The Malê Revolt: The Black revolt in Brazil during Ramadan of 1835

Tuesday 25 January marked the 187th anniversary of the revolution that shook the Brazilian city of Salvador. It took place at dawn on the last day of the holy month of Ramadan in 1835 and was led by the enslaved Black people of Haussá, Fulani, Yorubá, Aio Quija and Nagô origin called Malês. The revolt is known in Brazilian historiography as the Malê Revolt.

Although they did not represent the religious hegemony of enslaved African people, the Malês had a significant role because they were a population that could read and write, in addition to being endowed with a much broader culture than many of their captors. Islam branched out and flourished in the dark of the senzalas (enslaved people’s quarters), endowing enslaved people with a spirit of resistance and the search for freedom.

The revolt was prepared and planned to eliminate the Portuguese local regime and the injustices practised against Black people for the emancipation of the enslaved and the freedom to perform religious rituals. This is because enslaved people lived outside the law since the Brazilian Constitution of 1824 established in Article 5 that Catholicism was the state religion. Only Catholicism had the right to public ceremonies and to build and maintain temples, while African religions were persecuted and treated as a police case.

Meetings to plan and mobilise the rebels began in the homes of formerly enslaved people, in their quarters, mosques and terreiros. Malês held Islamic prayers, religion and writing classes and practised the recitation of the verses of the Qur’an, where Imam Mala Mubarak called for the Jihad (resistance) written in the form of a document in Arabic, in which he asked Muslims and other enslaved people to prepare for the revolt.

READ: Who is pouring fuel on the fire of hatred against Muslims in Britain and the West?

The meetings and gatherings were mainly attended by Black Muslims. Although the Malês tried to invite formerly enslaved people from different ethnic and religious groups to the uprising, not all African Muslims in Bahia participated in the revolt.

The rebel plan was not rigorously applied. Perhaps due to the course of events and the anticipation of the beginning of the revolt in the face of the denunciation of the emancipated Guilhermina Roza de Souza, the partner of one of the movement’s leaders, Domingos Fortunato. A surprise attack took place by police forces where the Malês were gathered to share iftar – the communal meal after sunset to break the daily fast during Ramadan, and government troops surrounded Manuel Calafate’s house at Ladeira da Praça on 25 January.

About 60 men were at the scene armed with swords, spears, pistols and shotguns. They reacted to the police siege and started shooting. Caught by surprise, the rebels split and spread across the city. Many wore typical Islamic clothing – a kind of white abadá that the police authorities defined as “war clothing” and the takia, the Islamic cap similar to the turban used in Candomblé and Umbanda.

After the initial confrontation, the revolutionaries went out through the streets, alleys and dead ends of Salvador, knocking on the windows of houses and calling on the enslaved and the freed to join the revolution. They attacked the palace of the province’s president, invaded barracks, faced troops and war frigates anchored in the city’s port. A major part of the group marched towards Ajuda near the City Hall to break into the jail and free the leaders who had been arrested, specifically Pacífico Licutã.

There was real carnage, for the superiority of the armaments of the official forces was evident. While the Malês were armed with spears, swords, clubs and a few pistols and rifles, the police carried pistols, bayonets and plenty of ammunition. The rebels were cornered before sunrise on that Sunday, 25 January, at the Cavalry Barracks in Água de Meninos. This is where the final battle took place, with 73 fallen rebels – their bodies thrown into a common grave in Salvador’s cemetery.

READ: Byzantine-era church reopens in Gaza

More than 500 Black people were arrested. Fourteen soldiers of the official forces died in the confrontation, and an indefinite number of wounded were registered. In addition, civilians were also fatally hit, but there is no official record of the total number and names of those killed. The revolutionary act of great heroism by Black men and women against slavery and mistreatment was stifled.

After the clashes, a real hunt for the rebels began. The Chief of Bahia’s Police Francisco Gonçalves Martins issued an ordinance that authorised a complete search of all houses belonging to Black Africans. Enslaved people could only circulate through the streets of Salvador with a written order from their masters, detailing where they were going and what they would do. In addition, under the penalty of heavy fines, the masters were obliged to force the conversion of enslaved people to Catholicism.

At that time, Black Muslims were already a strong reference for the Black community of Salvador. The formerly enslaved people turned to different religions to seek spiritual comfort and hope. For the Malês, the Qur’anic preaching gave hope and inspiration for the resistance of discriminated, exiled, persecuted and enslaved women and men through its liberating messages. This was an attractive religion for the social subalterns due to its strongly critical message of the injustices suffered by the followers.

The 1835 revolt was not a violent and spectacular outbreak arising spontaneously or without a pre-established plan. It was a revolt planned in detail, without which it would not be possible to understand the proportions it reached in one of the main provinces of the Portuguese colonial empire in Brazil.

To measure the episode’s importance, the Malê Revolt mobilised between 600 and 1,000 people, equivalent to approximately 50,000 people, when proportionally compared to the population of Salvador today. The revolution, rather than simple insubordination of the enslaved, was an act of brave men and women, of great value and admirable courage and loyalty to their Islamic principles of struggle for freedom and justice.

The Malê Revolt was an important anti-slavery movement, which gave a great lesson in determination and the struggle for freedom. It enhanced the history of social struggles in Brazil, however, it was practically omitted from official historiography.

Eternal glory to the memory of the men and women of all races and religious creeds who united and fought during Ramadan of 1835 against injustice, daring to “take heaven by storm” to end slavery in Brazil and conquer freedom.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.