Carl Ernst and Mbaye Lo will present, “New light on the Arabic writings of Omar ibn Said”

The enslaved African Muslim scholar Omar ibn Said, who wrote an autobiography in Arabic in 1831 while enslaved in Bladen County NC, has attracted attention as a striking example of the presence of Muslims in early America. Yet little has been done to identify the Arabic sources that Omar quotes in his writings or to explain his strategy and Implied audience. This presentation offers new discoveries of his use of half a dozen Arabic works on theology and Sufism, which radically change our understanding of his intellectual background and the functions of his writings.