# The First Muslim Cowboys? | Imam Khalil Salaam

**Author:** Yaqeen Institute
**Series:** The Story of Islam in America
**Published:** 2025-09-29
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/bcgsG_ga_KY
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/story-of-islam-in-america/the-first-muslim-cowboys-imam-khalil-salaam-philadelphia
**Topics:** History

## Description
The Prophet ﷺ said that goodness is tied to horses until the Day of Judgment. The Muslims in Philadelphia embodied this sunnah not just by owning horses of their own, but marching proudly in horse shows while sporting traditional Islamic dress. They owned their religion and proudly stood out where...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** We're not cowboys. We're Muslim horsemen. Philly is a horse city, but I don't know if you've seen that movie, the Concrete Cowboy movie that came out. It was like a story about the Philadelphia Cowboys, but it didn't depict the reality that the Muslims played in that.

**[0:26]** Brother Jamil (رحمه الله), my father, they played a key role in that. They had a barn and they always made it clear, they used to say, we're Muslim horsemen, we're not cowboys.

**[0:41]** So they always tell a story about a neighborhood parade type horse show that all the people that rode horses was going and they was expecting them all to get dazzled up, get the nice hats and get all the nice stuff. And everybody was expecting them to show up with the best cowboy stuff on.

**[0:57]** So one of Imam Asim (رحمه الله), one of his wives was a seamstress. So behind the scenes, she's sewing them up, these like Arabian looking tassels on a horse to match their gutras and everything. It's a picture, I got to get you this picture, if I can see the picture. It's a picture with them three on the horses with the kameez on and a turban's wrap.

**[1:21]** When they pulled up to the parade, people were looking at them trying to figure out what is y'all doing, you know? And they just made it clear like we're not technically cowboys, we're horsemen. Stuff like that. The Steele brothers, that was a part that owned horses that actually teach horsemanship to the youth.

**[1:38]** And as a young brother, we didn't know the value in it. I had two horses and I got into horses because of them. I thought they was in the horses just because they just decided to like horses, but they had an intention that this was a Sunnah hobby. This was something that the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) and his companions, they rode horses and they advise in various ahadith.

**[1:58]** Then one day I remember coming across that hadith that says that goodness is tied to horses until Yawm al-Qiyamah. And then there's another one that references the blessings in grooming a horse. And it talks about some of the forelocks, right? And I remember asking Imam Asim about that one day.

**[2:17]** And I said, why you never talk about the blessings in horsemanship and archery and the stuff that y'all do? And he's like, well, I thought you know that. Like, I thought y'all would know that. Like, that goes without saying. Like, that's why we did it. We wasn't doing it. We wasn't doing these things just to do it. So that's still living on. The horsemanship is still living on. The archery part is still living on.

**[2:35]** We got a group of brothers that hunt every year with a bow and arrow that we all learned from Shaykh Mokhtar (رحمه الله), who taught Imam Asim and Brother Rashad, all of them guys, archery from scratch. Now we have professional archers and hunters in our mix.

**[2:50]** And these are things that they established back then, you know. So alhamdulillah, it's a good thing that we can continue it.

**[3:05]** Alhamdulillah.

## Other Episodes in "The Story of Islam in America"
- [I’ve Been In Hijab Since I Was 4 Years Old | Sr. Aliya Khabir](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/story-of-islam-in-america/ive-been-in-hijab-since-i-was-four-years-old-aliya-khabir.md)
- [Was This The First Muslim Town In America?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/story-of-islam-in-america/was-this-the-first-muslim-town-in-america-philadelphia-sizzle-reel.md)