Imam W. Deen Mohammed (1933-2008)
- From: Catherine Jefferson <spamtrap@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:02:45 -0500
Imam W. Deen Mohammed, the son of "Nation of Islam" sect founder Elijah
Muhammed, died Tuesday at home in Markham, Illinois at 74 years of age.
Most traditional Muslims do not view the Nation of Islam as Islamic, but
in 1975, after his father's death, Deen Mohammed became a mainstream
Muslim and took much of the Nation of Islam with him. (The remaining
NOI members followed Minister Louis Farrakhan.)
Over the years, Mohammed renounced the Nation of Islam's original black
separatism as unIslamic and decentralized the group in an evident effort
to prevent another charismatic leader like his father from taking power.
He became a consistent voice calling for greater education of the
other Imams in American mosques, especially those that came out of the
Nation of Islam and other indigenous American movements. He also did an
enormous amount of community and charitable work that benefitted people
of all races and religions living in inner cities and poor communities,
work for which he did not seek and often did not receive much credit.
By all accounts, "Brother Imam" was a good man who transcended his messy
early years, and his deeply conflicted relationship with an autocratic
cult leader of a father, to become a leader and inspiration to many
Muslims in America. There will be obituary articles about him in most
major American newspapers in the next few days, but I think the Los
Angeles Times beat most of them to it. Here is a link to theirs:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-mohammed10-2008sep10,0,4780810.story
--
Catherine Jefferson <ariel@xxxxxxxxxxx>
.
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