author
Omar ibn Said
d. 1863
An enslaved Muslim scholar from West Africa, he left behind one of the most remarkable first-person accounts of slavery in the United States. His 1831 autobiography, written in Arabic, has made him an essential voice in both African American and Muslim American history.
1 Audiobook
Translation of the Life of Omar ibn Said: Manuscript No. 1
by Omar ibn Said
About the author
Born around 1770 in Futa Toro, in present-day Senegal, Omar ibn Said was a Fulani Islamic scholar who studied for many years before he was captured and forced into the Atlantic slave trade. He was taken to South Carolina in 1807 and later enslaved in North Carolina, where his learning, faith, and command of Arabic set him apart in the historical record.
He is best known for writing an autobiography in Arabic in 1831, a rare surviving narrative by an enslaved person in the United States and the only known extant autobiography in Arabic written there by an enslaved man. His surviving manuscripts have helped scholars better understand the presence of educated West African Muslims in early America.
Although older sources sometimes list his death as 1863, major reference and library sources generally place it in 1864. Today, his life and writing are remembered for the way they preserve dignity, intellect, and religious identity under slavery.