Futuwwa, defined as youth and chivalry, is really a composite of such virtues as generosity, munificence, modesty, chastity, trustworthiness, loyalty, mercifulness, knowledge, humility, and piety. It is a station on the path to God as well as a dimension of sainthood, and also signifies that altruism and helping others have become one’s second nature. It is an important, indispensable dimension of good conduct and a significant aspect of humanity.

Derived from fata’ (young man), futuwwa has become a symbol of rebellion against all evil and the endeavor for sincere servanthood to God; the following verse expresses this eloquently:

They were young men who had believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance. And We strengthened their hearts, when they rose up and declared: Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and Earth; we will not call upon any god beside Him, or then we had spoken an outrage. (18:14)

The verse We have heard a youth talk of them (the idols); he is called Abraham (21:60) expresses the position and influence of one who has achieved perfect futuwwa in his or her community, one who has sought to guide humanity to truth. By contrast, the young men mentioned in the verses: With him there came into the prison two young men (12:36) and: (Joseph) told his young (servants) to put their merchandise (with which they had bartered) into their saddle-bags (12:62) were ordinary young men without chivalry.

As many people have written on or talked about futuwwa since the Age of Happiness, the concept has been defined in many ways: not despising the poor or being deceived by the rich and riches; being fair to everybody without expecting fairness in return; living one’s life as a pitiless enemy of one’s carnal self; being ever-considerate of others and living for them; smashing all idols or all that is idolized, and rebelling against falsehood so as to be wholly devoted to God Almighty; bearing whatever evil is done to oneself, but roaring when the rights of God are violated; feeling remorse for the rest of one’s life for committing the smallest of sins, but overlooking others’ sins, regardless of how large they are; seeing oneself as a poor, lowly servant while considering others as saintly; not resenting others while maintaining relations with those who resent you; being kind to those who hurt you; serving God and the people before everyone else, but putting others first when it is time to receive one’s rewards.

Some have summed up futuwwa in the four virtues mentioned by Haydar Karrar Ali, the fourth Caliph and cousin of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings. They are: forgiving when one is able to punish, preserving mildness and acting mildly and gently when one is angry, wishing one’s enemies well and doing good to them, and being considerate of others’ well-being and happiness first, even when one is needy.

Ali was one of the greatest representatives of futuwwa. When he was stabbed by Ibn Muljam while leading the morning prayer in the mosque, his children, who saw that their father was going to die, asked him what he wanted them to do to Ibn Muljam. He did not order his execution in retaliation. During a battle, Ali threw his enemy to the ground and then released him. When ‘Ali was about to kill this man, the latter spat in Ali’s face, which angered him. Fearing that his motive for killing the man was now confused and sullied, ‘Ali released him. He felt sincere grief when Zubayr ibn Awwam, a leading Companion and his enemy in the Battle of the Camel, was killed. Since he always considered others first, even when he was in need, he usually wore summer clothes in winter and trembled with cold (because he would give away his winter clothes). It was said about him that there could be no young, chivalrous man like Ali, and there could be no sword like Dhu al-Fiqar (Ali’s sword). Ali lived with the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, and was raised by him. He lived a perfectly honest, pure life without any stain, and embodied God’s answer to Prophet Moses, upon him be peace, about futuwwa: It means that you are able to return your self to Me as pure or untainted as you received it from Me.

The signs of a fata’ (young, chivalrous one) are that the individual, created with the potential to accept Divine Unity and Islam, is totally convinced of the Divine Unity; this urges him or her to live according to the requirements of this conviction; that, without being captivated by carnal or bodily desires, he or she lives a pure, spiritual life; and that he or she always seeks to please God in his or her deeds, thoughts, and feelings. One who cannot be saved from the temptations of the carnal self, Satan, appetites, love of the world, or attachment to the worldly life cannot climb upward to the peak of futuwwa.

Futuwwa is a treasure obtainable by climbing high beyond
All the “highest mountains of the world”;
What business have those who fall tired
Even on a smooth road with such a treasure?

Notes

1. Ibn al-Athir, Usd al-Ghaba, 4:118.
2. Shamsaddin Sivasi, Manaqib Jiharyar Guzin, 258.
3. Al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, 9:150.
4. Ibid., 9:122.
5. ‘Ali al-Qari, Al-Asrar al-Marfu’a fi akhbar al-Mawdu’a (Beirut, 1986), 367.

“The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger, the second time you are an honored guest. The third time you become family, and for our families we are prepared to do anything, even die.”

This astonishing book is a nonfiction tale of those three cups of tea Greg Mortenson had with the people of Korphe, a remote village in Northern Pakistan. Co-written by acclaimed journalist David Oliver Relin, the 368 page long book met with enthusiastic acclaim, and since its publication in 2006 has sold more than 2.5 million copies in 29 languages. Moreover, in an official ceremony in March 23, 2009, Mortenson received Pakistan’s highest civilian award, the Sitara-i-Pakistan (The Star of Pakistan) for his courage and humanitarian effort to promote education for the last fifteen years.

Mortenson’s story begins in 1993, after a failed attempt to climb the world’s second highest peak, K2, to honor the memory of his younger sister Christa, who died from a massive seizure after a lifelong struggle with epilepsy. Alone, exhausted and emaciated, Mortenson wandered into the impoverished village of Korphe, where the villagers took him in and nursed him back to health. “They had very little but they gave me everything they had, and I was very touched by their hospitality” said Mortenson in an interview to CBS News .

While he was recuperating in Haji Ali’s – the chief of the village – home, he learned more and more about how people lived in this part of the world; that the nearest doctor lived a week’s walk away, most of the children suffered from malnutrition and one out of three children died before their first birthday. Mortenson felt he owed the people of the village, who had already begun to call him “Dr. Greg,” although he was a nurse. He thought at least he could get some supplies for Korphe’s school. Yet, taking him to an open land, Haji Ali explained that they didn’t have a school, and a teacher cost one dollar a day, which was more than the villagers could afford. Mortenson watched boys and girls kneeling on the frosty ground to write out their multiplication tables by scratching in the dirt with sticks. “I felt like my heart was being torn out. Can you imagine a fourth- grade class in America, alone, without a teacher, sitting there quietly and working on their lessons? I knew I had to do something,” Mortenson recounts in the book (p. 32). At that very moment, notes from Mortenson’s heart translated into a commitment. He put his hands on Haji Ali’s shoulder and said, “I will build a school here, I promise.”

Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time traces Greg Mortenson’s efforts to fulfill this promise. Along the way, he encountered enormous obstacles. Upon his return to California, he sent 580 letters to celebrities asking for funds for the school, which yielded only one reply, a $100 check; he sold everything he owned, lived in a car to reduce his expenses and accepted donation in pennies from schoolchildren.
In spite of the challenges of raising funds, separation from his wife and newly born daughter, and an eight day kidnapping by the Taliban, Mortenson eventually succeeded in building the school. From his earnest promise grew Central Asia Institute, which built more than fifty schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. “I see education least invested in, that can bring the most change” says Mortenson. In this respect, he is convinced that extremism and terror must be fought with books, not with bombs. He places particular emphasis on educating girls; their education, he believes, can affect the whole community. He gives the example of Jahan, the first educated woman in Skardu, who, after completing her studies in healthcare, could help reduce the mortality rate of women during pregnancy from about twenty a year to zero.

Along with recounting Greg Mortenson’s personal determination to build the school, the book also makes frequent mention of the villagers’ passion for education and their many sacrifices. In one instance, Haji Ali hands over twelve rams – half the wealth of the village – to Haji Mehdi, a mafia boss who ran the economy of the region and didn’t want the school built. “Don’t be sad,” Haji Ali told the shattered villagers. “Long after all those rams are dead and eaten this school will still stand. Haji Mehdi has food today, now, our children have education forever” (p. 153).

In another instance, he shows the Koran to Mortenson, and asks: “Do you see how beautiful this Koran is?”

“Yes” replies Mortenson.

“I can’t read it. This is the greatest sadness in my life. I will do anything so the children of my village never have to know this feeling. I will pay any price so they have the education they deserve.”

Mortenson’s story is uplifting in many ways. It is a story about “compassion in action, not talk” as Mortenson puts it. It is about taking notes when our hearts begin to speak and leaving our comfort zones to achieve what we deem right and necessary. In Brokaw’s words, his story is proof that “one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world.”

There are other stories of anonymous heroes all around world, who pack up their lives into a suitcase and move to remote places to turn stones into schools. Their stories are yet to be told.

Notes

1. http://www.threecupsoftea.com/greg-mortenson-bio-and-professional-photo
2. ttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/04/sunday/main4697362.shtml
3. http://www.threecupsoftea.com/2009/01/21/msnbc-jan2009/
4. http://www.blogs.targetx.com/wildriverreview/penworldvoices/2008/02/greg_motensons_mission_to_prom.html
5. Three cups of tea One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a time, Greg Mortenson and david Oliver relin, 2006, Penguin Books, review of tom Brokaw.

Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo traveled through many of the same lands less than 50 years apart. They were able to do so, in part, due to some of the same conditions: the Pax Mongolia had united (and devastated) much of Central Asia, and China and India were relatively stable. Marco Polo traveled during the height of the Pax Mongolia, while Ibn Battutas travels occurred while the first effects of the Plague were being felt. In many of his descriptions, especially of older cities located in the vicinity of Persia and Central Asia, the destruction wrought by the Mongol conquest was still evident. Although Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta did not travel exactly the same path, a reader of both books nonetheless gets a sense of the changes occurring in those areas during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Unfortunately for historians, Marco Polo does not always notice the same things, or simply chooses not to mention them. As he is concerned almost exclusively with what the land and its inhabitants produce, he rarely notices or comments on the destruction and decay that pepper many parts of Ibn Battutas travel narrative.

Travels in a Stricken Land

Ibn Battuta finds the first signs of decay after he leaves Makkah for Iraq. He leaves the main caravan to travel to Basra, which had been a main center of Islamic learning. He notes that he has to travel in the company of a large group of native Arabs, for it is impossible to travel in those regions except in their company. At least one danger he faces is that of Arabs inhabiting a waterlogged jungle of reeds in the area, who in fact did attack and plunder a party traveling behind his. Ibn Battuta does not comment on this, but the necessity of traveling with an armed escort and the constant threat of highway robbery would seem to indicate a weak central state.

Upon his arrival in Basra, Ibn Battuta is told that a large building located some distance outside of the city, the Mosque of Ali, used to be in the middle of the city. However, Basra has shrunk so much that it now stands alone. Another indication of Basras diminished status is the fact that during the Friday congregational prayer, the preachers sermon contains grammatical mistakes. He is also told that no one in the city speaks or writes grammatically correct Arabic”and this in the very city where Arabic grammar was devised and established! So it appears that this area has slipped from the control of whatever centralized government once controlled it, that the population has left, and that it is no longer a center of learning.

Reporting on his trip to Kufa, the other historically great garrison city in Persia, he writes that it also has diminished in size and prestige: Though it was once the abode of the Companions of the Prophet and of scholars and theologians, as well as the capital of Ali, Kufa has now fallen into ruins as a result of the attacks which it has suffered from the nomad Arab brigands in the neighborhood. That such a formerly important city has been left so vulnerable that even a band of brigands can attack it at will again indicates the central governments increasing weakness.

Even the western part of Baghdad is found to be partially in ruins: The hospital is a vast ruined edifice, of which only vestiges remain. Traveling near the Tigris river, he finds yet another city in ruins, as well as Jazirat ibn Umar and Nisibin. He observes a similar swath of destruction in Central Asia and in areas located to the north of India.

Marco Polo notes that some cities have been destroyed, but Ibn Battuta goes into much more detail. Bukhara, once the capital of the lands beyond the Oxus river, is mostly destroyed; Samarkand is likewise mostly in ruins, as is Balkh, where Genghis Khan partially destroyed a mosque in his search for treasure; Banj Hir (Panjshir) city has been destroyed, and the surrounding country uninhabited since that time.

Fondness for Miracles

Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta resemble one another in their fondness for miracles, especially those that validate their own religion or sect. Marco Polo tends to be more enthusiastic and narrates many miracles (second-hand) at great length, while Ibn Battuta is generally more skeptical. In addition, his miraculous happenings, if usually not very miraculous in nature, are easier to believe.

For example, he relates how the Caliph Walid I wish to expand the Umayyad mosque in Damascus into the area occupied by a church. The Greek Christians refused to sell the land, for they believed that anyone who destroyed the church would be stricken with madness. The caliph decided to set an example and thus began to tear down the church with his own hands. According to Ibn Battuta: The Muslims on seeing that followed his example, and God proved that the assertion of the Christians was false. Although Ibn Battuta does not exactly claim miraculous status for this event, the tone is very similar to the one used by Marco Polo to describe miracles performed by Christians in Muslim lands.

Many of Marco Polos miracles are a sort of polemic against Muslims, and many of Ibn Battutas miracles, as well, are polemical. He does not direct them against Christians, however, but rather against the Shiah, whom he dislikes intensely. He writes of a man who told the Shiah that he was the mahdi (the awaited messiah) and convinced people that he was going to perform many miracles. Of course none were actually performed.

He mentions the place in Mashhad Ali, located in the city of Najaf, that supposedly holds Ali’s tomb. The townspeople, all Shi, regard the miraculous healing of the sick that is said to occur there as proof that the place is, in fact, Ali’s final resting place. Ibn Battuta comments that the fact is widely known among them, and I heard it from trustworthy authorities, but I was not actually present on any such night. He also says that he saw some cripples there who were waiting for that night. Although he does not refute these events, he appears to be very hesitant to actually believe and confirm them. One might simply attribute this to his reluctance to give credence to supposed miracles that he did not actually witness. However, he is not so cautious about believing such stories in other places. For instance, during his stay in Shiraz, he visits the illustrious Shaykh Majd al-Din Ismail, the marvel of the age [who] is held in the highest esteem by the sultan of Iraq, for reasons which the following story will show.

He then relates how this shaykh was the judge of an Iraqi province that refused to turn Shiah. The sultan was infuriated and had him brought to his summer residence to be thrown to the large, fierce, man-eating dogs that he kept there. However, when the dogs were loosed on the judge Majd al-Din, they would not attack him but wagged their tails in the friendliest manner. The sultan thereupon rejected the Shiah doctrine. This incident is treated as something of a miracle and related in rather strong language, although Ibn Battuta did not actually witness it. Therefore, it does not seem that he is overly reluctant to accept miracles when it suits his purpose.

Views of Other Peoples

Although, as the translator points out, Ibn Battuta is quite tolerant of Christians (despite his frequent derogatory references to them), Marco Polo’s hostile attitude toward Muslims is mirrored very accurately in Ibn Battuta’s attitude toward the Shiah. He describes them as abominable people who hate the Ten Companions and every person whose name is Umar, and as revilers who hate the ten. He claims that in Sarmin, one cannot even mention the word ten. At one place, he refuses to enter the city because the inhabitants are fanatical Shiah. All of this is no doubt due in large part to his strict Maliki views. Another similarity between the two traveler’s work lies in what they choose to include and describe. One of the most striking elements is the character and appearance of the people they encounter. Generally, Ibn Battuta has good things to say about the people he meets, such as his assertions that the inhabitants of Makkah are very kind to strangers and the poor, the people of Shiraz are very pious and upright, and the women of Sana are virtuous and have many fine qualities. He also writes: I have never seen anywhere in the world more excellent people than the Khwarizmians, or more generous or more friendly to strangers. In Hinawr, the women are beautiful and virtuous. When he meets people he does not like, he is not slow to explain why. In Taizz, for example, the people are overbearing, insolent, and rude, as is generally the case in towns where kings reside. And the inhabitants of Bukhara are looked down upon and their evidence is not accepted in Kharizm and elsewhere, because of their reputation for fanaticism, falsehood, and denial of the truth.

Conclusion

Although Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo wrote their travelogues for somewhat different reasons, as they were of different religions and backgrounds and faced different circumstances, the two authors show a remarkable similarity in their approaches to their subject matter, that which interests them, and their reaction to the places they visit. Their works of course differ in some ways, but the similarities argue rather forcefully that the cosmopolitan, unified world to which they both seem to have felt they belonged did, in fact, exist

References

• Ibn Battuta. The Travels of Ibn Battuta (trans.) London: 1829.
• Marco Polo. The Travels. Translated by Ronald Latham. England: Penguin Books, 1958.

In the following historical survey I cover some basic realities of the Muslim experience in the US. I have adopted different ways of looking at our present reality and past experiences. Some of these are case studies, some are from personal experience and others are from my readings of history.

Today, as a community, we are at a point where we can either succeed or fail to a much greater extent than in the past. We have schools, professionals, Islamic centres and knowledgeable Muslims. However, we lack a core of brothers and sisters willing to try to organize the Muslims into cohesive voting blocks and into strong neighborhoods and communities where the Muslims are visible and where they will have a voice in the destiny of the greater society as well as, to some degree, in the foreign policy of America.

There are, by various estimates, between two and thirteen million Muslims or non-practising descendants of Muslims in America. Unfortunately, some of them are not well-versed in the literature and doctrines of their religion. Most of them would like to pass Islam on to their children and grandchildren, but this is unlikely if parents do not have sound knowledge about the Islamic faith, nor practise it in their daily lives. One way of understanding our current situation is to study our past. In order to develop my theme along this line, I will divide the history of Muslims in the United States into five eras: before 1800, 1800-1890, 1890-1910, 1910-1950 and 1950-present.

Before 1800

Before 1800 there were five Muslims in America who deserve mention:

1. The navigator of Columbus who, during the famous voyage, brought a copy of a travel narrative about Portuguese Muslims who had sailed to the New World in the 12th century. The narrative by al-Idrissi was called ‘The Sea of Tears’. In it he discusses the voyage of 80 mugharrirun, explorers from Lisbon, Portugal, during the reign of the al-Murabit ‘amir Yusuf ibn Tashufin. The narrative mentions visits to fourteen islands, half of which have been identified as belonging to either the Canaries or the Azores. However, the ones not traced could have been as far away as the Caribbean. An early voyage, from 942 ce, is mentioned in the annals of al-Mas’udi (see Arameo World, May-June, 1992).

2. Istafan the Arab was a guide for the Spanish settlers in the area of Arizona in l539. Istafan was from Azamor, Morocco, and had previously been to the Americas in the ill-fated expedition to Florida of Panfilo de Narvaez in 1527. He was a guide for the Franciscan friar. Marcos de Niza and was invaluable in this capacity until he was killed in an Indian attack in present day Arizona and New Mexico in 1539.

3. Another early Muslim of this period is Nasruddin. He is notable for having killed a Mohawk princess who refused to marry him and for being the earliest permanent Arab settler in the New World (see history of Greene County, N.Y., pp.l9-22).

4. Ayub Sulaiman ibn Diallo became a minor go- between with his people and the British after his repatriation. I mention him because he continued to practice Islam during his two years of slavery in the l730s in Maryland. He was well-versed in Arabic and wrote at least a half dozen letters in that language, translated coin inscriptions for the British Museum and drew a map of West Africa in which he wrote the place names in Arabic.

5. Salim the Algerian, who was a Muslim from a royal family of Algiers, studied in Istanbul. After returning from a visit to Istanbul, he was captured by a Spanish man- of-war and was later sold into slavery to the French in New Orleans, eventually escaping and regaining his freedom. He lived among American Indian tribes and settled in Virginia. Salim was found in rags, almost naked, and was taught English. Eventually, it was ascertained that he knew Greek, and he was given a Greek New Testament. Several future members of the US Congress befriended him, and he converted to Christianity. As a new convert to Christianity, he decided to go back home to spread the Gospel. Alter a disastrous journey to his homeland (where he was shunned as an apostate), he returned to America, met Thomas Jefferson, attended the 1st Continental Congress and, at the instigation of Congressman Page, his portrait was painted by an artist called Peale. Salim lapsed into insanity, perhaps brought on by his traumatic visit to his homeland. Salim’s final months are a misery. Some accounts tell of him regaining his sanity while others say he died in an insane asylum. It is also unclear if Salim renounced his adopted religion but it is possible that he died a Christian and he remained on the Page estate until the cod of his life. (See Graham’s magazine, 1857, pp.433-7.)

It should be noted that none of these men tried to spread Islam, and that only Ayub tried to preserve his own belief. An important point is that these Muslims were not unique in being able to read and write Arabic. In fact, in many slave quarters in the Caribbean and Brazil, there were clandestine Arabic and Islamic schools. One can find references to them in the works of Nina Rodriguez and in the two volume book Twelve Months in Jamaica by Robert Madden (1835).

1800-1890

During the nineteenth century, the presence of Islamic captives in slave quarters was documented by four individuals:

1. Theodore Dwight Jr wrote two articles about a slave named Lamen Kebe who had been a school teacher in Africa. Lamen Kebe gave Dwight a list of over twenty texts used in his schools and several pages of information on teaching methods (much of it still valuable today). At the end of one of the articles, he also attached one of the earliest glossaries we have of the Serrekuleh language. Dwight also mentions Abdul Rahman and Ayub b. Sulaiman Diallo.

2. James Cooper wrote the story of Salih Bilali, published with other ethnological writings in William Brown Hodgson’s Notes on North Africa (1844). Salih was a Fulani (as are all the others mentioned) and his story is only found in a letter by Cooper. This letter has been reprinted in Africa Remembered by Philip Curtin. Here we have an oral remembrance of Africa and a vocabulary of Fula, but nothing about his training or practice in Islam.

3. William Brown Hodgson did perhaps the most important of these documentaries. The main characters Hodgson recorded were the following: Bilali Mohammed, who wrote the only extant book on Islamic Law written in America and who contributed several Islamic terms to the Gullah dialect of English. He gave his descendants Muslim names and taught them until the generation of his grandchildren. Umar ibn Sa’id was a butler for Governor Owens of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and he wrote an autobiography and thirteen pages in Arabic. What he wrote shows that he might have been a Qadariyyah Sufi, a trader, and a school teacher who feigned conversion to Christianity under difficult circumstances. Abdul Rahman Ibrahim Sori wrote two autobiographies, two copies of sura al-Fatiha, signed a charcoal sketch of himself that was done by Henry Inman (this picture was on the cover of Freedmen’s Journal and is on display in the Library of Congress) and he dictated several letters to his family while travelling in the US to raise money to return to Africa. None of his Arabic writings show the least formal education, but it is surprising that he remembered the little Arabic he knew after forty years in slavery. Said eventually returned to Africa, where he died. His story is documented in Prince Among Slaves by Terry Afford (1977). A slave named London is described in a pamphlet by Hodgson (1844) called The Gospels Written in the Negro Patois of English in Arabic Characters by a Mandingo Slave Named London. This was perhaps the only systematic try at writing English in Arabic letters up to that point. London was held in slavery by the Maxwell family of Savannah, Georgia. They later moved to Florida where he died. An unknown slave correspondent from Georgetown, South Carolina wrote five chapters of the Qur’an from memory. This was translated by Hodgson.

4. William Carruthers, author of The Kentuckian in New York, tells of a slave who wrote sura al-Fatiha at the request of a traveller. He also mentions Ayub ibn Sulaiman Diallo.

One Muslim of this era not covered by these writers is Hadji Ali (Philip Tedro) who was a Greek convert to Islam and one of six camel handlers (three Arabs, two Turks and Hadji Ali) in the short-lived US camel calvary in 1856. The Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, introduced a bill in Congress, passed in 1855, to import camels for military purposes in the Arizona desert. During this experiment, 77 camels and six handlers were brought over from the East. When the Civil War broke out, this experiment was abandoned. Hadji Ali was the only one of the cameleers to remain in America. The others returned to their homelands. Circuses and zoos acquired some of the camels while others were turned loose. The camels that were turned loose in the desert terrorized live stock and wild animals for years. Hadji Ali became a prospector in the Colorado River Area. He eventually became a legend under the corrupted name, ‘Hi Jolly’, given to him by soldiers in the US calvary. The only legacies of this experiment are a highway grave marker for Hadji Ali and some US Army Manuals (see ‘Report Upon the Purchase, Importation, and Use of Camels and Dromedaries, to be Employed for Military Purposes, According to Act of Congress March 3, 1855. Made under the Direction of the Secretary of War 1855, ’56, ’57’). A movie by Walt Disney called Hawmps, starring Slim Pickens and Denver Pyle, highlights this moment in history. Hadji Ali lived until 1903 in Quartzsite, Arizona, where he was a prospector and resident imam. His three daughters were raised as Muslims, but I have yet to verify how many generations of his family continued practicing Islam.

The Omani Embassy published a pamphlet about the exploits of the first Arab traders to the United States during the 1840s. (However, these traders did not settle here: see Eilts, 1962),

One other Muslim is Yarrow Mamount who was poorly covered by other writers. He deserves mention as he was perhaps one of the longest-lived individuals in this country; his reported age at death was over 130 years, and he was one of the first shareholders of the Washington, DC Columbia Bank, the second chartered bank in the United States.

1890-1910

During this period the only movement of great interest is that of Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb. He is commonly believed to be the first white convert to Islam in America. Before he became a Muslim, he was a newspaper editor and from 1887-92, served as US Consul to the Philippines, he accepted the post of Consul in 1887. While a Consul, he began to read books on Eastern and Oriental religions. Soon afterwards he began written correspondence with Indian Muslims, and in 1888 he publicly declared that he was a Muslim. He resigned his post in 1892, and went to India where he made a lecture tour of four cities: Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Hyderabad. These lectures were published in the books The Three Lectures and Lectures in Various Locations. The topics for these lectures included:

‘Islam, the Better Way’ and ‘Philosophical Islam’. Upon returning to the US, he set up the Oriental Publishing Company, which published at least a half dozen of his books including Islam in America (1892) and his short-lived periodical The Moslem World. He had a mosque on upper Broadway which failed prior to his death in 1913. His appointment as the Polish Emissary to the US and his writing of a still very pertinent book, The Armenian Problem and Its Solution, as well as the views of Webb on the war between the Turks and the Armenians, may have contributed to the decline of the group. Webb also failed to address the needs of the generality of the people; his was a movement for ‘philosophers’.

1910-1950

Between 1910-1950 several Orthodox, Sufi, Ahmadiyyah. Bahia, Shia and Black Nationalist groups arose. However, I shall focus on the orthodox mosques (in Ross, North Dakota; Detroit, Michigan and Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and on Sheikh Dawood, Soufi Abdul Hameed, Noble Drew Ali and Elijah Mohammed. Two mosques were built in the early years of this century. In 1915 the Albanian community built a mosque in Maine and another in Connecticut, but little documentation has survived of their administration. In Brooklyn, New York, Polish-speaking Tatars built a mosque which was still in use in 1926. The Red Crescent was founded in Detroit in 1920 and the mosque built there was in regular use from 1926-1932. This organization appears to have suffered from lack of finances, rather than lack of numbers. Only a few brothers kept the masjid afloat but the Great Depression proved to be too much of a financial burden for them. Perhaps the most successful of these early, orthodox communities was the Ross Mosque, having a congregation of about 100 followers at its height. The mosque was built in 1930 and remained standing until 1978, and in regular use until the late l960s. At this time, conversions and mixed marriages had decreased the number of Muslims, and Arabic was no longer used. Also, there were no practising Muslims to attend Friday prayers and the cemetery had fallen into neglect.

The Lebanese masjid in Cedar Rapids is a success story. Started in 1935, the mosque is still in use. This community seems to have suffered fewer of the problems common to the others; going overseas to marry was common, finance was freer and fewer people drifted from Islam. Arabic continued to be used widely, language being an important factor in uniting a community.

Sheikh Dawood and Soufi Abdul Hameed represent home-grown orthodox Islam. Sheikh Dawood founded the Islamic Mission Society on State Street in 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. Over 75,000 people accepted Islam under his tutorship before his death in 1981. His theory of Islam being genetic was to be adapted by many later leaders such as Elijah Mohammed and Imam Isa. His success was due to his willingness to stiffer personal abuse and financial difficulty for the sake of Islam. His writings and theories are contained in his self-published book Islam the True Religion of humanity (1965). His contemporary, Soufi, and his teacher, Mandaly from Egypt, had similar successes in Harlem, but their work was cut short when Mandaly died following a heart attack, and Soufi perished in an aeroplane crash. Their problem was that they failed to train proper successors, and the movement died with them (see Ottley, 1968, pp.116-19).

Noble Drew Ali and Elijah Mohammed represent the Black Nationalist side to Islam between 1910 and 1950. Both movements outlasted these men. Ali started his move- merit, the Moorish Science Temple, in May 1913 with the short-lived Canaanite Temple. He gave an identity to the recently freed Africans and showed them how they could have self-esteem, and allowed them to take part in a movement that was not under the former slave masters’ control. His main error was to fail to fully bring people into the reality of the Arabic language, the Qur’an and ibadah, but he gave them a clear concept of a Jesus they could accept and of tawhid, which Christianity had failed to give them.

Elijah Mohammed’s organization, the Nation of Islam, was begun in Paradise Valley (a black ghetto in Detroit) on July 4, 1930 by Mr W.D. Fard. Fard was a mysterious peddler from the East and a one-time challenger to Drew Ali’s leadership of Islamic Nationalism in Newark, New Jersey. Fard was reputed to have been born of a white mother and a black father (Mimi and Alfonso) on February 28, 1877 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He supposedly receiving his education at U.C.L.A. and Oxford. Fard was to have been a member of the diplomatic corps in the Hijaz, but he decided against it in order to go to the ‘wilderness of North America to find his Uncle [the Black Man] and teach him Islam and the true history of the black man. After teaching for three years, he left the US for an unknown destination. He left behind a successor, Elijah Mohammed, and some written teachings which were set down in several lesson plans of which seven are extant today. This was a way of teaching that was not uncommon to church catechisms, Masonic degrees or Moorish American Qur’an Questionnaires. By 1934, Fard became a sort of hidden Imam common to the doctrines of the Druze and Isma’ili versions of Islam. He seemed to expound rhetoric similar to military manual directives, Moorish Science, Masonry and some vague eschatology as well as doctrines (such as blood atonement), similar to that of early Utah Mormons. His movement succeeded due to dedicated individuals and strong leadership that was willing to suffer for the movement. His weaknesses were failing to teach proper rules for prayer and fasting, and his preaching the concept of Ali reincarnated through the Imams and the Mahdi (later he was considered God incarnate).

1950-Present

The next forty years saw the rise and fall of the Nation of Islam and its rebirth (primarily with Silas Mohammed, Farrakhan, John Mohammed, W.D. Mohammed and Imam Isa). The groups that were resurrected tended to try to revolutionize the teachings. Silas works with the white community and calls Elijah Mohammed ‘the Virgin Mary’ and himself the ‘Spiritual Son of Elijah Mohammed’. Farrakhan works with other minorities and has been working against the drug problem; he attacked a drug dealer after he found out his own son was a drug abuser. W.D. Mohammed works with the immigrant community in a liaison role. John Mohammed is the ‘orthodox’ Nation of Islam teacher, as he tends not to teach anything except what Elijah Mohammed distinctly taught. Imam is a Unitarian Universalist, Spiritualist, Jewish, Ansar, Black Nationalist successor to the self-proclaimed Messenger of Allah, Elijah Mohammed. All are in serious error because they fail to address the greater problem of developing the basic groundwork for a strong, growing and evolving Islamic community in America. Only W.D. Mohammed has begun the needed work of teaching sound Islam based on the Qur’an and the Sunna, but he is somewhat hindered by the legacy of his father, tending to give the teachings of the Qur’an as mostly symbolic as he was taught the Bible was. Others left the Nation of Islam, and we must remember them as true Muslims. These true Muslims include Mohammed Ali, Hamas Abdul Khaalis, and Malcolm X. Mohammed Ali went on to become one of the greatest sportsmen in this nation and a great Contributor to the spreading of Islam. Hamas Abdul Khaalis founded the Hanafi Mah-Hab Centre in New York in 1968. It was later moved to Washington, DC. At his height he had over a thousand followers and led protests for several Muslim causes. His famous follower is Kareem Abdul Jabbar. In 977, Khaalis and some of his followers seized a building in Washington, DC as part of a protest, and they held the people for some 30 hours. One hostage was killed and Khaalis is currently serving a prison sentence of 4l to 120 years. One of the greatest-ever Muslim leaders in America was, of course, Malcolm X (or according to his true Muslim name, Al-Hajj Malik at Shabazz). He started the political street organ of the Nation of Islam, the Mohammed Speaks newspaper, and influenced several generations with his eye-opening autobiography. Until the end of his life, he was dedicated to the struggle for the rights of all oppressed people of the world. He was killed at the hands of FBI-sponsored infiltrators from the Nation of Islam.

Conclusion

It is strange that the religion of peace is always forced into violence against itself. God says in the Holy Qur’an:

And thus, We have made you a middle nation that you may witness to all people and We made the Messenger a witness to you… (al-Baqarah, 2.143).

How could this history, with its successes, failures and disappointments exist, when we are instructed to be a middle nation of witnesses to mankind, and to propagate Islam?

In sum, this historical briefing on Islam in America focused on American Muslims and Muslims that were becoming Americans points to the need for da’wa, for Islamic schools, for fighting assimilation, for bilingual education, for masjids, and for taking part in the greater society.

The groundwork is da’wa, developing schools and businesses, youth and adult education programmes to teach Arabic and Qur’an to such an extent that our community here will become bilingual and stay that way. Next, we need to have Islamic holidays recognized in public schools in much the same way as Jewish holidays are. Finally, we need to make sure proper books on Islam are in every single public and private library in the US and that hooks on Islam are placed in as many non-Muslim homes as is feasible.

‘Yes,’ they replied. ‘Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah emerged alleging that he is a Prophet and lbn Abu Quhafah (Abu Bakr) has followed him.’

‘I used to know Abu Bakr,’ said Talha. ‘He is an easy-going, amiable, gentle man. He was an honest and upright trader. We were quite fond of him and loved sitting in his company because of his knowledge of Quraysh history and genealogy.’

Later, Talha went to Abu Bakr and asked:

‘Is it true what they say – that Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah has appeared as a Prophet and that you follow him?’

‘Yes,’ replied Abu Bakr and went on to tell Talha about Muhammad and what a good thing it would be if he too followed him. Talha in turn told Abu Bakr the story of his strange recent encounter with an ascetic in the marketplace of Busra in Syria. The ascetic is said to have told Talha that someone called ‘Ahmad’ would appear in Mecca about that time and that he would be the last of the Prophets. He also told Talha, so the story goes, that the Prophet would leave the sacred precincts of Mecca and migrate to a land of black soil, water and palm trees…

Abu Bakr was astonished by the story and took Talha to Muhammad. The Prophet, peace be upon him, explained Islam to Talha and recited some portions of the Qur’an to him. Talha was enthusiastic. He related to the Prophet his conversation with the ascetic of Busra. There and then, Talha pronounced the Shahadah – that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God. He was the fourth person who had been introduced to Islam by Abu Bakr.

The Quraysh were astounded by the young Talha’s acceptance of Islam. The one who was most dismayed and unhappy was his mother. She had hoped that he would one day be a leader in his community because of his noble character and his outstanding virtues. Some of the Quraysh, anxious and worried, went to Talha as soon as they could to wean him away from his new religion but found him firm and unshakeable as a rock. When they despaired of using gentle persuasion to achieve their aim, they resorted to persecution and violence. The following story is related by Mas’ud ibn Kharash:

‘While I was making sa’y between al-Safa and al Marwa, there appeared a crowd of people pushing a young man whose hands were tied behind his back. As they rushed behind him, they rained down blows on his head. In the crowd was an old woman who lashed him repeatedly and shouted abuses at him.

I asked:

‘What’s the matter with this young man?’

‘This is Talha ibn ‘Ubaydullah. He gave up his religion and now follows the Ban-u Hashim man.’

‘And who is the woman behind him?’ I asked.

‘She is Sa’bah bint al-Hadrami, the young man’s mother,’ they said.

The Quraysh did not stop there. Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid, nicknamed the ‘lion of the Quraysh’ bound Talha with a rope and with the same rope he tied up Abu Bakr and then handed them over to the mindless and violent mob of Mecca to be beaten and tortured. The shared experience no doubt drew Talha and Abu Bakr closer together!

Years passed and events of great significance took place. Talha grew in stature as he bore the pain and suffering of being tested in the path of God and His Prophet. He gained the unique reputation among Muslims of being called the ‘living martyr’. The Prophet, peace be upon him, also called him ‘Talha the Good’ and ‘Talha the Generous’.

The name of the ‘living martyr’ was earned during the Battle of Uhud. Talha had missed the Battle of Badr. He and Sa’id ibn Zayd had been sent outside Medina on a mission by the Prophet and when they returned, the Prophet and his companions were already on the way back from Badr. They were both sad at having missed the opportunity of taking part in the first campaign with the Prophet but were tremendously pleased when he told them they would get the same reward as those who actually fought.

At the Battle of Uhud, when the Muslims fell into disarray at the beginning of hostilities, the Prophet became dangerously exposed. There were about eleven men of the Ansar at his side and one Muhajir – Talha ibn ‘Ubaydullah. The Prophet clambered up the mountain hotly pursued by some mushrikin. The Prophet, peace be upon him, shouted:

‘The one who repulses these people from us will be my companion in Paradise.’

‘I, O Messenger of God,’ shouted Talha.

‘No, stick to your position,’ replied the Prophet. A man from the Ansar volunteered and the Prophet agreed. He fought until he was killed. The Prophet went further up the mountain with the mushrikin still in close pursuit.

‘Isn’t there someone to combat these?’

Talha again volunteered but the Prophet ordered him to maintain his position. Another person immediately came forward, fought and was killed. This happened until all who stood by the Prophet were martyred except Talha.

‘Now, yes, ‘ signalled the Prophet and Talha went into battle. By this time, the Prophet’s teeth had been broken, his forehead had been slashed, his lips had been wounded and blood was streaming down his face. He was drained of energy. Talha plunged into the enemy and pushed them away from the Prophet. He turned back to the Prophet and helped him a little further up the mountain and put him to lie on the ground. He then renewed his attack and successfully repulsed the enemy.

About this occasion Abu Bakr said:

‘At that moment, Abu ‘Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah and I were far from the Prophet. When we came close to him to render assistance to him, the Prophet said:

‘Leave me and go to your companion (meaning Talha).’

There was Talha, bleeding profusely. He had numerous wounds, from sword, spear and arrow. His foot had been cut and he had fallen into a hollow where he lay unconscious.

Thereafter, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

‘Whoever is pleased to see a man still walking on earth who had completed his span (of life), let him look at Talha ibn ‘Ubaydullah.’

And, whenever Uhud was recalled, As-Siddiq, may God be pleased with him, would say:

‘That day, that entire day, belonged to Talha.’

That was the story of how Talha became to be called the ‘living martyr’.

There were innumerable incidents which led to him being called ‘Talha the Good’ and ‘Talha the Generous’.

Talha was an astute and successful merchant who travelled widely to the north and south of the Arabian peninsula. It is said that after one of his trips to Hadramawt, he had profits amounting to some seven hundred thousand dirhams. His nights would be anxious and worried on account of this vast wealth. On one such night, his wife, Ummu Kulthum the daughter of Abu Bakr said to him:

What’s wrong with you, O Abu Muhammad? Perhaps I have done something to hurt you?’

‘No,’ replied Talha. ‘You are a wonderful wife for a Muslim man. But I have been thinking since last night:How can a man think of his Lord and Sustainer when he goes to sleep with this wealth in his house?’

Why should it bother you so much?’ remarked Ummu Kulthum. ‘What about all the needy ones in your community and all your friends? When you get up in the morning share it out among them.’

‘God bless you. You are really marvellous, the daughter of a marvellous man,’ said Talha to his wife.

In the morning, Talha gathered up the money in bags and distributed it among the poor Muhajirin and Ansar.

It is related that a man came up to Talha requesting help and also mentioning some common family connection between them.

‘This family connection someone has mentioned to me before,’ said Talha who was in fact known for his generosity to all members of his clan. Talha told the man that he had just sold a piece of land to ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan for several thousand dirhams. The man could have the money or the land which could be re-purchased from ‘Uthman. The man opted for the money and Talha gave it all to him.

Talha was well-known for helping persons who had debt problems, heads of families who experienced hardship, and widows. One of his friends, Sa’id ibn Zayd, said of him:

‘I accompanied Talha ibn ‘Ubaydullah on journeys and I stayed with him at home and I have not found anyone who was more generous with money, with clothes and with food than Talha.’

No wonder he was called ‘Talha the Good’ and ‘Talha the Generous’.

The name Talha is also connected with the first fitnah or civil war among Muslims after the death of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

The seeds of trouble were sown during the caliphate of ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan. There were many complaints and accusations against him. Some mischief-makers were not content with accusations only but were determined to finish him off. In the year 35 AH (656 CE) a group of insurgents stormed ‘Uthman’s house and murdered him while he was reading the Qur’an. It was one of the most shocking events in the early history of Islam.

‘Ali was persuaded to accept the responsibility of the Caliphate and all Muslims swore allegiance to him, including Talha and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam. Talha and Zubayr were deeply shocked by the murder of ‘Uthman. They were horrified and felt strongly that the murderers should be punished and that justice should be done. But the punishment of the murderers was not an easy task in as much as the crime was not just the work of a few individuals but involved a large number of persons.

Talha and Zubayr sought ‘Ali’s permission to go to Mecca to perform Umrah. They met ‘A’ishah the wife of the Prophet. She was greatly shocked when she heard of the assassination of ‘Uthman. From Mecca, Talha Zubayr and ‘A’ishah set off for Basra where large numbers were gathering to seek revenge for the death of ‘Uthman.

The forces gathered at Basra seemed to present an open challenge to ‘Ali. As the caliph of the Muslims and the head of the entire Muslim State, he could not tolerate any insurrection or armed revolt against the State. But what a difficult and awesome task he faced! To deal with the revolt, he had to confront his brothers, his companions and his friends – followers of the Prophet and his religion, those who often fought side by side with him against the forces of shirk, those whom he respected and loved.

The forces clamouring for vengeance for ‘Uthman and those supporting ‘Ali met at a place called Kuraybah, near Basra. ‘Ali desired to avoid war and settle matters by peaceful means. He used every means at his disposal to achieve peace. He clung to every hope of avoiding confrontation. But the dark forces at work against Islam – and how numerous were these – were determined that matters should come to a terrible and bloody end.

‘Ali wept. He wept bitterly when he saw ‘A’ishah, the ‘Mother of the Believers’ in her hawdaj or palanquin astride a camel at the head of the army which now emerged to fight him. And when he saw Talha and Zubayr, two close companions of the Prophet, in the midst of the army, he shouted to them to come out to him. They did and ‘Ali said to Talha:

‘O Talha, have you come with the wife of the Messenger of God to fight along with her…?’

And to Zubayr he said:

‘O Zubayr, I implore you, by God, do you remember the day when the Prophet, peace be upon him, passed by you and we were in such and such a place and he asked you:

‘Do you love ‘Ali?’ and you said:

‘Why shouldn’t love my cousin and one who follows my religion…?’

‘Ali continued talking to them reminding them of the bonds of brotherhood and faith. In the end both Talha and Zubayr withdrew from participation in this civil war. They withdrew immediately when they saw the situation in a different light. But they paid for that withdrawal with their lives.

As they withdrew, a man named ‘Amr ibn Jurmouz followed Zubayr and cowardly murdered him while he performed Salat. Talha was killed by an arrow allegedly shot by Marwan – a cousin of ‘Uthman who was too blinded by rage and the desire to seek revenge for his kinsman to respond to the possibility of avoiding war and bloodshed among Muslims.

The murder of ‘Uthman had become Talha’s tryst with destiny. He did not participate in the fighting and killing that followed that came to be known in history as the ‘Battle of the Camel’. Indeed, if he had known that the fitnah would have degenerated into such insane hatred and bitterness and resulted in such a bloody outcome, he would have resisted it. He was not keen to fight ‘Ali. He was simply appalled by the murder of ‘Uthman and wanted to see justice done. Before the beginning of the battle he had said in a voice choked with emotion:

‘O Lord, for the sake of ‘Uthman, take from me this day until You are pleased.’

Then when ‘Ali faced him and Zubayr, they saw the correctness of his position and withdrew from the field of battle .Yet, in these difficult circumstances, martyrdom was reserved for them.

The Battle of the Camel came to an end. ‘A’ishah, the Mother of the Believers, realized that she had precipitated matters and left Basra for the Sacred Mosque and then to Madina distancing herself from the conflict. ‘Ali provided well for her journey giving her all the comfort and honour due to her.

When the numerous deads from the battle were brought together, ‘Ali led the funeral prayer for them all, those who were with him and those who were against him. And when he had finished burying Talha and Zubayr he bade farewell to them with a heavy heart, a heart filled with tenderness and love.

‘I really hope,’ he said in simple and sublime words, ‘that Talha, Zubayr, ‘Uthman and I will be among those of whom God has said:

And We shall remove from their hearts any lurking sense of injury and rancour; they will be brothers joyfully facing each other on thrones of dignity. (al-Hijr, 15:47)

Then he looked tenderly and sorrowfully on the graves of his brothers in faith and said:

‘I have heard with these two ears of mine the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, saying:

‘Talha and Zubayr are my companions in Paradise!’