Book Review

Despite their presence in the transatlantic slave trade, Muslims enslaved in Africa and transported to the Americas have received scant attention in the African diaspora literature. In the Americas, Islamic traditions were not retained beyond the second or third generation, being abandoned or becoming intertwined with other practices and beliefs, most notably Christianity, the dominant religion of the masters. Because of their seeming disappearance from American life, Muslims and their history have been unjustly neglected. Sylviane A. Diouf's book makes a major contribution by focusing on Muslim participation in the slave trade and Muslims' impacts in the Americas. Drawing on a variety, but not an abundance, of sources, including autobiographies, biographies, correspondence, newspaper articles, and mentions in travelers' chronicles, Diouf presents a convincing and original picture of the life of enslaved Muslims, who, she claims, remained primarily servants of Allah rather than subjects of Christian masters.

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As is often the case in African diaspora literature, the material on Africa is weak, superficial, and undigested. Diouf portrays a rosy picture of slavery in Muslim Africa, insisting that slaves were usually members of the household and that Muslims did not sell fellow Muslims into the transatlantic slave trade. This portrayal needs more refinement and a greater variety of sources and qualifications to be convincing and useful.

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