The Arabs did plenty of open sea travel in the Indian Ocean. It's
simply a question of incentive, say the severe disruption of the
caravan routes to West Africa, forcing merchants to look towards a
marine route instead.
Bypassing the caravan trade and the muslim middlemen is what drove the
Portugese to venture down the coast and they were rewarded with gold
and slaves. If the arabs had done so, and established bases in the
Canaries and Cape Verde, it would only be a matter of time before
somebody was blown westward towards the americas or somebody having the
"brilliant" idea to head west in search of the indies.
Of course once word gets out, especially about gold, both Spain and
Portugal would mount their own expeditions and the battle in Al-Andalus
would be extended to the new world.
As to a European Islam with wine and pork, the chances of that are
close to nil. The muslim ruling class might tolerate them (especially
the wine) but there no way they could be legitimized.
An American Islam (assuming it gets the upper hand in the new world)
WOULD likely be different, but only in that it would be less rigid and
more individualistic being away for the old centers of power of
tradition.
Zeyd
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