This article is based on information from Dr. Umar F. Abd-Allah’s biography, “A Muslim in Victorian America: The Life of Alexander Russell Webb”. 

            The story of Alexander Russell Webb, an early American convert to Islam, is only beginning to come to the attention of American Muslims. We can benefit greatly by studying his life and take comfort in his example and early work in dawah. He was endlessly committed to Islam and to preaching the message of Islam in America, but he considered himself a “plain American citizen”. He did not see his religion or his acceptance of Islam as extraordinary; he believed that he was able to accept Islam earlier than his fellow countrymen simply because he had the benefit of understanding it sooner. He never saw himself at odds with the American people or culture, and his contemporaries took a keen and kindly interest in Webb and his work. He believed that the best characteristics of Americans would eventually lead them to accept Islam. “I have faith in the American intellect,” he said, “in the American intelligence, and in the American love of fair play, and will defy any intelligent man to understand Islam and not love it.”

            Alexander Russell Webb was born in 1846 in upstate New York. His life spanned the Civil War, the abolition of slavery, Reconstruction, the invention of the telephone and its rise to popularity, the invention of the automobile, and the beginning of World War I. He worked as a jeweler, a journalist, an editor, the American Consul to the Philippines, the manager of an Islamic mission to the United States and Honorary Turkish Consul General in New York. He traveled through the Philippines, Singapore, much of India, and Turkey during his lifetime. Although his business endeavors were never very financially successful, he remained hopeful and politically active throughout his varied career.

            Webb’s conversion to Islam followed a long period of inquiry into many religions. He rejected Christianity first, saying later that the concept of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) never sat well with him. He went through a period of materialism, during which he didn’t search for a religious alternative. During his thirties, however, while he was working as a reporter in St. Louis, he spent hours every day reading books on spirituality and religion. He was an eager searcher and was eager to identify the truth. He wrote, “God, who can read all hearts, knows that I am seeking for the truth, that I am ready and eager to embrace it wherever I can find it.” Webb turned his attention to Eastern religions, beginning with Buddhism. Though he left Buddhism, he remained curious about it and the other Eastern religions throughout his life. He then encountered Theosophy, a spiritual movement in the 19^th century devoted to the universal brotherhood of humanity and the underlying universal message of all world religions. Webb was ultimately attracted to Islam in part because of the same message of brotherhood and equality among all humankind. He converted to Islam after studying the creed and finding its simplicity and lack of self-contradiction very compelling, but he never cut his ties with the Theosophists. He remained active in the Theosophical Society even after his conversion to Islam, and never saw a contradiction between the Theosophical creed and Islam.[1] *

            Webb took his position as American Consul in the Philippines from 1888 to 1892 largely to aid him in his spiritual search. He felt that living in an Eastern society would aid his pursuit of Eastern spiritual wisdom. While in Manila, Webb had access to Indian Islamic newspapers written in English, and exchanged letters with some notable Indian Muslim scholars. His first steps towards Islam were while he and his family were in the Philippines, and he, his wife and children embraced the faith while there. He wrote to his Muslim friends in India that he was convinced that Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, brought the truth, but for a time he doubted that the message of Islam was different than other religions. At the same time, he was eager to share his newfound love of Islam with his fellow countrymen. He wrote, “I have been led to believe….that many others taught the truth, that we should, however, worship God and not men. If I could only know what Mohammed really taught that was superior to the teachings of others, I could then be in a position to defend and promulgate the Mohammedan religion above all others.”

            Webb’s conversion and correspondence with Muslims (he did not know any in Manila) quickly gave rise to the idea that he might become very active in dawah after returning to the United States. His friends visited him in Manila to urge him to come to India for a tour after leaving his post in Manila, in the hopes that speaking engagements for “The Yankee Mohammedan” would raise funds for an American Islamic Mission. Webb assented quickly.

            Webb’s tour of India was both eye-opening and frustrating for him. The climate and rigorous schedule of his tour, combined with significant culture shock, kept him quite homesick for his family. He loved, however, admiring the great artistic and cultural achievements of the Indians. He also gave many speeches throughout his tour, giving him ample practice for speeches he would give in America later on. The Indian and American press paid close attention to his tour, and he gained fame in America for his conversion and his travels well before his return home. After six tiring but rewarding months, Webb returned to New York City to found his mission with the promise of five years of financial support from his Indian friends and supporters.

            The high point of Webb’s fame was his participation in the First World’s Parliament of Religions at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. He was the only convert and only practicing Muslim present at the Parliament. The other presenters for Islam had experience in Muslim lands but were either Christian or Jewish themselves. Webb’s presentation was met with interest and applause. “The day of blind belief has passed away,” he said, “Intelligent humanity wants a reason for every belief, and I say that spirit is commendable and should be encouraged wherever it goes, and that is one of the prominent features of the spirit of Islam.” He encouraged his listeners to approach Islam with an open mind and to un-learn their prejudices against Islam and Muslims. He also asked his audiences not to measure Islam, or any religion, by the actions of its misguided members.

            He returned to New York and opened an opulent building for his mission. He rented all four stories of a handsome downtown location and set to work on his speeches and publications. He left an entire floor for foreign scholars he hoped would visit the mission and teach, but who never came. He published a weekly and monthly newspaper, but subscriptions did not bring in enough money to support it completely. His financial supporters abroad, for reasons unknown, were unable to give him the money he was promised, and his newspapers are full of requests for support from his brothers and sisters abroad. Webb gave speeches throughout the country and in New York, but often found them interrupted by his opponents when he held them at the mission’s building. The mission quickly sank into financial ruin, and some employees accused him of hoarding money and mismanagement. The New York Times and others picked up the scandal, and the ruin of the mission was sealed. Later, a reporter found Webb living in poverty and obscurity with his family in upstate New York, and cleared his name, but it was too late. Webb continued to publish the monthly newspaper with the help of his son, and he published pamphlets on Turkey for the Ottomans, but the mission never recovered.

            Webb moved to Rutherford, New Jersey and bought a newspaper. He sold it a few years later and in1901 he was appointed Honorary Turkish Consul General to New York and visited Turkey. Upon his return to the US, he became active in local politics. His name was nominated for US Congress, but he withdrew it in favor of another candidate. He was on Rutherford’s Board of Education for two consecutive terms, served as district clerk, and served as foreman of the Bergen County Grand Jury in 1912.  He was also president of the county’s Democratic Campaign Club. He was an active member of the Knights of Pythias in New Jersey, a society for the promotion of peace and understanding. He died from complications from diabetes in 1916, and, owing to the absence of other Muslims in the community, his funeral services were presided over by a local Unitarian minister. Other members of the Knights of Pythias served as pallbearers.

            This brief summary of the life of a truly extraordinary man is full of lessons for today’s American Muslim community. Alexander Webb was an enthusiastic Muslim and made his best and sincere efforts to promote Islam in his homeland. When his best efforts failed, he was able to return to “ordinary life”, but he remained an active, useful, and popular member of his community until the end of his life. He never saw a contradiction between his deeply Victorian American identity and his religion, and he constantly sought ways to show Americans how Islam could beautify and perfect American society. His personality was friendly and optimistic. He used all of his assets in the service of his religion and his country simultaneously. When he could not achieve what he had aimed to in his mission, he simply became an amiable, exemplary member of his community, a man his neighbors were happy to have around. The importance of such small things in the hearts and minds of our neighbors and acquaintances, as we make efforts to be engaged in dawah in our communities, cannot be overestimated.

[2] * The Theosophists believed that the core truths of all religions were the same. Webb most likely saw the parallel between this and the Islamic belief that all prophets were sent with the same message, but that many messages became distorted over long periods of time. Webb was comfortable writing for Theosophical publications and mentioning the commonalities between Islam and other religions, and encouraging others to moral behavior regardless of their religious convictions. The Theosophists likewise took great and benevolent interest in Webb’s newfound faith and work, and were supportive of his publications.