06-18-2004, 07:22 AM
http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/26/21/feature1.shtml
<b>Muslims in America & the Caribbean - years before Columbus </b>
The history of Islam and Muslim people in the Caribbean sketches back over one thousand years, predating European contact by over six centuries. New researches are revealing evidence leading to the presence of Muslims in the ancient Americas long before the voyages of Columbus in fifteenth century says Muhammad Yasin Khan.
Muslims were probably one of the most important contact people between the two worlds with the exchange of knowledge agricultural products, livestock and other commercial items. A number of sculptures, oral traditions, eye witness reports, artefacts, and inscriptions have been sighted to confirm this.
A report in "Before Columbus" by Cyrus Gordon describes coins found in the southern Caribbean region off the coast of Venezuela. Two of these coins are Arabic of the eighth century CE.
The author infers that a Moorish ship perhaps from Spain or North Africa seem to have crossed the Atlantic around 800 CE. In Mutirj adh-Dhahab, Al Mas'udi, in the year 956 CE, wrote about a young man of Cordoba in Spain named Kashkash lbn Saeed ibn Aswad who crossed the Atlantic Ocean and returned in the year 889 CE.
A narration by Abu Bakr b 'Umar al Qutiyya relates the story of Ibn Farrukh who landed in February 999 CE in Gando (Great Canary), visited King Guanariga and continued his journey westwards till he found islands he called Capraria and Phitana. Al-Sharif al-ldrisi (1097- 1155 CE) the famous Arab geographer reported in his extensive work "The Geography of Al Idrisi" in the twelfth century, on the journey of a group of North African seamen who reached the Americas. Al-Idrisi recorded that after captivity for three days a translator came speaking the Arabic language and translated for the King and questioned them about their mission. This astonishing historical report clearly confirms the fact that the contact between the two worlds had been so involved that the native people could speak Arabic!
In October 1929CE, a map in parchment was discovered in the library of Serallo in the city of Istanbul made in Muharram 919 AH (March, 1513 C.E.). This map represented the western zone of the world. It comprised the Atlantic Ocean with America and the western rim of the world. The other parts of the world, which undoubtedly the map also included, have been lost.
Despite the numerous voyages taken by the Muslims of Spain and North Africa, their contact remained limited and fairly secretive. The most significant wave of Muslim explorers and traders came from the West African Islamic Empire of Mali. When Mansa Musa, the world renowned ruler of Mali, was en route to Makkah during his famous pilgrimage in 1324, he informed the scholars of Cairo that his predecessor had undertaken two expeditions (the first with two hundred ships and the second with two thousand ships) into the Atlantic Ocean in order to discover its limits. This is reported by Al'Umari in his "Masalik al-Absar fi Mamalik al-Amsar."
The renowned American historian and linguist, Leo Weiner of Harvard University in 1920CE wrote a controversial, but well documented work entitled "Africa and the Discovery of America". He proved in it, that Columbus was well aware of the Mandinka presence and that the West African Muslims had not only spread throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America, but they reached Canada and were trading and intermarrying with the Iroquois and Algonquin Indian nations!
Numerous cultural evidences of Mandinka presence has been established in Brazil, Peru, Panama Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, Mississippi and Arizona. In the "Daily Clarion" of Belize on November 5, 1946, P V Ramos in an article entitled "History of the Caribs" wrote:
"When Christopher Columbus discovered the West Indies about the year 1493 CE he found there a race of white people (i.e. half-breeds) with woolly hair whom he called Caribs. They were seafaring hunters and tillers of soil, peaceful and united. They hated aggression. Their religion was Mohammedanism and their language Arabic".
This reveals another part of the pre-Columbian African hereditary legacy left with the Carib people from whose name we derive the word "Caribbean."
The second presence of Muslims were slaves kidnapped by or sold to European slave traders and transported from West Africa to a "New World" of oppression and inhumanity. Over 300 year period millions of slaves were transported in what must be one of the most barbarous and atrocious episodes in human history. The fact that many of these slaves were Muslims is usually ignored. Many of them came from the predominantly Muslim African nations such as the Mandinka, the Fula, the Susu and the Hausa and there are indications that some of them were distinguished scholars of Islam.
Despite the inhuman system of slavery in the Americas and the forced separation from Islamic lands and culture, there are scores of reports of Muslim slaves maintaining a form of their faith, leading slave revolts and in some cases regaining their freedom and returning to Africa. The leading force among the Muslim African slaves were the Mandinka known in Americas as "Mandingo." They were found in considerable numbers in Jamaica, Trinidad, St Vincent, Venezuela and other Caribbean nations.
Alex Haley in his book "Roots" recreates graphically the story of his Muslim ancestor Kunta Kinte who was kidnapped, sold and transported to the Americas. Besides exposing the atrocities and cultural genocide perpetrated by the "civilised" European colonisers and the manner in which Christianity was used to subjugate and pacify slaves in the interest of the plantation exploiters Haley’s work also show the attempts made by the slaves to cling to their Islamic culture and heritage and the impact of this legacy on the author himself.
In Jamaica, special magistrate Robert R Madden, one of six special magistrates sent to the island in 1833 CE by the British government recorded not only the presence of a considerable amount of Muslims in Jamaica, but also found them to be generally literate, independent and "rebellious." In his book "A Twelve Months Residence in the West Indies during transition from Slavery to Apprenticeship" Madden narrates the moving stories of Anna Moos a and Abu Bakr Sadiqa who persisted in maintaining their Islamic faith under adverse and hostile conditions. Abu Bakr, Anna Moosa and others had formed a society and requested Madden to assist them in developing African schools for African people in Kingston
In Trinidad, the African Muslims not only formed a "Mandingo society" but established schools in Port of Spain. They were led by one Jonas Mohammed Bath. Others settled in south Trinidad and in Monsamilla in the Northeast. They were given lands and developed plantations of their own. They made great economic strides and petitioned the British government to repatriate them to Africa.
One of the petitions addressed to William IV, King of Great Britain and Ireland, began with the phrase "Allahuma Sallee 'ala Muhammad" (O Allah, bless Muhammad). It explained that the petitioners were followers of Muhammad (pbuh), the Messenger of Allah, and that they did not waste their wealth on intoxicants as other slaves were accustomed to.
There is ample evidence to indicate that African Muslims in the Caribbean were at the foremost of the struggle to resist slavery. In Jamaica, R Madden was also informed about a paper (Wathiqah) written in Africa in 1789 CE "which exhorted all of the followers of Muhammad to be true and faithful if they wish to enter Paradise."
A Jihad called the "Great Slave Rebellion" of 1834 CE broke out in Manchester. The documents had to be destroyed in the heat of the rebellion but the spirit of resistance continued to be rekindled in the heats of slaves. In Haiti, from 1753 to 1757, Mackandal, a Muslim religious leader led numerous raids against the plantation owners. Mackandal's campaign lead directly to the Haitian Revolution in 1791 led by Toussaint L'Ouverture.
In Brazil the slave uprisings and rebellions between 1807 and 1835 have been substantiated as being a well-organised Jihad by Hausas who were resisting "the enslavement of Allah's children by Christians." The Jihads hastened the process of abolishing slavery in Brazil.
The "Bush Negros" in Surinam, led by Arabi and Zam-Zam, defeated the Dutch on many occasions and were finally given a treaty and their own territory (near French Guyana) which they control until today.
All these Muslim groups have been submerged almost without trace. The near elimination of Islam among African slaves has been one of the major "achievements" of European colonialism and Christian missionaries.
Between 1838 and 1924 a new element was introduced through the process of indentureship into the Caribbean population. Nearly half a million "East Indians" as they were called entered the region, mainly in Guyana, Trinidad and Surinam but also in Guadeloupe, Martinique, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada.
Nine-tenths of the indentured Indian immigrants were from the Ganges river basin and embarked at Calcutta with the rest coming from Madras, southern India. One out of six was a Muslim the rest mostly Hindus. The Spanish brought in Chinese contract workers into Cuba and the Dutch introduced workers front the Netherland Indies, principally Java. The latter who were mainly Muslims were taken to Surinam.
Despite clear conditions and a commission of enforcement the indentured labourers were severely abused and exploited. The conditions under the indentureship .system and on the plantations - long working hours, low wages, the discouraging and even hostile attitude on the part of plantation owners and Christian missionaries - did not afford much opportunity for community development. In actuality, the living conditions were very similar to that of the slaves and harsh treatment was- common throughout the territories.
The Indian Muslims had come, primarily, from the illiterate class and were forced to co-exist with the Hindus. They were not able to transport Islamic community life with them from India and they became the targets of hostility from every angle. This may well be illustrated by the fact that Hindus called the Muslims in Trinidad "Mandingos" and in Guyana "Fuller-man" (for Fulani) in a derisive manner - thereby underlining the fact that the "Indian" Muslims had more in common with the "African" Muslims from the Mandinga and Fulani tribes of West Africa and also showing incidentally that there were surviving African Muslims of slave origin even after the abolition of slavery and up to least 1850 CE. For example, also, Muslims who congregated to offer Eid prayers on the Palmiste Estate in south Trinidad were flogged for offering their first Eid prayers in the land.
By 1865 CE, the Indian Muslims of the Caribbean began making organised efforts to resist the hostility and oppression around them. The first mosque were built in Guyana either from mud and grass (tapia) or wood and covered with palm leaves. To these mosques were added "Maktabs" to cater for the Islamic education of the children. The "Maktabs", however, were ill-equipped lacking both material and human resources; and barely managed to maintain the rudiments of faith by revolving themselves around such festive occasions such as the Prophet's (pbuh) birthday (Milad-un-Nabi). When the system of indentured labour was abolished in the first half of the twentieth century the Muslims were able to build more masjids in various communities.
As a result of the atmosphere of hostility confronting Muslims they reacted by becoming very introverted and inward-looking. The community became concerned only with self preservation during this period. Little or no effort were made in propagating Islam and demonstrating Islam as a complete way of life.
Unfortunately, this resulted in the projection of being identified as an "Indian religion" by people of African descent in particular.
This image of Islam was further escalated in Trinidad and Guyana when Muslims reacted with Hindu to events on the basis of a common Indian sentiment. This was especially so in the immediate pre-independence and post-independence era when Indians perceived dangers from African political domination. Developments in Guyana well illustrated the polarisation of African-Indian racial politics.
In Trinidad, there have been some curious cases of Indians (mainly Muslims) who have supported African majority parties but who simultaneously made strong appeals to a common Hindu-Muslim Indian identity.
A prominent example of this kind of politician is Kamaluddin Mohammed, a former member of parliament, who - as a senior member of the former ruling People's National Movement and chairman of the Nur-e-Islam Mosque board - is referred to as "the father of Indian culture in the island." He has been asserting that "the Hindus and the Muslims came together to (the West Indies) as one people" and that Islam and Hinduism "are very closely linked with each other."
The practice of trying to forge links between Muslims and Hindus on the basis of a common Indian culture clearly manifested in the numerous Indian programmes on radio and television has been one of the major drawbacks in presenting a proper image of Islam to the people as a whole
Inevitably, however, the Muslims were not able to withstand all the pressures which living in a plural society involved, societies moreover in which they were a minority. Although, Muslims in this period managed to establish organisations, primary and secondary schools and a few basic institutions, they were inadequate in serving the needs of an emerging community. On a wider plane, in the major areas of economic and political life, the Muslims as a body were not able to make any distinctive contribution. Although, there were ministers in governments and Muslim members of parliaments, the Muslims rarely saw fit to put forward Islamic ideas and programmes.
Apart from Muslims of Indian descent in this period Muslims from Java brought by the Dutch and settled in Surinam isolated themselves from the rest of Surinam and Caribbean society. They have chosen to remain aloof or return to Indonesia instead of becoming a functional part of Caribbean society. In some of the countries, immigrants from the Middle-East settled mainly from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.
There was a very small percentage of Muslims in this middle eastern migration but as their counterparts, they became totally absorbed in business and had little to do with the religion.
Only on a few islands like Curacao and St Croix (US Virgin Islands) and in Panama is the presence of Arab Muslims recognisable in the region. There they have assisted in building Islamic Centres and have funded scholars from the Middle-East.
This period at least resulted in a sustained presence of Muslims in the Caribbean and laid the basis on which an Islamic re-awakening has taken root today. Recent developments have only highlighted the need for a more organised and systematic approach in Islamic work in the region.