Meet America’s First Muslim: It’s a Real Scream

Islam is that “old time religion.” – Timothy Drew (a/k/a Noble Drew Ali)

In his speech before the University of Cairo, President Barack Obama said that Islam “has always been part of America’s story,” adding that Muslims have “enriched” the United States since the time of its founding.

Mr. Obama’s statement raises a question that few historians, let alone elected officials, have raised in the past.

Who was the first American Muslim?

Some maintain that this forgotten figure was a Moorish slave who was transported to South Carolina in 1587. This is problematic, since not one scintilla of historical evidence can be used to support this assertion.

Historical evidence, however, does exist to show that Ayuiba Suleiman Diallo and Omar ibn Said were transported to the New World as slaves in 1731. But this evidence also shows that these slaves were returned to Africa in 1734.

A few Muslim writers maintain that America’s first Muslim was a Native American named Mahomet. The basis of this claim is that the name of Mahomet bears a resemblance to the name of the Prophet of Allah. The same argument, of course, could be employed to establish that Mahomet was a Mahican or a Mahayana.

If Mahomet doesn’t qualify, others argue, the title must belong to Peter Salem, a former slave who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. This noble figure, we are told, must have been a Muslim since “Salem” bears an etymological resemblance to “Salaam,” the Arabic word for peace. Such arguments could be used more convincingly to contend that this stalwart figure’s home was Salem, Massachusetts.

When all attempts fail to produce one believing Muslim who lived in colonial America, Islamic revisionists turn to legend and the story “Old Tom,” a 19th century slave on a Georgia plantation, who purportedly proclaimed on his death-bed: “Allah is God and Muhammad is his prophet.”

Of course, there isn’t documentation to show that “Old Tom the Mohammadan” ever lived, let alone uttered shahadah being giving up the ghost.

Who was America’s first Muslim? 

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