Was this Native American chief a Muslim?

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Do you think that the Native American chief in the following article was a Muslim, or that he had some contact with Muslims?

Tribute to Mahomet Weyonomon

royalinsight.gov.uk/output/Page5702.asp

The name Mahomet sounds like a version of Mohammed.

Please let me know what you think.
 
Sheer coincidence, I’m sure.

Besides, the Native Americans are Jews, not Muslims, as any Mormon would tell you. 😃

Paul
 
This posting is not a joke. I am really wondering about this!🙂

Thanks.
 
I know nothing about it other than your linked article, but could it be possible the name Mahomet was an appelation given by the Anglos who befriended him, as a prefix to his given name. I am thinking of a chief called King Philip who fought with settlers in colonial times, the name was given to him by the English, certainly not his tribal name. There are other examples, Blue Jacket was the nickname of, I think, Tecumseh. Mahoment, as a variant of Mohammed, would indicate possibly in the eyes of the Anglos someone who was both a tribal and religious leader of his people.
 
Strange… I was searching the net to find the meaning of the name to show you it didn’t have anything to do with Muslims, but take a look at this link:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahomet,_Illinois

I thought it could be related to the name of the Mahomet, Illinois, but if you look at the history of it, it has the name of the prophet Muhammad… so maybe the name of the Native American comes from Muslim descent.

Now I am wondering too… :confused:
 
yessisan said:
Strange… I was searching the net to find the meaning of the name to show you it didn’t have anything to do with Muslims, but take a look at this link:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahomet,_Illinois

I thought it could be related to the name of the Mahomet, Illinois, but if you look at the history of it, it has the name of the prophet Muhammad… so maybe the name of the Native American comes from Muslim descent.

Now I am wondering too… :confused:
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Well, you’d need to get in touch with someone (probably at one of the universities in the area where he lived) who is familiar with Native American history. Seems unlikely in the extreme that he’d be a Muslim though.
 
GoLatin said:
Do you think that the Native American chief in the following article was a Muslim, or that he had some contact with Muslims?

Tribute to Mahomet Weyonomon

royalinsight.gov.uk/output/Page5702.asp

The name Mahomet sounds like a version of Mohammed.

Please let me know what you think.
Click to expand...
It sounds like a coincidence of sounds to me. I doubt that Islam was taught among the Frist Nations at that time. The article mentions Mohegan tribe. If by any chance that spelling is the same as Mohican, then try Ho Chuk Nation (Wisconsin). The Mohican, as in the novel “Last of the Mohicans” are very much alive, but call themselves by thier own name Ho Chuc (sp?) and moved to what is now Wisconsin. The name may be as is, or it may be a re-spelling of something else after 270-some years. Try contacting the media source of the article you found htis on. They should be able to eventually put you in touch with the correct First Nation group – after all, they did show up for ceremony in Great Britian, and so they might be best to answer. There are more inquires than what the average Tribal Office can handle - so please be patient if the respnce is slow in coming, if at all.
 
GoLatin said:
Do you think that the Native American chief in the following article was a Muslim, or that he had some contact with Muslims?

Tribute to Mahomet Weyonomon

royalinsight.gov.uk/output/Page5702.asp

The name Mahomet sounds like a version of Mohammed.

Please let me know what you think.
Click to expand...
Could be a coincidental use of the same sounds in different languages. Could be that there was an interaction of this tribe with Muslim slaves or sailors at some point, perhaps even intermarriage.

Here’s the webpage for the Mohegan tribe
mohegan.nsn.us/
 
This looks like a Muslim hoax.

Samuel Occom, a Mohegan contemporary of Mahomet Weyonomon wrote an account of Mohegan life in his book The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan: Leadership and Literature.

In it, the mohegans had already adopted ‘foreign’ names like Samuel, Lucy, Ben, Joshua, Jonathan, Sarah, Thomas, Henry, David etc.

He never mentions Muslims.
 
Rodrigo_Bivar said:
This looks like a Muslim hoax.

Samuel Occom, a Mohegan contemporary of Mahomet Weyonomon wrote an account of Mohegan life in his book The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan: Leadership and Literature.

In it, the mohegans had already adopted ‘foreign’ names like Samuel, Lucy, Ben, Joshua, Jonathan, Sarah, Thomas, Henry, David etc.

He never mentions Muslims.
Click to expand...
I don’t know that I can see a reason to call it a “Muslim hoax”. Mahomet appears to have been his actual name in the 1700s and the OP doesn’t appear to be trying to advance the cause of Islam in any way or claiming that this man was actually Muslim, simply asking a question about a name that caught his attention and wondering. There were Muslim slaves and sailors at the time, it is not impossible that the tribe came into contact with such or with a European who knew of such and mentioned the name.
 
KarenNC said:
I don’t know that I can see a reason to call it a “Muslim hoax”. Mahomet appears to have been his actual name in the 1700s and the OP doesn’t appear to be trying to advance the cause of Islam in any way or claiming that this man was actually Muslim, simply asking a question about a name that caught his attention and wondering. There were Muslim slaves and sailors at the time, it is not impossible that the tribe came into contact with such or with a European who knew of such and mentioned the name.
Click to expand...
Well, I think it is a hoax because it is an unsubstantiated inference from a name. Mahomet is not Muslim - it is how an European would say it. Not a Muslim.

His father’s name was Mahomet also, therefore he was the second Mahomet. This is a little known fact but is neither here nor there.

That there were Muslim slaves and sailors at the time is irrelevant because at the early days of the 18th century the people of Connecticut were unlikely to have Muslim slaves. There were only 700 black slaves out of a total population of 38,000. It would be unlikely these slaves would come into contact with the Mohegans.

slavenorth.com/connecticut.htm

There were no other “Muslims” in his tribe as far as we know. Besides, being a Muslim would preclude him from being made sachem as he would be required to perform the native American ceremonial rites. None of the Mohegan descendants regard him as Muslim as they gave him a Mohegan traditional burial recently.

This reminds me of the claims by Muslims that Muslims were here in America long before the Europeans - by looking at names such as Mecca, Indiana and Medinah, Illinois and Mahomet, Illinois, without realizing that those cities were named by white settlers.
 
GoLatin said:
Do you think that the Native American chief in the following article was a Muslim, or that he had some contact with Muslims?

Tribute to Mahomet Weyonomon

royalinsight.gov.uk/output/Page5702.asp

The name Mahomet sounds like a version of Mohammed.

Please let me know what you think.
Click to expand...
I think it sounds like a Mohegan Indian name.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahomet_Weyonomon

Another Indian name that ends the same is Calumet. It is the name of the medicine pipe (peace pipe) used by the Iroquois.

I do not believe there is any connection between Ma-ho-met and Mohammed.

The Iroquois Confederacy was the first Republic in North America and was established before first contact by European settlers. The Iroquois nation lasted until the French and Indian Wars when the Confederacy split with some tribes supporting the French and others the English. Hence the award by the Queen.

This should have been part of everyone’s elementary school education along with the poem Hiawatha by Longfellow. Hiawatha was one of the leaders of the Iroquois. The poem has much that is accurate and much that is inaccurate, and is wonderful to read aloud to children.
 
This reminds me of the claims by Muslims that Muslims were here in America long before the Europeans - by looking at names such as Mecca, Indiana and Medinah, Illinois and Mahomet, Illinois, without realizing that those cities were named by white settlers.
Click to expand...
Hi

Why it is so upsetting for some?

Muslims might have come to Americas before the Westerners.
Just that won’t convert the Catholics or Non-Catholics.

Unbiased research should be welcome.

Thanks
 
paarsurrey said:
Hi

Why it is so upsetting for some?

Muslims might have come to Americas before the Westerners.
Just that won’t convert the Catholics or Non-Catholics.

Unbiased research should be welcome.

Thanks
Click to expand...
It is not upsetting. It is just dishonest of some Muslims to claim that they were here before Columbus - without evidence.

The Muslim claims are hardly unbiased research, are they?

There really is no solid evidence, or any evidence at all, that Muslims were here before Columbus.
 
Muslims were the first one to travel to the moon and back.
paarsurrey said:
Hi

Why it is so upsetting for some?

Muslims might have come to Americas before the Westerners.
Just that won’t convert the Catholics or Non-Catholics.

Unbiased research should be welcome.

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
Rodrigo_Bivar said:
Well, I think it is a hoax because it is an unsubstantiated inference from a name. Mahomet is not Muslim - it is how an European would say it. Not a Muslim.

His father’s name was Mahomet also, therefore he was the second Mahomet. This is a little known fact but is neither here nor there.

That there were Muslim slaves and sailors at the time is irrelevant because at the early days of the 18th century the people of Connecticut were unlikely to have Muslim slaves. There were only 700 black slaves out of a total population of 38,000. It would be unlikely these slaves would come into contact with the Mohegans.

slavenorth.com/connecticut.htm

There were no other “Muslims” in his tribe as far as we know. Besides, being a Muslim would preclude him from being made sachem as he would be required to perform the native American ceremonial rites. None of the Mohegan descendants regard him as Muslim as they gave him a Mohegan traditional burial recently.

This reminds me of the claims by Muslims that Muslims were here in America long before the Europeans - by looking at names such as Mecca, Indiana and Medinah, Illinois and Mahomet, Illinois, without realizing that those cities were named by white settlers.
Click to expand...
Asking a legitimate question (“Anybody know why this guy was named Mahomet when I didn’t think there were any Muslims in colonial America?”) is not the same as perpetrating a hoax.

I agree that there is no evidence that he was a follower of Islam, but I don’t see that it is outside the realm of possibility that the tribe came into contact with the name in some way, perhaps through white settlers or traders.
 
Just to get a few facts straight - Mahomet was a Mohegan, not a Mohican - and, no, they are not the same tribe.

Mohegans are an Algonquin tribe, originating in what is now New England (and they are still here; the tribe operates the Mohegan Sun Casino on its historic lands in CT).

It is almost a certainty that “Mahomet” (though a relatively common anglicization of the Prophet Mohammed’s name) resulted from anglicization by settlers of the Indian sachem’s name as said in his native tongue - as was his surname “Weyonomon”.

Why this simple explanation - true of thousands of Native American names (to say nothing of their fellow non-English speaking fellow Europeans) - does not seem to have occurred to anyone amazes me.

Claims of Muslim contact with Native Americams in 18th century New England have as much credibility as those who, from the other side, would assert the name to be a Muslim-perpetrated hoax.

Neil, who loves a good conspiracy theory - never let those get in the way of just plain factual info :rolleyes:
 
Hi

There are certain evidences that Muslims lived in Americas before Columbus.

Kindly access post # 8 by zagjames in the thread “Any genetic evidence for Mormonism?”

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=201586

I repeat the contents for benefit of the members here:

The Muslim Empire of Mali supposedly had one king abdicate in the 1100’s or 1200’s to pursue a adventure across the Ocean after he had supposedly sent some troops across the sea to find what was there, they claimed they had reached land and had been in a few scraps with the locals.
Coresponding to this when the Spanish arrived in the northern parts of South America several spanish soldier noted in journals they found villages with some muslims, and/or black people. Also they heard stories from locals of when there had been an invasion of black people hundreds of years before and they had fought a war.

There is plenty of circumstantial evidence for trans-atlantic and trans-pacific trade and exploration before 1492, on a very limited basis. Look a the Story of St. Brendan the Navigator, he made it across the Atlantic to North America in 530AD. When the vikings discovered Iceland some of the men recorded that they killed the pappers and others living on the island. (Vikings called priests pappers or similar). St. Brendan claimed to have landed at an Island of fire and ice, which would fit with Iceland. He claimed to have passed walls of crystal (icebergs anyone?). More to the point ruins of what look like a 6th century style monestary have been found in the woods in Maine. I dunno if thats what it actually was. But I do believe St. Brendan atleast visted North America and returned to Ireland. So who knows but St. Brendan was cool none the less. Oh yeah and when Columbus set sail he hoped to find St. Brendans Isle(North America?) along the way to asia.
Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomine Tu o da gloriam!

adoremus.org/1105TruePresence.html

In the words of the Great Archbishop Fulton Sheen:
GOD LOVE YOU!

Unquote

Thanks
 
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