Positioning the Testimony of Job Ben Solomon, An Enslaved African American Muslim

Muna Sulaiman Al-Badaai

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.6p.204

Abstract

Ayyub Ben Suleiman Diallo, better known as Job ben Solomon was among thousands of African Muslims enslaved in America. Job was a son of a high Priest from Senegal. He was kidnapped by his African enemy and sold as a slave in the New World in 1731. He worked on a tobacco plantation in Maryland. He ran away and was captured and imprisoned. Job’s literacy in Arabic attracted the attention of the philanthropist James Oglethorpe who helped to free him. In 1733, Job sailed to England and later returned to Africa. Upon Job’s request, Thomas Bluett wrote Some Memoirs of the Life of Job the Son of Solomon (1734). Allan Austin claims in his book African Muslims in Antebellum America: Transatlantic Stories and Spiritual Struggles (1997) that Job might be considered as the “father of African American Literature”. Muhammad Al-Ahari (2006) states that this account “is perhaps the earliest biography of any African-Americans”. However, William Andrews (1988) with other scholars consider the year of 1760 the appearance of slave narrative as genre. What is more, African Muslim slave narratives have been excluded from African American anthologies. Florence Marfo (2009) in her article entitled “African Muslims in African American Literature” discusses some possible reasons for this omission which mostly relate to the perceived identity of enslaved African American Muslims and the absence of an anti-slavery goal in their narratives. This paper aims to position Job’s testimony in the light of arguments made by the other scholars.

Highlights

Job’s Testimony and Slave Narrative CriticismMarion Starling states “the slave narrative records extend from 1703 to 1944” (p. xviii) and the first slave narrative was Adam Negro’s Tryall (p. 50)
Allan Austin claims in his book African Muslims in Antebellum America: Transatlantic Stories and Spiritual Struggles (1997) that Job might be considered as the “father of African American Literature”
African Muslim slave narratives have been excluded from African American anthologies

Summary

Introduction

Marion Starling states “the slave narrative records extend from 1703 to 1944” (p. xviii) and the first slave narrative was Adam Negro’s Tryall (p. 50). Vincent Carretta (2010) discusses the problem in the usage of the term of “African American” to describe eighteenth-century writers who were writing prior to the independence of the United States: those who were against the American Revolution (i.e. Black Loyalists); those who chose to live and die outside the U.S, like Equiano and Gronniosaw According to his argument, Job ben Solomon and his account should not be called African American (p.11). Regarding the structure of eighteenth and nineteenth-century slave narratives, they start with a preface or a letter which was written by a respected European or American person The purpose of these remarks was to vouch for the authenticity of the account and morality of the ex-enslaved narrator. The question that arises here is to what extent the characteristics or traditions of Job’s testimony share the general characteristics of early slave narrative

Analysis and Characteristics of Job’s Testimony

Conclusion