Omar ibn Said
Omar Ibn Said | |
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Islamic scholar, author of slave narratives |
Omar ibn Said (
Biography
Omar ibn Said was born to a wealthy family in what would in a few years become the
Although it is said that ibn Said converted to Christianity on December 3, 1820, his conversion to Christianity is disputed, as there are dedications to Muhammad written in his Bible, and a card dated 1857 on which he wrote Surat An-Nasr, a short surah (chapter in the Quran) 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 surah as the Lord's Prayer and attesting to Omar's status as a good Christian.[7] 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 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. It was most likely he stayed a Muslim his whole life, but was believed to have converted to Christianity by people at the time when simply, he loved Jesus, since he is considered a prophet in Islam. This was stated in his auto-biography.
Literary analysis of ibn 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 using
Manuscripts
Omar ibn Said authored fourteen manuscripts in
Most of Said's other work consisted of Islamic manuscripts in Arabic, including a handwritten copy of some short chapters (
Legacy
In 1991, a mosque in Fayetteville, North Carolina renamed itself Masjid Omar ibn Sayyid in his honor.[15]
The opera Omar, inspired by ibn Said and written by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, had its debut at the Sottile Theater during the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina on May 27, 2022.[16][17] Omar won the Pulitzer Prize for Music on May 8, 2023.[18][19]
Gallery
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Ambrotype portrait, c. 1855
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Photographic portrait, c. 1905
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Reverse of c. 1905 portrait
See also
References
- ^ a b "Image 1 of The life of Omar ben Saeed, called Morro, a Fullah Slave in Fayetteville, N.C. Owned by Governor Owen". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
- ^ a b Said, Omar ibn (July 1925) [1831]. Jameson, John Franklin (ed.). "Autobiography of Omar ibn Sa'id, Slave in North Carolina, 1831". The American Historical Review. 30 (4): 787–795. Archived from the original on 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2022-06-01 – via University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- ^ Parramore, Thomas (1979). Powell, William S. (ed.). "Omar ibn Said, b. 1770?". Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. University of North Carolina Press. Archived from the original on 2012-07-08. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ "NPS Ethnography: African American Heritage & Ethnography". National Park Service. Acculturation & Cultural Resistance. Archived from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ McLaughlin, Eliott C. (2019-01-17). "Autobiography from 1831 provides rare, firsthand account of a Muslim slave in America". CNN. Archived from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ "Enslaved and Freed African Muslims: Spiritual Wayfarers in the South and Lowcountry". Lowcountry Digital History Initiative. Omar Ibn Said (ca. 1770–1864). Archived from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-01 – via College of Charleston.
- ^ Horn, Patrick E. "Omar ibn Sa'id, African Muslim Enslaved in the Carolinas". University Library, University of North Carolina. Archived from the original on 2012-07-08. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- OL 28800322M. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- .
- ^ Quran 67:1 (Translated by Pickthall). "Blessed is He in Whose hand is the Sovereignty, and He is Able to do all things."
- ^ "Only Known Surviving Muslim American Slave Autobiography Goes Online at the Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ "Search Results for: Omar Ibn Sayyid". Davidson College Archives & Special Collections. Archived from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- . Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ Published in Allen Austin's African people that are Africans : A Sourcebook.
- ^ Ivins, Tammy (June 2007). "Omar ibn Sayyid". Davidson Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ Cooper, Michael (2019-06-10). "Rhiannon Giddens Is Writing an Opera". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-05-22. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ "Omar". Spoleto Festival USA. Archived from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ Barone, Joshua (2023-05-08). "Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels Win the Pulitzer Prize for Music". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2023-05-08. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
- ^ Ulaby, Neda; Gomez Sarmiento, Isabella (2023-05-08). "Here are the winners of the 2023 Pulitzer Prizes". NPR. Archived from the original on 2023-05-08. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-1-4635-9327-8. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ———— (2011-07-20). Alryyes, Ala (ed.). A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar Ibn Said. Translated by Alryyes, Ala. OL 25008284M.
- Austin, Allan D. (December 1983). African Muslims in Antebellum America: A Sourcebook. Critical Studies on Black Life and Culture. Vol. 5. OL 8123085M.
- Parramore, Thomas C. (April 2000). "Muslim Slave Aristocrats in North Carolina". North Carolina Historical Review. 77 (2): 127–150. JSTOR 23522130.