[3] He ran a drapery business in Lismore, New South Wales, where he lost a court action in 1910 regarding unlawful seizure of his property.

[5][4] During the early 1900s (chronology unknown) is recorded as having run a drapery business in Duchess, Queensland (in Cloncurry Shire), working as a miner in Broken Hill (where he worked underground to learn about miners' ailments[6]), and as a camel driver visiting Brisbane, Bourke in New South Wales, Farina, South Australia, the Nullarbor Plain, Townsville, Queensland and Broome, Western Australia.

The South Australian Worker claimed that he saw about 600 people daily at his practice, enjoying popularity and gratitude from his clients, but he was less appreciated by the medical establishment, who took issue with his condemnation of vaccinations and other Western medicine.

Described by them as a "quack", he was charged in 1935 with "Imposture as physician” under the Medical Practitioners Act 1919 and fined £45,[6] with costs amounting to £65,[8] despite over 40 witnesses having testified that he had never represented himself as a doctor.

[4] Described as "a generous philanthropist, devout Muslim and stylish dresser", photos of Allum all show him wearing a turban, which is a significant Pashtun tribal identifier.

[4] He married Jean Emsley in 1940, whom he had cured of severe dermatitis, and they had a daughter, Bebe Nora, born on 17 August 1941.

However, after that point, he was criticised in some quarters, being described as “a foreigner, the most discussed man (except Hitler)” (The Bunyip, 1941) and “Australia’s most bizarre personality” (Smith's Weekly, 1946).

At this, Adelaide’s Lord Mayor, Members of Parliament, Christian ministers, police officers of high rank and others numbering 19,000 signed a petition which they presented to him, asking him to reconsider and return as soon as possible.

She died of smallpox after a year, having not been vaccinated[4] and after performing hajj by visiting Mecca, Allum returned to Adelaide and bought a house at 68 Anzac Highway[4] at Everard Park.

[1] A devout Muslim, Allum, aided by his wife and friends, sent letters to newspapers and published pamphlets on Islam,[3] the Qur’an, and healing, although illiterate himself.

[2] A 1940 article in the Tasmanian Labor Party weekly, Voice, edited by Edmund Dwyer-Gray, then Treasurer of Tasmania, said that Allum had the support of Lady Gowrie, wife of the Governor-General, and "of a large number of Adelaide's most distinguished citizens".