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.
Article Taken from:
MESSAGE, July 1996
(Copyrights Message Magazine as long as proper
acknowledgement has been stated, it can be reproduced)