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New Book release by Bunia Muhammad aka Russell Tinsley

Now the new book is available for purchase you may click the image below.

Autobiography of Iman Warith Deen Mohammed " "Wallace D Muhammad-A leader of the Nation of Islam and the American Society of Muslims"

By: Bunia Muhammad

Please click the link below for more information:

By: Bunia Muhammad

Wallace D Muhammad

IMPORTANT NOTICE

In paying tribute and contribution to the history and American Society of Muslims and all living legacy, the history of Muslim African Americans.

I would recommend your reviewing the original article links and reading WDM Publications Books, CD's, DVDs and Audio Downloads provided websites these page to continue to build our Muslim life for you and African American Identity.

By: Bunia Muhammad

Our Living Legacy,The History of Muslim Americans ( Volume 1)


Ramadan

The African American Muslim Leadership Reformed Taking On The Responsibility to Lead Humanity 

Warith Deen Mohammed (born Wallace D. Muhammad; October 30, 1933 – September 9, 2008), also known as W. Deen Mohammed, Imam W. Deen Muhammad and Imam Warith Deen, was a progressive African American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist, and Islamic thinker (1975–2008) who disbanded the original Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1976 and transformed it into an orthodox mainstream Islamic movement, the World Community of Al-Islam in the West which later became the American Society of Muslims. He was a son of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam from 1933 to 1975.

He became the national leader (Supreme Minister) of the Nation of Islam in 1975 after his father's death. As a result of his personal studies and thinking, he had led the vast majority of the members of the original NOI to mainstream, traditional Sunni Islam by 1978. With this merger, he oversaw the largest mass conversion to Islam in the history of the United States. He rejected the previous deification of Wallace Fard Muhammad, accepted whites as fellow-worshipers, forged closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, and introduced the Five Pillars of Islam into his group's theology.

 

Splinter groups resisting these changes formed after Elijah Muhammad's death, particularly under Louis Farrakhan, who in 1981 would revive the name Nation of Islam (from Final Call) for his organization. Farrakhan's NOI and the previous Final Call claim direct continuity from the pre-1976 NOI.

Early life and education

Mohammed was born Wallace Delaney Muhammad on Yemans Street in Hamtramck, Michigan in 1933. In 1980 he changed his name to Warithuddin Muhammad, Warith Deen Muhammad, which translates to 'Inheritor of the Religion of Muhammad'. His parents were Clara and Elijah Muhammad, both highly active in the Nation of Islam (NOI), the organization that preached a form of Black nationalism and its own version of Islam. From 1934 until his death in 1975, Elijah Muhammad led the Nation.

Named to honor Wallace Fard Muhammad (Fard), the founder of the Nation of Islam, Mohammed grew up in Chicago, one of seven siblings. His early education came from the Muhammad University of Islam school system now known as the Clara Muhammad Schools, or Muhammad Schools. He studied Arabic as a youth under Professor Jamal Diab, a Palestinian who had been hired by his father to teach at the M.U.I. in Chicago.

 

Mohammed became a minister under his father in late 1958 and served in Philadelphia during the late 1950's and early 1960's.

 

In 1961, on his 28th birthday, Mohammed began a term in federal prison for having refused induction into the United States military. He could have performed community service, but his father pressed him to accept jail time. He spent most of that time studying the Quran, the main Islamic holy book. He became convinced that the Nation of Islam had to change. In 1963 he was 

released from prison. Close to Malcolm X, who was also questioning the NOI, he found that by this time his viewpoints deviated significantly from those of his father, whom he no longer believed to be a prophet. Because of this conclusion, he was excommunicated five times, but by 1974, he was returned permanently to NOI. During the last period of Iman WD Mohammed's excommunication from the nation of Islam he establish his own Ummah's import and export Islamic book store on 73rd and Cottage Groove Avenue in Chicago Illinois. It was at this book store where Iman WD Mohammed from the early 70's made his preparation to become the new leader of the nation of Islam, right before his father's death on February 25, 1975, and with his assistance and store clerk or son Bunia Mohammed.

Religious leadership and ministry

Reforming the Nation of Islam

Ramadan

Mohammed felt quite keenly on his role in reform. In an interview published in the Muhammad Speaks newspaper and conducted by his brother Jabir Herbert Muhammad, Mohammed described his role as successor to their father as that of a Mujeddid, one who would watch over the new Islam or community. In 1979 he used the title Mujeddid (Mujaddid) on his byline in his weekly articles for the Bilalian News (the new title of Muhammad Speaks).

 

Warith Deen Mohammed gained widespread support among the international Muslim community, but his changes to the Nation of Islam were not universally accepted. A number of dissident groups resisted, most notably those who followed Louis Farrakhan in breaking ranks with Mohammed. This group revived the name 'Nation of Islam' in 1977. In 1995 Mohammed released a statement expressing concern about Farrakhan's motivations and the racial divisiveness of his ministry.

 

The pair embraced publicly and declared reconciliation at the annual Saviours' Day convention on February 25, 2000, but in August 10, 2007, Mohammed repeated his frustration with the separatist stance of the current Nation of Islam, stating that its leaders had, "for the last 10 years or more,...just been selling wolf tickets to the white race and having fun while they collect money and have fancy lifestyles." He predicted a quiet evolution in the NOI towards unity with the mainstream American Muslim community.

Interfaith cooperation

 

Throughout his ministry, Mohammed remained politically active, domestically and internationally. Early meetings with prominent political figures included Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1975, Sharjah ruler Sheik Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi in 1976, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 1977. But Mohammed would attend many events around the world focused on the advancement of Islam, racial unity and world peace.

 

Hartigan for Governor of Illinois. He gave his support to the peacemaking and humanitarian efforts of Bishop Samuel Ruiz. On September 10, 1990 he participated in the international conference on the "Current Situation in the Gulf", where he made his opposition to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait a matter of public record. On behalf of the Muslim American Community, he donated $85,000 to Nelson Mandela to aid his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa during a personal meeting in Oakland, California on June 30, 1990. On September 11, 2001, he denounced the terrorist attacks as un-Islamic.

The Champion we have in common:

Personal life

Mohammed died in Chicago in early September 2008 of a likely heart attack. His body was found in his home by his assistant Rafa Muhammad on Tuesday September 9. In addition to cardiovascular disease, Mohammed suffered from diabetes.

Then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton proclaimed March 26, 1983 "Economic Dignity Day" in the state of Arkansas. In doing so he stated the following: Whereas, through the leadership and efforts of Warith Deen Muhammad, the American Muslim Mission is on the path of economic progress and achieving growth through unity...(I) urge all citizens to engage in activities which promote economic progress. On July 4, 1983 Muhammad shared the Reviewing Stand for the 1984 New World Patriotism Day Parade in Chicago with then State Senator, Emarald Jones, State Representative, Howard Brooks, parade Grand Marshal, Harold Washington the then Mayor of Chicago, Illinois, and many other dignitaries. Mayor Harold Washington issued a proclamation declaring July 4, 1984 as New world Patriotism Day Coalition Parade Day in Chicago.

 

On April 6, 2002, Mohammed was made a member of the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in Atlanta, and his portrait was hung in the International Chapel there.

References

•  A Look At W. Deen Mohammed: Muslim American Spokesman for Human Salvation, A Ministry of W. Deen       Mohammed Publication, Chicago, Illinois, 1993

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