AMERICA, KUFI STONES AND ISHRAT HUSSAIN ZUBERI

AMERICA, KUFI STONES AND ISHRAT HUSSAIN ZUBERI
A survey of Red Indian tents

Ishrat Hussain Zuberi was a Pakistani intellectual of his times. Well read and cultured, he was a man of many facets. I recently came across a book written by him on English literature, and was impressed by his command of an alien subject. He was a visitor to the Chughtai Artist Home too, and did a lot of things, which had Chughtai Art in it. A long time back I read an article by him in the newspaper ‘Dawn’ but had misplaced it with time, and was glad, that on my request, Hameed Haroon was kind enough to provide me a copy of it. The subject was sensational for me, as it referred to Stone Inscriptions he found in the a museum in United States, which were in the Kufic script. We all know that Kufic script was relevant to Islamic civilization in the times of the Prophet (PBUH) himself as well as the Caliphs of Islam.

Zuberi Sahib was travelling in the United States, when the Curator of a museum referred to inscription on stones found in Red Indian tents and dwellings. The script was not deciphered by the museum authorities and Zuberi Sahib was asked to comment on them. These antique stones, at least 1200 years old or so, had strange writings on them. Zuberi Sahib found the script to be KUFIC and belonging to Islamic Civilization of the Arab region. The writings referred to MUHAMMED (PBUH) and ALLAH. It literally swept the imagination of Zuberi Sahib and all those who read his article.

The knowledge is more common now. Professor Barry Fell of Harvard University did research on the same subject. Prof Fell had discovered Kufic inscriptions on the walls of mountains in Colorado, New Mexico and Indiana. He found documents, writings, drawings and relics establishing the presence of Islam in America in the 650s. He found that the Red Indian tribes like Iroquois, Algonquin, Anasazi, Hohokan and Olmecs were probably descendant from these Arab ancestors. The Olmecs themselves are subjects of international studies for their unique ethnic background, different from other American groups. Prof Fell even discovered a rock in Nevada, which had the writing in Kufic ‘In the name of God’, written on it. A Mayan rock with the inscription ‘Yassu son of Maryiam’ was also found. Remains of schools, mosques have been found with time and are discussed in various forums.

The resentment to this knowledge is also very much there and many Americans tend to ridicule all such research, but instead of combating it with literal explanations, prejudice remains, and outright statements are made. But there is more proof of another nature.

Al-Masudi's world map 956
Al-Masudi’s world map 956

Abul Hassan Al-Masudi made a trip in a ship from Muslim Spain in 889 and wrote about it in 956. He describes an unknown land, which he had visited with others, and the description fits the description of America to the ultimate degree. And then there is the famous Piri Reis map drawn in 1513 from various sources. It seems that the knowledge of Columbus Christopher was based on maps belonging to Islamic sources. The Piri Reis map is a slap on the face of those who rejected the initial evidence. So who discovered Christopher Columbus? Certainly not him and his rogue Spaniards, who could only bring mayhem to America, including slaughter of innocent people as well as diseases like syphilis to a virgin land. So believe it or not, America is indebted to Islam in more ways than one.

Piri Reis map
Piri Reis map

One thought on “AMERICA, KUFI STONES AND ISHRAT HUSSAIN ZUBERI”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.