Paper Title
FAITH AND RESILIENCE: THE RELIGIOUS JOURNEY OF OMAR IBN SAID

Abstract
Abstract - The significance of religiosity in African American slave narratives is paramount as it was a pivotal factor in the lives of enslaved individuals, shaping their experiences and responses to their enslavement. Religion served as a vital source of spiritual nourishment, communal support, and a mechanism of defiance for enslaved Africans who were forcibly brought to the United States. It was a means of resisting the dehumanizing consequences of slavery. The present research study investigates the convergence of religiosity and memory in the slave narrative of Omar Ibn Said, entitled The Life. This study undertakes a critical analysis of the text to investigate the impact of Said’s Muslim faith on his memoirs of his enslavement experience in the United States in the 19th century. The study employs theoretical frameworks from the disciplines of religious studies and memory studies to investigate the influence of Omar Ibn Said's religious convictions and customs on his recollections and encounters of enslavement. The text delves into the manners in which the religious convictions of the author furnished him with a perception of selfhood and efficacy amidst subjugation, and how his recollections of religious customs and observances functioned as a mode of opposition against the prevailing Christian discourse of his era. The research employs a multifaceted methodology to examine the narrative, integrating careful scrutiny, historical situating, and theoretical investigation to reveal the intricate interrelationship between religiosity and memory in the literature. The argument posits that the slave narrative of Omar Ibn Said transcends being a mere personal account of his life as a slave, as it also intricately contemplates the impact of religion on the formation of individual and collective memory. Keywords - African American Slave Narratives, Muslim Slave Narratives, Memory, Religiosity, Resistence