u/Here_for_the_plot

I made a post the other day stating my most glaring issues with Cool Wisdom Book's (CWB) and their followers, like Brian Scott on YouTube, claiming as fact that Modeste Guillaume (one of his many many "names") was Neville's cherished mentor, Abdullah.

I challenge myself to dig deeper, even if I have suspicion that something is BS, so I've been looking more into CWB's "research" and it has only deepened my conviction that they are trying to force fit this Guillaume dude to be Neville's Ab. That way, they can brag about solving the puzzle and share alleged pictures of THE Abdullah. They know that Neville's fans and followers have been yearning to learn more and see pictures of the 89 year old Ethiopian mystic that shut the door on Neville to open him up to the world of inner secrets. Funny enough, those are 2 things (his age and place of birth) that don't align with their "research".

Those were my 2 biggest issues with this "research"; Modeste Guillaume was clearly NOT 89 years old around 1930 and he was clearly NOT Ethiopian. Those are 2 things that Neville very clearly stated on several occasions. In 1964, he even mentioned that Ab had gone back to Ethiopia in 1957 and he confirmed his age again. What makes me further question their "research" is how condescending and dismissive they are when things don't line up. For instance CWB flat out dismisses Neville's recollection of his last encounter with Abdullah, by acting as if you'd have to be a fool to take him at his word... come on guys, are you just "supposed to believe" everything Neville said? ("Are we supposed to believe a 113-year-old man was hopping on a plane to Ethiopia in 1957?)"

As I look deeper, I see more glaring things that don't line up for me. One pic on the CWB site is an ad from 1928 promoting an inter-faith meeting that included Swami Yogananda. On the panel was a G. M. Ahmad-Abdoullah (who they allege is Abdullah) who was there to speak from an Islamic perspective. According to the article (which I did find and is linked below), this gentleman claimed that "The Koran is the greatest book teaching brotherly love,"... LOL. This is supposed to be the same Ethiopian Jew that taught Neville the secrets of the Bible?

https://www.nytimes.com/1928/12/18/archives/lifes-meaning-viewed-by-four-great-faiths-christian-jewish.html

Another thing that stands out is the many distinct names this Guillaume guy allegedly presented himself as (see below for a list from CWB's site). Yet, Neville only referred to the man who he revered as his sole teacher by 1 SINGLE name, Abdullah...

Abdullah’s aliases & spellings we’ve seen in the papers:

A. H. Le-Amshi / Leamshi
Abd’allah Halladba Leamshi
Halladba / Halladra
Abd’allah Hallabaleamshi
Abd’llah / Abda’llah
Abdallah / Abdoullah
G. N. Abdallah
Dr. G. M. Abdoullah (also G. M. Abdaullah)
G. Mahmud A. Abdoullah
G. Mahmud Ahmad Abdullah (normalized)
G. Madrud Ahmad Abdoullah
G. Ahmad Abdoullah
Idsigma A. Gsolamanusabda (ceremonial/garbled string)
G. M. Abda’llah ibn Ghaleym (Ghalym) ibn Allah
M. Abdallah Guillaume / Dr. Modeste Abda’llah Guillaume / Abda’llah Guillaume
Abda’llah Ben

One of the more concerning things about this is how information and misinformation spreads quickly on the internet. Right now, if you run a Google or AI search for Abdullah, Modeste Guillaume, or G.M. Ahmad-Abdoullah, it will link them all together as if this is all verified fact. The problem is that it all links back to Cool Wisdom Books and no where else. I searched through historic newspapers and I cannot find the source material for any of this "research".... A LOT of it does not line up so I call BS solely for the fact that CWB is pushing this as verified fact and not a theory.

I just saw that a whole paragraph claiming that this Guillaume guy was Abdullah was added to Neville's Wikipedia page, and that pissed me off to the point of needing to rant about it on reddit at 3AM... According to Wiki, "Between 1929 and 1936, Goddard was mentored by a teacher he called Abdullah. Historical research identifies him as Modeste Abdallah Guillaume (also known as G. Mahmud Ahmad Abdoullah), a former baritone who performed with the Williams and Walker Co. Glee Club between 1905 and 1910." What a joke! Cool Wisdom Books dug up some screenshots, articles, and connecting threads but I would not classify that as historical research...

Props to Cool Wisdom Books for having TONS of spare time to dig up old articles and pictures and for trying to tie together the missing pieces on Abdullah. However, it feels like people are trying to force fit this Guillaume guy (pick a name - they guy had MANY) as being THE Abdullah because they think he's the best fit. To many, apparently it's better to have a name and face that MAY be Abdullah than accepting that we may never know much more about him or what he looked besides what Neville and Joseph Murphy had shared about him.

YouTubers like Brian Scott are making videos claiming as fact that this Guillaume dude was Abdullah, despite the fact that it doesn't add up 100%. The issue is that accepting this guy as Abdullah requires you to accept that Neville either lied or was ignorant about who his mentor really was. For starters, the ages don't add up. Neville was very clear that Abdullah was in his late 80s when they met in 1929, yet we are supposed to accept this Guillaume guy, who according to Cool Wisdom Books' research was 49 years old during the 1920 Census, was the OLD mystical Abdullah. Furthermore, they justify this obvious discrepancy by dismissing Neville's own words and making him sound like he didn't know what he was talking about when he mentioned his last meeting with Abdullah. See below for the way Cool Wisdom books dismisses Neville's statement as being non-sensical just to force fit this Guillaume dude (copied and pasted from their site). "Not merely "over 100".... how cute! You guys are SO much smarter than Neville...

Consistency check vs. Neville’s “over 100”:

Neville (1964): “Lived to be over a hundred.”
Understatement relative to the math above: +14 to +18 years (i.e., the math implies 114–118 in 1957, not merely “over 100”).

Note: This is 18 years over which our Ab baritone is closer to.

Single-quote spot checks (math only):

“Met him in ’29… late eighties/about ninety” : birth 1841–1839 in 1957 age 116–118.
“Last time I met him about eight years ago” (from 1964) in 1956 at 113–117, given the meeting-age claim.

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.

The other major red flag about this Guillaume dude is that he was NOT ETHIOPIAN!!! According to their research, he was either Moroccan or Algerian, which is NO WHERE near Ethiopia. And while there are probably Jewish citizens in those countries, they do not have an ancient Hebrew community renown for their pottery (see the Walter Lanyon link) like Beta-Israel in Ethiopia. Again, accepting that Guillaume was Abdullah requires you to think that Neville was clueless about Ethiopia being an actual country and that he used the term loosely to refer to all of Africa. He mentioned on many occasions that Abdullah was not only BORN in Ethiopia but that he RETURNED to Ethiopia... You don't think that Neville, the guy you all revere as the master of manifestation, knew that Ethiopia was a country by 1964??? Which is interesting considering that Ethiopia is the ONLY country in Africa that was NEVER colonized - it is the real Wakanda. Mussolini tried to annex Ethiopia to Sudan, but he failed and the Italians were driven out of Addis Ababa by the Allied forces during WW2. This was all over the news back then, yet we are supposed to assume that Neville was a clueless simpleton that used the term "Ethiopia" to refer to all of Africa or somehow to Morocco or Algeria specifically...

There are many other red flags about this "research" but those 2 are my main grievances, and are strong enough for me to call BS on it, because it requires contradicting Neville's own words to make it fit... So you guys drool all you want over the pictures and stories about this Moroccan baritone singer from Atlantic City who turned into a Muslim mystic and several other conversions before becoming a Kabalah expert under 60 different names... I'll take Neville's teachings instead. Good grief!

The more I look into Cool Wisdom Book's "research" on Abdullah, the more I call BS!

Please STOP spreading misinformation, claiming that Modeste Guillaume, the Moroccan singer from Atlantic City, was Neville's Abdullah...