Intro
It seems that the only a few famous Jazz players to convert to Ahmadiyya, of which the most prominent was Yusuf Lateef. The true story is that many Jazz players who converted to Islam held deviant beliefs and continued to hold those beliefs, however, without being formal chanda paying Ahmadi’s. Even the off-spring of Yusuf Lateef aren’t Ahmadi and don’t care to pay any chanda.
Bowen made many errors in this regard, on page 252, he claimed that Sahib Shihab converted to Qadianism (which is also confirmed by Usman Barry, he saw in an Ahmadiyya temple in Denmark)(however, most likely he had Ahmadiyya beliefs, and was not a formal chanda paying Ahmadi). He then alleges that after Art Blakely converted to Islam and moved to New York (mid-to-late 1940’s), he formed in New York, “The Jazz Messengers”, a seventeen-piece band composed entirely of Qadiani converts (inaccurate). Dannin never mentioned any of this. Dannin briefly mentions Yusuf Lateef (aka Bill Evans) who converted to Ahmadiyya/Qadianism. Bowen then errs and says that Talib Dawud converted to Ahmadiyya (totally untrue) in Philadelphia under Sheikh Nasir Ahmad in Philadelphia (See Dannin, 58; Essien-Udom, 313). However, this is impossible since Sheikh Nasir Ahmad was fiercely anti-Qadiani and even started the Schism in Pittsburgh in 1934 and in Cleveland (via Wali Akram). Turner (see pages 138-140) made even a bigger mistake and alleged that even Talib Dawud, Art Blakely, Ford Daleel, Nuh Alahi (Turner alleges that he became a Vice President of the Ahmadiyya Community in the Los Angeles area), McCoy Tyner, Sahib Shihab and Dakota Stanton, Turner based this info on a video interview of Imam Warith Deen (see “A conversation with Imam Warith Deen Muhammad at Duke University, 1992). However, Imam Warith Deen shouldn’t be taken as a credible witness, since he has lied about the person of Master Fard Muhammad and spread lies about him being a Lahori-Ahmadi in 1931 and in the USA on an undercover assignment. Turner also quoted Simpkins and his academic work on Ahmadiyya and FBI files about Malclom X, Simpkins (via Turner) alleged that Art Blakely, Talib Dawud, Yusuf Lateef (aka Bill Evans), Ahmad Jamal and Sahib Shihab helped to raise money and bring more Ahmadiyya Maulvi’s to the USA. Turner also mentions Muhammad Sadiq, (A Jazz Trombone player)(we need more research on this), who seems to have been Ahmadi and even rose to be a President of Ahmadi communities in New York and New Jersey. Ahmad Jamal also seems to have had Ahmadi beliefs, however, his only child is openly non-Ahmadi and thus, Ahmadiyya has ended in that family.
Finally, John Coltrane alleges that some Ahmadi Jazz players helped raise money to bring Ahmadi missionaries to America. This seems to be dubious, since the Ahmadiyya Movement has never admitted to any of this (See “Coltrane: A Biography” by Simpkins and via Turner).
This photo is from 1950, Maulvi Ghulam Yasin is the Qadiani-Ahmadi Maulvi in the middle. allegedly Ahmad Jamal is also there and Abid Haneef.
