A rare "Islamic" uprising broke out in the 19th century in Brazil, geographically far from the heart of the modern Islamic world, and a book by Brazilian historian Jao Jose Reis provides the full story of the uprising of enslaved Muslims in the state of Bahia (eastern Brazil) in 1835, and how the police confronted it by examining court records for African rebels The detainees, which revealed an organized and well-planned rebellion known as the "Great Revolution".

After one o'clock in the morning of January 25, 1835, which coincided with the month of Ramadan, a group of new and old African enslaved people came out of a specific house in Bahia, and quickly overcame the police, and throughout the night nearly six hundred rebels marched in the streets, and vandalized a number of municipal buildings;

Because the leaders of the revolution were Muslims of African descent, some historians have described the revolution as a "jihad", while others have downplayed the religious elements inherent in the rebellion, asserting instead that ethnic differences were the main motivation.

Rebel slaves heard about the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), wore necklaces bearing the image of President Dessalines who declared Haiti's independence, as well as special amulets containing Quranic verses, and amulets were common in the Malian culture of Malian Muslims at the time.

The urban environment in Salvador (the capital of the state of Bahia) facilitated the spread of Islam due to the transfer of many Muslim enslaved people from Africa, and some of them were liberated in the New World at a later time. In particular, they fasted Ramadan and abstained from eating pork, and celebrated occasions such as the Al-Isra and Al-Miraj remembrance.

By the end of the 19th century, slavery was on the verge of leaving Brazil permanently, raids increased on plantations that exploited slaves, the army refused to deal with fugitives, and the authorities tried to restrict slavery by law before ending it completely in 1888 with a law passed by Parliament, called the "Golden Law" to bring the curtain down on Slavery in Brazil.

The uprising of the enslaved

Reese's book, Johns Hopkins University Press, UK;

A complex picture of the interaction between Islam and race in the African Muslim uprising of 1835. Reis begins his book by analyzing the context of social, political and economic conditions in Bahia at the time of the uprising, explaining the stark economic inequality that was exaggerated after Brazil gained independence from Portugal in 1822.

The book "Slave Rebellion in Brazil" discusses the role of Muslim enslaved in the 19th century uprising (communication sites)

After independence, Bahia experienced economic decline and periods of drought, unemployment, and commodity price inflation, and Bahia's economic and political instability sparked a series of military revolts, Portuguese anti-colonial rebellions, street riots, liberal and federal revolts, slave uprisings, and the development of the African Islamic insurgency in 1835 of this long course of revolutions and uprisings.

Reis illustrates the important role Islam and race played in the success of the 1835 uprising. For example, the rebellion was planned for Ramadan, and the rebellious participants wore distinctive Muslim clothing, though the author asserts that the rebellion was not a classic jihad or holy war, despite its religious overtones;

Because African Muslims knew that they needed the solidarity of non-Muslims in order to succeed.

The organizers of the rebellion sought to build a united, pan-African ethnic revolution in the New World, and encouraged the participation of non-Muslim Africans by promoting the idea that the rebellion was an uprising of "Africans" who had been suppressed.

violent repression

Unfortunately, the desired ethnic solidarity was not achieved in Bahia;

The majority of those participating in the rebellion consisted of two ethnic groups: the Nago and the Hausa, although the Jiji and the Congo ethnic groups took part in the struggle;

Their numerical importance in the uprising was very limited.

In fact, the existence of the Nago race was so prevalent that the uprising was often portrayed in the writings of historians as the Nago Revolution.

But Reiss denies in his book that the sons of the Nago race are the essence of the rebellion, stressing that Islam and race are interrelated factors;

Where religion helped unite the diverse African ethnic groups, and the common race helped unite Africans of diverse religious backgrounds.

Fearing that the entire state of Bahia would follow the example of Saint-Domingue (Haiti) and rise up, revolt and become independent, the authorities quickly sentenced four of the rebels to death, 16 to prison, eight to hard labor, and 45 to flogging.

Then the municipal authorities deported two hundred of the surviving leaders of the revolution to Africa by ship crossing the Atlantic.

The Golden Law of 1888 in Brazil completely prohibited and criminalized slavery (communication sites)

Historical evidence

Reiss uses documentary evidence, including eyewitness accounts from Brazilian, French, and English sources, to construct as complete a narrative of the period as possible.

The author then moves from the revolution itself to the various affiliations (religious, ethnic, and social) that interconnected and attracted people of African descent in and around El Salvador, according to an academic article by University of Texas researcher Michael Hatch.

The author says that Muslim (Mali) rebels "never posed a threat" to ethnic and religious pluralism in Bahia, and asserts that there is no evidence to support the claim that religious "conquest" was the rebels' goal. The book reviews ethnic tensions within different African societies, particularly among Africans who They were brought from their country, born in Brazil, who made up a large part of the police, army and hunters who contributed to the suppression of the black rebellion.

turning point

The news of the rebellion of the enslaved was transmitted to all parts of Brazil, and reached the American and English press, as a result of which strict laws were enacted imposing censorship and more control over the enslaved, and the penal laws included the possibility of executions in a quick manner. In the following years, extensive efforts were made to force conversion to Catholicism and to erase popular memory and affection for Islam. However, the African Muslim community was not wiped out overnight, and as late as 1910 there were nearly a hundred thousand African Muslims living in Brazil, according to the author.

Many consider this rebellion to be the turning point of slavery in Brazil, and extensive discussions appeared in the press at the time about the end of the transatlantic slave trade, and while slavery had existed for more than fifty years after the revolution of the enslaved, the slave trade was abolished in 1851, as slaves continued Immediately after the rebellion, the influx into Brazil became a cause for fear and turmoil among the Brazilian masters who feared that bringing in more slaves would give birth to a new uprising. Although it took more than 15 years, the slave trade in Brazil was eventually abolished, due That is partly to the rebellion of 1835.

Although the writer considers that “Islam is not an ethnic religion,” religion was an important element in the development of ethnic and cultural affiliation. In the concluding chapters of the book, the author describes the reaction of the government authorities, how the uprising was violently suppressed, and how the courts issued death sentences, some of which were commuted to flogging and imprisonment. .

Thus, the "Slave Rebellion in Brazil" presents a wonderful historical example of the rebellion against slavery and racism in modern history, through a book based on the analysis of facts and ancient archives and drawing lessons that may be useful in the time of contemporary protest.