In the name of God, the merciful the gracious. God grant his blessing upon our Prophet Mohammed. Blessed be He in whose hands is the Kingdom and who is Almighty; who created death and life that he might test you; for he is exalted; he is the forgiver (of sins), who created seven heavens one above the other. Know the name Omar Ibn Said. His name is a testament to how important reading and writing is. Also a reminder of how evil one must be to outlaw reading and writing. To be found doing so would result whippings and even death. Omar Ibn Said wrote in Arabic his life before and during slavery. Born in a wealthy family in Futa Toro along the border of present-day Senegal and Mauritania. He was a member of the Fula ethnic group of West Africa who today number over 40 million people in the region extending from Senegal to Nigeria. Omar Ibn Said writes that as he grew older he sought knowledge in Bundu, an area in Senegal today that had historically been controlled by another ethnic group, the Mande people, until the Muslim Fulas conquered the region in the second half of the 17th century. In Bundu he studied under his own brother Sheikh Muhammad Said, as well as two other religious leaders and "continued seeking knowledge for twenty five years." He then returned to his own town and lived there for another six years, until a "big army" came "that killed many people," captured him and sold him to a man who took him "to the big ship in the big sea." After sailing for a month he arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, where he was bought by a man called Johnson, who apparently was cruel to him. So he escaped, was captured and landed in jail in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he spent 16 days. That is where he began writing in Arabic on the walls of his jail, and where he was discovered and eventually taken into the household of Jim Owen and his brother John Owen, the Governor of North Carolina (1828-1830) with whom he remained until his death in his late eighties. THIS is a reminder to read and write. Never stop reading and writing. Bless.