Pre-Columbian Islam?

Did you know that many years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, early Muslim explorers were marrying into the Algonquin tribe? The Algonquins themselves seem not to have been aware of it, but apparently the users of The Arab World Studies Notebook, by Audrey Shabbas, have been learning just that sort of thing. Copies of the Notebook have reportedly been distributed to some 10,000 teachers by the Middle East Policy Council. Future copies, reports Martin Kramer, will lack the Algonquin revelations.

Thanks to Sandstorm.

Comments

[joe]

Actually, if Polynesians could get to Hawaii and Easter Island, why not the American mainland?

[Jean Bart]

Are you going to castigate the Mormons for their pre-Columbian fantasies as well?

[Jean Bart]

The rule of position (which is what the invention of zero is all about - that is position in a numerical expression) was invented independently by four civilizations:

(1) Babylon (second millenium BCE)
(2) China (1st century CE)
(3) Mayans (3rd century CE)
(4) Indians (5th century CE)

The Arabs never invented the rule of position; they adopted it after the Indians re-discovered it. Europeans in turn adopted it from the Arabs.

[Kevin Carson]

chthus,

Actually, the Mormons believe the ten northern tribes had been living in America for centuries when Jesus came over here to preach to them. Of course, their skin had been turned dark as a punishment for their sins.

"Joseph Smith translated the golden plates.
"Dum dum dum dum dum.
"Even though nobody else ever saw them.
"Dum dum DUMB DUMB DUMB!"
--South Park

[Douglas Fletcher]

I looked at that site! They really like exclamation points!

[joe]

What a crock. Everyone knows St. Brendan was the first.

[Madog]

Don't forget Prince Madog. 🙂

[Douglas Fletcher]

If there weren't Moslems in America back then, where the hell did the Algonquins get their Round Table?

Wait a minute, that doesn't work either.

[RA Wilson]

Didn't the templar fleet head to north america after the French King tried to arrest them all? How else to explain pictures of corn carved in the walls of Roslyn Chapel in the early 15th century?

The Indians were all freemasons!

[Tim Cavanaugh]

So Muslims were getting their asses kicked even earlier than anybody thought?

[Eric]

But I thought the Chinese discovered America.

[Overlord]

Note that the shipping weight of the book is 0.00 pounds. The Arabs did invent the zero, they should know how to use it.

[chthus]

The Mormons have Jesus trapsing about the New World long before Muhammed took dictation from Allah. Neither of them drink, so maybe there's a connection.

I don't know if it's a view held by anyone in Islam Proper, but I recall reading in the Nation of Islam rag many years back that it was actually the Muslims who were the first to the moon, besting both of the cold war powers by centuries.

[Brennan Stout]

chthus: That's why the light color skinned peoples went back to moon in the 60s. They had to rough up the brown people wherever they were to be found.

[Jesse Walker]

Two points for Douglas.

[Fausta]

early Muslim explorers were marrying into the Algonquin tribe
One can't make up the stuff, even in one tried!

[Madog]

If you're interested in the various claims of pre-Columbian discoveries of America, I suggest the book "America BC". It covers most of the different theories, from some very outlandish ones to more credible claims. You never know if one of these claims might be proven true some day, the way the Viking settlement was.

Most of them are just silly though.

[Herman]

What about the Jews who settled in pre-Columbian Missouri?

[Mo]

So did the pre-Columbian Muslims and the pre-Columbian Jews fight over Palestine ... Texas?

[Will]

God trumps historical reality.

This is true for all gods, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, whatever.

When there is glory due to the creator, historical reality seems sort of irrelevant.