Belali Muhammad “Ben Ali” of Sapelo Square

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1736 – 1844

Bilali Muhammad was a Fula from Timbo Futa-Jallon in present day Guinea-Conakry. While enslaved, Bilali was the community leader and Imam of at least 80 men on Sapelo Island.

In 1803, Bilali Belali (Ben Ali) Muhammad and his family arrived in Georgia on Sapelo Island. Bilali Muhammad was a Fula from Timbo Futa-Jallon in present day Guinea-Conakry. By 1806, he became the plantation manager for Thomas Spalding, a prominent Georgian master. Bilali “Ben Ali” was the leader of one of America’s earliest known Muslim communities. While enslaved, Bilali was the community leader and Imam of at least 80 men on Sapelo Island. During the War of 1812, he told his slave master that he had 80 men of the true faith to help defend the land against the British. Bilali was known for regularly wearing his fez, a long coat, praying five times a day facing the east, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and celebrating the two holidays when they came. Bilali was buried with his Qur’an and prayer rug. In 1829 Bilali wrote a thirteen-page book in Arabic called the “Ben Ali Diary,” about some of the laws of Islam and Islamic living. The book is currently housed at the University of Georgia in Athens. Bilali and his wife Phoebe had twelve sons and seven daughters. One of his sons is reported to be the “Aaron” of the author Joel Chandler Harris’ works, Uncle Remus and Br’er Rabbit stories. Bilali daughters’ names were Margaret, Hester, Charlotte, Fatima, Yoruba, Medina, and Bint. All of Bilali daughters but Bint could speak English, French, Fula, Gullah, and Arabic. Bilali was well educated in Islamic law.

Sources

Books:

“Africa Remembered: Narratives by West Africans from the Era of the Slave Trade,” by Philip Curtin.
“Drums and Shadows: Survival Studies Amongst the Coastal Georgia Negroes GRP.”
“Servants of Allah,” by Sylviane Diouf
“African Muslims in Antebellum America: Transatlantic Stories and Spiritual Struggles,” by Allan Austin
“Muslims in America: Seven Centuries of History (1312-2000) “Collections and Stories of American Muslims,” by Amir Nashid Ali Muhammad
“Five Classic Muslim Slave Narratives: Edited by Muhammad A. al-Hari
“Bilali Muhammad’s Meditations, Sapelo Island, Georgia by Muhammed Al-Hari
“Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect,” by Lorenzo Dow Turner
“Sapelo’s People: A Long Walk Into Freedom,” by William S McFeely
“God, Dr. Buzzard, and The Bolito Man: A Saltwater Geechee Talks About Life on Sapelo Island, Georgia,” by Cornelia Walker Bailey
“African Presence in the Carolinas & Georgia: Sea Island Roots,” Edited by Mary A. Twining and Keith E. Baird

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