Imam W. Deen Muhammed
October 1, 2008
INTERFAITH RELATIONS – William G. Gepford, American-Arab Relations
“Imam W. Deen Muhammed”
I first heard Warith Deen Muhammed speak several years ago at Cobo Hall. He was born in 1933 in Hamtramck, son of Nation of Islam founder, Elijah Muhammed. Imam W. Deen Muhammed is most remembered for having moved thousands of black American people into mainstream Islam from his father’s organization.
He died September 9, 2008 at his suburban Chicago home. His funeral was held at Villa Park, Ill. where hundreds gathered to pay last respects.
Except for his occasional Quranic references in his speech, if I were listening to him on the radio, I would have thought him to be Christian. He called upon his followers to take responsibility for their own lives, to develop businesses that would keep them off welfare, and to “follow Jesus Christ,” as one of the respected prophets alluded to in the teachings of Islam.
Anyone who has spent time in interfaith activities over the past twenty- five years, or more, has experienced the evolving diversity of this country. They would have learned that every religion has its variety of interpretations. Just as there is an Iraqi or Egyptian understanding of Christianity, so is there a Saudi or Pakistani understanding of Islam. There are basic beliefs, but particular interpretations beyond that often reflect local cultural settings.
Imam Muhammed was special in that he represented the effort to give Islam an American particularity.
Of all the Islamic leaders in the United States, on February 6, 1992, he was selected to offer the invocation on the floor of the U.S. Senate in Washington. This was the first time in history that the Senate was opened with an invocation by a Muslim, showing the respect members of Congress had for this religious leader.
The event was sponsored by three U.S. Senators, Allen Dixon (D-IL), Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Paul Simon (D-IL). Later that day a large reception was held at the Hart Senate Office Building, attended by hundreds of Muslims, many friends of Muslims from other religious communities, and representatives from over forty Muslim countries with diplomatic missions in Washington (as reported in the Newsletter for Christian- Muslim Concerns, Interfaith Relations, March, 1992)
The Mayor of Washington, DC, read a proclamation declaring February 6, 1992 as Imam W. Deen Muhammed Day in the Capital City. The Muslim prayer in the Senate is an encouraging sign of the awareness that the United States is a truly multi-religious society.
Just recently (2008) a current lectionary reading called each of us to avoid passing judgment “on our brothers and sisters for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Romans 14:1- 12).
W. Deen Muhammed’s life is a positive example of how we can learn to live together. May we be so inspired.
