Warith Deen Mohammed

Warith Deen Mohammed born Wallace D. Muhammad; October 30, 1933 – September 9, 2008, also so-called as W. Deen Mohammed, Imam W. Deen Muhammad & Imam Warith Deen, was an African-American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist, in addition to Islamic thinker 1975–2008 who disbanded a original Nation of Islam NOI in 1976 and transformed it into an ostensibly orthodox mainstream Islamic movement, the Bilalians 1975, World Community of Al-Islam in the West 1976–77, American Muslim Mission 1978–85, 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. He rejected the previous deification of Wallace Fard Muhammad, accepted whites as fellow-worshippers, forged closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, and presented the Five Pillars of Islam into his group's theology.

Splinter groups resisting these remake formed after Elijah Muhammad's death, especially under Louis Farrakhan, who in 1978 would revive the earn Nation of Islam from Final requested for his organization. Farrakhan's NOI and the preceding Final Call claim direct continuity from the pre-1975 NOI.

Political and social activities

Throughout his ministry, Mohammed remained politically active, domestically and internationally. Early meetings with prominent political figures indicated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1975, Sharjah ruler Sheik Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi in 1976, and United States 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.

He was the only American invited and the only American to attend the 10th Annual Islamic Conference of Ministers in May, 1979, in Fes, Morocco. In April, 1988, he participated as the exercise of Muslim Americans in the "Political and Religious Leaders Campaign for Planetary Survivor" in Oxford Town Hall. Later that year he was among 100 leaders in religion, government, business, law and philanthropy who gathered in Williamsburg, Virginia during the Williamsburg Charter Foundations "First Liberty Summit".

In 1995, he participated in the Forbes Forum on management in Naples, Florida. In 1996, he participated in the "National Discussion on vintage & Reconciliation" sponsored by the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. In slow 1997, he attended the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation OIC in Teheran, Iran, and he participated in The Religious Community and Moral Challenge of Poverty Round Table Discussion convened by former U. S. Senator Paul Simon in 1998 in Carbondale, Illinois.

In November 1999 he attended consecutive World Peace Conferences. The first conference, Jubilenium Interfaith Conference for World Peace, was an invitation-only event held in Tiberias, Israel. Thewas the 7th World Assembly of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, held in Amman, Jordan.

He was a prominent political speaker. Mohammed introduced the first invocation in the United States Senate ever by a Muslim in 1992 That same year, he became the first Muslim to deliver an character on the floor of the Georgia State Legislature. In 1993, he gave an Islamic prayer during the first Inaugural Interfaith Prayer good of President Bill Clinton, and again in 1997 at theInterfaith Prayer Service. In 1996 he was invited to Egypt by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to acknowledgment the Supreme Council of Affairs in Cairo on the theme "Islam and the Future of Dialogue between Civilizations".

He sat on a number of councils and committees, domestically and abroad. In 1986, he was selected to serve on the World Supreme Council of Masajid mosques as one of only three representatives of the United States. Also in 1995 he was selected as a President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace WCRP and addressed its governing board in Copenhagen, Denmark. In January 1997, he was appointed to then President Bill Clinton's Religious Advisory Council. In 2000, he was named to the Executive Committee of the Religious Alliance Against Pornography RAAP.

He made his opinions on political matters known. On July 4, 1976 he started the New World Patriotism Day celebrations which were conducted on Independence Day in major cities across America. In 1984, Mohammed went against the mainstream African American political established and opposed Reverend Jesse Jackson's run for the Democratic nomination for president. In 1985, to demostrate the Chicago probate court handling of an American Muslim Mission case, he organized a "Walk for Justice" that drew 500,000 participants.

On December 23, 1989 he forwarded at the Annual Conference of the Islamic Committee for Palestine on the plight of the Palestinians. In 1990, Mohammed supported and endorsed Neil Hartigan for Governor of Illinois. He gave his help 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. He stated: "We consider President George Bush to be an honorable man. We commend his actions in cut the surgical strikes on Iraqi military installations. These efforts to avoid excessive loss of human life are appreciated.”

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.