Encyclopedia of Islam

Webb, Alexander Russell

 

(1846–1916)  

American journalist and publisher who was an early 

spokesman for Islam in the United States

Alexander Russell Webb, one of the earliest 

known American converts to Islam, was born in 

Hudson, New York, near the end of the Second 

Great Awakening, a period of renewed interest 

in religion, spirituality, and social activism. His 

father, Alexander Nelson Webb, was a leading 

journalist of the time. Webb was raised a Presby-

terian but found the church uninspiring and left it 

while still a young man.

Like his father, Webb became a journalist, 

working for several newspapers in St. Louis, Mis-

souri, including the Missouri Morning Journal and 

the Missouri Republican. While in St. Louis, Webb 

became involved in the Theosophical Society, a 

group that worked to promote the study of world 

religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and 

Zoroastrianism. He developed an interest in spiri-

tuality and religions other than Christianity.

In 1887 President Grover Cleveland named 

Webb the American consul to the Philippines, 

based in Manila. Although Catholicism was the 

dominant religion in the Philippines at the time, 

Webb encountered some Muslim merchants from 

India and began reading about Islam, including 

the writings of members of the a

ligarh

 move-

ment, formed to promote modern 

edUcation

among Muslims in India. In 1888 Webb produced 

a pamphlet in which he declared his conversion to 

Islam; he adopted the name Mohammed Alexan-

der Russell Webb.

Over the next few years, Webb corresponded 

with Muslim scholars in India, including Ghulam 

Ahmad (d. 1908), the leader of the a

hmadiyya

Muslims. In 1892 he resigned his position as 

consul and traveled around India, studying and 

raising money for an effort to spread Islam in the 

United States. When he returned to the United 

States in February 1893, he set up the American 

Mission in New York, dedicated to spreading 

knowledge about Islam. The center, which was 

the first mosque in America, included a library 

and reading room and offered lectures on Islamic 

doctrines and customs. He also set up a publish-

ing arm, the Oriental Publishing Company, which 

published his writings, including his major work, 

Islam in America. In May 1893 he published the 

first issue of Moslem World; designed to “spread 

the light of Islam in America,” it was the earliest 

Islamic missionary periodical in the United States, 

lasting only until November 1893.

In September 1893 the World’s Parliament of 

Religions, the first formal gathering of representa-

tives of both Eastern and Western spiritual tradi-

tions in the United States, was held in Chicago. 

Webb gave two speeches at the parliament: “The 

Influence of Islam upon Social Conditions” and 

“The Spirit of Islam.” Dubbed by the press “the 

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