Page 5 7KH ,VODPLF %XOOHWLQ ,VVXH &( 086/,06 (;3/25( $0(5,&$" Muslims have exerted a great and largely unrecognized impact on American society, beginning with their exploration of America more than 300 years prior to the “discovery” of the “New World” by Christopher Columbus. The Muslim explorers accessed the interior of the continent by using the Mississippi River. The traces of their early presence may be found in the architecture and calligraphy of towns such as St. Augustine, Florida (America’s oldest town), in the names of islands such as Islamadora, and in the customs of the American Indians. Some little-known but very intriguing statistics follow: In 1178, a Chinese document known as the Sung Document records the voyage of Muslim sailors to a land known as Mu-Lan-Pi (America). This document is mentioned in The Khotan Amirs, published in 1933. Abu Bakari, a Muslim king from the Malian Empire, leads a series of nautical voyages to the New World in 1310. In 1312, African Muslims from Mandinga arrive in the Gulf of Mexico and explore the American interior via the Mississippi River. 1513, Piri Reis completes his first world map, including the Americas, after researching maps from all over the world. The map is unsurpassed in its practicality and artistry. 1530, African slaves arrive in America. More than 10 million were uprooted from their homes and brought to America, and more than 30 percent of these were Muslim. These slaves formed the backbone of American economy. In 1539, Estevanico of Azamor, a Muslim from Morocco, lands in Florida and becomes the first Muslim to cross the American continent At least two states owe their beginnings to this Muslim, Arizona and New Mexico. MORE EVIDENCE New Zealand archaeologist and linguist Barry Fell in his work Saga America points to evidence of a Muslim’s presence in various parts of the Americas. In addition to drawing several cultural parallels between West African peoples and certain “Indian” peoples of the southwest, Fell points out that the southwest’s Pima people possessed a vocabulary which contained words of Arabic origin. The presence of such words among the Pima is compounded by the existence of Islamic petrogyphs in places like California. Fell informs us that in Inyo county, California, there exists an early American petrogyph (rock carving) which states in Arabic: “Yasus ben Maria” (“Jesus, Son of Mary”), a phrase commonly found within the surahs of the Holy Qur’an. Fell is convinced that this glyph is many centuries older than the U.S. Fell also identifies the Algonquian language as having words with Arabic roots, especially words which pertained to navigation, astronomy, meteorology, medicine, and anatomy. The presence of such words again illustrates significant cultural contact between the American “Indians” and the Arabic-speaking peoples of the Islamic world. Such Islamic peoples evidently came primarily from the African continent as additional evidence suggests. Ivan Van Sertima in They Came Before Columbus outlines evidence of ancient and early African contacts in the American continent. Among the items of evidence which Van Sertima unveils is the presence of African Muslim surnames among American “Indian” peoples. Van Sertima points out that Ges, Zamoras, Marabitine, and Marabios are a few of the names with clear transcontinental links. Of particular interest however, are the names “Marabitine” and “Marabios” which relate to “Marabout” (Murabit); the “Holy Men and Women” of the Moorish Empire. The Marabouts were the protectors of African Muslim frontiers. They are often remembered for having acted as buffers against Catholic/European encroachment. In Panama and Colombia there were rulers (“princes”) whom the invading Catholic Spaniards recognized as having “completely Moorish or Biblical” names: such as “Do-Bayda” and “Aben-Amechy.” Even in the Caribbean, the evidence of a significant Muslim presence can be found. P.V. Ramos points out in African Presence in Early America, that Christopher Columbus’ own impression of the “Carib” peoples was that they were “Mohammedans”. Ramos says that the dietary restrictions of the Carib were similar to those of Islamic peoples and this provided one reason for such an impression. Columbus admitted in his papers that on Monday, October 21, 1492 CE, while his ship was sailing near Gibara on the north-east coast of Cuba, he saw a mosque on the top of a beautiful mountain. The ruins of mosques and minarets with inscriptions of Qur’anic verses have been discovered in Cuba, Mexico, Texas, and Nevada. During his second voyage, Columbus was told by the Indians of Espanola (Haiti) that Black people had been to the island before his arrival. ISLAM IN HISTORY
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUxNjQ1