New Paper: Notes on the MSTA Schisms in Detroit and Pittsburgh, 1928-29

I wrote this paper back in February for the ALI'S MEN-sponsored East Coast Moorish Men’s Brotherhood Summit that was held in March. As the title indicates, I examine known documents concerning the schisms that took place in the Detroit and Pittsburgh MSTA temples in 1928-29. I chose these two temples because they are particularly important for the history of Islam in America. 

*click to enlarge* This is a photo from the MSTA convention in 1928, and in this front row of people are MSTA leaders from that time. Noble Drew Ali is standing and wearing a white turban and robe. Lomax/Ezaldeen is the man standing to the right of Drew Ali and Crumby Bey is one of these men--perhaps the man seated to the immediate left of Drew Ali. [UPDATED 9/22/14 based on info from anonymous commenter. I had originally based my description off of an old newspaper article that listed these men's names in the photo caption but was vague about who was who.]

The schism in Detroit was directed by the temple's first leader, James Lomax, who formed what may have been called the "Mohammedan Church Temple." Noble Drew Ali reportedly personally came to Detroit to remove Lomax from his position and accused him of grafting funds from the temple, though at his trial a month later, Lomax was found innocent of the charge. The schism, though, still resulted in violence, including a shootout with police, six months before Ira Johnson's in Chicago. 

Ultimately, the Detroit temple schism had major implications for the future of Islam in America. Fearing for his life, Lomax fled from Detroit and ended up in, first, Turkey, where he struggled to start a colony for African American Muslims, and then Egypt where he was trained by an important emerging Sunni organization. Now going as Muhammad Ezaldeen, he returned to the U.S. in late 1936 and became, with Sheik Daoud Faisal, one of the leading African-American Sunni leaders in the 1930s to 1950s, organizing and uniting Muslims all along the East Coast (from New York to Florida) and as far west as Detroit. His group, the AAUAA, which still exists today, even developed connections to Malcolm X.

The 1929 schism also resulted in Detroit's MSTA community falling into great disunity, which allowed for a Wallace Fard to bring many former MSTA members together in 1930 with a new, but similar teaching--the doctrines of the Nation of Islam.

Photo of Pittsburgh MSTA temple after bombing in November 1929

The Pittsburgh temple's schism may be no less important in terms of its impact on Islam in America. The schism ultimately led to Walter Smith Bey, who most likely was a leader in the temple, leaving the MSTA and joining Qadiani Ahmadiyya Islam under Muhammad Yusuf Khan and Sufi Bengalee. Khan made Smith Bey--now known as Nasir Ahmad--the first African-American Ahmadi sheik in the Ohio River Valley region. Khan and Ahmad, who retained as followers several former MSTA members, led the impressive spread of Ahmadi Islam in the region (and out to Philadelphia) in the early 1930s. In the mid-1930s, when the black Ahmadi community began rejecting Qadiani leadership in favor of Lahori and Sunni teachers, it became the core base of African-American "Sunnis" in the U.S. When Lomax returned to the U.S., he connected with Ahmad (who was one of the first members of the AAUAA) and used the Ohio-Pennsylvania Sunnis as his base community for spreading Sunni Islam to other parts of the country.

You can download this paper at my Academia.edu website: http://www.academia.edu/3672537/Notes_on_the_MSTA_Schisms_in_Detroit_and_Pittsburgh_1928-29

A representative of a White American-led national Sunni organization in the 1940s

The Birthplace of Sunni Islam in Harlem

In my recent article on Satti Majid, I discuss Sheik Daoud Faisal being Majid's representative in Harlem in the late 1920s, though I wasn't sure of the exact address where he brought together Harlem's Muslims. After some more searching, however, I believe I have located the precise building: 108 W 128th St. This address was the location of Faisal's music bureau by the early 1930s, and in a 1960s interview he claimed that he started his Islamic work in 1928 at this intersection, 128th St. and Lenox Ave (Malcolm X Blvd). 

source: Google Maps

There are reports of Muslims spreading Islam in Harlem a little before 1928 (including Abdul Hamid Suleiman and an unnamed Muslim from Madagascar), but there is no evidence that any Islamic group created a stable meeting place there before Majid and Faisal.

Satti Majid, 1925

For my new article on Satti Majid, see http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jafrireli.1.2.issue-2

Pursuing all leads...

1950s Orientalism

New Article on Satti Majid

Satti Majid was a Sudanese Muslim missionary who lived in the U.S. from the early 1900s to 1929. During that time, he helped establish several Islamic organizations in the country. He is best known today for his work with African Americans, a number of whom converted to Sunni Islam under his influence.

In my newest article, published in the Journal of Africana Religions, in addition to providing an overview of his time in the U.S., I examine new evidence about Satti Majid's efforts here, including his organizing Muslims in Buffalo, proselytization efforts with African Americans, and his attempt to establish perhaps the first national Islamic umbrella organization in the country.

The article also discusses new evidence concerning the early life of Sheik Daoud Ahmed Faisal, who became Satti Majid's representative in Harlem and later continued his legacy in Brooklyn.

You can view the article here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jafrireli.1.2.issue-2