Which Abdullah Sorting Evidence From Myth Research

Foundation & Context Atlantic City (1919–1923) NYC & The Music (1924–1935) Archives & Lectures © 2025 Cool Wisdom Books. All rights reserved. This article is still undergoing minor edits and building reference section. A commenter recently asked why we think the Atlantic City/New York figure could be Neville’s Abdullah. It is not because of turbans, common names, or Ethiopianism. It is because of what Neville himself directly said. In the lecture I AM in You (1968), Neville recalled: “My friend Abdullah once said to me that this elderly lady…he was an old, old gentleman and he was in Atlantic City … and someone told her that he could do something to a man in her neighborhood and destroy him. So she came and offered Ab $300. Ab said, ‘My dear, whoever advised you this way is silly. God is love, just love. That single remark anchors Abdullah in Atlantic City.n2220 ¶1

And it is in Atlantic City between 1920 and 1923 that we find documented advertisements for Modeste Guillaume Abda’llah, a Lamperti-trained baritone with a vocal school who publicly offered later instruction in the “mystery books of Moses”, prosperity, healing, and higher psychology. The thread continues in New York. By the early 1930s, Neville remembered studying with Abdullah at 30 West 72nd Street. Records show the house belonged not to Morgenthau, as Neville misremembered, but to Henri W. Zay, another Lamperti-trained baritone Anthroposophist with a vocal school. After Zay’s death, his widow hosted esoteric and Anthroposophical meetings in the house. So in both Atlantic City and New York, Abdullah appears within the same Lamperti-trained baritone milieu: first as an advertiser teaching metaphysics, later situated in Zay’s house at 30 W.n2220 ¶2

72nd. This convergence of location, training, and teaching content is why this figure is closer than any other candidate we have examined. There are several apparent contradictions.n2220 ¶3

Neville at times described Abdullah as “born in Ethiopia”, at other times as “born in North Africa. He once claimed Abdullah was already “in his 80s” when they met In Five Lessons Neville remembered a “turbaned head”. And beyond these details, there is this argument that the name “Abdullah” is simply too common in the Middle East and North Africa to serve as a reliable identifier.n2220 ¶4

These are valid questions but they do not end the inquiry. Over the course of this series we have examined more than 20+ candidates and we have checked thousands of immigration and naturalization records in the US, Ethiopia and London. Most dissolve after verifying dates, geography, or documents. Some, like Mitch Horowitz’s proposal of Arnold Josiah Ford, can be excluded as Ford died in 1935, while Neville was still studying with Abdullah in New York. What remains useful is this gradual elimination of misdirections, and the recovery of verifiable contexts. Not just a final conclusion. What follows addresses three of the most persistent myths: the Morgenthau house, the Ethiopia vs. North Africa issue, and the turban image before turning to the strongest positive lead so far: the Lamperti connection that places Abdullah within the cultural setting of singers and esotericists at 30 West 72nd Street. That besides the fact that Neville mentioned Abdullah was in Atlantic City. So, let’s take a look at some of the most obvious errors and myth makers that send Neville researchers on a wild goose chase and to partially, for now, answer some of these questions. Check the Table 1 Chronology of Residents of 30 W.n2220 ¶5

72nd Street here “I didn’t have a job, I had no money, and I was living in a basement on 75th Street and he (Abdullah) lived on 72nd Street, in a very lovely home that was owned by Morgenthau, whose son (Henry Morgenthau Jr) was then the treasury (sic) of our country, a cabinet member (US Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt), but his father owned this house, but he didn’t live there, and he rented the first floor to my friend Abdullah. Neville later remembered the house as Morgenthau-owned, rented to Abdullah by Henry Morgenthau Jr. himself. This is incorrect. The record shows: Neville misremembered or never knew the actual Morgenthau detail.n2220 ¶6

But to Neville, Abdullah was teaching from 30 West 72nd Street, a house already associated with vocal training, esoteric study, and spiritualist groups but o wned by Zay. The house on West 72nd was not a Morgenthau residence rented to his friend; it was Zay’s house, already tied to voice culture, esoteric study, and small spiritualist/Anthroposophical gatherings. Neville Quote 1 — “Ethiopia” “When I first heard it years and years ago from my old friend Abdullah, he said, “Neville, never think of Christ save you think of him as a child”—people paint pictures of a matured man—“Always think of Christ as the Christ child, always. I couldn’t quite grasp it, didn’t quite understand it. These words have been told me by a Negro Jew, born in Ethiopia, of the Jewish faith. He knew more of Christianity than all the priests of the world. Just like Paul he was born a Jew, born of the tribe of Benjamin. “I’m a son of Abraham after the faith, but if you took it even physically” said he “I would still be after the flesh, but now I know the spirit. And he said to me, The Christ child is always the child. Source: Neville lecture, For Hatching (1964) Neville Quote 2 — “North Africa” “Because he taught me real Christianity. And he was born in North Africa, of Jewish parents, and raised in a strict Orthodox Jewish home. But he knew more Christianity than anyone I’ve ever met, because he spoke the Hebrew tongue perfectly. He spoke other tongues. And Rabbis would come to study with him.n2220 ¶7

Source: Neville, Abdullah How We Got Together Q&A Geographically, Ethiopia is not North Africa. In biblical language and early modern English usage, “Ethiopia” often meant Africa as a whole. This dual usage explains the apparent contradiction in Neville Goddard’s descriptions of Abdullah. Neville first described Abdullah as “born in Ethiopia”, then later as “born in North Africa. Taken literally, the two are inconsistent, but read in context they reflect Ethiopia as a biblical synonym for Africa as a whole, and North Africa as the precise geographic origin.n2220 ¶8

Some resources more in original article Duncan, Graham A.. (2015). Ethiopianism in Pan-African perspective, 1880-1920. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 41(2), 198-218 Ayele Bekerie, “The Intellectual Project of Global Ethiopia (Part Two)”, Ethiopia Observer, August 10, 2018. The most significant corroboration comes from music. Before his turn to metaphysics, Abdullah advertised in Atlantic City (1920–23) as a baritone trained in the Lamperti school of bel canto.n2220 ¶9

The house on 72nd Street where Neville later visited him had been owned by Henri W. Zay, another Lamperti pupil, whose widow continued to host musical, Anthroposophical gatherings and rented rooms to spiritualists there after his death. Neville remembered Abdullah teaching from that house.n2220 ¶10

Two Lamperti-trained baritones, the same address, the same cultural circle of singers and esotericists. This specific overlap (Lamperti -baritone -West 72nd – esoteric/singer milieu) narrows the field. It doesn’t by itself prove that the Atlantic City advertiser, Modeste Guillaume Abda’llah, and Neville’s teacher were the same person, but it does show why this candidate is closer than most and why chasing unrelated “Morgenthau mansion” myths or debating “Ethiopian” terminology is unhelpful in finding an historical candidate. Some of our most viable Ethiopian candidates in the US are in Part 2 and 3.n2220 ¶11

Neville ( Five Lessons, 1948): “You know what he did. He was as black as the ace of spades, my old friend Abdullah, with his turbaned head. As I sat in his living room he rose from his chair and went towards his study and slammed the door, which was not an invitation to follow him. As he went through the door he said to me, “I have said all that I have to say.n2220 ¶12

The photos of Atlantic City Abdullah show him in suits and hats, not turbans. But those photos are from 1911- 1920 when he was a bel canto baritone professor of music. Black mystics of the period like Noble Drew Ali, Arnold Josiah Ford, even Father Divine’s circle alternated between Oriental garb for ritual or publicity and ordinary Western dress in daily life. As for the man with a turban photos on the internet representing Abdullah, they are of Arnold Ford and that assumption was drawn from Mitch Horowitz research about “Abdullah” possibly being a metaphorical composite of Arnold Ford. The photos come from Abdullah’s earlier career as a bel canto teacher. Neville’s description reflects his later mystical persona.n2220 ¶13

It is true that “Abdullah” is a common name in the Middle East and North Africa, but in the U.S. census and naturalization records between the 1860s and 1930 the name appears far less frequently. We have checked most of them. The pool of candidates is small, and that makes the Atlantic City/New York figure stand out even more clearly against the background.n2220 ¶14

As there are census and marriage records and newspaper clippings. Are we supposed to believe a 113-year-old man was hopping on a plane to Ethiopia in 1957? By Neville’s own math, when he last saw Abdullah in 1956 he was standing in front of a 113 year old man. But here. Let’s do the math to put this to rest. (1929–1931) – (88–90) = 1839–1843 (birth year) 1956 – (1839–1843) = 113–117 1957 – (1839–1843) = 114–118 Neville’s wording (and Freedom Barry): Meeting year stated as 1929 (some lectures stare 1930–1931 ). Age at first meeting: “late eighties” / “about ninety” so we need to test 88, 89, 90. Last in-person contact: 1956 (Neville, 1964 Q&A). Secretary report of return to Ethiopia: 1957.n2220 ¶15

If Neville met Abdullah in 1929–1931 and he was 88–90 years old, the math is: Consistency check vs. Neville’s “over 100”: Note: This is 18 years over which our Ab baritone is closer to. Single-quote spot checks (math only): Bottom line: Taking Neville’s meeting year (1929–1931) and stated age at meeting (88–90) at face value gets Abdullah at 113–118 years old by 1956–1957. This is far beyond the vague “over 100” description and is the mathematically consistent consequence of Neville’s own numbers. Sources: The One Greater Than John: “(I met him in ’29)… An old, old man, he was then in his late eighties when I met him. Who Are the Condemned: “Ab was an old man when I met him, he was then about ninety … ‘I picked up this garment ninety-odd years ago in Ethiopia. Q&A, 1964-03-10: “Lived to be over a hundred … The last time I met Abdullah was about eight years ago … About seven years ago I met his secretary… he was planning to return to Ethiopia.n2220 ¶16

This part of the series corrects obvious errors like the Morgenthau house, the “Ethiopia vs. North Africa” contradiction as a false lead, the turban ideas and places Abdullah back into a somewhat verifiable cultural setting of singers, Anthroposophy, the spiritualists and mediums at 30 W. 72nd and metaphysical advertising. After examining more than twenty candidates and over 2000+ naturalization and immigration records for that period, the Atlantic City/New York figure remains the closest fit so far, not just because of a name but because of the convergence of dates, training, addresses, and documented teaching.n2220 ¶17

The work ahead is to continue just testing claims against the record.n2220 ¶18