Slave owners introduced Islam to America

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The first significant waves of immigration of Muslims to North America came through three centuries of the slave trade. In the midst of brutal treatment and forced conversion to Christianity, many African Muslims preserved their religious identities.

The first significant migration of Muslims to America is an indisputable fact: in three centuries of the slave trade, an estimated 10 to 50 percent of the ten million Africans brought to these shores against their will were Muslims. Historical records indicate that many enslaved African Muslims strove to preserve their religious and cultural heritage even after conversion. Historical documents, including oral histories of the great-great grandchildren of enslaved people, as well as narratives and diaries of enslaved people, indicate that some of the earliest Muslims in America performed salat daily, observed the fast of Ramadan, and recited and read the Qur’an.

Today, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the Masjid Omar Ibn Sayyid on Southern Avenue stands as testament to the legacy of the first American Muslims, a legacy which continues to inform contemporary Islam in America.

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