[align=left:cd7c23e021]"Go to the National Archives or the Library of
Congress and see for yourself; the Treat of 1987 show
that the Natives abided by an Islamic system in
commerce, maritime shipping and government. The
records of the State of Carolina has the Moors Sundry
Act of 1790. The Cherokee Chief of 1866 was a man
called Ramadhan Bin Wati. Native clothing up until
1832 was full Islamic wear. The name Tallahassee
actually means," Allah will deliver you sometime in
the future." In North America, there are no less than
565 names of tribes, villages, cities, mountains and
other lands sites of Islamic or Arabic roots. "

=====

Islam in America before Columbus
Hisham Zoubeir, 14 February 1998

http://www.themodernreligion.com/ht/before-columbus.html

Before I begin this article, I would like to extend my
thanks to the creators of the Internet. It was there
that I found my research on the topic that follows,
and it is to the people who wrote the various articles
and references that credit for this article should go
to. I merely put two and two together for the benefit
of those reading this now.

The history surrounding the followers of our proud
faith is one of two shades; the truth and the lie. The
lies surrounding our history have been spread to every
corner of the globe; that we were and are (?)
barbarians, no better than animals. The truth is that
although there were certain parts of history that do
show that some of our followers were ruthless and
brutal (such as the Ottoman Empire), this is not
unlike every nation and country in the world. And we
have a much more worthy things to focus on.

Before the West declared themselves the great
scientists of the earth, before their own Renaissance,
Muslims already were making discoveries in science
that took the West hundreds of years to even begin to
imagine. What a shame that people in Europe were being
persecuted by the Church for their suppositions that
the earth was round; they should have come to the
Islamic world--- an Afghan Muslim had proved that in
793 C.E.!

However, the studying of the universe brought forth
more questions, and more curiosity. The Muslims in
West Africa were so intrigued by what was on the other
side of the Great Sea, that they began their
expeditions into the great unknown. Early reports of
these travels are sketchy, but we can be sure that
they crossed the Atlantic by 889 C.E.

That was 603 years before Columbus. And that is not
counting the actual physical evidence in the United
States today that dates back even further; however, we
do know, as De Lacy O'Leary pointed out, that Muslims
definitely had the scientific knowledge and skill to
make journeys across the Atlantic ocean.

We were in the Americas, hundreds of years before
Columbus, and of that we can be sure.

Clyde-Ahmad Winters. Barry Fell. Alexander Von
Wuthenau. Ivan Van Sertima. What do they have in
common? A lot. They all provided evidence to the above
statement; and it is a statement of fact, not an
opinion, although many have chosen to ignore it in the
past.

Now, we are all aware of the grave tragedy that befell
the various African people after the discovery of
America. Many people from there were forcefully taken
from their homes to America, to serve the people who
had taken over that land. Black slavery. We also know,
for a fact, that many of these people were indeed
Muslims; that has never been in dispute, nor should it
be. Clyde Ahmad Winters has given us details of how
huge numbers of Muslims were brought to Latin America
in a 1978 issue of Al-Ittihad: A Quarterly Journal of
Islamic Studies, although later on in 1543, Muslims in
Spanish colonies were ejected from them by the
residing government.

Dr. Barry Fell, a noted New Zealand archaeologist and
linguist of Harvard University showed detailed
existing evidence in his work, "Saga America" that
Muslims were not only in the Americas before Columbus
arrived, but very active there as well. The language
of the Pima people in the South West and the
Algonquian language had many words in their vocabulary
that were Arabic in origin, and Islamic petroglyphs
were found in places such as California.

In the Inyo county of the State of California,
according to Fell, there is another petroglyph that
states, "Yasus bin Maria" which means in Arabic,
"Jesus, son of Mary". This is not a Christian phrase;
in fact, the phrase is to be found in the verses and
ayahs of the Holy Quran. This glyph, as Fell believes,
is centuries older than the US. In the Western states
of the US he found texts, diagrams and charts engraved
on rocks that were used for schooling that dated back
to 700-800 C.E. The schooling was in subjects such as
mathematics, history, geography, astronomy and sea
navigation. The language of instruction was Kufic
Arabic, from North Africa.

The German art historian, Alexander Von Wuthenau, also
provides evidence that Islamic peoples were in
America, in the time between 300 and 900 C.E. This was
at least half a millennium before Columbus was born!
Carved heads, that were described as "Moorish-looking"
were dated between 300 and 900 C.E. and another group
of heads dated between 900 and 1500 C.E. An artifact
found in the earlier group was photographed, and when
later examined was found to resemble an old man in a
Fez, like the Egyptians.

Ivan Van Sertima is widely renowned for his work,
"They Came Before Columbus" which showed that there
was definitely contact between the ancient and early
African people with the Native Americans. This and
another of his works, "African Presence in Early
America" both prove that there were African Muslim
settlements in the Americas, before the expedition of
Columbus was even conceived. His research has shown
that Arab Muslim trade was active in America and one
can only imagine that the marvellous culture that the
Native Americans had that shared so much with Islamic
teachings was of great attraction to the Muslims that
came so far across the sea.

And for the record, Christopher Columbus, the man who
so-called discovered America, himself declared that
his impression of the Carib people (i.e., Caribbean
people) were "Mohemmedans." He knew of the Mandinka
presence in the New World (Muslims) and that Muslims
from the West coast of Africa had settled down in the
Carribean, Central, South and North America. Unlike
Columbus, they had not come to enslave the populations
or plunder the land; they had come to trade and they
married among the Natives. Columbus further admitted
that on October 21st, 1492, as he was sailing past
Gibara on the coast of Cuba, he saw a mosque, and
remnants of other masjids have been found in Cuba,
Mexico, Texas and Nevada.

On the second voyage Columbus took to the West Indies,
the people of Haiti told him that "black" people had
been there before him. They showed him spears of these
visitors, and further study of the metals involved in
their construction showed that they could have been
made only in one place: Guinea.

Another historian, P.V. Ramos, also showed in his
essay in "African Presence in Early America" that the
dietary regulations of the Carib were similar to
Islamic teachings.

But let us say that we are wrong. Perhaps it is all
just a coincidence; after all, there are no living
survivors of the Native American Muslims, are they?

Wrong. And this last part is what originally drew me
into this quest for knowledge: an exposé written by a
Native Muslim.

Brother Mahir Abdal-Razzaaq El wrote in his account,
recently posted on the Internet, about the Native
Americans that were Muslims. He is of the Cherokee
tribe; known as Eagle Sun Walker, and a Pipe Carrier
Warrior of the Cherokees in New York. He tells of
Muslim travellers that came to his land over one
thousand years ago, and what is more important,
existing evidence of legislation, treaties and
resolutions that prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt
that Muslims were in the Americas and very active.
Although these documents have not been written after
1492, it is still interesting to note that Islam was
in fact there. The Treaty of Peace and Friendship of
1787 have the signatures of Abdel-Khak and Mohammed
Bin Abdulla. According to a federal court case from
the Continental Congress,

Native Muslims helped put life into the constitution.

These are a matter of record; they cannot be disputed.
Go to the National Archives or the Library of Congress
and see for yourself; the Treat of 1987 show that the
Natives abided by an Islamic system in commerce,
maritime shipping and government. The records of the
State of Carolina has the Moors Sundry Act of 1790.
The Cherokee Chief of 1866 was a man called Ramadhan
Bin Wati. Native clothing up until 1832 was full
Islamic wear. The name Tallahassee actually means,"
Allah will deliver you sometime in the future." In
North America, there are no less than 565 names of
tribes, villages, cities, mountains and other lands
sites of Islamic or Arabic roots.

The truth of Islam and the truth of the Native
American culture is one and the same; many people
hundreds of years ago realised that. The protection of
the land and of the animals; the non-wastage of
resources and the non-pollution of nature are all
Islamic concepts.

I finish this article with a few Native sayings. And
then, I want you to tell me that Islam is not nurtured
in the hearts of these people.

"Our belief is that the Great Spirit has created all
things. Not just mankind but animals, all plants, all
rocks, all on earth and amongst the stars with true
soul. For us, all life is holy. All of nature is
within us and we are part of all nature." Chief White
Cloud

"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the
night." Crowfoot

"In the life of the Indian there was only one
inevitable duty- the duty of prayer - the daily
recognition of the Unseen and the Eternal." Ohiyesa

Allahu akbar. Salaam wa allaykum wa rakhmatullah wa
barakatu.

When this article was written] Hisham Zoubeir is at
the University of Sheffield undertaking a
multi-disciplinary degree in law. He has lived in Abu
Dhabi, Cairo and London. His main interests delves
into peace, equality, righteousness and spirituality.
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