Alexander Russell Webb
Encyclopedia
Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb (November 9, 1846, Hudson, New York
Hudson, New York
Hudson is a city located along the west border of Columbia County, New York, United States. The city is named after the adjacent Hudson River and ultimately after the explorer Henry Hudson.Hudson is the county seat of Columbia County...
– October 1, 1916, Rutherford, New Jersey
Rutherford, New Jersey
Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 18,061. It is an inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan....
) was an American writer, publisher, and the United States Ambassador to the Philippines
United States Ambassador to the Philippines
The office of the United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines was established on July 4, 1946 after the Philippines gained its independence from the United States....
. http://www.zaman.com.tr/yazar.do?yazino=966818&title=turkiye-tanitimi.
Biography
His father, Alexander Nelson Webb, was a leading journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
of his day and perhaps influenced his son’s later journalistic exploits.
Webb received his early education at the Home School in Glendale, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and later attended Claverack College
Claverack College
Claverack College, also known as Washington Seminary and Hudson River Institute, was a coeducational boarding school in Claverack, New York, United States. It was in operation from 1779 until 1902.-History:...
, an advanced high school near Hudson, New York
Hudson, New York
Hudson is a city located along the west border of Columbia County, New York, United States. The city is named after the adjacent Hudson River and ultimately after the explorer Henry Hudson.Hudson is the county seat of Columbia County...
. He became editor of the Unionville Republican, Unionville, Missouri
Unionville, Missouri
Unionville is a city in Putnam County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,041 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Putnam County.-Geography:Unionville is located at ....
. His prowess as a journalist was soon apparent, and he was offered the city editorship of the St. Joseph Gazette
St. Joseph Gazette
The St. Joseph Gazette was a newspaper in St. Joseph, Missouri from 1845 until June 30, 1988, when its morning position was taken over by its sister paper, the St...
in St. Joseph, Missouri. Next he became associate editor of the Missouri Morning Journal. Later he became the Assistant City Editor of the Missouri Republican in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. This newspaper was the second oldest and largest daily newspaper at that time.
While working for the Missouri Republican, he was appointed (in September, 1887) by President Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
to be Consular Representative
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
at the U.S. office at Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
. According to the editor of his book The Three Lectures, he had given up any concept of religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
at least fifteen years before that point.
In 1887 Webb was introduced to Islam by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India. Webb wrote two letters to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad was a religious figure from India and the founder of the Ahmadiyya Community. He claimed to be the Mujaddid of the 14th Islamic century, the promised Messiah , and the Mahdi awaited by the Muslims in the end days...
of Qadian. Webb's first clear step toward Islam was expressed in these correspondence. These letters were published then in Mirza Ahmad's book "Shahne e Haqq" page page 372 and 439. http://www.alislam.org/urdu/rk/rk-2-4.pdf
He started his life as a Presbyterian but found it dull and restraining. As early as 1881 he started a search for his true faith by reading books from a well-stocked library of over 13,000 volumes. He started his study with Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and finding it lacking, he began to study Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. In 1888, he took the formally declared himself to be a Muslim.
At that time he had yet to meet a Muslim but was put in contact with several Muslims in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
by a local Parsi businessman. A newspaper publisher, Budruddin Abdulla Kur of Bombay, published several of Webb's letters in his paper. A local businessman, Hajee Abdulla Arab, saw these letters and went to Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
to see Webb.
After the visit, Webb began plans to tour India and then return to the U.S. to propagate Islam. Webb's wife, Ella G. Webb, and their three children had also accepted Islam by this time. Hajee Abdulla returned to India and raised funds for Webb's tour. Webb visited Poona, Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad, and Madras and gave speeches in each town.
All are published at least once separately and some are published in collection. His Islam in America and all later works were basically derived from rewrites of these successful speeches.
He resigned his post in 1892 and toured India then returned to the United States. His family stayed in San Francisco until he sent for them.
Settling in New York, he established the Oriental Publishing Company at 1122 Upper Broadway. This company published his writings (including his magnum opus- Islam in America), such as:
- Islam in America - contained 70 pages divided into eight chapters namely:
- I) Why I Became a Muslim
- II) An Outline of Islamic Faith
- III) The Five Pillars of Practice
- IV) Islam in Its Philosophic Aspect
- V) Polygamy and the Purdah
- VI) Popular Errors Refuted
- VII) The Muslim Defensive Wars
- VIII) The American Islamic Propaganda
Along with this venture he started the organ of the American Muslim Propagation Movement called Moslem World. The first issue appeared May 12, 1893, and was dedicated to The Interests of the American Islamic Propaganda and "[t]o spread the light of Islam in America". It lasted for seven monthly issues (May to November 1893).
In December 1893, John A. Lant and Emin L. Nabakoff broke from Webb's movement and formed the First Society for the Study of Islam and set up shop in Union Square.
Webb was the main representative for Islam at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. On September 20th and 21st, 1893, he gave two speeches. His speeches were entitled: The Influence of Islam Upon Social Conditions and The Spirit of Islam and were published in the large two volume proceedings of the Parliament called The First World's Parliament of Religions (1894).
For the rest of his life he was the main spokesman for Islam in America. Many of America’s most prominent thinkers heard him speak on the Islamic Faith, including Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
.
On Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
, in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, he founded a short-lived masjid (Mosque). The reasons for the termination of this Masjid are unknown, but it could be due to a lack of financial support from India. Throughout the rest of America he started study circles, i.e. in Chicago, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, Manhattan, Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, and Cleveland. They were named Mecca Study Circle No. I (NYC), Koran Study Circle, Capital Study Circle No. 4, etc. Each using an Islamic city or reference in its title. It is likely they studied Webb's works and those he suggested. The last meeting was in 1943 in Manhattan and was attended by his daughter Aliyyah.
He is also known for his writing of two booklets about the Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
from a Muslim point of view: The Armenian Troubles and Where the Responsibility Lies and A Few Facts About Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
Under the Rule of Abdul Hamid II
Abdul Hamid II
His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire...
. He was appointed the Honorary Turkish Consul in New York by Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Abdul Hamid II. The Sultan had been shown plans by Webb for a Muslim cemetery and Masjid and complimented Webb on them. These plans never materialized.
From 1898 to the time of his death on October 1, 1916, aged 69, he lived in Rutherford, New Jersey
Rutherford, New Jersey
Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 18,061. It is an inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan....
. There he owned and edited the “Rutherford Times”. He was buried in Hillside Cemetery, Lyndhurst
Hillside Cemetery, Lyndhurst
Hillside Cemetery is located in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. -Notable Burials:*Alexander Russell Webb , writer, publisher, early American convert to Islam and the United States Ambassador to the Philippines.*William Carlos Williams , poet....
, on the outskirts of Rutherford.
External links
- A Muslim in Victorian America, the Life of Alexander Russel Webb
- Alexander Russell Webb (Archived 2009-10-25) Please note that almost all of the above article on Webb was derived from this source written by Muhammed al-Ahari.
- Nawawi Foundation