Detroit, 1953

NYT Article on Early Mosque in NYC

"Mosque Shows That Muslims Have Long Been a Part of New York" By DAVID W. DUNLAP DEC. 9, 2015

See also "Islam has long history downtown: Why the 'Ground Zero mosque' belongs in lower Manhattan"

Another Early 'White' Muslim Converted by the NOI

As I've delved deeper into the research for my forthcoming book A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States Volume 2: The African American Islamic Renaissance, I've discovered a few pieces of information that I wish I had found for my book on early white American Muslims.

The first is the story of a woman whose family all identified publicly as white, but she insisted she was Native American. She embraced Islam through the Nation of Islam in the 1940s and remained a member of the group for the next several decades.

Today I spotted another story. It is interesting that this person's conversion narrative, as you can see below, is similar in that the convert is claiming to possibly have a secret non-white family history. Interestingly, although the crossing of racial boundaries was not a widespread phenomenon among pre-1975 non-black converts to Islam, it does seem to have also existed somewhat, if only at a social level, for several whites and Latinos in non-NOI Muslim groups. And, based on my preliminary research, it appears to me that it was an increasing trend for converts after 1975. As I finish up HCTIUS Volume 2 and begin work on Volume 3, I believe the issue of racial border crossing through Islam will be an important topic on which I hope to shed much more light.

Washington, 1942

See also "Chicago, 1942"

One of Fard's sources?

A lost book about the Nation of Islam

This morning, while scrolling through the NOI's old newspaper, Muhammad Speaks, I came across the following article in the February 1962 issue:

What made this piece especially interesting to me is the fact that I knew of the author being discussed. Hans Stefan Santesson had been working with the immigrant South Asian Muslim community in New York since the 1930s, and was even friends with prominent white convert to Islam Louis Glick--all of which I mention in my recent book about early white converts.

Unfortunately, Santesson's book about the NOI is not listed under his name in Worldcat or at the NYPL (the library most likely to have a copy). Since we aren't given the book's title, I Googled the phrases from its press release, as quoted in the above article, but, again, to no results. It's looking like the book, if it was even completed, may never have been officially released.

If a copy does exist, however, given Santesson's knowledge of New York and Muslims, and his interest in science fiction and fantasy, I suspect the book may have some valuable insights.  

Hopefully, someone someday will stumble across this gem.

Coming February 2016

Click here for more information

UPDATE 3/11/16: The book is now available for purchase from Amazon

For excerpts from the book, click here

Interview with Dar-ul Islam Pioneer Rajabah Abdul Wahaab

Part 1

Part 2

See also Interview with Shaykh Mustafa Abdullah

Chicago, 1942

W.D. Fard's 1932 Letter to the Editor

I stumbled upon this while researching a different topic this afternoon. As far as I know, this has not been cited or mentioned in any scholarly work before. It may also be the only publicly-known example of something Fard had published in a newspaper.

That Fard lists his location as being in Chicago tells us that he did indeed leave Detroit when the police "asked" him to after the Harris murder. 

His use of the term "nation of Islam" is worth noting, as NOI members at the time typically used "Allah Temple of Islam."

Fard's spelling of his name with an extra "A" (Farad) and his claims that "organized Christianity" is 550 years old (dating it to c. 1380) and that Buddhism dates back to 33,000 B.C. are also noteworthy since I believe we have slightly different versions of these claims in later documents.

Published in the Afro-American December 31, 1932

The First "White" Person in the Nation of Islam

For my new book, "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States: White American Muslims Before 1975," I scoured every source I could get my hands on related to Muslims in the United States. This effort definitely proved fruitful; I discovered numerous, previously unknown stories about early white Americans who embraced Islam, and I believe the book offers a new, dramatically different view of the history of white Muslims.

Today, however, I received an item that I wasn't able to get my hands on while working on my book--a set of government documents that I've been trying to obtain for nearly 2 years.

I had no idea that these documents would tell me anything about early white Muslims, let alone a "white" woman who joined the Nation of Islam in the 1940s.

When I first looked at the documents, I, honestly, could not believe it, and assumed that there must have been some mistake made by the government workers who wrote the reports. But after examining them more closely, I saw that they indicated that NOI members believed that this woman had "Asiatic blood"--a sign that they recognized that this woman was not a full-blooded non-white person, and perhaps appeared white.

The possibility that a white person was in the NOI intrigued me so much--and made me embarrassed that I hadn't included her in my book about white Muslims--that I sought out biographical evidence to confirm her situation.

As it turns out, this woman crossed various color lines. Whether or not she did in fact have non-white ancestors, other whites saw her as white, and her parents and siblings all identified as white. However, by the early 1940s this woman had left her family, was living in a black community, and was identifying as black in census records. Interestingly, she also sometimes identified herself as Native American, and this may have been the principal identity she chose. Reports do indicate that she had black hair, black/brown eyes, high cheekbones, and a "dark" complexion, and other records suggest that her father did too. Various death records list the woman as either white or Native American.

In spite of the fact that this woman may have actually had some non-black ancestry (or was possibly a tri-racial Melungeon--since a few Melungeons have been identified in the same county where she was born), I see her early crossing of racial boundaries within the context of Islam primarily as an important clue for understanding other converts, particularly other "whites," Native Americans, and Latinos who convert after identifying with African American Muslim figures like Malcolm X. It is true too, though, that she could have actually been full or part Native American--since many Natives identified publicly as whites in the early 20th century--and this would make her the earliest recorded Native member of the NOI. These are both interesting phenomena, and I will be exploring them in the next 2 volumes of "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States."

Sufi Abdul Hamid and Mme. Fu Futtam

Interview with Shaykh Mustafa Abdullah

The 4 parts of Zaid Ansari's interview with Shaykh Mustafa Abdullah.

Here's the video description:

Salaam Alaykum. I present this video as the first in a four part interview with Shaykh Mustafa Abdullah. He is an eighty-nine year old African American Muslim who reverted to Islam in 1959. He is also one of the early pioneers of the Dar Al Islam Movement under Shaykh Daoud Faisal (1891 to 1980)-May Allah have mercy on him. Please stay tuned to this You Tube Page for the following three parts. Also please visit my site: www.zaidansari.com and join my Newsletter list for further updates.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

A History of White American Muslims -- in Documents: #8

To supplement the September 14 release of my new book, "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1: White American Muslims before 1975" , over the last 2 months (Aug.-Sept.) I have been releasing on this blog some of the documents I have collected related to the history of White American converts to Islam. These documents, whose sources will be discussed in the book, will include selections from personal letters; articles and advertisements from old, little-known books, journals, and magazines; government files; and miscellaneous items.

See the previous document releases: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7

The book is available through both the publisher's page and the Amazon page. If you are interested in the book but are not able to purchase it, ask your librarian to order a copy.

View the GoogleBooks preview here

And Watch the book's promo video here

1939 -- Kalifat No. 5 (North American Kalifat) 

flyer reprint

*click to enlarge*

A History of White American Muslims -- in Documents: #7

To supplement the September 14 release of my new book, "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1: White American Muslims before 1975" , over the last 2 months (Aug.-Sept.) I have been releasing on this blog some of the documents I have collected related to the history of White American converts to Islam. These documents, whose sources will be discussed in the book, will include selections from personal letters; articles and advertisements from old, little-known books, journals, and magazines; government files; and miscellaneous items.

See the previous document releases: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6

The book is available through both the publisher's page and the Amazon page. If you are interested in the book but are not able to purchase it, ask your librarian to order a copy.

View the GoogleBooks preview here

And Watch the book's promo video here

1956 Moslem American Citizens Union Publicity Release

Download the pdf here

A History of White American Muslims -- in Documents: #6

To supplement the September 14 release of my new book, "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1: White American Muslims before 1975" , over the last 2 months (Aug.-Sept.) I have been releasing on this blog some of the documents I have collected related to the history of White American converts to Islam. These documents, whose sources will be discussed in the book, will include selections from personal letters; articles and advertisements from old, little-known books, journals, and magazines; government files; and miscellaneous items.

See the previous document releases: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5

The book is available through both the publisher's page and the Amazon page. If you are interested in the book but are not able to purchase it, ask your librarian to order a copy.

View the GoogleBooks preview here

And Watch the book's promo video here

Louis Selim Glick -- Military Intelligence Division records

Download all 13 pages here

Muhammad Abdullah

Speaking of photos of people who are suspected of being W.D. Fard, I would like to bring up one issue. I put the following photo, which I found in an old newspaper, on my blog on December 6, 2011:

To my surprise, some people thought that this was Fard, and rumors started circulating. However, this is in fact a photo of Sayid Muhammad Wajih Gilani, a Turkish-born Muslim who briefly served as the Sheikh ul-Islam of the Philippines. Gilani visited the US in 1915 and died in May 1916.


I discuss him in briefly in my article on Satti Majid and in my book A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Vol. 1


Now, as far as new evidence about Fard's possible pre-NOI activities and identity, I certainly have not given up looking. And I believe I may have found something, but I won't post anything until I can verify it better.


In the meantime, you can always check out my article on Lucius Lehman, the Muslim "Mullah of San Quentin," who was probably very influential for San Quentin's Garveyite black prisoners in the 1920s, right before Wallace Ford started serving his sentence there.

A History of White American Muslims -- in Documents: #5

In anticipation of the September release of my new book, "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1: White American Muslims before 1975" , over the next 2 months (Aug.-Sept.) I will be releasing on this blog some of the documents I have collected related to the history of White American converts to Islam. These documents, whose sources will be discussed in the book, will include selections from personal letters; articles and advertisements from old, little-known books, journals, and magazines; government files; and miscellaneous items.

See the previous document releases: #1, #2, #3, #4

Pre-orders for the book are available through both the publisher's page and the Amazon page. If you are interested in the book but are not able to purchase it, ask your librarian to pre-order a copy.

View the GoogleBooks preview here

And Watch the book's promo video here

1947 State Department Records for William Abdur Rahman Lutz,

founder and Secretary of the Council of the

American Muslim Congress 

Download the full 13-page report here

1971

A History of White American Muslims -- in Documents: #4

In anticipation of the September release of my new book, "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1: White American Muslims before 1975" , over the next 2 months (Aug.-Sept.) I will be releasing on this blog some of the documents I have collected related to the history of White American converts to Islam. These documents, whose sources will be discussed in the book, will include selections from personal letters; articles and advertisements from old, little-known books, journals, and magazines; government files; and miscellaneous items.

See the previous document releases: #1, #2, #3

Pre-orders for the book are available through both the publisher's page and the Amazon page. If you are interested in the book but are not able to purchase it, ask your librarian to pre-order a copy.

View the GoogleBooks preview here

And Watch the book's promo video here

Today, I'm putting up 2 documents from 2 different eras of conversion:

1) "Why I Am a Muslim?" by Harry E. Heinkel of Los Angeles 

Written to the "Islamic Review" in 1932

*click to enlarge*

2) Alexander Webb's 1896 ad inviting Muslims to visit him at his home in NYC

A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States Vol. 1 -- promo 1

View the GoogleBooks preview here


Watch the promo video below

A History of White American Muslims -- in Documents: #3

In anticipation of the September release of my new book, "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1: White American Muslims before 1975" , over the next 2 months I will be releasing on this blog some of the documents I have collected related to the history of White American converts to Islam. These documents, whose sources will be discussed in the book, will include selections from personal letters; articles and advertisements from old, little-known books, journals, and magazines; government files; and miscellaneous items.

See the previous document releases: #1, #2.

Pre-orders for the book are available through both the publisher's page and the Amazon page. If you are interested in the book but are not able to purchase it, ask your librarian to pre-order a copy.

View the GoogleBooks preview here

Photo of William Edward Abdur Rahman Lutz

A History of White American Muslims -- in Documents: #2

In anticipation of the September release of my new book, "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1: White American Muslims before 1975" , over the next 2 months I will be releasing on this blog some of the documents I have collected related to the history of White American converts to Islam. These documents, whose sources will be discussed in the book, will include selections from personal letters; articles and advertisements from old, little-known books, journals, and magazines; government files; and miscellaneous items.

See the previous document releases: #1.

Pre-orders for the book are available through both the publisher's page and the Amazon page. If you are interested in the book but are not able to purchase it, ask your librarian to pre-order a copy.

View the GoogleBooks preview here

Extract from USS Philadelphia Crew List

A History of White American Muslims -- in Documents: #1

In anticipation of the September release of my new book, "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1: White American Muslims before 1975" , over the next 2 months I will be releasing on this blog some of the documents I have collected related to the history of White American converts to Islam. These documents, whose sources will be discussed in the book, will include selections from personal letters; articles and advertisements from old, little-known books, journals, and magazines; government files; and miscellaneous items. 

Pre-orders for the book are available through both the publisher's page and the Amazon page. If you are interested in the book but are not able to purchase it, ask your librarian to pre-order a copy.

View the GoogleBooks preview here

Flyer (partial) for the

Muhammad Alexander Russell Webb Memorial Meeting, 1943

*click to enlarge*

Understanding Abdul Hamid Suleiman's Canaanite Temple

Newark, 1923

Although it may not have been the original Canaanite Temple, Newark's "Caananites" Temple of 1923, led by Abdul Hamid Suleiman, reportedly had over 100 African American members. Part of the draw was undoubtedly the hope that joining this temple would help protect its Muslims from the KKK. In the early 1920s, black fear of the Klan was growing throughout America, but particularly in the North, where in cities like Newark the KKK was making new attempts to show off its power and recruit members.

1928C

Detroit

See also St. Louis

Poverty, Police Brutality, Riots... and Religious Conversion

The following is a small sample of headlines from 1926 to 1932 concerning this topic. All of these articles discuss events in a single city--one that produced a relatively large number of African American converts to Islam. These kinds of incidents significantly contributed to those conversions.

And finally, an interesting link

...

Pre-order "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1"

Concept by Patrick D. Bowen. Art by Everett Johnston (contact: everboba@yahoo.com)

In the second half of the 1800s, a small number of educated and very liberal white Americans and Britons came to the conclusion that world peace could only be achieved if Westerners embraced in brotherhood the people and religion considered to be their greatest enemies: Muslims and Islam. A variety of little-known organizations began to be established for this purpose, and members started emphasizing symbols that represented this reconciliation between people of different religious and non-religious perspectives. The above image is a modern artist's rendering of one of those symbols. 

Despite the fact that some of the figures leading this movement were motivated by self-interest, their efforts nevertheless sparked off a cultural transformation that went far beyond what they could personally profit from. After joining organizations that embraced non-Christian religions, some of these white liberals came to believe that the religions they encountered were in fact superior to both Christianity and pure materialism--and thus was born the first significant modern movement of Western conversions to "Orient"-focused religions: modern esotericism, Buddhism, Hinduism, the Baha'i faith, and, of course, Islam.

In my forthcoming book, "A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 1: White American Muslims before 1975" (official website; Amazon), I bring to light not only this important element in the pre-history of the modern non-Christian religious movements, but also many previously ignored details related to how such movements eventually developed on American soil. It will include, among other things, new insights into the specific circumstances that led to the formation of some of the first Theosophical lodges in the US; a discussion of the forgotten occult organization that played a significant role in the early spread of the Baha'i faith; and the long lost story of the original emergence of organized non-Islamic Sufism in the 1880s--and its connections with the Theosophical Society, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Ghulam Ahmad (the founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement), Alexander Webb, and Inayat Khan. In addition, attention will be paid to the converts from the early 19th century as well as the manifold esoteric roots and branches of Islam in the modern West.

Readers interested in twentieth-century Islamic movements may also find of value my discussion of various white American-led Islamic organizations formed between 1928 and 1975; the important relationships between white converts and African American Muslims in the '40s; recently-discovered international ties of early U.S. Muslims; and the spread of Islamic Sufism from the late '40s through the early '70s. Many of the groups, figures, and movements discussed here have never been even mentioned -- let alone discussed at length -- in the existing literature on Muslims in the United States. Their inclusion in this book is the result of several years of research and the chasing down of numerous clues and rare items in U.S. and European libraries, museum archives, recently declassified government documents, private collections, and little-known Islamic periodicals. It is my hope that the stories of these early Muslim converts put into new perspective the development of the broader American Muslim community.  

With that being said, I am pleased to announce two things. First, that the book now has a scheduled release date of September 14, 2015. Second, that pre-orders for the book are available from Amazon.com as well as the publisher's official website. Ask your librarian to pre-order a copy. 

Amazon.com

GoogleBooks preview

Official Website
Published by Brill in its Muslim Minorities series

SEPTEMBER  2015