immediately upon landing in the Christian subjugated area in the mid 1600s, Charles II of England insisted on the council for foreign plantations to Christianize slaves. Since the onslaught of slavery, Christians of many denominations, specifically the Methodists and the Baptists lobbied for rights of slaves in order to gain more converts. By the mid 1700s, black members made up more than 20% of the Baptist congregation. Also, during that time, colonial governor's were instructed by England to convert not only slaves, but also Native Americans to Christianity.

Although there was a wave to rush into converting slaves, many slaveholders feared that "Christianizing" slaves would lead to mass rebellions. James Barbot, Jr., a slave sailor aboard the English ship Don Carlos, narrated advents of slave ship uprisings of the abducted occupants towards their kidnappers. Many seamen were afraid to take shipload's of slaves from Guinea, whose population to this day had been a Muslim majority, aboard their ships, due to the amount of rebellion that would often ensue. It became well known that the person's abducted from the Muslim lands caused many abducted from the Muslim lands, caused many premeditated revolts on ships, and caused huge losses.

Slaver James Barbot, Jr., also talked extensively in his writings about how the men and women taken from the Guinea area were treated. They would be herded like cattle into holding bins at the shorelines after they had been striped naked of all clothing. Next, they would be branded with a hot iron to mark them with the brand of which country they would belong to, so that the ships arriving would not confuse their slaves, with another areas slaves. Also, so that the slaves themselves, who tired desperately to keep their families together during their terrifying journey, would not be able to change the destination for themselves. Mr. Barbot, Jr., added crudely, that at times, once aboard the ship, the seamen would throw the slaves a small piece of canvas to cover themselves with, and the women would be most grateful for that, or in words rather, "very acceptable to those poor wretches."

One could only imagine the horror's that our Muslim brothers and sisters faced from cruel and unforgiving circumstances. The humiliation of being treated as something other than a human being, and the sadness that these families must have felt would have been multiplied with the loss of their fathers, mothers, and children to such a fate. The slaver James Barbot, Jr., talked with incongruous empathy about how at times he, although in his own words was "naturally compassionate," would at times be necessary to "cause the teeth of those wretches to be broken, because they would not open their mouths" to force food down their throats ... knowing their ensuing fate, the women would refuse to eat.

The strength of the Muslims during these times was amazing, to endure such pains and such agony simply for the color of their skin. We should be drawn to consider our example of the companion Bilal, one who was given the glad tidings of being of the people of Jannah from the Prophet (Saws), due to his piety and perseverance. We should all be comforted to know that he true religion of Islam does not recognize skin color; rather it acknowledges ones status in Islam and relies exclusively on the righteousness and good character of the individual, and without regard to gender. This is an Islamic principle that does not apply only to Muslim's but is extended to all people. The Qur'an declares that the only trait that matters with Allah is piety, not the humanly devised schemes that are deeply rooted in prejudice, "O mankind, we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is knowing and acquainted." (43:13)

We must learn from our history and take heed to not allow racism to exist between fellow Muslims, even in the slightest scale in our communities. We must teach about the important history of the many Muslims who came to America and were forced to endure unthinkable horrors and recount it in our Islamic schools, to our children, our extended families, our friends and our neighbors. Most importantly, we must never forget it.

When the slave were brought here to America, there came many Muslims among them.