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A Muslim in Victorian America: The Life of Alexander Russell Webb
Conflicts and controversies at home and abroad have led Americans to focus on Islam more than ever before. In addition, more and more of their neighbors, colleagues, and friends are Muslims. While much has been written about contemporary American Islam and pioneering studies have appeared on Muslim slaves in the antebellum period, comparatively little is known about Islam in Victorian America. This biography of Alexander Russell Webb, one of the earliest American Muslims to achieve public renown, seeks to fill this gap.
Webb was a central figure of American Islam during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A native of the Hudson Valley, he was a journalist, editor, and civil servant. Raised a Presbyterian, Webb early on began to cultivate an interest in other religions and became particularly fascinated by Islam. While serving as U.S. consul to the Philippines in 1887, he took a greater interest in the faith and embraced it in 1888, one of the first Americans known to have done so. Within a few years, he began corresponding with important Muslims in India. Webb became an enthusiastic propagator of the faith, founding the first Islamic institution in the United the American Mission. He wrote numerous books intended to introduce Islam to Americans, started the first Islamic press in the United States, published a journal entitled The Moslem World, and served as the representative of Islam at the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago. In 1901, he was appointed Honorary
Turkish Consul General in New York and was invited to Turkey, where he received two Ottoman medals of merits.
In this first-ever biography of Webb, Umar F. Abd-Allah examines Webb's life and uses it as a window through which to explore the early history of Islam in America. Except for his adopted faith, every aspect of Webb's life was, as Abd-Allah shows, quintessentially characteristic of his place and time. It was because he was so typically American that he was able to serve as Islam's ambassador to America (and vice versa). As America's Muslim community grows and becomes more visible, Webb's life and the virtues he championed - pluralism, liberalism, universal humanity, and a sense of civic and political responsibility - exemplify what it means to be an American Muslim.
Webb was a central figure of American Islam during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A native of the Hudson Valley, he was a journalist, editor, and civil servant. Raised a Presbyterian, Webb early on began to cultivate an interest in other religions and became particularly fascinated by Islam. While serving as U.S. consul to the Philippines in 1887, he took a greater interest in the faith and embraced it in 1888, one of the first Americans known to have done so. Within a few years, he began corresponding with important Muslims in India. Webb became an enthusiastic propagator of the faith, founding the first Islamic institution in the United the American Mission. He wrote numerous books intended to introduce Islam to Americans, started the first Islamic press in the United States, published a journal entitled The Moslem World, and served as the representative of Islam at the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago. In 1901, he was appointed Honorary
Turkish Consul General in New York and was invited to Turkey, where he received two Ottoman medals of merits.
In this first-ever biography of Webb, Umar F. Abd-Allah examines Webb's life and uses it as a window through which to explore the early history of Islam in America. Except for his adopted faith, every aspect of Webb's life was, as Abd-Allah shows, quintessentially characteristic of his place and time. It was because he was so typically American that he was able to serve as Islam's ambassador to America (and vice versa). As America's Muslim community grows and becomes more visible, Webb's life and the virtues he championed - pluralism, liberalism, universal humanity, and a sense of civic and political responsibility - exemplify what it means to be an American Muslim.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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276 people want to read
About the author
Umar F. Abd-Allah
7 books69 followersDr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (Wymann-Landgraf) is an American Muslim, born in 1948 to a Protestant family in Columbus, Nebraska. He grew up in Athens, Georgia, where both parents taught at the University of Georgia. His father taught Veterinary Medicine and Organic Chemistry, while his mother’s field was English. In 1964, his parents took positions at the University of Missouri in Columbia, where his grandfather had been a professor emeritus of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Abd-Allah did his undergraduate work at the University of Missouri with dual majors in History and English Literature. He made the Dean’s list all semesters and was nominated to the Phi Beta Kappa Honorary Society. In 1969, he won a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and entrance to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York to pursue a Ph.D. program in English literature. Shortly after coming to Cornell, Dr. Abd-Allah read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which inspired him to embrace Islam in early 1970. In 1972, he altered his field of study and transferred to the University of Chicago, where he studied Arabic and Islamic Studies under Dr. Fazlur Rahman. Dr. Abd-Allah received his doctorate with honors in 1978 for a dissertation on the origins of Islamic Law, Malik’s Concept of ‘Amal in the Light of Maliki Legal Theory. From 1977 until 1982, he taught at the Universities of Windsor (Ontario), Temple, and Michigan. In 1982, he left America to teach Arabic in Spain. Two years later, he was appointed to the Department of Islamic Studies at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah, where he taught (in Arabic) Islamic studies and comparative religions until 2000.
During his years abroad, Dr. Abd-Allah had the privilege of studying with a number of traditional Islamic scholars. He returned to Chicago in August 2000 to work as chair and scholar-in-residence of the newly founded Nawawi Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation. In conjunction with this position, he is now teaching and lecturing in and around Chicago and various parts of the United States and Canada, while conducting research and writing in Islamic studies and related fields. He recently completed a biography of Mohammed Webb (d. 1916), who was one of the most significant early American converts to Islam. The book is scheduled for release Spring/Summer 2006 under the title A Muslim in Victorian America: The Story of Alexander Russell Webb (Oxford University Press). Dr. Abd-Allah is presently completing a second work entitled Roots of Islam in America: A Survey of Muslim Presence in the New World from Earliest Evidence until 1965 and is also updating his dissertation for publication.
During his years abroad, Dr. Abd-Allah had the privilege of studying with a number of traditional Islamic scholars. He returned to Chicago in August 2000 to work as chair and scholar-in-residence of the newly founded Nawawi Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation. In conjunction with this position, he is now teaching and lecturing in and around Chicago and various parts of the United States and Canada, while conducting research and writing in Islamic studies and related fields. He recently completed a biography of Mohammed Webb (d. 1916), who was one of the most significant early American converts to Islam. The book is scheduled for release Spring/Summer 2006 under the title A Muslim in Victorian America: The Story of Alexander Russell Webb (Oxford University Press). Dr. Abd-Allah is presently completing a second work entitled Roots of Islam in America: A Survey of Muslim Presence in the New World from Earliest Evidence until 1965 and is also updating his dissertation for publication.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 27, 2010
This is an extremely intriguing book, not just for its coverage of a highly unknown figure in American history, but for the sheer magnitude of research that went in to making this book a reality. The number of sources is amazing, and the level at which Webb’s life is covered is detailed. There are a few areas of the book that could have been stronger or explored in more detail, however those areas in general do not deal directly with Webb’s life.
This book is an easy read, and the information therein is easily digestible. Alexander Webb was an American diplomat, a journalist, and Muslim; none of these conflicting with the other. Having established the first documented Islamic institution at 485 W 20th in Manhattan (just a little less than 3 miles away from Ground Zero) and the “first Muslim House of Worship” at the same location may be close enough to make some say we should “refudiate” it.
But Webb was hardly apologetic for two things: his Islam and his Americanism. One thing that stands out in the life of Webb was his insistence on the moral goodness and intellect of the American people, something that he insisted would lead Americans to learn more about Islam, if not embrace it. He would go on to produce several tracts seeking to introduce Americans to Islam. He represented Muslims at the First Parliament of World Religions (a branch of the Chicago World’s Fair) running from Sept. 10-27, 1893.
The author meticulously researched this monograph and draws from a number of sources to accomplish a very detailed vision of Webb's life. At times though I fear that an ideological slant seems to skew things in a certain way, especially when dealing with Webb's travels in India and his visiting of saints. Had the full passage as found in Webb's diary been provided for us to read (at least in the endnotes) we would have a clearer picture of how Webb dealt with the topic.
Not enough background is given on the other Muslims that Webb interacted with the US, especially those that converted, except at times to cast them in a negative light. Had the some of the day to day with these people and the reasons for them abandoning Webb's mission been given, we would no doubt have a more complete picture of Webb as a not only a Muslim and his approach to Islamic call (Dawah), but where he stood on class in Victorian America. Many passages point to his having a somewhat condescending view of the poor and uneducated, to the extent that Islam is not even presented to them nor any attempt made to do so in the least. Could what can almost be called elitism be the reason for some of his followers to forsake him?
Had the author presented Webb's life as-is instead of trying to use it to make a supporting statement for his own vision of what Muslims and America should, I think the intended effect would have been greater.
This monograph opens a window to an unknown period of Islam in American history, one that sadly ended all too quickly. It would not be until the early nineteen hundreds that we see even Pseudo-Islamic movements arise with any prominence in America.
This book is an easy read, and the information therein is easily digestible. Alexander Webb was an American diplomat, a journalist, and Muslim; none of these conflicting with the other. Having established the first documented Islamic institution at 485 W 20th in Manhattan (just a little less than 3 miles away from Ground Zero) and the “first Muslim House of Worship” at the same location may be close enough to make some say we should “refudiate” it.
But Webb was hardly apologetic for two things: his Islam and his Americanism. One thing that stands out in the life of Webb was his insistence on the moral goodness and intellect of the American people, something that he insisted would lead Americans to learn more about Islam, if not embrace it. He would go on to produce several tracts seeking to introduce Americans to Islam. He represented Muslims at the First Parliament of World Religions (a branch of the Chicago World’s Fair) running from Sept. 10-27, 1893.
The author meticulously researched this monograph and draws from a number of sources to accomplish a very detailed vision of Webb's life. At times though I fear that an ideological slant seems to skew things in a certain way, especially when dealing with Webb's travels in India and his visiting of saints. Had the full passage as found in Webb's diary been provided for us to read (at least in the endnotes) we would have a clearer picture of how Webb dealt with the topic.
Not enough background is given on the other Muslims that Webb interacted with the US, especially those that converted, except at times to cast them in a negative light. Had the some of the day to day with these people and the reasons for them abandoning Webb's mission been given, we would no doubt have a more complete picture of Webb as a not only a Muslim and his approach to Islamic call (Dawah), but where he stood on class in Victorian America. Many passages point to his having a somewhat condescending view of the poor and uneducated, to the extent that Islam is not even presented to them nor any attempt made to do so in the least. Could what can almost be called elitism be the reason for some of his followers to forsake him?
Had the author presented Webb's life as-is instead of trying to use it to make a supporting statement for his own vision of what Muslims and America should, I think the intended effect would have been greater.
This monograph opens a window to an unknown period of Islam in American history, one that sadly ended all too quickly. It would not be until the early nineteen hundreds that we see even Pseudo-Islamic movements arise with any prominence in America.
January 29, 2008
A really interesting examination of the life and times of Alexander Russell Webb, an American convert to Islam who lived during the Victorian era. If you like reading history books, this book will be right up your alley. It was interesting to contrast the treatment of Webb in Victorian American to the treatment of Muslims in current-day America - for instance, while Victorians were amused by the idea of a white American Muslim convert, they didn't view his conversion as anti-American or a form of cultural apostasy - a view very much at odds with prevailing views in America these days. Overall, a valuable contribution to the study of Islam in America.
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June 18, 2009"...He [Webb:]wrote numerous books intended to introduce Islam to Americans, started the first Islamic press in the United States, published a journal entitled The Moslem World, and served as the representative of Islam at the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago. In 1901, he was appointed Honorary Turkish Consul General in New York and was invited to Turkey, where he received two Ottoman medals of merits."
October 31, 2011
The story of this man was somewhat interesting, but it should have been written by a more experienced writer. The author kept jumping from one topic to another. It was unorganized, I might even go as far as to say messy.
November 17, 2013
Extremely interesting subject, but a very difficult read. Obviously meticulously researched but not the most readable writing style. I am definitely looking forward to reading some of Webb's own writings.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews