Muslims and Social Change in the Atlantic Basin

Author(s): Sean Foley

Source: Journal of World History, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Sep., 2009), pp. 377-398
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40542804
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MuslimsandSocialChange
in theAtlantic
Basin*
SEAN FOLEY
MiddleTennesseeState University

oftheMaghrib[NorthAfrica]have iton
The inhabitants
thattheMuslimswill. . .
ofthebooksofprediction
authority
and conquer
attackagainsttheChristians
makea successful
thelandsofEuropeanChristians
beyondthesea. This,it is
said,willtakeplacebysea.
- Ibn Khaldun,TheMuqadimah1
It seemsto me ifwe musthave anyTurkishwar,we oughtto
beginwithourselves.In vainwe wagecarnalwarswithout,
battles. . . Now
whileat homewe areconqueredbyspiritual
thattheRomanCuria[CatholicChurch]is moretyrannical
warorvictory.
thananyTurk. . . thereis no hope ofsuccessful
we
mustconAs faras I can see,God fights
us;
first,
against
faith.
and
him
with
tears,
holy,
pure
pure
prayers,
quer
2
- MartinLuther,Correspondence

* Thisarticleis dedicatedto thememory

ofPaulClaussen(1942-2007).EarlierversionsofthispaperwerereadbeforetheAnnualConventionoftheAmericanHistorical
oftheAssociation
in Atlanta,Georgia,in January
Association
2007 and theConference
inOctober2007.
African
fortheStudyoftheWorldwide
Diaspora,St. Michael,Barbados,
LouisHaas,YorkNorman,
The authorthanksPauldu Quenoy,CharlesFeatherstone,
Jol
readerfortheirhelpful
comments.
lohnVoll,andoneanonymous
Silversmith,
1 Ibn Khaldun,TheMuqadimah,
trans.FranzRosenthal(Princeton,
N.J.:Princeton
Press,1967),p. 213.
University
2 MartinLuther,"Lutherto GeorgeSpalatin"(Wittenberg,
December21, 1518),
and OtherContemporary
Luther'sCorrespondence
Letters,trans,and ed. PreservedSmith

Lutheran
Publication
1913), vol. 1,no. 106,141.
Society,
(Philadelphia:
Vol. 20,No. 3
Journal
ofWorldHistory,
ofHawai'i Press
2009 byUniversity

377

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378

JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 2OO

the fallof 1765 a youngman visitedthe printingofficesof the

Gazettein Williamsburg,
Virginia
Virginia,and purchasedGeorge
of the centraltextof the Islamic
Sale's English-language
translation
faith,theQur'an.The youngmanhopedthatthesacredtextandfounhow religious
dationofIslamiclaw wouldbetterhelphimunderstand
beliefstransfer
acrosscultures.In hiseyes,theStampAct, imposedby
Britainon colonialNorthAmericanswithouttheirconsent,underlaw and naturallaw as
minedthe heritageof Englishconstitutional
in
the
and
other
Qur'an
specified
scriptures.
Inspiredin partby his
of
the
Thomas
Qur'an,
Jefferson
reading
pioneereda conceptionof
humanrightsthatrevolutionized
the historyof the Atlanticworld.
His intellectual
debtto Islamwas sufficiently
clearthatJohnQuincy
to ThomasPaine'sdefenseof
Adams,in a 1791 pamphletresponding
theFrenchRevolution,
to theprophet
Jefferson
compared
unfavorably
In thesamepamphlet,
Muhammad.3
Adamsfurther
soughtto discredit
that
he
and
his
followers
chanted
a phraseanalJefferson
byimagining
4 "Thereis butone Goddessof
to
the
Muslim
Shahada:
ogous
Liberty
and CommonSense is herprophet."5
ThoughAtlantichistoryand Islamicstudieshave been dynamic
fieldsin recentdecades,Muslims'contributions
to AtlanticbasinsociIslam's
influence
on
and
other
similar
thinkersin the
eties,
Jefferson
Euro-Americantradition,
and the linksbetweenthe Atlanticbasin
and the Islamicworldhave receivedcomparatively
limitedcoverage.
scholars
have
on
and
Islamic
focused
the
"Islamicworld,"
By
large,
or Dar al-Islam:the beltofMuslimsocietiesfromWestAfricato the
Pacific.There is a similardearthofcoveragein the literature
dealing
withAtlantichistory:
thehistory
ofthecontinents
thatsurround
the
AtlanticOcean and thepeoplescontainedthereinfromthefifteenth
untilthenineteenth
century
century.6
3 Adamsmadethe
in a widelydistributed
underthe
comparison
pamphletwritten
wasdesigned
to rebutPaine'sanalysis
Publicla.The pamphlet
oftheFrench
pseudonym
inhisbookVindication
Revolution
contained
sawthe
oftheRights
ofMan.Americans
widely
bookat thetimeas an attackon Adams'sfather,
thenU.S. vicepresident
JohnAdams.For
moreon thisincident,see David W. Lesch,TheMiddleEastand ie UnitedStates:A Historical
and PoliticalReassessment
(Boulder,Colo.: WestviewPress,2003), p. 493.
4 The Shahada is the recitationof the Islamic"witnessoffaith"and the firstof Islam's
fivepillars:"There is no god but God and Muhammadis the messengerof God." For more
on the Shahada, see The OxfordDictionary
ofIslam,s.v."Shahadah."
5 Thomas S. Kidd, "Is It Worse to Follow Mahomet Than the Devil?
EarlyAmerican
Uses ofIslam,"AmericanSocietyofChurchHistory72, no. 4 (2003): 788. One could saythat
thiswas therhetorical"equivalent"ofregularly
to the 44th presidentoftheUnited
referring
Statesbyhis Muslimmiddlename: "BarackHusseinObama."
b For an excellentoverviewof recenttrendsin Atlantic
history,see Allison Games,
"AtlanticHistory:Definitions,Challenges,and Opportunities,"
AmericanHistoricalReview
in, no. 3 (2006): 741-757-

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Basin
andSocialChangeintheAtlantic
Foley:Muslims

379

appearedin Islamicor
Myarticleaskstwoquestionsthathaverarely
as a viable
Atlantichistory
can we conceptualize
Atlantichistory.
First,
either
as indiMuslims
do
Islamic
of
Second,
history?
component
from
different
tradition
ofan intellectual
vidualsor as representatives
- meritinclusionin mainstream
histories
thatofChristianEuropeans
ofall societiesin theAtlanticbasin?While scholarshave longrecogofIslamand Muslimsto Africanand Iberianhisnizedtheimportance
on Muslimsin otherpartsofthe
limited
remains
there
scholarship
tory,
centuries.
Atlanticbasinbeforethenineteenthand twentieth
Explormainstream
because
is
societies
in
these
role
Islam's
problematical
ing
Euro-Americanconceptionsof Islam have long been based largely
and becausetherewerefewrecogand distortions
on misinformation
Atlanticbasin outsideof Africa
in
the
communities
Muslim
nizably
for
since1500.Can we discussEuro-AmericanviewsofIslamwithout,
even
Isn't
or
Western
thesepurposes,
bigotry imperialism?
referencing
Doesn't it implysome sortof
a kindof information?
misinformation
relationship?
I believethattheanswerto thesequestionsis yesand thatexplorintoAtlantic
ingthemprovidesscholarswitha seriesofusefulinsights
these
I
that
In
Islamic
and
answering
history. particular,argue
history
States
of
the
United
inheritance
that
the
to
see
questionsallowsus
and othernationsofthe Atlanticbasinextendsbeyondthe confines
memofEuropeto theIslamicworld.AfricanMuslimswereimportant
as
the
well
Africa
as
in Northand West
bersof communities
global
whosemembersand intellectualtraditionleftan
Islamiccommunity
but oftenoverlookedimprinton Europeansand thoseof
important
theirdescendantsin the Americas.That imprintprovideda tableau
withtheIslamicworld,
theirrelationship
forthemnotonlyto redefine
and
to definetheirown nationalidentity
butalso,moreimportantly,
Withinthis
to othernationsin theEuro-Atlanticfamily.
relationship
as an engineofsocial
Islamicideasand powerfunctioned
framework,
universalreligiousand politicalrights.
changeandhelpedto justify
In thisarticleI willexplorehowthisprocessoccurredin threecruuntil
fromthefifteenth
cial turning
century
pointsin Atlantichistory
theriseofEuropeannationaltheReformation,
theeighteenth
century:
notionsofnaturallawand
ofAnglo-American
ism,andtheemergence
thesethreeperiods,therealityof
humanrights.
universal
Throughout
andpoliticaldiscourse
Muslimmilitary
literary,
powershapedreligious,
in Euro-Atlanticsocietiesand wonwidespread
respectofMuslimsand
as diverseas MartinLuther,
Intellectuals
theircivilization.
JohnLocke,
and ThomasJefferson
expendedconsiderableenergyeducatingthemselvesand othersaboutIslam.Theyalso employedIslamand Muslims
withintheirownsocieties.In fact,these
reforms
as a vehicleto justify

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380

JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 2OO

- from
men'suse of Islamwas sufficiently
clear thattheiropponents
Catholic theologiansto FederalistAmericans soughtto discredit
andothersbyarguing
thattheywerereallypromoting
Luther,
Jefferson,
Islamicideas.Ultimately,
an analysisofthesetypesofdebatesallowsus
to betterplace Muslimsand theirreligionin the historyof Atlantic
societiesand ultimately
in contemporary
America.
Luther and the Reformation
thesixcenturies
Columbus'svoyagein 1492 to
Throughout
preceding
theAmericas,IslamicculturedominatedtheMediterranean
worldand
of
Asia
and
Africa.
While
and
Crusader
invasions
and
parts
Mongol
theReconquistahad testedIslamicpower,no Europeanstateequaled
the strength
of the majorearlymodernMuslimempires,particularly
theOttomanEmpire.Ottomanarmieshad seizedConstantinople,
the
ancientcenterof EasternChristianity,
in 1453 aftertheyhad taken
muchof the restof southeastern
Europein the fourteenth
century.
Thereafter
into
the
Balkansand CentralEurope,gaintheyexpanded
Viennain 1529.
ingcontrolofHungaryin 1526 and besieging
For manyChristianEuropeans,Islamicexpansionand the fallof
withChristendom
and the
Constantinople
signaledGod's displeasure
RomanCatholicChurch.Amongthefirst
tomakethesearguments
was
the fourteenth-century
OxfordscholarJohnWycliffe.
He contended
thatIslam'ssuccesswaslinkedto thegrowthofgreed,pride,violence,
and the lustforpowerwithinthe EuropeanChristian
materialism,
church.In De Christo
etSuoAdversario
(On Christand His Adversary),
statesthatthe defining
characteristics
of Islamare identical
Wycliffe
to thoseofWesternChristianity.
He highlights
theseobservations
by
to himselfand the otherEuropeanWesternChristiansby
referring
thesarcasticand rhetorical
He also
phrase"We WesternMahomets."7
beratesEuropeans'arrogance:
"wethinkthewholeworldwillbe regulatedbyourjudgments
and tremble
beforeourcommand."8
According
to Wycliffe,
thisattitude,the "Islamicspirit,"wouldgrowin Europe
and in theIslamicworlduntilEuropeanChristians
returned
to thereal
spiritofthegospelsand Christianity.9
7 Celia M. Lewis,
Tales" Chaucer
"History,Mission, and Crusade in the Canterbury
Review42, no. 4 (2008): 373.
KarenArmstrong,
Muhammad:Biography
ofa Prophet(San Francisco:HarperCollins
San Francisco,1903), pp. 32-33.
9 Ibid.

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Basin
andSocialChangeintheAtlantic
Foley:Muslims

381

attainedan unprecedented
place in European
arguments
Wycliffe's
lifeduringthe centuryafterhis death in 1384 becauseof the intersectionofthreefactors.
First,the OttomansseizedConstantinoplein
absorbed
and
Hungaryintotheirempirein 1543.Forthe
formally
1453
first
timesincetheBarbarianinvasionsofa thousandyearsearlier,one
ofEurope'smajorstateshad fallenunderexternalcontrolA powerful
balance
a memberofthecontinent's
Muslimstatewasnoweffectively
Secof powerand able to influencethe continent'spoliticalaffairs.
of
dissemination
for
allowed
the
information,
ond, printing
rapid
press
on foreign
travelreports
lands,and whatwould
especiallypamphlets,
News on the OttomanEmpire,itspeoples,and
becomenewspapers.
known
The first
dominatedthesepublications.
itsreligioustraditions
- the
in printoftheGermanwordfornewspaper(zeitung)
occurrence
- discussedVenice's
1502 "Newe zeitungvon orientund auffgange"
lossesto the Ottomansin 1501 and 1502.10Further,
mass-produced
OttomanauxiliariesenslavingGermansgenerated
woodcutsdepicting
andCatholicGermanyagainst
publicoutragein Protestant
widespread
Muslims.11
thesescritisentninety-five
Third,a Germanmonk,MartinLuther,
to
Church
Catholic
of
the
ArchbishopAlbert
cizingvariousaspects
an eventthat
the
That
action
ofMeinzin 1517.
Reformation,
began
the
societies
influenced
and
throughout
reshapedEuropeanpolitics
Ottoof
the
the
success
and
Islam
Atlanticworld.Fromthe start,
man EmpireframedLuther'sworldviewand wereintegralto his call
oftheCatholicChurch.In Luther's
forbothsocialactionand reform
Islamso theycould
forEuropeansto understand
eyes,itwasimperative
threatbut
thattheOttomanEmpirewasnotonlya military
understand

10 KennethM. Setton,"Lutheranismand the TurkishPeril,"in Europeand theLevant

in theMiddleAgesand theRenaissance,by KennethM Setton (London: VariorumReprints,
11 ror moreon these issues,see KonstantinMihailovics Memoirsoj a Janissary.
In parwoodcutson pages 174 and 175. The firstone is
ticular,look at the two sixteenth-century
of Turkishraiderswith German peasant captives.The second is from1502 and discusses
KonstantinMihailovic,Memoirsofa Janissary,
intoJanissaries.
Germansbeingtransformed
trans.BenjaminStolz (Ann Arbor:JointCommitteeon EasternEurope,AmericanCouncil of Learned Societies, the Departmentof Slavic Languagesand Literatures,University
derGesandschaft
of Michigan, 1975), pp. 174-175; BenediktKuripesic,ltinerarium:
Knig
Ferdinand1. von UngarnnachKonstantinopel
1530, ed. and translit.Srecko Dzaja and Jozo
Dzambo (Bochum, Germany:StudienverlagDr. N. Brockmeyer,
1983); and David Brion
Davis, InhumanBondage:The Rise and Fall of Slaveryin theNew World(Oxford: Oxford
UniversityPress,2006), p. 78.

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382

JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 2OO

also indicativeofdeep spiritual

problemsin Europeand theCatholic
Church- problems
so heinousas to meritGod'swrath.
In a seriesofwidelycirculatedpamphlets,
Luthertiedthe corruptionoftheCatholicChurchto thesuccessofMuslims(whomhe inaccalled"Turks")-12
Luthersawthe"Turks"as theinstruments
of
curately
- a "schoolmaster"
God'swrathagainstsinningChristians
to discipline
and teachtheChristians
ofEuropeto fearGod in muchthesameway
thattheBabylonians
had "schooled"Israel13One can findthisviewas
theses,in whichhe asserts:
earlyas his 1518 defenseofhisninety-five
"To fightagainsttheTurksis thesameas resisting
God, whovisitsour
sin upon us withthisrod."H LutherlaterwrotethatChristianEuroso thatHe justlygivesus
peanshad "earnedGod's wrathand disfavor,
intothehandsofthedeviland theTurk."15
As greatas theOttomanmilitary
threatwas,Lutherasserteditwas
for
to
cleanse
their
soulsfirst
beforegoingto war
necessary Europeans
the
"Turks"
or
In
else.
a
18
letter
to
against
anyone
15
GeorgeBurkhardt
and
of
the
elector
(GeorgeSpalatin),secretary chaplain
JohnFrederLuther
remarked:
ick,
IfI rightly
understand
an expedition
the
you,youaskwhether
against
Turkscan be defended
andcommanded
bymeon biblicalgrounds.
Evensupposing
thewarshouldbe undertaken
forpiousreasons
rather
thanforgain,I confess
thatI cannotpromise
whatyouask,butrather
... It seemstomeifwemusthaveanyTurkish
theopposite
war,we
In vainwewagecarnalwarswithout,
oughtto beginwithourselves.
whileathomeweareconquered
. . . Nowthatthe
battles
byspiritual
RomanCuria[Catholic
ismoretyrannical
thananyTurk. . .
Church]
thereisno hopeofsuccessful
warorvictory.
As faras I cansee,God
wemustconquer
himwithtears,
us;first,
fights
against
pureprayers,
andpurefaith.16
holy,
Equally important,ChristianEuropeanscould not expect to be
absolvedoftheirsinsin battle- evenin a warsanctionedbytheCatholic Church- sinceit had falselypromisedthatChristianity
accepted
12Luther's
inaccurate
reference
to Muslimsas "Turks"
wasa commonEuropeanconflation
ofthetwogroups
at thetime.One seesa similar
conflation
in theworkofLuther's
famous
Dutchcontemporary,
thehumanist
andChristian
Desiderius
Erasmus.
theologian
u SarahHenrichandJamesL.
- Translations
ofTwoPrefaces
Boyce,"MartinLuther
on Islam:Preface
totheLibellusde RituetMoribus
Turcorum
toBibli(1530),andPreface
ander's
EditionoftheQur'an(1543),"Word& World
16,no. 2 (1006): 255.
14Ibid.,p. 252.
15Ibid.
16 Luther,Luther's
Correspondence,
p. 141.

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Basin
andSocialChangeintheAtlantic
Foley:Muslims

383

and crusades."Ifanyoneelse wantsto go to warin another

martyrdom
Luther
wrotein 1529,"letthemtaketheirchances."17
way,"
the CatholicChurch,he simultaneously
As Luthercriticized
pioneereda newEuropeanconceptionof Islamwithinan eschatological
his pastoralmission.While EdwardSaid
framework
thatreinforced
and
similarities
betweenLatinmedievaltheologians
identifies
correctly
in
a
time
and
in
mind
that
Luther
lived
to
bear
it
is
Luther, important
For avercontextfarremovedfromthosetheologians.18
sociocultural
wholivedin a world
century,
ageChristianEuropeansin thesixteenth
in whichIslamappearedascendantand to holdGod'sfavor,itwasnot
thatIslamwasa Christianheresy.
enoughto rehashold assertions
thatthe "Turks"were
Lutherrespondedto thesefearsbyasserting
locatedin the
theagentsoftheDevil who,alongwiththeAntichrist
heartoftheCatholicChurch,Rome,wouldusherin theLastDaysand
Lutherwarnedthatthe chief
In thisenvironment,
the Apocalypse.19
would
be fooledbytheDevil's
be
that
would
they
dangerforChristians
masse:
"Since
we now have the Turk
Islam
en
agentsand convertto
our
and his religionat ourverydoorstep, peoplemustbe warnedlest,
eithermovedbythesplendoroftheTurkishreligionand theexternal
bythe meagerdisplayofour
appearanceoftheircustoms,or offended
ofourcustoms,theydenytheirChristand folfaithor thedeformity
low Muhammad."20
Amongthosevulnerableto the "splendorof the
Turkishreligion"or to thepowersofthe Devil wasLutherhimself.In
Psalmshe describeshow closehe had cometo
a sectionofhis Selected
oftheDevil:
to thetemptations
succumbing
whichI
is interested
Whoever
myexample,
mayearna lessonfrom
- whenI didnotbearthisprincipal
A fewtimes
shallnowconfess.
- theDevilcaught
mewith
inmind
upwithmeandplagued
teaching
untilheavenandearthbecametoosmallforme.
passages
Scripture
17Desiderius
of
ed. ErikaRummel(Toronto:
TheErasmus
Reader,
Erasmus,
University
Toronto
Press,1000),p. 315.
18EdwardSaid,Orientalism
(New York:VintageBooks,1978),pp. 61-73. Fr more
scholars'
debtto medievalChristian
on Luther's
conceptsofIslam,see DavidChoi,"MarandContrast
withtheMedieval
Threat:Continuity
tinLuther's
Responseto theTurkish
RiccoldaDa MonteCroceand NicholasofCusa" (PhD diss.,Princeton
Commentators
2003).
University,
19Lutherprovided
to hisfollowers
as to howtheyshouldbehave
instructions
specific
armies.Whilehe counseled
andenslavedbyOttoman
weretheyto be captured
/Muslim
otherChristians
hisfollowers
nottofight
(evenifthatmeantdeath),he advisedChristian
"Luther
andthe
toMuslimmenifnecessary.
womentoacceptsexualsubmission
EgilGrislis,
PartI & II,"Muslim
World
Turks,
64 (1974): 278.
20HenrichandBoyce,"Martin
Luther,"
p. 260.

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384

JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 2OO9

Then all thewordsand lawsofmanwereright,and not an errorwas

to be foundin thewholepapacy.In short,theonlyone whohad ever
erredwas Luther.All mybestworks,teachings,sermons,and books
The abominableMuhammadalmostbecamemy
hadtobe condemned.
and bothTurksandJewswereon thewayto puresainthood.
prophet,
be notproudor sureand certainthatyou
dearbrother,
Therefore,
whatthe
knowChristwell.You hearwhatI confessto you,admitting
Devil wasable to do againstLuther,who is supposedto be a doctorin
thisart,whohas preached,composed,written,
said,sung,and readso
muchin thesematters.
So takemyadvice,and do not celebratetoo
soon. Watch out thatyourskilldoes not desertyou. Be concerned,
be humble,and praythatyoumaygrowin thisartand be protected
Devil.21
againstthecrafty
It is importantthatLuther'sconcernswithIslam werenot grounded
solelyin the "craftiness"ofthe Devil or the "Turks."As he clearlyindicates, theyalso reflectedhis belief that Europe's Catholic theologians
weretoo intellectuallyand spirituallyweak to protectordinaryEuropeans fromthe allure of the Devil and conversionto Islam. In his introduction to the Tracton theReligionand Customsof theTurks,he asserts

wouldconvertto Islamifthey"spentthree
thatCatholictheologians
22Luther
the
Turks."
theseaccusationsbypublidaysamong
supported
on
the
and
theworksofEuropeans
texts
Islam,including Qur'an,
cizing
Thiswasan unusualstepanywhere
whohad visitedMuslimterritories.
and Catholiccommuin sixteenth-century
Europe,whereProtestant
In
nitiesbannedtextsdealingwithIslamas a threatto Christianity.23
before
to
use
considerable
the
Luther
had
city
1542,
politicalpressure
Latin
councilof Basel lifteditsban on publishingLuther'spreferred
oftheQur'an.24
translation
Nor did Luther'sinterestin Islamgo unnoticedbyhis adversaries
in theCatholicChurch,which,in thewordsofthepapalnuncioFranevil to Christendom
believedLutherwas a "greater
cesco Chieregati,
21MinouReeves,Muhammad
in Europe(Reading,UK: Garnet,2000),pp. 119-135;
andFrancoCardini,EuropeandIslam,trans.CarolineBeamish(Maiden,Mass.:Blackwell
Publishers,
2001),pp. 147-150.
L HenrichandBoyce,MartinLuther,p. 259.
23Manyofthetextson IslamthatLutherpromoted
wereon theCatholicChurch's
theIndexLibrorum
Prohibitorum.
SusanR. Boettcher,
officiai
listofbannedpublications,
in theAge ofConfessional
Consolidation:
"GermanOrientalism
JacobAndrea'sThirteen
StudiesofSouthAsia, Africa,and theMiddleEast 24,
Sermonson theTurk,1568,"Comparative

no. 2 (2004): 103.

24HenrichandBoyce,"Martin
tosuppress
thesame
Luther,"
p. 255.Zrichthreatened
translation
oftheQur'anas well.

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Basin
andSocialChangeintheAtlantic
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385

halfof the sixteenthcentury,

thanthe Turk."25Throughoutthe first
variousCatholicthinkers
soughtto provethattherewereclose simiand Islamin areasas diverseas freedom
laritiesbetweenLutheranism
One Catholicwriter,
ofworshipto celibacyofpriests.
JohannesCochTurkishruleto thatofthe Catholaeus,accusedLutherofpreferring
lic Church,praisingthe Qur'an, and seekingto confuseEuropean
OtherwritaboutthetruenatureoftheOttomanthreat.26
Christians
halfof the sixteenth
ersstressedthatthe Ottomansultanin the first
saw Lutheras a valuableally to
century,
Suleymanthe Magnificent,
viewsto
oftenattributed
theempire's
cause.WhileCatholiccriticisms
to publicly
believeditnecessary
Lutherhe didnothold,he nonetheless
rule.27
him"fromlivingunderSuleyman's
beseechGod "topreserve
his
did
Luther
and
In lightofthesecriticisms,
why
contemporaries,
instiofthechiefreligious
thelegitimacy
whowerealreadychallenging
tutionin Europe,the CatholicChurch,investtimeand resourcesin
chiefenemyduring
knowledgeaboutIslam,Christendom's
promoting
and
Islam'sstrength
The answeris thatdemonstrating
his lifetime?
tenets
of
central
to
the
Catholicism
was
Roman
over
key
superiority
not
fit
to
lead
Church
was
views:
the
Catholic
Luther's
Christendom,
His desire
and thesuccessofthe"Turks"wasGod's wayofarticulating
Islam
reform.
For
forEuropeansto repentand to
Luther,
understanding
ofhis
see
the
thesurestpathforChristianEuropeansto
offered
veracity
the
Cathoof
themoraland spiritual
contention
bankruptcy
regarding
lic Church'sleadersand theurgentneed to findnewleadership.28
The Emergence of European Nationalism
Ottomanpoweralso droveimportant
politicalchangein Europedurto the rise
centuries,
contributing
ingthe sixteenthand seventeenth
in twokeyways.First,the
and newnationalidentities
ofnation-states
25Setton,"Lutheranism
andtheTurkish
Peril,"p. 147.
26Ibid.,pp. 158-159.
27"WhenLutherwas informed
the Magnificent]
tender
of the sultan's[Suleyman
himfromthisgracious
and besought
God 'to preserve
forhim,he crossedhimself
regard
lord.'"Ibid.,p. 148.
28Itshouldbe notedthatLutherwasnottheonlyProtestant
leadertodiscussIslamin
andintellectual
Luther's
thesixteenth
companion,
PhilipMelanclv
contemporary
century.
for
ErnstofSaxonyin 1537"itisoftheverygreatest
thon,wroteDukeJohann
importance
withTurkish
affairs."
ourprinces
togeta thorough
Ibid.,p. 162.JohnCalvin
acquaintance
on Islam,see
also discussed
Islam,as didJacobAndrea.Formoreon Andrea'ssermons
"German
Orientalism,"
Boettcher,
pp. 105-110.

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JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 2OO

386

OttomanEmpire'spresencein Europeanpoliticsallowedleadersfrom
Englandto the Balkansto use allianceswithIstanbulto counterthe
ChristianEuropeanrivals.Second,
policiesoflargerandmorepowerful
attackedEuropeancoastalareasand seizedmorethan
Muslimmariners
a millionEuropeans.These attacksdecimatedcoastalregions,underredefined
nationalidentiofsomegovernments,
minedthe authority
to extendunprecedented
ties,and compelledsomegovernments
rights
- rightsthatbecamecornerstones
of
to theirsubjects
and guarantees
tradition
theEuro-Atlantic
today.
legal
One saw thistwo-track
processunfoldacrossEuropefromthe sixWhile one might
teenthcenturyuntilthe mid eighteenthcentury.
that
the
Ottomanthreat
contention
Fischer-Galati's
questionStephen
thereis no
of
the
Protestant
the
survival
Reformation,29
guaranteed
of
the
Ottoman
doubtthatthe simultaneous
challenges
Empireand
taxed the resourcesand complicated
Reformation
of the Protestant
the strategiccalculationsof Catholic leaders.On multipleoccasions- includingperiodswhenOttomanarmiesappearedto threaten
soldiers
statesin Germanyrefusedto contribute
Europe- Protestant
the
Ottoman
armies30
or
in military
to participate
operationsagainst
discussfundingwarsagainstthe OttomanswithCatholic Habsburg
For
beforeall internalreligiousissueshad been resolved.31
officials
- CharlesV of Spain
all of theirpowerand wealth,Catholic leaders
- had littlechoicebutto negotiatedirectly
and FerdinandI ofAustria
withsmallerGermanstatesand respecttheirreligiousviews,no matterhowobjectionabletheyappearedto be to Catholicaudiences.This
as absolutemonarchies
wasa majorblowto statesthatsawthemselves
beholdento no one exceptGod.
Nor were Catholic resourcesstretchedonly in Germany.In its
withtheNetherlands,
conflicts
France,and England,
manyprotracted
allianceswiththe
Spain alwayshad to allow forthe factof military
farremoved
OttomanEmpire,whichcouldstrikeSpanishpossessions
to cirfromWesternEurope.DutchCalvinistsusedOttomanmarkets
29

and GermanProtestantism,
1521Stephen A. Fischer-Galati,OttomanImperialism

Mass.:Harvard
Press,1959),p. 117.
University
(Cambridge,
I55530
ofGermans,
in 1532a well-equipped
Forinstance,
manyProtestants,
including
army
and muchsmallerOttomanforce
to pursuea retreating
assembled
at Viennaandrefused
had madeno commitfrontiers
becausetheirgovernments
imperial
beyondtheHabsburg
see JohnW. Bohnstedt,
Formoreon thisincident,
mentto offensive
military
operations.
ofthe
Menacesas SeenbyGermanPamphleteers
"TheInfidel
ScourgeofGod:TheTurkish
Reformation
Era,"Transactions
Society58, no. 9 (1968): 7.
oftheAmericanPhilosophical

31OfcourseFerdinand
Protestant
orCharlescouldavoidtheheadacheofseeking
supfoundoutin 1562,peace
But,as Ferdinand
portandbuypeacewiththeOttomanEmpire.
ofterritorial
claims
andtherenunciation
a steeppricetoo:30,000ducatsannually
carried
"German
intheBalkans.Boettcher,
Orientalism,"
p. 102.

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andSocialChangeintheAtlantic
Basin
Foley:Muslims

387

cumventa Spanishembargoon DutchtradewithIberia- an embargo

meantto punishHollandforseekingindependencefromthe Spanish
crown.Thanksin partto Ottomanmarketsand military
assistance,
the Dutchwon theirindependencein 1609. Protestant
Englandand
CatholicFrancealso usedOttomanpoweras a vehicleto asserttheir
In
nationalidentityand interests
againstSpain'spowerin Europe.32
one instance,Spain was compelledto releaseFrance'sking,FrancisI,
afterSpanisharmiesseizedhimand defeatedtheFrencharmy
shortly
at Pavia in 1525: the OttomanEmpirehad signaleditsdesireforthe
immediate
releaseoftheFrenchking.Subsequently,
Francisadmitted
to a Venetiandiplomatthathe saw the OttomanEmpireas the only
forcecapableof"guaranteeing
thecombinedexistenceofthestatesof
Europe"againstSpanishpower.33
the Ottomanabilityto strikeat Spanishpossessions
Importantly,
its largearmyand formifarremovedfromEasternEuropereflected
navalpower.Fulfilling
theprediction
ofthe
dableformaland informal
Ibn
Khaldun
that
African
Arab
historian
North
fourteenth-century
mariners
would"attackthe Christiansand conquerthe landsof the
Moroccans,Tunisians,and Algeriansseized
EuropeanChristians,"34
Christiansand wreakedhavoc on Europe'smaritimecommerceand
fromthe easternMediterranean
Sea to Iceland.
coastalcommunities
a fifth
oftheir
and
other
communities
lost
Cornwall,Devon,
English
in
first
of
the
seventeenth
and
thousands
of
sailors
the
third
shipping
on Italywas far
centuryalone.35Yet,the impactof Muslimmariners
RobertDavid notesin Christian
Slaves,MuslimMasters,that
greater.
large stretchesof Italy'sonce populous coastlinewere uninhabit32In the1580s,QueenElizabeth
securedprofitable
forEnglishmertrading
privileges
reserved
chantsfromtheOttomanEmpirethathad beenpreviously
onlyforFrenchmen.
to Ottomanofficials
commonEnglishandOttoman
She wontheseprivileges
bystressing
- strict
- andideological
andvigorous
iconoclasm
monotheism
hostility
religious
practices
Elizabeth
wasso successful
thatOttoman
officials
believedthat
toCatholicHabsburg
power.
wereon thevergeofconverting
toIslaminthelate1580s;all theyhadtodo was
theEnglish
recitetheconfessions
offaith.
FormoreonAnglo-Ottoman
thesixteenth
during
diplomacy
see BernadetteAndrea,Womenand Islamin EarlyModernEnglishLiterature
(Camcentury,
bridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2007), pp. 20-24.
33 Lord Kinross,The OttomanCenturies(New York:Morrow
Quill Paperbacks,1977),

pp. 174,183-185.
34Khaldun,TheMuqadimah,
is thefullquotation:"The rank
p. 213. The following
to thisdayin thedynasties
oftheMaghrib
(ofadmiral)hasbeenpreserved
[NorthAfrica].
isstillpreserved),
andhowto takecareofa fleet,
how
There,theidentity
(oftheadmiralty
willarisein
tobuildshipsandnavigate
somepoliticalopportunity
them,isknown.Perhaps
willaskthewindto blowagainstunbelief
andunbethecostalcountries,
andtheMuslims
lievers.
The inhabitants
oftheMaghrib
haveiton authority
ofthebooksofprediction
that
willyethavetomakea successful
theChristians
andconquerthe
theMuslims
attackagainst
landsofEuropean
Christians
beyondthesea.This,itissaid,willtakeplacebysea."
J5LindaColley,Captives
(NewYork:RandomHouse,2002),p. 49.

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388

JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 2OO

infested
withTurks"throughout
thesixteenthand
able- "continually
miles
seventeenth
centuries.
(even tento twenty
Fishingand farming
wellintotheeighteenth
inland)remaineddangerous
pursuits
century
along muchof the Italiancoast,especiallyin Sicilyand otherareas
closeto NorthAfrica.36
Amongthe manyseizedChristianresidentsof Europeand other
was theSpanishwriter
regionsoftheAtlanticworld37
Miguelde Cerin the
vantes.He was a leadingfigurein Spain'sculturalflourishing
the
de
Oro
an
sixteenth
and
archi("Golden
century, Sigio
Century"),
tectof Spain'sthenemerging
nationalidentity.
As a Spanishsoldier
he was capturedin 1575 whileon a boat in the Mediterranean
with
his brother.
He spentfiveyearsas a slavein theNorthAfricancityof
fromtheTrinitarian
Catholicordereventually
won
Algiersuntila friar
his release.Cervantes'stimein captivity
was a seminalperiodin his
In thewordsofleadingCervantesexpert
lifeand literary
development.
Bautista
the
is the"hinge"that"forcefully
Avalle-Arce, captivity
Juan
Cervantes's
entire
life.38
The late Spanishhistorian
organizes"
literary
AmricoCastroand the SpanishnovelistJuanGoytisolohave simiCervantes'scaptivityin Algiersas the centralexperilarlyidentified
ence ofhis lifeand a decisivemomentin his formation
as a writer.39
one
cannot
the
understand
of
Cervantes's
work
Indeed,
truly
meaning
withoutcomingto termswithhis experiencein Arab-Muslim
culture
in NorthAfrica.
One neednotlookfurther
thanDon Quixote,hismostwell-known
workand an important
novel in the Westernliterary
canon, to see
the importance
of captivityforCervantes.In "The Captive'sTale,"
the chiefcharacteris a Spanishsoldierwho, like Cervantes,is capturedat sea and spendsyearsenslavedin theBao,a prisonin Algiers.
the tale,he discusseshis despairat his fate,his desireto
Throughout
win his freedomat anycost,and negativeand positiverelationships
withmale and femaleMuslims.The captive'sescape- an experience
- ismadepossiblebythe
on Earth
thathe assertsiswithoutcomparison
ofseveralMuslimfriends,
generosity
includinga youngfemaleconvert
to Spain,thecaptiveand hiscompanto Christianity.
Upon returning
ionsreceivean enthusiastic
welcomefromthewholepopulationofthe
36 RobertDavis, ChristianSlaves,MuslimsMasters:White
Slaveryin theMediterranean,
theBarbaryCoast, and Italy(New York:PalgraveMacmillan,2003), pp. 139-140.
37 For instance,11 ofthe
390 Englishprisonersransomedin Algiersin 1680 werefrom
New England and New York.Michael B. Oren, Power,Faith,and Fantasy:Americain the
MiddleEast 1776 to thePresent(New York:W. W. Norton,2007), p. 19.
38 Antonia Garcs,A
Captive'sTale: Cervantesin Algiers(Nashville,Tenn.: Vanderbilt
UniversityPress,2003), p. 15.
39 Ibid.

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andSocialChangeintheAtlantic
Basin
Foley:Muslims

389

ofa freedChriscityofVlezMlaga.Cervantesnotesthatthereturn
tianwas an important
but stillregularaspectof dailylifeon Spain's
coast:VlezMalaga'sinhabitants
"weren'tsurprised
to see freedprisoners"for"everyone
wholivedon thatcoasthad longsinceseen"them.40
Cervanteslinks"The Captive'sTale" to theAtlanticand
Furthermore,
widerIslamicworlds:thecaptiveandothersin thestoryhad spenttime
in theOttomancapital,Istanbul,and thecaptive'sbrother
traveledto
theAmericasto seekhisfortune.41
AlthoughDon Quixoteis a fictionalstory,Cervantes'sdepiction
ofthereturn
offreedEuropeancaptivesis historically
accurate.Freed
as
as
Cervantes
or
Europeans important
simplyordinaryindividuals oftenparticipated
in publicparadesaftertheyreturned
to Europe.
These eventsweremeantto symbolize
theirreintegration
intoEuroand
to
win
more
funds
for
the
Trinitarians
and
other
peansociety
organizationsdedicatedto freeing
Europeancaptives.In somenationsthe
slavesworetheirchains
paradeswereenormousspectacles,as "former
and tattered
clothing."42
Equallyimportant,
Europeancaptives,Muslimattacks,and the
tiedto themsparkednewnationalconsciousnesses,
national
publicity
and ultimately
social changein Englandand laterFrance.43
missions,
In both,thisprocesscementedtheprinciplethatonlynon-Europeans
shouldbe enslaved,and as suchtheyglorified
"free"laborand efforts
to combatMuslimslavery.
One can see thismissionas earlyas Shakemomentin Britishhistory:
speare'sdepictionofa defining
HenryV's
overtheFrenchand his marriage
victory
proposalto PrincessKatherofthekingofFrance.Henrytriesto winKatherine's
ine,thedaughter
heartby promising
her thattheirfutureson will liberateConstanti"Ifeverthoubeestmine,Kate,as I have a
noplefromtheOttomans:44
savingfaithwithinme tellsme thoushalt,I gettheewithscambling,
and thoumusttherefore
needsprovea goodsoldier-breeder.
Shall not
thouand I, betweenSaint Denis and Saint George,compounda boy,
halfFrench,halfEnglish,thatshallgo to Constantinople
and takethe
40Cervantes,
DonQuixote,
vol. 1,chap.41.
41Ibid.,vol. 1,chap.39. It isworth
weavesCid HameteBenennotingthatCervantes
Arabhistorian,
intovarious
as a narrator
andcharacter.
geli,a fictional
partsofDonQuixote
Cervantes
evenimplies
thatBenengeli
is therealauthorofthestory
andthatitwasorigiin Arabic.Formoreon theSpanishauthor's
useofBenengeli,
see ibid.,vol.
nallywritten
Don Quixote:A Reference
Guide(Westport,
1, chap.9 and HowardMancing,Cervantes'
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006), pp. 41-42, 109-115, 120-122, and 147.

42 Davis, Inhuman
Bondage,p. 78.

43NicholasHudson,"'Britons
NeverWill Be Slaves':NationalMyth,Conservatism,
andtheBeginnings
ofBritish
Studies
Antislavery,"
Eighteenth-Century
34,no.4 (2001): 564.
44WilliamShakespeare,
(NewYork:PenguinBooks,
HenryV., ed. A. R. Humphreys
aretoact,scene,andline.
1996),5:2.201-209.References

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39O

JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 2OO9

Turkbythebeard?Shall we not?What say'stthou,myfairflower-deluce?"Yet it is unlikelythatthe real Henrymade such a promiseto

did not fallto the OttomanEmpire
KatherinesinceConstantinople
until1453- threedecadesafterHenryproposedto Katherinein 1420.
ofHenry'spromiseto Katherinewas
Nonetheless,thestoryor "myth"
in
national
consciousness
and identity
central
by
English
sufficiently
thesixteenthcentury
thatShakespearefeltcompelledto use it in his
ofitshistoricalvalidity.45
masLiterary
playon Henry'sliferegardless
to
need
of
the
such
as
bear
the
V,
Henry
testimony
English
terpieces,
even at themostintenseperiodofnationalism to definethemselves
in relationto theMuslimworld.46
evidencedin
The IslamicelementofEnglishnationalconsciousness
in
as
still
the
seventeenth
Muslim
mariV
century,
Henry grew stronger
oftheislandnation'snational
timeattackschallengedthecornerstone
the ocean was the sourceof Englisheconomic,military,
mythology:
As LindaColleyobservesin Captives,theStuart
and politicalvitality.
ofEnglishmen
failure
to
stopMuslimattacksand enslavement
kings'
factorthatrobbedthemof legitimacy
and helped
was an important
"toprovokethecivilwarsthattoreEnglandand itsadjacentcountries
soughtto avoidtheStuapartafter1642."47Subsequentgovernments
arts'fatebystrengthening
the Englishnavy,payingMuslimmariners
thegovernment's
notto attackEnglishships,andpubliclyemphasizing
fullcommitment
to preventing
the enslavementof Englishmenon
thisnationalmissionand
the highseas. By the eighteenthcentury,
to it had becomeinstitutionalized,
as
the government's
commitment
in
words
of
Thomson's
Britannia":
evidenced the
James
poem "Rule,
rulethewaves;Britonsneverwillbe slaves."48
"Rule,Britannia,

45 Cardini,
Europeand Islam,p. 117.
46 There are still
operasabout the captivephenomenonthatwere
regularly
performed
Two examplesare Wolfgang
writtencenturiesafterShakespeare'sand Cervantes'slifetimes.

aus demSerail)(1782) and

TheAbduction
AmadeusMozart's
(Die Entfhrung
from
Seraglio
inAlgeri)(1813). I thank
TheItalianGirlofAlgiers
GioachinoAntonioRossini's
(L'Italiana
ofthesetwoplays.
meofthehistorical
PaulduQuenoyforreminding
significance
47Colley,Captives,
intheEnglish
CivilWarwasCharles
critical
factor
p. 50. Another
theconsentofParliaI's decisionto impose"shipmoney"on theEnglishpeoplewithout
counties
tobuilda navyandtoprotect
on allEnglish
ment."Shipmoney"
wasa taximposed
from
Muslimpirates.
from
seaborne
merchants
andcoastalcommunities
attacks,
including
inthepastbutnoton inland
coastalcommunities
on English
Sucha taxhadbeenimposed
whichfacedlittledangerofattack.
communities,
48PatriciaMeyerSpacks,Eighteenth-Century
Cliffs,
N.J.:PrenticePoetry
(Englewood
Hall,Inc.,1964),p. 142;and Davis,Inhuman
Bondage,
p. 78. In a revisedversionofthe
Guineaofher
poem,Thomsonaddedthelines"thatcrueltrade/Whichspoilsunhappy
NeverWillBe Slaves,'"p. 566.
sons."Hudson,"'Britons

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Basin
andSocialChangeintheAtlantic
Foley:Muslims

391

of
attacksand enslavement
Acrossthe channel,Muslimmaritime
led to significant
ChristianEuropeansin the Mediterranean
changes
to theircentralgovinhowtheFrenchconceivedoftheirrelationship
ernmentand basic rightsas subjectsof the Frenchking.As Gillian
Weissobservesin herstudyofpetitionsforwarded
byFrenchcaptives
inNorthAfricafrom1500to 1800,"Barbary
Captivityand theFrench
FrenchmonarchsignoredtheplightofFrenchcapIdea ofFreedom,"
French
tivesin NorthAfricabeforethe late seventeenthcentury.49
men and womencaughtin slaveryin NorthAfricainsteadsought
and adminfamiliesin theirhomecommunities
theaid ofprominent
Chamber
Marseilles
the
as
town
such
istrative
councils,
institutions,
were
Because theseinstitutions
ofCommerce,and Catholicorders.50
efforts
on
focused
their
local society,
focusedon preserving
freeing
they
families.Althoughthe
thosewithlocal tiesand thosewho supported
Frenchupheldtheprinciplethatall thosewhowerefromthekingdom
freedom
wereguaranteed
("thereareno slavesin France"),in realitya
fromslaveryin NorthAfrica
Frenchcaptive'sabilityto securefreedom
in
andsocialrolethererather
France
local
his
or
her
on
identity
hinged
"French."
as
his
or
her
national
than
identity
Muslimcaptivesand the growing
But the publicitysurrounding
made it appearthat
Mediterranean
in
the
mightof the Frenchstate
a
was
no
ofFrenchmen
theenslavement
longer purelya local concern.
to the Frenchmonarch'spower
It was now seen as a seriousaffront
Whereasseventeenth-century
and his glory.51
petitionsfromunfortuor sailorsmoreoftenstressed"regionalconnections,"
nate merchants
appeals wereaddresseddirectlyto the kingand
eighteenth-century
often"offered
Duringthe finalyearsofLouis
paeansto the patrie."52
the Frenchstatepaid ransoms
XIV's ruleand thoseofhis successors,
measuresusingitsmostadvancedweaponsagainst
and tookaggressive
Muslimstatesto bothprotectand freeFrenchcaptives.By doingso,
twoprinciplesof Frenchlaw and laterEuro-Atlantic
Louis solidified
ofsocialstatusandgeographic
life:all subjects,
origin,should
regardless
ofthestateto guaranteethatfreebe free,and itwastheresponsibility
whereyouwerefromwithinFranceorwhat
dom.It no longermattered
yoursocialrolewas.And out ofthesepromisesin partwouldemerge
Frenchnationalidentity.
49 Gillian Weiss,"BarbaryCaptivityand the FrenchIdea ofFreedom,"FrenchHistorical
Studies28, no. 2 (2005): 239.
50 Ibid.
51 Ibid.,
pp. 247-248.
52 Ibid.,
p. 255.

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392

JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 2OO9

Islam, Natural Law, Universal Human Rights

Those principles,in turn,would also play an integralrole in two
groundbreaking
sociopoliticalmovementsin the Euro-Atlanticin
whichIslamonceagainplayedan important
role:theWaroftheAmerican Revolutionand the riseofuniversalnotionsofhumanrightsin
theEnglish-speaking
world.Forphilosophers
suchas JohnLocke and
ThomasJefferson,
Muslimswerenot a signalof God's disfavoror a
seriousstrategic
threatrequiring
nationalunityand immediatestate
action.Instead,Muslimsfunctioned
as a centralelementin a political
debatein whichtheirinclusionin Euro-Atlanticsocietyand politioftheirvisionof
cal structures
theuniversality
helpedto demonstrate
humanrights
and politicalfreedoms.
to a politicaldebateorigAt first
Islam'scentrality
glance,however,
in
and
North
Americashouldcome
inating English-speaking
Europe
as a surprise.
While manyoftheleaderswhofirst
led Europeanexplorationsin theAmericashad experiencefighting
Muslimsand brought
Muslimfarming
techniques(i.e., riceand sugarplantations)to British
NorthAmerica,Muslimslackeda presencethereequivalentto theone
Americancoastalsettlements
theymaintainedin the Mediterranean.
withMuslimsnor attackedby them.Muslim
werenever"infested"
wereoverwhelmingly
slavesand situatedin theAmerican
populations
In Charlestonand
south,especiallyin the Carolinasand Georgia.53
othercitiesin theCarolinasand Georgiaone couldfindArabicspeakIslamicrituals,such as fastingdurers,and someMuslimsperformed
saraka,a sugarcake usedbyWestAfrican
ingRamadanand preparing
Muslimsforvoluntary
alms.54
(Makingsarakasurvivedas an African-

53PeterH. Wood,DanielC. Littlefield,

A. Carney,
andotherscholars
havelong
Judith
thepreference
ofEuro'Americans
forSenegambians,
thatthesepopulations
reflected
argued
thechiefcropin theCarolinasand Georgia,rice.This thesis,or the
at growing
experts
butwasrecently
"BlackRiceThesis,"hasbeenwidely
challenged
acceptedamongscholars
in theAmerican
Historical
Review.
byDavidEltis,PhilipMorgan,and DavidRichardson
In thearticle,theyarguedthatstatistical
ofslavevoyagedatasuggested
thatthe
analysis
offactors
and notsolelywiththe
had to do witha multitude
presenceofSenegambians
ofsouthern
forslavesfroma particular
planters
regionofAfrica.Formoreon
preferences
andDavidRichardson,
andDias'
thiscontroversy,
seeDavidEltis,PhilipMorgan,
"Agency
in the
theAfrican
Contribution
to RiceCultivation
Reassessing
porain AtlanticHistory:
American
Historical
Review
Americas,"
112,no. 5 (December2007): 1329-1358.
4
SylvianeA. Diouf,ServantsofAllah: AfricanMuslimsEnslavedin theAmericas(New
York:New YorkUniversityPress,1998), pp. 65-66 and 75-80.

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andSocialChangeintheAtlantic
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393

Americantraditioninto the twentiethcenturyand appearsin Toni

Morrison's
novel SongofSobmon.)55Despitetheseseveralinstances,
therewereveryfewidentifiably
Muslimcommunities
in theCarolinas,
else in colonialBritishNorthAmerica.56
Georgia,oranywhere
The absenceofa clearMuslimpresence,
didnotmeanthat
however,
AnglophileNorthAmericanswereunawareofIslam,The accountsof
Europeans(and someAmericans)enslavedin Muslimsocieties,Protestantsermons,and otherwritings
on Islam gave Anglo-Americans
theconfidence
thatthey,likeMartinLuther,
had sufficient
knowledge
ofIslamto use it as a toolto establishthesuperiority
oftheirreligious
beliefsoverall "challengers"
and to undermine
thelegitimacy
ofIslam.
References
toMuslims"pepperthepublicdocuments
ofearlyAmerica"
andwerecentralto thecollectiveidentity
ofcolonialAmericans.57
For
Protestant
Christians
lived
in
free
societies
and
were
entitled
to
them,
while
Muslims
in
lived
societies
that
hindered
liberty,
despotic
liberty
and progress
and wereessentially
definedby slavery.The once flourishingsocietiesoftheMuslimMiddleEast also provideda cautionary
tale formanyAmericansof whatcould happeniftheyhinderedthe
ofliberty.58
As TimothyMarrand otherscholarshave noted,
progress
this"Orientalist"
continuesto definemuchofthecontemperspective
American
discussions
of
Islamand Muslimsocieties.59
porary
Such "Orientalist"
beliefsallowedcolonialAmericansto maintain
theirprejudices,but even misinformation
mayretainan elementof
ofinformation.
At leastcolonialAmericanswerenotcompletely
truth,
wouldnot have purchasedGeorgeSale's
ignorantof Islam.Jefferson

55In thenovel,thecharacter
Milkmanhearsa groupofchildren
a songthat
singing
refers
to making
sarakacake.ToniMorrison,
specifically
(NewYork:PenSongofSolomon
guinBooksUSA, 1987),p. 303.
56NorwereMuslims
confined
to southern
colonies.Anthony
VanVaes,often
Jansen
called"Anthony
theTurk,"livedin whatwouldbecomeNew Yorkin theseventeenth
He appears
incourtrecords
as a prominent
landlord
andmayhaveconcentury.
frequently
verted
hisDutchwifetoIslam.NewYork's
mostlikely
contained
heterogeneous
populations
someMuslims
theeighteenth
sincethecity'smerchants
carried
during
century,
especially
outa profitable
tradein slavesandothergoodswithMadagascar,
whichhadan important
Muslimminority
Formoreon theseissues,see MichaelA. Gomez,BlackCrespopulation.
cent:TheExperience
andLegacy
intheAmericas
Muslims
ofAfrican
(Cambridge:
Cambridge
Press,2005),pp. 128-142,148-149.
University
5/Kidd, Is It WorsetoFollowMahometthantheDevil?"
pp. 766-767.
58RobertJ.Allison,TheCrescent
Obscured:
The United
StatesandtheMuslimWorld,
ofChicagoPress,1995),p. 46.
1776-181$(Chicago:University
RootsofAmerican
Islamicism
Marr,TheCultural
Timothy
(Cambridge:
Cambridge
Press,2006),pp. 1-19.
University

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394

JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 2OO

translation
to the Qur'an had he not read Freiherr
von Pufendorf
's
Of theLaw ofNatureand Nations,whichobservesthatthe Qur'an's
teachingson murder,
revenge,and a hostofotherissuesareconsistent
withGreco-Romanbeliefsand naturallaw. In addition,Sale, in the
introduction
to the Qur'an thatJefferson
bought,arguespassionately
thatgainingan understanding
of the Qur'an constituted
an element
of"contemporary"
"To
be
with
the
variouslaw
knowledge:
acquainted
and constitutions
ofcivilizednations,especiallythoseofwhoflourish
in ourowntime,is,perhaps,themostusefulpartofknowledge."60
Nor wereSale's arguments
or a positiveviewof Islamuncommon
or necessarilyantitheticalto mainstreamEuro-Americanthought
in eitherthe seventeenth
or the eighteenthcentury.
Europeansmay
have notconsideredIslamequal to Christianity,
but,as Colleyrightly
observes,theyviewedits achievementsand urbancivilizationwith
- ifnot awe at times.61
enormousrespect
The Englishlexicographer
SamuelJohnsonarticulated
thisviewpoint:"Thereare twoobjectsof
- the Christianworld,and the Mahometan[Muslim]world.
curiosity
All therestmaybe consideredas barbarous."62
In "A LetterConcernthe
wentso faras
ingToleration,"
JohnLocke,
Englishphilosopher,
to arguethatMuslimsshouldnot be excludedfromenjoyingEnglish
civilrightssolelybecauseoftheirreligion(a righthe did not extend
to ChristianCatholics):"Nay,ifwe mayopenlyspeakthe truth,and
as becomesone manto another,
neitherpagan,norMahometan[Musnor
to
be
excluded
fromthe civil rightsof the comlim],
Jew,ought
because
of
his
monwealth,
religion.The Gospel commandsno such
thing.The church,'whichjudgethnot thosethatare without,'I Cor.
V. 11, wantsit not. And the commonwealth,
whichembracesindifall menthatare honest,peaceful,and industrious,
ferently
requiresit
not."63Locke'swordsreflected
his own acquaintancewithIslam:he
readArabic,owneda Qur'an,and knewleadingEnglishArabists.64

60 The Koran,trans.
George Sale, 5th ed. (Philadelphia:J.W. Moore, 1856), p. iv.
61
Colley,Captives,p. 106.
'
6 Albert Hourani, Islam in
European Thought, in Islam in EuropeanThought,by
AlbertHourani (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1991), p. 11.
63
inTwo TreatiesofGovernment
anda Letter
Toleration,
JohnLocke,A LetterConcerning
ed. Ian Shapiro (New Haven, Conn.: Yale UniversityPress,2003),
Toleration,
Concerning
p. 249.
64 G. A. Russell, The
Autodidactus:
Pocokes,JohnLocke,and
ImpactofthePhilosophus
the Societyof Friends,"in The "Arabick"Interest
in Seventeenthof theNaturalPhilosophers
CenturyEngland,ed. G. A. Russell(Leiden: E. J.Brill,1994), pp. 231, 238-239, 247.

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Basin
andSocialChangeintheAtlantic
Foley:Muslims

395

As Jefferson
soughtto reconcilenaturallawwiththeStampAct,he
embracedthe visionof IslamadvocatedbyLocke.65He learnedAratwoleading
oftheQur'an,and befriended
bic,purchaseda translation
scholarsoftheArabworld,C. E VolneyandSamuelHenley.66
Jefferson's
assertion
in
Locke's
Noteson Religion,
quotes
published 1776,directly
becauseoftheirreligious
thatMuslimsshouldnotbe deniedcivilrights
beliefs.Jefferson
appliedsimilarvalues when he proposedVirginia's
Decadesafterthebill
BillforEstablishing
ReligiousFreedomin 177c-67
recalledin his memoirsthatthe bill protected
becamelaw,Jefferson
of"theJew,thegentile,theChristianand Mahometan[i.e.,
therights
the
Muslim], Hindoo,and infidelofeverydenomination."68
Together,
on theBillforEstablishandhiscomments
NotesonReligion
Jefferson's
ingReligiousFreedomsignala consciousinclusionof Muslimsin his
and politicalequality.What was thebasisofthis
notionsoftoleration
notion?
vision of human rightschallengedthe
universalistic
Jefferson's
flowedfroma specific
that
group's
Anglo-American
principle freedoms
did not believethat
will
be
never
slaves).69
(Britons
Jefferson
identity
ChriswerefreebecausetheywereAmericansorProtestant
Americans
tians.He couldnot crediblyclaimthatthe valueshe promotedwere
trulyuniversalunlesshe showedthattheyappliedto Muslimsas well
constructs
Orientalist
as to all othermen.ForJefferson,
deconstructing
For
in
the
United
States.
success
of
forthe
was a precondition
liberty
men
are
created
that"all
him,itwas"self-evident"
equal."

65

did not adopt the negativeview of Muhammad and Islam that Voltaire
Jefferson
presentsin Mahometou le Fantaismeor even the slightlymorenuanced versionof Muhammad the Frenchauthorpresentsin L'Essai surlesMoeursdesNations.For moreon Voltaire's
viewsof Islamand Muhammad,see Cardini,Europeand Islam,pp. 155-161.
66 Kevin
Read the Qur'an," EarlyAmericanLiterature
J.Hays,"How Thomas Jefferson
2 (2004): 257-258, 261.
no.
39,
0/ Ihomas
Fublished
lhe CompleteJefferson:
ContainingHis Major Writings,
Jetterson,
and Unpublished,
ExceptHis Letters,ed. Saul K. Padover (Freeport,N.Y.: Books forLibraries
Press,1969), p. 945.
68 Denise A.
ConSpellberg,"Could a MuslimBe President?An Eighteenth-Century
made
Studies39, no. 4 (2006): 490-491. Jefferson
stitutionalDebate," Eighteenth-Century
an equally strongstatementin 1818 in a letterto the firstJewborn in America to reach
has furnational prominence,Mordecai Noah (1 785-1 851): "Your sect, by its suffering,
nisheda remarkableproofof the universalreligiousintoleranceinherentin everysect,disclaimedby all while feeble,and practicedby all when in power;our laws have applied the
only anecdote to thisvice, protectingour religious,as theydo our civil rights,by putting
all on an equal footing."Mordecai Manuel Noah, The SelectedWritings
ofMordecaiNoah,
ed. Michael JosephSchuldinerand Daniel J.Kleinfeld(Westport,Conn.: GreenfieldPress,
1999), p. 126.
69 Italicsare not in the
Century,p. 142.
originaltext.Spacks,Eighteenth

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JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 2OO

396

visionofequalityandhumanrights
Jefferson's
subsequently
emerged
in the chiefAmericanpoliticaldocumentof his lifetime,
the U.S.
Constitution,
Not onlydid the documentguaranteereligiousliberty
to Americancitizens,it also provideda rightthatmanystateconstitutionsofthetimedid not: it permitted
all freemen,regardless
oftheir
toholdanyfederaloffice,
the
affiliation,
religious
including presidency.
The secondclauseofArticleIV mandatedthat"no religioustestshall
everbe required
as a qualification
to anyoffice
orpublictrustunderthe
UnitedStates."Instead,thefirst
clauseofthe thirdsectionofArticle
VI of the documentstipulatedthatall U.S. senatorsand representaofstatelegislatures,
and all executiveand judicialoffitives,members
cers,bothof the UnitedStatesand of the states,"shallbe boundby
Oath orAffirmation,
to support
thisConstitution."
Therewasno mentionofreligionat all. Ultimately,
theU.S. Constitution
had codified
new
of
human
that
went
Jefferson's conception
rights
beyondanything
conceivedofbyLocke: Muslimsand othernon-Protestant
Christians
werenot just tolerated;theytheoretically
could be fullcitizensand
in thehighestlevelsofAmericanpoliticallife.
participate
Althoughtherewerejusta fewthousandJewsin Americaand even
fewerfreeMuslimsin the eighteenth
the potentialimplicacentury,
tionsoftheConstitution's
for
future
Americanlifedidnot
guarantees
unnoticed
who
go
by Jefferson's
colleagues
gatheredat variousstate
conventions
toratify
theU.S. Constitution
in 1787.As Denise
starting
observes
in
"Could
a
Muslim
Be
President?
An EighteenthSpellberg
Constitutional
the
issue
arosein New Hampshire's
Debate,"
Century
stateconventionin 1788,and thedelegatesto NorthCarolina'sconventionin 1788 devotedan entiredayofdebateifit was possiblefor
to become presidentand
Muslims,Jews,and othernon-Protestants
whattheimplications
wouldbe forthefuture
oftheyoungnation.For
at leasta day,Muslimswere"symbolically
embroiledin thedefinition
ofwhatitmeantto be Americancitizens."70
At theheartofthedisputewastheConstitution's
ban on religious
testsforpublicofficeand itsrequirement
thatofficeholders
swearalleForsomeNorthCaroliniandelgianceonlyto theU.S. Constitution.
therightsoffreemaleswho
egates,whoseconstitution
onlyprotected
didnotdeny"theTruthoftheProtestant
Religion,"theConstitution's
on religious
testsseta dangerous
prohibition
precedentthatcouldgive
to gainpowerand comMuslims,
Jews,and Catholicstheopportunity

70

Spellberg,"Could a MuslimBe President,"p. 485.

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andSocialChangeintheAtlantic
Basin
Foley:Muslims

397

Christianroutesand way
pel Americansto abandontheirProtestant
oflife.Theyeven raisedthe specterof the pope becomingpresident.
who supportedthe Constitution,
Federalists,
downplayedthesefears
and arguedthatthenation'sProtestant
Christianrootswereunshakeable.Theycontendeditwouldbe onlyaftera lengthy
periodoftime- beforea Catholic or a Muslim
fourhundredor fivehundredyears
wouldbecomepresident.
thesearguments
did not immediStrikingly,
the
the
in
convention
North
Carolina
atelycarry day;
overwhelmingly
the
rejectedtheconstitution
(184 to 89). NorthCarolinawouldratify
Constitution
in
1
at
another
convention
with
a
different
only 789
group
ofdelegatesafterthenewunionand theU.S. federalgovernment
had
come
into
existence.71
already
Conclusion
death,Americanscontinueto
Nearlytwo centuriesafterJefferson's
grapplewiththe implicationsof his vision,much like delegatesto
the conventionto ratify
the U.S. Constitutionin NorthCarolinain
ofindividualrightsto U.S. law and the
1788.Despitethe importance
someAmericansretainthe convictionof manyin that
constitution,
conventionthattheirnationalidentity
and freedoms
are theresultof
theirstatusas Christians.72
KeithEllison,the firstMuslimelectedto
theU.S. Congress,exemplifies
vision- a visionofa multiJefferson's
religioussocietyin whichpeopleofeverycreed,includingIslam,can
holdelectedoffice.
Ifwe lookfortherootsofwhattheAfricanAmerican writer
IshmaelReedcalls"MultiAmerica,"
we can findthemin the
worksofThomasJefferson.
It was onlyfitting
thatEllisonshoulduse
Qur'anwhenhe wasswornintoCongressinJanuary
Jefferson's
2007.
Yet it is important
to remember
that the use of Islam to justify
social changeand politicalreform
in the Atlanticbasinpredatesthe
thirdU.S. presidentand authorof the Declarationof Independence
by centuries.Muslimsoccupiedsignificant
portionsof Europesince
theMiddleAges,contributed
to thecontinent's
socioeconomicdevel-

71Ibid.,pp.492-502.
' Forinstance,
a pollreleasedon September
11,2007,concludedthat55 percentof
Americans
believeerroneously
thattheU.S. Constitution
establishes
Americaas a "Christiannation."AndreaStone,"MostThinkFounders
WantedChristian
USA," USA Today,
1-amendment_N
11,2007 (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2oo7-o9-1
September
.htm).

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JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY, SEPTEMBER

39$

2OO

in Europeanreligiousand political
opment,and figured
prominently
discourses.
The Ottomanseizureof Constantinople
and southeastern
Reformation
Europehelpedto set the stageforthe Protestant
along
withEuropeanexpansionintotheAtlanticworld,an eventgenerally
considered
to be thestarting
oftheAtlanticbasin.
pointofthehistory
In reality,
Columbus'svoyagesimply"extendedtheMuslimhowever,
Christianinteractions
ofyearsearlierin Iberia,North
begunhundreds
Africa,and elsewherein theMediterranean."73
Muslimsplayeda crucialrole in Atlantichistory
fromthe beginthe
and
industries
of
location,
culture,
size,
ning.Theyhelpedshape
settlements
in
the
Americas
and
later
the
nations
of
the
WestEurope's
ernhemisphere.
The inheritance
of the UnitedStatesand the other
nationsoftheAtlanticbasinextendsbeyondtheconfines
ofEuropeto
theIslamicworld.Overthelastfivehundredyears,Muslimshave influencedmovements
ofsocialchangeand reform
and nationbuildingin
AtlanticbasinsocietiesfromGermany
to British
NorthAmerica.They
have helpedshape elite and popularconceptionsof politicalrights,
in the Atlantic
commerce,and literature
religion,nationalidentity,
basin.It is "self-evident"
thattheydeservean "equal"place in ourconofEuro-Atlanticsocieties.
ceptionofthisregionand thehistory

73 Gomez,BlackCrescent,
p. 5.

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