Islam in the Americas

1
Islam in the Americas

• Panel Muslim Diasporas
• Charles Kurzman
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• International Studies Schools Association
• February 17, 2006

2
The First Muslims in the Americas

• Possible pre-Columbian expeditions.
• See also Michael Gomez, Black Crescent The
  Experience and Legacy of African Muslims in the
  Americas (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Image source Muhammad al-Idrisi, 1154,
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageAl-Idrisi27s_w
orld_map.JPG
3
The First Muslims in the Americas

• Participants in Spanish conquest, such as the
  (possibly legendary) Estevanico, or Stephen the
  Moor.
• See also Leslie B. Rout, Jr., The African
  Experience in Spanish America (Markus Wiener
  Publishers, 2003).

Image source The Estevanico Society,
http//www.estevanico.org
4
The First Muslims in the Americas

• Enslaved Africans, such as Omar ibn Sayyid, born
  in Futa Toro, now in Senegal, in 1770 enslaved
  in 1807 lived 1810-1864 in North Carolina, where
  he wrote his memoirs in Arabic.
• See also Sylviane Diouf, Servants of Allah
  African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas (New
  York University Press, 1998).

Image source http//hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Sl
aveTrade/collection/large/I017.JPG
5
Arab Migration to the Americas, 19th and early
20th centuries

• Mainly Christian emigration from Ottoman Greater
  Syria (including todays Israel/ Palestine,
  Lebanon, and Syria) throughout the Americas.
• See also Akram Fouad Khater, Inventing Home
  Emigration, Gender, and the Middle Class in
  Lebanon, 1870-1920 (University of California
  Press, 2001).

Image source La Sociedad Siriana, 1906, Uruguay,
http//english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/58353F85-7C
05-4023-8F9B-F8B847DCD283.htm
6
Arab Christian Leaders in the Americas

• Julio Cesar Turbay,
• Colombia (1978-1982)
• Carlos Menem,
• Argentina (1989-1999)
• Abdalá Bucaram,
• Ecuador (1996-1997)
• Jamil Mahuad,
• Ecuador (1998-2000)
• Said Musa,
• Belize (1998-present)
• Tony Saca,
• El Salvador (2004-present)

Image source Summit of South American and Arab
Countries, May 2005, Brasilia, http//english.alja
zeera.net/NR/exeres/7A97C3AD-21D3-43D7-83C8-E66C8A
0D4B7F.htm
7
South Asian Migration to the Americas, 19th and
early 20th centuries

• Mainly Hindu indentured servants from British
  India to Trinidad, Guyana, and Dutch Suriname.
• See also Madhavi Kale, Fragments of Empire
  Capital, Slavery, and Indian Indentured Labor
  Migration in the British Caribbean (University of
  Pennsylvania Press, 1998).

Image source David Dabydeen and Brinsley
Samaroo, eds., India in the Caribbean, at
http//www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/SouthAsia/caribb
ea.html
8
South Asian Leaders in the Americas

• Edward Victor Luckhoo, president,
• Guyana, 1970
• Ramdat Misier, acting president,
• Suriname, 1982-1988
• Ramsewak Shankar, acting president,
• Suriname, 1988-1990
• Noor Hassanali, president,
• Trinidad Tobago, 1987-1997
• Cheddi Jagan, president,
• Guyana, 1992-1997
• Basdeo Panday, prime minister,
• Trinidad Tobago, 1995-2001
• Bharrat Jagdeo, president,
• Guyana, 1999-present

Image source Departing Indian High Commissioner
Virendra Gupta in The Trinidad Guardian, August
8, 2005, http//www.guardian.co.tt/archives/2005-0
8-15/busguardiancontents.html
9
Muslim Conversion in the Americas

• Largest single group African-American followers
  of Warith Deen Muhammad, formerly of the Nation
  of Islam.
• See also Edward E. Curtis IV, Islam in Black
  America (State University of New York Press,
  2002).

Image source Warith Deen Muhammad,
http//www.themosquecares.com
10
Muslim Conversion in the Americas
Image sources http//www.islam.com.mx,
http//www.organizationislam.org.ar,
http//www.alcorao.com.br/
11
Muslim Populations in the Americas

• Suriname 21 percent
• Guyana 9 percent
• Trinidad Tobago 6 percent
• Panama 4 percent
• Argentina 2 percent
• United States around 1 percent
• Other countries less than 1 percent

Source World Christian Database,
http//www.worldchristiandatabase.org. Image
source www.worldcrops.org/regions/Americas.cfm
12
Muslim Culture in the Americas

• See also Hosay Trinidad (Smithsonian Institution
  video, 1998) Frank J. Korom, Hosay Trinidad
  Muharram Performances in an Indo-Caribbean
  Diaspora (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002).

Image source http//www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/199
9/03-26/features7.html
13
Islamic Radicalism in the Americas

• Jose Padilla, the only American-born Muslim
  accused of planning a terrorist attack.

See also Chris Zambelis, Radical Islam in Latin
America, Terrorism Monitor, December 2, 2005,
pp. 9-12.
Iguaza Falls, Triple Frontier area,
Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay
Source http//www.chargepadilla.org,
http//www.argentour.com/iguazu.html,
http//www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.ph
p?articleid2369844
14
For more information

• The Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle
  East and Muslim Civilizations
• http//www.unc.edu/mideast