Alexander Russell Webb (November 9, 1846 – October 1, 1916) was an American writer, publisher, and the United States Consul to the Philippines. He converted to Islam in 1889, and is considered by historians to be the earliest prominent Anglo-American Muslim convert. In 1893, he was the sole person representing Islam at the first Parliament of the World’s Religions.

Webb received his early education at the Home School in Glendale, Massachusetts and later attended Claverack College, an advanced high school near Hudson, New York. He became editor of the Unionville Republican, Unionville, Missouri. His prowess as a journalist was soon apparent, and he was offered the city editorship of the St. Joseph Gazette in St. Joseph, Missouri. Next he became associate editor of the Missouri Morning Journal. Later he became the Assistant City Editor of the Missouri Republican in St. Louis. This newspaper was the second oldest and largest daily newspaper at that time.

While working for the Missouri Republican, he was appointed (in September, 1887) by President Cleveland to be Consular Representative to the Philippines at the U.S. office at Manila. According to the editor of his book The Three Lectures, he had given up any concept of religion at least fifteen years before that point.

In 1886 Webb was introduced to Islam by the works of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India, the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement. Webb wrote two letters to Ghulam Ahmad. Webb’s first clear step toward Islam was expressed in these correspondences. At that time he had yet to meet a Muslim but was put in contact with several Muslims in India by a local Parsi businessman. A newspaper publisher, Budruddin Abdulla Kur of Bombay, published several of Webb’s letters in his paper. A local businessman, Hajee Abdulla Arab, a follower of Ghulam Ahmad, saw these letters and went to Manila to see Webb. In 1888, he formally declared himself to be a Muslim. Although Webb acknowledged Ghulam Ahmad as “a man of God” and the one who had guided him to Islam, and kept in contact with Ahmadis until his death in 1916, the Ahmadiyya literature does not record whether or not Webb was an Ahmadi Muslim, nor does his work show allegiance towards Ahmadiyya eschatology.

Although Webb encountered some hostility because of his beliefs, the American press that reported on his activities did not question his patriotism, but dubbed him instead “the Yankee Mohammedan”.

After the visit, Webb began plans to tour India and then return to the U.S. to propagate Islam. Webb’s wife, Ella G. Webb, and their three children had also converted to Islam by this time. Hajee Abdulla returned to India and raised funds for Webb’s tour. Webb visited Poona, Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad, and Madras and gave speeches in each town. In India, he repeatedly expressed his dislike of Westernization and its effect on colonized Muslims. He viewed Muslims who were blindly imitating the West, adopted its style of clothing, and abandoned their own as servile and unworthy of their rich heritage. He saw them as far removed from a genuine Islamic ethos, stating: “The only Mohammedans in all the East who drink intoxicating beverages are those who have been educated in England and wear European clothes. Their contact with Christian nations has demoralized them, and they have drifted away from their religion.”

In 1892 he travelled to Egypt and Turkey where he could continue studying Islam. While in Istanbul in 1893, he resigned his post with the State Department and returned to America.

Settling in New York, he established the Oriental Publishing Company at 1122 Upper Broadway. This company published his writings, including his magnum opus Islam in America.

Along with this venture he started the organ of the American Muslim Propagation Movement called Moslem World. The first issue appeared May 12, 1893, and was dedicated to The Interests of the American Islamic Propaganda and to spread the light of Islam in America. It lasted for seven monthly issues (May to November 1893).

In December 1893, John A. Lant and Emin L. Nabakoff broke from Webb’s movement and formed the First Society for the Study of Islam and set up shop in Union Square.

Webb was the main representative for Islam at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. On September 20 and 21, 1893, he gave two speeches. His speeches were entitled: The Influence of Social Condition and The Spirit of Islam and were published in the large two volume proceedings of the Parliament called The First World’s Parliament of Religions (1894).

I have faith in the American intellect, in the American intelligence, and in the American love of fair play, and will defy any intelligent man to understand Islam and not love it. — Alexander Russell Webb