Muhammad Alexander Russell Webb

He was a white convert who in 1888 publicly declared his Islam. He often traveled and gave lectures on Islamic philosophy. He wrote many books including “Islam in America” and ran a mosque in Broadway, New York.

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 in books from a well stocked library of over 13,000 volumes that he had access to. He started his study with Buddhism and finding it lacking, he began to study Islam. In 1888, he 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 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 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. 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.

Webb was the main representative for Islam at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. 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