Christopher_Columbus_Fleet_Nina_PInta_Santa_Maria |
Martin
Alonso Pinzon the captain of the Pinta and his brother Vicente Yanex Pinzon the
captain of the Nina helped organize Columbus' voyages which introduced
Europeans to the New World. The Pinzon brothers were in fact Muslims related to
Abuzayan Muhammad III, a Moroccan Sultan.
I
note this because American Muslims are often mispercieved as foreigners
unwilling to assimilate. Yet, a survey of modern Islamic history and early
American religious history reveals a uniquely different reality: the presence
of Muslims in what would become the United States of America dates back to the
earliest arrivals of Europeans in the Americas.
Some
Muslims, such as Estevanico de Dorantes, arrived here as explorers. Originally
from Morocco, in the 1550's Estevanico was the first Muslim and the first
African to travel to the continental U.S.
Many
Muslims arrived here as slaves from Africa. In fact, scholars estimate that
"tens of thousands" of African Muslims lived in colonial and
antebellum America. During the 1730s, several such Muslims who were taken into
slavery became well known.
Among
them was Yarrow Mamout, for instance, an indentured servant in the South who
was set free after he finished making all the bricks for a house his master
planned to build. Mamout became a property owner, held stock in the Bank of
Columbia, and even had his likeness painted by the famed artist Charles Wilson
Peale in 1819 and again in 1822 by James Alexander Simpson.
Peter
(Saleem) Salem is another such prominent American Muslim slave. Born into slavery
in Massachusetts, Salem fought in the Revolutionary War and was subsequently
honored for his valor. Specifically, he shot and killed British Major John
Pitcairn when the colonial troops were near defeat and Pitcairn ordered them to
surrender. In 1882, a gravestone monument was erected in his memory and he is
also depicted in John Trumbull's famous painting of the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Other
Muslim slaves never had their likeness painted in such an illustrious fashion
but they were featured in runaway slave advertisements. In fact, in September
1774, one such advertisement in the Savannah Georgia Gazette called for the
capture of "Mahomet." Another advertisement in the Gazette which ran
in April 1789 sought the capture of "Amer." In 1790, the Gazette also
advertised about "Osman."
An
inextricable aspect of the American Muslim slave experience was their Islamic
practice. Indeed, a number of Muslim slaves continued to worship the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob while toiling on plantations.
Job
Ben Soliman, for example, was a Muslim slave who was known to "often leave
the Cattle, and withdraw into the Woods to pray; but a white Boy frequently
watched him, and whilst he was at his Devotion would mock him, and throw Dirt
in his Face."
Salih
Bilali was a Muslim slave on a Georgia plantation who was described by his
Master as a "strict Mahometan; [who] abstains from spirituous liquors, and
keeps the various fasts, particularly that of the Rhamadan. He is singularly
exempt from all feeling of superstition; and holds in great contempt, the
African belief in fetishes and evil spirits."
American
Muslims have historically practiced their faith peacefully in the U.S.
Even
more Muslims arrived in America in the 1700s, occupying diverse professions as
teachers, cavalry leaders, religious leaders and students of law. Consider, for
instance, Paul Cuffe who was a Muslim shipbuilder, captain and philanthropist.
Cuffe's family was originally from Ghana; his father's name was Haiz (Saiz)
Kofi. Cuffe was the first African American man to petition the U.S. government
to free the slaves and to allow every African man desiring to leave America the
opportunity to do so.
Ponder
Hajj Ali, a native of Syria who was hired by The United States Cavalry in 1856
to experiment with raising camels in Arizona. He experimented with breeding
camels in the desert and was a local folk hero in Quartzsite, Arizona, where he
died in 1902.
Mohammed
Ali ben Said, also known as Nicholas Said, is similarly worth referencing. Said
fought in the American Civil War as a Union solider. Serving in Company 1 with
the "55th Regiment of Massachusetts Colored Volunteers," Said quickly
rose from corporal to sergeant. According to his army records, he died in
Brownsville, Tennessee in 1882.
And,
then there is ... well, I am sure you get the picture: American Muslims are an
inextricable part of early American history even before our nation's founding
-- an apt reminder to all those who use religion to sow hatred and division
among us.
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