MUSLIMS IN ‘AMERICAS’ BEFORE COLUMBUS
(EDITOR’S NOTE: West African Muslims traveled to the ‘Americas’, long before colonial Europe, establishing trade routes and cultural exchange through peaceful collaboration with the Natives of the lands. Many historians ignore this evidence to support the narrative of highly civilized and technologically advanced Europe domesticating the tribal barbaric natives . Though we hardly need traitorous scoundrel Tayyip Erdogan to relay this message to us, the discoveries of relics cement the general history of early Islamic pluralism with the Indigenous.
Far from aims of conquest and enslavement, West Africans, especially Mansa Musa Abu Bakari from Mali, came with gifts of gold and silver, spices and tools for the Natives with whom they established new townships through intermarriage and cultural exchange as well as spiritual harmony. The synergistic collaboration of the Africans and Natives is reflected in the Tribe of Ben Ishmael, which was ruthlessly eradicated through castration and other modes of eugenics.
This eccentric collective of peoples included Africans, Natives and Irish slaves in the “New World”. They lived an Islamic life and intermarried, organizing in a cohesive tribal unit. These topics and more are addressed in depth by my late mentor, Sultan Abdul Latif in his masterpiece, “When Nations Gather“. ~ Khanverse)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says the Muslim faith was “widespread” in America before the arrival of Columbus in the 15th century, and insists that a massive mosque should be erected in Havana, despite the city’s refusal to grant a building permit.
“The religion of Islam was widespread before Columbus,” the longtime Turkish leader told the audience at the first ever Latin American Muslim leaders summit in Istanbul, as cited by Hurriyet Daily News.
“Muslim sailors had arrived in the shores of America in 1178. In his diaries, Christopher Columbus referred to the presence of a mosque on top of a mountain in Cuba.”
The claim comes from a 1996 paper from Youssef Mroueh of the As-Sunnah Foundation of America.
“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 top of a beautiful mountain,” it alleges.
The veracity of this statement has been comprehensively disproved in the past.
The actual quote comes from a log of Columbus’ first journey in 1492, as recorded decades later by colonization historian Bartholome de Casas, but it was made on October 29 – likely near a different part of Cuba than claimed by Mroueh. Most importantly, it explicitly does not imply that Christopher Columbus saw an actual mosque – only a hill that looked like a minaret.
“Remarking on the position of the river and port, to which he gave the name of San Salvador, he describes its mountains as lofty and beautiful, like the Pena de las Enamoradas, and one of them has another little hill on its summit, like a graceful mosque,” reads the entry from the de Casas chronicle.
Even if this claim is easily debunked, it is part of a growing volume of Muslim scholarship that seeks to prove that Islam pre-dated Christianity in the New World, using circumstantial evidence. This idea itself has gained traction in swathes of the Islamic world.
Among the usual pieces of proof that form the backbone of the argument is a 1980 paper by Harvard academic Barry Fell, who claimed that some of the ancient engravings in the Americas resembled Muslim fonts.
There are also references to various trans-Atlantic journeys by Muslims made as far back as the 11th century, of explorers bringing back hoards of gold, using the relatively sophisticated navigational equipment possessed by the Islamic world at the time.
Alternative theories additionally propose that common Indian proper names were bastardizations of Islamic terms. For example, they claim that ‘Seminole’ is actually the Turkish ‘Sami nal’ or ‘Semites who ran away,’ while ‘Shawnee,’ another tribe name, is derivative of ‘sah ne’ which means the ‘Great Shah.’
No actual archaeological links – be it buildings or artifacts – suggesting contact between the Muslim world and that of pre-Colombian Indians have been unearthed.
“Now I will speak to my Cuban brother [the country’s delegate at the forum]. A mosque will suit well on top of that mountain today, too. Their permission is enough,” said Erdogan.
The newly-elected Turkish president has contrasted the impact of Islam and Christianity on newly-converted territories.
“Converting people by force, by the sword, has never been a part of Islam. Our religion has never been a tool of exploitation,” said 60-year-old Erdogan, who was prime minister from 2003, until moving into his new post in August. In contrast, Erdogan said that European Christians “colonialized America for its gold and Africa for its diamonds, now do it in the Middle East for its oil with the same dirty plot.”
Islamic leaders used ‘futuhad’ – religiously-motivated military campaigns – to rapidly spread the religion through the Middle East and North Africa within a century of the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD. Muslim rulers also forcibly converted millions of locals in Spain and Eastern Europe, in the centuries after. Currently, ISIS, Boko Haram, and other militias around the world, say they are following the teachings of the Koran, by establishing new Muslim territories with jihad.
Problematically, a plan by a Turkish company to construct a 3,500-place mosque for Cuba’s estimated Muslim converts – who number up to 9,000 according to five-year-old Pew Research data – has stalled, in what is officially an atheist state.
The project, modeled on the Ortaköy Mosque in Istanbul, was touted in April, following an official visit by Turkish officials – with a sign in Arabic appearing on the proposed site in Havana.
But in October, Lazo Torres, head of the local Muslim community, said that no permit has been given for the building, prompting reports that the project was rejected by the authorities, which have themselves not commented. Recently, Torres has clarified his statements, saying that the future of the project – which he says will serve the entire community, not just Muslims – remains undecided.
Source: Russia Today
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