Bahia Muslim Slaves Rebellion; Rebellion of the Males, Brazil 1835

Definition

The Bahia Muslim Slaves Rebellion refers to an uprising by a group of black slaves and freedmen who rose up against the government in the city of Salvador de Bahia in January 1835. Inspired by Muslim teachings, the uprising became a significant lynchpin in the history of slave uprisings in the Americas and in the history of Islam in Latin America and the Caribbean. Malé is the term which defined African Muslims of Brazil; the origin of the term derives from Malām, a Hausa word taken from the Arabic word mu´allim meaning cleric, teacher, or preacher. Some other authors said that the term came from imale, a Yoruba term designing muslim or islam. The term has been in use during the eighteenth century to describe African Muslims brought from the Bight of Benin and sold as slaves in the port of Bahia in Brazil.

Introduction

The unprecedented manuscript of the author Abdurrahman al-Baghdadi is composed of about 60 pages written in prose. It narrates the experience of a Muslim imam...

Annex. 1

Some of the amulets located by the police after the end of the revolution. Professor Joao José Reis provided me with more than 60 documents by email. Today they can be found in the Archive of Bahía State (see Figs. 1, 2, and 3).

Bahia Muslim Slaves Rebellion; Rebellion of the Males, Brazil 1835, Fig. 1

Surah Al-Qadr of Holy Quran, as the date of 24 of January 1835 coincided with the 27 night of Ramadan (Islamic calendar) called laylat al Qadr or night of Destiny. It is the night when the first verses of Quran were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Revolution was organized that night on purpose

Bahia Muslim Slaves Rebellion; Rebellion of the Males, Brazil 1835, Fig. 2

Illegible Arabic letters of this amulet found in houses of the revolution’s leaders. We can see characters in black and red with some numbers. Many of these amulets could not be deciphered by researchers.

Bahia Muslim Slaves Rebellion; Rebellion of the Males, Brazil 1835, Fig. 3

The same sentence (Illegible) repeated three times. Beginning with (b-ismi-llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” which is the opening formula of all the Quran’s surah. On the little square we can read: Ya Allah, Ya Muhammad (Oh Allah!, Oh Muhammad!)