Short answer
Yes. Historians estimate that hundreds of thousands of the Africans carried across the Atlantic in chains were Muslims. The slave routes ran into the Muslim lands of West Africa, and many of these Muslims could read and write Arabic. One man, sold in 1731, wrote out the Qur'an three times from memory. Another wrote his life story in Arabic, and it is kept in the Library of Congress. Almost none of them was allowed to stay Muslim. A French law of 1685 ordered every slave in the French islands to be baptised. Within a few generations their descendants were Christians. Nobody calls that the peaceful spread of Christianity. Yet Islam, which reached the largest Muslim country through traders, is the religion accused of spreading by force.
Full explanation
Where the captives came from
Many of the people taken in the Atlantic slave trade came from West Africa. Its routes ran into lands where Islam had been taught for centuries. One was Senegambia, the land around the Senegal and Gambia rivers. Others were the lands of the Fula, a West African people, and Hausaland, in today's northern Nigeria, and the old empire of Mali. Historians who have studied the question, above all Sylviane Diouf, estimate that hundreds of thousands of those taken were Muslims. Many were educated men who could read and write Arabic.
A history of the hundreds of thousands of West African Muslims enslaved in the Americas from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. It traces the slaving routes into Senegambia, the Fula lands, Hausaland and the old Mali region; shows that many of the captives could read and write Arabic; tells the lives of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, Omar ibn Said and Bilali Muhammad; describes compulsory baptism, new names and the pressure against Muslim practice; covers the Bahia uprising of 1835; and explains why Islam did not survive among their descendants.
A history of the African Muslims enslaved in the Americas: where in West Africa they came from, how many of them were literate in Arabic, and how slavery and forced Christianisation ended the practice of Islam among their descendants.
Three men who left a record
Ayuba Suleiman Diallo was a Fula Muslim from Bundu, in today's Senegal. He was sold into slavery in 1731 and taken to Maryland. The Englishman who wrote his story says he wrote out the Qur'an three times from memory. Omar ibn Said was a scholar from Futa Toro, on the Senegal River. He was brought to Charleston in 1807, and wrote his life story in Arabic in 1831. The handwritten copy is now in the Library of Congress. Bilali Muhammad was enslaved on Sapelo Island in Georgia. He left a handwritten book in Arabic, copying rulings of Islamic law on washing and prayer.
A memoir by an Englishman who knew Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (called Job, son of Solomon), a Fula Muslim from Bundu sold into slavery in 1731 and taken to Maryland. Bluett records that Ayuba prayed five times a day, would not drink wine or eat pork, and while in England wrote out three copies of the Qur'an from memory, without looking at any other copy.
The only known autobiography written in Arabic by a man enslaved in the United States. Omar ibn Said, a scholar from Futa Toro in West Africa who had studied for twenty-five years before his capture, was brought to Charleston in 1807 and wrote this account in North Carolina in 1831. It opens with Surat al-Mulk from the Qur'an.
A thirteen-page Arabic manuscript written by Bilali Muhammad, a Muslim from West Africa enslaved on Sapelo Island, Georgia. It copies passages of Islamic law on purification, the call to prayer and the prayer itself from the Risala of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, a standard work of the Maliki school.
A history of the hundreds of thousands of West African Muslims enslaved in the Americas from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. It traces the slaving routes into Senegambia, the Fula lands, Hausaland and the old Mali region; shows that many of the captives could read and write Arabic; tells the lives of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, Omar ibn Said and Bilali Muhammad; describes compulsory baptism, new names and the pressure against Muslim practice; covers the Bahia uprising of 1835; and explains why Islam did not survive among their descendants.
Baptism by law
Almost none of them was allowed to remain a Muslim. The French Code Noir of 1685 ordered every slave in the French islands to be baptised and taught the Catholic faith. To baptise is to make someone a Christian with a ritual of water. The law also required anyone who bought newly arrived Africans to report them to the governor within eight days so that it could be done. In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, too, enslaved Africans were baptised as a matter of course. Their names were replaced with names their owners chose. Open prayer was often forbidden. There was little chance to pass Arabic or the Qur'an on to their children. Within two or three generations their descendants were Baptists, Methodists and Catholics who knew little or nothing of their forefathers' religion.
Every slave in the French islands must be baptised and instructed in the Catholic religion, and anyone who buys newly arrived Africans must report them to the governor and the intendant within eight days so that it is done.
A history of the hundreds of thousands of West African Muslims enslaved in the Americas from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. It traces the slaving routes into Senegambia, the Fula lands, Hausaland and the old Mali region; shows that many of the captives could read and write Arabic; tells the lives of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, Omar ibn Said and Bilali Muhammad; describes compulsory baptism, new names and the pressure against Muslim practice; covers the Bahia uprising of 1835; and explains why Islam did not survive among their descendants.
The Malê revolt of 1835
In January 1835 the Muslim slaves of Salvador, in Bahia, Brazil, rose in revolt. The Muslims there were called Malês (said mah-LAY), and the rising is still known as the Malê revolt. It was put down. Four men were shot, others were flogged or imprisoned, and many freed Africans were deported back to Africa.
A history of the uprising of January 1835 in Salvador, Bahia, led by African Muslims known there as Males. After it was put down, four men were executed by firing squad, others were flogged or imprisoned, and many freed Africans were deported back to Africa.
A history of the hundreds of thousands of West African Muslims enslaved in the Americas from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. It traces the slaving routes into Senegambia, the Fula lands, Hausaland and the old Mali region; shows that many of the captives could read and write Arabic; tells the lives of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, Omar ibn Said and Bilali Muhammad; describes compulsory baptism, new names and the pressure against Muslim practice; covers the Bahia uprising of 1835; and explains why Islam did not survive among their descendants.
Which religion the charge fits
The Qur'an says there is no compulsion in religion. It also asks whether anyone should force people to believe. Historians estimate that hundreds of thousands of Muslims were carried to the Americas in chains. Within a few generations their children's children were Christians. Nobody calls that the peaceful spread of Christianity. Indonesia, the largest Muslim country on earth, was reached by traders. No foreign Muslim army ever conquered it. None of this is said to blacken Christianity. The men who did these things were not following the teaching of Jesus. It is said because Islam is the religion accused of spreading by the sword.
“Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.”
“If it had been thy Lord's will, they would all have believed,- all who are on earth! wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will, to believe!”
A history of the hundreds of thousands of West African Muslims enslaved in the Americas from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. It traces the slaving routes into Senegambia, the Fula lands, Hausaland and the old Mali region; shows that many of the captives could read and write Arabic; tells the lives of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, Omar ibn Said and Bilali Muhammad; describes compulsory baptism, new names and the pressure against Muslim practice; covers the Bahia uprising of 1835; and explains why Islam did not survive among their descendants.
Traces the coming of Islam to the Indonesian islands from about the thirteenth century through trade and the conversion of local rulers and peoples, not through conquest by a foreign Muslim army.
Perspectives
What the historical record shows
Many of the Africans enslaved in the Americas were Muslims from West Africa. Many could read and write Arabic, and some left writings that survive. But they were not allowed to pass their faith on to their children.
Hundreds of thousands of the Africans enslaved in the Americas were Muslims. Most were taken from Senegambia, the Fula lands, Hausaland and the region of Mali.
Ayuba Suleiman Diallo was sold into slavery in 1731. While in England, he wrote out three copies of the Qur'an from memory.
Omar ibn Said, from Futa Toro, wrote his life story in Arabic in 1831. The handwritten copy is in the Library of Congress.
Bilali Muhammad, enslaved on Sapelo Island, Georgia, left an Arabic manuscript of Islamic law on purification and prayer.
The French Code Noir of 1685 required every slave in the French islands to be baptised. It also required newly bought Africans to be reported within eight days for it.
The Muslim-led uprising in Bahia in 1835 was put down with executions, floggings and deportations.
Which religion the charge fits
Historians estimate that hundreds of thousands of Muslims were enslaved in the Americas. In the French islands they were baptised by law. Across the Americas their descendants became Christians. Nobody calls that the peaceful spread of Christianity. The largest Muslim country was reached by traders. So the charge of spreading by force fits this history better than it fits Islam.
In the French islands, enslaved Africans, Muslims among them, were baptised by law. Across the Americas, their descendants were Christians within a few generations.
Islam reached Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, through trade and local conversion, not foreign conquest.
The Islamic perspective
Islam forbids forcing anyone into the faith. The enslaved Muslims of the Americas held to their religion in slavery. It was taken from their children by force and pressure, not by persuasion.
The Qur'an states that there is no compulsion in religion.
Faith cannot be forced, because belief is by God's (﷾) will and not by compulsion.
Enslaved Muslims kept up their prayers, their Arabic and the Qur'an for as long as they could. The writings of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, Omar ibn Said and Bilali Muhammad show this.