by Djeneba Bagayoko
Among Black populations, whether in casual or religious settings, communication is never from A to B. It is not a one-way route from the speaker to the listener; the audience is also the speaker and the speaker the audience. Otherwise known as call and response, this circular interaction has West African, Sahelian and African Muslim origins and influence.
Names like Ayuba Suleyman Diallo and Omar ibn Said anchor Black Muslims in a long line of Black people practicing the deen in the “New World.” Just like the traditions, folklore, dances, and cuisine, enslaved Africans held on to their identities and adapted them to their new condition.
Enslaved Africans from the Senegambian region didn’t only sail the ocean blue while holding onto the rope of Allah but also retained and brought with them all the religious, cultural and ethnic aspects, which were the core of their identities from back home.
There was, thus, a time when the adhan could be heard on plantations.
One cultural expression that wasn’t as sanctioned or censored as language or spirituality was the sound of music and song. Slave hymns and plantation songs may have been pleasing to “massa’s” ear, who might have thought they were sung to lessen the burden of slavery from bodies and limbs and to make hoeing and digging easier. But those songs also strengthened the spirit. The connection to Gospel and Blues is immediate and undeniable, and although one is Christian and the other style more secular in nature, their origins have, in part, West African Islamic flavors.
The typical West African melodies coupled with the Arabic language gave birth and rise to unique sounds. The forceful abandonment of enslaved African people’s beliefs wasn’t always immediate and, in some cases, enslavers in Southern colonies discouraged the conversion of Africans to Christianity to prevent them from acquiring education and being exposed to the doctrine of freedom contained in the Bible (Sambol-Tosco, 2004). In other instances, they respected Islam and African Muslims just enough to let them practice their deen or entrust them with a different range of affairs since they were literate (UNESCO, 2025). There was, thus, a time when the adhan could be heard on plantations. An escaped enslaved man by the name of Charles Ball recounts how he used to hear a man perform his daily prayers on the plantation (Diouf, 2021). The same happened on Sapelo Island when the faith of a man named Bilali was documented by Charles Spalding Willy. To those unfamiliar with Islam and Arabic, the adhan and Qur’anic recitations must have sounded like a melancholic and sad song (Wadstrom, 1794).
Call and response is heard every day in prayers between the imam and the congregation.
This “song” was punctuated by repetitions, vibrato, pauses and runs that attested to the African origin of their practitioners, as noted by Sylviane A. Diouf in Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. Testament to her assertion is a video Dr. Kameelah Rashad shared on Twitter (now X) in 2019. The video shows a group of Black American Muslims from Philadelphia bidding farewell to people going to Mecca to perform Hajj. They were chanting the talbiyah, a prayer recited in preparation for and throughout the Hajj.
The prayer goes “labbayka Allahumma labbayk, labbayka laa shareeka laka labbayk. Inna al-hamd wa’l-ni’mata laka wa’l-mulk, laa shareeka lak” (O my Lord, here I am at Your service, here I am. There is no partner with You, here I am. Truly the praise and the provisions are Yours, and so is the dominion and sovereignty. You have no partner).
In the video, a man leads the recitation while the rest of the community repeats the words after him. This is an example of call and response in a religious setting, where the involvement of all is required. Call and response is heard every day in prayers between the imam and the congregation.
And in countries like the Gambia, we also hear it during sermons. In this TikTok video, every phrase of the imam is punctuated and repeated by the group of well-wishers. In addition, the jeliw (plural of jeli) of Mali, Senegal, or Gambia use this speech act in their capacity as mediators. They interject or repeat the words of the main speaker to renew interest and emphasize important parts. Jeliw are an important component of Sahelian societies. They are most commonly associated with music, the arts and praise singing, but two other categories of jeliw exist, namely:
- historians, archivists, genealogists and guardians of the past
- ambassadors and diplomats who ensure the maintenance of peace across nations
Not only are circular speech patterns used in rituals, religiously, and in common speech, but they are also used in music. Enslaved African Muslims and West African sounds greatly contributed to the birth and development of Blues, Soul, Rhythm and Blues, and many others. While those musical genres are uniquely Black and conceived by African Americans, we must acknowledge the elements that contributed to their creation. The Stono Rebellion of 1739 struck fear in the hearts of colonists in South Carolina who experienced the largest insurrection in its Southern Colonial history. In response, they restricted freedom of movement and assembly. The drum, which was instrumental in alerting other enslaved Africans of and drawing them to the revolt, was subsequently prohibited (Sullivan, 2019).
Enslaved Africans from Sahel and Senegambia who also happened to be Muslims weren’t as impacted by the ban as those from the southern region of West Africa and Central Africa because they favored string instruments. If on the continent they played the kora or the ngoni, in the Americas they made use of the European violin and invented the banjo. Their ability to circumvent the system and the ban on drums gave a greater chance of survival and retention to musical styles practiced by Muslims, which in turn created the foundations for the Blues and Jazz (Smith, 2024).
If you listen to the talbiyah shared by Dr. Rashad, you will hear inflections and cadences typical of the genres I mentioned above, especially when reciting “laka wa’l-mulk.” It has a Ray Charles feel to it, so to speak. This should come as no surprise since musical styles like the Blues can trace their deep origins to Mali and the Sahel. The musicality, melodies and harmonies that were born in Western Africa journeyed to the United States with enslaved Africans through recitation and song.
Noreen Muhammad Siddique, one of the most popular Qur’an reciters who passed in 2020, is proof of this legacy. His tone, voice and melody are, in fact, described as “sad, soulful and bluesy” (BBC, 2021). Although Siddique and his style originally hail from Sudan, there is a sound that travels through the sand across the Sahel, from Senegal, Mali, to the Sudan and back. His recitation of Surah Al-Kahf, in particular, is reminiscent of Wassoulou songs. The Wassoulou Empire was an Islamic State and covered parts of modern-day Mali, Guinea-Conakry, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone. The music from the region relies on an orchestra of string instruments as well as call and response. Because of these characteristics, Wassoulou music is believed to be at the foundation of the Blues.
The most prominent Black musicians and vocalists were initiated in the church. Although more easily identified and amalgamated with the Black Church and mainstream music, African Muslim recitation is one of the pillars to the sounds we grew up to love.
Cyclic patterns as expressed by call and response, the talbiyah and spiritual rituals go hand in hand. One of the possible origins of the famous shout ring dance is the Islamic ritual pilgrimage in Mecca. The ring shout is a religious dance where the participants walk counterclockwise in a circle while clapping and singing (Amon, 2017). It is practiced by the Gullah Geechee people of the Sea Islands, who perform it in church during worship and praise ceremonies and upon conversion to Christianity.
According to linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner, most known for his book Africanism in the Gullah Dialect, the word “shout” is in reality the Arabic word “sha’wt,” which has been anglicized in spelling while the pronunciation has been maintained. As a linguist, Turner was able to link the dance performed in the Americas to the practice of walking around the Kaaba. S. A. Diouf references Dr. Turner in Servants of Allah, stating that the tawaf is the name of the circumambulation of the Kaaba. The circling of the Kaaba amounts to seven with a single one called sha’wt. The ring shout dance is similar to the tawaf pilgrims do in Mecca in that they walk counterclockwise around the church, the altar or another sacred object (Diouf, 2013).
In Islam in America, a documentary by Rageh Omaar, we meet Abdul Rashid in Mississippi. In his words, the sound of the adhan is found in Baptist churches. The Islamic recitation survives as an a capella chant in predominantly Black churches, from Baptist to COGIC (Omaar, 2008). The most prominent Black musicians and vocalists were initiated in the church. Although more easily identified and amalgamated with the Black Church and mainstream music, African Muslim recitation is one of the pillars to the sounds we grew up to love. When you hear people like John Lee Hooker, The Clark Sisters, or Nina Simone, know that somewhere there may have been an African Islamic link. That is the link Abdulrashid found in the Blues and that guided him to Islam.
These features of African life have not been interrupted or broken. They have been maintained and are intertwined, and only sound superficially different when they manifest themselves. The Levee Camp Holler, as recorded by Alan Lomax, has nothing to do with the adhan in meaning, language or purpose. Its musicality, however, is identical to how Sahelians and Senegambians recite the call to prayers.
While African spiritual practices could experience renewal because of the continuous enslavement of continental Africans and, from the 19th century, Christianity became predominant in Black communities, Islam had to find alternative ways to persevere. Enslavers, in fact, got fed up with Islam inspiring African Muslims to fight oppression and tried to stop their importation, as chronicled by Diouf. By seeping into the daily lives of African Americans, camouflaging itself and almost going unnoticed, the belief ensured its survival.
Some Black Muslims managed to pass down the deen through literacy and Qur’anic memorization, while others were called back from unexpected places, like Brother Abdulrashid. Despite the effort to separate enslaved Africans from their continental roots and the myth that ancestral memory was erased, Black Muslims resisted through active remembrance and centuries-long practice. Black American Muslims are the unequivocal and utmost manifestation of the survival of the Muslim faith. They are not new to this. They’re true to this. The African Muslim tradition lives.
Bibliography
- Sambol-Tosco, Kimberly (2004). The Slave Experience: Religion. Retrieved from Thirteen PBS: https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/slavery/experience/religion/history.html
- Religion and Slavery (2025). Retrieved from Slavery and Remembrance: https://slaveryandremembrance.org/articles/article/?id=A0059#:~:text=Outsiders%E2%80%94Europeans%20and%20slave%20owners,and%20trouble%E2%80%94to%20their%20owner
- Diouf, Sylviane A. (2021). Muslims in America: A forgotten history. Retrieved from Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/2/10/muslims-in-america-always-there
- Wadstrom, Carl Bernhard (1794). An Essay on Colonization, Particularly Applied to the Western Coast of Africa. London: Darton & Harvey.
- Sullivan, John Jeremiah (2019). Talking Drums. Retrieved from Oxford American: https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-107/talking-drums
- Smith, Cynthia D. (2024). History and Impact of Drum Bans on African American Music. Retrieved from Pattrx: https://www.pattrx.com/history/drum-bans-and-african-american-music#:~:text=THE%20STONO%20REBELLION%20(1739),forms%20of%20African%20cultural%20expression
- (2021). Nourin Mohamed Siddig: The African art of reciting the Koran. Retrieved from The BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55935509
- Amon, Ayla (2017). African Muslims in Early America. Retrieved from The National Museum of African American History and Culture: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/african-muslims-early-america
- Diouf, Sylviane A. (2013). Servants of Allah: African Muslims enslaved in the Americas (15th anniversary edition). P. 97. New York and London: New York University Press.
- Omaar, Rageh (2008). Islam in America. Minute 12:05 – 12:55. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pCVxlB9RaA
Djeneba Deby Bagayoko (she/her) is an essayist, linguist and independent Black language researcher. In her work, she bridges the gap between the diaspora and the continent of Africa by showing how characteristics present in Bamanankan, Wolof and Esan have been retained in their diasporan counterpart: Ebonics. She co-wrote A Bilingual Revolution for Africa and was published by The Kraal, Make It Plain, Maarifa Circle and The Fruitslice. In her interview featured in Mubi Notebook, she discussed the portrayal of African accents by Western/Hollywood movies titled, “The African Accent and the Colonial Ear.”
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