[1][2] The uprising took place on the feast day of Our Lady of Guidance, a celebration in the Bonfim's church's cycle of religious holidays.

[2] Over time however, the Nagô slaves made up a majority of Muslims in Bahia due to the rise of Islam in Yoruba kingdoms.

[3] Furthermore, many of the key figures important in planning the uprising were Nagôs including: Ahuna, Pacífico, and Manoel Calafate.

These amulets consisted of pieces of paper with passages from the Quran and prayers that were folded and placed in a leather pouch that was sewn shut.

[2] A third symbol which was used by Malês to identify themselves prior to the uprising were white, metal, silver, or iron rings placed on their fingers.

[5] The urban environment of Salvador facilitated the spread of Islam due to the greater mobility of slaves, the large number of freemen, and the networks between these two groups.

All Malês, slave or free, that knew how to read and write Arabic would spread this knowledge on street corners.

In Bahia, the Malês had to innovate some aspects of Islam because they feared persecution by officials,[2] but tried to maintain its basic characteristics.

[6] While the revolt was scheduled to take place on Sunday, January 25, due to various incidents, it was forced to start before the planned time.

While there are multiple accounts of freed slaves telling their previous masters about the revolts, only one was reported to the proper authorities.

President Francisco de Souza Martins informed the Chief of Police of the situation, reinforced the palace guard, alerted the barracks, doubled the night patrol, and ordered boats to watch the bay, all by 11:00 pm.

Out on the streets, the fighting saw its first real bloodshed; several people were injured and two Africans were killed, including Vitório Sule, Sabina da Cruz's husband.

However, the largest group traveled up the hill toward Palace Square (modern-day Praça Municipal), and continued to fight.

[17][18] Fearful that the whole state of Bahia would follow the example of Saint-Domingue (Haiti) and rise up and revolt, the authorities quickly sentenced four of the rebels to death, sixteen to prison, eight to forced labour, and forty-five to flogging.

Two hundred of the remainder of the surviving leaders of the revolt were then deported by municipal authorities back to Africa; they employed the slaver Francisco Félix de Sousa for the Atlantic journey.

The deportees, who consisted of freed and enslaved Africans, were sent in stages to the Bight of Benin starting in 1835, specifically to the existing Lusophone colony in Dahomey.

In subsequent years intensive efforts were made to force conversions to Catholicism and erase the popular memory and affection towards Islam.

While slavery existed for more than fifty years following the Malê revolt, the slave trade was abolished in 1851.

Although it took a little over fifteen years to happen, the slave trade was abolished in Brazil, due in part to the 1835 rebellion.