Analyzing Muslim African Manuscripts from the Aftermath of the Malê Slave

A B S T R A C T PAGES OF M S 1 2 2 3 | M S 5 5 6 The Atlantic slave trade lasted from the early 16th RESISTANCE: MS 1223 Porto was selected for this century to the middle of the 19th century, when more research project. The manuscript ANA L Y Z I N G MU S L I M than 12.5 million Africans were shipped across the consists of 53 pages, with 5 pages Atlantic, with 45 percent taken to Brazil. This project A F R I CA N MANU S C R I P T S written in ajami (African languages aims to shed light on the collective and spiritual written in the Arabic script) and the rest resistance of some of the enslaved in the Americas F RO M T H E A F T E RMA T H in Arabic. The manuscript consists of through the study and analysis of recently discovered O F T H E MA L Ê S L AV E the 30th juz' (parts) of the Qur’an, manuscripts. spanning from the 87th to the 114th UP R I S I NG chapter. M E T H O D O L O G Y 1 8 3 5 The manuscripts were written in Maghrebi script, which F I N D I N G S was common in North and West Africa. In the analysis of the manuscripts, a Qur’an written in the Maghrebi script Through an analysis of the writing style, was consulted to determine misspellings and grammar, punctuation and spelling of grammatical errors. Other errors were noted as well, the text, it is possible to deduct such as the determination of whether the chapter is FIG . ;1 DEPICTING LEARNING THE biographical information about the Meccan or Medinan. The analysis, therefore, includes the AR ABICALPHABET . ;[ M S 1 2 2 3 0 4 ] author. It is likely that the author was a transcription of the verses, notes on the script, FIG . 2 M S 5 5 6 9 5 student, learning Arabic and the Qur’an misspelling and English translation of the verses using “In the Name of God, The Compassionate, The Merciful under the supervision of a teacher. This The Study Qur’an (Seyyed Hossein Nasr et al., 2015) Help from God and a victory nigh. So give glad tidings to the believers.” [61:13] was deduced from the fact that the [Figure 4]. author wrote the Arabic alphabet at the end of the book [Figure 1]. There are B A C K G R O U N D also signs of corrections that were made, either by the student or by the On 25th January 1835, African Muslim slaves and teacher [Figure 4]. freedmen organized the important slave uprising in the port town of Salvador, Bahia in Brazil. Unlike other One interesting finding of the research is towns in Brazil, many of the enslaved population in F I G 3 . M S 1 2 2 3 0 5 the author’s choice of verse 61:31 to Bahia came from the Bight of Benin. FIG . 4 THE FINAL WORK begin the book. The choice of this specific verse had to have been intentional. It is The manuscripts examined here were taken off the from the 28th section of the Qur’an, 61st bodies of three martyrs and were subsequently chapter, 13th verse which promises deposited in the Instituto Histórico Geográfico Believers a victory from God and a near Brasileiro in Brazil, Biblioteca Pública Municipal do opening. While the manuscript covers the Porto in Portugal, and the Bibliothèque Municipale 30th section of the Qur’an in order, yet Armand Salacrou - Le Havre in France. the author choose to include this verse. RESEARCHER : MARIAMELZEINY ; Interestingly, this verse was also found in SUPERVISOR : PROF . PAULE . LOVEJOY MS 556 from Le Havre [Figures 2 and 3]. COORDINATOR : BRUNOR . VÉRAS DEPARTMENTOFHISTORY ..

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