In October 1923, the Chief Secretary of the Caliph’s office sent a letter to Abdülhak Adnan Ad?var Bey, the Istanbul delegate to the Grand National Assembly of the newly established Turkish Republic, explaining news that came from their consulate office in New York. From the letter, Adnan Ad?var Bey learned of “el-Hac Doktor Abdülhamîd Süleyman,” who was presumably a man described as a Muslim leader in Newark, New Jersey, a Dr. Abdul Hamid Suleiman. The consulate report noted that Suleiman and his followers petitioned to be “recognized, acknowledged, and registered” as Muslims by the caliph and the Turkish Republic. Dr. Abdul Hamid Suleiman was an enigmatic religious figure who appeared in American newspapers in the early decades of twentieth century. He claimed to be “Mohammedan by birth, Master of the Koran, having pilgrimaged to Mecca three times and thus become an Eminent High Priest and head of all Masonic degrees in Mecca, Arabia, from the first to the ninety-sixth degree” (“Mecca High Priest Would Put Negro Shrines in Right,” New York World, 1922). Some scholars have associated Suleiman with a group of African Americans who were embracing Islamic teachings and practice. Recent scholarship even links Suleiman with Noble Drew Ali, the founder of the Moorish Science Temple (MST), which could mean Suleiman influenced Drew Ali and the development of MST. In this paper, I examine the confusion expressed by Turkish officials over this petition and the possible reasons a group of Muslims in America made such a request. This strange episode, I argue, exemplifies the changes that were occurring within the new Turkish Republic as political leaders shifted away from the previous decades of pan-Islamic rhetoric. The fact that this overture from Suleiman and his followers generated little interest in Turkey demonstrates that fostering transnational connections with American Muslims was not part of the Grand National Assembly’s geopolitical agenda. The abolition of the caliphate was still months away, but there was no reason to cultivate a relationship with these unknown American Muslims. For Suleiman and his followers, the possible recognition, acknowledgement, and registration as Muslims by the newly established Turkish Republic presented an opportunity for legitimization and support. However, this group of American Muslims displayed their naiveté in regard to the Islamic identity of the Turkish Republic and the potential for Islamic geopolitical solidarity after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.