Monday, October 13, 2008

Columbus Saw a Mosque in Cuba: Now It's the Muslims Who Discovered America


The history of Cuba and the history of the United States are so enmeshed that it is impossible to tell one without also telling the other. This is not the case with every country on earth because the U.S. has not figured as prominently or continuously in the histories of other peoples as it has in ours (for which, if they are not European, they should feel grateful). Still, immigrants to the U.S., as part of the assimilation process, have always endeavored to discover or, if necessary, invent historic links to their adopted homeland. Swedish immigrant in the late 19th century buried and unburied stone plaques that confirmed that their ancestors were the first Europeans to visit America. Norsemen, of course, could appeal to the legend of Leif Erikson, or the Irish to St. Brendan.

And for Italians, of course, there was Christopher Columbus, who by most popular accounts was born in Genoa, which is now part of Italy but which was not part of Italy in 1492, because there was no Italy then nor would there be for another 400 years. This didn't stop Italian immigrants from laying claim to Columbus, nor from taking credit for the discovery of America. Everywhere but in the U.S. such a fantasy is met with riotous laughter, even in Italy itself. But here history is compartmentalized into months and homesteaded on a "first come, first served" basis regardless of actual title. So it is that Spain's discovery and colonization of the New World is celebrated in this country as a kind of "Italian Appreciation Day." Western civilization owes more to the Romans than to any other people, and I have no problem recognizing modern-day Italians as heirs to that legacy. What they didn't do, however, is discover America.

Following the example of Italian-Americans and other immigrant groups, it is not surprising, then, that Muslim newcomers should also lay claim to the discovery of America. It is in fact a hopeful portent that despite the hostility with which they have been met here, and the doubts which have been raised about their allegiance and capacity to adapt to American life, they nevertheless desire nothing more than to belong here.

Muslim-Americans have not laid claim to Columbus, as have both Christians and Jews. If they had, Columbus would have bested Jesus Christ as the world's most disputed historical figure (or religious figure, since the Catholic Church tried for 200 years to canonize him despite his very worldly life). What Muslims contend is that they were in America before Columbus and that Columbus himself, no Muslim, attested as much in his Journal of Discovery. As Muslim historian Amir Muhammad notes, "while [Columbus'] ship was sailing near Gibara on the northeast coast of Cuba, he saw a Mosque on the top of a beautiful mountain." I suppose that should be qualified to read "what he thought was a mosque." Columbus had a great imagination and an even greater capacity for self-delusion. He did, after all, think that he was exploring the kingdom of the Great Mogul. Columbus' supposed sighting of a mosque in Cuba was not an anomaly, however; for, according to Dr. Muhammad, "ruins of Mosques and minarets with inscriptions of Qur’anic verses have been discovered in Cuba, Mexico, Texas, and Nevada." He also contends that the Pima Indians, one of the continent's most ancient people, have a vocabulary which is partially of Arabic origin, which presupposes that they are either descendants of Muslims themselves or were in contact with Muslims at some time in pre-Colombian history.

The earliest Muslim to journey to America is identified by Dr. Muhammed as Sultan Abu Bakri II of Mali, who, in 1312, supposedly explored North America with a fleet of 400 ships via the Mississippi River and brought elephants from Africa to Arizona, where ancient pictographs exist of animals resembling them.

If the Abu narrative is not to your liking, there are others to chose from that do not so greatly tax conventional wisdom. The brothers Martín Alonso Pinzón and Vicente Yanex Pinzón, the captains respectively of the Pinta and the Santa María, were allegedly kinsmen of Abuzayan Muhammad III, the Moroccan Sultan of the Marinid Dynasty (1196-1465). It was Martín Pinzón who directed Columbus towards land and is celebrated in his hometown of Palos de la Frontera, in Huelva, as the real discoverer of America.

The Muslim presence in the Americas was not limited to the Caribbean and Southwest, where one might expect to find them among the Spaniards. According to Dr. Muhammed, when the first English settlers arrived in Jamestown in 1609 they were told by the Indians that within a six-days walk were "a people like you," which he describes as a tribe of bearded Moors who wore European clothing, mined for silver and "dropped to their knees to pray many times daily." He identifies these people with the Melungians of southern Appalachia, whose origins are still in dispute. If Amir Muhammad is correct, then the painting in the Capitol building which shows the English settlers being welcomed by the Indians should be modified to include Muslims in the allegorical first reception.

Now that the Arabs have become Castro's sponsors, too, perhaps they should mount an expedition to find the remains of the mosque that Columbus spotted atop a mountain in Gibara.

Muslims in America: Pre-Columbus and Pre-Slavery

H/T: CB

60 comments:

  1. I guess it's not a stretch to say that the more time passes by, the greater the amount of revised history aka Bull Shit, that the children of immigrants would add to this country's imaginary history, for such a wealthy nation it really has some of the dumbest people on earth

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  2. Mansuelo te has vuelto loco

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  3. fantomas:

    The picture shows "La Mezquita de Colón" in your beloved Oriente.

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  4. Enriqueta la boricua, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, talking about insanity is the last thing you of all people should bring up, Manuel is not without flaws (who the hell is?) but crazy is not one that fits him, be fair Enriqueta.

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  5. El descontento de la población es grande y opinan que la vida en este país es insoportable, que ya llegó a donde iba a llegar, que esto es un régimen de locos, y que la única forma que tiene de que el mundo conozca la realidad de la miseria cubana es a través de los defensores de derechos humanos y de la prensa independiente.

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  6. tic, tac, tic, tac, tic, tac, tic, tac, tic, tac, tic, tac, tic, tac

    Se acerca la hora del cierre Final

    Lo, se, lo se, sera duro para muchos poner la cruz debajo del negro

    Pero confio que prevalecera y Palin de regreso a Alaska que me dicen que es tremenda Gobernadora , su pueblo la reclama alla

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  7. Mansuelo tenemos un lechon de 50 libras para el dia 4 , en caja china habra tamales y cervezas, tremenda fiesta , jugaremos domino hasta que cierre California ..

    Vamos a celebrar engrande la victoria de Luis Fortuño aqui en PR ( estadidad) Puerto Rico 51 y Obama

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  8. Oye y dejate de cosas que tu sabes muy bien que nosotros los Orientales somos especiales

    Los habaneros no nos soportan

    Por que sera?

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  9. Escuchastes el nuevo jingle donde yo participo? A ver si adivinas quien soy yo

    www.notihabanacuba.com

    suba las bocinas

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  10. El anticastrsimo es y siempre ha sido una verdadera Mafia

    Venta de libros, camisetas , novelas, etc... T shirts...

    Todo en nombre del sufrido pueblo de Cuba

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  11. Bro? STFU you asshole MF, U R a fucking commie pretending 2 be one of us. I say again: F U

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  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. tu debes ser un babalusiano arrepentido o un habitante del bronx zoo


    una de dos

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  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  15. Do you want to dance with a Fantomas?

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  16. You well know who Iam

    Fantômas is the Lord of Terror, the Genius of Evil, the arch-criminal anti-hero . He carries out the most appalling crimes: flashing signs against castro at ballparks, releasing plague-infested rats on Cuban ocean liner, or forcing a victim to witness his own execution by placing him face-up in a guillotine. Fantômas is the master of a thousand disguises and the leader of a vast army of "apaches" (street thugs). His spies and henchmen are everywhere, spreading the seeds of chaos and terror. Fantômas is anyone and no one, everywhere and nowhere, waging an implacable war against Fidel Castro the very dictatorial society in which he moves with such ease and assurance.

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  17. Fantomas you are NOT on Simmons list

    You got the FBI clearance, you are ok

    No le hagas caso a esos estupidos envidiosos

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  18. You will all be deported back to Oriente when Cuba is free and a barbed wire border will be put in place so we cannot allow you ever again to go anywhere else in Cuba, shithead!.

    En lo que respecta a mi La Habana no existe ni me interesa

    If I ever go there it will be to go on a vacation, on business but mainly pleasure

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  19. fidel, raul, and the police are from Oriente. Now with that Arab writer saying all of that we know what they call them palestinos. Anonymous, put dig a trench fill it with water and put some sharks and caymans in the moat, barbed wire, land mines, and machine guns to keep them in Oriente!
    Fantomas presidente de Oriente!
    Fantomas rey de los palestinos!

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  20. Fantomas got the FBI clearance

    He is not on Simmons list

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  21. Manuel:

    Awsome post, it will take me a while to read all the info it contains, I have customers with the sur name Goins and Gibson, little did I know they were another race, what became of the Mosque Columbus saw? I wonder!!

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  22. Las hurracas @ 9:15 & 10:30, you sound like BS & KC, a pair of arrepentios always trying to hide your shameful descent line, it was your people that fucked Cuba by trying to turn it into a de facto 51st Spickolandia State of the USA, the weekend brothel of the DixieCrats where they could screw every Cuban girl or boy they wanted, to later return to Dixie in time to go to church. You sellouts will never again run Cuba, when our homeland is freed of the Spanish Galician descendants that make up the castro clan, the capital will be moved to the center of the island and all the former six provinces will become federated provinces similar to the States of the USA, Isla de Pino will become a potential 7th province and La Ciudad de la Habana shall be sorrounded by military garrisons and checkpoints, only what the rest of Cuba wants to sell to it will be allowed into it, La Habana needs to pay for its arrogance and will eventually be erased from history for having been nothing but a rotting cancer to Cuba.

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  23. La Habana needs to pay for it's arrogance? all those running Havana come from Oriente!!

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  24. I should have say RUINING Havana

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  25. Vana any idea who this impostor 12.42 pm may be

    let's ask Manuel with sitemeter

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  26. Vana you truly need 2 learn 2 read, MaT has done as much as is humanly possible trying to teach U but you NEED 2 learn 2 read, your comments show that what you think is written isn't what's written.

    Enrique you know god damn well that MaT will never allow U or anyone else to see RCAB data, the exception may be the others, if real, that he keeps on writing about when he says "we" or maybe MaT uses that by force of habit. Enrique U know who I am, I met U in Nostalgia and I visit your blog everyday....happy now buga?

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  27. Enrique U know who I am, I met U in Nostalgia and I visit your blog everyday....happy now buga?


    lol

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  28. ah si ya me acuerdo de ti , tu debes ser el dependiente de la tienda el Encanto ( nostalgia) que vendia blumers y regalaba abanicos... El que tenia un lazo rosado que cuando paso la conga de Santiago salio volando a arrollar

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  29. OFF TOPIC

    " My fellow Cuban Americans , American Cubans ...CUBANS IN AMERICA

    OBAMA IS ONE OF US...INDEED

    No se dejen meter miedo ni por Nuevo Accion, Babalu, Charlie , Calabaza , Manuel , Fariñas

    Cambio is coming and there is nothing you can do against it even if you vote for Mc Same"

    fantomas October 14, 2008

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  30. SORRY MANSUELO ANOTHER OFF TOPIC

    España vuelve a traicionar a Cuba

    leanlo en penultimos

    http://penultimosdias.com/2008/10/14/balance-de-la-visita/

    Voy a llamar a mi gente de Babalu para que activen otra campaña de BUCL esta vez dirigido a toda España

    Boicot completo a los vinos, turrones, quesos, etc

    Que malos son los españoles

    I can only hope you will dedicate a big post to this new chapter entre Cuba Comunista y España socialista. Tienes mucho material ahi mansuelo

    no te tardes , espero tu post

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  31. fantomas:

    More than 20 years ago, I was already denouncing the perfidy of Spanish politicians in regards to Cuba:

    Spain's Senate Honors Castro with Gold Medal

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  32. Y ahora el Rey recibe a Perez roque

    a donde hemos llegado?

    No comprare mas productos españoles aqui en PR . No habra sidra para fantomas estas navidades, turrones de alicante, cestas de regalos navideñas, sardinas, quesos manchegos,

    Se acabo mansuelo, se acabo

    Aqui te envio mi hang out favorito en san Juan ...Bakery Kasalta de Españoles Cubanos

    No les comprare ni un dolar mas

    http://www.kasalta.com/

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  33. El unico que comenta aqui es fantomas

    Donde estan los seguidores fieles de Tellechea

    Se acabo el juguito de Tamarindo

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  34. E'to e'tá desoláo caballeeeero...ñooooo Val Prietón el mulatón, Jorge "mono rabiante" Monéo y Enrique Luis "marioneta" Gómez acabaron con Tellechea y su tribu, ...apagen la luz que este cementerio clausuró.

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  35. Parece que Manuel adelanto el cierre

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  36. Ya ni las moscas pasan por aqui, el excremento atrae más visitantes que este cementerio, Babalú ganó la guerra.

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  37. Enough about cuba..Babalu is in trouble check this article out..for all political bloggers.

    http://www.prisonplanet.com/free-nationwide-wi-fi-network-to-censor-political-websites.html

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  38. Ya ni las moscas pasan por aqui, el excremento atrae más visitantes que este cementerio, Babalú ganó la guerra.

    No me ofendas a mi pana mansuelo de esa forma

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  39. Fantomas la verdad duele mucho pero es la verdad nos guste o no. esto se acabó.

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  40. So we've come to this at last! The better part of fantomas' nature at war with the worst part. I hope the contest is decided before Election Day.

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  41. Tellechea, you are being dishonest, why don't you open your sitemeter if Fantomas is at "war with himself" as you claim? the only one that will swallow your BS is Vana because she doesn't know much about anything, the rest of us are on to your deceptions, including your multiple personas. Cut the crap, your BS has been exposed.

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  42. The only one that swallows your bullshit is Vana..lol..because she doesn't know much of anything, I know one thing, Manuel should be appreciated his writing is excellent, if you cannot see that then you are quite dense anon 1:26PM.

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  43. Vana dear by your rationale Barack Obama should be POTUS, I'm not out to attack or demean you dear, but you just proved my point with your comment, yes MaT is a great writer no doubt, but he's also deceptive and "a player" dear, be your own woman Vana, use your brain and read between the lines, MaT's arrogance demonstrated as a dominant superiority complex needs submissives like you to feel successful, IOW, the master (MaT) needs the slave (you) to exist, MaT would rather sink the ship (Cuba's freedom cause) than agree, or agree to disagree with anyone that can challenge him, the supreme leader cannot accept that he is not the only one with extensive knowledge and experience.

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  44. Mansuelo llevas meses acusandome de todo lo malo que pasa aqui.

    Nunca abristes el site meter para comprobarlo.

    Quiero que quede claro. Soy unicamente responsable por los comentarios con mi foto y las letricas en azul

    Todo lo de mas , ya ustedes saben

    Demuestra tu nobleza , gallardia y tu galantez el dia 5 de Noviembre , descansa en paz y cierralo de verdad

    no need to wait for inauguration day

    No way jose

    dont do it

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  45. Y una cosa mas

    Todavia no me has dicho que significa

    " The Obama Doctrine"

    Espero con paciencia

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  46. Enrique you know that MaT refuses to open the sitemeter because doing so would allow everyone to verify his multiple identities, whenever MaT feels like it he attacks commenters as an anonymous persona, then MaT has the audacity to accusse others of being whatever suits MaT best for whatever day or moment, MaT demands of others what he does not demand of himself, I call that a hypocritical double standard, notice that even those C-As that like MaT such as Calabaza, Farinas, Cari, Angel, Humberto, Bravo et al have disappeared from RCAB, they saw past MaT's BS and decided to go elsewhere.

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  47. unless Mat is all of them

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  48. They may just have grown tired of you, fantomas. Obviously, only you and I have enough patience to put up with you. And your own patience for yourself appears to be running out.

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  49. I made you

    ... crazy.

    No.

    Though surely you would have driven anybody else mad.

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  50. Manuel I already ordered you to put a stop to your deceptive BS, I am not Enrique and I know that you know that, Enrique doesn't have my diction by any stretch of the imagination, just because you are not up to the task of debating my truths does not mean that I'm going to let you get away with your deceptive BS, you coward.

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  51. It would be interesting to know more about an African Muslim called Estevanico who led an expedition to current day Mexico.
    The great Maritime Empires and States during the 1400's and 1500's were also Ming China, Ottomans, Oman, and Mali, as well as the new state of Portugal.

    During the 1400's the Chinese were doing Trans-Oceanic travel. Notably Cheng-Ho. What about the earliest African explorers in the so called New World?

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  52. Beyond any doubt blog with usable informations.

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  53. It was infact Muslim Spanish Sailors from Andalus who definitely visited North America before Columbus. You san say Columbus was the first colonizer to affect ownership of native Indian Land that were stolen. But there is no doubt that Spanish Muslims, Moroccans, Chinese, Africans and others were all there in America before Columbus. Please read the following links from studies by people including Christian and non-religious academics from Harvard.


    Please have a look at the following links:
    http://www.fountainmagazine.com/Issue/detail/Islam-and-Muslims-in-America-before-Columbus

    http://historyofislam.com/contents/the-classical-period/the-african-and-muslim-discovery-of-america-before-columbus/

    http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/mamerica.html

    http://www.sunnah.org/history/precolmb.htm

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

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