Intro
Robert Dannin wrote extensively (published in 2002) about Ahmadiyya in the early 1930’s in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. This study is mostly about Wali Akram (aka Walter Gregg)(the famous ex-Qadiani-Ahmadi in Cleveland) and his work bringing Islam to African American’s in the Cleveland area (mostly his own kids and extended family), his name appears in this book 229 times. However, Dannin also covers the controversial honorary Qadiani-Ahmadi Maulvi Muhammad Yusuf Khan and how his financial exploitation of African-American’s led to the Great Ahmadiyya schism of 1934-1936 in Cleveland and Pittsburgh (via Saeed Akmal and Sheikh Nasir Ahmad). Dannin also errors and claims that the split was in terms of Lahori vs. Qadiani. Dannin also errors in terms of Jazz players and them being Qadiani, technically, only Yusuf Lateef and Ahmad Jamal (in the 1950’s) converted to Ahmadiyya.
In 1990 (see page 280), Wali Akram was still alive (his wife was dead, Kareema), they had twelve children, sixty grandchildren, and more than seventy-five great-grandchildren. Robert Dannin met him in 1990 and asked him lots of questions which led to the formation of this book. Wali Akram’s house was at corner of Union Avenue and East 136th Street in Cleveland, he had also built a small workshop on the side of his house. Interestingly, Wali Akram was explaining to Robert Dannin how the Mason’s (Free Mason’s) played a huge role in bringing Islam to America (Check out Ahmadiyya and the Free Mason’s herein). Wali Akram was from Prairie View, Texas and had joined a fraternal lodge of Masons (see Preface).
Dannin also mentioned African America’s who were made missionaries, however, it is unclear who made them all Sheikh. We know how Mufti Muhammad Sadiq had made Sheikh Ahmad Din (aka Paul Nathaniel Johnson) an “honorary-missionary-of sorts” and began working in St. Louis in 1922-1923 Mufti Muhammad Sadiq also made Sheikh Abdus Salam (Detroit area)(not mentioned by Dannin, or Bowen, or Turner, or Hakim) a Sheikh and Mr. J.L. Mott aka Shaikh Abdullah Din Muhammad (another fake Ahmadi converted for business reasons).
Thus, Dannin mentions Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad, Sheikh Nasir Ahmad, Sheikh Saeed Akmal, Sheikh Omar Braddock of Pennsylvania (aka Sheikh Muhammad Omar, see ROR of 1933), Abdullah Malik of Columbus, Ahmad Rasool of Dayton, and Shareef Ali of Cincinnati. We know for sure that Maulvi Muhammad Yusuf Khan made Sheikh Nasir Ahmad an “honorary-missionary-of sorts”. The Ahmadiyya team at al-hakam.com authenticated this information (article by Dr. Talha Sami, UK) by Dannin in 2022 (Dannin must have been told by Wali Akram about these Sheiks). Interestingly, Jameela Hakim also mentions African-American’s who were made Sheikhs, she mentions 13, of which only Sheikh Nasir Ahmad and Saeed Akmal, there are 2 others that we will explore further, ilm Deen and Nazeer Elahi.
1. Nasir Ahmad
2. ilm Deen
3. Yunus Waheed
4. Nazeer Elahi
5. Abu Saleh
6. Karam Ghalab
7. Rasheeda Khitab
8. Sadi Malik
9. Jafar Sadiq
10. Zadir Ahmad
11. Ameen Ghani
12. Ahmad Salehy
13. Saeed Akmal
Maulvi Muhammad Din and Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali, Alexander Webb and Talib Dawud are also mentioned in this book.
My book review is in the below.
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Full book review by #Ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Akram was born on a farm in East Texas and converted to Ahmadiyya in St. Louis in 1923. He founded the First Cleveland Mosque in 1932 which is now the oldest continuously running Muslim institution in America. Wali Akram was 86 years old in roughly 1990 and thus born in roughly 1904-1906. Which makes him roughly 20 years old when he converted to Ahmadiyya in 1923 in St. Louis (see page 5). However, on page 9, Dannin states that Akram converted to Ahmadiyya in 1926. There are conflicting dates.
On page 34, Dannin makes a mistake and claims that when the Ahmadiyya schism happened in 1934-1936, it was Lahori vs. Qadiani. There were NO Lahori’s at all in Chicago to NY, there were some in San Francisco. Saeed Akmal did describe himself as a Lahori-Ahmadi in private letters to Wali Akram, however, this was a short lived distinction. Saeed Akmal probably heard about Lahori-Ahmadi’s through the Moslem Sunrise of 1924, which ran an advertisement for the Lahori-Ahmadi magazine out of the UK, the Light, as well as the ROR, which did mention the Lahori-Ahmadi’s from time to time, further, the famous English Commentary of the Quran (1917)(By Maulvi Muhammad Ali, the Lahori-Ahmadi) was in America and being used by all.
On page 35, Dannin errors and claims that Ahmadiyya came to the USA in 1919, it should be 1920. On page 36, he errors and claims that Ahmadi’s believe that Eisa (as) lived until age 136, it’s either 120 or 125. He also mentions how Mufti Muhammad Sadiq addressed meetings of Marcus Garvey’s UNIA to convey a message of sympathy for the plight of downtrodden
Americans. He promised redemption through the worship of Islam and subsequently reported hundreds of conversions.
On page 37, Dannin claimed that Sheikh Ahmad Din (working out of St. Louis) converted Akram to Ahmadiyya in 1925.
On page 38, Dannin makes an error and claims that Mufti Muhammad Sadiq left America in 1922. He also errors and claims that Mufti Muhammad Sadiq made at least 12 African-American’s as Sheikh’s before he left, that is simply not true, Sheikh Ahmad Din was the only one and he left Ahmadiyya by 1927. He mentions Ahmadi’s who converted after Mufti Muhammad Sadiq left in 1923. He mentions Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad, Sheikh Nasir Ahmad, Sheikh Saeed Akmal, Sheikh Omar Braddock of Pennsylvania, Abdullah Malik of Columbus, Ahmad Rasool of Dayton, and Shareef Ali of Cincinnati. This is a huge error. In fact, it was Muhammad Yusuf Khan who made Nasir Ahmad a Sheikh, and he most likely made the others as Sheikhs. Dannin also errors and gives the impression that Muhammad Yusuf Khan showed up in the mid-1920’s, after Maulvi Muhammad Din left America (1924). Dannin explains how Muhammad Yusuf Khan described himself as “headman” of the Ahmadiyya Movement in America. On page 39, Dannin explains how Muhammad Yusuf Khan left America in early 1934 and returned to Chicago on April 1-1934 and came to Cleveland and had major beef with Wali Akram and Sheikh Nasir Ahmad. Dannin also acknowledges that Muhammad Yusuf Khan came to the USA in 1921. Muhammad Yusuf Khan and his boss Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali (head Ahmadi Maulvi in the USA) were trying to spread Sufi-ism to whites in America and traditional Islam to the blacks, which was seen as unfair and racist by the local African-American community. Dannin mentions how Muhammad Yusuf Khan was working specifically out of Pittsburgh and Cleveland from 1932-1934. Dannin explains how Muhammad Yusuf Khan began charging his followers for prayers and selling them Islamic regalia (as part of this import/export business). In the summer of 1934, Muhammad Yusuf Khan had Ahmadi’s from Cleveland (and possibly Pittsburgh) pay for his trip to India, he left a man named Chaudhri Mohammed Ashraf in-charge of Cleveland before he left. However, he never returned to the USA maybe in 1936-1937.
On page 40, Dannin explains how in the later summer of 1934, Chaudhri Mohammed Ashraf was chased from the community, then Muhammad Yusuf Khan’s possessions were seized and auctioned to repay the Muslims for the hardships they had endured on his behalf. They had even bought him a car. At this point, Wali Akram stepped forward and wrote letters to the 2nd Qadiani-Khalifa in Qadian and told him how much of a crook Muhammad Yusuf Khan was. This prompted the 2nd Qadiani-Khalifa in Qadian to send in Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali to try to save Ahmadiyya in Cleveland. However, Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali began requesting “back fees” for all the payments of chanda that had been missed.
On page 43, Dannin mentions Alexander Webb and his conversion to Islam.
On page 44, Dannin mentioned how Wali Akram said that Alexander Webb might have already started an Islamic school in St. Louis before 1921.
On page 47, Dannin mentions Wali Akram and 10-year plan. He also mentions how Akram started working with his old Ahmadi friend (now an ex-Qadiani) in 1938, Sheikh Nasir Ahmad.
On page 49, Dannin mentions how the African-American’s in Cleveland who remained as Ahmadi’s called Akram a traitor by 1936-1944.
On page 50, Dannin tells us how Akram used the Ahmadiyya position of loyalty to their local government in opposition to draft dodging, which made him lose standing and be accused of still being an Ahmadi.
On page 58, Dannin tells us about Talib Dawud of the Muslim Brotherhood USA (an Ahmadiyya affiliate) and how he was a Be-bop artist that converted to Ahmadiyya in the late 1940’s.
On page 60, Dannin tells how Talib Dawud got married to his first wife, Sayida Faisal, was a young Ahmadiyya from Cleveland. Her father belonged to the faction of converts who had remained with the Ahmadiyya’s after Wali Akram founded the First Cleveland Mosque. She stood out as one of the most desirable young women in the movement. Talib himself was a rising star who had eagerly absorbed the teachings of Islam. The Ahmadiyya matchmakers suggested Sayida as a good partner, and he went to Cleveland, where they soon married. Several years later in New York he took a second wife, the jazz singer Dakota Staton, who was not Muslim. He managed her promising career while simultaneously working with Sayida to spread the faith. But this polygamous arrangement soon collapsed when Sayida returned to Cleveland with their children. Talib Dawud was an eighteen-year old Antiguan named Alfonso Nelson Rainey when he arrived in NY in 1940.
On page 87, Dannin tells us how Wali Akram sent (From Cleveland to Texas) home a newspaper clipping of his Moslem 10-year plan, his photo was there too. Walter (aka Wali Akram) was now the teacher (imam) and “chief promulgator” of a community of 120 “Negro Moslems” in Cleveland with more followers in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Dayton. Akram seems to be teaching Arabic, however, since he learned from Qadiani-Ahmadi’s, it must not have been that good.
Pages 88–96 are all about Wali Akram and how he converted to Ahmadiyya under Sheikh Ahmad Din in St. Louis in roughly 1923 (see page 95, Dannin), a year later, he then met another female Ahmadi (Kareema) convert and got married to her. Her previous name was Hannah Dudley of Savannah, Georgia. By 1925, Wali Akram became Sheikh Ahmad Din‘s most accomplished student. His energetic devotion to Islam was rare in comparison with the way some other men came and went according to their mood. He became a trusted assistant to Sheikh Ahmad Din and helped him maintain a reputation as the most successful American missionary in the Ahmadiyya Movement. They purchased a small printing press and incorporated the Sheik Ahmad Publishing Company to printed handbills announcing the arrival of a new religion that would rescue the “Negro” from the doldrums. In the summer of 1925, Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad had came to St. Louis and complained about the lack of missionary support for his missions in Cincinatti and Dayton, Ohio. Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad offered Wali Akram an opportunity to become a Sheikh of sorts, they had a few dozen Ahmadi followers spread between 2 cities. In October of 1925, Wali Akram and Kareema departed St. Louis enroute to Ohio (Cincinatti and Dayton specifically) to work under (follow) another African-American missionary Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad. It’s unclear if Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad had a rogue Ahmadi sect. Wali Akram and Kareema spent 3 months studying under Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad, but they stayed in total, 2 years in Dayton and Cincinatti, Ohio. In 1927, they moved to Cleveland. Dannin alleges that Wali Akram read copies of the Review of Religions magazine and most likely other English Islamic magazines.
Page 97, Dannin makes a mistake and alleges that Ahmadi’s believe that Jesus (as) died at age 136, that’s untrue, it’s either 120 or 125. Wali and Kareema arrived in Cleveland where they rented an apartment on Woodland Avenue in the East Fifties, a neighborhood that was in
rapid decline as Cleveland’s blacks moved from their original homes downtown to apartments vacated by upwardly mobile Italians and Jews. Wali Akram wrote letters to his Ahmadiyya colleagues reporting his gains and asking for their help.
Page 98, while in Cleveland (1927-1930), Wali Akram met real Muslims and even went and prayed with them, this while being an pseudo-Ahmadi. By 1932, Wali Akram had 150 families following him. Wali Akram somehow asks Sheikh Nasir Ahmad to come to Cleveland and help him with imam work. Thus, by 1932, Sheikh Nasir Ahmad was the official imam of the Ahmadi’s of Cleveland. Dannin makes a mistake here, he alleges that Muhammad Yusuf Khan heard about Wali Akram‘s success and came from Chicago, that would incorrect, since Muhammad Yusuf Khan was working out of Pittsburgh since at least 1930. In 1933, Ahmadiyya in Cleveland is acknowledged via the ROR of 1933, however, Wali Akram is not mentioned at all. Muhammad Yusuf Khan was a big hit in Cleveland, his congregation was already paying a monthly tithe, on top of that they bought him a car. A big, black Chrysler with yellow wheels, most likely a 1930 model.
On Page 99, Muhammad Yusuf Khan leaves for India in the summer of 1934 and leaves Professor Ashraf in-charge. Ashraf recalled the Ahmadiyya identification cards, asking each member to pay an additional thirty-five cents for a new Ahmadiyya stamp and official gold seal. Prodded by Akram to justify this expense, Ashraf announced publicly that the Ahmadiyya’s needed Americans to furnish them with intelligence information because “a big war” was
coming. They needed to be photographed and fingerprinted and to have their names legalized, all for a whopping fee of fifteen dollars each. Already suspicious of the professor’s motives, Akram smelled real mischief when he proposed to teach Urdu instead of Arabic. Yet, despite Akram’s misgivings, the others grudgingly submitted to this chicanery and handed over almost seven hundred dollars to Ashraf. To their dismay, he promptly left town and returned to India.
Fights also broke out. By late Nov, early-Dec-1934, Muhammad Yusuf Khan wrote 2 letters to Akram asking for money to return to the USA in Jan of 1935. Wali Akram calls a meeting at the Cleveland Mosque (mission house), they then seize the furniture of Muhammad Yusuf Khan and sell it at auction. In Dec of 1934, Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali came to Cleveland and seems to have met the flock and heard their grievances. Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali chastized the congregation for selling Muhammad Yusuf Khan’s furniture. On Jan-2-1935, Wali Akram wrote a letter to the 2nd Qadiani Khalifa at Qadian and explained the situation in Cleveland. In this letter, Wali Akram admitted that Muhammad Yusuf Khan did convert 100’s of African American’s to Ahmadiyya in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Ohio. However, these people have all left Ahmadiyya because of the financial exploitation by honorary Qadiani-Ahmadi missionary Muhammad Yusuf Khan.
Page 100, On Jan 12, 1935, Wali Akram received a letter from Maulvi in charge USA, Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali wherein he was asking for chanda money (unpaid dues, subscription to the Moslem Sunrise and his travel expenses). Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali left Cleveland in late Dec-1934, a few months later, Wali Akram refused to send money to Chicago (March-1935) where Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali was stationed (this was also the Ahmadiyya headquarter for the USA). The schism between the converts and the missionaries had widened into a gulf by the latter half of 1936, when Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali demanded more money for travel to India. He pressured Ahmadiyya stalwarts in Pittsburgh and Chicago while urging the Clevelanders to pay their arrears. The whole structure of Ahmadiyya authority was based on this material sign of loyalty. Any breach of unity was tantamount to blasphemy against Allah, he warned.
Page 102, Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali, it was alleged, did little to change the Jim Crow system of double standards. It became known that he organized Sufi rites for white people but kept African Americans segregated in their mosque. Those who questioned his practices were told that black people weren’t ready for Sufism, an affront that prompted one anti missionary partisan to retort, “I’d rather be a friend of the white man than be a friend of yours. . . . You have nothing to offer me, not even the Arabic language because all you know is Urdu. You don’t even know Arabic, just enough Arabic to read the Quran and that’s it! (This is the testimony of Hameeda Mansur, audiotape interview by author, Cleveland, August 25, 1990, via Dannin). At some point in 1936, while at Juma prayer, Wali Akram announced his independence from the Ahmadiyya Movement (Qadiani) in dramatic fashion, he had a dream. Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali heard about all of the turmoil and rushed to Cleveland where he found Wali Akram in the Mosque (mission house) giving Arabic lessons. Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali yelled out that this mission house was property of the Ahmadiyya Movement and anyone not loyal to Ahmadiyya should leave, practically the whole congregation left (See Hameeda Mansur, audiotape interview by author, Cleveland, Aug-25-1990, via Dannin).
103, similar to the Ahmadiyya schism in Pittsburgh in 1934, another schism erupted in Cleveland (also in 1934), with Wali Akram leading the ex-Ahmadi’s. They worked together for many years and got the famous “Pittsburgh Mosque” built, Saeed Akmal ended up working at his own mosque in Braddock. Dannin makes an error on the references page 284, he writes that Maulvi Muhammad Ali’s famous commentary of the Quran was published in 1928, that’s not accurate, it was published from London in 1917. Saeed Akmal described his version of Ahmadiyya as Lahori in a private letter to Akram (Dated, March 27, 1937). Akmal called Sufi Muti-ur-Rahman Bengali a slave master. In 1936, the ex-Ahmadi’s rented a new space at 7605 Woodland Avenue and called it the First Cleveland Mosque (even though it was a mission house).
114, Khadija Akram is discussed.
On page 280, Dannin concludes that the resemblance of the beliefs of Ahmadiyya and Noble Drew Ali were obvious.
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Links and Related Essay’s
Black Pilgrimage to Islam (ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com)
Robert Dannin – Anthropologist, Author, Editor – Self-employed | LinkedIn
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Freemasons – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Esa (as) didn’t live til age 125 or 120, Ahmadiyya people are wrong! – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Alexander Russel Webb was never an Ahmadi – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Saeed Akmal is an ex-Ahmadi too – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Who is Sheikh Nasir Ahmad? Aka Walter Smith Bey, another Ex-Ahmadi – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Who is Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad? Another ex-Ahmadi? – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
Click to access Thesis___Ahmadi_institutionalization_.pdf
Just a few Jazz musicians converted to Ahmadiyya – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
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