Islam Has Always Been in America? Really?

In this Frontpage Mag article, Robert Spencer argues that claims about Islam being woven into America’s founding are politically motivated distortions of history.

• Spencer criticizes a prayer delivered at the Illinois General Assembly that claimed Islam’s history in America did not begin in 1965 or the 20th century, but was “woven into the very tapestry” of the nation.
• He compares the Illinois remarks to Barack Obama’s past statement that “Islam has always been part of America,” arguing that such claims are historically exaggerated.
• The article disputes the idea that Jefferson and John Adams owning copies of the Qur’an proves Islamic influence on America’s founding, saying they studied it in the context of the Barbary Pirates.
• Spencer uses sarcasm to mock the notion that Muslims played a meaningful role in America’s founding, major wars, or constitutional development.
• He argues that the claim depends heavily on the assertion that many enslaved black Americans were Muslims, which he rejects as historically unsupported.
• The article contends that Muslims in Africa often captured and sold non-Muslim Africans into the slave trade, while only a small number of Muslims were brought to early America as slaves.
• Spencer also argues that crediting America’s economic foundation primarily to slave labor ignores the role of free states and the limited percentage of slave owners in slaveholding regions.
• He frames the broader purpose of these historical claims as an attempt to weaken opposition to Sharia influence and expanded Muslim migration into the United States.
• The article closes by warning that portraying Sharia as naturally American is, in Spencer’s view, a dangerous political narrative rather than a historical truth.

Read the full story: https://www.frontpagemag.com/islam-has-always-been-in-america-really/