Case file · Sacred site
The Malê revolt and its protective amulets
On the night of 24–25 January 1835, during Ramadan, enslaved and freed African Muslims rose up in Salvador. Many fighters wore leather amulets containing verses of the Qur'an, believed to protect them from harm.
1835 CE · -12.97, -38.51 · status: official
The account
The revolt was crushed within hours. Police seized the amulets and Arabic writings as evidence, and they survive in Brazilian archives and in João José Reis's classic study 'Slave Rebellion in Brazil'. Such pouches, called bolsas de mandinga, were also used outside Islam as protective charms across colonial Brazil.