Why We Must Learn America’s Islamic History

by Engy Abdelkader
Huffington Post

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” So we were taught in primary school. But, did you know that the captains of two of the three small Spanish ships comprising Columbus’s fleet were in fact Muslim?

Martin Alonso Pinzon the captain of the Pinta and his brother Vicente Yanex Pinzon the captain of the Nina helped organize Columbus’ voyages which introduced Europeans to the New World. The Pinzon brothers were in fact Muslims related to Abuzayan Muhammad III, a Moroccan Sultan.

I note this because American Muslims are often mispercieved as foreigners unwilling to assimilate. Yet, a survey of modern Islamic history and early American religious history reveals a uniquely different reality: the presence of Muslims in what would become the United States of America dates back to the earliest arrivals of Europeans in the Americas.
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