Here in the Caribbean we are taught of the history of our people from discovery by Columbus through slavery and indentureship to the present.
What many in society today don’t realize, or emphasize, is the greatest loss to occur within the time of slavery. In our Islamiyat program we have a course dedicated to studying the history of Islam in the region.
Slave families were separated, their native languages were prohibited, as was their religion and customs, their foods were replaced, even their names were changed.
Instead, this was all replaced by Euro-centric and ancient Roman values of wine, women and song. And of course Christianity. All these was recognized after emancipation by persons like Yunus Bath and Muhammad Sesei in the early 1800s, who preserved their Islamic beliefs and saw return to Africa as the preferred option.
The indentured workers were allowed to keep their heritage themselves – and this gave them solace even as 3rd class citizens in society when persons would laugh at their food, their dress, how they spoke.
Those former slaves who were able to trace their lineage back to Muslim tribal roots – the Hausa, the Falani and the Mandingo, do have 1 consolation – by learning Islam, they are able to reconnect with their roots.
Islam then and Islam now is the same Islam, we study the same Quran, the same Hadith, and celebrate the same scholars, be it Shah Waliullah from Deoband or Ibn Khaldun from Tunisia. And at midday on Friday, we have the same obligation to attend Jummah, whether we are in Dow Village or Durban.
But as Muslims, every time we eat a doubles, or see a prayers, or even sign our names – Maraj or Mohammed, or even when we lament the prevalence of alcohol and promiscuity, and wine and jam – spare a thought to what was lost by a part of our people. And let us at the celebrate the fact that there were some who, by learning Islam, were able to find their way home.