The Life of Omar Ibn Said is an autobiography by an African man who was kidnapped and enslaved by American slave traders. This unlikely story begins when Said began writing Arabic on the walls of his home. It didn't occur to his owner, Jim Owen, that perhaps this man could read and write, and suddenly, the slave owner becomes fascinated by this slave and begins talking theology with him. Said begins this book with a recitation from the Koran.
Ultimately, Said converts to Christianity. This led to a widespread cultural wave of articles, features, and journalists who would retell this unlikely story, focusing on the conversion of Said to Christianity. They explained the technical differences between Christianity in a way that Omar appreciated, and he discusses the concept of God as Father from Jesus's famous sermon on the mount as one of the most persuasive ideas. He like the idea of praying to a God who was intimately connected to his life.
Once, Omar became separated from his owner, and another slave trader tried to purchase him and take him away, but he will not go with anyone but his kind owner, Jim Owen. Omar tells about the slave trade itself, explaining that the men who came to snatch him from his home and kill his family were "Christians," for whatever that's worth. Omar describes his first owner as an extremely abusive infidel (he means that although the man claimed to believe in Jesus Christ, his life was so far from that example that he is obviously lying).
Omar describes the differences between his old prayers and his new prayers, underscoring the slight nuances between the two cousin-religions. Omar never says in the book that he is no longer a Muslim, as many of the articles about him specify, leading some to speculate that his relationship to Christianity might be less clear than originally thought.
