In the 1940’s, Allah’s mother, Mary moved to New York for employment. She rented an apartment in Harlem. In 1946, Allah came north to join his mother and older brothers. Once in New York, his nickname, ‘Put’ that his mother had coined for him when he was a boy was mistaken for ‘Puddin’ and this is what he became known as. Allah performed a number of odd jobs to keep money in his pockets. Among them was a fruit stand that he opened up in a little hole-in- the-wall in Harlem. It was also in Harlem in the 1940’s that he developed a love for gambling which remained with him throughout his life. He played a lot of pool in Harlem these days and got a reputation as a pool shark. In 1946 he met Willeen Jowers and grew to love her very much. He wanted to marry her but because she was only seventeen years old at the time and didn’t have her mother’s permission, she couldn’t marry him. Allah and Willeen had two sons together. A-Allah and B-Allah, born in 1949 and 1951 respectively. However in order to prove to Willeen’s mother that he wasn’t dependent on her to marry he married another woman whom he loved very much by the name of Dora. He and Dora also had two children, Clarence and Christine.
In 1950, Allah joined the Army and went to fight in the Korean War. This experience required a new set of principles of him other than anything he had thus far encountered. In war, he learned not to befriend anyone because of the uncertainty of who was the next to be killed. However even being half a world away and at war didn’t deter him from the loves of his life. He would send home money regularly to his families. Money which he had won…. gambling. In Korea, Allah just missed being killed on many occasions. One such incident occurred while he was walking through a field flanked by men in his unit. Gunfire broke out and the men on the sides of him were picked off and killed. It was as though he had a calling that he had to fulfill back in the states. He endured the time in Korea, completed his bid, and returned to the United States with a high and prestigious award for his outstanding service record.
While he was away, his wife Dora, had become a Muslim and entered the Nation of Islam under the leadership of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. When he returned he too accepted the teachings of Islam and he joined her at Temple No. 7 under Minister Malcolm X. It was in the Temple that he met Justice, then named Akbar, who would become his closest associate for many years to come. His years at Temple No. 7 began inauspiciously enough, his initial duty was elevator operator for the temple. However, he was to rise through the ranks quickly. Soon he was promoted to the position of lieutenant with the responsibility of training the Fruit of Islam (FOI) in karate which he had learned while he was in Korea. The FOI is the military training of men in the Nation of Islam. He studied his lessons hard and soon became very proficient at them. The lessons developed in him a fiery wisdom. And he had a speaking style that was unique to him, a slow methodical cadence stressing syllables that normally aren’t. It was hypnotic. He was again promoted, this time to the position of student minister. Elijah Muhammad had received word of this fiery young student minister and traveled to New York to meet him, and bestow him with the name Abdullah. It was at this point that turmoil began to develop with him in the temple.