i never saw myself as different from any other muslim following all  until i was older and had to look at what i was thinking that was positive from now i realize that i was different but i wasn't thinking of myself as different though they were they were playing it i was different they were they were part of predicting the twentieth century that person is a man for thirty three years mohammad the merchants of mainstream islam in america his story is in the early to mid seventy's the nation of islam may have been the most powerful movement in america not necessarily in terms of numbers although nearly two million in the fall but in terms of dedication and commitment powerful black man in america by reader's digest magazine was considered by many african americans to be a prophet from god and in his following who are some of the most prominent americans in our country's history preach of boxing champ my husband ali the late malcolm x and throngs of followers and supporters made the nation of his line of mesmerizing force in u s cities from coast to coast what has islam done for you bait carol would become the west coast media representatives for the nation of islam used in producing numerous radio and television specials including the bahamas speaks t v series which aired in los angeles  troy and philadelphia by nine hundred seventy five the nation of islam had reached its peak of growth with more than three hundred temples  but as we found out history has a funny way of deciding its own fate while producing a new television special from hummus temple number twenty seven in los angeles we received a news report from not only him but those who don't hear and listening to him and getting a feel for what he was saying he was he was the only logical choice that we could make different from any other any other minister deeper and more religious and he dealt more with the message of klein and any of the other ministers who dealt more with the message of the bible rather than los angeles sports arena very eager to hear his new message of universal islam our company provided coverage incent press releases to all the local media announcing a press conference with the nation except african people of african descent mexicans even africans were not allowed to become members of the nation of islam we open our doors to our people  began to identify openly with america to preach respect for the flag and service to the nation and so these are some of the things some of the real changes that we have made and i  america what i mean by that the treatment the race treatment that we received in america was so unfair that only lies mohamed and anybody else who stood up in those days and say why fight for thing has changed now those conditions have changed human growth and he tried to get his people to understand that government is the nature of man the nature of human society and that it was a spiritual a spiritual duty our when i came into leadership i saw that the only way we could really realize a the development of growth thought government thought understanding government toward having government in our lives and individual life and in the community life i felt that the only way we could reach that would be to identify with the nation of the land that we live in the entire press corps including ourselves were amazed by the calm and precision of mr muhammad's words as he answered these open questions he sounded like a man who knew exactly where he was going and perhaps more about what his message was to form a followers of his father and what his message was to the general public the main thing was to bring clarity between created some problems among some of the people simply because they want to hold on to the belief that regardless to the individual is a good or bad deeds their color classified during the first decade of his leadership his work was tireless as he traveled back and forth to cities across america his ability to communicate the tenets of islam in clear and concise la he made it seem so natural so in touch with creation whilst muhammad's efforts slowly began to transform an entire community he received tremendous support from the international islamic world as they provided the community with crohn's and sent respected islamic scholars to the us he was sent numerous invitations to visit muslim leaders from around the globe for our company it was captivating to watch the son of elijah muhammad garner the media genuine respect of world leaders guiding more than a million americans into mainstream islam in less than a decade they had built beautiful houses of worship from the ground up and were creating an islamic presence in the western hemisphere never seen before after nine years of following the accounts of the man who we now called the hobbit we were fortunate to catch up with him again he agreed to give us an exclusive interview to discuss the past ten years and evolution and i value weighted as an experience and also a situation experience that allowed us to prove ourselves we proved ourselves put aside that that was not right and in conflict with what is true a true islam a true religion i think we prove something we prove something important to ourselves but i think what we prove and he had already established a private school system that was providing islamic education to thousands of children across the country public schools named after his mother was not only the largest islamic school system in the western hemisphere but it was also the largest private african american school system in the united states  the one hundred percent selfless man when it came to service that he believed in the real word of god and in the koran and in the scripture and he believed that he and his ability to help and as you know he had a way of making you feel confortable with with what it was what he was giving you what you understood what he was teaching and he made sure that you understood clearly and he had a way of making you feel confortable with what you have accepted although what you have may be totally different from what you had before and and you accept this as the new truth you know or as well as a greater truth for a greater reality we continue to follow the historic journey of this man who obviously nineties it was apparent to all that the community had a right under the leadership of the man w d y hobbit america was seen in image of islam not seen in modern times by a christian country we are a minority here in america we need you christian very very much but i representing many of our muslims not just blacks african americans but i have many muslims of different colors rights also included they come to me and they tell me that they support me and they want me to represent all muslims in this country i don't say i have the leader for all muslims in this country but i do s neighboring muslim country of kuwait this prompted the united states to declare the gulf war for the first time in nearly two centuries america was that war with an islamic made in a small way this morning we had an invocation by the first muslim to offer an invocation here in the united states  today is a historic day mr president in the life of the united states senate in the country at large for the first time in the senate's history the invocation has been given by an individual of the muslim faith i am proud that one of my constituents the leader of african american muslims in the united states the was the first muslim leader to deliver the invocation in the united states senate he's a man who has done a long time for the cause of justice and brotherhood among many in the united states and the world welcomed me welcoming him but i  know the impact of the man behind the leadership had begun to catch the attention of america's institutions of higher learning students and professors wanted to hear more from america's  carol invited the man deputy mohammad to the university of southern california for an historic satellite teleconference the program which was seen by more than four hundred colleges and universities across the offer the youngsters now young african americans our young people in america and what they're interested in what the attracted to now there's a great difference and i would say i would say that  impression there's more contraction attraction now for the informed young people and for the students institutions like this there's  more traction now for them but in my opinion the traction should even be greater for those who are not informed because they are in the in the most and the then need is the greatest those who attracted to a more emotional islam you know about you know people peaceful coexistence individuals working with one another as islam were to make it and the good that they were four years exactly where we believe that the only problem the only real serious problem we have is ignorance of each other and that if muslims learn more about suffered colonialism or anything like that we've got to get overcome we've got to overcome that far all good because it's not good for our own future involving a good state of mind if we're going to remember only her and not be willing to open our eyes and see the whole picture of the people who receive the whole picture of christian people and their religion we have to appreciate them and we have to recognize a common grounds for for the two great religions we can work together i mean it must  tribes that we may acknowledge each other know each other come to know each other not that we should the be arrogant high minded despise each other and the best of you will not the right of you are the black of you but the best of you is the best behaving of you and how can we best behave if we don't have good sense so we have to know study our reason religion that makes it possible for us to have intelligent perception and we have to appreciate other people have religions ideologies that give them the right men to an intelligent perception and men then we can work together and cooperate for peace the decade of the ninety's saw the muslim population in america nearly triple in size with mohammad leading the way he's clear an appreciable representation of the religion and open doors for american a decent honest hardworking good leader and he deserved to be this community and he deserves in my opinion to lead the muslim community at large and what he had done to the muslim community in america cannot be m and if you turn your back almost since a lot which was in your stead other people and they will not be like you and in my humble opinion i believe that the african american community allies putting his trust it under the and the greatest wrong is not to have equality in america but the white man is not to have political freedom is not to have good material not having this great country as the good circumstances for me but as long as i think what god has shown me and my wants and my m the influence of the man deputy mohamed was also reaching beyond america's borders word of his leadership was spreading throughout the entire muslim world during his travels he was mob of muslims who are eager to just catch a glimpse of a man they called the great muslim leader of the west during visits to saudi arabia malaysia and many other places the treatment he received attendance and filed this report from east this morning was our tour guide and interpreter i believe that he is a second generation african from chad and speaks four languages fluently and i'll be english french and band waiting to take the delegation to schedule press conference and crowd had gathered to see the muslim american leader because of the thickness of the crown the man mohammad was forced to stop along the way but i won't ask you there i will just keep our bearings and i hope that in some way when we return we can serve the progress of the and i hope that  wonderful people you are great people i have had meetings and i wish i could tell you my story a private car was awaiting at the checkpoint with a military escort to take a member hammer to the presidential office d that was his profession before he became the leader of the of the palestinians and we visited israel israel on another occasion and we also visit jordan know his ministry took him all over the world but whenever he had the opportunity to which was almost every week he would travel to different sad just around the country and different  near the highest since and he has really nice strayed from his vs now he's tried different methods of different things to sort of stimulate us and get us moving but he's really been consistent and constant and true to the middle of things we're right in the midst of things so this is the man to bring us not into a fraternity but to bring us into the mission for all of of narrow muslim but in to the international global universal identity that has been lost really we haven't seen this kind of muslim for quite a long time muslims began to retreat when they started mixing with the west and unfair found some of defeats with the west they began to retreat from the universe salat and and it really did deny the leadership of the prophet because the proposition leader for truly inspiring but what struck us even more was unshakable dedication to the community character from this time through all the worldwide honors and attention he received were just people who believed if we continue to be a people a week knowledge in islam we can do no more without a life now in this mom then we were able to do with our life in christianity what will make a difference is that we become educated in islam and if you become educated islam then we can do what we want to do with our life and all over this world on respect for the life of the people that they exist with they should come up with a found honest sincere evaluation of the true beliefs and crew eggs and purposes of those people all the aspiration of the people that they differ from they should learn the purity of those people for themselves they should learn the innocence of the other people for themselves so that they will have respect and value their neighbors who are not muslim and work with their neighbors who are not muslim and pan out life inside of the life of the majority that it grow and contributions to the excellence of the people that differ that are different from them this is our recommendation in america this is our recommendation for every minority of muslim people and in the majority of people wherever they are exist on this earth time is out for us the mood upon prejudices move upon hatred this is not the way of people of faith god won't us to be intelligent god want us to be rational god want us to have foresight insight foresight circumspection come upon us to see not be in the dark muslims what is what is really the invitation of islam to us is the invitation to come to civilization to grinds up in civilization as a model for civilized nations not just fossella it is an invitation to come out of the dock nests of ignorant unfounded prejudices superstition hate driven other people into the guidance of god which is the light