Imam Warith Deen Mohammed: The Remarkable Man Who Mass Reverted Half a Million People to Islam
Channel: Muslim Community Center - MCC East Bay
Date: 2023-02-25

– More Imam Zaid Shakir: https://mcceastbay.org/zaid-shakir
– Black History Month & Shaban: Preparing Our Community for Ramadan | Imam Zaid Shakir: https://youtu.be/VfLIh-HGTAo

Warith Deen Mohammed (born Wallace D. Muhammad; October 30, 1933 – September 9, 2008), also known as W. Deen Mohammed, Imam W. Deen Muhammad and Imam Warith Deen, was an African-American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist, and Islamic thinker (1975–2008) who disbanded the original Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1976 and transformed it into an ostensibly orthodox and mainstream Sunni Islamic movement,[1] 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.

After his father's death, he became the Nation of Islam's national leader (Supreme Minister) in 1975. He rejected the previous deification of Wallace Fard Muhammad, accepted whites as fellow-worshippers, forged closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, and introduced the Five Pillars of Islam into his group's theology.

Splinter groups which resisted these changes were formed after Elijah Muhammad's death, particularly under Louis Farrakhan, who would revive the name Nation of Islam (from Final Call) for his organization in 1978. Farrakhan's NOI and the previous Final Call claim that they are direct continuations of the pre-1975 NOI and the pre-1975 Final Call.

About Imam Zaid Shakir
Born in Berkeley, California and raised in the Atlanta and Hartford projects alongside six other children, Imam Zaid Shakir converted to Islam in 1977, and today is one of the foremost Islamic scholars in the west.

He found Islam while in the U.S. Air force, spending time reading and learning about various faiths and practices, from Christianity to Transcendental meditation, but says he chose Islam because of its social aspects:

“Transcendental meditation gives you peace of mind…but it didn’t do anything for anybody else, so I had to keep looking,” Shakir explains at a recent lecture at a Brooklyn mosque. “I was literally searching for truth, and I made various stops along the way and I found what I believed was the truth.”

Imam Zaid began his study in the United States, earning a BA with honors in International Relations at American University and an MA in Political Science at Rutgers University, but continued his education in the Middle East, studying Arabic, Islamic law, Quranic studies, and spirituality at Syria’s prestigious Abu Noor University. Yet he returned to the United States seven years later, settling in Connecticut, co-founding Masjid al-Islam, where he served as Imam, the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative, and the Connecticut Muslim Coordinating Committee.

“You have an American Muslim culture emerging, which is very important, because then you can get a unique understanding of the religion that would allow the American Muslim to take his or her rightful place amongst the various Muslim communities of the world”

In 2003, Shakir moved to Hayward, California to serve as scholar in residence and lecturer at Zaytuna Institute, a non-profit, educational institute focused on Islamic studies and surrounding topics. In 2005, Zaytuna Institute published Shakir’s collection of essays, SCATTERED PICTURES: REFLECTIONS OF AN AMERICAN MUSLIM.

Imam Zaid Shakir is a co-founder, serves on its Board of Trustees, and senior Faculty Member of Zaytuna College located in Berkeley, CA. He is amongst the most respected and influential Islamic scholars in the West. As an American Muslim who came of age during the civil rights struggles, he has brought both sensitivity about race and poverty issues and scholarly discipline to his faith-based work.

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