A Muslim in Victorian America: The Life of Alexander Russell Webb
A Muslim in Victorian America: The Life of Alexander Russell Webb
BY Umar Faruq Abd Allah (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 400 pp. Price HB $35.00. EAN 978–0–195–18728–1.
The word ‘Victorian’ almost always conjures up thoughts of England and the sixty-plus year reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901). She ruled during the peak of the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of the British Empire—a time of great change and great fears. American readers have studied this period as ‘the nineteenth century’; but not as ‘Victorian America’ implying a Victorian sensibility in America, especially not with a Muslim in the centre. Just as Victorian England was a time of radical change as she morphed from an isolated, colonial and military power into an England beset by fears, so too is it the case for America at the time this text is published.
Some of those same fears—increasing numbers of immigrants, increasing discord between European states, terrorist attacks, a general decline in religiosity (attributable then to Charles Darwin’s theories and today to a general apathy), a declining birth rate and an increase in immorality—do indeed mimic much of twenty-first century America. This is timely research. Umar Faruq Abd Allah’s impeccable study, A Muslim in Victorian America, sews the patches of history together in a new and exciting way through this narrative of the life of Alexander Russell Webb. He solves most of the mysteries surrounding Webb in this historically rich, engaging account of the man who once was but a shadow in the history of Islam in America.
Almost every researcher writing on Islam in America begins their narrative with special homage to African Muslim slaves and Alexander Russell Webb. Until Allen Austin and Sylvaine Diouf toiled on artefacts about slaves, researchers maintained that little was or could be known. Similarly, until Abd Allah, little was or could be said of Webb. Named the first European American convert to Islam, his Islamic affiliation, when speculated on, is asserted as Ahmadiyyah Mission (a group based in India). His ‘specialness’ is because of his short career as a U.S. diplomat to Manila. Students learn of his Mission and his newspapers and then the history ends. Abd Allah’s research provides almost three hundred pages of information, suggesting that researchers never really sought to find out who Webb really was.
A Muslim in Victorian America educates the uninitiated to Victorian sensibilities, which included: belief in work and progress, strong family ties, the importance of children and family, reading newspapers as a civic activity, cleanliness and tidy dress on one side, while holding on to racial stereotypes on the other. Alexander Russell Webb matured not only with Victorian sensibilities but also with the spiritual questions that attend religiously plural environments and the fears that drive both. Webb, we learn, considered himself a man of reason and pursued an array of jobs and careers. This son of successful printers was twice married.
Abd Allah also writes with all the mastery of a mystery writer a history of intrigue as Webb meets shadowy figures on both sides of the Atlantic. We find out that the honour of being the first European American Muslim actually belongs elsewhere and at least a decade earlier to a Reverend Norman and a married couple who moved to Canada. Simultaneously, we are given information on the depth of Webb’s commitment to the propagation of Islam in the United States. Webb leaves his consulate post when an Arab promises that he will financially support the propaganda mission. Perhaps Webb’s gullibility is a direct result of never having met a Muslim before transitioning to Islam. Nevertheless, these promised monies never arrived though news of the expected largesse did spread. Webb is later accused of misappropriation by a few very influential persons and sustains a terrible mark against his character. Where researches have undoubtedly assumed Webb’s prosperity because of his travels and consular post, there is in reality, poverty. While others have speculated his lifelong association with theosophy as proof of the ambiguity of his Islamic commitment, this account furnishes ample evidence that he held on to both as complementary rather than competing.
This text suggests that the previous researches on Islam in America have only just scratched the surface of a multi-faceted history. It primarily demonstrates that the narratives have to be contextualized within the vast and multiple histories of the United States. Abd Allah’s treatment is not just a sympathetic accounting of Webb; rather, it portrays the man through his own words and deeds and uses a host of other sources to interrogate Webb and his sympathizers. This author does not shy away from controversy and readers get to see Webb at his literary best and racist worst.
Islam in America is a very popular topic which, while demanding the skills of a variety of disciplines, must have accurate histories. Abd Allah provides readers with a treasure in this narrative. It is accessible, memorable in its wit, and instructive. This text is a must read.
Aminah Beverly McCloud
DePaul University
E-mail: AMCCLOUD@depaul.edu
“Named the first European American convert to Islam, his Islamic affiliation, when speculated on, is asserted as Ahmadiyyah Mission (a group based in India).”
hmmmm….
Alexander Russell Webb grave photo:
Please go to the following link of english Language newspaper THE LIGHT, published by LAHORE AHMADIYYA MOVEMENT. Scroll to page 4 and you can see the photo of grave of Marhoom Alexander Russell Web:
http://www.ahmadiyya.org/uk/light-sep06.pdf
Hmmm WHA?!
Don’t speak English?
Hmmmm…..Ahmadiyyah????
Let me guess. You don’t like Ahmadiyyans. No?
Do you?
Aren’t they non-Muslim and by this Alexander Russell Webb was a non-Muslim too?
Is this a Qadiani site?
LAHORE AHMADIYYA MOVEMENT. Are they Muslims or non-Muslims?
Ashraf seems to be confused regarding the status of Lahore Ahmadiyya movement members. Answer is simple: If you make Holy Quran and Sunnah of Muhammad RasulAllah SAWS, then they are definitely Muslims as they believe that ‘There is no God but Allah [SWT] and [Holy Prophet] Muhammad [SAWS] is the [last and final] Messenger of Allah [SWT].’ They believe that NO new or old prophet can come after Holy Prophet Muhammad [SAWS], and any one who claims to be prophet after Rasul Allah [SAWS] is kaffir, non-Muslim and dweller of hell (Jihanami). Lahori Ahmadis believe that Prophet-hood finished with Rasul Allah [SAWS].
But if you make Pakistani Politicians who had their vested interests in sacrificing fellow Muslims for their political advantage then they are of course non-Muslim. You have to make a choice. My only request is that you must read literature provided by Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement before forming an opinion because on the Day of Judgment (Yoam-e-Akhirat) it will be you answering to Allah [SWT]. BTW, if we make the Pakistani Politicians opinion as standard then unfortunately every citizen of Pakistan automatically becomes non-Mulsim. If you can read Urdu, I will highly recomment you to read a small booklet of 28 pages that Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement distributed among members of Pakistani national assembly, in 1974. Here is the link:
http://aaiil.org/urdu/books/others/aaiil/qaumeeassemblykhidmut/qaumeeassemblykhidmut.pdf
Here is another link to prove what a huge sin is to declare a Muslim as non-Muslism:
http://aaiil.org/urdu/books/others/aaiil/aaeenpakistanmusalmaanfirqa/aaeenpakistanmusalmaanfirqa.pdf
Some links to what Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement and read what they themsleves say about their beliefs:
http://ahmadiyya.org/our-ideo.htm
http://ahmadiyya.org/clarifi.htm
http://aaiil.org/
Reagrds.
Webb was in touch with Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad from 1886, even before the Ahmadiyya Movement was founded, and remained in touch with the Ahmadiyya Movement during and after the life of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (who died in 1908).
Webb was in correspondence with the “Review of Religions”, the English monthly of the Ahmadiyya Movement issued from Qadian which started in 1902.
In 1910, when the book “The Teachings of Islam” by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, translated by Maulana Muhammad Ali, was first published, one of the people who helped in the revision of the translation was Webb, as stated by Maulana Muhammad Ali in the Preface.
I give below the link to an article on my website which is the text of a speech by Nadirah Florence Ives Osman at a meeting of Muslims held in Steinway Hall, New York, in November 1943 under the auspices of the Webb Memorial Committee. The speech appeared in the issues of “The Light” (the Lahore Ahmadiyya magazine) for 8th and 16th April 1944. The link is:
http://www.ahmadiyya.org/islam/webb1.htm
To those who are surprised at the connection between Webb and the Ahmadiyya Movement, I say: You can’t change history because you don’t like it. You have to reconcile yourselves with it, like it or not!