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Pseudo-conversion is a term used to describe the process of outwardly adopting or converting to Christianity, while still practicing Islam inwardly, largely in secret. What all instances of pseudo-conversion have in common is that the pseudo-converter used this practice to convince their Christian masters that they too were Christian as a form of survival. Christian masters believed their religion was superior to all others, including Islam. As, a result, because the masters thought lowly of Islam, pseudo-conversion was a tactic that could help enslaved people avoid harsher treatment. Two examples of enslaved African Muslims in the late 16th and early 17th centuries who used pseudo-conversion were Omar Ibn Said and Old Lizzy Gray.

 

In other cases, such as that of Omar Ibn Said, his writings were full of Christian-like customs, yet scholars argue that he was in fact still practicing Islam. Born in Futa-Toro in present day Senegal, he began his life as an Islamic scholar but was enslaved and transported across the Atlantic where he continued to write about theology and history. In his autobiography, Omar Ibn Said opens with a few paragraphs of exultant words to Allah and offering words of praise and thanksgiving. It is very clear from these opening paragraphs that Said still adheres to his Muslim practices, and that deep down he follows the teachings of Islam. However, later on in the autobiography, Said talks about going to church and being permitted to “read the gospel of God, our Lord, and Saviour, and King;” much of the language used by Said in this passage is reminiscent of that of Christian practice and tradition. This demonstrates Omar Ibn Said’s pretense to adopt Christianity on the surface, perhaps to maintain a better relationship with the Owens, his master’s family.

 

Lizzie Gray, an enslaved woman who was captured during the American Revolution and spent the first years of her life of enslavement aboard a British ship eventually found herself under the charge of an American as the war was changing tides and somewhat ironically, as the Colonies were freeing themselves from British subjugation. Like many of her contemporaries she grew up studying and practicing Islam. Indeed, her obituary read, “She was educated in her youth under the influences of Mohammedan tenets, and although she united herself many years ago to the Methodist church, she ever said ‘that Christ built the first Church in Mecca and he grave was da.’”

    

To some, it seemed like some people were trying to meld the two religions. According to one preacher-historian in Georgia, some slaves were “known to accommodate Christianity and Mohammedanism.” He goes on to say, “‘God’, say they, ‘is Allah, and Jesus Christ is Muhammed--the religion is the same, but different countries have different names.’” What this means is that some people thought, as a result of this pseudo-conversion, that there were people who were practicing Christianity and Islam simultaneously. This was not always the case, but it seemed this way because of the pseudo-conversion being practiced. While they professed Christianity outwardly, they still inwardly practiced Islam.

 

Sources:

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Austin: African Muslims in Antebellum America: Transatlantic Stories and Spiritual Struggles

“Oh ye Americans”: The Autobiography of Omar ibn Said

Janesville Daily Gazette Newspaper Archives Monday, September 24, 1860

Diouf: Servants of Allah African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas, 15th Anniversary Edition