A Short History of Imam W.D. Mohammed

”ARGUABLY THE MOST important leader in history, after Prophet Mohammed ibn Abdullah, (sws) Warith Deen Mohammed, was brought up as a member of Elijah Muhammad’s “Royal Family.” He constantly questioned the Islamic legitimacy of his father’s teachings. He emerged as the leader of The Nation of Islam in 1975 and in the course of a few short years he radically altered the religious doctrines of the NOI hence, leading more African Americans to Al-Islam than any other person in history, before or after.” “An avid lifelong, reflective student of the Holy Qur’an, Imam Mohammed translated its timeless message into a contemporary relevance and application, making religion come alive in the wilderness of North America. By doing so he erased the cognitive dissonance that plagued our conflicting identities of being black, American and Muslim, while at the same time re-interpreting the mystical language of his father, thereby showing us the true direction and intent of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s mission.

By 1978, he had decentralized the community, and gave democracy and a breath of fresh air to a far-flung, volatile membership teetering on the precipice of losing its spiritual compass to the gravitational forces of materialism and criminal behavior. For anyone desiring to understand “what the Imam taught” and to allay future confusion, listed below, in order of primacy, are those principles:”

1. The Qur’an as the Book. Still the only religious scripture preserved in its original language and entirety, he told us that without understanding the revelation in its original Arabic we would be slaves to other’s interpretation.

2. The Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (SAAWS). We were to use the Sunnah as a guide, not just the Prophet’s external qualities, but to pattern our lives on his USWAH, those underlying characteristics and qualities that transcended culture, time and space.

3. Ijma (consensus of the scholars). Recognizing our life in America as new Muslims, we were still accountable to the worldwide Ummah in matters of religion, and were bound to accept a consensus on those issues not specifically explicated in Qur’an.

4. Ahlul-Kitab (people of the book). We were charged with accepting Christians, Jews and Sabaens as fellow descendants of Father Ibrahim (A.S.) To this end he initiated interfaith relations causing the renaming of the National Council of Christians and Jews to embrace the Muslims. Often speaking in both Orthodox and Reformed synagogues, The Imam was the sole US Muslim representative guest of the late John Paul II at the St. Francis of Assisi gathering in Italy. A close friend of the “Christ Love” Focolare movement of the Catholic Church, he also fostered strong relations with all Christians and felt an especially close bond with the AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church, Unitarian and Presbyterian congregations.

5. Madhabs (schools of thought). We were to accept any Muslim who recited the Kalimah Shahadatain, Sunni or Shia, and not to discriminate against anyone who performed the wajib requirements of the religion.

As special guest of honor to the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) meeting in Iran, in 1997, he was the only one on the dais with the Convener, President Rafsanjani. He shared a particular affinity with the late Grand Mufti, Sheikh Ahmed Kuftaro of Syria, who had visited his father in 1957, and who had seen the wisdom of Mr. Muhammad’s approach of “gradualism” in bringing our community to proper Aqidah. Never speaking against any interpretation as long as it was grounded in Qur’an, he nevertheless warned us against 1,000-year-old rulings that did not take into consideration 21st Century American and global realities. We were always to choose the middle path – (Al Mizan) – from among the best of those offered.

6. Foreign Influence. We were not to support any foreign government, only the good that we saw  in any of them, Muslim or non-Muslim, and we should never forget that during 400 years of enslavement in the “new world” no Muslim government, sheikh, imam, mullah had ever posed the question: “What ever happened to those Muslims kidnapped from West Africa and forcibly converted to Christianity. Only in 1959 (Nasser in Egypt) and in 1963 (Mao in China) did any foreign leader ever deign to inquire about us.

7. Jihad. The greatest jihad was mastery of self (Nafs). We were never to be the aggressor, we’re to argue in the best of manners and to reject violence as a means of achieving political objectives.

8. US Constitution. With the Muhammad Ali Supreme Court decision removing the last barrier to our right to practice Al Islam, when, in 1976 he raised the US flag and initiated the first New World Patriotism Day celebration in Chicago, he was scurrilously vilified by blacks, leftists and worldwide Muslims alike, many whom expected to utilize the new Muslim “fruit” as a fifth column for their own agendas against the US government.

9. Shura (mutual consultation). As an independent community of believers, we were to conduct our affairs on this basis, with democratic leadership (including full participation of women in decision making) and elections to be held in each local area.

10. Bilal. We were to reject the term “black” as people we’re Human, not colors, in favor of an identification with Bilal, our noble ancestor, the first African Muslim, a slave to the Arabs, liberated by Al Islam. A close sahabi to the Prophet (SAAWS), he was the first Treasurer and the Muezzin whose call to prayer emanates from minarets 5 times daily. It was our prophetic destiny as “Bilalians” to call all mankind back from the seeds of destruction to return to the true worship of the One, Living G’D of all of us.

In one of his last lectures, at Duke University, he said: “our Qur’an shows Mohammed meeting in Heaven with both Jesus and Moses and praying there together. So if we are going to be in Heaven together, why is it we cannot get together here on Earth…?”

Our mission is to reawaken the humanity in all of us, for the benefit of all of us, as God created all of us. One God! One Us!