Before Columbus: Erdogan says Muslims 'discovered America'

[Signor]

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says the Muslim faith was “widespread” in America before the arrival of Columbus in the 15th century, and insists that a massive mosque should be erected in Havana, despite the city's refusal to grant a building permit.

"The religion of Islam was widespread before Columbus," the longtime Turkish leader told the audience at the first ever Latin American Muslim leaders summit in Istanbul, as cited by Hurriyet Daily News.
"Muslim sailors had arrived in the shores of America in 1178. In his diaries, Christopher Columbus referred to the presence of a mosque on top of a mountain in Cuba."

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[Scimitar]

two words: Piri Reis :)

that map has confounded historians for the last century, look it up - it's real interesting.

Scimi

[Snow]

Leifr Eiriksson went to north america some 500 years before Columbus.
His father was Eirikr the red, a norseman and he settled in Iceland.
Leifr was born in the northwest of Iceland and he traveled to Greenland and northern america around the year 1000 AD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson
There are runestones and the sagas to proof that.

[Karl]

This "discovered America" is ridiculous. The natives have been there for thousands of years. Genetically the natives were are a mixture of Asian races. But they were all pagans. I suppose they believed in the "Great Spirit" but that would be drawing a very long bow to say they were Muslims. What's he doing wanting to build a mosque in Havana? That whole area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. Erdogan needs to see a shrink.

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[Karl]

Leifr Eiriksson went to north america some 500 years before Columbus.
His father was Eirikr the red, a norseman and he settled in Iceland.
Leifr was born in the northwest of Iceland and he traveled to Greenland and northern america around the year 1000 AD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson
There are runestones and the sagas to proof that.

Yeah I love the story about when the Norse are trading with the natives and they will give anything for pieces of red cloth. Soon the Norse run out of red cloth and the natives get hostile as communication is hopeless. So there is a fight and the Norse are hopelessly outnumbered and running for their lives and when all seems lost a Norse woman turns and bares her breasts and slaps a sword across them in defiance. This startled the natives and they ran away and before they could regroup the Norse got back to their ship and left. Priceless.

[BlueOwl358]

Ooh, more stuff on Discoveries of the Americas. Who discovered them has always been an interesting question. Portuguese, Vikings, Phonecians, Chinese, so many people can put a claim on it. I think the first humans that ever went them truly were the first humans to discover them, as they went across the Bering Strait, and so many people have been re-discovering these two giant landmasses since then. I don't think it matters who reached the place first, or second, or third, but which nations have been able to even discover the continents before European colonization began, and that is an achievement in its own, because the question of reaching America first is one that may never even be answered. I think Muslims could have done so, but you can't be sure. A good, technologically able Moroccan ship, or an Ottoman one, could have done it in secret. The Piri Reis points at that.

Also, technically all areas clean enough for prayer are Masjids, there was no structure of the Al Aqsa Mosque during the Isra of the Prophet (pbuh) but the Masjid was there. So the area would already be a Masjid. :statisfie Along with that, since every community has received Prophets and Messengers, the Meso-Americans would also have received them, of whom we do not know. So Muslim activity is evident among all communities and races.

The Green-Iceland name deception is always funny. Erik had to misname Greenland. Clever Viking.
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[sister herb]

At the time when Erik traveled to Greenland it was green. The climate changed colder later. Because of the global warming, Greenland is again changing green.

[Snow]

At the time when Erik traveled to Greenland it was green. The climate changed colder later. Because of the global warming, Greenland is again changing green.

Not strictly true.
The most southern part may have been green but the travelers were mostly landing on the middle of the eastern coast.
some of the names still hold older norse names.
Iceland was covered with forrest but they cut it mostly all down.
Even thought the sagas exaggerate many things, there are many truths there.

You can read in some of the sagas how Greenland was. Like in Kjalnesinga saga.

They were just trying to promote a less fruitful land as the better land, to keep the better land for themselves.

[Samiun]

Interesting, there were many theories but there was an article about a Muslim actually discovering America first theoraticaly if that makes sense.

The author compares the different type of people who had discovered America first then went on to conclude that Abu Raihan Al-Biruni is the first person to discover America in his own unique way.

http://www.historytoday.com/s-freder...scover-america

[islamica]

1421: The Year a Chinese Muslim Discovered America

http://www.islamicity.com/articles/a...C0301-1843&p=1