Is This One of America’s First Mosques? | American Muslims: A History Revealed

[@mareolinz]

That's beautiful. I am a Muslim American and I appreciate to know that we are part of this country and Society. Thank you for making this documentary❤

[@yusefkhan1752]

Don’t vote for Harris

[@jamieh9100]

Same. 💚💚💚 Makes me feel more belonging in my country. Beautiful story.

[@Roblox-ev7ry]

America was discovered on Muslim treasury. So basically it belongs to Nation of Islam.

[@kyoung5550]

Of course you are! Muslims contributed to this country

[@Marco90731]

Diverse and Multicultural , try to be Tolerant. All sides - get along and live and let live 🙏 .

[@Grace-E-21]

I am a revert to Islam, and my grandmother was born and raised in North Dakota. Her mother worked in the State archives when she was a teenager. I wish I could have shared this piece with both of them. Aymann Ismail's earlier work was an important part of my journey to Islam.

[@HontuZindabad]

As Salaamu Aleikum! May Allah makes it easy for all of us! Ameen.

[@alex4given808]

@@Grace-E-21 Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life. John 14:6

[@Grace-E-21]

@@HontuZindabad Ameen! Wa Alaikum Asalaam!

[@mamabear-x7u]

Jesus said come to me ye burdened and I will give you peace because Iam the truth the light and the life

[@nidanaeem935]

I loved how you prayed in the mosque! ❤

[@beckycreasy9036]

Trouble is We are two peas in à pod!

[@beckycreasy9036]

WeAre more alike than you know!!!

[@kb4432]

Same here, that was beautiful

[@DShaimaaHam]

Thank you, as an American Muslim I find it inspiring to learn more about those that came here to make a new life, a new beginning.

[@DianaHall-z1b]

This presents a fascinating story of determination of Muslim families to settle in North Dakota. .

[@nadsarwar]

i have prayed that mosque when visiting the ND, Peace!

[@handfuloflight]

Maşallah

[@akyow]

I was planning to. Let’s pray for those burried there.

[@James73745]

This is a new discovery of Muslim Americans in the United States. A lady who had Muslim roots does not know that she was from Muslim ancestors and has done a great job to preserve her family history of Muslim origin by building a mosque on the same place where her great great grandmother had built a mosque also preserve the cemetery of her ancestors. This is very impressive for me as I am also a Muslim from India.

[@shahrukhkhan8307]

Approximately 40% of slaves brought to Americas were Muslims but they were forced to leave their religion. Also 5% of Spaniards that came to South America were also conversos, meaning they were Muslims that were forced by Spaniards to change religion. That's why names like Omar, jamal, khadija, Fatima and Nadia Jasmine etc are there.

[@srebaayao9616]

@@shahrukhkhan8307 like saying those were people peacefully converted to mus lims. hello? it was before "is lam or the sword"?

[@maciejgronowski]

There was a mosque in New York started in 1906 which was converted church. It was started by POLISH-BELARUSSIAN TATARS! interestingly it still operates as a mosque untill now! الحمد لله على نعمة الإسلام

[@fashrevo]

Which ome is This ?

[@maciejgronowski]

@fashrevo Powers Street Mosque, Brooklyn

[@Bizmyurt]

Tatar=Türk The tough hollywood guy was one of them!

[@ByteGB80]

الحمدلله رب العالمين

[@Passion84GodAlways]

I'm so grateful for PBS and all that it allows us to learn! 💖💐🙏🏾

[@doclyfe]

This is beautiful. I’m in tears. Thank you.

[@noviabdi2095]

ah, me too

[@kamalhussain5592]

My grandfather was an honourable man, descended from muslim Indians who migrated to British Guiana (now Guyana) in the 19th century. He and his family worked their way up from poverty and owned seven plantations on the island of Leguan and many properties in Georgetown before he passed away. He built a nice mosque which still exists and is buried in the mosque yard. Muslims, hindus, christians or whatever, all are buried next to each other in his graveyard.

[@thenun8595]

Love you from indian muslim

[@haziq4536]

Same with me. My great grandfather also built the first mosque in Guyana, which later my grandfather migrated to Canada.

[@jaibanks7151]

Allhu Akbar. May Mary & Hassan jumma souls Rest in paradise forever and Ever Ameeeeeennnn ya Allah 🤲🏼 ( All love from oakland California )

[@starr4781]

It’s unfortunate that the following generation lost Islam and their grandchildren had no idea she was Muslim - this is very sad for the grandchildren to lose their faith and scary for next generations to lose their faith and are not Muslim

[@kamalhashmi9851]

I can see racist pressure on the children forcing them to blend in with the local population.

[@alex4given808]

It's not scary at all. But eternal life is only through Jesus Christ.

[@qadiryar4521]

@@alex4given808 We believe in the prophet Muhammad PBUH, save yourself from the lies of Christianity.

[@arminius6506]

​@@alex4given808dude your Christianity is gone

[@AliKhan-qm3xz]

Not all but some of them In California I can show you the great grandchildren of a pashtoon immigrant (1890 ) they are not just Muslim but speak Pashto

[@CabdinuurSanka]

Subhana Allah, this gave me goosebumps. May Allah's mercy and peace upon them. May He also forgive their shortcomings. Allahuma amin

[@Corporal.S.T.Smith-Jones9772]

I grew up in South Florida (in West Palm Beach). One day, as my brother and I were walking to my grandparents' house, we were stopped by these two black guys. They stopped and said they noticed you two walking down this street (Palm Beach Lakes Blvd, aka 13th St). Where are you going? We told them we were going to our grandparents' house. They began telling us about black history beyond America. The funny part was they kinda favored Colin Kaepernick (the former San Francisco 49ers QB). So, we would visit their homes and they took interest in us because we were always together, getting along (never arguing or fighting). They taught us about their family's origin in Afghanistan and their Muslim faith. It always seemed normal to learn more things about this country's history that weren't really that abnormal. They showed us pictures of black people in Afghanistan. They told us about the black people who served on the kings' royal guards in different countries in the Middle East. They instilled a belief, dignity, and pride in us besides what our family taught us, we learned that we have been both the best and the worst, no different than any other group, people, race, or tribe around the world. These individuals treated us like relatives, even getting to know our family and parents. I would see them driving home in their new late 80s or early 90s Corvettes (red and yellow) and think I am going to get a Corvette. I do not remember when they moved, but I remember being very sad because they were moving away from West Palm Beach, Florida. I never saw them again. This is just one of the many people from somewhere else in the world who has taught me to love being American and, separately, to love being part of a larger (Black) African diaspora.

[@1kbakeer]

Well done, Masha’Allah.

[@GillyWhitfootHaysend]

As a Unitarian Universalist Midwesterner who is all about historic preservation, it touched me deeply when Aymann decided to pray in the reconstructed Mosque.

[@MrAwsomenoob]

For anyone curious the oldest purpose built mosque that is still standing is in cedar rapids Iowa.

[@samiral-alami186]

This is one of my favorite stories ever told. it tells us about the early history of Lebanese immigration to the USA. It tells us also about the history of what is or is not White. the tensions that Arabs like me experience everyday, a constant negotiation between the margins of what is or is not "white".

[@samiral-alami186]

I meant to say Syrian/Lebanese. Sorry haha

[@Bklyn112]

What is problematic is why people wanted to be within the margins of whiteness. Whiteness came with privilege and being the opposite meant second or even third class citizenship.

[@samiral-alami186]

@@Bklyn112 I dont disagree in the slightest. I studied ethnic demography for a college paper, and I wrote about what it is to be "white", particularly for my people.

[@Bklyn112]

@@samiral-alami186 Great to hear, so you probably have a better understanding than most. My thesis was related to this subject. Lisa Halaby's (Queen Noor) great grandfather Elias Halaby had to prove his whiteness in order to immigrate to the US in 1891. It is not widely known that the term Arab up until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire to describe the people from Arabia and not all Arab speakers. Hispanic and Latino are modern terms too.

[@samiral-alami186]

@@Bklyn112 The fascinating part too is that I know Syrians/Lebanese crossed the border and faked being Mexican in the late 19th, early 20th century to get in, and that case Dow vs. USA that allowed Lebanese to get in to the country easier than others (like Yemenis)

[@Beautifulworld-utu]

What a great value. Thanks to all of you who managed to bring up American history from US gov records where Muslim pioneers were present since 1800s and 1900s. They built roads hand to hand shoulder to shoulder with European immigrants for this beautiful land. Even far up in N Dakota and Nevada.

[@Bklyn112]

I understand that you tried to be respectful by saying first "purposeful" mosque but even that isn't true. The history of American Muslims began with the Africans who sailed with the Spanish and Portuguese to the "New World." The second wave came as enslaved Africans who built "purposeful" mosques in wooded areas near where they were enslaved. Their presence is very well documented in Servants of Allah written by Dr. Sylviane Diouf at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University who is a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience.

[@carlitosway5748]

Muslims were not allowed to sail to the Iberian colonies at all so stop lying 🤣 they had to convert to Christianity in order to be able to head to the Americas and settle there.

[@drmaytha]

Yes Prof. Diouf and those communities are profiled in upcoming episodes of this series!

[@Bklyn112]

@@drmaytha NEW SUB!!!!!!! Thank you. My family descends from community of Muslims who Africans enslaved in Georgia.

[@drmaytha]

@@Bklyn112 and we would love to hear your story!!! We have been describing this series as a transmedia project, part of which we envision will introduce a community-driven oral history archive of our American Muslim stories!

[@MetaPhysical369]

Yes, totally agree. In African-american museum there was names of writing of Muslim Africans who were brought as salves.

[@unchanathamasak7924]

Thank you for such beautiful stories of the human spirit, community connection and contributions.

[@JenniferAycock-24]

Very appreciative of this new series; I'm pairing it with readings from Sylviane Diouf's Servants of Allah for a General Education religion course. Looking forward to each episode and my students will value this!

[@mbbs2008]

Loved it! - Thanks PBS

[@zekoproductions9058]

Anyone that tells you Americans don’t have culture This actually proves a very rich and diverse history it may not be ancient history, but it’s still recent history

[@RF_Micrwave]

1t 19:20 she said Muslims were here long time ago, in fact they found Muslim ruins on the eastern shore of the US that dates back 100s of years before Colombo's came to America. They crossed from Spain to USA

[@faheemrao5792]

Very informative, never herd this story. Thank you fir making this documentary

Yer, ver intellugent two….

[@Tamar-sz8ox]

You can only imagine the challenges they had (& joys ) . I wish there were more pictures of the family . Amazing American 🇺🇸 history

[@papabear4066]

Very nice! Muslim women have been very strong, MashaAllah!

[@jubayarahmed342]

It's one of the best videos I've watched in a long time. I would definitely try to visit that area one day.

[@VictoriaN72]

Thank you for this historical account.

[@CypressBayFarm]

So informative and interesting

[@anasbargoti2663]

A great and spectacular documentary on the early existence of Arabic / Muslim decent in the US

[@nourmallette809]

🫠🙏 Thank you for the beautiful broadcast. Shining light on the Muslims who Arrived. way early in America. They cultivated, they built they thrived. Heartfelt. And to see at the end that they honored the place with another monument of the mosque.♥️🙏

[@asman8322]

I understand that this is a 6 part series. Please could you put all 6 episodes on KZbin? So far, I can only find 2 episodes!

[@PBS]

New episodes are coming soon!

[@deemorgan5046]

North Dakota is one of the closest windiest states...compared to the Mediterranean climate of most the Middle East has...no olives , grapes or citrus groves here! Strong determined folks! Dee

[@guadaluperivera2439]

Beautiful and amazing story, thank you so much for sharing.

[@judasthepious1499]

this would be a great streaming series..

[@shaq56uspk]

Informative as always by PBS ❤

[@andersonic]

I love the life story of Zarif Khan, the Pakistani immigrant who became the tamale king of Sheridan WY. And he too had his American citizenship challenged more than once.

[@Couchflyer-NY]

Beautiful story.

[@knw-seeker6836]

Wow what fantastic historical documentary

[@aquariusa2421]

Thanks, PBS. For this video, we learned about Muslim settlers in America.

[@pinkiesvlogs2]

I want to visit this mosque. This is just so beautiful to me ..I love this. And it's surely a lovely one. America....be proud of who we are.

[@quaidsaifee]

Amazing piece of American and American Muslim history. Thank you PBS and Aymann.

[@alhdafe]

الحمد لله علي كل حال. فعلا العلم نور يضي ظلام الجهل. جزاكم الله خيرا واحسن اليكم ونفعنا بعلمكم

[@iffyrafiq6074]

Subhan-Allah this broke my heart, what a beautiful documentary. ❣

[@AtifFaridMohammad]

I am Proud North Dakotan... Thank you North Dakota.

[@Fouziah-z6g]

ALHAMDULILLAH.. LOVE AND RESPECT FROM MALAYSIA💚🇲🇾

[@Sarwar19]

Such a beautiful and touching story. Thank you all!

[@brandyroseann]

Love learning more history about my country.

[@SyedAli-xm1yq]

Amazing thank you for making this documentary

[@lnmzq]

Thank you for telling this story, and especially for not glossing over the historical context. It is important to directly confront and understand our history as it is, not through rose-colored glasses. For example, the details you included about homesteaders acting as unwitting agents of the U.S. government's land grab policy are not typically mentioned in the stories I've heard of early Arab Muslim immigrants. Isn't it interesting, though, that now Native Americans are the ones who can perhaps best sympathize with the Palestinians? We need to learn from our collective history and help each other.

[@bluemacaroons]

PBS is actually so cool! I love all the work u guys do, like the be smart channel especially but also lots of your other series'!

[@HA-uf9ir]

Subscribed! You made me cry. Do more of these. Anytime doing Columbus Ohio ? Stay at our place kiddo.

[@ahmadkaragah506]

Thank you,god bless you present our great muscleman religeon. From United state America We are proud have great peaceful Muslim. 4:04 4:05 4:06

[@hippiechick2112]

I am here to be educated. I am never disappointed. Thank you for shedding a light on this subject.

[@SullyAfgarshe]

I wish you would have mentioned the fact that among the slaves brought to America, a sizable percentage were Muslim… That always gets overlooked and hardly talked about The focus on Muslims tends to revolve around Arab Muslims, partly due to history, America’s involvement in the Middle East, their prevalence in some cities, and the media’s inherent bias towards Islam It’s a complicated history that needs to be talked about and I applaud you for bringing history to light

[@TheAnnArnold]

@@SullyAfgarshe then they were forced into "christianity" of the powers that be

[@MalikaBilal]

Thanks for the feedback. It’s a six-part series and each episode is about a specific community, so that story is coming (in a couple of the episodes actually)

[@SullyAfgarshe]

@@MalikaBilal that’s great, y’all have done a great job so looking forward to the rest of the series 🫡

[@Pakestine]

There are a hundred documentaries about that already. It does not get overlooked. These short 20 minutes were about these people and their ancestors, and that is ok.

[@SullyAfgarshe]

@@Pakestine the title literally has “American Muslims” in it…it’s going to be a series though, so I look forward to hearing about other American Muslims Also can you give me a recent example of a documentary covering Muslims in America that is all encompassing?

[@brendahurst8229]

I enjoyed watching this story.

[@jamieh9100]

Anybody else feeling kinda weird about the homesteading, in light of Palestine? I mean, it’s crazy how we bully countries just redistribute wealth / property like we own everything. 😢

[@monteengel461]

My parents grew up two counties east of Ross. My dad talked about the peddlers that went from small town to small town and farm to farm even in the 1920s and ‘30s. He knew the regular peddlers by name. In the late 1950s the grandson of one of those Lebanese peddlers became our family dentist in Bismarck, ND (we lived in Fort Yates, ND). I have been through Ross a couple of times and even camped there on a bicycle trip.

[@mousabhajahmoudi8052]

What a documentary. Fabulous. I actually thought the first mosque was in Iowa Des Moines, that what I was told.

[@zz-by4op]

Fascinating.

[@bob-p7x6j]

Don't be fooled, grew up a Liberal in Canada, and seen enough of England and Europe to know that you don't want to romanticize this or not find out what is happening overseas, embrace this America and you will regret it, used to be a hippy liberal as well, but traveled enough to know you want to stay away from this.....

[@ocularpatdown]

Bless these people.

[@Razi1200]

“Islam is as American as apple pie.” - Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

[@raykay72]

History is still full of mysteries and discoveries to be made. What we are usually taught isn’t the whole truth, far from it. Islam has been in the US from before Columbus. In fact, some of his navigators might have been Muslims who’d done that journey before. There’s native history speaking of Muslims and Islam being there far before what we know. Moreover, no force was involved with those natives who took on the faith. There’s documented evidence that some natives practiced Islam and even had Arabic names. There’s also Muslims who fought in the civil war, FOR the US. As for the slaves brought over, Islam was and is strong amongst many west Africans, the place where the blues comes from and is played to this day (Ali Farka Toure (now gone) and other artists). I’ve heard numbers of between 40-80% of the slaves being Muslims. Some were highly educated, spoke Arabic and other languages. One was even regularly “displayed” in the center of town because they thought it funny that he could sing-song something no one around him could seemingly comprehend. He was a scholar from West Africa who knew the Quran by heart and was reciting just that.

[@marilynrega3634]

Prove to me Islam is superior to the Book of life.. the Bible.abraham did have Ismael and sons after issac but Issac was the one who The almighty promised to Abraham to redeem The world through Yeshua Moshaich came through issac not any other son of Abraham.

[@softlyspiritual]

Ma sha Allah

[@handaladude]

Free Palestine 🇵🇸

[@growthandunderstanding]

Brilliant story! I am so glad that this knowledge is being shared for us to learn of!

[@adexmokson7185]

I need to visit that place. Amazing history.

[@windlessoriginals1150]

Thank you. This is such a great series.

[@MIRABRAR.]

Wholesome video And informative of course ❤

[@muzaffarmohamed8354]

Great and beautiful history. Love it

[@MuslimMediaArchive]

Thank you PBS

[@norazaki2617]

I wish there was more discussion of how Native Americans were impacted by this and how the Arab community responded

[@melissacole4903]

I’d also like to know more about the Moors in America.

[@ummiramli6554]

I just posted somewhere here and in another video about Muslim African slaves, about the natives who communicated with Muslims who arrived in this huge land (later named as America/USA) much much earlier.

[@erichudson3023]

A little known history fact is that before America existed and it was still just colonies, there are a lot of a Muslim Americans + Americans imported them so when he constitution was written already a lot of Muslims lived in the country

[@ziatravelguide131]

Alhumdolellha. it's a nice history. thanks PBS

[@Halalshawty]

As a Muslim American in Minot AFB ND I LOVE THIS

[@notyourmomma7663]

Same here . Not much muslims I see around here

[@Halalshawty]

@@notyourmomma7663 are you on base or in town

[@notyourmomma7663]

On base 👌🏽i seen some hijiabs , but no brothers, unfortunately. ​@Halalshawty

[@notyourmomma7663]

U in service ?

[@Halalshawty]

@@notyourmomma7663 no I’m a spouse and did FCC on base!

[@jerrysmith2360]

I am quite knowledgeable, but also quite ignorant at times. Until about 5 years ago, I was unaware of, for example, the Lebanese/Arab influence on Mexican food ( I believe it’s mostly Yucatan, but could be wrong). May be PBS could do a deep dive into Lebanese/Arab food and its’ influence on American culture. Some people seem to think that hummus and falafel were created by usurpers to the Middle East rather than the indigenous populations.

[@siddiqalam108]

That’s very sad that their progeny lost their faith and Muslim identity

[@redademe]

Same goes to the Syrian/Lebanese who made it to South America around the same timeframe, all of them have assimilated quickly and adopted Christianity. Syrians/Lebanese tend to assimilate rather faster than other neighboring immigrant groups.

[@33ace33]

Islam was present among the Native Americans. Even the white conquers reported to have found structures resembling Mosques.

[@user-qn8uc2hl9n]

Great video thanks 😍

[@ziefhanif3013]

This people knew more than muslim people about the function of mosque.. if all of us respect & celebrate each other religion at same time try to understand without prejudice this world will be wonderful & peaceful because not even one of religion teach a bad things.. hello & salam from malaysia ❤

[@loviimarie7273]

This was so beautiful 💜🤲🏾🧕🏾☪️

[@jadeCeladon]

I wish there was an Arab American month so young children can learn about these histories, just like Black History month.

[@JaySmith-mz7vg]

LOL! Nearly every ethnicity in America has a month dedicated to celebrating their contributions. However, Black History Month continues to be the most scrutinized. It's also the most cited when people are attempting to make comparisons to their own ethnicity. It's literally Latino Heritage Month as I type this but that juxtaposition won't be used in these types of discussions. Also, you don't have to wish, there is an Arab American Month, it's in April. Prehaps you should get involved in the planning in your local community or research how to organize educational activities during that month.

[@oakmaiden2133]

Your capable of researching and teaching your children any subject you want. Probably better than depending on outside sources.

[@SA-bq1us]

Just give them some books

[@Noor]

There is! In April :)

[@TheMistyfyingOne77]

❤

[@syedhaider5777]

Fascinating

[@lionprince5741]

Just imagine how painful it is those people don't even know that dear and sister used to be Muslims😢

[@cometmoon4485]

This is amazing!

[@ummiramli6554]

I read that the first masjid was built in Iowa which is now converted to a museum.

[@sameer4937]

Enlightening

[@jimrathert4960]

Great reporting

[@faisalalnuaimi121]

It's great american story 🎉🎉🎉

[@laylaali5977]

Excellent program

[@TheAnnArnold]

Wow!

[@marilynrega3634]

My mom’s family were Germans from Russia and were reform Christian’s. They settled South Dakota. My mom was born there in s.d in 1935..

[@rabiakhan1871]

The first mosque built in North America was built in 1938 in Edmonton Alberta Canada . Al Rashid . For more info google

[@ummiramli6554]

Find out the first masjid built in America in Iowa which is now a museum. If this is indeed the FIRST. I found out about it in my 20s (1990s). I don't live in America and have never stepped on American soil. Just that I love reading and researching about the history of anything. I enjoy watching KZbin videos by brother BUKHAREE who visits masjids in many states in the USA. He travels with his motorcycle.

[@thanksforstoppingby]

Mashallah

[@kendalson7100]

Nice. Such a beautiful Mosque. ❤

[@al_firdows]

May Allah have mercy on them❤