Intro
Richard Brent Turner wrote a famous book about “Islam in the African-American Experience”. More to come on this soon, you can read about 20 pages for free. Turner also wrote, “The Ahmadiyya Mission to Blacks in the United States in the 1920s”, The Journal of Religious Thought, 2001(Volume 44 Issue 2)(See Fanusie).
In 1987 and 1989, on page 158, Richard Brent Turner alleges to have met Muhammad Abdullah before he died in Sep-1989, in Hayward, California. Turner alleges that Muhammad Abdullah told him that Elijah Muhammad believed in Islam, however, he purposely told lies. Richard Brent Turner called Muhammad Abdullah as the leader of the Lahori-Ahmadi’s in California and a close friend and confidant. This was published in 1997.
On page 164, Richard Brent Turner explains how Muhammad Abdullah told him that he fabricated his connections to Wallace Farad. Muhammad Abdullah explained how he allowed Warith Deen Muhammad to call him as “his Fard”.
On page 194, Richard Brent Turner mentioned Bashir Ahmad Minto and made mistakes. Richard Brent Turner alleged that Minto came to the USA in 1949, however, it was 1947. Richard Brent Turner also alleges that Maulana Muhammad Abdullah took over this mission in 1959, it was actually 1955.
On page 195, Richard Brent Turner mentioned how when he met Muhammad Abdullah in 1987 (June-30), he told him that Elijah Mohammed told him in 1961 as follows:
“Don’t think I’m against prayer 5 times a day, making the Hajj or fasting during Ramadhan. Don’t think I’m against following Islamic teachings. If I overload my followers, they will run away, so I’m teaching them bit by bit”.
In 1986, Richard Brent Turner interviewed Abid Haneef (See page 274).
Fanusie wrote in her dissertation as follows: “”Richard Brent Turner’s analysis failed to even contemplate the ramifications of a public admission of this identity for Abdullah, a respected Muslim living in America and a noted leader within the global Ahmadiyya Islamic community. Abdullah passed away of cardiac arrest in 1991 in California”” (See page 28).
Fanusie wrote: “”In his excellent 1997 text, Islam in the African-American Experience Richard
Brent Turner successfully challenges the cult-leader and con-artist paradigms by placing
Fard Muhammad squarely within the traditions of Islamic missionaries to America.
Turner argued that as a silk peddler, Fard utilized a centuries-old Islamic vehicle for the
dissemination of religious ideas: that of coming in the guise of a holy man capable of
performing small and large miracles””.
Fanusie wrote: “”Emphasizing the religious identity of Fard, Turner argues that Fard also “consciously portrayed himself as a Christ-like figure” in order to “displace the old Christ that Christianity gave black people.” In doing so, Turner recognizes that Fard’s reliance upon simple ‘magic’ performance tricks such as using a strand of his hair to lift a pile of hairs taken from his African-American Muslim converts was a “familiar part of the baggage of leaders of new religious movements” and suggests that Fard probably deliberately cultivated an “…aura of mystery surrounding (his) identity,” in order to connect with the mystical and spiritual orientation of his largely Southern migrant audience. Turner’s reading of Fard’s usage of tricks as a careful part of Fard’s missionary methodology contrasts with the more common rendering of these tricks as the tools of a common con-artist. Turner concludes,” They (Fard’s tricks) were an important aspect of the religious interaction between him and his followers in the first months of his mission””.
Fanusie wrote: “”Turner provides a compelling portrait of the significance of Fard, particularly as
perceived of by the Federal government of the United States. What is missing from his informative account is a more fine-tuned analysis of the known facts regarding Fard, the significance of his role, both to his followers, and those who opposed his agenda. According to Turner, “the FBI did more than any other non-Muslim agency to cultivate an aura of mystery around W.D. Fard’s identity. The significations that they formed for him and the Nation of Islam revealed their paranoid views that African-American Islam was an “internal security risk” and a global menace. The FBI’s intensive investigation of W.D. Fard began in the early 1940s and continued into the 1960s. According to Turner the U.S. government believed that Fard was still alive and influencing the development of the Nation of Islam well into the 1960s despite the very brief period in which the United States government and state authorities knew of Fard before he became a target of
Federal intelligence”””.
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Quoted by Fanusie
https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com/2025/07/08/fatimah-abdul-tawwab-fanusie-fard-muhammad-in-historical-context-an-islamic-thread-in-the-american-religious-and-cultural-quilt-phd-diss-howard-university-2008-review-by-dr/
Turner, Islam in the African-American Experience, 170,
“””Historians writing of W.D. Fard in the 1930s have tended to place him in the context of either the “exotic cults in the [black] urban environment” or “the extremist experiments” of the Depression years. Both approaches are inadequate and ignore the real significance of this man. W.D. Fard was one of the most important figures in American Islamic history because he formulated the structures of political and racial discourse that enabled the religion to move into the 1950s and 1960s with dramatic vitality under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. Furthermore, Fard’s legacy for American Islam must be taken out of the realm of exotica and cult and viewed as an important aspect of the agenda of a world religion. For Fard was an Islamic modernist, missionary, and important voice in the “noise of conflict” about the boundaries of American religion and identity.”””
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Links and Related Essay’s
Islam in the African-American Experience – Richard Brent Turner – Google Books
Who is Maulana Muhammad Abdullah (1905-1992)? – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Who is Wallace Farad? Aka W.D. Fard aka Fard – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Who is Bashir Ahmad Minto, M.A.? – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
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