When Thomas Jefferson sought to learn about Islam, he interviewed enslaved people under his own control. As late as 1835, members of the Afro-Brazilian community led an Islamic slave revolt. If Islamic belief was able to persist for centuries after the beginning of Transatlantic colonialism, when and why did these practices disappear? What linguistic, cultural, or ideological traces of West and East African Islam managed to survived the long, brutal, and ongoing process of colonialism and cultural erasure?
In Afro-Diaspora communities such as Haiti, Cuba, and New Orleans, parts and pieces of polytheistic belief systems survive through popular religion. In these communities and others, is there any comparable presence of the more consistent, well-attested, and organized traditions of Islam?
Hey there! Interesting question. I am not qualified to speak on the remenants of Islam and it’s intigration into Caribbean, Centeral American, or South American culture. I am quite familiar with American slavery and Muslims who lived in those communities, so I will primarily address that point. Hopefully someone else can answer other parts of your inquiry.
Also, I did answer a very similar question just a few months ago which you can check out here.
Islamic belief in North American colonies did not survive Christian assmilitation (both passive and forced) by their owners who arrived in the colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries. While it’s true some slaves who came to America belonged to the Islamic faith, many also held a variety of other religious beliefs from African culture. It’s important to stress because overwhelmingly slaves appeared to be practicing Christianity, at least in part throughout the 18th century (but as I’ve pointed out before, actual church participation for both whites and African Americans were extremely low by the 1770s). During America’s “Second Great Awakening” which started in the 1790s and lasted until the 1830s, mass conversions of folks to newer forms of Christianity overwhelmingly swept across America, and this in particular impacted enslaved and free African American communities. (Nathan Hatch’s The Democratization of American Christianity actually researches this Avenue quite a bit). Black Americans, both free and enslaved found acceptance into some white churches, but there was also a rise of Black preachers during this era, which fostered Christian growth in African American communities like never before.
I mention this because I think you are assuming there were mass amounts of enslaved Muslims in America by the Foundjng era, which the evidence does not support. We know that Founders like Washington and Jefferson did have Muslim slaves (often condescendingly called Mahometans), but the majority of enslaved Africans in the American colonies were not Muslim. This is a key differentiator between enslaved Muslims particularly in the mid Atlantic regions and the 18th century south than the Africans who lived and suffered in the Caribbean, New Orleans, or in Salvador (where the 1835 revolt happened), where larger segments of enslaved communities retained elements of their religious heritage. American slaves converted or died off, especially once the transatlantic slavetrade was cut off at the close of the 18th century. As a result, there isn’t any clear cultural or religious tie-ins between the Islamic faith and traditional African American churches that emerged during this period. Many, instead, had created their own heritage which was built upon centuries of mistreatment.
I'm glad you asked this. I happen to have written my thesis on the Islamic influence in African American quilting and as part of that, I did quite a bit of research into the influence of Islam in African American culture. The short answer is, there's essentially NO direct religious influence in African American culture today but there is quite a bit of cultural influence still in African American and Southern culture.
Before I get into that, let me point out that slave research is tricky because there was not a lot of contemporaneous research into slave beliefs/religion and while we can estimate about 10 or 15 percent of American slaves may have been Muslim because of where they came from in Africa, quite a bit of their religious beliefs may have been influenced by some other cultural factor. Islam, unlike the Catholic Church, for example, does not adhere to a strict church structure; the faith is passed down by local leaders who can and do (and did) incorporate local beliefs into the faith. This means that not only do local superstitions work their way into Islam, but also it's hard if not impossible to say that Muslims do THIS or Muslims do THAT. Different sects believe and do different things. Have you heard that Muslims don't drink? Well, some do and for them it's an important component of their faith.
Furthermore, as Islam is essentially a Western religion featuring the same God as in the Christian Bible, it is easy enough to see how slaves were where Muslim might have converted to Christianity or otherwise given up their faith in order blend in/get by. Finally, in case I wasn't clear above, some of what I am going to tell you is based on conjecture--including my own conjecture. Like I said, nobody really studied slave life at the time (hell, anthropology is more or less a 20th century science) but the conjecture I'm going to put forward it based on research and evidence and so it's not the same thing as me making something up. Feel free to ask for sources and ask follow up questions (for that matter, if you PM me, I'll send you a copy of my thesis, if you like).
So, let's get into this.
Islam, like most other faiths, is more than a religion. It is a culture and with it comes a whole host of rituals, practices, aesthetics and so on. Let me start with art and aesthetics (I studied quilting and so that's my strong suit). Blue and green are sacred colors in Islam (it's a desert religion, so small surprise there). In addition, Muslims believe in djinn, AKA genies--minor trickster spirits who make mischief. If you've ever been to the South and seen a bottle tree, that is a remnant of Islam. The blue bottles are supposed to interest the djinn who wander inside and get trapped (Muslims also believe the Hand of Hamsa is meant to keep the spirits away, but we don't see that much in the united states in African American populations.) In addition to this, researchers have found more blue marbles than other colors around slave quarters, so we know the color is and was important to quite a few slaves. It helps that indigo is an African plant, so it is also possible that slaves merely liked blue because they had access to blue dyes and so their native African cultures preferred the color. But the existence of the bottle tree and the blue bottles is very much an Islamic influence.
Muslims also (tend to) believe that any representational art is forbidden, but they take great pride in geometric, abstract art. We see a lot of West African/Islamic textiles that use geometric patterns and we see this in African American quilting, too. While European quilts tended to feature representational art--people, houses and so on--African American quilts tended to feature shapes and shapes that had meaning to Muslims. Repeating patters is meant as a symbol of the holy to Muslims and we see that all throughout their masjids in the Middle East and we see that throughout African American quilting.
Let's turn to music. Islam features a very distinctive call to prayer. Google it and listen, and you'll hear something that nearly every pop singer does: Glissando. This is when a singer bends a note or alters the pitch from one to another. Think of a trombone. While this (Italian) term is not unknown in European Music (and, as I said, it's something musicians do with their instruments all the time) its extremely common in the Muslim world and it is a feature of the Muslim call to prayer and it is ALSO heavily featured in African American music, particularly in the blues. Here's a video clip explaining it and illustrating it (I disagree that slaves secretly sneaked Islam in through music, but that's a whole other conversation.)
Finally, there are pockets in the South where Islam had a longer, more lasting influence. The Gullah people are one example, and I should point out one reason their culture is more intact than that of other African American populations is because they lived on an island, disconnected from the mainland for many many years.
I should also point out that starting in the early 20th Century with the advent of the Nation of Islam, quite a few black people "discovered" their religious heritage and re-engaged with Islam though the Nation of Islam is quite problematic as its founder, Wallace Fard/Wallace Fard Muhammad was probably a crank charlatan.
I'd like to wrap up by adding also that there is evidence of outdated or "dead" remnants of Islam in the South. Some slaves were apparently buried facing toward Mecca; we know some continued to worship according to Islamic traditions by slave interviews during the Depression (the WPA did a good job interviewing what survivors they could find). At least one slave wrote an autobiography in Arabic. There's also evidence that some slaves wouldn't eat pork in keeping with the faith, but given the popularity of pork BBQ in the South, that trait seems to have all but vanished.
If you have any questions or want to know more about my sources, just ask. I recommend Sylviane Diouf's book, Servants of Allah for a good history of Islam in the slave population.
With regard to when/why did Islamic faith disappear, I'll answer the why question first. Slave owners in the United States South had a few firm beliefs. One was that Africans were not equal to whites because they were not civilized. However, particularly in the 19th century, slave owners began to see "conversion" to Christianity as a benevolent act that in part justified slavery. For instance, white people were RIGHT to own slaves because it meant that the "savages" could be saved from eternal damnation. So quite a few slaves got converted and, like I said, Islam being a monotheistic Abrahamic religion, I would imagine it would be fairly easy to just convert. Moreover, Islam makes it very clear that if adherents don't have a choice in the matter, they can eat pork and violate some of the tenants of Islam without fear, so it's not like Islam is all that ironclad.
As far as WHEN did it disappear, I'd say by the end of the transatlantic slave trade, which technically was 1808. Again, Islam was never a majority religion among Africans in the United States and once they got to the United States, whatever Muslims were here were a serious minority. Considering nobody was "converting" slaves to Islam in the United States, it was only a matter of time before the old guard simply died out. Or, to quote Kinky Friedman, they ain't making Jews like Jesus anymore.
With regard to your last question about slavery outside of the United States, particularly in Haiti, do not mistake voodoo for some remnant of Islam; it is not. Voodoo owes as much to Catholicism as it does to any African religion. Islam is fairly monotheistic; it's the Catholic tradition of the saints that really influenced voodoo and the various loa/lwa (gods). So it's no surprise we see that in Catholic places like Haiti, New Orleans and Brazil.
I think I answers your questions, but let me know if you need to know more.