Intro
In the 1910’s, Walter Bellinger (aka Saeed Akmal, see Bowen) had moved to Pittsburgh and must have met up with his brother Louis A.S. Bellinger. He met his wife Marguerite Bellinger (aka Rasheeda Akmal). Walter Bellinger (aka Saeed Akmal) is from a interesting family of African-American’s originally from South Carolina (See Lemon Swamp and Other Places: A Carolina Memoir). Walter’s (aka Saeed Akmal) older brother is quite famous, his name is Louis A.S. Bellinger (1891-1946), he was the only licensed and practicing Black architect in Pittsburgh between 1919 and his death in 1946.
By the mid-1920s, Walter and Marguerite Bellinger were living in Pittsburgh. He was working in construction, specializing in new construction and rehabilitating existing buildings. Walter eventually established his own company and was well known for refurbishing some of the city’s most iconic jazz clubs. About 1928, Muslim missionaries based in Ohio began a drive to convert Pittsburgh area Black residents to Islam. Walter and Marguerite joined others in laying the foundation for the nation’s first native-founded mosque, the First Moslem Mosque of Pittsburgh (incorporated in 1944). They renounced their Christian names. Walter Bellinger became Saeed Akmal and his wife became Rasheeda Akmal. Historians of Black Muslims in the United States describe Saeed Akmal as a pivotal figure in the history of non-Nation of Islam Black Muslims. Rasheeda died in childbirth in 1932, leaving Saeed with eight children to raise.
The 1930 U.S. Census recorded Walter and Margaret living in a rented Penn Township home with their seven children and another of Walter’s brothers, Henry. Walter was working as a carpenter building houses, and Margaret took care of their large family. By that time, the household had fully embraced Islam and shed their Christian names and the Bellingers became Akmals. Walter became Saeed and Margaret became Rasheeda. Christian names like Glenn, Catherine and Louis were replaced by Farooq, Rasool and Aminah. By 1932, Rasheeda had died giving birth to a ninth child, who also died. After Rasheeda passed away, Akmal was left with raising four boys and four girls alone. He remarried in 1933, but that marriage disintegrated in 18 months. The couple divorced in 1937. “I heard he raised them,” Akmal’s granddaughter, Tahara Akmal, explained in a telephone interview. “My aunts were very instrumental in helping my grandfather raise the younger kids.”
It seems that in roughly 1930, Walter Bellinger (aka Saeed Akmal) seems to have been in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (at the Ahmadiyya mission house aka mosque at 2222 Webster Ave, Pittsburgh, PA) and met the Qadiani-Ahmadi “honorary-missionary”, Dr. Muhammad Yusuf Khan.
In 1931, Bellinger designed Greenlee Field for Gus Greenlee, used by Negro league baseball teams. Other Pittsburgh designs by Louis A.S. Bellinger include his and Ethel’s duplex at 530 Francis St., apartment complexes on Centre Ave. and Wylie Ave., and remodelings of churches in Wilkinsburg and East Liberty.
In 1932, Louis A.S. Bellinger ran as a Republican for United States Congress. The only black candidate (of five) on Pennsylvania’s 32nd congressional district ballot, he was not elected (See also Albert M. Tanner notes Bellinger’s importance: “References to Louis A. S. Bellinger are found in Negro Artists: An Illustrated Review of Their Achievements (New York: Harmon Foundation, 1935), Theresa Dickason Cederholm, Afro-American Artists: A Bio-bibliographical Directory (Boston Public Library, 1973), and Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975 (Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1999). A detailed account of his life and work appears in African-American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary 1865-1945 [New York: Routledge, 2004]).
By 1933, Saeed Akmal got married a female convert to Ahmadiyya at the Pittsburgh Mission at 2222 Webster Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, USA and Dr. Muhammad Yusuf Khan read the nikkah. In The Pittsburgh Press of Sat, Jan 14, 1933 ·Page 8 and 9, Saeed Akmal is mentioned as someone who has gotten a marriage license, he lives at 628 Belinda St and seeks to marry Lateefa Osman, who is from Greenburg, PA. It’s unclear how the mission came into existence, however, by 1930, it was at least 100+ members. The ROR of Sep-1933, has a report from Dr. Muhammad Yusuf from America about the spread of Ahmadiyya in Cleveland, Ohio, they allege to have 300 Ahmadi’s in Cleveland. Dr. Muhammad Yusuf gave 4 lectures at the Ahmadiyya Hall. He also mentions how Sheikh Nasir Ahmad and Sheikh Muhammad Omar (Omar Ahmad of Braddock?) are working with him, both were Christian priests. Dr. Muhammad Yusuf also alleges that some Turks and Arab Muslims might have converted to Ahmadiyya and caused a stir.
In Feb-1934, (10th), Shaikh Saadi Malik wrote a report under the heading “Proceedings of the Mother Mosque”. Shaikh Saadi Malik reports that on Sunday night, Jan-28, there were 3 speeches, by Anbdul Rasool, Saeed Akmal and Mohammed Omar. Shaikh Wali Dod is mentioned as someone who is working with Moslems in the “South Side”.
In 1934, the local Cleveland newspapers were calling Muhammad Yusuf Khan as “The Head Moslem of Cleveland”. On Apr-1-1934, Muhammad Yusuf Khan returned from an import/export run to British India and immediately confronted Sheikh Nasir Ahmad (in Cleveland or Pittsburgh?) and accused him of having alleged ties to the Moorish Science Temple, which he characterized as “worthless” and “un-Islamic.” Rather than seeing the Moors and the Garveyites as links to a larger American audience, Dr. Khan challenged their influence. He vehemently opposed Freemasonry and insisted that membership in the Ahmadiyya Movement excluded other sectarian affiliations. (See Bismilla,” Cleveland Call and Post, April 21, 1934, 2; Dannin, Pilgrimmage, 38, via Bowen).
In Apr-1934, via the Cleveland Call and Post of Sat, Apr 07, 1934 ·Page 2, there is a photo of M. Yusuf Khan. This is about the Cleveland Mosque. The Ahmadiyya regional headquarter has been changed from Pittsburgh to 5311 Woodland Ave in Cleveland. The headquarters was in Pittsburgh for 4 years. Yusuf Khan alleges to have faced the bitterest opposition vs. Ahmadiyya. Yusuf Khan alleges that he has already created 11 men and 1 woman to go out and to tabligh. On March-29, the Moslems of Pittsburgh gave Yusuf Khan a farewell party (he was going to India on a trade run) wherein 300 people showed up. Shaikh Nasir Ahmad was there as well as well as Shaikh Abdul Wahab, Shaikh Abid Haque, Shaikh Saeed Akmal and Shaikh Abdul Farook. Shaikh Abdul Farook was made in-charge, with full authority in Pittsburgh. Yusuf Khan says that anyone who doesn’t pay their chanda for 3 months will be removed from the membership. There is another report in this newspaper from the “Mother Mosque”, during the week of March-25-1934, wherein it is stated that Rahmat Mahmood Sheikh Farook and Dr. Khan held a meeting. Eid was also held. Shaikh Nasir Ahmad from the Cleveland Mosque were also there. Sheikh Saeed Akmal from Braddock, Pittsburgh was also there. Shaikh Nasir Ahmad will be around and in-charge in Cleveland, signed off by Shaikh Saadi Malik.
Thus, in April of 1934, Sheikh Nasir Ahmad seems to have been ex-communicated by Muhammad Yusuf Khan in Cleveland, Sheikh Nasir Ahmad then moved to Philadelphia and started working with Muslims therein. Just six weeks (by June of 1934) after Sheikh Nasir Ahmad’s departure, the Ohio River Valley Muslims got word of Ahmad’s success in Philadelphia (See Abdul Mohammad, “Philadelphia Mission,” Cleveland Call and Post, June 2, 1934, 2., via Bowen).
By July of 1934, the Muslims in Pittsburgh had totally ousted Muhammad Yusuf Khan (See Bowen). On July 14, an important announcement was made in the religion section of the Cleveland Call and Post, the local black newspaper:
“””The leaders of Vearianue [sic], or what is better known as Imams, gathered [in Pittsburgh] and formed a council, according to the Islamic teaching. We discharged the missionary, M.Y. Khan because of his failure to carry the work on in the right way. We, the members have been successful in making connection with the Moslem League, that we may be known throughout all the Moslem World. Our lecturer will cost just about half what it has been costing. The new
missionary will be located at … Pittsburgh. His name is Abdul Mohammed Iben Akbar. For any information, please write 18 South Sickel St., Philadelphia, Pa. Shaikh Nasir Ahmad has returned back to his mission in Philadelphia. We are making wonderful progress here in Philadelphia. Unity is our aim. May Allah guide us wherever we go.”” (Cleveland Call and Post, the local black newspaper of July-14-1934)(See Bowen).
The Vearianue, which was also known as both the Islamic Council and the Supreme Council, was led by Nasir Ahmad and was initially composed of twelve leading men from the Ohio-Pennsylvania community (because Philadelphia was now included, the region cannot be limited to the Ohio River Valley), and it soon acquired representatives from the Pittsburgh, Braddock, Youngstown, and Columbus Ahmadi missions (See Saadi Mliak, “Proceedings at the Pittsburgh Mosque,” Cleveland Call and Post, July 31, 1934, 2; Abdulla Eesa, “Bis-mil-lah,” Cleveland Call and Post, July 31, 1934, 2., via Bowen).
In August 1934, Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali who had spent most of the last few years promoting Islam to whites in cities outside of the Ohio River Valley, attempted to win back the disgruntled members in Pittsburgh (Braddock Mosque). He publicly denounced Muhammad Yusuf Khan and pleaded with the mosques that had broken off to return under his leadership. (See “Moslem Activities in Braddock,” Cleveland Call and Post, August 4, 1934, 2, via Bowen).
In 1936, Saeed Akmal has an essay in the New Pittsburgh Courier of Sat, Feb 08, 1936 ·Page 20 entitled, “Is Christianity Failing?” Saeed Akmal has an essay in New Pittsburgh Courier of Sat, Apr 04, 1936 ·Page 12 which is like a letter to the editor wherein he discusses Islamic brides in Ethiopia, dowry and these types of misconceptions.
By 1937, his good friend, the famous Saeed Akmal (a fellow ex-ahmadi) wrote him a letter wherein he described himself as a Lahori-Ahmadi (See Dannin). Saeed Akmal is mentioned in Jameela Hakim’s, “History of The First Muslim Mosque in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania” (1979) as someone who took over the Pittsburgh mission of confused Muslims. Check out our full history of Ahmadiyya in the USA herein. Also called the Braddock Mosque. There is another Ex-Ahmadi named Sheikh Omar of Braddock, he seems to have also quit Ahmadiyya and worked with Saeed Akmal at the Braddock Mosque.
By 1937, Pittsburgh had 1,800 African-American Muslims “making it one of the largest Black Muslim populations in the country,” Patrick Bowen, a leading expert on the history of conversion to Islam in the U.S., writes in a 2018 article on the history of Islam in Pittsburgh.
By 1943-44, ‘”The First Muslim Mosque” was opened in Pittsburgh. Akmal was one of 10 men and women who founded the First Moslem Mosque of Pittsburgh and he was the congregation’s president. The new congregation received its charter in 1945. Akmal also was an emerging leader on the national stage where he served as the treasurer of the Uniting Islamic Society of America.
In 1950, Saaed Akmal took a job with a former Pittsburgh architect living in Los Angeles. “He has been supervising some construction work for Oscar Liff Sr.,” wrote Pittsburgh Courier columnist Hazel Garland in May 1951. Akmal’s move to California is recognized by Islamic history scholars as a significant event. Bowen described the move in his 2015 book: “Saeed Akmal … moved out to Los Angeles where he became involved with the local immigrant-majority community, thus depriving the East Coast and Midwest of an important leader.” Some of Saeed’s children followed their father to Los Angeles and their home became a popular meeting place for the city’s growing Muslim population. Tahara Akmal has a copy of a typed history of the Islamic Center of Southern California. It has a small section on her family’s contribution to building the East Hollywood institution: “People used to meet at their homes and celebrate their holidays, Eids and social events. There was one such home, the Akmal families … who were raising their children to become muslin [sic.] and used their home for meetings.”
In 1966, he died.
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