Was this Native American chief a Muslim?

[Bro_Joshua]

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

 

[Bro_Joshua]

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

Sukran, effendi. Thank you very much. I also wondered about the coincidence in the similarity of the tribal name “Mohegan” to the Mohican (Ho Chuck) tribe that moved to what is now called Wisconsin. There are more than 550 First nations. Many, if not most of those Indigenous Nations also have names the immigrants gave them. So, I suppose its to be reasonably expected that the name Weyonomon would also be distroted in spelling and pronounciation over time by the outsiders. It is very common to hear many folks pronounce the english “TH” sound when saying the word “woman” as in wit-ha (hii’a wit ha, or Te gkagk wit ha). Mixing western norms into an explanation for America’s Indigenous nations seldoms tells the truth. I heard, of example, a well worded and entertaining sermon on our Lady of Guadalupe and what the snake in the picture meant and why Mary stood on the snake. My smile during the whole sermon was becasue I have never seen a picture of a snake in the famous picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I have heard many Priests say a Mass for Martyrs and declare Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha a martyr. She died a virgin, but not as a martyr.

The original question, I feel, was a decent enough inquiry. The answer could have been very eaily researched from information found in the original inquiry – such as the media source for the story, and then looking up the tibal name to see if that First Nation (Mohegan in this case) had a website.

Not long ago, a fellow Religious woke me up to inquire how it was that Native People knew to wear clothes before the missioanries came with the Bible and the story of Genesis. I found the question very amusing. Many questions about us Indigenous People are rattled out before thinking. Many fast answers are given by those not in the know with even less thought. Most of the time I find it either amusing, or not worth the bother. But, unfortunatly, the fast answers have also led to some very unfair actions against certain groups of people. Luck for me, I can fall back to sleep very easily - so getting disturbed in the middle of the night for such things permits me to keep smiling the next morning.

Again - I felt the original inquiry to be an innocent inquiry. And, if there was an Islamic connection – well then, I would have been interested to know about it.

 

[KarenNC]

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.

Several of us have pointed out that it could well simply be a coincidental similarity of a combination of sounds, which would fit your description above.

 

[Jerusha]

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.

No, Bro, Ho-Chunk “Big Mouth People” have always been in Wisconsin. Not Mohegan at all. Also called Winnebago, because the Sac & Fox called them “Stinky River People”. There is another linguistic coincidence in Ho-Chunk history: the famous Chief Winnesheik. However, it is pronounced “Winneshake”. (“Sheik” is commonly associated with Arab chieftains)

 

[Auriel]

Lots of people explored the Americas before Columbus. He was not the first. And why should it offend anyone if others were here before? Or if some may have been muslim? It is part of our history.

And do not forget, there were several hundred Turkish sailor slaves stranded on Roanoke Island by Sir Francis Drake in 1586. There are tribal stories of survivors that intermarried.

FYI, the Vikings beat Columbus, and also dna evidence has suggested that a few Asians found there way here centuries ago. .

 

[Hesychios]

Anything is possible in this regard.

I think he was given this distinguished sounding foreign name without regard to religion, and I personally doubt that he actually was a Muslim. But there could easily have been Muslims in contact with native American tribes, this wasn’t really that long ago.

10% of the African slaves brought over to the Americas were Muslim, for one thing. In the Mediterranean, there was considerable trade with Muslim ports, this would particularly affect the French and Spanish, with much less involvement of the British.

The Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch had been trading in slaves and other goods from Africa for generations by this time, and were using some people from Africa as seamen aboard ships.

I am reminded that when the Pilgrim colonists first landed at Massachusetts bay in 1620AD , they encountered two separate native American individuals…who spoke English! One of them had already been to Europe.

One thing to remember is that Islam can spread pretty easily from layperson to layperson, they don’t require a seminary trained clergy and so there are no institutional limitations holding them back. That does not mean that isolated individuals will be able to perpetuate the faith. There does not seem to be any record of a mosque in the tribes of the interior of Canada or New England.

There are any number of ways that tribes in the interior could have been exposed to Islam, mostly through the opportunities of trade, but if some did learn and adopt the religion, it doesn’t seem to have had lasting results.

Michael