December 15, 2007 by editor.

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.*

            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.

* 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. 

Posted in Issue 4 - Winter 2008, History, Literature, Community, Politics | Print | 1 Comment »

July 23, 2007 by editor.

A discourse of wisdom by the Indian Chief Seattle delivered in 1854.

Yonder sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold, and which to us appears changeless and eternal, may change. Today is fair. Tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds. My words are like the stars that never change. Whatever Seattle says, the great chief at Washington can rely upon with as much certainty as he can upon the return of the sun or the seasons. The white chief says that Big Chief at Washington sends us greetings of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him for we know he has little need of our friendship in return. His people are many. They are like the grass that covers vast prairies. My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain. The great, and I presume — good, White Chief sends us word that he wishes to buy our land but is willing to allow us enough to live comfortably. This indeed appears just, even generous, for the Red Man no longer has rights that he need respect, and the offer may be wise, also, as we are no longer in need of an extensive country. There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory. I will not dwell on, nor mourn over, our untimely decay, nor reproach my paleface brothers with hastening it, as we too may have been somewhat to blame. 

Youth is impulsive. When our young men grow angry at some real or imaginary wrong, and disfigure their faces with black paint, it denotes that their hearts are black, and that they are often cruel and relentless, and our old men and old women are unable to restrain them. Thus it has ever been. Thus it was when the white man began to push our forefathers ever westward. But let us hope that the hostilities between us may never return. We would have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Revenge by young men is considered gain, even at the cost of their own lives, but old men who stay at home in times of war, and mothers who have sons to lose, know better. Our good father in Washington—for I presume he is now our father as well as yours, since King George has moved his boundaries further north—our great and good father, I say, sends us word that if we do as he desires he will protect us. His brave warriors will be to us a bristling wall of strength, and his wonderful ships of war will fill our harbors, so that our ancient enemies far to the northward — the Haidas and Tsimshians — will cease to frighten our women, children, and old men. Then in reality he will be our father and we his children. But can that ever be? Your God is not our God! Your God loves your people and hates mine! He folds his strong protecting arms lovingly about the paleface and leads him by the hand as a father leads an infant son. But, He has forsaken His Red children, if they really are His. Our God, the Great Spirit, seems also to have forsaken us. Your God makes your people wax stronger every day. Soon they will fill all the land. Our people are ebbing away like a rapidly receding tide that will never return. The white man’s God cannot love our people or He would protect them. They seem to be orphans who can look nowhere for help. How then can we be brothers? How can your God become our God and renew our prosperity and awaken in us dreams of returning greatness? If we have a common Heavenly Father He must be partial, for He came to His paleface children. We never saw Him. He gave you laws but had no word for His red children whose teeming multitudes once filled this vast continent as stars fill the firmament. No; we are two distinct races with separate origins and separate destinies. There is little in common between us. 

To us the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. You wander far from the graves of your ancestors and seemingly without regret. Your religion was written upon tablets of stone by the iron finger of your God so that you could not forget. The Red Man could never comprehend or remember it. Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors — the dreams of our old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of our sachems, and is written in the hearts of our people. Your dead cease to love you and the land of their nativity as soon as they pass the portals of the tomb and wander away beyond the stars. They are soon forgotten and never return. Our dead never forget this beautiful world that gave them being. They still love its verdant valleys, its murmuring rivers, its magnificent mountains, sequestered vales and verdant lined lakes and bays, and ever yearn in tender fond affection over the lonely hearted living, and often return from the happy hunting ground to visit, guide, console, and comfort them. 

Day and night cannot dwell together. The Red Man has ever fled the approach of the White Man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun. However, your proposition seems fair and I think that my people will accept it and will retire to the reservation you offer them. Then we will dwell apart in peace, for the words of the Great White Chief seem to be the words of nature speaking to my people out of dense darkness. It matters little where we pass the remnant of our days. They will not be many. The Indian’s night promises to be dark. Not a single star of hope hovers above his horizon. Sad-voiced winds moan in the distance. Grim fate seems to be on the Red Man’s trail, and wherever he will hear the approaching footsteps of his fell destroyer and prepare stolidly to meet his doom, as does the wounded doe that hears the approaching footsteps of the hunter. 

A few more moons, a few more winters, and not one of the descendants of the mighty hosts that once moved over this broad land or lived in happy homes, protected by the Great Spirit, will remain to mourn over the graves of a people once more powerful and hopeful than yours. But why should I mourn at the untimely fate of my people? Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. Your time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come, for even the White Man whose God walked and talked with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We will see. We will ponder your proposition and when we decide we will let you know. But should we accept it, I here and now make this condition that we will not be denied the privilege without molestation of visiting at any time the tombs of our ancestors, friends, and children. Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. Our departed braves, fond mothers, glad, happy hearted maidens, and even the little children who lived here and rejoiced here for a brief season, will love these somber solitudes and at eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits. And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children’s children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone. 

Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a change of worlds. 

Posted in History, Community, Politics | Print | No Comments »

April 1, 2007 by editor.

Interview By Khalid Lazaar

MultiMedia: Watch Video Performance of Al-Anwar Al-Muhammadiyya at Muslims of America Conference, Seattle, WA. May 2005.

All praise is due to Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, the Cherisher of the worlds. May peace and blessings be upon the most virtuous of all creation, the Seal of the Messengers, Muhammad. May mercy be upon his family, companions and followers until the Day of Judgment.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, “None of you has complete faith until I am more beloved to him than his parents, his children and all of mankind.” Love of the Prophet, peace be upon him, is the cornerstone of our faith. There is no limit to this love and it may be expressed in any manner in accordance with Allah’s Sacred Law (shari’a). The more we know the exalted status of Muhammad, peace be upon him, in the sight of Allah, the stronger our attachment to him will become. Whether by following his teachings and his way of life, loving what he loved, or letting the heart flow with poetry about him, we are strengthening our love of him. Islamic cultural heritage is rich with many magnificent and varied expressions of the noble love of the Prophet, peace be upon him. The Poem of the Cloak (Qasidat al-Burdah) is considered one of the best literary works expressing the love and the high status of the beloved Prophet, peace be upon him. The writer of the Poem of the Cloak, Imam Al- Busiri, said:
Leave aside what the Christians have claimed for their Prophet –
Then praise him as you like, but do so wisely.
Ascribe to his essence what you wish of honor,
Attribute to his exalted status what you will of greatness!
Truly, the Messenger of God’s bounty
Cannot be overstated by two lips and a tongue.

Praising the Prophet, peace be upon him, is thus transmitted to us through generations, every generation doing its best to preserve the heritage of love. Islamic singing (nasheed) is a means of keeping this heritage alive and vibrant in the hearts of Muslims. Pursuant to this goal, MERCY has conducted an interview with Mr. Sa’id Lazaar, a member of the up and coming Chicago nasheed group Al-Anwar Al-Muhammadiyya, on the group’s experience and on the art of praising the Prophet, peace be upon him.

To begin with, could you please introduce the group to the general public?
 

First of all, on behalf of my colleagues in the group, I would like to thank MERCY Magazine for this opportunity to communicate with the general public. The Al-Anwar Al-Muhammadiyya group was founded in the year 2000 in Chicago. It now consists of 7 members who are of Moroccan nationality. However, this does not necessarily mean that participation is limited to Moroccans. We welcome anyone who possesses the talent to join the group. The name of the group can be translated as The Light of Muhammad or The Muhammadan Lights. The name indicates the genre of the songs that we perform.

Can you bring the reader a bit closer to this type of song?
 

Well, all the songs, or nasheed in Arabic, are about the love of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the praise of the Creator. The goal of nasheed differs entirely from that of a regular song. It focuses on addressing the soul of the human being and building bridges of love between the heart of the listener and the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Nasheed usually gives a physical description of the Prophet, peace be upon him, or it describes his noble virtues, all for the purpose of strengthening our love for him, which is a major pillar of faith (iman).

Why do we need nasheed to instill the love of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in the heart? Is it not sufficient to follow his teachings, learn about his characteristics, read his biography, and so on?
 I agree that following the teachings of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and learning about his life and characteristics are essential to increase our love of him. However, we live in a world where the struggle between good and evil is taking place. Evil is doing its best to deviate mankind from guidance. Evil insinuates that the path of religion does not allow joy and happiness in life, to the point that people cannot even relax or enjoy themselves by listening to music. We, in the Al-Anwar Al-Muhammadiyya group prove such a claim to be false by competing in the musical arena and producing nasheed that is at once musically appealing, uplifting to the soul, and soundly based in the rich Islamic tradition. We use nasheed as a means of proving this accusation false and removing the veils that prevent people from seeing the faith of Islam as it truly is.
 

Even though there are so many talented nasheed groups, we still see that the majority of Muslim listeners resort to other types of songs. Why do you think that is the case?
 

Unfortunately that is true. The contribution of the Islamic nasheed needs to be backed up by other institutions that serve the same cause. We can say that the lack of tarbiya, or spiritual training, and attachment to the worldly life creates an unbalanced Muslim personality. In other words, materialism is more prominent in many Muslims than spirituality. Consequently, the listener wants to feed the dominant desire of his lower self (nafs) and disregards the needs of his soul.
 

How can Islamic nasheed assist in solving this problem?
 

Well, as I mentioned in the previous question, there should be some type of cooperation between different institutions that are trying to revive the faith of the Muslim nation (umma). Our part in the realm of music is to re-establish the proper balance between the material and the spiritual. While other types of music address and stimulate the base desires in the human being, our focus is to address what is noble and spiritually beneficial. We hope that this goal will also be a service to the larger society.
 

Can you share some of your achievements and some of the struggles that the group has faced?
 

Before I talk about our achievements, I would like to mention a very important aspect of our continued success; that is the role of one of our members. He is actually the founder of the group, brother Abdul-Haqq. He is a person who dedicated himself and spent from his own money to keep this group going and to reach where we are today. I would like to thank him for all of his efforts, as well as former members who contributed generously to laying the foundation on which we are standing today. I would also like to thank the members that will come after us because these brothers will play a very important role. We thank them and pray for them.
 

We consider all of our involvement in the Muslim community’s programs as achievements for us. We are also often involved in various mosques and communities, such as the Palestinian, Pakistani, North African and others. We were also honored by participating in various Muslim conventions in North Dakota, Seattle, North Carolina, Iowa and in our hometown Chicago. By the grace of Allah, we also perform at weddings, new birth ceremonies and other ceremonies.
 

We are thankful to Allah that we have been able to keep the group going despite some of the struggles that we are facing. Some of these struggles are connected to marketing this type of art in the U.S. and around the world in general. It is a very unique type of art that can seem strange at first to those who have only been exposed to music popular in the Western market.

We still consider ourselves an infant group, which means that we are currently depending entirely on self-funding and some donations from the events we have performed at. This money goes to airplane tickets, uniforms, instruments, and other expenses. Lack of funding is keeping us from moving to our highest level of professionalism. We believe that this group is for the entire Muslim community and we need their support, whether that be financially or through other means.

What are the goals that the group is looking forward to achieving in the coming years?
 At the present moment we are planning to switch our focus from being a local group to a national, professional group with new ideas and new songs. We are also working on making some recordings and trying to launch the group’s website. Another important step we are taking is to change the make-up of our group. Until now our members have only been Arabic-speaking but we are trying to change that by looking for new faces and discovering local talents who would be able to perform in English as well as Arabic. We hope this will be a fresh addition to the group and will attract a new audience as well. However, in order to achieve all of this we will need the continued love and support of our audience and the lovers of nasheed.

Posted in Interviews, Prophet Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him, Spring 2007 Issue, Community | Print | No Comments »