To Refudiate or Not to Refudiate, That is the Question
by Charles Lemos, Mon Jul 19, 2010 at 04:37:04 AM EDT
snip//
It might serve St. Sarah of the Unlearned to learn that there have been Muslims in the United States since early in the colonial period, certainly before 1700 and probably as early as 1630. Of the approximately 388,000 Africans who landed in American ports during the colonial period, almost 92,000 (24 percent) were Senegambian Muslims most of whom were forcibly converted to Christianity. The most celebrated case of a Muslim in colonial America is that of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (also known as Job ibn Solomon Dgiallo), a well educated Muslim merchant who was kidnapped and enslaved in the early 1730s. The scion of an aristocratic clerical Fulani family, he was captured in 1730 near the mouth of the River Gambia and shipped to Annapolis, Maryland in 1731, where he was delivered as chattel to Mr. V. Denton who then sold Diallo to Mr. Alexander Tolsey of Kent Island, Maryland. While in Maryland and after attempting to escape, Diallo wrote a letter to his father. The letter came to the attention of James Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia and at the time the director of Royal African Company, who then purchased Diallo's freedom for ₤45. Oglethorpe also secured for him a passage to London where he stayed for two years before returning home to work for the Royal African Company in the Senegambia.
Through the publication of his Memoirs in 1734, Diallo had an important and lasting impact on Europe's understanding of West African culture, black identity and Islam. Advocates for the abolition of the slave trade and of slavery would also later cite Diallo as a key figure when assserting the moral rights and humanity of Africans. It might also served St. Sarah of the Willfully Ignorant to know that Diallo sat for a painting by William Hoare, a painting that the National Portrait Gallery in London is currently attempting to acquire for its collection because of its historic importance.
Or St. Sarah of the Profanely Intolerant and of the Gloriously Obtuse might care to know that several hundred Muslims died in the attacks of September 11. Do Americans of the Islamic faith not have a right to share their grief on "sacred ground" or are some religions preferable to others? Seriously, Sarah heal thyself and get thee to a library.more...
http://mydd.com/2010/7/19/to-refudiate-or-not-to-refudiate-that-is-the-question
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