Muslims in Coastal Georgia


Omar Ibn Said
A Muslim scholar who remained in North Carolina after the Civil War

In her book Early Days of Coastal Georgia, Margaret Davis Cate tells the story of a slave Tom (his actual name was Sali-bul-Ali) who became head man of Hopeton Plantation on St. Simons, where he was in charge of 450 enslaved persons:

 “Tom, who was a Mohammedan, abstained from the use of spirituous liquors, kept the fasts, and was free of the African belief in evil spirits. He had a Koran and could read but not write Arabic. His African home was on the Niger River, where he was a native of the Town of Kianah in the District of Temourah in the Kingdom of Massina. He said his parents were farmers and were possessed of considerable property. In 1785, when he was fourteen years of age, he was captured and sold into slavery.


Abdul Rahman
He was one of the few who managed to return to Africa in the hope that he would be re-united with his American family in the future.
That never happened.

 “During Tom’s lifetime there were a number of Negro slaves on the plantations along the Georgia coast who were Mohammedans. One of the best known of these was Bilalli of Sapelo Island. His owner, Thomas Spalding of Sapelo, made him the head man of the Sapelo Plantation. This Bilalli of Sapelo could read and write Arabic and a manuscript which he wrote in that language is preserved in the Georgia State Library in Atlanta. Though these men kept their faith and were strict Mohammedans, their children were Christians.”
 

Among the people who got caught up in the whirlpool of enslavement in America were some African Muslims. Bilali of Sapelo Island, Georgia, was the best known Muslim in Georgia during the antebellum period.

 Bilali’s descendants lived on Sapelo Island. These Muslims, like other kidnapped and enslaved adult Africans, had achieved proficiency in a variety of occupations. Some of these Muslims were discovered because of their devotion to daily prayers and their ability to write in Arabic.
 
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