Hazrat Fizza (SA): The Lofty Status of the Black Queen in Islam

Lofty status of the Black Queen in Islam by Bro. Asad AbdurRahman

In the time of the Messenger of Allah (S), there was a young princess (see etymology for Habesha below).

Habasha is the name of seventh century Kush which extended from Yemen (Shams) to North East Africa. Habesha people are known today as Abyssinian, Ethiopian, and Eritrean.

The young Princess from Habesha was kidnapped at the age of 11, and was intended for sale on the slave market. Prophet Muhammad (S) adopted her instead. It was common practice in the early days of Islam for a Believer to purchase a captive in bondage and set them free. According to Allah in His Holy Book, the freeing of a slave is a prerequisite to obtaining faith. In Surah Al-Balad Allah says:

"And what will explain to thee, the path that is steep? Freeing the bondman; Or the giving of food in a day of privation. To the orphan with claims of relationship, or to the indigent (down) in the dust. Then will he be of those who believe, and enjoin patience, and enjoin deeds of kindness and compassion." - Holy Quran 90:12-17

Prophet Muhammad (S), once an orphan himself, adopted, educated, and raised children to positions of authority. The Secretary of Defense, Zayd Ben Harith, was adopted and raised by Prophet Muhammad (S) Ref. Holy Quran 33:37.

The Blessing of being raised in the House of Prophet Muhammad (S)

To be raised in the House of the Messenger of Allah (S) was to be raised in a house that was blessed and purified by Almighty Allah ref Holy Quran 33:33

To be raised in the House of the Messenger of Allah (S) was to be raised in the house visited by the Arch Angel Jibril (AS) ref Hadith Kisa

To be raised in the House of the Messenger of Allah (S) was to be raised in the presence of the Holy Spirit- who taught the Messenger (S) the inner meanings of the Holy Quran. ref Kafi Book of Knowledge

To be raised in the House of the Messenger of Allah (S) was to become a Becon of Light ref Holy Quran 2:257. And this is what became of the young princess from Habesha. She was an Islamic scholar who knew the inner meanings of the Holy Quran, and Prophet Muhammad (S) named her Fizza (SA)

Hazrat Fizza (SA) was predestined to reflect the Light of Ahlul Bayt (AS)

Concerning the words and wisdom of Prophet Muhammad (S), Allah says:

"Nor does he speak of (his own) desire. It is naught save a revelation that is revealed" -Holy Quran 53:3-4

The word Fizza (Fidha فِضَّةٍ۬) is Quranic Arabic for silver. In Surah Al-Insaan Allah says:

"And amongst them will be passed round vessels of silver and goblets of crystal― Crystal-clear, made of silver: they will determine the measure thereof " -Holy Quran 76:15-16

"Upon them will be Green Garments of fine silk and heavy brocade, and they will be adorned with Bracelets of silver; and their Lord will give to them to drink of a Wine Pure and Holy" -Holy Quran 76:21

The attribute of Fizza (SA) is the attribute of silver which is the best known reflector of visible light. Metaphysically it means that Fizza is the best known reflector of spiritual light, raised by Fatimah Zahra (SA), who is known throught the Islamic and Christian worlds as the Lady of Light.

The name Fizza translates into silver. Silver metal is brilliant, eye catching, and attractive. It has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals. Silver remains stable in pure air and water.

The House of the Messenger of Allah (S) was a pure environment. Allah says in the Holy Quran that he purifies the members of this household with a thorough purification. Concerning Ahlul Bayt (AS) Allah says:

"...Allah's wish is but to remove uncleanness far from you, Ahlul Bayt, and purify you with a thorough purification." -Holy Quran 33:33

It was this environment which kept Fizza (SA) in her natural state, pure and untarnished. Fizza (SA) was cultivated in the environment of Ahlul Bayt (AS).  She is known as Malka-e-Habesha, which means Abysinian, Eithiopian, or more literally "Black Queen".

Fizza (SA) mastered the Quran to such a degree, that she could give any answer to any question, by reciting a verse from the Quran. She could easily hold a conversation by reciting the Quran. And she is reported to have spoken a language which consisted of Quran and nothing but Quran. Some reports say that she spoke nothing but Quran for a full twenty years!

Princess Fizza (SA) was not an avarage princess. She was raised in the house of the descendants of Abraham (AS), about whom Allah says:

"Verily Allah did choose Adam and Noah the family of Abraham, and the family of Imran above all the worlds." -Holy Quran 3:33

Princess Fizza (SA) was raised with Chiefs of the Youths in Paradise, Hassan and Hussein (AS), the beloved grandsons of Prophet Muhammad (S). She was raised in the home of the Manifesting Imam, Ali Ibn Abi Talib (AS), about whom Allah says:

"Verily We shall give life to the dead, and We record that which they sent before and that which they leave behind, and of all things have We taken account in a Manifesting Imam." -Holy Quran 36:12

Fatimah Zahra (SA), daughter of the Holy Prophet (S), on her deathbed said to Imam Ali (AS): "I loved her (Fizza) like my daughter".- Nahjul Balagha

The respected companion Salman Farsi once came to the door of Ahlul Bayt (AS), searching for Imam Ali (AS). When Hazrat Fizza (SA) opened the door she was asked the whereabouts of Imam Ali (AS), and replied by saying: "He is probably on the stars distributing the gifts of provision." Without realising the wisdom of her statement, Salman Farsi (RA) became agitated and took offence to her reply. So he went in search of Imam Ali (AS).

Salman Farsi (RA) eventually found Imam Ali (AS) working in the garden of a non-Muslim. He complained to Imam Ali (AS) about Hazrat Fizza (SA), mentioning what Fizza (SA) said about Imam Ali (AS) being on the stars distributing the gifts of provision. Imam Ali (AS) smiled and said: "Salman, do you have any doubts?"

Etymology: Habesha is from Abesha

Abesha, a variant of Habesha is a word used to refer to both Eritreans and Ethiopians, or, more specifically, to the Semitic-speaking inhabitants of those countries. The first inscription to refer to "Habesha" is a Sabaean South Arabian inscription ca. 200 AD referring to king GDRT of Aksum (an ancient Kingdom located in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea) as king of the city of Aksum and the "clans of Habesha."

As Sabaic and Ge'ez (the ancient language and alphabet of Ethiopia, still used) it was unvocalized, it is written as "h.bs't" (put the dot under the h and the apostrophe on top of the s) and later as vocalized as h.abs'aat (put the dot under the h, apostrophe over the s, and make the two a's a long "a" - meaning an a with a line over it), which evolved into today's Habesha.

The term was translated by the famous Christian King Ezana of Aksum in the mid 4th century as "Ethiopia" in Greek, which previously referred to Africa south of Egypt in general, or Nubia (in modern-day Sudan) in particular. The term is not, as commonly assumed, of Arabic origin, but of local Semitic origin. Spurious Arabic etymologies tend to connect the term with the meaning "mixed," on the false assumption that the peoples of the Horn of Africa are the product of African-Arab mixes.

The term was also used by the Turks as "Habesh" or "Habeshistan" to refer to their small territory taken from Ethiopia in 1557, comprising of the port cities of Massawa and Hergigo (Habeshistan also included Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, the capital of the province, Suwakin in Sudan, and Aden in Yemen).
Abesha neh? Translation: Are you Abesha (male)/from Ethiopia or Eritrea?

Abesha nesh? (for a female, as above)
"Abesha timeslaleh, abesha neh (You look abesha, are you abesha ? masculine) or
Abesha timesyalesh, abesha nesh (You look abesha, are you abesha ? - feminine).

Hazrat Fizza (SA): According to Surah Al-Insaan (76)- Tafsir

Hazrat Fizza (SA) had the honour of taking part in the "Three Days Fast". Once, when Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS) fell sick, the Holy Prophet (S) suggested that Imam Ali (AS) make a vow (Nazr) to fast for three days when the children recovered.

When the children were better, Imam Ali (AS), Hazrat Fatimah (SA), Imam Hasan (AS), Imam Husain (AS) and Hazrat Fizza (SA) all fasted to fulfil the vow.

However, on each of the three days, when they sat to break their fast, a hungry person called at their door. The first said he was poor, the second said he was an orphan and the third said he was a freed captive. Each time, the big-hearted members of the house, including Bibi Fizza, gave away their food and broke their fast with water.

In praise of this selfless action Allah revealed the 76th Chapter of the Holy Qur'an. The incident is described as follows:

يُوفُونَ بِٱلنَّذۡرِ وَيَخَافُونَ يَوۡمً۬ا كَانَ شَرُّهُ ۥ مُسۡتَطِيرً۬ا (٧) وَيُطۡعِمُونَ ٱلطَّعَامَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِۦ مِسۡكِينً۬ا وَيَتِيمً۬ا وَأَسِيرًا (٨) إِنَّمَا نُطۡعِمُكُمۡ لِوَجۡهِ ٱللَّهِ لَا نُرِيدُ مِنكُمۡ جَزَآءً۬ وَلَا شُكُورًا (٩) إِنَّا نَخَافُ مِن رَّبِّنَا يَوۡمًا عَبُوسً۬ا قَمۡطَرِيرً۬ا (١٠) فَوَقَٮٰهُمُ ٱللَّهُ شَرَّ ذَٲلِكَ ٱلۡيَوۡمِ وَلَقَّٮٰهُمۡ نَضۡرَةً۬ وَسُرُورً۬ا (١١

"They who fulfil their vows, and fear the day, the woe of which stretches far and wide. And they give away food, out of love for Him, to the poor and the orphan and the captive, (saying), We feed you only for the sake of Allah, we do not want anything from you, not even thanks. Verily we fear from our Lord a stern day of distress. So Allah will guard them from the evil of that day and give them freshness and pleasure". (Surah Dahr - Insaan 76:7-11)

Mahir (RA)

Mahir (RA) (1)

Mahir was also a Copt. and had been sent to the Holy Prophet by the King of Egypt.(2) He later became a Muslim but further details of his life are not available.

1. Sima'i Tabnak-i Bilal

2. Isabah, vol. I

PRE-COLUMBIAN MUSLIMS IN THE AMERICAS

PRECOLUMBIAN MUSLIMS IN THE AMERICAS:by Dr. Youssef Mroueh
Preparatory Commitee for International Festivals to celebrate the millennium of the Muslims arrival to the Americas ( 996-1996 CE )

INTRODUCTION

Numerous evidence suggests that Muslims from Spain and West Africa arrived to the Americas at least five centuries before Columbus. It is recorded,for example, that in the mid-tenth century, during the rule of the Ummayyed Caliph Abdul-Rahman III (929-961 CE), 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.

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 to Americas are available. They are summarized in the following

A: HISTORIC DOCUMENTS:

1. A Muslim historian and geographer ABUL-HASSAN ALI IBN AL-HUSSAINAL-MASUDI (871-957 CE) wrote in his book Muruj adh-dhahab wa maadin aljawhar (The meadows of gold and quarries of jewels) that during the rule of the Muslim caliph of Spain Abdullah Ibn Mohammad(888-912 CE), a Muslim navigator, Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad, from Cortoba, 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 which he referred to as the unknown territory (Americas). (1)

2. A Muslim historian ABU BAKR IBN UMAR AL-GUTIYYA narrated that during the reign of the Muslim caliph of Spain, Hisham II (976-1009CE), another Muslim navigator, Ibn Farrukh, from Granada, sailed from Kadesh (February 999CE) 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. (2)

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 ABOU ABDILLA.).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 Dominigo back toSpain (November 1500 CE). The BOBADILLA family was related to the 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’. (11) 

Ferdinand Columbus, the son of Christopher, wrote about the blacks seen by his father in Handuras: “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 leader of the prayer,or in some cases, the chief of the community,and/or a member of the Imami Muslim community. (12)

NOTES

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. (13)

B: GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS:

1. The famous Muslim geographer and cartographer AL-SHARIF AL-IDRISI (1099- 1166CE) wrote in his famous book Nuzhat al-mushtaq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq (Excursion of the longing one 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. (3)

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 Tarfaya (South Morocco) during the reign of the King Abu-Yacoub Sidi Youssef (1286-1307CE) 6th of the Marinid dynasty, to Green Island in the Caribbean sea in 1291 CE (690 HE). The details of his ocean journey are mentioned in Islamic references, and many Muslim scholars are aware of this recorded historical event..(4)

3. The Muslim historian CHIHAB AD-DINE ABU-L-ABBAS AHMAD BEN FADHL AL-UMARI (1300-1384CE/700-786HE) described in detail the geographical explorations beyond the sea of fog and darkness of Mali’s sultans in his famous book Massaalik al-absaar fi mamaalik al-amsaar (The pathways of sights in the provinces of kingdoms). (5)

4. Sultan MANSU KANKAN MUSA (1312-1337 CE) was the world renowned Mandinka monarch of the West African Islamic empire of Mali. While travelling to Makkah on his famous Hajj in 1324 CE, he informed the scholars of the Mamluk Bahri sultan court (An-Nasir Nasir Edin Muhammad III-1309-1340 CE) in Cairo, that his brother, sultan Abu Bakari I (1285-1312CE) 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. (6)

5. Columbus and early Spanish and portuguese explorers were able to voyage across the Atlantic (a distance of 2400 Km’s) thanks to Muslim geographical and navigational information. In particular maps made by Muslim traders, including AL-MASUDI (871-957CE) in his book Akhbar az-zaman (History of the world) which is based on material gathered in Africa and Asia (9). 

As a matter of fact, Columbus had two captain of muslim origin during his first transatlantic voyage: Martin Alonso Pinzon was the captain of the PINTA,and his brother Vicente Yanez Pinzon was the captain of the NINA. They were wealthy, expert ship outfitters who helped organize the Columbus expedition and prepared 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 (1196-1465CE). (10)

















C: ARABIC ( ISLAMIC ) INSCRIPTIONS:

1. Anthropologists have proven that the Mandinkos 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 thearea.(7)

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 top of a beautiful mountain. The ruins of mosques and minarets with inscriptions of Quranic verses have been discovered in Cuba, Mexico, Texas and Nevada. (8.0)

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 GUANIN, a word of West African derivation meaning ‘gold alloy’. Oddly enough, it is related to the Arabic word ‘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%), 6 parts silver (18.75%) and 8 parts copper (25%), the same ratio as the metal produced in African metalshops of Guinea. (14)

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 that these handkerchiefs resembled the headdresses and loinclothes of Guinea in their colors, style and function. He refered 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. Hernan Cortes, 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.(15)

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 the 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 arid western U.S, 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 level. The language of instruction was North African Arabic written with old Kufic Arabic scripts. 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..(16)

Black Muslims lived in North America long before slavery. They lived in the Americas long before Columbus. They intermarried and traded with Native Americans. This is a photo of Black Native Americans known as the Algonquin.

6. There are 565 names of places (villages, towns, cities, mountains, lakes, rivers,.. etc. ) in U.S.A. (484) and Canada (81) which derived from Islamic and Arabic roots. These places were originally named by the natives in precolumbian periods. Some of these names carried holy meanings such as: Mecca-720 inhabitants (Indiana), Makkah Indian tribe (Washington), Medina-2100 (Idaho), Medina-8500 (N.Y.), Medina-1100, Hazen-5000 (North Dakota), Medina-17000/Medina-120000 (Ohio), Medina-1100 (Tennessee), Medina-26000 (Texas), Medina-1200 (Ontario), Mahomet-3200 (Illinois), Mona-1000 (Utah), Arva-700 (Ontario)…etc. 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..

Based on the above historical, geographical and linguistic notes, a call to celebrate the millennium of the Muslim arrival to the Americas, 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.

FOOTNOTES:

(1)See ref 4 (2)See ref. 9 (3)See ref. 3 (4)See ref. 1, 2 and 5(5)See ref. 6 (6)See ref. 14 (7)See ref. 21 and 22 (8)See ref. 15(9)See ref. 4 (10)See ref. 15 (11)See ref. 15 (12)See ref. 6(13)See ref. 20 (14)See ref. 16 (15)See ref. 7 (16)See ref. 10 &12

REFERENCES:

1. AGHA HAKIM, AL-MIRZA Riyaadh Al-Ulama(Arabic),Vol.2 P.386/Vol.4 P.175

2. AL-AMEEN, SAYED MOHSIN Aayan Ash-Shia(Arabic),Vol.7 P.158/Vol 8 P.302-3

3. AL-IDRISSI Nuzhat Al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq Al-Afaaq(Arabic)

4. AL-MASUDI Muruj Adh-Dhahab (Arabic), Vol. 1, P. 138

5. AL-ASFAHANI, AR-RAGHIB Adharea Ila Makarim Ash-Shia,Vol.16,P.343

6. CAUVET, GILES Les Berbers de L’Amerique,Paris 1912,P.100-101

7. COLUMBUS, FERDINAND The Life of Admiral Christopher Columbus,Rutgers Univ.Press, 1959, P.232

8. DAVIES, NIGEL Voyagers to the New World,New York 1979

9. ON MANUEL OSUNAY SAVINON Resumen de la Geografia Fisica…,Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1844

10. FELL,BARRY Saga America, New York 1980

11. FELL,BARRY America BC, New York 1976

12. GORDON,CYRUS Before Columbus,New York 1971

13. GYR,DONALD Exploring Rock Art,Santa Barbara 1989

14. HUYGHE,PATRICK Columbus was Last,New York 1992

15. OBREGON ,MAURICIO The Columbus Papers,The Barcelona Letter of 1493,The Landfall Controversy, and the Indian Guides, McMillan Co.,New York 1991

16. THACHER,JOHN BOYD Christopher Columbus,New York 1950,P.380

17. VAN SETIMA,IVAN African Presence in Early America,New Brunswick,NJ 1987

18. VAN SETIMA,IVAN They Came Before Columbus,New York 1976

19. VON WUTHENAU,ALEX Unexpected Facts in Ancient America,New York 1975

20. WEINER,LEO Africa and the Discovery of America,Philadelphia, 1920,Vol.2 P.365-6

21. WILKINS,H..T. Mysteries of Ancient South America,New York 1974

22. WINTERS,CLYDE AHMAD Islam in Early North and South America,Al-Ittihad,July 1977,P.60

Black Muslims in America 6 Centuries Before Columbus

MUSLIMS FROM AFRICA REACHED THE NEW WORLD SIX CENTURIES BEFORE COLUMBUS By: Laila Hasib 

 

Ask any schoolboy or girl in North America and the Chances are they will say that Columbus discovered America. They will even give the date: October 11, 1492.

Not only did Christopher Columbus not discover any place or see the American shore, but also European historians, who dominate the world scene, have conveniently hidden the truth about the first contacts between the new and old worlds.

To tell the world that that Muslims from Africa were the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean, disembark on solid soil and live in the Caribbean Islands and in South America would disrupt the imperialists false sense of Glory and Superiority. Much has become known about the explorer Columbus through the strenuous efforts of native people eager to tell their story.

Five hundred years after he washed up on the shores of San Salvador, it has become clear that Columbus stumbled upon not only Indians, but Muslims as well. Muslims began traveling to the Caribbean six centuries before European contact was made (over 1,100 years ago).

Columbus and early Spanish and Portuguese explorers were able to voyage across the Atlantic (a distance of 1,500 miles) due to Muslim geographical and navigational information and maps made by Muslim traders, in particular Al-Masudis drawings (d. 957 CE). 

 Vasco da Gama consulted with Ahmad Ibn Majid on the African Western coast before setting out into the Atlantic. Ibn Majid was the worlds expert on navigation in the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Sea of Southern China and the waters around the West Indies.As early as 889 CE, a Muslim navigator, Kashkhash ibn Saeed ibn Aswad, from Cordoba Spain, crossed the Atlantic and returned with wonderful treasures.

In February 999 CE, Ibn Farukh landed in Gando (Great Canary Islands), visited King Guanariga, and continued westwards where he saw and named two islands, Capraria and Pluitana, he arrived back in Spain in May. The famous Arab Geographer Al Sharif al-Idrisi (1097-1155) wrote in The Geography of Al-Idrisi: 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 to what extent were its limits�.

They finally reached an island that had people and cultivation. On the fourth day a translator came speaking the Arabic language! When Mansa Musa the world-renowned Mandinka monarch of the West African Islamic Empire of Mali, was enroute to Makkah on his famous Hajj in 1324, he informed the scholars of Cairo that his brother, King Abubakari II, had undertaken two expeditions into the Atlantic Ocean. 

When the king did not return to Timbuktoo from the second voyage of 1311, Mansa Musa became ruler of the Empire.The Mandinkas used the closest land base to West Africa, Brazil, as the center for their exploration of the Americas. They traveled along rivers through the dense jungles of South America into North America. In a document written in 1754 a Spanish banderista (land pirate) wrote of well laid-out cities in and around Minas Geraes in the interior of Brazil with suburb stone and mortar buildings, obelisks and statues. 

The jungle has reclaimed many of these Mandinka cities, but the early Spanish explorers saw a large number of them. The Muslims left a legacy of writing among the natives of the area, especially on the Koaty Islands of Lake Titicaca, where the ideograms are identical to the Mandinka script.Even as far as the Pacific Ocean coast of South America, near Ylo, Mandinka Muslim writings have been found and translated: man - To pursue worship, to mature and become matter without life. Man pursues a cavernous place -(i.e. the grave).

Anthropologists have proven that the Mandinkas under Mansa Musa's instructions explored many parts of North America via the Mississippi and other river systems. At Four Corners, Arizona writings show that they even brought elephants from Africa to the area.In Panama, Central America, the Muslims had such an effect that even today the indigenous people are classified as either Mandingas (Mandinkas) of Tul.When Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the Spaniard, reached Panama in 1513, he came upon Africans. 

His recorder wrote that when Balboa entered the province of Quarequa, along the Isthmus of Darien, he found no gold, but some black prisoners of war belonging to the king. He asked him where he had obtained them and was told that blacks lived quite near and were constantly at war with them. 

These blacks were entirely like the blacks of Guinea. 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 Graciosa Dios, are almost black in color. Some Muslims in Honduras called themselves Al Mamy's (Al-Imamu or Imam). 

Other groups of blacks were reported in Honduras, perhaps by Columbus, near the Nicaraguan border at Tegucigalpa and known as Jaras and Guabas - these ancient clan and territorial designations titles are still used in Africa today.A Caribe scholar explained in The Daily Clarion of Belize (November 5, 1946): When Christopher Columbus discovered the West Indies about the year 1493, he found there a race. with woolly hair whom he called Caribs.

They were seafaring hunters and tillers of the soil, peaceful and united. They hated aggression. Their religion was Mohammedanism and their language was Arabic. Islamic practices such as the prohibition of swine eating are well known among the Caribs. 

Their most prized possession was the Caracole, a crescent shaped alloy framed in wood.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 and South America, North America and even into Canada, where they were trading and intermarrying with the Iroquois and Algonquin Indians. No wonder Weiner's book is controversial. 

Columbus wrote of his third voyage: Inhabitants of the Island of Santiago said that to the Southwest of the Island of Huego (one of the Cape Verde's) was another island of people (Haiti), where he found Black People who have the tops of their spears made of a metal which they call Guanin (Mandinka for gold 32 parts, 18 were of gold, six parts of silver and eight of copper. 

 Muslims in West Africa had known the art of alloying gold with copper and silver for centuries.Columbus left on his first voyage under the patronage of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain at a time when the Muslim population was under tremendous pressure to convert to Catholicism or face extermination. Muslims had ruled Spain for over 700 years dominating Europe culturally, educationally and economically. But Spain fell to the Christians that year. 

The colonization of the Americas by the Spanish was simply an extension of the reqonquista (reconquest) of the Iberian Peninsula. The explorers were Spanish soldiers who had fought in Africa and sailed the seas to destroy Islam, therefore they easily recognized the Muslims in the New World. The influence of Islam on Spain was so profound that when Hernando Cortez arrived in Yucatan, Mexico in 1519, he named the area El-Cairo and the men of Cortez and Pizarro called the native temples Mezquitas (Spanish for masjid). Some Moriscos (Muslims who had become Christians by force) also traveled to the Americas as soldiers, explorers and laborers. 

There they returned to their true faith and succeeded in propagating Islam to the native people. As soon as this was discovered, a series of laws was decreed by Spain to stop the flow of free and enslaved Muslims to the Americas. 

The king wrote on July16 1550: I order you that under no circumstances, or by any means shall you consent to the passage to our Indies, Islands or Tierra Firma of any Negro Slaves who may be from the Levant or who may have been brought up there, or no other Negroes who may have been reared with Moriscos, even though they be of the race of Negroes of Guinea. 

Not only were they afraid that the Muslims would upset their heinous plans of enslaving the native people, but their presence was also seen as a threatening their efforts at converting the population to their passive brand of Christianity. 

 In another edict he wrote: You are informed that if such Moors are by their nationality and origin Moors, and if they should teach Muslim doctrines or wage war against you, or the Indians who may have adopted the Muslim religion, you shall; not make them slaves by any means whatsoever. 

On the contrary you shall try to convert them or persuade them by good and legitimate means to accept our Holy Catholic Faith.The hypocrisy of the church and the state was clearly highlighted by the first Christians to see land in the New World. 

When he returned to Spain Rodrigo de Triana embraced Islam and said: Columbus did not give him credit, nor the king and recompense (reward) for his having seen before any other man, Light in The Indies. This article was originally printed in Mahjuba Magazine, no. 109, June 1993 -Tehran, Iran