indianamuslims.org

The Muslim Alliance of Indiana (MAI) offers its sincere condolence to the family and Muslim American community on the passing of Imam W. D. Mohammed.  It has been reported that Imam W. D Mohammed passed away earlier today, September 9, 2008.

"Imam Mohammed has served the Muslim American community with distinction and has become the embodiment of Islam's call for social justice," said Dr Ansari, President of MAI.  MAI is calling upon all Muslim Hoosiers to remember Imam Mohammed's life and pray for him and his family.

Imam Warrith Deen Mohammed was the son on Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam from 1934 to 1975.  Elijah Muhammad died on February 26, 1975.  Imam W. D. Mohammed was born on October 30, 1933.

After his father's death, Warith Deen Muhammad was accepted by followers of the Nation of Islam as their leader. He brought about many reforms, which brought the followers of the Nation of Islam closer to traditional Islam. He renamed his organization a number of times. He is now the leader of a new project called The Mosque Cares, and most of his followers make up a portion of the worldwide Muslim community and have accepted traditional Islam.

He rejected the literal meaning of his father's theology and Black-separatist views. For example, the Nation of Islam taught that Black people were God's original people. With his new understanding, based on his life long study of the Qu'ran and the life of Muhammad, he accepted whites as fellow worshippers and attempted to forge closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, including Latino Muslims.

A number of dissident groups resisted the changes in the Nation of Islam. Among these was to first in 1977 to re-establish the Lost-Found Nation of Islam Inc, were Savior Silis Muhammad and a coupled of months later Louis Farrakhan broke ranks with Wallace and announced a revival of the Nation of Islam name for his group in 1981.

W.D. Mohammed gave the first invocation in the U.S. Senate ever by a Muslim. In 1993, he gave an Islamic prayer during the first Inaugural Interfaith Prayer Service of President Bill Clinton, and again in 1997 at the second Interfaith Prayer Service.