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. 

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June 6, 2007 by editor.

Keynote Address by Imam Abdessalam Yassine
Translated by Farouk Bouasse, from the Arabic 

1st North Dakota Islamic Conference, Fargo, North Dakota, USA 
Date: Saturday, April 16, 2005 | Rabi’ al-Khayr, 07, 1426

I seek refuge with God from Satan the Evil One. In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful…

“Praise be to God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of all creatures, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment, You (alone) we worship and You (alone) we ask for help.  Show us the straight way, the way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath and who go not astray.”  Amen!
In the next few days, we’ll be celebrating the noble birthday of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and grant him peace), an occasion for our souls to rejoice, a chance to revive the aspiration for a better future for the Muslim community worldwide – and for all mankind on earth.
 

A celebration of the Mercy of God that He – Exalted be He – sent to all creatures.  God says in the Qur’an: “And We have not sent you but as a mercy to all creatures.”  A happy commemoration and a holy day.  A constantly revisited event that renews the hope and the suffering of all Muslims who see their brothers and sisters in Palestine and elsewhere being dispossessed, raped, and slaughtered.
Humanity is in desperate need of a compassionate hand that will rescue Man from his wretchedness, loss, and spiritual depravation.  Mankind in this era, just as in any other era, needs to be reminded of – and awakened to – its eternal truth and worth.  Humanity is ever in need of being reminded that it has a unique Creator Who commands to justice and excellence in worship (al-‘adl wa al-ihsan) – Who commands equality for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

“Injustice shall manifest as darkness on the Day of Resurrection.”  So said the merciful Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and grant him peace), whose birthday we’ll be celebrating in the next few days.  He was sent as a mercy to all creatures in the sense that he came to remind Man of what is awaiting him after death, when he – and his deeds – will be exposed and judged by the Almighty.  On the Day of Reckoning, he will be asked how much good he did in his life, how charitable and generous he was to the needy, or how abusive and unjust he was.  He will have to account to God for all his acts, and so will all his fellow humans.