Job Ben Solomon:

Islam, Slavery, Class and Change in Eighteenth Century Senegambia

 

Date: Tuesday, 25 October 2011                 Time: 5.30PM to 8PM

Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London

Room S264, Second Floor, South Block, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU

 

Entrance free but please RSVP to: [log in to unmask]  OR [log in to unmask]

     

  

 

5.30 - 6.00 PM:              Tea & Biscuits

6.00 - 6.10 PM:              Introduction by Dr Shihan de Silva – Senior Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies

6.10 – 7.00PM:              Lecture by Gibril Faal – Chairman, African Foundation for Development (AFFORD)

7.00 – 7.15 PM:             Recital of Senegambian Sufi Poetry by Ablie Cham –  Sufi Poet

7.15 – 8.00 PM:             Q & A and Discussion

 

Ayuba Bin Suleiman Jallow, known in England as Job Ben Solomon, was a highly educated Gambian cleric and Islamic scholar. Like many others, he sold fellow Africans as slaves to European traders. On 27^th February 1730, he himself was captured and sold into slavery. Through a biography written by Thomas Bluett in 1734 and later writings of Francis Moore (1738) and others, a lot is known about Ayuba Jallow’s remarkable experience as slave, free-man and returnee to Gambia. Gibril Faal uses the life of Ayuba Jallow as historical reference to examine the conditions, contradictions, conflicts and change in Eighteenth century Senegambia. Amongst other things, the lecture will cover: the spread and localisation of Islam and Sufism; the interaction between the local marshall and intellectual classes with European traders; and the phenomenon of the slave-scholar.

 

For over 20 years, Gibril Faal has led research projects, written papers and ran workshops on African diaspora history and anthropology. He ran a study group on African Studies called ‘Naataangeh’ (1988 to 1997), leading the research and lectures on the African presence in early Europe and Melanesia. In 1992, as part of the Columbus Quincentenary, Gibril gave a series of lectures in Accra, Ghana, on the life of Ayuba Jallow and African presence in Early Britain. In 1993, he published a paper on ‘Blacks of the Pacific: African Origins of Melanesian Peoples’. At the ‘Conference of Intellectuals and the African Diaspora (CIAD II)’ in 2006, organised by the African Union, UNESCO and the Brazilian Government, Gibril presented a paper on ‘A New Definition and Classification of the African Diaspora’. In 2007, as part of the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery in the UK, Gibril wrote a paper and project plan entitled ‘Ayuba Sulayman Jallow: The Life of a Gambian Slave-Scholar’. This project was to involve search for documents and paraphernalia linked to Ayuba Jallow, including his portrait painted by William Hoare in 1733 and the Koranic texts he wrote from memory, whilst residing in England. In 2010, the 1733 portrait of Ayuba Jallow came up for auction. It was bought by the Qatar Museums Authority. Due to the efforts of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), the painting shall remain in the UK for 10 years. It is currently on loan and on show at the NPG.  

 

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