The Islamic Influence in Pre-Colonial and Early America: A Historico-Legal Snapshot ABSTRACT Islam only became a focal point of the national conversation post-9/11 despite being a force
What is an American Muslim?
In the United States, the terms American and Muslim are often merged to describe the Muslim community, with the phrases American Muslim and Muslim American appearing more frequently in media and academic writing These labels encompass a wide spectrum of ethnic, linguistic, and social backgrounds, reflecting the changing demographics of Muslims in the United States As Amina Wadud notes, this diversity among Muslim Americans challenges any single, monolithic identity and highlights the varied experiences within the community.
Overwhelmingly, Americans are composed of immigrants who came to America’s shores by choice While identifying with their previous cultural heritage, they want something here in America
They relish the possibilities of establishing a new identity within the complexity of American pluralism This new identity integrates the dual components of previous culture and American citizenship 14
The distinction between Muslim and American identities rests on religion, national belonging, culture, and legal frameworks I argue that the Muslim American experience is shaped by intersecting ethnic, sexual, immigrant, and modernist axes This multidimensionality is not substantially different from the experiences of other immigrant groups, and it is at this intersection that questions of identity, belonging, and daily life in the United States are negotiated.
11 J AMES W L OEWEN , L IES M Y T EACHER T OLD M E : E VERYTHING Y OUR A MERICAN
12 See generally Rhys H Williams & Gira Vashi, Hijab and American Muslim Women: Creating the Space for Autonomous Selves, 68 S OC OF R ELIGION 269 (2007) The terms
“American Muslims” and “Muslim Americans” are interchangeable Id at 270, n.2 However, there is a difference in implications The connotation of the former term is that
“Muslim” is the main identity, and “American” is the qualifier adjective Id
LatCrit approaches illuminate the intersection of race and religion, offering a scholarly intervention that integrates religious identity into the critical race framework Elizabeth M Iglesias and Francisco Valdes define multidimensionality as the practice of interrogating sociolegal conditions with an eye toward the many overlapping constructs and dynamics that converge on particular persons, groups, settings, events, or issues This approach builds on prior breakthroughs, including multiplicity, intersectionality, and anti-essentialism Long after African slaves were brought to these shores against their will, and even after the abolition of slavery in 1865, African Americans continued to be a central subject in this ongoing sociolegal discourse.
From early America to the present day, the nation’s history has been battered by longstanding discrimination, evolving forms of oppression, and the systematic installation of fear The axes of race and religion have sometimes run parallel, sometimes collided, shaping social and political life as the country wrestles with inequality and bias across generations.
Islamic fundamentalism has replaced communism as the principal perceived threat to Western reason and democracy Building on this shift, Jane Collier argues that sociolegal scholars may incur a special obligation to analyze the historical processes that constructed the cultural opposition between 'our' supposed rule of law and 'their' imagined religious fanaticism.
15 Elizabeth M Iglesias & Francisco Valdes, LatCrit at Five: Institutionalizing a
Iglesias and Valdes argue that multidimensionality requires a deep acknowledgment of how religion, geography, ability, class, sexuality, and other identity fault lines converge to shape and interconnect all racial and ethnic communities They explain that, through a multidimensional analysis, they aim to evoke a scholarly mindset capable of examining these intersecting identities and their implications for how communities relate to one another.
An analytical approach paired with a programmatic commitment to anti-subordination drives discourse and action without boundaries or borders, extending beyond the borders of regions, cultures, and identities to include the divides between disciplines and perspectives This framework treats power hierarchies as both objects of analysis and targets of change, striving to dismantle divisions and foster inclusive, cross-disciplinary understanding and practice.
17 Berta Esperanza Hernández-Truyol, Narratives of Identity, Nation, and Outsiders
Within Outsiders: Not Yet a Post-Anything World, 14 H ARV L ATINO L R EV 325, 326
18 Jane F Collier, Intertwined Histories: Islamic Law and Western Imperialism, 28 L AW
In the coming new world order of nationalist struggles and ethnic confrontations, sociolegal scholars may not be able to remain silent, for if we fail to explore the connections between Western and non-Western legal traditions, enforcement practices, and policy vocabularies, we risk blind spots that distort both theory and application A cross-cultural examination of how law mediates identity, belonging, and power across borders can reveal how nationalist narratives shape rights protections, policing strategies, and immigration regimes By tracing the diffusion and adaptation of legal norms—from constitutional guarantees to security measures—we can show how legal frameworks both constrain and empower different communities An integrated approach that blends legal analysis with political science, anthropology, and history yields richer explanations of conflict and cooperation, and offers more nuanced guidance for policymakers dealing with migration, minority rights, and national security Understanding the dialogue between Western and non-Western legal orders helps illuminate contemporary conflicts and chart paths toward more equitable governance.
Islamic legal systems, we only contribute to media stereotypes of
Islamic law as regressive and feudal and of Islamic political activists as religious fanatics 19
Collier’s interpretation looks at how connections between Western and Islamic legal systems can be transformative as considered in the context of LatCrit’s multidisciplinary approach to law and social justice 20
Islam's presence in the Americas goes back to Europeans’ arrival on the continent, a historical fact that can unsettle those with negative views of Islam and challenge the notion of Islam in America as an alien religion The article argues for a shift in the dominant paradigms surrounding Islam in America, emphasizing how our framework shapes questions, data gathering, and our understanding of the facts and circumstances of a community Paradigms control the way we collect evidence and define problems, making data-driven inquiry into a group's history and realities essential As Juan Perea writes, “paradigms are crucial in the development of science and knowledge because, by setting boundaries within which problems can be understood, they permit detailed inquiry into these problems.”
From the perspective of why paradigms matter, LatCrit is instructive for understanding the early Muslim American experience because of its community-building aspirations Historically, LatCrit theory has aimed to center legal discourse on (a) Latinas/os qua Latinas/os, (b) acknowledgement of multiple internal diversities, and (c) the schematics and dynamics of cross-group relations, a framework that helps explain how Muslim American communities articulate identity, navigate internal diversity, and form coalitions to address shared legal and social challenges By foregrounding representation, solidarity, and strategic alliance across groups, LatCrit illuminates how early Muslim Americans mobilized resources, sustained resilience, and shaped legal and social outcomes within a plural society.
21 Juan F Perea, The Black/White Binary Paradigm of Race: The “Normal Science” of
American Racial Thought, 85 C AL L R EV 1213, 1216–17 (1997)
Within LatCrit scholarship, inter-group coalitions reflect a conscious, values-driven commitment to community-building that operates at both the individual and structural levels While this enterprise remains a delicate, evolving experiment, it has already yielded promising advances that demonstrate its potential to reshape theory and practice The LatCrit scholarly community has a strong track record of advancing theories of multidimensionality and developing critical analyses of sociolegal identities, and the current focus on early American Islamic identities naturally aligns with these broader community-building aspirations by linking identity work to coalition-building and social change.
This section reframes the historical paradigm of European presence in the Americas and shows how it clashes with evidence of pre-Columbian Africans and Muslims in the region Challenging the narrative of an incomplete history of Muslims in America sheds light on Islam today by avoiding a deficient historical account that can obscure Muslim contributions to early America The discussion points to colonial conquest and governance as moments that reveal how Muslim Americans resisted domination and helped shape early American society By weaving these perspectives together, we gain a fuller understanding of the historical presence of Muslims in the Americas and their ongoing impact on contemporary Islam.
Updating the Academic Curriculum
American history is incomplete without recognizing the substantial influence of Muslim civilizations on the nation's development Scholarly work and mainstream textbooks should reflect Muslims' contributions to the founding era and the evolution of American legal scholarship To provide an objective and comprehensive view, schools and universities must integrate Islam into American history and law curricula This inclusion enriches students' understanding of the diverse roots of the United States and strengthens scholarly rigor By presenting evidence of Muslim contributions to law, governance, science, and culture, educators can offer a fuller, more accurate narrative.
23 Elizabeth M Iglesias & Francisco Valdes, Expanding Directions, Exploding
Parameters: Culture and Nation in LatCrit Coalitional Imagination, 5 M ICH J R ACE &
25 Sally Engle Merry, Law and Colonialism, 25 L AW & S OC ’ Y R EV 889, 890–91 (1991)
26 Prof Kathleen M Moore, Islam in America RELST 140: Course Description, U NIV
OF C AL AT S ANTA B ARBARA , D EP ’ T OF R ELIGIOUS S TUDIES , http://www.religion.ucsb edu/syllabus/RS140E.pdf (last visited Apr 18, 2014) (see first paragraph)
Universities nationwide, including Georgetown University, Utah State University, and the University of Illinois, now offer courses on Islam in America While these courses can be taught at other institutions as well, certain core components must be fundamentally revised to address the harms caused by Islam’s erasure from American history.
Within the pedagogy of Islamic law, the reading assignments given to students tend to reinforce a single, narrow construction of “Islamic law,” a framing that ultimately yields what Lama Abu-Odeh describes as a “fantasy effect,” distorting the field by elevating a simplified image over its complexities and shaping learners’ understanding of jurisprudence and its diverse interpretations.
There's a prevailing fantasy that Islamic law is the foundational category for understanding law in the Islamic world, a notion that often shapes both scholarly and popular discourse Yet its operational logic rests on a rhetorical sleight of hand, achieved through selective readings that gradually and almost imperceptibly substitute one interpretive frame for another In doing so, this narrative tends to compress a diverse legal heritage—with varied schools, sources, and historical contexts—into a single, overarching storyline about Islamic jurisprudence.
“Islamic Law” for “Law in the Islamic countries.”
The European legal transplant into the Islamic world remains largely untheorized in the literature When it is discussed, it is framed either as a transient foreign import at the moment of arrival or as something to be displaced by an imagined return to “Islamic law.” Its conspicuous absence from the Islamic world’s positive law—the rules that shape codes, treatises, case law, legal institutions, and law-school curricula—produces a striking paradox: in most regions, scholars are invited to examine law beyond positive law, whereas in the Islamic world the opposite dynamic prevails, effectively calling attention to the limits of Western legal frameworks within Islamic legal orders.
27 Zahid Bukhari, INAF-391 Muslims in America, 2009-2010 Course Catalog,
G EORGETOWN U NIV , D EP ’ T OF I NT ’ L A FFAIRS , http://courses.georgetown.edu/index.cfm
?Action=View&CourseID=INAF391&AcademicYear 09&AcademicTermlSprin g (last visited Apr 18, 2014) (see first paragraph)
28 Nuri Tenaz, Islam in America HIST 4910, U TAH S TATE U NIV , D EP ’ T OF H ISTORY , (see paragraphs 1–2)
29 Junaid Rana, Muslims in America (AAS 258, LLS 258, RLST 258), Course Description
The 2009 Asian Studies syllabus from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Asian Studies (AAS 258S09), is available at http://www.eui.uiuc.edu/docs/syllabi/AAS258S09.pdf (last accessed April 18, 2014) It emphasizes studying law across three realms—what is written in statutes (in the books), what is taught in the classroom, and how it is applied in the courts—bridging legal texts, education, and judicial practice.
An effective way to update the curriculum to reflect the Muslim presence and influence in Early America is a collaborative effort among American schoolteachers, university professors, and historians, working with scholars of Muslim history and Islamic law Curriculum changes should offer an alternative view of history that commemorates the contributions of these early American Muslims These updates are not about political correctness but about recognizing the largely ignored roots of Islam in America.
Pre-Columbian Presence of Africans and Muslims
Whether Muslims and Africans were in the Americas before Columbus remains a debated topic Multiple sources suggest that Muslims from Spain and West Africa may have arrived in the Americas more than five centuries earlier, a possibility that aligns with their advanced education and proven navigational expertise The discussion is informed by medieval scholarship and travel lore, including references to Al-Sharif al-Idrisi, a prominent geographer of the 12th century, whose writings are cited in debates about early transatlantic contacts.
1155), an Arab geographer, reported on the journey of a group of North African seamen who reached the Americas:
Eight seafarers set out from Lisbon into the Atlantic Ocean, known as the Sea of Darkness and Fog, to discover its limits and what lay beyond They sailed in a boat loaded with supplies to last months, and after eleven days they entered turbulent waters with great waves and little light Fearing they might perish, they steered southward and continued for twenty days, until they finally reached an island inhabited by people.
30 Lama Abu-Odeh, The Politics of (Mis)recognition: Islamic Law Pedagogy in
American Academia, 52 A M J C OMP L 789, 790 (2004) (emphasis added)
31 See generally John L Sorenson & Carl L Johannessen, Biological Evidence for Pre- Columbian Transoceanic Voyages, in C ONTACT AND E XCHANGE IN THE A NCIENT
W ORLD 238 (Victor H Mair, ed., 2005) See also Mohammed Hamidullah 11 P ENSÉE
Historical sources recount a group seized during a cultivation expedition who were chained for three days, until a translator fluent in Arabic appeared on the fourth day to speak with the king about their mission After explaining who they were, they were returned to confinement; when a westerly wind arose, they were placed in a canoe, blindfolded, and after three days at sea landed ashore still bound behind their backs The next day, another tribe arrived, freed them, and warned that a war lay between their homeland and the captors’ lands, a journey of two months away.
Historical records indicate contact between Muslim seafarers and Indigenous peoples in the Americas, with travel among Caribbean islands—likely the Bahamas chain or the Lesser Antilles—demonstrating an inter‑American exchange of Islamic culture and the Arabic language The islanders reportedly acquired Arabic, a feat unlikely from a single encounter, implying regular visits by Arabic-speaking Muslim merchants or explorers, or the possibility that local communities lived within Muslim territories This pattern suggests sustained cross-cultural interaction that shaped linguistic and cultural landscapes across the region.
Discovery of coins in the southern Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela, reinforces historians’ and geographers’ evidence of Muslim explorers traversing the Atlantic The large number of Mediterranean coins found, along with many duplicates, indicates these coins were not part of a single shipment or local circulation but rather reflect broader transatlantic trade networks connecting the Mediterranean world with the Caribbean.
32 Dr Abdullah Hakim Quick, The History of Islam: The African, And Muslim,
Discovery of America – Before Columbus, available at http://historyofislam.com/content s/the-classical-period/the-african-and-muslim-discovery-of-america-before-columbus/
33 See generally A BDULLAH H AKIM Q UICK , D EEPER R OOTS : M USLIMS IN THE
A MERICAS AND THE C ARIBBEAN FROM B EFORE (1996)
35 C YRUS H G ORDON , B EFORE C OLUMBUS : L INKS B ETWEEN THE O LD W ORLD AND
A NCIENT A MERICA 68–70 (1971) a numismatist’s collection—but part of a supply of cash instead 36 Ample evidence suggests that people of Muslim origin accompanied Colón and subsequent Spanish explorers to the New World 37
A look at the Iberian Peninsula on the eve of Colón's maiden voyage shows how religious tensions framed the status of Muslims in Spain In the early 16th century, suspicion of “New Christians”—initially Jewish converts—was broadened to include Muslim converts Although Ferdinand and Isabella had promised religious freedom to Muslims after Granada, the last Muslim stronghold, fell in 1492, Christian zeal to convert Muslims intensified, culminating in a 1501 royal decree requiring Muslims in Castile to convert to Christianity or leave their Iberian homes The fall of Granada thus represented the final victory of the cross over Western Islam, ending seven centuries of Muslim presence in Iberia.
Most of the collection consists of Roman coins dating from the reign of Augustus through the 4th century CE Two exceptions are Arabic coins from the 8th century CE These newer pieces establish the terminus post quem for the entire collection, meaning the collection cannot be dated earlier than its latest coins Roman coinage continued to circulate into medieval times, illustrating the enduring use of Roman money beyond antiquity.
Id 37 See generally A LLAN D A USTIN , A FRICAN M USLIMS IN A NTEBELLUM A MERICA :
T RANSATLANTIC S TORIES AND S PIRITUAL S TRUGGLES (1997); R ONALD A.T J UDY ,
D ISFORMING THE A MERICAN C ANON : A FRICAN -A RABIC S LAVE N ARRATIVES AND THE
V ERNACULAR (1993); M ICHAEL A K OSZEGI & J G ORDON M ELTON , I SLAM IN N ORTH
38 J OSEPH F O’C ALLAGHAN , R ECONQUEST AND C RUSADE IN M EDIEVAL S PAIN 62
39 Mary Elizabeth Perry, Finding Fatima, a Slave Woman of Early Modern Spain, 20 J.
OF W OMEN ’ S H IST 151, 155 (2008), available at http://humrp1.utsc.utoronto.ca/ePorte/ sites/default/files/biblio/relatedfiles/2012-05-04/FindingFatima.pdf
42 Rafael Guevara Bazan, Muslim Immigration to Spanish America, 56 M USLIM W ORLD
Across Andalusia, defeated Muslims retraced their steps along the narrow sea passage that the triumphant Arabo-Berber army had crossed at the dawn of the eighth century The so-called Reconquista finally ended, and Spain, buoyed by military zeal and apostolic fervor, sailed beyond familiar waters to conquer the New World in the name of Christ.
On October 12, 1492, Columbus landed on the small island of Guanahani in the Bahamas, which Europeans later renamed San Salvador; Guanahani itself is said to derive from Mandinka and modified Arabic roots, with Guana (Ikhwana) meaning “brothers” and Hani a common Arabic name Leo Weiner’s account of the discovery of America provides a Western perspective on Muslim culture in the Americas In 20th‑century scholarship, Ivan Van Sertima and Alexander Von Wuthenau argued for a Muslim presence in the early Americas While Muslim scholars such as Clyde-Ahmad Winters and Muhammad Hamidullah have sought to prove this, others have acknowledged evidence of pre- and post-Columbian Muslims in the Americas.
Indeed, early explorers used maps that were derived from the work of Muslim scholars who possessed advanced geographical and navigational
45 Dr Youssef Mroueh, P REPARATORY C OMMITTEE FOR I NT ’ L F ESTIVALS TO
C ELEBRATE THE M ILLENNIUM OF THE M USLIMS A RRIVAL TO THE A MS , Precolumbian
Muslims in the Americas, THEMODERNRELIGION COM http://www.themodernreligion.com/ht/precolumbus.html (last visited Apr 18, 2014)
47 See generally 3 L EO W IENER , A FRICA AND THE D ISCOVERY OF A MERICA (1922)
48 Jose V Pimienta-Bey, Muslim Legacy in Early Americas: West Africans, Moors and
Amerindians, C YBERISTAN ORG , http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/africanm.htm (last visited Apr 18, 2014)
49 Clyde-Ahmad Winter, Islam in Early North and South America, 14 AL -I TTIHAD 57
(1977) techniques The film Amistad recognized the Muslim presence in the early Americas, portraying Muslims aboard the slave vessel performing their daily prayers while chained together on deck during the trans-Atlantic passage Many of the Muslim slaves were either encouraged or forced to convert to Christianity Despite this, many of the first-generation slaves remained steadfast in preserving their Muslim identity, but due to the slave conditions at the time, this identity was largely lost among later generations Evidence indicating pre-Columbian travel by indigenous Americans to the islands off the western coast of Africa, including the early Portuguese descriptions of the population of the Azores and perhaps Africa itself, also adds another dimension to the culture exchange 50 Insofar as travel in both directions may have enhanced the prospect of the trans-Atlantic exposure to Islam, West African versions of Islam might have been influenced by indigenous American concepts as well The next section will look at the role of religion in the “peculiar institution” of slavery.
Slavery and Religion
Now as before, religion plays a significant role in socio-political decision-making processes A skewed interpretation of the Bible was used to validate American slavery For example, the Christian church’s primary justification for the concept of slavery was based on the Book of Genesis and the story of Ham 51 As this story was amplified and changed in extra- Biblical interpretations, it became the ideological basis to justify the slavery
50 Bill Bigelow & Bob Peterson, Why Rethink Columbus?, in R ETHINKING C OLUMBUS :
T HE N EXT 500 Y EARS 10-11 (Bill Bigelow & Bob Peterson, eds 2d ed 1998)
Genesis 9:20–27 recounts Noah’s drunken discovery and Ham’s report to his brothers, who, walking backward to avoid Noah’s nakedness, cover him with a garment When Noah awakens, he curses Ham’s son Canaan, declaring that Canaan will be “the lowest of slaves” to his brothers, and he blesses Shem, invoking the Lord, the God of Shem, while he envisions Japheth extending his territory, dwelling in the tents of Shem, and Canaan becoming Japheth’s slave This biblical episode has long been cited in debates about race and slavery, illustrating how religion can be misused to support oppressive social structures Throughout history, some have leveraged these verses to justify the enslavement of African peoples, a misuse of scripture rooted in distorted logic, underscoring the need for careful, critical exegesis in biblical interpretation today.
Across its verses, the Quran acknowledges slavery through references to slaves, slave women, concubines, and the freeing of slaves, and it describes slaves as ma malakat aymanukum—what your right hands possess The term abd, meaning servant in relation to God, is rarely used to refer to human slavery in the Quran, which recognizes a basic master–slave distinction while weaving these relationships into scriptural contexts While Arabs and Muslims have sometimes wielded racial tropes, the racism is more culturally constructed than rooted in Islam, which sought to eradicate racism on the Arabian Peninsula and promote a color-blind, cohesive society; this vision is echoed in the Prophet Muhammad’s Last Sermon: “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a black has no superiority over white, nor a white has any superiority over black, except by piety and good action.” Taken together, the Quran and Prophetic tradition condemn racial arrogance and emphasize the virtue of freeing slaves as a righteous path.
52 Stirling Adams, Noah’s Curse: The Biblical Justification for American Slavery, 44
BYU S TUDIES 1 (2005) “There is no reference to dark skin, to any skin color, or to Africa, and Noah does not say the curse applies to Canaan’s descendants.” Id
53 J ONATHAN B LOOM & S HEILA B LAIR , I SLAM : A T HOUSAND Y EARS OF F AITH AND
54 T HE M EANING OF THE H OLY Q UR ’ AN , 1650–52 (Abdullah Yusuf Ali, trans 1989)
The Arab slave trade was rampant in East Africa during the colonial era, and slavery persists today in some Arab nations, particularly in the Gulf region Just as some Christians distorted religion to justify slavery, the same distortion has occurred with Islam and the Arab slave trade At times, northern Arab Muslims enslaved Africans in the south, violating a fundamental Islamic principle that Muslims should not enslave other Muslims Although the Quran contains numerous and sometimes specific slave regulations, modern commentators and tafsir writers agree these provisions are obsolete and should not be taken literally; instead, the more important Quranic messages emphasize that freedom is the natural condition of humanity and an objective to strive for.
Surah 90, al-Balad (Chapter 90), swears by this City and declares you are a free inhabitant of it, highlighting the sacred bonds of kinship; We have created man for toil and struggle, and though he may boast of wealth or think no one sees him, We have given him sight, a tongue, and lips, and shown him the two paths Yet he hurries not along the steep path, which is the path of freeing the bondman or giving food on a day of privation to the orphan with claims of relationship or to the indigent down in the dust Then he will be among those who believe and urge patience, constancy, and self-restraint, and who enact deeds of kindness and compassion—these are the Companions of the Right Hand But those who reject Our Signs are the unhappy Companions of the Left Hand, upon whom Fire is vaulted all around.
58 See generally E Ann McDougall, Discourse and Distortion: Critical Reflections on
Studying the Saharan Slave Trade, 89 O UTRE -M ERS 195 (2002)
59 John Henrik Clarke, Education for a New Reality in the African World, N AT ’ L B LACK
U NION F RONT (1994), http://www.nbufront.org/MastersMuseums/JHClarke/EdReality AfricanWorld/EdWorldContents.html
60 Bernard K Freamon, Slavery, Freedom, and the Doctrine of Consensus in Islamic
Jurisprudence, including insights from Jurisprudence 11 Harv Hum Rts J 1, 15–19 (1998), presents an ideal that devout individuals should aspire to Islamic reformist movements extend beyond traditional methods of legal interpretation and largely ignore historical doctrines Non-specialists in Islamic law should recognize the sharp distinction between theological doctrines and legal doctrines From an Islamic perspective, legal doctrines are not fixed in stone, even though theological truths are regarded as immutable.
As mentioned earlier, one-fifth of all slaves transported to the Americas from Africa were Muslim 64 Alan Austin’s African Muslims in Antebellum
America: Transatlantic Stories and Spiritual Struggles was largely ignored in academic circles of African history in the Americas because its research represented a paradigm shift in how Islam was practiced and perceived in early America The book challenges established narratives and broadens our understanding of African religious life in colonial America Another well-written work by Sylviane Diouf complements this discussion by offering additional perspectives on the transatlantic African diaspora and its spiritual dimensions.
Surat al-Hujurat contains a famous verse that proclaims the equality of all humankind, presenting a broad Qur’anic prescription for how people should relate to one another; when read through modern tafsir, this principle can challenge and even prohibit actions justified by slave regulations The surah was revealed during the period of the deputations, when many Arabian tribes traveled to Medina to express their allegiance to the Prophet.
Muhammad (peace be upon him) In several instances, the Prophet
Muhammad released the captives from these tribes who had been held in slavery by Muslims This action led the tribes to convert to Islam in large numbers.
Maududi’s tafsir situates this surah in its historical backdrop and bluntly asserts that the verse on equality should be read as a universal moral standard for all humanity, explicitly condemning slavery and all forms of domination based on race, language, religion, or tribal affiliation This interpretation frames equality as a transcendent principle that challenges hierarchical identities and promotes a shared ethical vision surpassing clan, creed, and ethnicity.
Tafsir plays a central role in how Qur’anic verses are interpreted and applied, especially when those verses have broad implications for the institution of slavery and other contemporary issues, even if they do not explicitly regulate those practices By examining context, language, and historical circumstances, tafsir helps scholars and communities translate enduring principles into practical guidance for today’s situations.
62 Mohammad Fadel, Islamic Law and American Law: Between Concordance and
Across the Americas, enslaved Africans who practiced Islam shared the same brutal fate as other enslaved people, but their experience challenged preexisting narratives about African slaves Understanding the history of early American Muslim enslaved people reshapes these paradigms by showing that many Muslims among the enslaved were educated and literate, dispelling the myth of Africans as uncivilized In the United States, forced conversion was common: slaveholders insisted that their enslaved Africans—many from East and West African Muslim communities—embrace Christianity While most did convert to Christianity, recent research also reveals that some were able to retain their Islamic faith.
To understand Islam in early America, it helps to identify three pivotal moments in the intertwined histories of Muslims and Christians: the pre-European era, the rise of imperial domination and the anti-colonial resistances it spurred—particularly through national liberation movements—and the most recent moment of ethnic or essentialist revival This article centers on the long second period, analyzing how colonial rule shaped Muslim populations in both the East and West The next section explores how literacy among early Muslims influenced slave resistance and rebellion, highlighting the role of education and knowledge in shaping social and political dynamics within the Atlantic world.
Impact of Literacy among Muslims
An invaluable innovation that Muslims brought was literacy, which became significant to the Muslims shipped to the New World 70 In a
65 S YLVIANE A D IOUF , S ERVANTS OF A LLAH : A FRICAN M USLIMS E NSLAVED IN THE
66 Y VONNE Y AZBECK H ADDAD ET AL , M USLIM W OMEN IN A MERICA : T HE C HALLENGE
Diouf notes that in a continent whose civilizations relied exclusively on oral tradition and where no writing system existed, Muslims were the only literate people He observes that Islam emphasizes literacy because the Quran explicitly commands the study of knowledge, a point he makes to underscore the religion’s instructional emphasis.
Arabic literacy is central in Islam, because believers depend on the Quran to understand the faith and to guide daily life Mastery of Arabic enables Muslims to recite the correct prayers for different circumstances and to access the texts that outline religious duties It also supports learning about legal matters and appropriate social conduct, helping believers align their actions with Islamic principles.
Contrary to the norm in Europe at the time, both peasants and girls were taught how to read and write
Koranic schools were accessible to both boys and girls in a coeducational setting and were also open to non-Muslims Many parents sent their children to the marabout (teacher, cleric) because literacy was prestigious and practical, and these schools were the only educational structures available.
Many Muslims could read and write in Arabic, as well as ajami, the generic name for their own local Arabic dialect, and they were avid readers of Qur’anic scriptures, with many memorizing them by heart Among these Muslims were hundreds of thousands who perished as slaves in the Americas, where their literacy played a crucial part in their individual development, the shaping of their community, their relations with non-Muslims, their pursuit of freedom, and the rebellious movements they participated in or led The first major slave revolt in the Americas occurred in Santo Domingo in 1522, when enslaved Muslims of the Wolof nation led an uprising on the Diego Colón sugar plantation.
Elsie K Best’s The Afro-Latino: A Historical Journey (2010) notes that rebellious enslaved people escaped to the mountains and formed independent maroon communities, while large numbers of newly imported enslaved Africans fled into the interior mountain ranges, joining the growing Cimarrones By the 1530s, Cimarrón bands had become so large that rural Spaniards could only travel safely outside their plantations with armed escorts.
Influence of Shariah Law in America
Some historians contend that a lasting remnant of Islam in America is the influence of Islamic jurisprudence, or Sharia, on the democratic ideas of the Founding Fathers as they formed the Union and drafted the United States Constitution Islamic law is often cited as one of the world's major legal traditions, alongside common law and civil law, and supporters argue that early Islamic legal principles helped shape American constitutional thought In Medina, under Prophet Muhammad, a written constitution is described by some historians as one of the earliest social contracts, illustrating the tradition of codified governance The early Islamic leadership valued religious instruction as a unifying force among diverse Arab tribes, a policy reflected in Umar I's caliphate through the erection of mosques in garrison towns and the deployment of Quranic teachers and qadis to administer religious and civil affairs, continuing earlier practices aimed at imbibing governance with an Islamic ethic.
80 Hossein Esmaeili, The Nature and Development of Law in Islam and the Rule of Law Challenge in the Middle East and the Muslim World, 26 C ONN J I NT ’ L L 329, 329
81 See generally W AEL B H ALLAQ , T HE O RIGINS AND E VOLUTION OF I SLAMIC L AW
(2005), available at http://www.hadith-studies.com/Hallaq-Origins-Evolution-Islamic-
Islamic tribal arbitration has deep roots: many tribes had already served in this capacity, and the Arab tribes under their jurisdiction were well accustomed to this form of conflict resolution Mediators, elders, and arbitrators within these communities applied a blend of customary practices and Islamic principles to settle disputes, producing outcomes that communities could accept and uphold This traditional mechanism helped maintain social cohesion and orderly dispute management across tribal networks.
Islamic civilization endured for centuries, a testament to its enduring impact Its success stemmed from a rule of law that was fixed enough to support rational calculation yet flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances, with the balance of these factors set outside the rulers, who had the greatest incentive and power to distort it for their own interests.
Islamic constitutional precedents influenced early American debates on taxation and the scope of federal power In arguing for the federal government’s authority to impose taxes, Alexander Hamilton cited the Ottoman Empire as a comparative example, noting that its sovereign did not have the right to levy a new tax unilaterally This reference underscored the idea that fiscal authority must rest on legitimate constitutional sanction, a theme that shaped the founding-era discussions of taxation and sovereignty.
During the 1787 debates, Anti-Federalists argued against a strong central government by contrasting it with what they viewed as the despotic nature of regimes like the Turkish state, using this example to warn against the dangers of concentrated power They demanded explicit guarantees of individual liberties and religious freedom, insisting that any new framework for the United States include strong protections to prevent tyranny and safeguard basic rights for all citizens.
Webster, Patrick Henry and Patrick Dollard spoke of the evils of
Alexander Hamilton, looking deeper into Turkish despotism, identified a complex power structure within the Ottoman system He argued that, from one vantage, the Ottoman sultan appeared weak and held limited authority, yet this paradox underlined his broader point: a strong central government would protect people from oppressive local powers.
85 Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, American and Muslim Perspectives on Freedom of Religion, 8
87 Azizah Y al-Hibri, Islamic and American Constitutional Law: Borrowing Possibilities or a History of Borrowing?, 1 U P A J C ONST L 492, 496–97 (1999)
Some historians argue that Islamic principles influenced early American constitutional thinking, with figures like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington cited as absorbing ideas of religious freedom and consultative decision-making (shura) that echo provisions in the Charter of Madinah drafted by the Prophet Muhammad They claim the Charter of Madinah inspired notions of pluralism and legal rights, and that European thinkers during the American Revolution were engaging with similar ideas reflected in Madinah's charter While this view appears in certain scholarly and popular writings, the extent of these influences remains debated, with many historians tracing the primary sources to Enlightenment ideas and Western legal traditions.
A foundational argument for preventing tyranny is the separation of powers—legislative, executive, and judicial—so that no single body accumulates authority Islamic political thought echoed this idea through liberal-minded jurists like al-Mawardi, who argued that the ruler and the legislature should check each other to keep power from concentrating The Medina Constitution tied judicial authority, political rule, and religious interpretation to a consensus of Muslim jurists and was ratified by mutual consultation (shura) to ensure that communal interests shaped legislation, mirroring the American idea of judicial review Under the pact between Muhammad and the people of Medina, non-Muslim communities were treated with respect, protected, and allowed to live by their own laws and customs, with rulers chosen by the community so long as they acted in accordance with shared principles.
88 James Madison, The Federalist No 47, in F EDERALIST P APERS 234 (Terence Ball ed.,
89 Ali Iyad Yakub, The Islamic Roots of Democracy, 12 U M IAMI I NT ’ L & C OMP L.
93 See generally Al-Hibri, supra note 87 the tenets of Islam 94 The Constitution of Medina represents an early seventh century example of federalism 95
American judicial opinions about Muslims trace back to at least the 1811 New York case People v Ruggles, where Islam was described as an impostor religion In both scholarly and popular representations, Islam and Muslims have often been framed as antithetical to civil and democratic society, a portrayal that overgeneralizes and fails to reflect the growing, diverse Muslim population in the United States While the United States is frequently depicted as uniquely tolerant, some observers struggle to place Islam under the same umbrella, viewing it as an ancient rival to the Judeo-Christian heritage.
Asifa Qureshi explains that comparing Islamic and American legal discourses reveals that many presuppositions embedded in different interpretive methods cross cultural lines with surprising ease She adds that, when it comes to textual interpretation, Muslim and American jurists who use the same method often have more in common with one another than with jurists who apply a different approach.
94 A NTHONY S HADID , L EGACY OF THE P ROPHET : D ESPOTS , D EMOCRATS , AND THE N EW
95 Yakub, supra note 89, at 281 “Much like the federalists in America – among them
Madison and Jefferson helped establish the United States' federal system of government, while in Medina the Prophet Muhammad created a sovereign, multi‑tribal state with common citizenship This governance model featured a federal structure that divided power between a central authority and autonomous communities, granting social, cultural, and religious autonomy to each community so long as their actions conformed to the clear teachings of the Qur’an.
96 K ATHLEEN M M OORE , A L -M UGHTARIBUN : A MERICAN L AW AND THE
T RANSFORMATION OF M USLIM L IFE IN THE U NITED S TATES x (1995)
99 Asifa Quraishi, Interpreting the Qur’an and the Constitution: Similarities in the Use of Text, Tradition, and Reason in Islamic and American Jurisprudence, 28 C ARDOZO L.
Across the modern Muslim world, the question of what constitutes Islamic law is complicated by the emergence of hybrid legal systems in independent states These systems blend French and British codes with classical Islamic substantive law and traditional customary practices, creating a blended Islamic legal order In these countries, foreign codes often replace traditional civil and criminal laws, while family law remains largely derived from Islamic and customary sources.
Lama Abu-Odeh argues that Islamic law should be understood as one constitutive element of law—though not the only one—that has been de-centered by European transplant and, at the same time, transformed She warns that not only have its rules been altered, but its modes of reasoning and its class of jurists have changed as well The conceptual organization of Islamic law has been transformed into a rule structure that is positivized in a codified form and dependent on state enforcement.
Western law reshaped Islamic law during colonialism and capitalist expansion, driving collateral cultural changes in both visible and subtle ways European legal systems established and enforced new labor–land relations that underpinned colonial economic enterprises Colonial authorities promoted the transition from oral and flexible legal practices to written codes and mandated the creation of bureaucratic courts with formal procedures.
101 Intisar A Rabb, “We the Jurists”: Islamic Constitutionalism in Iraq, 10 U P A J.
103 Abu-Odeh, supra note 30, at 823
Beginning in the mid-19th century, Islamic law began a process of change that culminated in its near-total destruction Direct colonialism is now largely in the past, and scholarship has become somewhat freer from the cultural assumptions of domination It is widely acknowledged today that Islamic law was not disjoined from the society it served; rather, it was interwoven with society and adapted to social and economic change until its near-total destruction in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Until recently, Western scholarship often followed a pattern of disregarding Islamic history and culture.
Cowboys And Vaqueros: Imported from the Moors
An enduring remnant of Islamic influence in America is the origin of the cowboy and the vaquero In his book Cowboys – Vaqueros, long-time Chicano rights activist and social worker Donald Gilbert Y Chavez explains the Muslim origins of the All-American cowboy.
Origins of the First American Cowboys: The American western saddle traces its origins to Spanish vaquero traditions, carried to the New World by early explorers By the early Middle Ages, Christian northern Spain blended riding practices from Celtic, late Roman, early Gothic European, and Muslim cultures, a synthesis that helped shape horsemanship and gear such as the rowel spur, invented in Spain around 900 C.E This heritage set the stage for the emergence of cowboy culture in North America as Spain’s influence extended across the Atlantic.
109 Wael B Hallaq, “Muslim Rage” and Islamic Law, 54 H ASTINGS L.J 1705, 1711
112 Donald Gilbert Y Chavez, Cowboys – Vaqueros: Origins of the First American
Cowboys, N.M H ISPANIC C ULTURE P RESERVATION L EAGUE (2011), available at http://nmhcpl.org/uploads/CH6.pdf
By 1492, two basic riding styles—la estradiota and la jineta—had been brought to the Americas with the horse The Spanish also absorbed the vaquero concept from their Muslim conquerors, recalling that the Moors invaded Spain around 710 C.E on light, very fast horses The Muslim cavalry rode la jineta with very short stirrups and light armor, making them exceptionally fast and mobile This history highlights the substantial influence Muslims exerted on Spanish horsemanship and, by extension, on American horse culture.
Absence of Islam in American History and Legal Texts
Islamic presence in early America and its lasting influence are often overlooked in United States history, and the role Muslims played in the discovery of America is rarely examined While many enslaved people were transported to the Americas, those taken to the American colonies were generally converted to Christianity, leaving very few vestiges of Islam from this period—such as Quranic passages memorized or transcribed, personal narratives passed down orally, and archaeological artifacts like letters, books, and manuscripts The omission of Islam’s impact from mainstream history books seems out of step with reality, suggesting that the lack of information may be deliberate or negligent.
Just as the history of African Americans, Indian Americans, and many immigrant groups is absent from mainstream publications, the Muslim contribution to America is unavailable as well
121 For a discussion of portions transcribed from memory, see id
The prejudice against Muslims in academic scholarship is tantamount to the racism against blacks and other non-whites Why do the history textbooks fail to include the Muslim discovery of the Americas? James W Loewen asserts:
American history textbooks promote the belief that most important developments in world history are traceable to Europe To grant too much human potential to pre-Columbian Africans might jar
European American sensibilities As Samuel Marble puts it, “The possibility of African discovery of America has never been a tempting one for American historians.” Teachers and curricula that present African history and African Americans in a positive light are often condemned for being Afrocentric White historians insist that the case for Afro-Phoenicians has not been proven; we must not distort history to improve black children’s self-image, they say They are right that the case hasn’t been proven, but textbooks should include Afro-Phoenicians as a possibility, a controversy 122
It is educational malpractice to dismiss the claims of the Afro-Phoenician discovery of America, even if they are only possibilities
Albert J Raboteau’s Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South largely sidesteps Islam among American slaves, devoting barely two pages to the topic in a 382-page volume on slave religion He notes that a few Muslim slaves from Africa managed to observe Islamic customs, but this limited treatment is problematic given the book’s scope and the estimate that a substantial portion of enslaved people may have had Muslim ancestry Even the most conservative estimates suggest that about ten percent of the enslaved population were Muslim, with some figures arguing that as much as one-fifth could be of Muslim descent.
123 A LBERT J R ABOTEAU , S LAVE R ELIGION : T HE “I NVISIBLE I NSTITUTION ” IN THE
According to Haddad (125, supra note 8, at 2), Muslims comprised roughly 9.5 million of the African slave population, rendering Raboteau’s claim of 'a few Muslim slaves' a gross understatement Raboteau also fails to account for the burdens slaveholders imposed on Muslims and others that prevented them from practicing their religions; the phrase 'as best they could' implies that enslaved people could not observe their religious customs in any meaningful way The brief passage offers no acknowledgment that slavery’s dehumanization impeded the preservation of Islamic traditions To underscore what some readers see as an anti-Islam bias in Raboteau’s scholarship, the book’s portrayal of Islam often reads as an outsider’s mockery of Muslim religious practices.
Rosa Grant of Possum Point, Georgia recalls that her grandmother came from Africa, and she remembers watching Grandma Ryna pray as a child Every morning at sunrise, Grandma Ryna would kneel on the floor of a room, bow her head to the floor three times, and say a prayer I don’t remember exactly what she said, but one line she uttered would always make us kids laugh—“ashanegad.” When she finished, she would say, “Amen, Amen, Amen.”
Raboteau should have expanded on this narrative, since the author seems to know no more about Islamic religious practices than the granddaughter of the enslaved woman who was praying For the sake of informing readers, he needed to specify the exact type of prayer the grandmother was performing rather than glossing over it He also should have avoided the mocking tone in his description of the anecdote.
Despite the slave owners’ callous efforts to convert the Muslim slaves to Christianity, many of the early African Muslims maintained their Muslim
126 P HILIP D C URTIN , T HE A TLANTIC S LAVE T RADE : A C ENSUS 268 (1969)
Among enslaved people, faith persisted in secret: some had memorized the entire Quran and could draw on that knowledge covertly if necessary, while others kept African names, wore Islamic clothing, and prayed in the prescribed way despite the obvious risks.
The leading casebook on race and the law, Race and Races: Cases and
Resources for a Diverse America, addresses the issues of discrimination
In its second edition, this authority expands analysis with additional case studies on discrimination against Asian Americans The prior edition had insufficiently explored religious tensions between races and the religious justifications for slavery The second edition highlights post-9/11 incidents of discrimination against American Muslims, but it still falls short in examining how religion intersects with racial discrimination Neglecting or underemphasizing religion omits a critical component of the psychology of prejudice LatCrit scholars posed questions about whether a LatCrit theory of identity politics could offer new perspectives on recognizing and enforcing human rights, and they explore the multiplicity and intersectionality of Latina/o identities—the convergences and divergences in histories and discourses of assimilation, independence, and revolution.
129 See generally S.F S TATE U NIV , C TR FOR I NTEGRATION AND I MPROVEMENT OF
J OURNALISM , African American Muslims: 1600s–The First Muslims in the United States,
N EWSWATCH , http://mediaguidetoislam.sfsu.edu/intheus/05a_muslims.htm (last visited Apr 17, 2014)
132 See generally R ACE AND R ACES : C ASES AND R ESOURCES FOR A D IVERSE A MERICA (Juan F Perea et al eds., 2d ed 2007)
133 Elizabeth M Iglesias, International Law, Human Rights, and LatCrit Theory, 28 U.
M IAMI I NTER -A M L R EV 177, 183 (1997) shed light on traditional human rights concerns? 134 Latina/o identities intersect with Muslim identities due to shared experiences and histories as
“the other.” An analysis and critique of Islam and Islamic legal concepts would mesh with ongoing LatCrit studies, which challenge hegemonic legal norms
Despite the United States being a secular nation with a formal separation of church and state, religion has shaped political and legal decisions—directly or indirectly—since the Declaration of Independence was drafted (135) In practice, religious beliefs influence policy debates, constitutional interpretation, and the actions of lawmakers and judges, as well as broader public discourse This enduring interaction between faith and government remains a defining feature of American political life, illustrating how religious ideas continue to inform governance within a framework designed to keep church and state separate.
US Supreme Court in 1892 said that America was “a Christian nation:”
Across American life—its laws, commerce, customs, and social institutions—there is a broad, consistent recognition of Christian influence Oaths commonly conclude with an appeal to the Almighty, sessions begin with prayer, and wills begin with the words “In the name of God, amen.” Sabbath observance shapes law and public life, with secular business halted and courts and legislatures closed on that day Churches and Christian organizations flourish in every community, and charitable groups operate under Christian auspices, complemented by massive missionary associations striving to establish Christian missions worldwide Taken together, these factors—along with other similarly noted practices—compose a body of unofficial declarations that this is a Christian nation.
Virtually all Anglo-American histories credit the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus with discovering the New World, a framing that reinforces a Judeo-Christian sense of Western superiority Abdullah Hakim Quick challenges this widely held historical fallacy about Islam in America, arguing that traditional narratives—often summarized as “the history books said”—omit Muslim contributions and pre-Columbian intercultural exchanges By reexamining sources and elevating overlooked viewpoints, Quick invites readers to consider a more nuanced, inclusive history of exploration that acknowledges multiple peoples and faiths involved in shaping early America The result is a SEO-friendly reframing that questions established credit for discovery and highlights the role of religious identities in American historical narratives.
135 Holy Trinity Church v United States, 143 U.S 457, 471 (1892)
“Christopher Columbus discovered America,” a framing that many scholars argue amounts to intellectual genocide by erasing Muslim and West African contributions and sustaining a colonial system of oppression and racism that has persisted for four centuries Quick asserts that history textbooks propagate a biased narrative to protect this oppressive order by attributing discovery to Columbus while sidelining broader contributions Loewen adds that not a single textbook mentions West African voyagers to the New World, and that American history books repeatedly gloss over Columbus’s predecessors, presenting a cut-and-dried, glorified tale that avoids uncertainty and controversy.
Omitting the Islamic impact in American history amounts to stealing the legacy of early American Muslims, and such historical silence implies that Muslim contributions are somehow lacking or shameful Like other minority groups, Muslims have faced marginalization, and the dominance of a single racial group can be detrimental to the American psyche The clash between Muslims and non-Muslims appears in divergent narratives about Islamic civilization: many Muslims view Islamic civilization as rooted in divine foundations, while non-Muslims often perceive it through secular or alternative historical lenses.
137 See Abdullah Hakim Quick, Islam on Demand, Islam: Past, Present, and Future
Y OU T UBE (Mar 25, 2011), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz0v_7gxIak
138 See generally L OEWEN , supra note11, 53–54
140 See generally M OLEFI K ETE A SANTE , A FROCENTRICITY : T HE T HEORY OF S OCIAL
141 See generally M OLEFI K ETE A SANTE , E RASING R ACISM : T HE S URVIVAL OF THE
A MERICAN N ATION (2003) grounded in ideas and practices from Judaism and Christianity 142 According to Ahmet Karamustafa, both these viewpoints are accurate in describing Islamic civilization:
Islamic civilization is often depicted as having taken its distinctive shape through a series of evasive maneuvers designed to preserve purity by avoiding outside influences; Muslims are thought to have guarded a divine kernel, thriving when this core remained intact and weakening when contact with other civilizations caused contamination The prevailing non-Muslim view, by contrast, argues that Muslim power grew when communities embraced selective borrowing and tempered rigid religious dictates with ideas from others, and that it receded when they shut themselves off from beneficial exchanges These opposing narratives frame a broader question about how cultural interaction and religious identity influence political resilience in the Muslim world.