The Statue of Liberty Was Originally a Moorish Woman

The sketch of Bartholdi’s proposal for the Suez Canal shows a Muslim woman wearing traditional Arab clothing.Photo: Getty Images

“That might be surprising to people more familiar with the statue’s French roots than its Arab ones. After all, the statue’s structure was designed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel), and Lady Liberty was given to the United States by France for its centennial to celebrate the alliance of the two countries formed during the French Revolution. The statue’s designer, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, was also French, but he found inspiration in a very different place: Egypt. In 1855, he visited Nubian monuments at Abu Simbel, which feature tombs guarded by gigantic colossus figures.”

Moorish- Berber/Arab Woman wearing cultural headdress and Statue of Liberty

“Bartholdi envisioned a colossal monument featuring a robe-clad woman representing Egypt to stand at Port Said, the city at the northern terminus of the canal in Egypt. To prep for this undertaking, Barry Moreno, author of multiple books about the statue, writes that Bartholdi studied art like the Colossus, honing the concept for a figure called Libertas who would stand at the canal. “Taking the form of a veiled peasant woman,” writes Moreno, “the statue was to stand 86 feet high, and its pedestal was to rise to a height of 48 feet.” Early models of the statue were called “Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia. Edward Berenson, author of Statue of Liberty: A Translatlantic Story, writes that Bartholdi’s concept morphed from “a gigantic female fellah, or Arab peasant” into “a colossal goddess.“

Source: The Statue of Liberty Was Originally a Muslim Woman

“And that monument was going to be a woman in the southern opening of the canal holding up a torch over her head and that woman was dressed in Arab peasant garb,” Berenson says. But when the ruler of Egypt, Khedewi Ismail Pasha, went bankrupt, the colossal Suez sculpture project was jettisoned. But the artist soon found a way to recycle his design. “A couple of years earlier, Bartholdi and his friends decided they were going to give a gift to the United States that was going to celebrate the centennial of the American Revolution,” Berenson explains. “And then, Bartholdi thought, ‘Ah! I’ve got a great idea! I can reuse this image but change it to fit the American Revolution.’” “Bartholdi changed the woman that was originally dressed in Arab garb into a Greco-Roman goddess of liberty. And the Statue of Liberty, as we know her today, was born.”

Source: The Statue of Liberty was modeled after an Arab woman Sarah BirnbaumGlobalPost

This early rendering of “Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia” features a peasant woman and has a strong resemblance to the Statue of Liberty.

“French designer Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s inspiration for the Statue of Liberty has been fairly well documented throughout history. Bartholdi’s first inspiration was a 110-foot statue of the Greek sun god Helios, commonly known as the “Colossus of Rhodes.” Author Barry Moreno writes in his book, “The Statue of Liberty,” that, “The Colossus of Rhodes influenced Bartholdi’s bold plans for the statue of Libertas. Like Helios, Libertas would stand at the entrance to a harbour, would hold aloft a lamp, and would have upon her head a nimbus (in the form of a spiked halo). But Helios stood only 110 feet high, while Libertas was to rise to a height of 151 feet 1 inch.”  

Makers: Frederic Auguste Bartholdi designed the Statue of Liberty. Getty Images

 

But the Colossus of Rhodes was also the inspiration for a previous statue that Bartholdi designed for a lighthouse at the approach of the Suez Canal: the Arab peasant woman. Moreno writes: “Auguste Bartholdi’s first important venture into modeling a great monument in the tradition of the Colossus of Rhodes was called Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia. In 1867, the sculptor proposed building this colossus for the reigning Egyptian khedive, Isma’il Pasha. Taking the form a veiled Egyptian peasant woman, the statue was to stand 86 feet high, and its pedestal was to rise to a height of 48 feet. Fearing it would incur too great an expense, Isma’il Pasha rejected the offer in 1869. “

Source: The Statue of Liberty Was Inspired by an Arab Woman or Muslim Woman-Truth! & Fiction!

Gustave Eiffel (the famous builder of the Eiffel tower, right) constructed the monument in New York harbor as a gift from the French people to the United States on the nation’s centennial

“According to the book The Statue of Liberty: A Transatlantic Story (Yale University Press, 2012), by New York University history professor Edward Berenson, the Egyptians rejected Bartholdi’s design, opting for a more cost-effective proposal.”

Source: Was the Inspiration for the Statue of Liberty a Muslim Woman?

Goddess Ishtar

Ishtar: “Goddess of Liberty and Personal Freedom. Ishtar was introduced to the Greeks as Astarte through the Phoenicians. We can see that the lineage of the Greek and Roman goddess of the planet Venus goes all the way back to ancient Babylon of around 3,000 BC.” “We know of Libertas being referred to as the Mother of Harlots by the famous Roman historian (and senator) Cicero’s writings. Cicero indicates that she was also a very early goddess of the Greeks even before early Roman civilization developed. Upon further investigation, we find that the Greeks had acquired knowledge of this being from previous empires in the Middle East and Egypt. This goddess was called Ashtoreth in Hebrew and in the Old Testament’s Greek version (the Septuagint). Ashtoreth becomes transliterated into the Greek as Astarte, which became the early Greek name for the goddess until it was later changed to Aphrodite. The Hebrew term Ashtoreth was itself a transliteration from the Babylonian dialect (Akkadian) term of Ishtar. Ishtar in the most ancient times was also referred to by the Sumerian dialect as Inanna or Ninanna meaning the Queen of Heaven or Lady of Heaven. In Canaan, this deity was called Ashtaroth. The Hittites called her Shaushka. The Phoenicians on Cypress initially referred to her as Astarte.”

“Isis was the name the Egyptians gave to her. This is how the goddess became introduced to the earliest Greeks. We know this transformation in part due to the written texts found by archaeologists plus from studying the character traits and descriptions. For instance, all these deities were actually just one goddess and she was associated with the planet Venus. Most had phonetic language roots in the transliterating aspects of the name Ishtar and this remained so until the Greeks changed the name to Aphrodite. Later the Romans referred to her in the Latin, initially as Libertas and later as Venus when they accepted more than just the Liberty doctrines.”

The Crown of 7 Spikes: “This symbol was to represent the enlightenment of the Babylonian sun god Shamesh/Utu. The idea was that this sun god’s occultic illumination could be focused by each of the 7 spikes of the crown. Each spike would flash this occultic enlightenment to each of the 7 “horas” or large landmasses of the world. In other words, the each spike would flash occultic enlightenment to a continent on planet earth. Each of the 7 spikes would then be representative of one of the 7 large landmasses or continents of the world.”

 The Tablets: “A common misconception is that the tablets represent the 10 Commandments that God gave to Moses. This is not true. The tablets are engraved only with the Roman numerals standing for July 4th, 1776. According to the preeminent Statue Historian, Marvin Trachtenberg in his book “The Statue of Liberty” the tablets represented a generic notion of the concept of law. This should not be confused with the Laws of Moses.”

Source: Is There An Ancient Secret Connection Between The Statue Of Liberty And The Anunnaki Goddess Inanna?

“Less well-known, however, is the direct ancient Egyptian connection between the colossus and the New York statue. The independence that Rhodes celebrated with the erection of the colossus had been gained only by the critical intervention in 304 bc of ships belonging to Ptolemy I, a former general of Alexander the Great and founder of the Egyptian dynasty that would last until the death of Cleopatra (VII) the Great. Ptolemy’s forces dispersed the siege of Rhodes begun in 305 bc by armies loyal to Antigonus I, a rival, former general of Alexander. Following the withdrawal of the enemy troops, Rhodes seized and sold their abandoned weapons and thus financed the harbor monument. Although it is the torch of liberty that is highlighted in both Greek and English dedication texts, the numerous green foam crowns sold to New York tourists indicate clearly that the most iconic aspect of the Statue of Liberty is her crown of solar rays, a feature typically restored in images of the lost colossus as well. Here again, there is a direct Egyptian connection, as Ptolemaic kings represented themselves as Helios on earth. In antiquity, the crown given to Liberty in New York was worn more prominently by Ptolemy III on his official coinage. Bartholdi’s statue has been intended originally for Port Said beside the Suez Canal (see over). The placement in Egypt would have been quite logical.”

Source: The Statue of Liberty and its ties to the Middle East

 

An Inquiry into the distinctive characteristics of the Aboriginal Race of America By Samuel George Morton, M. D.,

“A portion of the Moorish population of Africa is very mixed race of Arabs, Berbers, Negroes, &c  (Page. 6)”

“The observations of Molina and Humboldt are sometimes quoted in disproof of this pervading uniformity of physical characters. Molina says that the difference between an inhabitant of Chili and Peruvian is not less than between an Italian and German; to which Humboldt adds, that the American race contains nations whose features differ as essentially from one another as those of the Circassians, Moors and Persians. But all these people are of one and the same race, and readily recognized as such, not withstanding their differences of feature and complexion;* and the American nations present precisely parallel case.” (Page. 6)

“No stronger example need be adduced than that which presents itself in the great Arabian family; for the Saracens who established their kingdom in Spain, whose history is replete with romance and refinement, whose colleges were the centres of genius and learning for several centuries, and whose arts and sciences have been blended with those of every subsequent age;—these very Saracens belong not only to the same race but to the same family with the Bedouins of the desert; those intractable barbarians who scorn all restraints which are not imposed by their own chief, and whose immemorial laws forbid them to sow corn, to plant fruit-trees, or to build houses, in order that nothing may conflict with those roving and predatory habits which have continued unaltered through period of three thousand years.” (Page. 15)

“The Egyptian form differs from the Pelasgic in having narrower and more receding forehead, while the face being more prominent, the facial angle is consequently less. The nose is straight or aquiline, the face angular, the features often sharp, and the hair uniformly long, soft, and curling. In this series of crania include many of which the conformation is not appreciably different from that of the Arab and Hindoo; but have not, as rule, attempted to note these distinctions, although they are so marked as to have induced me, in the early stage of the investigation, and for reasons which will appear in the sequel, to group them, together with the proper Egyptian form, under the provisional name of Austral Egyptian crania.” (Page. 46)

NEGRO RACE

“The true Negro conformation requires no comment; but it is necessary to observe that practised eye readily detects few heads with decidedly mixed characters, in which those of the Negro predominate. For these propose the name of Negroid crania for while the osteological development is more or less that of the Negro, the hair is long but sometimes harsh, thus indicating that combination of features which is familiar in the mulatto grades of the present day. It is proper, however, to remark in relation to the whole ‘series of crania, that while the greater part is readily referable to some one of the above subdivisions, there remain few other examples in which the Caucasian traits predominate, but are partially blended with those of the Negro, which last modify both the structure and expression of the head and face.” (Page.46)

Source: An Inquiry into the distinctive characteristics of the Aboriginal Race of America 

The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam By David M. Goldenberg

 

Note too that the early Arab (not African) leader ‘Ubada inb al-Samit is described as a black (aswad) man, and consider the expression used by the Arabic writers to mean “non Arabs and Arabs” (i.e., the whole world), al-ahmar wa’l-aswad, “the red and the black” respectively. Similarly the explanation of al-Jahiz, which he puts in the mouths of the Zanj (black Africans): “The Arabs belong with us not with the whites, because their color is nearer to ours… For the Prophet, God bless and save him, said, ‘I was sent to the red and the black,’ and everyone knows that the Arabs are not red.” Jahiz concludes: “Our blackness, O people of the Zanj, is not different from the blackness of the Banu Sulaym and other Arab tribes. We can add several other authors including those who use the term in the context of Ham’s curse of dark skin.

Ka’b al-Ahbar (d. ca. 652), a Jewish Yemeni convert to Islam, spoke of the cursed descendants of Ham “begetting black [aswadayn] male and female children until they multiplied and spread along the shore. Among them are the Nubians [nuba], the Negroes [zanj], the Barbars [brb], the Sindhis [sind], the Indians [hind] and all the blacks [sudan]: they are the children of Ham. We saw earlier that Wahb inbn Munabbih (d. ca. 73), “a celebrated authority on the traditions of the ahl al-kitab,” reported that God “changed [Ham’s] color and the color of his descendants in response to his father’s curse,” and that Ham’s descendants are Kush, Canaan, and Fut; Fut Fut’s descendants are the Indians; and Kush and Canaan’s descendants are the various races of blacks [sudan]: Nubians, Zanj, Qaran, Zaghawa, Ethiopians, Copts and Barbar. In another source Wahb is reported to have said that Canaan’s descendants were the blacks [al-aswid], Nubians [nuba], Fezzan [Fazzan], Zanj [zanj], Zaghawah [zaghawa], and all the peoples of the Sudan [sudan]. The Akhbar al zaman counts “among the descendants of Sudan, son of Kan’an…the Ishban, the Zanj, and many peoples that multiplied in the Maghrib, about 70 of then.

Clearly, the rabbinic story of sex in the ark is an etiology that is meant to account for the existence of all dark skinned people, not just the Black African. Although, to the best of my knowledge, rabbinic literature does not mention the skin color of the Putites and Canaanites, who descended from Ham, it does refer to the dark skin of Ham’s other descendant, the Egyptians. In the next chapter, we will see two examples of Egyptians referred to as Kushites because of their dark skin color. (107)

Archaeological and epigraphic (South Arabian) evidence in East Africa indicates that already in the early first millennium B.C.E. there were strong trade contracts between East Africa and Arabia. Similarly, “topographical names with Sabean foundations testify.. to the relations between ancient Yemen and Abyssinia. The anonymous author of the Periplus says that in his time a significant part of the East African coast (“Azania” was subject to the kingdom of Arabia “by ancient right” and that Arab traders “through continual intercourse and intermarriage, are familiar with the area and its language. Lewicki notes that the name Azania itself indicates the existence of South Arabian traders in East Africa, “many centuries BC,” for the name is a Greek transcription of the Arabic name Ajam. In light of the evidence from the Greek and Latin texts of a slave trade in black Africans during the first six centuries of the Common Era, it is likely that these trad contacts between Africa and Arabia included slaves.

Another reflection of biblical imagery may be indicated in the midrashic play on the Arabic word Kuwayyis to describe the Kushites as particularly handsome people. (195)

Source: The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam By David M. Goldenberg

Original Arabs and Strabo’s Geography of Ancient Arabia

Dana Reynolds-Marniche posted on Facebook the following information demonstrating the fact that many laymen are simply not aware of in relation to the “Moors” and the “original Arabs“.

Professor Marniche addressed their part in bringing the Renaissance and Islam to Europe and how they have been written out of history and how an individual on Facebook contended “near black Arabs” found on Blogspot and other sites have been “Arabized”. I am familiar with this type of application of the term “Arabized”, in my recollection it is often used in the same manner within the Black Power or House of Consciousness communities and their train of thought on the subject.

This line of thought among “African (Black) Americans” is rather “White Supremacist” in nature  and a testament to their ignorance as to their own history. Obviously, the resolve of the “White Supremacist” governed educational institutions, along with our failure to make fact-checking a standard operating procedure. Many of us are accustomed to parroting information we have come across, with authenticating that information.

Nonetheless, Professor Marniche shared the fact that Arabia was essentially a part of Africa. 2000 years ago, and vice versa. The “African American” or “Black” individual didn’t want to accept that historical fact, nor additional fact Professor Marniche provided regarding “Strabo” and “Diodorus” and other ancient’s who identified everything East of the Nile as  “Arabia” which was due to the fact that there was no difference in the populations in that period.

Citing Dana Reynolds-Marniche:

“The country between the Nile and the Arabian Gulf is Arabia, and at its extremity is situated Pelusium. But the whole is desert, and not passable by an army… [22]”

Strabo 17.1

CHAPTER I.

 

“WHEN we were describing Arabia, we included in the description the gulfs which compress and make it a peninsula, namely the Gulfs of Arabia and of Persis. We described at the same time some parts of Egypt, and those of Ethiopia, inhabited by the Troglodytæ, and by the people situated next to them, extending to the confines of the Cinnamon country.”  (Dana Reynolds-Marniche Quoting Strabo Book 17.1)

 

“Most African Americans have a stereotype of an Arab in their head through years of brainwashing. In the World History class, I was “teaching” the book had no Arabs of color in it nor Arabians in the chapters on Islam. So, I put some of the photos on this page up in the room of the earliest Arabs and Berbers (or what were called Moors) and also had some of the kids make a mural of the Gurunsi home of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) with ancient Saharan Moorish motif (see below).”

 

 “The only black people I saw in this World History book were people of the Nok culture in Nigeria. lol! Not that there was anything wrong about the Nok but, this is just what I’m talking about. The suggestion that the original Muslims and Semitic-speakers and culture were not the same people that are now in black Africa [Sub-Saharan Africa] is completely inaccurate and yet that is being promoted by Egyptologists like the one I met at the University of Pennsylvania when Zahi was there lecturing. The curator is responsible for the sculpture of Tut that looks rather more Armenian than the African son or grandson of Tiye he was.”

“The modern Middle East had very little to do with ancient Arabs i.e. Arabians, except that the Yarabof the Qahtan actually fought against the Assyrians centuries after an earlier wave had brought the Akkadian and Amorite (Thamudic-Nabataean-Phoenician) dialects to Babylon. The Assyrians who in the era of Sargon and Shalmanezzar were essentially neither “red” nor “black”, because their ancestors were both non-black Kurds or “Guti” indigenous to the Zagros and the early Semites i.e. the blacks ancestral to Nabataeans, Sulaym-Solymi and the like. They attacked the Yemenites in the days of Jeremiah who fled to the Hijaz. The earliest Assyrians, however, were the Akkadians and were Afro-Asiatic like the most ancient Arabians, Moors, Ghawrani (people of the Jordan Valley) and Egyptians, etc.”

“….dealing with the Hebraic and Canaanite origins of the Berbers, i.e. the original Zaghai/Soninke/Kanuri and Tuareg peoples.”

“In detail, we would talk about how the knowledge got lost, and things like the evidence for the movement across Africa, and the new research or discoveries that are proving these Africans didn’t just make up a Yemenite i.e. Canaanite origin for themselves based on Arabic or Islamic sources. We would also discuss the affinity, connections and identity of African, Canaanite, Sabaean and Indic pantheons, mythologies or deities and their link to the names of the so-called Prophets of the book of Genesis.”

“Beni Ka’ab tribe – were from the Beni Amer b. Zaza’a who settled in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. From them were the al-Muntafiq and Uqayl – rulers of southern Mesopotamia up until the 17th century. They were the so called “Ishmaelites’ or northern Arabs of Mudar and Adnan. When I first posted about the Ka’ab Arabs on Africaresource site I couldn’t find a photo of the Ka’b who were described by Rawlinson as of the color of Ethiopians or “Abyssinians”.

“Below are photos of Ka’b tribal chiefs. Here are excerpts from that post on the “Ka’b Bin Rabia bin Amir bin Sa’sa’ah: Settlements in Arabia”

“In 1881 G. Rawlinson wrote, “The Cha’ab Arabs, the present possessors of the more southern parts of Babylonia are nearly black and the ‘black Syrians’ of whom Strabo speaks seem to represent the Babylonians.” From The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World: Or, The History, Geography, and Antiquities of Chaldea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, and Persia, Vol. II”

“Elsewhere, Rawlinson refers to the Ka’b of the Banu Amir and their sub-tribe of Montefik (or the al-Muntafiq bin Uqayl bin Ka’b) as having the complexion similar to that of “Abyssinians” and “Galla” Ethiopians. from Vol. 1 of The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient World: Or, The History, Geography, and Antiquities of Chaldea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Perisa parthia and Sassanian or new Persian Empire. , Vol. 1 (07) p.35.”

“Having left the Hejaz of Western Arabia before the Christian era, many of the tribes of of the Hawazin were domiciled in Central Arabia (the Nejd) with a stronghold in Yemamah at the time of the Prophet. After taking up the banner of Islam the tribe of Ka’ab bin Rabia, a son of Beni Amir bin Za’za’ah, and Ka’ab’s descendants, Uqayl bin Kaab, Muntafiq bin Uqayl bin Kaab (to whom belonged the tribe Khuza’il), Jada’ah bin Ka’ab, Kilab and Kulaib bin Ka’b, Al Harish bin Ka’b and their sub-clans left the southwest of Yemamah (north of the Rub al Khali) around the 8th-9th century and headed for Iraq and Syria in support of other Arabian followers of Mohammed who had settled those countries.”

“The further one goes back in the Yemen the more African the sculptures look as with this figurine from the 6th century BC.”

“This is a painting of the 12th century Constantine Manasses Chronicle with miniatures scanned of the 14th century manuscript (from Vatican: Cod. Vaticanus, slav. II – from Bulgarski hudojnik” Publishing house, Sofia, 1962) – supposedly showing Persians being invaded by Byzantines under emperor Heraclius who lived during the time of Khalid ibn Walid, the invader of Sassanid Persia. Heraclius is said to have used a large contingent of Christian Arabs and the men thus depicted here are likely still Arabs but Christian Arabs of which there were many in pre-Mohammedan times in Syria. At the Battle of Firaz, the Rashidun Arabs (15,000 men) under Khalid ibn al-Walid defeat the combined forces of the Byzantine Empire, Persian Empire and Arab Christians (at least 10 times larger than Khalid’s army) in Mesopotamia (Iraq).[20]”

“Heraclius and his Arab, neo Roman and Frank troops fought against the Muslim expansion taking place under Khalid. “After the devastating blow to the Sassanid Persians at Firaz, the Muslim Arab forces, under the command of Khalid ibn al-Walid, took on the army of the Christian Byzantine Empire at Yarmouk near the border of modern-day Syria and Jordan. The major battle was to continue for six days. After the victory at Firaz, Khalid had virtually conquered Mesopotamia. Seeking to halt Muslim expansion, the Byzantines rallied all available forces. Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, the victor of Nineveh, allied himself with the Sassanids, the two empires seeking to pool their depleted resources to stop the Arab advance.” Khalid al Walid was the Prophet’s cousin. Also known as” the drawn sword of Allah.”- described as black -skinned. His con quest lead to the rise of the dynasty of the four “rightly guided caliphs. This was during the Rashidun caliphate (Kalifah ar- Rasidah) – 7th century The ancient indigenous people of Yarmouk were also Canaani and Nabataean in or origin, which is why you see dark brown and black people in the painting).”

“They were under the rule of the Byzantines or neo-Romans, until the armies of the Prophet’s kin came and changed everything. “In its time, the Rashidun army was one of the most powerful and effective military forces in the world. The size of the Rashidun army was initially 13,000 troops in 632, but as the Caliphate expanded, the army gradually grew to 100,000 troops by 657. The two most successful generals of the Rashidun army were Khalid ibn al-Walid, who conquered Persian Mesopotamia and conquered Roman Syria, and ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, who conquered Roman Egypt.” Today the black army of Yarmouk still call themselves Jaysh Khalid ibn al-Walid. Their ancestors were the men that converted many of the people of the Near East and Central Asia to Islam.”

“Of the sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites: and Machir begat Gilead: of Gilead come the family of the Gileadites. These are the sons of Gilead…  Numbers 26:29

“The al-Makhārim or Makharib[1] in the southern Nejd of Central Arabia are part of the Farjan Division of the al Hasan Dawasir (Kupershoek, (pp. 45, 84, and 211; Lorimer, 1908, p. 394).    They may have been the same as seem to have been called “Makhar”, “Makhir” in Yemen. Al-Makir is a place in Sana’a in Yemen, and there is an al-Manasseh in the area of eastern Yemen. (In fact, the name of the tribe of Farjan is found as “Faraj” in Yemen.) The tribes of Mansur and Manase’ir are found in Yemen, in southern Nejd and in Oman (Winder, R. Bayly, 2015, p. 150; Philby, Harry, St. John, 1923, p. 48; Hamza, Fu’ad,  p. 33). “

“The people across the sea on the coast of Somalia calling themselves Macherten or Majeerten named the area the coast of Makhir or Makhar of Somalia. In addition, the Makhir coast is mentioned in connection with area of Galadi or Geledi after the Somali clan name on the border between Somalia and Ethiopia by European colonialists and according to one 19th century account, “some of the Mahra tribe who occupy the opposite Arabian coast have a tradition that the Somal are descended from them and call them Beni Am or cousins” (Hunter, F. M., 1877, p. 158). The real reason for why they are called Beni Am may have been lost in translation, however, when one notes that the father of one biblical “Machir” is named “Ammi-el”, from the tribe of Dan.[2]“

“These Galadi of Somalia belong to the Rahawayn (or Rahanwayn) tribe of the “Samaal” (Somalis), whose name is strikingly like and may be connected with the Al-Rahawiyyin, branch of Madhhij (Haykal, Muhammad, 1976, p. 456) across the sea in Yemen.”

“The Mahra, themselves, are in certain sources from Qudā’a and Hamdan, and mentioned in ancient inscriptions.  They are traditionally thought to have come from the al-Hayf or  Ba’al-Haf of Yemen (considered to be associated with the ancient Haiapa in “Samaria” of Assyrian record and by Orientalists “Ephah” of Midian) (still in Yemen), who derive from the ancient Hamdan, mentioned in Sabaean inscriptions (Irfan, Shahid, 1989, p. 344; ). They are thus closely related to the Maddhij, from whom came Ash’ar or “al Ash’arayn” and the Tayy.”

“Thus it would appear that, along with Jokshan (Ghassān), the Midianites “descendants of Keturah” – Al-Kathira, Asherites -Ash’ar, Caleb – Kalb, and Jephunah – Jufayneh, the descendants of Manasseh “son of Joseph”,or Manase’ir or Machir or Makhir “son of Manasseh”, Galadi – Galad/Gilead, “son of Machir”, and perhaps “Ammi’el” –seem to have been just a few of the numerous people with Israelite connections in the southern Yemenite  region at an early period.”[3]

“In fact, at this juncture one can point to the “Kedem” or “Kadmonites” – ancient and modern Qudman, possibly named for Dhu Yaqdam b. Sawar (Robin, Christian, 2008, p. 282). In the land of the Kadmonites, the biblical Abraham settled the children of “Keturah”. The Qudman or Qidman of Yemen who are also found today as far north as the Huwaytat al- Tihama, were among the early settlers of Moqadishu in Somalia (Hamza, F., p. 21; Chittick, Neville, 1982, p. 52).”[4]

“As shown, due to the ancient movement of groups from the Yemen northward over thousands of years there tends to be a noticeable similarity between the names of groups further north in the Hijaz and Tihama extending to the Yemen.  Many bear resemblances to those of the biblical people of “Judah”, which include those that appear as descendants of “Manasseh” and “Salma”. The problem is that these names, which are very numerous, also belong to clans or tribes that, according to documented history and tradition, have come from further south, ultimately originating in the Yemen, rather than from the Levant.”

[1]  See p. 1908 of Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Vol. II, Geographical and Statistical by John G. Lorimer, which says the Makharim Dawasir are also called Makharib, p. 394.

[2] “Machir, son of Ammiel was the name of a descendant of the Machir …, who resided at Lo-Debar” There is a town Dabar in Yemen in the Hajji region. The name “Ammiel” is said to mean kinsmen of El or God.

[3] “Machir, son of Ammiel was the name of a descendant of the Machir …, who resided at Lo-Debar” There is a town Dabar in Yemen in the Hajji region. The name “Ammiel” is said to mean cousins or kinsmen of El or God. And the Makhir coast is also known as Debir. According to an early observer, the eastern and western parts of the Somalia are “are known and by the Arabs as ‘ Makhar ‘ and ‘ Dabir ‘ respectively.” See Frederick Mercer Hunter’s, An Account of British Settlement of Aden in Arabia. 1877, London: Trubner and Co.

[4]  See Medieval Mogadishu p. 52  “the people of Mogadishu formed a federation of Five tribes, of thirty-nine clans; of these tribes the dominant one in the religious and judicial field was the Qahtani (Maqarri, who eventually became known by the Somali term Rer Faqi), who dispute with the Qudman (Afifi) the honour of being the first immigrants.  The federation was governed by a council of elders of these five tribes.” Neville Chittick, 1982.  ‘Afif remains the name of a tribe and dynasty in modern Yemen (See p. 14, of M. C. Lake’s South-West Arabia, op. cit.)

Source: The African and Arabian Origin of the Hebrew Bible: Exegesis in Light of Inscriptions, Folkloric History and Early Ethnography of the Arabian Peninsula (Book Excerpt)

 

“…let is suffice to say, that nearly certain ground exist for the belief that the original Moors were Arabians. In confirmation of this impression, we find that, during every period of the existence of their race, the descendants of the primitive inhabitants of Mauritania have, like the Arabs, been divided into distinct tribes, and, like them, have pursued a wild and wandering modern of existence.”

Source: History of the Moors of Spain By M. Florian

Source: The Moors in Spain: A Wonderful Chapter of the World’s Civilization, Great By Florian

 

Zaghawa and Sadrata Berbers ruled Kanem in 900 A.D.

These regions have since the eighth century A.D. been a stronghold of Moslem unorthodoxy–a remote area where the Zenatian Berber tribes, who embraced the doctrines of the Kharijites or “seceders” from the Khalif Ali at the battle of Siffin, have been able to maintain even to present day a distinctive social organization.

It would appear, for instance, from the geographer Yacubi, A.D. 891, that the “fathers” of the medieval slave trade between Chad region and the Mediterranean were merchants from Basra and Kufa and Khorasan–Wahabites–who settled in Southern Fezzan.

Hence, no doubt, the reason why the Tomagheri Teda are commonly called by Bornu writers, “Beni Wahba,” and why in Bornu itself the leading hierarchs were called, as among the M’zab, “Tolba.”

From Edrisi we learn that the Zaghawa Berbers (who towards A.D.900 ruled Kanem) were fused and influenced by other Berbers called “Sadrata.” From Dr. Mercier’s work it seems fairly clear that the word “Sadrata,” hitherto unexplained and the reading even doubted, were Kharijite Berbers of the Wargla region, who, owing to one or other of the constant schisms, had gone south and settled among the Zaghawa of Kanem.

Source: Journal of the African Society, Volume 22 By African Society