Intro
Dr. Hatim A. Sahib was born in 1917, presumably in Iraq. How or why he arrived at the University of Chicago sometime in the late 1940s is unknown (See 1995 edition of “The Nation of Islam”, Via “Contributions in Black Studies”: Vol. 13, Article 3., by Hatim A. Sahib). (The U of C Alumni Office reports that he has not been in touch with them in years, and that his last known address was a teacher’s college in Baghdad.).
In roughly 1950, Hatim A. Sahib began writing a thesis for completion his Master’s Degree at the University of Chicago. This thesis seems to have been re-published in 1995. Nevertheless, this Thesis was supposed to be about the Ahmadiyya Movement and their national headquarters at Wabash Ave in Chicago (their headquarters was moved to Washington D.C. by June of 1950).
However, after visiting many times in March of 1950, Hatim A. Sahib noticed that there were a few (5 people) at the daily prayers and barely 50 member’s total. He also noticed that there were no membership records going back to 1921 or even 1941. He didn’t explain if these were all African-American’s it certainly seems to be the case. We are curious to know what Qadiani-Ahmadi Maulvi he met? Was it Shukar Ilahi (he was a white convert to Ahmadiyya)? Having attained his M.A. at U of C in 1951, Sahib continued his doctoral studies there, producing a dissertation entitled “Social Psychological Analysis of Arab Nationalist Movement in Iraq” some three or four years later. But it is Sahib’s remarkable and previously unpublished M.A. thesis one of the earliest and most detailed studies of the Nation of Islam.
Hatim A. Sahib makes a mistake and claims that the Ahmadiyya Movement has mosques (aka temples) in New York, Cincinatti, St. Louis and Washington D.C., this is simply not true, these were all mission houses, only the one in Chicago (on Wabash) was owned and that was the residence of the Missionary, and also doubled as a mosque-temple. Manning Marable made similar mistakes, in fact, in “Finding Fard” by Dr. John Morrow (see page 53), it is alleged that Ahmadiyya claimed to have 5-10,000 converts since its inception in the USA in 1920 (morrow was quoting Manning Marable, “A Life of Reinvention” (see pages 84 and 90).
What’s really interesting is that the First Annual Convention (Jalsa) of Aḥmadiyya Community of the United States of America was held in Dayton, Ohio on 5 September 1948. The tents used for the convention were made by Ahmadi sisters. Notable Jamā‘ats which participated are: Chicago, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Youngstown, Du Quoin, Homestead, New York and Kansas. Ninety participated in the convention. (Al-Fazl, 24-25 September 1948, p. 6).
Missionary Abdul Qadir Zaighum participated in the 2nd annual conference (USA Jalsa) on the instructions of the 2nd Qadiani Khalifa (Tarikh Aḥmadiyyat, Vol. 13, p.108). The Aḥmadiyya Movement, USA, held two-day second Annual Convention in Pittsburgh on 17-18 September 1949. It was inaugurated by Dr. Khalil Ahmad Nasir. At his request, the 2nd Qadiani Khalifa sent a message. He directed the Jamā‘at USA to adopt the message of MGA about Al-Waṣiyyat. Chaudhri Muhammad Zafrulla Khan attended the convention and delivered two speeches. Two hundred attended the convention. (Review of Religions, January 1956, pp. 8-12, Al-Fazl, 6 October 1950, p. 2). A new Department, the Co-operative Committee was created at the second annual convention. The principal object was to institute ways and means of helping our sisters and brothers to work in unity and to co-operate with one another to better their social, financial and spiritual conditions. (Tarikh Aḥmadiyyat, Vol. 14, p. 43, The Aḥmadiyya Gazette USA, June 1950, Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 13).
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Who is Dr. Hatim A. Sahib?
Dr. Hatim A. Sahib was born in 1917, presumably in Iraq (See 1995 edition of “The Nation of Islam”, Via “Contributions in Black Studies”: Vol. 13, Article 3., by Hatim A. Sahib). How or why he arrived at the University of Chicago sometime in the late 1940s is unknown to us. (The U of C Alumni Office reports that he has not been in touch with them in years, and that his last known address was a teacher’s college in Baghdad.) Having attained his M.A. at U of C in 1951, Sahib continued his doctoral studies there, producing a dissertation entitled “Social Psychological Analysis of Arab Nationalist Movement in Iraq” some three or four years later. But it is Sahib’s remarkable and previously unpublished M.A. thesis one of the earliest and most detailed studies of the Nation of Islam available which will be of greatest interest to our readers.1 Frequently cited by scholars, the most significant chapters of this study are now made more accessible to the public in this issue of Contributions.
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Manning Marable made similar mistakes, in fact, in “Finding Fard” by Dr. John Morrow (see page 53), it is alleged that Ahmadiyya claimed to have 5-10,000 converts since its inception in the USA in 1920 (morrow was quoting Manning Marable, “A Life of Reinvention” (see pages 84 and 90).
Scans
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Links and Related Essay’s
The Nation of Islam (umass.edu)
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=cibs
When was the first Ahmadiyya temple built in the USA? – ahmadiyyafactcheckblog
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#ahmadiyya #ahmadiyyafactcheckblog #messiahhascome #ahmadiyyat #trueislam #ahmadianswers #mirzaghulamahmad #qadiani #qadianism
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