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Native
American Muslims
The Message, July 1996
My name is Mahir Abdal-Razzaaq El and I am a Cherokee Blackfoot American Indian
who is Muslim. I am known as Eagle Sun Walker. I serve as a Pipe Carrier Warrior
for the Northeastern Band of Cherokee Indians in New York City.
There are other Muslims in our group. For the most part, not many people are
aware of the Native American contact with Islam that began over one thousand
years ago by some of the early Muslim travelers who visited us. Some of these
Muslim travelers ended up living among our people.
For most Muslims and non-Muslims of today, this type of information is unknown
and has never been mentioned in any of the history books.
There are many documents, treaties, legislation and resolutions that were passed
between 1600s and 1800s that show that Muslims were in fact here and were very
active in the comunities in which they lived.
Treaties such as Peace and Friendship that was signed on the Delaware River in
the year 1787 bear the signatures of Abdel-Khak and Muhammad Ibn Abdullah. This
treaty detailes our continued right to exist as a community in the areas of
commerce, maritime shipping, current form of government at that time which was
in accordance with Islam. According to a federal court case from the Continental
Congress, we help put the breath of life in to the newly framed constitution.
All of the documents are presently in the National Archives as well as the
Library of Congress.
If you have access to records in the state of South Carolina, read the Moors
Sundry Act of 1790. In a future article, Inshallah, I will go in to more details
about the various tribes, their languages; in which some are influenced by
Arabic, Persian, Hebrew words. Almost all of the tribes vocabulary include the
word Allah. The traditional dress code for Indian women includes the kimah and
long dresses. For men, standard fare is turbans and long tops that come down to
the knees. If you were to look at any of the old books on Cherokee clothing up
until the time of 1832, you will see the men wearing turbans and the women
wearing long head coverings. The last Cherokee chief who had a Muslim name was
Ramadhan Ibn Wati of the Cherokees in 1866.
Cities across the United States and Canada bear names that are of Indian and
Islamic derivation. Have you ever wondered what the name Tallahassee means? It
means that He Allah will deliver you sometime in the future.
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