Review of Sylviane A. Diouf's "Servants of Allah." (2013, 2nd Ed.)
Sylviane A. Diouf, Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas (New York: New York University Press, 2013, org. 1998), pgs. 272.
See Here.
Sylviane Diouf, a historian of the African Diaspora at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University, first published Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas in 1998. This interesting contribution to a then rapidly growing scholarship on the Black Diaspora was reprinted by NYU Press in 2013. Diouf in her book traces the role of Islam and African Muslims in the slave societies of the Americas and discusses how their presence not only challenges conventional narratives of the African diaspora, but shows a story of resilience and faith that is rarely noted in traditional accounts of the Black Atlantic world.
Diouf’s narrative argues that African Muslim presence in the New World is significant in several regards. First, their presence and the continuity of religious practice illustrates the depth of the conversion of West African Muslims during the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Second, she notes that Black Muslims’ determination to remain committed to their faith pushes back on ideas of a broad model of “creolization” that concludes that the transatlantic passage to the Americas produced a new culture derived from a conglomerate of various African and European cultures. Finally, she suggests that religion was a key survival method for enslaved individuals and provided the basis for conformity and rebellion in the New World.
Servants of Allah takes a long temporal and geographical approach that focuses on African Muslim perspectives across West Africa. While many of her sources are derived from late eighteenth century and mid-nineteenth century sources, Diouf traces her actors from West Africa across the various European settlements in the New World, though South Carolina, Bahia (Brazil), and St. Domingue (Haiti) are central nodes within her narrative. This approach has some strength as it shows that Islamic belief and practice was a long and integral part of both West Africa and the Americas. It also illustrates networks of faith that bound together communities of Muslims in a hostile world.
In chapter one Diouf explores the role of Islam in West Africa and the patterns of slavery in Islamic and West African culture. She notes that there is a deep “interrelationship of religion, war, enslavement and the Atlantic trade.” Diouf takes religion and belief seriously, something that is often lacking from many historical narratives. This was refreshing and a strength of her work. While excellently showing a deep and powerful Muslim presence in West Africa, her narrative does trend towards a “gentle” slavery model, in which the focus of brutality is mostly allocated to European practice. On several occasions, Diouf argues that Black Muslims would have been shocked by the brutality of slavery in the New World. While it is certainly true that New World slavery was brutal, much of the current historiography on African slavery rejects simplistic notions of a “more humane” slavery in Africa. Violence and othering of the enslaved are key components for the vast majority of slaveholders and traders in Africa. Furthermore, Diouf suggests Islam has no linkage to race making, however, current scholarship also rejects this notion. Diouf’s framing of a high contrast between Islamic and European slavery sets the stage for a narrative that is focused on noble resistance against barbaric oppression.
With these critiques, it should be noted that Diouf is far more nuanced than some scholars and does not shy away from discussing Islamic rulers usage of warfare as a means of promoting slavery. However, she should have engaged more with how violence in Africa impacted views of slavery and ideas of freedom among the enslaved and how that transitioned into the New World. One interesting point that does need further exploration that Diouf briefly mentions is the presence of maroon communities and slave revolts in West Africa. One perhaps may wonder if there are interconnections between these revolts and those in the Caribbean, particularly in French colonies such as St. Domingue (Senegal was a key slave trading zone for the French). Other brief comments, such as the role of natural diaster in driving the slave trade also need further commentary by scholars.
The majority of Servants of Allah explores the lives of various Muslims in North and South America. Drawing on countless records, Diouf makes some fascinating discoveries and weaves together a narrative that shows Muslim’s efforts, at times secret and at other times openly, of practicing Islam in a world that largely sought to suppress it. Diouf convincingly shows the continued presence of Islam among some New World enslaved people, however at times her narrative lacks the hard evidence necessary to be convincing. For example, she argues that Baukman who initiated the Haitian Revolution was likely a Muslim, however, records of the account (which some scholars doubt occurred) point to him as a Vodun (Voodoo) priest.
Furthermore, her lack of regard to the passage of time and geography was concerning. Her narrative at times suggests Islam and Black Africans practice of it were timeless, in part because she regularly groups together experiences decades apart from each other. This perhaps was done because of the lack of sources, however, this likely obscured differences in practice over the course of three centuries. Furthermore, her overreliance on nineteenth century sources suggests that her narrative should have focused on late Muslim arrival in the New World, rather than a long narrative that is weaker in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
With those critiques aside, Diouf does fill a gap in the literature that is important to note. Muslim arrivals in the Americas clearly had an influence, particularly in Bahia where Muslim leadership helped spur a slave revolt. While there are challenges that weaken the central premise of the book, such as its reliance on creating a heroic narrative instead of a complex and messy narrative, this book is useful and has numerous angles which can be expanded upon.
Robert Swanson