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1. The 1st chapter of a new book, "Muslims in America: Examining the Facts," tackles the following question: "Did Muslims explore the Americas before Christopher Columbus 'discovered' the 'New World'"? The answer: Yes. The proof is in historical records & archeological evidence.
2. The picture emerging from historical fragments suggests that "the West" & the "Muslim world" have had a long & complex history of interrelationships which stretch back as early as the 9th century. Scholar Abdullah Hakim Quick is a good starting point. See "Deeper Roots."
3. Quick notes that Muslims of Europe & Africa traveled great distances across the Atlantic Ocean to exchange knowledge/products with Native Americans. Cyrus Gordon, another scholar, documented Arabic coins dating to the 8th century found in the Americas. See"Before Columbus."
4. Gordon posited that the Arabic coins crossed over on a Moorish ship, perhaps from Spain or North Africa, which had likely crossed the Atlantic Ocean around 800 CE. The coins found in the Americas correlate w/ 3 document Muslim voyages originating in Andalusia.
5. The first of these voyages was described by Al Masudi (pictured), an Arab historian, who wrote about a sailor from the Spanish city of Cordoba (pictured) who returned from a journey across the Atlantic Ocean during the reign of Caliph Muhammad (888-912), an Umayyad ruler.
6. In a book published in 956, Al Masudi noted that Muslim explorers had "penetrated" the Atlantic Ocean, some of whom "returned safely." One explorer was reportedly named Ibn Aswad. Al Masudi noted: "Every Spaniard knows his story." See: "Muslims in American History" by Dirks.
7. The 2nd oldest recorded voyage of Muslims sailing to the Americas is founded in a narration by Al Qutiyya, a historian/author born in Cordoba. Al Qutiyya narrated a story about Ibn Farrukh, who sailed westwards to what some claim is "Hispaniola" and "Cuba."
8. Yet a 3rd recorded voyage to the Americas by Andalusian Muslims is found in the book "Excursion of the Longing One in Crossing Horizons" by Al-Idrisi, a 12th century historian who worked in the court of Roger II of Sicily. See my @MvslimInspires piece: http://mvslim.com/al-andalus-muslims-christians-flourished-side-side-sicily/
9. Al Idrisi wrote in his book "Excursion of the Longing One..." that 8 Muslim sailors from North Africa sailed from Portugal to the Caribbean and had conversations in Arabic with the people they met on those islands. Hussain discusses this in "Muslims & the Making of America."
10. In a 2nd book ("The Book of Itineraries and Kingdoms"), Al Idrisi wrote that another group of Muslim sailors sailed into the Atlantic Ocean from Lisbon, Portugal. They sailed for 11 days until their ship struct turbulent waters. Finally they reached an island that had people.
11. Continuing my thread from yesterday on the 1st chapter of my new book, "Muslims in America: Examining the Facts." The chapter asks: "Did Muslims explore the Americas before Christopher Columbus 'discovered' the 'New World'"? Let us now move to 1492 and Columbus' voyage.
11. Columbus' 1st voyage consisted of 3 ships - the Nina, the Pinta & the Santa Maria. The part-owner of the Nina & Pinta - Martin Pinzon (right) - is said to have been a Muslim & descendant of the Marinid Sultan who ruled Morocco between 1366-1366. His brother, Vicente (left).
12. Another alleged Muslim sailor (Pedro Alonso) is said to have sailed w/ Columbus on the 1st voyage. According to Edward E. Curtis, Columbus also brought Luis De Torres (pictured), a Jew of recent conversion, who reportedly spoke Arabic w/ the people he met in the Americas.
13. During Columbus' 2nd voyage, Native People told him that Africans had been to their island before him. The Africans left spears which were reportedly tipped with a yellow metal which the Natives called "guanine," a corrupted form of the Mandinka word (Ghanin) for gold alloy.
14. In 1498, Columbus wrote in "The Narrative of the 3rd Voyage" about the prior Mandinka presence in the Americas. His crewmen found Natives wearing colorful cloth which he referred to as Al-Mayzars, the Arabic word for "apron" used to describe Muslim West African loincloths.
15. "Andalusian Muslims" continued to sail across the Atlantic Ocean after Christopher Columbus' voyages. In 1527, a Black Muslim slave named Estevanico De Azamor (pictured) set sail from Sanluca De Barrameda, Spain. He travelled w/ his owner, Andrés Dorantes De Carranza.
16. Estevanico "The Moor," an African Muslim slave, helped to lead the Pánfilo De Narváez, a 16th century expedition which chartered what would later become the Southern and Western regions of the USA. Here is another representation of Estevanico. #BlackHeroes
17. In 1528, Estevanico & his owner, Dorantes, landed w/ 300 men near present-day Tampa Bay, FL. The Pánfilo De Narváez expedition went across Texas & the Southwest. It is said that Estevanico gained fame as a faith healer among Natives. He died in present-day New Mexico (1539).
18. Even before the Andalusian Muslim voyages to the Americas during the 15th & 16th centuries, there is said to have been a West African Muslim presence on modern-day U.S. soil. These West African Muslims are said to have been Mandinka explorers from the Mali Empire.
19. A geographer named Shihab Al Din Al Umari, who lived during the 13th/14th century, wrote that the Mandinka sailed across the Atlantic in the early 1300s. Al Umari's report, titled "Masalik Al-Absar Fi Mamalik Al-Amsa," talks about Mansa Musa (pictured), the Mandinka ruler.
20. Al Umari recorded a conversation between Ibn Amir Hijab, the Governor of Cairo, & Mansa Musa, of the Mali Empire, in the year 1324. Musa, who was en-route to Mecca for hajj, told Hijab that his brother/predecessor (Abu Bakari) had authorized 2 voyages across the Atlantic.
21. Bakari had 200 ships equipped w/ men, "and others in the same number filled w/ gold, water, & supplies." The ships are said to have reached "a river with a violent current." Bakari never returned to Mali. Mansa Musa (pictured) then became the absolute "master of the Empire."
22. Inscriptions found in the Americas suggests that Muslim seafarers of the West African Mandinkas led expeditions in present-day Brazil, Peru & the U.S in the 14th century. According to Winters, the Mandinka made contact w/ Brazil & used it as a base for exploring the Americas.
23. The Mandinka presence in the Americas is attested by inscriptions of Mandinka ideograms that were left at Bahia & Minas Gerais in Brazil, and on the coast of Peru at Ylo, in the 14th century. Upon leaving Brazil, the Mandinka journeyed through Central America and into Mexico.
24. According to Winters, the Mandinka made their way to the modern-day United States, evidenced by a set of inscriptions found along the Mississippi River and in Arizona. The latter set of inscriptions, found in a cave at "Four Corners," appear as Dogon and Bambara ideograms.
25. These writings have been deciphered as a branch of the Malinke-Bambara, the language spoken by the former Muslim kings of the Mali Empire. For more info on pre-Columbus evidence, see Barry Fell, who touched on the old Kufic scripts of North African Arabic in the Americas.
26. Scholar GhaneaBassiri concludes that Muslims began arriving to the "New World" long before the rise of the Atlantic slave trade during the 16th century. This is supported by historical records from historians & geographers, as well as archaeological evidences in the Americas.
27. To conclude this thread, let me return to the first question: "Did Muslims Explore the Americas Before Christopher Columbus 'Discovered' the 'New World'?" The answer is "yes." This thread has traced the Muslim presence in the modern-day US across many centuries. See new book!
