# Literacy, conspiracies and uprisings  
Muslims were also involved in conspiracies and revolts. In Saint-Domingue, the Marron François Makandal was a Muslim who 'had instruction and possessed the Arabic language very well'. He had planned to poison the wells of CapFrançais and attack the city - before he was betrayed and burnt at the stake in 1758 (Madiou, 1981, p. 35; Melvil-Bloncourt, 1864, pp. 438-456; Diouf, 2013, pp. 216-220). A man from Jamaica, known as Boukman, galvanized the men and women who began the 1791 uprising on 21 August. Bookman, or 'man of the book' - the Qur'an - was how a Muslim was referred to in West Africa. Boukman has been known throughout history as a Vodun priest because the participation of Muslims in the revolt has been largely ignored. Yet Colonel Malenfant, who fought against the insurgents, made it clear that there were Muslims in their ranks who carried papers written in Arabic (Malenfant, 1814, p. 211).  
From 1807, Muslims - many of whom had arrived in the wake of Usman dan Fodio's jihad in Nigeria - were involved in a series of conspiracies and revolts in Bahia. House searches led to the discovery of weapons, talismans and documents written in Arabic. The largest uprising occurred on 25 January 1835 - Laylat al-Qadr - a decidedly Islamic choice. The insurgents assaulted the National Guard, the police barracks and the city jail, and fought against the cavalry. After a long and deadly fight, the revolt was crushed (Reis, 1993). It must be noted that not every Muslim uprising should be viewed as a jihad, which must adhere to strict rules of engagement and occur for specific reasons.  
Literacy was another weapon of resistance. Through the written word, Muslims communicated plans of revolt, maintained the cohesion of their community, taught their religion in secret - sometimes in underground Qur'anic schools, as was the case in Bahia - and manufactured talismans for protection.