“We’ve had Muslims in America since George Washington.” So claimed Hillary Clinton during the second presidential debate. This was part of her response to Donald Trump’s proposed temporary ban on Muslim immigration, which appears to have metamorphosed into “extreme vetting.”
Some analysts trotted out the familiar lines about Muhammad Hamilton and Abdullah Hancock. At the risk of stating something I may not have stated before, Mrs. Clinton was right. Muslims who had been enslaved by other Muslims (against the dictates of Islam not to enslave fellow believers), as well as Muslims kidnapped and press-ganged into slavery by non-Muslims, were enslaved in the US at the time of the Founding.
Like many others I found her comment strange in isolation, as a defense against Mr. Trump’s previously proposed ban. Many things have been around for a long time. Some are good. Some are bad. Some we want more of, some less. The relevant question isn’t whether Islam and Muslims have been in America since the time of Washington, but what their presence has brought to America.
If Common Core history books, funded by Libya, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, are to be believed, Islam has been nothing but a force for good, everywhere in the world. Nothing different will be presented in most college courses dealing with Islam. One interesting tidbit from a recent study on academics is that history is in fact the most imbalanced academic discipline, with a ratio of 36 liberals to every one conservative.
Since our history books and education more generally tend now towards whitewashed disgrace, it’s worth digging into the history with a critical eye.
To read a general history of slavery in the US, of course, you would find no mention of Islam’s central role in the slave trade. But as readers of this website know well, Islam prescribes slavery for infidels, not only for hard labor but also for sex. It should come as no shock, then, that Islam was heavily implicated in the African slave trade flowing East into the Arab Muslim world and West to the Americas. In The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa, John Alembillah Azumah describes in great and compelling detail Muslims’ leading role in the enslavement of Africans, not only non-Muslim Africans as prescribed by Islam, but also Muslim Africans. Islam, of course, makes it clear that Muslim slavers who enslaved kaffirs were not sinning in the eyes of their deity Allah – they were only doing what Allah enjoined.
So, yes Mrs. Clinton, Islam has been around since the time of Washington. At the time, did it bring anything good, or only bad? Islam brought what was bad, facilitating and giving a loathsome divine veneer to slavery that extends into the present day, long past the abolition of slavery in Judeo-Christian societies.
What else did Islam and Muslims bring to the US during the time of the Founding? All readers of this website and anyone who has studied the Qur’an and Qur’anic commentaries are nauseatingly familiar with the hatred and harshness that Islam mandates towards unbelievers. It will also come as no shock, then, that this hatred comes through in the admittedly scant evidence we have from Muslim slaves. Bilali Muhammad, a Muslim slave elevated to the role of slave driver on his owner’s plantation, is the most prominent and clear example of this hatred. During the War of 1812, the British promised freedom to any American slaves who fought with the redcoats. Bilali made clear that he and his coreligionist fellow slaves would be loyal to the Americans, telling his owner that he could “answer for every negro of the true faith, but not for the Christian dogs you own.”
Sylvia Diouf’s Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas is replete with other examples of Muslim slaves’ supremacist attitudes towards non-Muslims. Of course, Ms. Diouf makes her position as one of the 36 liberal historians clear by whitewashing the true reason for Muslim slaves’ self-perceived superiority over non-Muslims, hiding the real reason behind a fog of potential other factors: their high levels of literacy, for instance (although it is not clear if that literacy extended beyond the ability to read and write verses of the Qur’an in Arabic). It is clear to anyone familiar with Islam what the motivation was behind calling Christians dogs.
Islam brought more that was bad, importing supremacist attitudes reeking of dhimmitude that rival anything Jim Crow served up many years later.
In addition to slavery and hatred of non-Muslims, what else did Islam and Muslims bring to the US during the time of the Founding? Our encounter with the swashbuckling Muslims of North Africa, the Barbary Pirates, began in 1784, when the pirates first captured a US-flagged merchant ship and began enslaving Christian sailors. Over several decades, the US government paid a regular series of tributes, rightly thought of as waterborne jizya, to the Barbary States.
Islam brought still more that was bad: divinely sanctioned piracy and pillage that we see repeated in the present day with jizya for “peace” to enemies such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, where Christians are still considered dogs (“street sweeper” in Pakistan) and blacks (“raisin-heads” as Muhammad referred to them) are still enslaved.
It’s fair to ask whether these things are only clear in hindsight, or if the Founders themselves knew well Islam’s various prescriptions for slavery, hatred of infidels, war with infidels, pillaging of infidels, Arab Muslims’ reference to blacks using the same word as “slave” in Arabic (Abd / Abid), and so on. Unwittingly, historian Denise Spellberg makes this clear in her information-filled but horribly biased book Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an that the Founders were in fact quite aware of these things. Spellberg makes the case that the Founders simply didn’t understand Islam, hence their negative opinions of it. One imagines that Spellberg might be camped out pre-debate with Mrs. Clinton, advising her on a proper understanding of Islam and its history in the US.
Or, perhaps Mrs. Clinton is just relying on a tack taken centuries earlier by Emperor Askiya Muhammad of the Songhai Empire in tropical Africa. Azumah writes the following:
Askiya Muhammad from the outset of his rule espoused Islam as a state policy and adopted a process of appeasement towards the Muslim divines of Timbuktu. Having no legitimate claim to the throne, Askiya Muhammad could not count on the indigenous community for support and had to seek this from the largely immigrant Muslim community.

Charli Main says
Yes, its true. In fact Muslims discovered America. (LOL ). Many is the time I have been told by Algerians, that Christopher Columbus and his crew were Muslims from Andalusia and that America is their land.
Colonel Gadaffi also claimed that Native Americans were the descendants of Arab explores that discovered that land in the 8th century.
PS. Muslims also discovered Australia and New Zealand, which is also their land.
David says
Well Sir! Your muslim “friends” are so full of shit, that it must be oozing from every pore!
These savages are simply beyond comprehension! It will be a day to celebrate when our land is finaly freed of such putrid filth.
AMEN.
Charli Main says
After having spent nearly 40 years working in ” Muslim” countries, you would not even begin to believe some of the shyte Muslims sprout and ACTUALLY BELIEVE. !!!!! If it wasn´t for the wonders of Muslim civilization, we would all still be living in caves.
Cretius says
You really do demonstrate a total lack of any formal education. Such ‘ignorant’ Muslim beliefs prove even more that they are unfit to live among westerners, i.e. Christians and Jews. What cultural contributions have Muslims made in the last 500 years?
Mazo says
Muslins from Makassar traded with Australian Aboriginals in Arnhem land
Many of the African Black Muslim slaves in early America were highly educated. They were fluent and literate in Arabic in addition to their own native African languages, like Omar bin Said and Abdurrahman Souri. They did not just memorize Quran. They were able to compose their own original Arabic works. Omar bin Said wrote his entire autobiography in Arabic and Abdurrahman Souri wrote a letter in Arabic to Morocco which explained his situation. They spoke an African language, Arabic, and English all at the same time.
Most of the Christian slaves were not educated and illiterate.
Larry says
Bwahahaha. Makassar was Hindu and Christian to within the last 60 years. It is only since the establishment of Indonesia that it has become muslim. And it has done so courtesy of the muslims driving out, killing, or forcibly converting the Hindus and Christians.
Mazo says
Moron, Makassar was Muslim since medieval times. Look up Sultanate of Gowa.
Christianity in Indonesia is very recent, from western missionaries
Carolyne says
That’s just silly. The majority of women in many Muslim countries can’t read or write in any language and the men aren’t much better. Out in the villages away from the cities they are as barbaric and illiterate as they always were,
Mazo says
Then explain why West African slaves in America like Omar bin Said were fully literate and fluent in Arabic.
Phillis Wheatley may have been literate in Arabic script as she was seen writing before she learned English.
Angemon says
Mazo posed:
“Many of the African Black Muslim slaves in early America were highly educated. ”
Citation needed.
“Most of the Christian slaves were not educated and illiterate.”
Huh, you realize that not being illiterate is a good thing, right?
gravenimage says
What claptrap from Mazo. Does he have anything to back up his ridiculous assertions? Don’t count on it.
Shazza says
Don’t forget Antarctica.
Budvarakbar says
The penguins are muslim
Carolyne says
Muslims have no accomplishments about which they can brag so they just steal other cultures’ accomplishments and claim them as their own, They have achieved nothing in any field of science or humanities and actually are little better than Neanderthals. With apologies to Neanderthals.
Budvarakbar says
Just like the demo-COMMIE-crats
Lynette says
1 muslim Nobel Peace Prize winner and 80 Jewish winners. Which explains their dumbness and the s%*& they believe. Poor souls.
gravenimage says
Yes, I’ve heard this claptrap–including the claim that Columbus found Mosques in the New World.
Erdogan has made this same ludicrous claim.
Sidney Raphael says
Before the recent incident in Charleston SC I visited that city as a tourist. The state flag of South Carolina includes a crescent moon. The guide of a tour I took claimed the crescent moon was a sign of Muslim influence in early SC state history. I don’t know and haven’t done any research. Are you aware of whether the origins of the crescent moon in the SC flag is a sign of Muslim influence, and whether the adoption of that symbol is a reference to favorable history?
Bigrob says
Um, your tour guide is full of it: “The General Assembly adopted the current version of South Carolina’s flag on Jan. 28, 1861. This version added the palmetto tree to the original design by Colonel William Moultrie in 1775 for use by South Carolina troops during the Revolutionary War. Colonel Moultrie chose a blue color which matched the color of their uniforms and a crescent which reproduced the silver emblem worn on the front of their caps.”
A simple Google query disproves his/her statement.
JawsV says
Muslims in America since George? Wow, too bad. Hill – why don’t you don a hijab and convert?
Dum Spiro says
Well, she’s halfway there. Here are two of my “favorites”:
http://www.unifiedpatriots.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/hijab.jpg
http://www.iranpoliticsclub.net/library/english-library/obama-benghazi/images/Hillary%20Clinton%20&%20Obama%20Muslim%20Hijab%20laughing.jpg
You know you can also find Canadian PM Justin Trudeau pictured in mosques…
— Spero
Cretius says
Trudeau will kiss any ass while pandering for votes. He is the least qualified of any Prime Minister in Canadian history. Trudeau has no university degrees and demonstrates a knowledge of the world similar to someone in high school who has never studied history or anything else of import.
RickMT says
If she wins, she will put on the headgear.
Gary says
Islam is “attempting” to re-write history.
Not to worry.
Some day, Islam will be…. history.
Charli Main says
Europeans are doing an even better job of re writing history, on behalf of the Muslims.
The laughable shyte about the ” Golden Age of Islamic Spain” and the ” Glories of Ottoman Europe ” are incessantly pedalled by European elites and European historians.
Cretius says
Islam is not a race. It is a fascist, totalitarian, anti-democratic belief system dedicated to the destruction of western democracy, culture and religions. If you cannot see this then your ignorance is not only monumental but also culturally suicidal.
somehistory says
Leprosy has been around a lot longer than moslims. Does the hillary person wish to have leprosy?
Boils have been around a lot longer than moslims. Does the hillary person wish to be plagued by boils?
Death has been around a lot longer than moslims. Does the hillary person wish to be visited by death?
Just because something…anything…has been around a long time, doesn’t meant we should welcome it.
IMO, she is a fool and a tool of the wild beast from satan. She has also said that *religious belief must be changed.* She should tell her friends…the moslims…that. To moslims, there is only one religious belief.
Instead, she is using all manner of lies and fabricated nonsense to shame everyone into accepting islam.
Carolyne says
Smallpox had been around for a long time but has been eradicated. Good idea.
Budvarakbar says
Not by any damned Muslim!
chuck says
NOPE…..smallpox is returning with a vengeance….as well as many other “eradicated” diseases…
they were only done away within our own borders….now that we have no borders, they are returning….leprosy, polio, TB, ….and of course, the “”you married your own first cousin too many times” ZIKA virus…..which has yet to be found in any mosquito, but is easy to spot among muslims…….
why am i even bothering?…….you’ve already decided to vote for the hildebeest…….
davej says
Any actual contributions to the American Constitution or to the American principles of Freedom of Speech and Separation of Church and State? To Science, Philosophy, Agriculture, Industry or Medicine?
I didn’t think so.
Our Politicians must stop saying things that are’t true just so they can have a comforting narrative.
Like calling it a Religion of Peace when it is actually an Ideology of Hate and Supremacy.
Donovan Nuera says
But…but…they are part of our Nation’s tapestry!
More like “Rapestry”.
Lynne says
Obama has been saying that Muslims have contributed much to America but he doesn’t tell us what. I am a Canadian and our idiot PM is heading down the same path.
Dum Spiro says
Lynne —
It’s a shame what’s happening with those new Muslim immigrants in Canadian schools, eh? Look up Faith Goldy’s reports on the Rebel Media’s YouTube channel to see what has been going on in the Chebucto and Fredericton schools in Halifax and New Brunswick, as well as events in Calgary and Edmonton. A newcomer threw a rock that hit the face of a Canadian student. Teachers have been threatened too by the newcomers.
Wake up USA! You know a Hillary election would bring these — and worse — to your children…
— Spero
P2 says
I can only think of one thing Muslims contributed to the US… The Marines! Hurrah!
Dum Spiro says
Don’t forget the new NYC skyline and the TSA (including metal detectors and shoe removal).
You’ll let me know if I forgot anything important…
— Spero
P2 says
Thanks. I forgot those and the full body scanners and the erosion of our privacy.
gravenimage says
Yes–we founded a navy because the Barbary Pirates were seizing our ships and enslaving or crews in the early 19th century.
No Fear says
An ex hindu once told me that Islam was superior to Hinduism because there is no caste system in Islam.
I replied that Islam does have a caste system. In Islam the world is divided into muslims and non muslims. The non muslims are inferior. Muslims are to rule over non muslims.
Mark A says
Robert, perhaps it’s time for another JW article on the American Founders’ views of Islam and the origins of and causes of American naval actions against the Barbary pirates.
Also, maybe JW could do a few articles on Decatur and others who played significant roles in the wars against the Barbary pirates.
gravenimage says
Here’s one story on Jihad Watch about the Barbary Pirates. There are others.
“Raymond Ibrahim: From Barbary Wars to Somali Pirates, the Water-Jihad has a long lineage”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/04/raymond-ibrahim-from-barbary-wars-to-somali-pirates-the-water-jihad-has-a-long-lineage
Angemon says
Sounds like the same kind of hogwash people like Craig “Cowardly Censoring” Considine routinely engage on.
Jay Boo says
If Donald Trump had been President instead of George Washington he would have stopped the slave trade and vetted those from Muslim slave-trade conquered areas.
Islam is the slave trade religion.
It was founded by a slave-trade caravan raider.
Head-bump Hijab Hillary omitted that part.
Dum Spiro says
Maybe Hillary meant people like Osama bin Franklin, Ibrahim Lincoln, and Patrick Abdullah Henry [famous for his quote: “Give me Shar’iah (Arabic: شريعة) or I’ll give you death!”].
Surely someone out there must know of some others…
— Spero
occupant 9 says
I’m rusty on my Islamohistory of America but wasn’t there someone named Benedict Allah?
Donovan Nuera says
Samuel and John Abdullah from Boston.
Carolyne says
Nathan Haleeb.
Buford says
Hillary is full of Feces Our Forefathers seen the dangers in Islam well over 200 Years ago there
have been Muslims here for about 100 Years but around 1 Million The problem is they want to bring in Millions more to breed & over populate not only the US but all Western Countries & with the help of Dam Fools Like Clinton. Obama, & Kerry they will achieve this over time & the public is so hung up on politically correct BS rather than focusing on National Security & opening
there eyes what the agenda is these Monsters are trying to implement.
abad says
Muslims – like the Liberal Elite in America – rewrite history to suit their own purposes.
And the late Howard Zinn (“A People’s History of the United States”) is their rewritten history idol.
Yes I had to read Zinn’s book in college. That book is not history, it is phoney baloney.
gravenimage says
Yes–utter claptrap.
zub says
So then… by logical extension Muslims discovered the moon too since it rose every night above their Arabian deserts? It must be true since the crescent moon image is an integral part of Islamic symbology. Taking this further the Apollo lunar landings had to be done by Muslims because no infidel could ever set foot on such a sacred place without the forethought and science of the Quran right?
Islam, a stupid ideology that necessitates dull minds to propagate and enact its equally stupid ideas.
Carolyne says
Years ago Cassius Clay, AKA Muhammed Ali, said on the Johnny Carson Show that Muslims put the moon up in the sky.. He said he forgot how they did it, but they did. Yeah, I guess so..
gravenimage says
Muslims also claimed that Neil Armstrong immediately converted to Islam when he supposedly hear the Adhan (Muslim call to prayer) on the moon.
Muslims have also claimed that they know this is true because Armstrong supposedly moved to a Muslim country. What did they mean by that? He was living in Lebanon–uh, Lebanon *Ohio*, that is.
Of course, this story is made up out of whole cloth.
Muslims are so laughably insecure they have to claim all sorts of bs.
Kay says
Thanks for this article. I had wondered when she said it in the debate but I didn’t have time for research.
She did her usual politician trick– when not outright lying, just leave considerable blank spaces and let people fill them in, either with your own insinuations or with what makes them comfortable (numb). In this case the blank was to be filled in: ‘and there were no problems. Reactions to the current situation don’t make sense. It’s just hate towards those who belong.’
And ‘now let’s talk about something else
. . . who we “are”.’
So much propaganda in this information age!
Sheykh Yer Weeni says
I, the Infidel Imam, am rejoicing that the Islamic State lost Dabiq! That is like castrating the whole bunch! As for these leftist liars, who pretend that Islam has been good for this nation, or has ever been but a curse on humanity: may their tongues shrivel and fall like autumn leaves.
tgusa says
Ok let’s say a couple were here way back then, did muslims have anything to do with introducing slavery into early America?
No, probably not, how could I suspect such a thing!
Ali Bey says
I don.t know if there were Muslims in America during G. Washintong times. There were also witches, buffalos and slaves. But those Muslims did,nt commit criminal yihadist attacks in the name of any Islamic Caliphatish State.
tgusa says
Are you a muslim that is against criminal yihadist attacks in the name of any Islamic Caliphatish State?
If so how do you propose to stop the crazies that recite the koran for verification?
Phil says
No, they committed enslavement and piracy from the very beginning of the American Republic. The Barbary pirates were brutal vicious jihadists. Just a point in case – America has a city named Baltimore – just look up the Sack of Baltimore (the original village in Ireland) by the Barbary pirates.
gravenimage says
Yes–Muslim pirates raided coastal areas in Europe for slaves for centuries.
tgusa says
Yes you are and i am sorry.
I will not rat you out to other muslims for wanting peace and coexistence. Talk to me tell me, how do you propose to defeat the maniacs?
Take your time responding
Praeceptor Maximus says
The contributions of Islam to humanity: backwardness, illiteracy, poverty, dictatorships, slavery, stoning, flogging, decapitation, public hanging, amputation of hands and feet, constant warfare, female genital mutilation, honor-killing, tents as garments for women, rape of women and children of both sexes, oppression and beating of women, rejection of free speech and expression, cruelty to animals in the name of halal meat, cruel ritual sacrifice of animals in the month of Ramadan, five times a day sticking your arse up in the air during prayers, killing of non-Muslims, killing of apostates, killing and more killing.
Jeff says
With Huma running the White House, expect oodles of muslim murderers and rapist entering the US. Message to American Jews: you’ll be their first and most notorious victims. But keep voting for Obama and Hillary; it makes you feel so good, right?
Carolyne says
I consider it treason to have installed an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood at a high position in the US government as Hillary Clinton has done with Human Abadin. Pillow talk aside, Clinton appears to follow her advice vis a’ vis American policy toward Islam.
Carolyne says
Pardon — She might be human but her name is Huma . Spell check gets carried away.
Cretius says
I have studied American history and archaeology at the Masters level and have yet to see a Muslim mentioned in American documents other than the Barbary Pirates when they got their arses kicked. Obama is either ignorant of U.S. history or he is a lying fool apologist for Islam.
Cecilia Ellis says
Cretius wrote: “Obama is either ignorant of U.S. history or he is a lying fool apologist for Islam.”
Both are accurate.
gravenimage says
All true, Cretius.
Victor Redlick says
And of course who can ever forget Revolutionary patriot “Ahmed“ Henry who famously plead, “Give me Allah, or give me death“ (which was later, I`m sure, fraudulently revised to read “Give me liberty..“, according to either a Koran addendum, or, from what she`s just burped, the grossly misinformed and even more wobbly, Hillary).
That`s the apocalyptic (paraphrased) mantra a significant element of Islam has maniacally dragged – in its toxic marrow – all the way from its 7th Century savage, inhuman beginnings and brought it cursedly forward – going on 1400 years, in its relentless rabid attempt – to afflict the world with its tyrannical psycho theocratic mayhem; it`s lust for the End of Days. In other words, the designation of “caliphate“ must be a euphemism for the more conventional “hell“!
If Hillary Clinton is elected president, America`s sons and daughters won`t have to go into the Moslem terrorist theaters to put their lives in jeopardy. Nosiree! Given a couple of more indistinguishable – from Obama – White House terms, by “crooked“ Hillary, anybody, not just armed services personnel, could get closer to being killed right over here; without ever having to redundantly travel part way around the world to be a victim of such a horrific deadly experience
Dick says
The Marine Corps hymn states the muslim presents in the US history. To the shores of Tripoli.
The Marines were sent there by president Thomas Jefferson to free (going off memory) some 350 sailors that had been taken prisoner and made to do slave labor by their muslim captors.
This seems to be pretty much what is still going on today. The difference now is they just paid iran a billion dollars to get some sailors back, I’m glad they’re back but not that way.
DFD says
“………..“We’ve had Muslims in America since George Washington.” Really?…”
Obama doesn’t look that old. Mind you, in a speech, somewhere in the ME, he proclaimed that the Muslims invented the printing press. They can be quite funny, no?
gravenimage says
“We’ve had Muslims in America since George Washington.” Really?
……………………..
Not really. There were *very few* Muslims here until just recently.
Thomas Jefferson owned a Koran so that he could educate himself about the threat we faced from the Barbary Pirates.