Summary of book al’America by J. Curiel

Islamic Roots of America, Zakaria Virk, Toronto, Canada

Sometime ago I had the pleasure of reading a book al’America by Jonathan Curiel. The book is fascinating, jam-packed with astonishing facts about Islam in America. 

Columbus knew that without Arab knowledge, his discovery of America could not have proceeded the way it did. After his third journey to the Americas, Columbus said: every sea so far traversed have it sailed, I have conversed and exchanged ideas with learned men, churchmen and laymen, Latins, Greeks, Jews and Moors, and many others of other religions”. (Felip, Columbus, NY, 1991, p5)

Columbus full title given to him by Queen Isabella of Spain was Almirante del Mar Oceano – commander of the ocean sea. Almirante was Arabized Spanish word. When Columbus landed on the Indies”, he had a translator Luis de Torres who knew Arabic. Columbus motivation for discovering America could even be tied to a 9^th century Muslim astronomer, Al-Farghani whose theories about the Earth’s diameter were a cornerstone of European understanding at the time of Columbus famous journey. According to Columbus first biographer, he may not have even attempted his initial voyage in 1492, without studying al-Farghani’s astronomical calculations in their Latin translation. Besides al-Farghani, Columbus and other European explorers had studied the work of Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi, whose maps set standards of accuracy in the Middle Ages. Al-Idrisi was given enormous amount of money by Christian king of Italy, Roger II, to map out the world’s islands and waterways. In his book Kitab al-Rujari, he gave intricate details of Africa, Asia, Europe, and beyond, including precise distances between cities, and the extant of differing climates.

Throughout his naval career, Columbus made use of advanced cartography of al-Idrisi, the astronomical insights of al-Farghani, the compass used by Arab navigators for centuries before Columbus, the contouring of the caravel (the swift ships that comprised the Nina and Pinta of Columbus voyage). Europeans adopted the caravel from the qarib, boats used for centuries by the Arab sailors. The triangular shape of qarib, allowed it to manoeuvre the winds very efficiently. Without the contributions of Muslim geographers and astronomers, Europeans would not have discovered the new world.

It is unfortunate Columbus misread al-Farghani’s calculations, twisted them around to suit his notion that the distance Spain and India was shorter than generally thought. His recalculation made him to believe that he needed just several weeks to reach India. However it took him two months to reach America’s south-eastern edge. The colonization of the Americas reflected Muslim influence especially in New Orleans and San Antonio, both of which were under Spanish control. One fine example of this influence is the building at 343 Royal Street in New Orleans, with swirling wrought-iron balconies. At Mission San Jose in Alamo, Texas, the red and white archways are exact copies of archways of Cordoba mosque built in 784 by Muslim rulers. At Mission San Francisco, San Antonio, the chapel door is a horseshoe design straight from Aljaferia Palace, 11^th century fortress built in Zaragossa. At Mission Nuestra Senora, the mission closest to Alamo, the dome reminds you any mosque in medieval Spain. Spirals at the base of the dome resemble mini minarets. During his initial voyage to America, Columbus saw a hill on the Cuban coast and said it resembled “a beautiful mosque”.

(Columbus: His life, His works and His remains, p. 554.

During Spain’s conquest of the Americas, Spanish architects adopted the alfiz and other Moorish ideas into scores of churches in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico.

Tuscon’s San Zavier del Bac’s dome and roofline are very much like a mosque. Mission San Carlos in Carmel, California, its Moorish features include its bell tower.

Pomegranates are an important symbol of Islamic paradise. Granada, Spain is named for the pomegranate. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ordered the pomegranate to be added to the Spanish flag. Spanish colonizers brought pomegranate seeds with them and planted the fruit on the American soil.

Muslims in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa and Spain incorporated courtyards. The elaborate courtyards featured fountains and gardens that were suppose to mirror paradise on earth and in heaven. Notable houses with courtyards in New Orlean’s French Quarter, include 710 Toulouse Street, whose outside walls are guarded by two crouching lions. Built in 1798 it is known as the “court of two lions”, a title that happens to parallel Court of Lions, in Alhambra. The Creole houses in the Quarter also have courtyards. The Old San Antonio Bank Building has an imposing minaret, crenulated roofline, and horseshoe arches – all odes to the time of Muslim Spain. In New Orleans the Leon Fellman Building at 801 Canal Street, employs horseshoe arches. The Church at 130 Baronne Street, the outside of it showcases horseshoe arches and two domed minarets, and the inside showcases La Mezquita like arches. Even though Spain expelled its Muslims in 1609, and prohibited them from travelling to the New World (any Muslim caught on the ship was subject to death), Islamic culture was still transported across the Atlantic.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

America’s renowned poet Emerson was Unitarian minister wholly devoted to the Scripture. After resigning from the Boston second Church in 1832, he embarked on a spiritual odyssey. He embraced literary and religions tradition of Islam, and Sufi poetry from Persia. There are multiple references to Persian-Muslim culture in his books, essays and notebooks. Hafiz and Saadi became his spiritual twins. Up to the last day he died, he championed the universalism of disparate religions, including Islam. He wrote the preface for the American edition of Gulistan, in which he agonized that more Americans were not familiar with Persian, Arab and Eastern poets. So taken he was Saadi that in 1842 he published a poem called “Saadi”. Emerson was captivated by the Holy Quran which he read in the early 1840’s. By 1850 the Quran and Persian poetry intersected in his “Representative Men” which is about history’s inspirational figures. He noted “The Koran makes a distinct class of those who are by nature good, and whose goodness has an influence on others, and pronounces this class to be the aim of creation”.

In 1845 Emerson read an English translation of Akhlaq-i-Jalaly. In his journals, he quoted 50 times from this book. Sayings from this book, Practical Philosophy of the Muhammadan People, showed up in his greatest work, the 1860 essay collection “The Conduct of Life”.

In a crucial section about breaking free of convention, Thoreau cited Gulistan in his seminal work Walden. He suggested more people should follow the lead of azads in Gulistan – religious independents- who like cypress tree flourish in all seasons. Two years before Walden was published in 1854, in his long journal entry he described Saadi his soul mate. Because of Emerson, Thoreau took interest in Hafiz, which led him to cite the Persian poet in his book.

Between 1785 and 1796, Algerian navy captured more than 10 American ships, and 100 crewmen. Continued American dispute with Barbary States let to two wars. In the first war a U.S. military unit attacked stronghold of Derna, Libya which forced Tripoli leaders to negotiate an end to the war. The heir to the throne Hamet Karamanli, gave a Mameluke scimitar that became a model for the U.S. marines that is still used today. The expression to the “shores of Tripoli” remains part of the official Marines hymn.

In 1858, Emerson delivered a public homage to Persian poetry by writing an essay in Atlantic in which he predicted that Persian would skyrocket in the Americas. From German to English, he translated more than 60 Persian Poems. Although he never visited Shiraz, he did visit Egypt in 1873 with his daughter. At that time anti-Islam prejudice was a vocal part of American culture. But typical of Emerson, he did not care.

P.T. Barnum & the Taj Mahal

P. T. Barnum (d. 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. His villa in Bridgeport was called Iranistan. The building architecture was breathtaking: Minarets crowded the roofline, topped by mosque-like domes, the main entrance had a horseshoe arch straight out of Islamic Spain.

Iranistan, completed in 1848, was the first building of its kind in the United States. The three story building was applauded by both critics and the general public. Iranistan was inspired by Brighton’s Royal Pavillion, whose architecture was inspired by Mughal monuments in India. Taj Mahal was the most illustrious example of these Mughal monuments. Other monuments which inspired British architects were mausoleum of Sultan Hyder Ali Khan, and Sultan Parvez, so of Nuruddin Salim Jehangir.

Nine years after Iranistan was constructed, the villa burned to the ground due to a fire on the roof. There is an exact model of the building at Bridgeport’s Barnum Museum. The museum has also recreated Iranistan stunning library room, in which walls are covered with almost life-sized scenes of India during the time of Emperor Shah Jehan and Jehangir. In the images, turbaned men walk and sit amid ornate, mosque like buildings that evoke the Taj Mahal.

In a separate section of the museum is placed a hookah (water pipe) with Allah written on it in Arabic. It shows Barnum had a lifelong interest in the Muslim world. For he New York museum, he recruited a 7foot-11 inch man whom he called the “Arabian Giant”. He showcased dwarves, giants, bearded, women, Siamese twins, Afghan and Syrian tribesmen, super-sized children, because the curious public had few other outlets to see the otherworldly. At one point Barnum paid for a man in the turbaned dress of India, to plow Iranistan’s fields with a large elephant, because he thought this would serve as an advertisement for the museum. Two blocs from the old Iranistan now stands al-Aziz Islamic Centre, with Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim written on its front door as an acknowledgement that God controls all things on earth.

MECCA – USA, Arabic Names in English

In the top 10 list of languages that have contributed the most words to English, Arabic is No 6. Prof Cannon, Texas A&M has counted 2338 words or phrases that stem from Arabic. Some words are so common that we don’t think of them as Arabic, like Admiral, bazaar, cipher, jasmine, kabob, imam, monsoon, racket, tariff, vizier, wadi, xebec and Yashmak. During Islamic Spain, Arabic was the lingua franca, and it is estimated 3000 words entered into Spanish language. Take the name of Alcatraz prison in San Francisco which stems from al-ghattas, meaning the “white tailed sea eagle”. From al-ghattas, Spanish adopted the word Alcatraz, which was used to describe a range of sea birds, including pelicans. In 1775, Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala gave the San Francisco island the name Isla de los Alcatraces – Alcatraz island.

In Arabic, the prefix “al” is a definite article which means the– a clue to many English words like alcove (al-qubbah), alchemy (al-Kimiya), almanac (al-manakh). The word broker is derived from al-buruq, which means a gift or gratuity. Al-buruq changed to alboroque in Spanish, from there into French albrocador, from which it became broucour, which spawned the word broker.

The chess expression “checkmate” derives from shah mat, the king is dead. Chaucer introduced the phrase into English. The Caliphs loved Chess, many kept a chess master on staff. Muslim chess masters were the first to subject this game to scientific study and to write on chess theory. The fortified Spanish wine, Sherry, takes its name from Spain’s town Jerez de la Frontera, which takes its name from the Arabic Sharish. Sherry owes its punch to Arabs who introduced distillation to Spain’s southern region.   Tangier whose famous fruit (Tanjah in Arabic) became tangerine in English. Mocha, the Yemenese city (mukha in Arabic) became famous for coffee, and Mecca now means a place at the center of something important. Venice maintained a lively trade with the Muslim world for centuries, that’s where an Arabic word qalib (mold for casting metal) became calibro, and then entered into English as calibre. Sanskrit word Khanda likely gave birth to Arabic qandi, which in Italian became zucchero candi (sugar candy) which morphed into an English word that brings joy to everyone’s face. Fun words, words denoting death, drugs, our daily habits and occupations, things we love, words for all these have come into English from Arabic. The word coffee comes from the Arabic qahwah, English word for a coffee house is café.

There are about 500 English words used daily that have come from Arabic: fatwa, jihad, sharia, intifada. In the US, Arabic is usually heard in the backdrop of war and terrorism, hence Allahu Akbar, Jihad or word Allah have negative meanings. The Arabic word for great “Akbar” was adopted into George Luca’s star wars franchise, in the form of Admiral Ackbar, a military commander in space whose success helps Luke Skywalker. Featured in Return of the Jedi, Ackbar is just one of many characters and settings in Star Wars that have Arabic background. Skywalker’s home planet, Tatooine, takes its name from the Tunisian city of Tataouine. Darth Vader’s home planet is Mustafar, a variation of Mustafa meaning “the chosen one”. George Lucas shot the first Star Wars film in Tunisia, and he continued to film this country’s otherworldly locations. Stephen Spielberg filmed Raiders of the Lost Ark in Tunisia.

Islam’s most important scholar, Ibn Khaldun, was born and raised in Tunisia. His world renowned book al-Muqaddima (The Introduction) postulated 500 years before Darwin man’s evolution from animals: “the animal kingdom was developed, its species multiplied and in the gradual process of Creation, it ended in man and arising from the world of monkeys”. (Rediscovering Arabic science, Saudi Aramco World May 2007)

Ibn Khaldun wrote on astronomy and the positions of the stars. More than 500 stars gained their names from Arabic: albali( the swallower), Algebar (al-jabbar, the giant), Algol (al-Ghul, the Ghoul), Algorab (the raven), al-Nair (the bright one), Arrakis ( the dancer), Deneb (tail of the hen), Eltanin (the great serpent), Keid (al-qaid, the broken egg shells), Phact (al-fakhitah, the Dove), Rasalgethi (ras al-jaddi, head of kneeling one), Sirrah (surat alfaras, navel of the steed), Zubenshemali (the northern claw).

Most of the American towns with Arabic names are small and off the beaten path. Arabia, Nebraska is in upper reaches of the state. In the southern part, is the village Abdal, an Arabic name meaning a good person. Tennessee took its name from an important city along the Nile. Cairo, Illinois, took its name from Egypt’s capital city. Mecca, Indiana took its name from the birthplace of Islam. Medina, Ohio took its name from the second holiest city of Islam. Mahomet, Illinois, took its name from Prophet of Islam, because Mahomet was a standard name for the Prophet in 1800 America. Previously the town was called Middletown, and the name Mahomet was bestowed on it in 1871. Other cities: Aladdin (Wyoming), Baghdad (California), Koran (Louisiana), Mecca (California), Palestine (Texas), Sultan (Washington). The name California is traceable to Islamic Spain. In his novel Las sergas de Esplandian, Spanish novelist de Montalvo described an island which is ruled by a Queen Calafia. The names Calafia and California were rooted in the Arabic word Khalifa. The –stan motif is the latest entry in a long procession of world loans that involve the Islamic world. In the wake of 9/11, the New Yorker, devoted a cover to New Yorkistan. Author Gary Shteyngart, published the novel Absurdistan.

Arabs and the Ice cream Cone

At the 1904 St. Louis World Fair, there were Arab entertainers and hawkers dressed in traditional garb who sold wares to millions of Americans. Herds of camels were brought and a facsimile of Dome of the Rock was built in the centre of the exposition. This faux mosque was one of the first models of a mosque ever built on the American soil. The Taj Mahal fronted the entrance to Mysterious Asia section. Along the fair’s mail boulevard, Muslims danced, rode camels, swallowed swords, displayed native foods, and posed for pictures. Abe Doumar wore Arab robes and sold zalabia, flat grid-like pastries. One day an ice-cream salesman ran out of plates. Doumar said to him why roll the zalabia into conical shapes and put the ice cream in there. This is how ice-cream cone was born, based mainly on Middle-Eastern style cone. The allure of the ice-cream has not changed in the century since it evolved from the zalabia.

In the Sufi circles, Zikrs took place in the evening, which required Sufis to be alert at all hours of the night. Coffee grew abundantly in regions around Red Sea, therefore the Sufis started drinking coffee. The authors of The World of Caffeine, state that though the members of Sufi orders were devotees, many were of the laity. When morning came they returned to their homes and their work, bringing the energizing effects of coffee with them and sharing the knowledge of coffee drinking with their fellows. From the example of Sufi conclaves, the coffeehouse was born. Mecca has the distinction of having the world’s first coffeehouse around 1500, and first place it was banned in 1511.  In New York the new coffeehouse opened in 1696. Coffee is now iconic part of the America culture. Americans 18 and over consume 400 millions cups every 24 hours, making it the leading consumer of the world.

                        When US Presidents said : Salam aleikum

From their formation in the early 1870’s, Shriners wanted to dress like medieval Muslim men and pretend they were part of a secret society that could trace its origin to Mecca and to a Caliph “Alee”. The Shriners printed documents in Arabic, and paraded down the streets with camels. Today the Shriners are best known for their fezzes and their hospitals that give free health care to anyone in need. They have as select membership. Shriners call their gatherings buildings mosques and gave the building names like Mecca, Medina, and al-Koran, al-Malaikh. The fez became the hat of choice for active members, while top officers wore robes and turbans from medieval Islam.

Walter Flaming along with Florence conceived of the fez headgear and the salutation that Shriners said whenever they met each other: Salaam Aleikum. Every Shriner had to be Mason. President William McKinley (d. 1901) was an ardent supporter. When Shriners poured into Washington in May 1900 for their Imperial session, they paraded in front of the White House, where 25^th President of the U.S. viewed the procession from the South portico. What happened during their parade of May 23^rd made history, because for the first time, the president of the United States stood at attention and heard a fellow citizen address him in Arabic. That man was John Atwood of Leavenworth, Kansas who greeted the president with “Salam alaikum”.

The people of Washington turned out in large numbers to see the Shriners. Some merchants erected miniature mosques across the fronts of the buildings and in store windows. The Marine Corps band dressed itself in Arab costume to welcome Shriners in the capital. Atwood said at the opening of the session: “we, the representative of all these many tribes, have come as Moslems to their Mecca, and as citizens and guests to the city that capitals the mightiest empire seen by the sun.”

On May 9, 1921, the Shriners paraded in front of the first American president to be a Shriner, Warren G. Harding. According to New York Times, Harding spoke to the Shriners in Arabic, telling them: wa-alaikum salam. This was the grand Salaam in answer to that extended to him. Two years later June 5, 1923, Harding adorned his head with a bright fez as he watched 25,000 Shriners parade in the capital, which featured more than 100 bands. This was apogee of their popularity in America. Shriners boasted a membership of 500,000 that included the President and most accomplished military officer, General John Pershing.  In 1910 Shriners started accepting members who were Arab or Muslims. Simon Michael was the first Muslim Shriner from El Paso, Texas. In 1910 he attended the annual meeting in the same white robe that he wore during his hajj to Mecca. These days Shriner buildings are called temples, they no longer dress up as Arabs during their sessions. The Salam is still used at regular meetings, and fez will always be part of the Shriner motif.

The Shriners Pittsburgh chapter is housed in a building that said: Syria Mosque. Six foot high Arabic calligraphy rimming the top of the building said la ghaliba ill-Allah. Horseshoe arches patterned after La Mezquita greet visitors. President Harry Truman, a devout Shriner, also visited the Syria Mosque in 1952. President John F Kennedy spoke at the Syria Mosque in 1960.  The Shriners building with the greatest history of media coverage is Al-Malaikah, which has hosted Academy Awards 10 times. The buildings appearance, its expansive auditorium (6,300 seats), its central location, have made it the home of countless shows, events, including Oscars, Emmys and Grammys. Al-Malaika means “the angels” in Arabic. Check out this website for more information:  http://almalaikah.com/

The name Allah is part of Shriners best known sports facility – the Medinah Country Club, outside of Chicago. The main gate has a sign that tells visitors as they leave May Allah be with you – fee aman-Allah. There is a lake named after Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) first wife Khadija (RA). The clubhouse has Islamic domes, columns, arches, and turbaned statues. It has hosted some of golf’s prestigious events, including the PGA championship.

In the mid-1920s, developer Glen Curtiss constructed an entire city in the north of Miami, with an Arabian Nights theme. Nearly every building in Opa-locka, Florida,

consisted of a dome and a minaret. The city boasts of having the largest collection of Moorish architecture in the USA. Twenty of its buildings are on the National Register of Historic places. Streets in Opa-locka include Ali Baba Ave, and Shaharzad Boulevard.

Khalil Gibran and Elvis Presley

Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet offers mystical advice about love, work, and 24 other subjects. Originally published in 1923, the Prophet features a prophet al-Mustafa,

which in Arabic means the chosen one. Elvis Presley read the book whenever he felt “uptight” as it helped him to “relax and forget everything”. He regularly quoted from its

section on love, bought multiple copies, gave them to his close friends, and planned to make a movie version of the book. One of his copies is still at display at Graceland. In his childhood, President Jimmy Carter listened to his mother read from the Prophet. President George H.W. Bush once said: “Perhaps his greatest bequest was the key by which we opened our own imiaginations”. The book reveals itself what it really is: wisdom that combines notions of Christianity with the mystical tenets of Sufism. The Prophet was Gibran’s way of melding best tenets of Islam and Christianity. It was an attempt to unify the two religions. In the case of Presley, he used his music in bringing whites and blacks together.

Like Presley, Gibran is as popular today as he was during his lifetime. The Prophet is taught at the universities, several public schools are named after Gibran. In 2004 Boston’s mayor declared Khalil Gibran day. In 1991 President George H.W. Bush opened the Khalil Gibran Memorial Garden in Washington on Massachusetts Ave.  Gibran’s words are chiseled in marble and stone throughout the garden. “I love you my brother, whoever you are, whether you worship in your church, kneel in your temple, or play in your mosque. You and I are children of one faith”. Presley felt the same when he said: “we are all part of God”

Presley was comfortable with Arabian motifs, as is evidenced from the pool room at Graceland, the ceiling fabrics created an Arabian Nights décor. At Graceland’s “Elvis after dark” exhibit, a blown-up photo shows Presley wearing an Arab headdress. In his movie Harum Scarum, he wore the Arab headdress throughout the movie. The movie is an adventure film in which the character goes to a country called Bablistan, Persian monarch is called Toranshah, and the princess is called Shalimar.

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Al’America – Travels Through America’s Arab and Islamic Roots,

By Jonathan Curiel, The New Press, New York, 2008

Permission granted to print this summary from:

Permission department, The New Press, 38 Greene St. NY. 10013