The Wall Street Journal-20080118-The Origins of Islam
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The Origins of Islam
In her stinging review ("Children's Books," Weekend Journal, Jan. 5) of my book, "Muhammad Ali: Champion of the World," Meghan Cox Gurdon refers to "a certain dishonesty" in my text, first citing my sentence, "Islam was from Africa, the homeland of his ancestors, before they were brought to America in slave boats." About this, she writes, "Except that Islam isn't 'from' Africa; it came bursting out of Arabia and conquered its way along the northern part of the African continent."
In 615 A.D., the Prophet Muhammad encouraged his followers in Arabia to flee to Africa to escape persecution -- which they did, in great numbers, long before Muhammad's death. Islam's first muezzin (caller to prayer), Bilal ibn Ribah, was "from" Africa. To say that Islam is not "from" Africa (where it has resided for 14 centuries) because its founder was an Arab, is the equivalent of saying that African- Americans are not "from" America because their ancestors came from Africa. To characterize Islamic immigration to Africa as merely "bursting" and "conquering" shows a clear bias against Islam in Ms. Gurdon's commentary.
Jonah Winter
Pittsburgh
