Anthropological Evidence of the Rights for Self-Determination for Enslaved African Muslims
Perhaps more than anyone else among the enslaved Turudbe’ Fulbe’ descendents of the Abrahamic line, Umar constitutes the best example of the persistence of an identity construct because of the extensive Arabic writing he has bequeathed to us. There is much controversy connected with him, because the Anglo- American writers have claimed that he had abandoned Islam and accepted Christianity. However, when careful examination is made of his writings, the evidence proves the contrary. Umar ibn Sayyid was born in 1770 in Futa Toro. Futa Toro was the original home of the Fulbe’ speaking ethnic groups, generally known as Tukulor or Turudbe’.
Introduction and Translation by Shaykh Muhammad Shareef