Remembering Imam W.D. Mohammed
1. Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam
2. Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center
3. Rabbi Michael Lerner Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives
4. Obituary, Chicago Tribune
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IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL.
Official Statement from the Honorable Minister Louis
Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam on the passing of
Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Sep 9, 2008
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_5190.shtml
(FinalCall.com) - The following statement was released
today by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the
Nation of Islam regarding the passing of Imam W. Deen
Mohammed.
CHICAGO - We mourn the loss of our brother Imam W. Deen
Mohammed. We thank Allah for him and his great
contribution to the ongoing work of Prophet Muhammad
ibn Abdullah (P.B.U.H) and his work of helping to
create a better understanding and image of Islam in
America and throughout the world. Our prayers and our
thoughts are with the Mohammed family, with the
followers and all those who feel our great loss.
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The Shalom Center mourns the death of Imam W. Deen
Mohammed, may the memory of this righteous and loving
leader be a blessing to us all.
This national leader of the American Muslim community
died yesterday in Illinois.
Imam Mohammed, 74, was the son of Elijah Muhammad, the
founder of the "Nation of Islam." After his father's
death in 1975, Imam Mohammed led his community to
mainstream Islam. Those who followed him took a path
similar to that of El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz ("Malcolm
X" ) in his last months after his pilgrimage to Mecca,
leaving racial and ethnic animosity behind in the true
spirit of Islam.
The communities that followed W. Deen Mohammed are both
more numerous and more deeply rooted than the "Nation
of Islam" -- while it became better known in white
America because of the animosities expressed by some of
its leaders.
May his following continue to grow in numbers and in
spiritual depth, and may other Americans learn to
practice a loving and people-healing ministry, as he
did and they do.
Asalaam aleikum, shalom aleichem - May peace rest upon
us:
Arthur (Rabbi Arthur Waskow)
The Shalom Center: A prophetic voice in Jewish, multireligious, and American life
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We at the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP) mourn
the death of Imam W. Deen Mohammed, a leading voice of
rationality, love and goodness in the Muslim American
community.
The account below from the Chicago Tribune gives some
sense of his history in building positive interfaith
relations and in providing a powerful alternative to
the voice of the notorious anti-Semite and homophobe
who heads the Nation of Islam: Rev. Farrakhan.
I was personally grateful for the several opportunities
I had to work with Imam W. Deen Mohammed. I found him
to be a man of great wisdom and compassion. He was a
strong supporter of Tikkun Magazine and the Network of
Spiritual Progressives and we had hoped to have him
speak at our 2009 convention in Washington, D.C. and we
were simply waiting to find a specific location and
date for that event before finalizing the arrangements
with him. Imam Mohammed provided me personally with
important protection when Cornel West and I wrote our
book together (Blacks and Jews: Let the Healing Begin)
and found ourselves facing hostile audiences of Black
Muslims who were repeating some of Farrakhan's hateful
teachings and expressing hostility toward me that
verged on overt violence.
It was a tragedy, though typical, that the American
media gave far more attention to Farrakhan, because his
hateful teachings were provocative and attention-
grabbing, than to W. Deen Mohammed whose teachings of
love and cooperation were largely unknown beyond the
Muslim community.
We at Tikkun and the Network of Spiritual Progressives
are saddened and mourn our loss of this inspirational
leader. Baruch Dayan Emet.
--Rabbi Michael Lerner Chair, The Network of Spiritual
Progressives
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Imam W.D. Mohammed, African-American Muslim leader,
dies at 74; son of Elijah Muhammad
By Ron Grossman and Margaret Ramirez
Chicago Tribune
September 9, 2008
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-090908-mohammed-islam-obit,0,1809841.story
Imam W. Deen Mohammed, one of the most prominent
African-American Muslim leaders in the nation and the
son of the late Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad,
died Tuesday, sources told the Tribune. "Brother Imam,"
as he was affectionately known, was 74.
There was no immediate confirmation of his death by his
family. The Cook County medical examiner confirmed that
a Wallace Mohammed was pronounced dead at his home in
the 16100 block of Cambridge Drive in Markham, a
spokesman said. Muslim community leaders said Mohammed
was scheduled to speak Tuesday in Chicago, and many
grew concerned when he did not appear. His last
speaking engagement was at the monthly 1st Sunday
Address he gave on Sept. 7 in Homewood. Mohammed
inherited from his father the Nation of Islam, a
religious movement crafted out of black nationalism and
bits and pieces of Muslim practice. He immediately
tried to move its followers toward mainstream Islam,
eventually leading to a split between those who agreed
with Mohammed's approach and those who joined a revived
Nation of Islam under Louis Farrakhan.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed Photos Mohammed was a spiritual
wanderer who was banished several times by his father
for filial impiety?once for remaining close to Malcolm
X, Muhammad's prized disciple who turned into a
critical voice within the Nation of Islam before he was
slain. In 1961, Mohammed refused to serve in the U.S.
military and went to prison in accordance with his
father's teaching that African- Americans shouldn't
defend a land of lynching and segregation. While
incarcerated, Mohammed studied the Quran and found its
teachings at considerable variance with his father's.
After his father's death, Mohammed in 1975 took the
bold step of aligning the Nation of Islam with
mainstream Muslim beliefs and giving the movement a new
name, the first of several. In 1976, Mohammed made a
public appearance carrying an American flag. He
proclaimed the time had come for black Americans to
celebrate America. The following year, Farrakhan broke
away to revive the Nation of Islam and its traditional
teachings.
Mohammed's lifestyle was markedly different from that
of his father, who presided over a religious empire
from a family compound he constructed amid the historic
mansions of the Kenwood neighborhood on Chicago's South
Side. Muhammad was surrounded by a phalanx of
bodyguards, dubbed the Fruit of Islam. Mohammed also
rejected his father's sometimes overtly anti-white
preaching?a rhetorical style continued by the fiery
Farrakhan, Mohammed's rival for leadership of African-
American Muslims. Farrakhan and Mohammed long traded
barbs and theological jabs before publicly reconciling
at a joint worship service in 2000.
"For me, [Islam] is too big a cause for our personal
problems and differences to stand in the way," Mohammed
said.
Mohammed was also deeply committed to building bridges
between African-American Muslims and the increasing
numbers of immigrants from the Middle East and Asia. In
2003, Mohammed unexpectedly announced his resignation
from his organization, the American Society of Muslims,
saying he was frustrated that many of its imams had
refused to adopt mainstream Muslim thinking. During his
final years, Mohammed lived quietly in a modest home in
south suburban Markham. He headed a charitable
organization, Mosque Cares, and spoke to congregations
across the nation. His lectures were reprinted in the
movement's newspaper, the Muslim Journal. But he had no
mosque of his own.
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