Learn Your Story

By: Youssef Mroueh

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Numerous evidences suggest that Muslims from Spain and West Africa arrived in the Americas at least five centuries before Columbus. It is recorded, for example that in the mid-tenth century during the rule of the Umayyad Caliph Abdul-Rahman III (929-961), Muslims of African origin sailed westward from the Spanish port of Delba (Palos) into the “Ocean of darkness and fog.” They returned after a long absence with much booty from a “strange and curious land.” It is evident that people of Muslim origin are known to have accompanied Columbus and subsequent Spanish explorers to the New World.

 

A renowned American historian and linguist Leo Weiner of Harvard University, in his book Africa and The Discovery of America (1920) wrote that Columbus was well aware of the Mandinka presence in the New World and that the West African Muslims had spread throughout the Caribbean, Central, South and North American territories, including Canada, where they were trading and intermarrying with the Iroquois and Algonquin Indians.

 

Columbus and early Spanish and Portuguese explorers were able to voyage across the Atlantic (a distance of 24,000 Kilometers) thanks to Muslim geographical and navigational information, in particular maps made by Muslim traders, including Al-Masudi (871 – 957 CE) in his book ‘Akhbar Az-Zaman’ (History of The World) which is based on material gathered in Africa and Asia. As a matter of fact, Columbus had two captains of Muslim origin during his first transatlantic voyage: Martin Alonso Pinzon was the captain of the Pinta, and his brother Vicente Yanex Pinzon was the captain of the Nina. They were wealthy, expert ship outfitters who helped organize the Columbus expedition and repaired the flagship Santa Maria. They did this at their own expense for both commercial and political reasons. The Pinzon family was related to Abuzayan Muhammad III (1362 – 66 CE), the Moroccan sultan of the Marinid dynasty (1196 – 1465 CE).

Anthropologists have proven that the Mandinkas under Mansa Musa’s instructions explored many parts of North America via the Mississippi and other rivers systems. At Four Corners, Arizona, writings show that they even brought elephants from Africa to the area.
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. For proof they presented Columbus with the spears of these African Muslims. These weapons were tipped with a yellow metal that the Indians called Guanine, a word of West African derivation meaning ‘gold alloy.’ Oddly enough,it is related to the Arabic world ‘Ghinaa’ which means ‘Wealth.’ Columbus brought some Guanines back to Spain and had them tested. He learned that the metal was 18 parts gold (56.25 percent), six parts silver (18.75 percent and eight parts copper (25 percent), the same ratio as the metal produced in African metal shops of Guinea.

Dr. Barry Fell (Harvard University) introduced in his book Saga America – 1980 solid scientific evidence supporting the arrival, centuries before Columbus, of Muslims from North and West Africa. Dr. Fell discovered the existence of Muslim schools at Valley of Fire, Allan Springs, Logomarsino, Keyhole Canyon, Washoe and Hickison Summit Pass (Nevada), Mesa Verde (Colorado), Mimbres Valley (New Mexico) and Tipper Canoe (Indiana) dating back to 700-800 CE. Engraved on rocks in the old western US, he found texts, diagrams and charts representing the last surviving fragments of what was once a system of schools – at both an elementary and higher levels. The language of instruction was North African Arabic written with old Kufic Arabic script. The subjects of instruction included writing, reading, arithmetic, religion, history, geography, mathematics, astronomy and sea navigation. The descendants of the Muslim visitors of North America are members of the present Iroquois, Algonquin, Anasazi, Hohokam and Olmec native people.
Introduction
Historic Documents
Geographic Explorations
Arabic (Islamic) Inscriptions

 

Introduction

The last Muslim stronghold in Spain, Granada, fell to the Christians in 1492 CE, just before the Spanish inquisition was launched. To escape persecution, many non-Christians fled or embraced Catholicism. At least two documents imply the presence of Muslims in Spanish America before 1550 CE. Despite the fact that a decree issued in 1539 CE, by Charles V, King of Spain, forbade the grandsons of Muslims who had been burned at the stake to migrate to the West Indies. This decree was ratified in 1543 CE, and an order for the expulsion of all Muslims from overseas Spanish territories was subsequently published. Many references on the Muslim arrival in the Americas are available. They are summarized in the following notes:

 

Historic Documents

l. A Muslim historian and geographer Abul-Hassan Ali Ibn Al-Hussain Al-Masudi (871 – 957 CE) wrote in his book ‘Muruj Adh-dhahab wa Maadin al-Jawhar’ (The Meadows of Gold and Quarries of Jewels) that during the rule of the Muslim Caliph of Spain Abdullah Ibn Muhammad (888 – 912 CE), a Muslim navigator Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad of Cordoba, Spain sailed from Delba (Palos) in 889 CE, crossed the Atlantic, reached an unknown territory (Ard Majhoola) and returned with fabulous treasures. In Al-Masudi’s map of the world there is a large area in the ocean of darkness and fog (the Atlantic ocean) which he referred to as the unknown territory (the Americas).

 

2. A Muslim historian Abu Bakr Ibn Umar Al-Gutiyya narrated that during the reign of the Muslim Caliph of Spain, Hisham II (976 -1009 CE), another Muslim navigator Ibn Farrukh of Granada sailed from Kadesh (February 999 CE) into the Atlantic, landed in Gando (Great Canary Islands) visiting King Guanariga, and continued westward where he saw and named two islands, Capraria and Pluitana. He arrived back in Spain in May 999 CE.

 

3. Columbus sailed from Palos (Delba), Spain. He was bound for Gomera (Canary Islands) – Gomera is an Arabic word meaning ‘small firebrand’ – there he fell in love with Beatriz Bobadilla, daughter of the first captain General of the island (the family name Bobadilla is derived from the Arab Islamic name Abouabdilla). Nevertheless, the Bobadilla clan was not easy to ignore. Another Bobadilla (Francisco), later as the royal commissioner, put Columbus in chains and transferred him from Santo Domingo back to Spain (November 1500 CE). The Bobadilla family was related to Abbadid dynasty of Seville (1031 -1091 CE).

 

On October 12, 1492 CE, Columbus landed on a little island in the Bahamas that was called Guanahani by the natives. Renamed San Salvador by Columbus, Guanahani is derived from Mandinka and modified Arabic words. Guana (Ikhwana) means ‘brothers’ and Hani is an Arabic name. Therefore the original name of the island was ‘Hani Brothers.’ [Click here for corrupted names of Arabic origin, such as those starting with Guad-, al-, Medina and others.]

 

Ferdinand Columbus, the son of Christopher, wrote about the blacks seen by his father in Honduras: “The people who live farther east of Pointe Cavinas, as far as Cape Gracios a Dios, are almost black in color.” At the same time in this very same region, lived a tribe of Muslim natives known as Almamy. In Mandinka and Arabic languages Almamy was the designation of “Al-Imam” or “Al-Imamu,” the person who leads the Prayer, or in some cases, the chief of the community, and/or a member of the Imami Muslim community.

 

4. A renowned American historian and linguist Leo Weiner of Harvard University, in his book Africa and The Discovery of America (1920) wrote that Columbus was well aware of the Mandinka presence in the New World and that the West African Muslims had spread throughout the Caribbean, Central, South and North American territories, including Canada, where they were trading and intermarrying with the Iroquois and Algonquin Indians.

 

Geographic Explorations

1. The famous Muslim geographer and cartographer Al-Sharif Al-Idrisi (1099 – 1166 CE) wrote in his famous book ‘Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi-Ikhtiraq al-Afaq (Excursion of the longing in crossing horizons) that a group of seafarers (from North Africa) sailed into the sea of darkness and fog (the Atlantic ocean) from Lisbon (Portugal), in order to discover what was in it and what extent were its limits. They finally reached an island that had people and cultivation….on the fourth day, a translator spoke to them in the Arabic language.

 

2. The Muslim reference books mentioned a well-documented description of a journey across the sea of fog and darkness by Shaikh Zayn-eddine Ali ben Fadhel Al-Mazandarani. His journey started from Tarfay (south Morocco) during the reign of the King Abu-Yacoub Sidi Youssef (1286 – 1307 CE) sixth of the Marinid dynasty, to Green Island in the Caribbean sea in 1291 CE (690 AH). The details of his ocean journey are mentioned in Islamic references, and many Muslim scholars are aware of this recorded historical event.

 

3. The Muslim historian Chihab Addine Abul-Abbas Ahmad ben Fadhl Al-Umari (1300 – 1384 CE, 700 – 786 AH) described in detail the geographical explorations beyond the sea of fog and darkness of Male’s sultans in his famous book ‘Masaalik al-absaar fi Mamaalik al-amsaar (The Pathways of Sights in The Provinces of Kingdoms).

 

4. Sultan Mansa Kankan Musa (1312 – 1337 CE) was the world renowned Mandinka monarch of the West African Islamic empire of Mali. While traveling to Makkah on his famous Hajj in 1324 CE, he informed the scholars of the Mamluk Bahri Sultan court (an-Nasir-eddin Muhammad III, 1309 – 1340 CE) in Cairo that his brother, Sultan Abu Bakari I (1285 – 1312 CE) had undertaken two expeditions into the Atlantic ocean. When the sultan did not return to Timbuktu from the second voyage of 1311 CE, Mansa Musa became sultan of the empire.

 

5.Columbus and early Spanish and Portuguese explorers were able to voyage across the Atlantic (a distance of 24,000 Kilometers) thanks to Muslim geographical and navigational information, in particular maps made by Muslim traders, including Al-Masudi (871 – 957 CE) in his book ‘Akhbar Az-Zaman’ (History of The World) which is based on material gathered in Africa and Asia. As a matter of fact, Columbus had two captains of Muslim origin during his first transatlantic voyage: Martin Alonso Pinzon was the captain of the Pinta, and his brother Vicente Yanex Pinzon was the captain of the Nina. They were wealthy, expert ship outfitters who helped organize the Columbus expedition and repaired the flagship Santa Maria. They did this at their own expense for both commercial and political reasons. The Pinzon family was related to Abuzayan Muhammad III (1362 – 66 CE), the Moroccan sultan of the Marinid dynasty (1196 – 1465 CE).

 

Arabic (Islamic) Inscriptions

l. Anthropologists have proven that the Mandinkas under Mansa Musa’s instructions explored many parts of North America via the Mississippi and other rivers systems. At Four Corners, Arizona, writings show that they even brought elephants from Africa to the area.

 

2. 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.

3. During his second voyage, Columbus was told by the Indians of Espanola (Haiti), that Black people had been to the island before his arrival. For proof they presented Columbus with the spears of these African Muslims. These weapons were tipped with a yellow metal that the Indians called Guanine, a word of West African derivation meaning ‘gold alloy.’ Oddly enough, it is related to the Arabic world ‘Ghinaa’ which means ‘Wealth.’ Columbus brought some Guanines back to Spain and had them tested. He learned that the metal was 18 parts gold (56.25 percent), six parts silver (18.75 percent and eight parts copper (25 percent), the same ratio as the metal produced in African metal shops of Guinea.

 

4. In 1498 CE, on his third voyage to the New World, Columbus landed in Trinidad. Later, he sighted the South American continent, where some of his crew went ashore and found natives using colorful handkerchiefs of symmetrically woven cotton. Columbus noticed the these handkerchiefs resembled the head dresses and loincloths of Guinea in their colors, style and function. He referred to them as Almayzars. Almayzar is an Arabic word for ‘wrapper,’ ‘cover,’ ‘apron’ and or ‘skirting,’ which was the cloth the Moors (Spanish or North African Muslims) imported from West Africa (Guinea) into Morocco, Spain and Portugal.

 

During this voyage, Columbus was surprised that the married women wore cotton panties (bragas) and he wondered where these natives learned their modesty. Hernando Cortez, Spanish conqueror, described the dress of the Indian women as long veils and the dress of Indian men as ‘breechcloth painted in the style of Moorish draperies.’ Ferdinand Columbus called the native cotton garments ‘breechclothes of the same design and cloth as the shawls worn by the Moorish women of Granada.’ Even the similarity of the children’s hammocks to those found in North Africa was uncanny.

 

5. Dr. Barry Fell (Harvard University) introduced in his book Saga America – 1980 solid scientific evidence supporting the arrival, centuries before Columbus, of Muslims from North and West Africa. Dr. Fell discovered the existence of Muslim schools at Valley of Fire, Allan Springs, Logomarsino, Keyhole Canyon, Washoe and Hickison Summit Pass (Nevada), Mesa Verde (Colorado), Mimbres Valley (New Mexico) and Tipper Canoe (Indiana) dating back to 700-800 CE. Engraved on rocks in the old western US, he found texts, diagrams and charts representing the last surviving fragments of what was once a system of schools – at both an elementary and higher levels. The language of instruction was North African Arabic written with old Kufic Arabic script. The subjects of instruction included writing, reading, arithmetic, religion, history, geography, mathematics, astronomy and sea navigation.

 

The descendants of the Muslim visitors of North America are members of the present Iroquois, Algonquin, Anasazi, Hohokam and Olmec native people.

 

6. There are 565 names of places (villages, towns, cities, mountains, lakes, rivers, etc.) in USA (484) and Canada (81) which are derived from Islamic and Arabic roots. These places were originally named by the natives in pre-Columbian period. Some of these names carried holy meanings such as: Mecca (Indiana) – 720 inhabitants, Makkah Indian tribe (Washington), Medina (Idaho) – 2100, Medina (NY) – 8500, Medina and Hazen (North Dakota) – 1100 and 5000, respectively, Medina (Ohio) – 12,000, Medina (Tennessee) – 1100, Medina (Texas) – 26,000, Medina (Ontario) -1200, Mahomet (Illinois) – 3200, Mona (Utah) – 1100, Arva (Ontario) – 700, and many others. A careful study of the names of the native Indian tribes revealed that many names are derived from Arab and Islamic roots and origins, i.e. Anasazi, Apache, Arawak, Arikana, Chavin Cherokee, Cree, Hohokam, Hupa, Hopi, Makkah, Mahigan, Mohawk, Nazca, Zulu, Zuni, etc.

 

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Based on the above historical, geographical and linguistic evidence, a call to celebrate the millennium of the Muslim arrival to the Americas (996-1996), five centuries before Columbus, has been issued to all Muslim nations and communities around the world. We hope that this call will receive complete understanding and attract enough support.

 

Partial List of References:

Al-Masudi, “Muruj Adh-Dhahab,” (Arabic), Vol. 1, p. 138.
On Manuel Osunay Savinon, “Resumen de la Geografia Fisica…,” Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1844.
Al-Idrisi, “Nuzhat Al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq Al-Afaaq” (Arabic).
Agha Hakim Al-Mirza “Riyaadh Al-Ulama,” (Arabic), vol. 2, p. 386 and vol.4, p. 175.
Sayed Mohsin Al-Ameen, “Aayan Ash-Shia,” (Arabic), vol. 7, p.158 and vol. 8 p. 302-3.
Ar-Raghib Al-Asfahani, “Adharea Ila Makarim Ash-Shia,” vol. 16, p. 343.
Giles Cauvet, “Les Berbers de L’Amerique,” Paris, 1912, pp. 100-101.
Patrick Huyghe, “Columbus was Last,” New York, 1992.
H.T. WILKINS, “Mysteries of Ancient South America,” New York, 1974
C.A. WINTERS, “Islam in Early North and South America,” Al-Ittihad, July 1977, p. 60
Mauricio Obregon, “The Columbus Papers, The Barcelona Letter of 1493, The Landfall Controversy, and the Indian Guides,” McMillan Co., N.Y., 1991.
Leo Weiner, “Africa and the Discovery of America,” Philadelphia, 1920, vol. 2, pp. 365-6.
Ferdinand Columbus, “The Life of Admiral Christopher Columbus,” Rutgers University Press, 1959, p. 232.
Barry FELL, “Saga America,” New York, 1980; also “America BC,” New York, 1976.
Nigel Davies, “Voyagers to the New World,” New York, 1979.

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BinZiad

29-06-2002, 19:00

Muslims Were in America Before Columbus!

By: The Message: Saudi Gazette

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The works of men such as Ivan van Vertima, Barry Fell and Alexandervon Wuthenue represent 20th century scholarship which has stated directly or indirectly that there has been a significant Muslim presence in the early Americas. While it is true that there have been a number of Muslim writers such as Clyde-Ahmad Winters who have sought to enlighten folks to that fact, it is perhaps more significant that “non-Muslims” have conceded such evidence of pre- and post-Columbian Muslims on this continent.

 

New Zealand archaeologist and linguist Barry Fell in his work Saga America (1980) pointed to existing evidence of a Muslim presence in various parts of the Americas. In addition to drawing several cultural parallels between West African peoples and certain “Indian” peoples of the south-west, Fell points out that the south- west’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 country, California, there exists an early American petroglyph (rock carving) which stated in Arabic: “Yasus bin 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 earlier than Columbus’ discovery of America.

 

Fell also identified 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.

 

Although German art historian and collector Alexander von Wuthenau argues that the ancient and early Americas were filled with an international melange of peoples from Africa, Asia and Europe, his artefactual evidence reveals that Islamic peoples were clearly a prominent group within it. In his classic work, Unexpected faces in Ancient America (1975), von Wuthenau specifically identifies a group of carved heads as “Moorish-looking”. Found within Mexico, such heads are dated between 300 to 900 CE and another between 900- 1500 CE (common era). One such artifact of the “classic” (300-900 CE) is described by von Wuthenue as “an old man with hat”.

 

The presence of the naja among the dineh (a.k.a “Navjo”) is intriguing given the other evidence of Islamic contacts with the early American west. The naja is a crescent moon symbol found among the dineh that is used in such things as decoration and jewellery. While it is indeed possible that the symbol was indigenous to the dineh, a number of Smithsonian scholars apparently think that the symbol: “spread from Muslim North Africa to Spain, then to Mexico, then to the Navajo”.

 

Although the inference of the Smithsonian published text seems to be that the Spaniards brought the naja, it seems very odd to me that the crucifix centred Catholic Spaniards would introduce such a symbol. After all, the customarily dogmatic Catholic Spaniards would have been introducing a religious symbol which represented the spiritual motif of their nemesis. If it was brought from Spain, I would argue that it probably came via expelled Moorish Muslims or subjugated “Moriscos”. “Morisco” was the term used by Catholic officials to designate Moors (Moros) who were allowed to remain in Catholic dominions.

 

Ivan van Sertima is of course renowned for his first revitalising original work: They came before Columbus which outlined evidence of ancient and early African contacts with the American continent. Although it was not the first work to discuss the topic, it certainly consolidated the African evidence in a more inter- disciplinary fashion which cried out for renewed attention particularly from the African American community. Van Sertima’s other edited works like African Presence in Early America offered additional information about the African legacy in the Americas. Both of the above works point out proof of African Muslim settlements within the pre-Columbian Americas.

 

Van Sertima identifies 12th and 13th century Chinese documents which spoke of “Arab” Muslim trade extending beyond the Atlantic coast of west Africa. In his work Arabic Thought and it’s Place in Western History, the late British Orientalist, DeLacy O’Leary also spoke of the area of “western Maghreb” extending “beyond the Atlantic” during the pre-Columbian Islamic era. The question is how far did O’Leary mean? Although O’Leary never clearly states that there was an Islamic presence in the early Americas, his inference compels us to wonder if that is what he meant but was not willing to say overtly.

 

Among the items of evidence which van Sertima unveils is the presence of African Muslim surnames among American “Indian” peoples. Quoting a French linguist, van Sertima points out that Ges, Zamoras, Marabitine, and Marabios are a few of the names with clear trans-continental links.

 

Of particular interest to me, however, are the names “Marabitine” and “Marabios” which I noted 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. The famed Ibn Batutah spoke of the Marabouts in his renowned Travels. The antiquity of such a “Moorish” (African) presence in the Americas is hereby seen to be quite early when one considers the significance of all the evidence presented herefore.

 

In Panama and Colombia there were rulers whom the invading Catholic Spaniards recognised as having “completely Moorish or biblical” names such as “DoBayda” and “Aben-Amechy”. This was revealed by the mid-19th century French scholar Brasseur de Bourboug and is noted in van Sertma’s edited work African Presence in Early America.

 

Even in the Caribbean the evidence of a significant Muslim presence can be found. P. V. Ramos points out in his essay in African Presence in Early America that Christopher Columbus’ own impression of the “Carib” peoples was that they were “Mohemmedans”. 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.

 

Clyde Ahmad Winters in a 1978 issue of Al-Ittihad: A Quarterly Journal of Islamic Studies, points out that large numbers of enslaved Muslims were brought to “Latin America” by the conquering Catholic authorities of Spain and Portugal. Among the African Islamic peoples which Winters identifies as having been brought to “Latin” territories were the Mandig, Fula, Wolof, Berbers and Moors.

 

The African Muslims of early Latin America were evidently quite successful in converting American Indians to the religion of Islam. Initially allowed to publicly practice their faith, by 1543 Muslims in Spanish-controlled American colonies were being expelled from there.

 

A Catholic Spaniard or Latino is essentially attempting to skate on melted ice when they try to make an argument of racial supremacy or distinction. For when they insult the African Muslim, they undoubtedly insult a significant part of themselves.

 

In addition, they would be denying the historic fact of the Islamic Moors’ primary role as scholarly tutors and beacons of civilized society for medieval Spain and Europe.

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BinZiad

29-06-2002, 19:04

A Brief History of Muslims in Panama

By: Dr. Abdul Khabeer Muhammad
The Message Canada Islamic Magazine
August 1997 Edition

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The first group of Muslims that came to Panama (Central America) came as slaves from Africa, brought by the Spaniards to work the gold mines. Not unlike the Africans in the other parts of the Americas, they refused to be slaves.

 

In 1552 a group from the Mandinka tribes arrived in Panama. They were always considered as intelligent, industrious slaves and with a higher degree of culture. Of this group, the Vais were the most outstanding blacks of the continent because they had invented a writing system.

 

Since this famous Mandinka tribe was influenced by Islam, they were all Muslims and it was written in the Spanish Laws of the period that these were prohibited from being brought to the Americas. Yet this was violated, partly because of religious discrimination. “Mandinka“ was among the colonies synonymous with the devil and evil spirits. There was another reason though. Islamic tradition had developed in them a high sendse of pride which made them decisively refuse to be considered slaves of the white man. Many were captured and sold, but their spirit of freedom led them to promote and lead slave uprisings. The Spaniards considered them bad people because they forcibly refused to be slaves.

 

The group of about 400-500 that arrived on the Atlantic coast of Panama in 1552, escaped from a sinking ship, and began to live and fight to maintain their freedom. This group did not arrive on the mainland as slaves. They elected one of their members called BAYANO or VAINO to be their leader. (My theory is that the name Bayano is a derivative of the Arabic Word bayyan). Bayano led them in their fight against the colonizers.

 

These Muslims remained steadfast to Islam during the leadership of Bayano. They formed councils, and mosques were built where they held prayers and meetings. These men were steadfast in the faith and Islam, so much that it is related that a couple of them were captured in an ambush, one of the two men were one of the Imams of the group. He was sentenced to die by hanging. They then proposed to him that if he gave up his faith and beliefs, they would be lenient with him; he refused the offer, and he was thrown in a hole with a pack of Great Dane dogs who tore him apart. He persisted in his refusal, and died with his faith, Alhamdulillah. Many more died defending Islam and Freedom.

 

As a Muslim, Bayano made many covenants with the Governor of Panama which allowed him and his brother Muslims to remain somewhat in peace. Bayano kept his word in all covenants made with the Spaniards; not so the Spaniards. An officer by the name of Ursua was sent to stop the rebellion. Seeing that he could not defeat them, he began to befriend them, and made some agreements with Bayano. These agreements were broken by Ursua by having forty of Bayano`s men poisoned at a party he invited them to. Thirty-two died leaving Bayano and seven of his men. When they realized what was happening, some escaped. But, Bayano and his men were captured. He was sent to Peru then to Spain where he died. It is a known fact that these men converted some of the natives to Islam which brought the love for freedom and justice. So the Spanish colonizers set out to kill them all to stop their growth and that of Islam. These Muslims established a society based on Islamic culture, religion and politics. After Bayano’s death, efforts were made to destroy any trace of Islam during that period in Panama. These men lived in the area now known as Darien, San Miguel, Chepo, Pacora, San Blas and the area along the river Baayano, named after Bayano. There is no history as what happened to the Muslims who remained in Panama.

 

Even the books that teach the history of Panama and Bayano have purposely omitted the fact that he was Muslim. Whenever we lecture on Islam at the various educational institutions and tell them this historical fact, even the professors of history are found lacking. Yet, no one has been able to disprove the historical fact. That is recorded by historian Dr. Fernando Romero in an article titled: El “Rey Bayano” y Los Negros Panamenos en los mediados del siglo xvi (The “King Bayano” and the Black Panamians in the middle of the XVI century).

 

The second wave of Muslims did not come to Panama until the late 19th century when some came as travelers and remained. One such Muslim was a brother from Lebanon named Muhammad Majdob, who arrived in 1909, established himself as a merchant in the City of Colon on the Atlantic coast, and remained until 1935. From his family, he had a brother named Najim Majdob who recently resettled in the United States of America.

 

During the years 1904-1913, the group that arrived and settled in Panama to become merchants came from the Indo-Pakistan area, from Lebanon and other Muslim countries. The major group from Indo-Pakistan came from Bengali, Punjab, Peshavir, and Kashmir. Brothers Abdul Jabbar Babu and Ali Akbar led these groups. They numbered 15 to 20 and they came without their families. Therefore, some of them married local women. In 1929 another group came from Bombay. Among them was Muhammad Ibraheem, Salomon Bikhu, the Asvat family, Ismail and Musa, Bhana family and others. They formed an organization called the SUNNI INDO-PAKISTAN Muslim Society. Many of them lived and prayed in a building located in Calle Colon (Colon Street), and then moved to a room in Calle 19. Among the group was the Jalil family who now resides in Vista Alegre; Province of Colon.

 

During the period 1929-1948, this organization, then named Panama Muslim Mission, began to build a place for prayer on land donated by Ali Akbar. This was to have been the first mosque built in Panama City. This place was half completed and was used for Salatul Eid, and classes for new Muslims, who numbered about 25 during that period. These new Muslims were blacks of West Indian descent, Jamaicans, Trinidadians and Barbadians. Brother Ali Akbar conducted these classes. This locale still exists today and is located on Avenida 12 de Octubre entrance to Pueblo Nuevo, Panama City. Due to the fact that the place was not in use, local government allowed homeless people to reside there. Abdul Jabbar Babu, Ali Akbar and the secretary of Mission Islam, Abdullah Morris, led the group that assisted in the building of that structure.

 

During the above mentioned period, there was another group practicing Islam in the City of Colon, located on the Atlantic Coast of the Republic of Panama. A Jamaican named Basil Austkan led this group. He rented a place that was used for Salat and meetings. This place was located on Sixth Street and Broadway, Colon. These Muslims dressed in white thobes to pray and fasted during the month of Ramadan and at other times prescribed in Islam.

 

In 1932 there was a group of Muslim in San Miguel, Calidonia in Panama City who resided in Short Street where they held meetings and prayers.

The Muslims in Panama City from the Indo-Pakistan area had no family structure until 1951 when the first families (wives) arrived. Even though they had built in Pueblo Nuevo, many continued praying in the rented room located on Callo 19, because it was closer to their place of business. One of the brothers by the name of Saliba translated the Quràn to English in order to teach the local people who accepted Islam. These people spoke English because they came from from the West Indies. During the period of the 1950-60s, they remained worshipping in the two areas of Calle Colon and Calle 19. In 1963, they purchased a plot in the local cemetery called Jardin de Paz in order to bury their dead. In 1991, property was purchased in an area called Arrajain, which is now used solely as a Muslim cemetery.

 

In the mid-1970s, a group of native Panamanians influenced by the Nation of Islam of Elijah Muhammad, led by Abdul Wahab Johnson, Abdul Kabir A. Malik Reid, and Suleyman Johnson, began propagating Islam. This grew into two groups, one on the Pacific side, Panama City, and the other on the Atlantic side, Colon. After having contact with Dr. Abdulkhabeer Muhammad, who then came to Panama, they began to study true Islam in accordance of the teachings Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the Holy Qur’an. They were provided with books by Abdulkhabeer and taught the basic principles of Islam. In 1977, under the leadership of Suleyman, Abdul Wahab and Abdul Kabir A. Malik, they began holding classes on Sundays in the Firemen’s rehearsal hall due to the fact that Suleyman is a fireman. Later they received financial assistance from the Arab merchants living in Colon led by brother Ahmed Sakr. They rented a place on 7th Street and Central Avenue, Colon, where prayers and meetings were held. This group, due to lack of knowledge and assistance, disintegrated.

 

The Muslims of the Indo-Pakistan area began teaching their children at home in 1965 until 1973, when a small teaching program beganin a room above Bazar Hindustan on Central Avenue, Panama City. Prayers and meetings were also held there. In 1978, they began to use a place in the area of Perejil, Panama City, where prayers and meetings where held until the completion of the Jamah Masjid, which was inaugurated on 15 January, 1982. This masjid was built jointly by the Islamic Calla Society of Tripoli, Libya and Salomon Bikhu a local merchant from India, to provide a place for Muslims to meet and pray. Since its inauguration, classes have been held there in the evenings for children and others.

 

Classes are also held on Sundays at the Masjid in Colon for new Muslims and people interested in Islam, given by Dr. Abdulkhaber Muhammad, and in his absence Hamza Beard.

 

As of December 1996, there are four masjids in the Republic of Panama and a fifth under construction due to be inaugurated in the month of March 1997. The masjids are located in Panama City, Colon, Aguadulce and David. Islam in Panama began with the advent of slavery to the area and Allah willing, the movement will grow and bring peace, justice and understaning to all the people of Panama, Latin America and the Carribean.

Dr. Abdulkhabeer Muhammad is the Director of the International Center for Islamic Research and Studies.

 

‘Negros’ as the Original Indians

 Proof in the Jesuit Letters

 

The Book ‘Africans and Native Americans’ by Jack Forbes paints a very different picture of history than what most of Us were taught about the origins of Black People in the Western Hemisphere. We were taught that Black People came from Africa as slaves that the Red Indian was the true Native American, and that White people took ‘Black’ slaves from Africa and stole the land of the Red Indians. This story is nothing but a giant fiction, a novel made up by white historians to deceive the masses about the original history and peoples of the Americas. Jack Forbes uses the letters of Jesuit Missionaries to prove that ‘Negroes’ or ‘Black Moors’ were the first Americans and in fact were the Black and olive toned people found in the Western hemisphere. Commenting from the Jesuit letters on the appearance of the Native Americans Forbes states,

 

“For example in 1519 it was said of the Brazilians ‘non sono neneri ne blanchi ma di colore di ulivo (that is they are not black or white but of olive color) but the same writer remarked that the Brazilian canoe-men he saw were ‘so black’ that they could have been taken for sailors on the sea of styx (In Hell).”[1]

The author continues his comments on the appearance of Natives in North America from the Jesuit letters,

“In 1524 the Carolina coast people were said to be ‘of dark color not much unlike the Ethiopians.”[2]

 

The terms negro and indios were used interchangeably to describe the natives in the journals of early missionaries who could not have possibly been referring to Africans,

 

“From 1549 through 1565 the letters of the Jesuit missionaries in Brazil usually addressed to colleagues in Portugal or Spain, frequently refers to the Americans as Negroes…In April of 1549 Manuel de Nobrega, the leader of the Jesuits, addressed a letter from Bahia to Simao Rodrigues in Lisbon in which he refers to the Portuguese in Brazil as living in sin because of their having ‘many negras’ and lots of children by the said ‘black’ women. Thus the Jesuit father called the American women living with Portuguese men ‘negras’, a term which according to Leite, could not have denoted people from Africa because in 1549 there were few or no African women in Bahia. Nonetheless, Nobrega uses the word indio…

 

‘When Africans are referred to in the Jesuit Letters they are always called negros da Guine (Blacks of Guinea) to distinguish them from negros de terra (Blacks of the land or Americans)[3]

 

“A very interesting letter is one prepared by ‘dos meninos do Colegio de Jesus da Baia, that is, by young Americans studying in the school: Diogo Topinamba, Peribira Mongeta, and Quantia. Although probably edited by a Jesuit, this may represent the first letter written by Americans in a European Language from Brazil. In it they refer to an American leader, ’el Grillo’, as a negro and to other natives as negroes. We find for example ‘El Grillo, who is a negro very well known and feared among them’ and that el Grillo ‘es negro muy grave’. El Grillo was at the same time an Indi pagan and a friend of the Portuguese.”[4]

 

“In August 1552 Nobrega wrote from Bahia [South America] to Lisbon [Portugal] referring to the native peoples as negroes. In May 1554 Antonio Blazquez from Porto Seguro wrote to the Jesuits of Coimbra that:

 

Yo estoy en este Puerto Segro, y la vida que hago y en lo que me ocupo es esto: enseno la doctrina a los negros y negras.

That is he was preaching to the Americans, called negros. He also referred to the negros and los mamalucos des la tierra as pupils. The editor notes that by negros and negras he meant Indios e Indias.”[5]

 

The history as recorded by their own white hands bears witness that the Black People are the Indigenous and first Americans, American stemming from the intercourse of Vespucci and Columbus with Indigenous Blacks in Central America [Amaru]. The use above of ‘mamalucos’ to describe the negros which stems back to the Qara- Algonquian-Arabic word’ Mamluk’, also shows the Indigenous Moorish presence in the Americas. This history spanned from the first encounters of the Europeans with Our Ancestors to the Establishment of the United States of America and the Revolutionary War period.

 

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Nuwpunu/Moors/ Native To Americans

 

 

By: Dr Ali Muhammad {ISIS}

In 1803 the historical Lewis & Clark ‘Expedition’ was prepared by the

United States allegedly for the purpose of exploring the unknown territory from the western edge of the colonies to the Pacific. The true intention was to spy on the Indigenous Black People who were in America prior to the European invasion and colonization. Captain Merriweather Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark of the United States Army used a Black Man named York, who was also the son of Yusef Bin Ali, along with a Native woman named Ceesonnenee {Sacagawea – found on the millennial edition of the Dollar with her son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau} to be their interpreters as they gathered intelligence. In the Book Return of the Ancient Ones, Empress Tiara Verdiacee Washitaw reports,

“Lewis and Clark Documented everything in sight, the weather, the plants, the rocks, the minerals found, the people by tribe, by habits, by color, by war-like activities and it was documented a bushy-headed tribe who did not like the redman or the whiteman, the Black bushy-headed Washitaws. Now please explain why history did not make Us aware of this important fact? It was because they went to spy on the Washitaws, a people that the good old United States had signed to be their protectorates over their rights, their land, and their property.”[1]

John Sibley reports in the Lewis and Clark Documents,

To the right is Mahaska another Chief with an Aramaic/Hebrew name. Mahaska means the one with man horns as the painting shows and it represented his chiefdom. He and his father were recorded to have been in 18 battles with the United States and never lost one. He and his father were allies of Black Hawk or Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kiah. He traveled with his father to Washington D.C. in 1824 to meet with President John Quincy Adams. The Secretary of state was Henry Clay. These two, Adams and Clay, were later ordered by Abdur-Rahmaan Ibn Hisham to release Abraham ibn Sori, The ‘Prince of the Slaves’ in 1828. Abraham had been touring all over the West speaking with these chiefs about the Laws that were being used to free Him under the Moorish status. In the 1840’s the government made many treaties with Native Americans and land deals in Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Kansas. John Quitman and Eliza Tunica the father and mother of Noble Drew Ali among many other family members were apart of these transactions and interactions.

“Choctaw – There are rambling hunting parties of them to be met with all over Louisiana. They are at war with the Caldougies and liked by neither the Red nor the White People. April 5^th 1805[2]

 

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[1] Return of the Ancient Ones by Empress Tiara Verdiacee Washitaw-Goston El Bey page 200  

[2] {IBID} Return of the Ancient Ones pg 200

After the Lewis and Clark spy mission the United States brought 59 European families into the Louisiana Territory under the guard of the United States Army.[1] The Military poisoned the water supply with the intent of murdering off the original indigenous black population. They brought their school curriculums as they enslaved and murdered the Black populations making claims that they (The indigenous peoples) were fugitives from justice under Constitutional Law and were European property from Africa. However the people did not consider themselves by nationality or status as Africans until after this was breeded into them. The Indigenous people in African did not originally call themselves Africans. They were of Ta Mry and were Muurs. This word ‘African’ is a word of the white colonizer. There is evidence of this deceptive activity to falsify our status that is undeniable. It was a part of a plan to wipe out our Indigenous history in America. The names like Tunica and Washitaw were turned into Turner and Washington.

WARS With The MOORS

• 1752 – So Called French and Indian Wars were wars between the Moors [Black Knight Templar Families and Aboriginal Moors vs. British Colonists and Great Britain

• In 1776 The Sons of St. Tammany allied with the Moors to fight against the British Colonists and Great Britain

• Some of the British Colonists infiltrated the Moors and Sons of Liberty aka Sons of St. Tammany in order to overthrow the Moors. They were People like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Andrew Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin

Moors Titled Negroes by United States

• STATEMENTS FROM GENERAL THOMAS JESSUP

• “This, you may be assured, is a Negro, not an Indian war, and if it be not speedily put down, the south will feel the effects of it on their slave population before the end of the next season.”

• – Major General Jesup, June, 1837, in American State Papers, Military Affairs, cited in Kenneth W. Porter, The Negro on the American Frontier [New York, 1971] 251, 281

• “”If the war be carried on it must necessarily be one of extermination. We have, at no former period of our history, had to contend with so formidable an enemy. No Seminole proves false to his country, nor has a single instance ever occurred of a first rate warrior having surrendered.”

• IBID

• “Throughout my operations I have found the “Negroes” the most active and determined warriors; and during the conferences with the “Indian” chiefs I ascertained they exercised an almost controlling influence over them….The “Negroes” rule the ‘Indians’

Many of the Original Black inhabitants began to flee from the Western territory and many inhabitants sought refuge in Florida and some went further west to California and mingled with other unaffected indigenous populations. In 1816 a U.S. Colonel named Duncan Clinch lead an army into Florida to destroy what was called, ‘The Black Fort’, or Fort Negro. Colonel Duncan Clinch led an army of Red-Creek mercenaries and a U.S. army Unit into Florida to destroy Fort Negro. In a Book called, The Black West’, by William Katz, Katz reports,

“The explosion killed almost all of its Black and Red Warriors and two-hundred women and children… The few warriors were led back to the United States and Slavery. In his initial orders General Jackson had asked that they not only destroy the fort but, ‘return the stolen Negroes and Property to their Original owners.[2]”

But the question remains, did these aboriginals see themselves as slaves, foreigners, or property of the Europeans, as Africans, Negroes, or colored peoples. No! In Colonel Duncan Clinch’s report of the Battle at Fort Negro, the 1^st U.S. invasion of Florida the information provides facts to the contrary. Colonel Clinch’s report reads,

Fort Negro 1816

“In the evening a deputation of chiefs went into the Fort and demanded its surrender, but they were abused and treated with the utmost contempt. The Black Chief heaped much abuse on the Americans, & said he had been left in command of the fort by the British Government and that He would sink any American vessels that should attempt to pass it, and would blow up the Fort if He could not defend it. The chief also informed me that the Negroes had a Red Flag, and the English Jack was flying over it.[3]

The question that must be answered is, were these people former Slaves? What was their purpose for flying the two Flags they were flying? Slaves do not have Flags. A Flag represents a Nation. What Nation(s) did they represent? There were canons in use at Fort Negro. It is a well known fact in history that the canon was developed by the Moors in North Africa and Spain.

“The Moors had not only made the fire stick, as mentioned above, but even canon forged from wrought iron.[4]”

 The Two Flags represented Great Britain and the Indigenous Moorish Empire. They represented a Nation of Indigenous Moors This is the same Islamic Empire in the east that Abu Bakari, brother of Mansa Musa, was under when He brought 400 ships to America in 1311 A.D. Is it this flag that the ‘Chief’ was Flying at the Black Fort in Florida in 1816? Was there a continuous Moorish connection from 1311 with arrival of Moors from the East that is documented in Africa and America until 1816? The documented dates for the presence of contemporary eastern Moors go as far back as 700 A.D. as we have shown with the inscriptions found from an ancient Nevada school bearing the name of Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah.

 

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[1] IBID page 108-110

[2] The Black West by William Katz page 18

[3] Report of Colonel Clinch of the destruction of Fort Negro, on the Appalachiola, July 29^th 1816 (Washington War Records Office, National Archives)

[4] Golden Age of the Moors edited by Dr. Ivan Van Sertima page 20

 

Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori

 

 

 

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For the film, see Prince Among Slaves (film)

Ab-dul Rahman Ibrahima Ibn Sori (a.k.a. Abdul-Rahman) was a prince from West Africa who was made a slave in the United States. In 1828, by the order of President John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay, he was freed after spending 40 years in slavery.

Life

He was born in 1762 in Timbuktu, West Africa, (in present day Guinea, Fouta Djallon). He was known as the “Prince of Slaves” or “Prince.” He was a Fulbe or Fulani, (Fula) from the land of Fouta Djallon. Abrahim left Futa in 1774 to study in Mali at Timbuktu. Abrahim was leader of one of his father’s army divisions. After losing a battle to a warring nation he was captured and sold to slave traders in 1788 at the age of 26. He was bought by a Natchez, Mississippi cotton plantation owner, where he eventually became the overseer of the plantation of Thomas Foster. In 1794 he married Isabella, another slave of Foster’s, and eventually fathered a large family — 5 sons and 4 daughters.^[1]

 

By using his knowledge of growing cotton in Fouta Djallon, Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima rose to a position of authority on the plantation and became the de facto foreman. This granted him the opportunity to grow his own vegetable garden and sell at the local market. During this time, he met an old acquaintance, Dr. John Cox. Dr. Cox was an Irish surgeon who served on an English ship. He was the first white man to reach Timbo after being stranded by his ship and falling ill. Cox stayed ashore for six months and was taken in by Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima family. Cox appealed to Foster to sell him “Prince” so he could return to Africa. However, Foster would not budge, since Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima had made himself indispensable to the Foster farm. Dr. Cox continued, until his death in 1816, to seek Ibrahima’s freedom, to no avail. After Cox died, Ibrahima took up the cause.

 

In 1826, Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima wrote a letter to his relatives in Africa. A local newspaperman, Andrew Marschalk, who was originally from New York, sent a copy to Senator Thomas Reed in Washington, who forwarded it to the U.S. Consulate in Morocco. Since Abdal-Rhaman Ibrahima wrote in Arabic, Marschalk and the U.S. government assumed that he was a Moor. After the Sultan of Morocco read the letter, he asked President Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay to release Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima. In 1828, Thomas Foster agreed to the release of Ibrahima, without payment, with the stipulation that Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima had to return to Africa and could not enjoy the rights of being a free man in America.

 

Before he returned home, he and his wife went to various states and Washington, D.C. He solicited donations, through the press, personal appearances, the American Colonization Society and politicians, to free his family back in Mississppi. Word got back to Foster, who considered this a breach of the agreement. Abdul-Rahman’s actions and freedom were also used against President John Quincy Adams by future president Andrew Jackson during the presidential election.

 

After ten months, Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima and Isabella had only raised half the funds to free their children. They made arrangements to leave America. He went to Monrovia, Liberia with his wife. Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima lived for four months before he contracted a fever and died at the age of 67. He never saw Fouta Djallon or his children again.

 

Legacy

The funds that Abdul-Rahman and Isabella raised bought the freedom of two sons and their families. They were reunited with Isabella in Monrovia. Thomas Foster died the same year as Abdul-Rahman. Foster’s estate, including Abdul-Rahman’s other children and grandchildren, was divided among Foster’s heirs and scattered across Mississippi and the South. Abdul-Rahman’s descendants still reside in Monrovia and the United States. In 2006, Abdul-Rahman’s descendants gathered for a family reunion at Foster’s Field.

 

He wrote two autobiographies. A drawing of him is displayed in the Library of Congress.

In 1977, history professor Terry Alford documented the life of Ibn Sori in Prince Among Slaves, the first full account of his life, pieced together from first-person accounts and historical documents. In Prince Among Slaves, Alford writes:

Among Henry Clay’s documents, for the year 1829 we find the January 1 entry, “Prince Ibrahima, an Islamic prince sold into slavery 40 years ago, and freed with the stipulation that he return (in this case the word “return” makes sense) to Africa, joined the black citizens of Philadelphia as an honored guest in their New Year’s Day parade, up Lombard and Walnut, and down Chestnut and Spruce streets.

 

Proof of Nuwpunu being Indigenous to South America

 

 

The French archaeologist, Annette Laming-Emperaire and leader of a French-Brazilian archaeological expedition chose seven sites to work on which she named Lapa Vermelha I-VII. Work began at Lapa Vermelha IV in 1971with André Prous one of the excavators. In 1974 at a depth of between 12 and 13 m a skeleton with the bones widely scattered was discovered and named Lapa Vermelha IV hominid 1. Laming-Emperarie tragically died in 1976 and so could not follow up her discovery which rested, almost unnoticed, in a museum.

 

The skull and other bones turned out to have belonged to a young woman roughly 20 years of age when she died around 12,500 years ago, was excavated in the Lagoa Santa area by a Brazilian-French team under archaeologist Annette Laming-Emperaire in the 1970s. Laming-Emperaire died in a tragic acccident in 1977 before she could do any work on her discovery.

 

Detailed craniometric analyses on Luzia’s and many other skulls found in the Lagoa Santa area were carried out by Prof. Walter Neves. The results of these analyses were sensational: they revealed clear African and/or Australian traits not just of Luzia herself butof an entire prehistoric population at Lagoa Santa more than 10,000 years ago.

 

Several specialists have reconstructed Luzia’s face based on the detailed data supplied by Prof. Neves. When the results became available, even to a layperson it it had become obvious that Luzia was not an Amerind. Instead she had had features strongly suggesting an African or Australoid ancestry (also see the craniometric graphic below).Luzia was not an Amerind!

 

By 2006, Lagoa Santa sites had produced no less than 75 sufficiently well-preserved ancient skulls. Craniometric analysis of these have confirmed that Luzia was not an aberrant individual but belonged to an established population with African and/or Australian and Southern Asian characteristics. that had been well-established in Minas Gerais for at least 11,000 years.

 

Luzia and her people are important because they show that a non-Amerind population actually lived in Brazil at least 12,500 or so years ago and that these same people were still there 4,000 years later. This in turn indicates the depth of our ignorance ragrding the peopling of the Americas.