01/05/2000
IWDM Study Library 
Interview by Nathaniel Omar - Muslim Journal Newspaper - Hazel Crest IL

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
This is a National Public Broadcast of W.D. Mohammed, Muslim-American spokesman. What follows is an interview conducted at Muslim Journal Newspaper, January the 5th in the year 2000. The interviewer is Nathaniel Omar of Muslim Journal Newspaper. The interviewee is W. D. Mohammed, Muslim-American spokesman.
Nathaniel Omar:
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to talk to you about some of these occurrences. At a recent news conference Minister Farrakhan announced that he'd recovered from his bout with cancer. Have you had any contact with him since then?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
No. Not directly. No. But correspondence, I've sent correspondence with him congratulating him on his amazing recovery. I understand that he's saying that he's 95% healed. So, we thank Allah for his improvement and pray that he continues to improve until, there is no more health problems for him. We congratulate doctors and all who worked with him for the success that he had.
Nathaniel Omar:
Now at this conference, this person also announced conceptual changes, whereby he apologized for his past racist statements and philosophies. Do you think that these changes will improve the chance for unity between these two communities? Between the Nation of Islam and the Muslim American Society?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yes. Yes. In fact, we were already feeling a friendship, I would say fraternal bond with Minister Farrakhan and members of the Nation of Islam under his leadership. Ever since I attended the Jumuah service and arrived there too late to join them in the standing prayer, but I joined them for dua, and ever since then I have felt that there's no more separation. We are one Muslim community. We are one with the international Muslim community of the world and I was convinced of that when he has his followers observe the Jumuah prayer. And it's been a year now that he made a more, I would say, extensive and detail. It’s detail and it makes it very comfortable for us to join him in whatever he's doing for the development of this society, especially for the correct projection of Islam.
Nathaniel Omar:
Now, do you foresee the minister's role as important in the Muslim community and the African-American community also? How do you foresee that?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Minister Farrakhan is a very popular leader, he has been for all these years that I've known him to be a leader, when he was minister in the Nation of Islam when I was there, he was always a very electrifying speaker, articulate, natural ability. So, a person like that is very valuable to the Muslim community of Chicago and the United States and also very valuable as a spokesperson for the disadvantaged and lost people. There are many of us still disadvantaged and there are many of us still lost, spiritually lost. So, Farrakhan is very important as a leader in the Chicago area and in the United States.
Nathaniel Omar:
Now what would be your message to your supporters in the Muslim American Society and Minister Farrakhan's following? And what is your hope for the two communities as we go into the years to come?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Well, my message is that we have done what we thought we had to do to go forward as Muslims in the right meaning and in the right spirit. I took us many years to get where we have gotten that is in community with Muslim all around the world who follow the Qur'an, the word of G-d, and Muhammad the messenger and servant of G-d (pbuh). It's taken us many years to get where we are. We've had patience with out earlier thinking. It is always my belief that the majority of the followers of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad were innocent people who believed that concept of Islam that they had was correct.
So, if people are innocent, you shouldn't just abruptly bring them around to the truth if you think that will upset them, cause them pain, mental pain. You should be considerate of their situation and try to bring them safely along the road to where they should be. That's what I have tried to do with the name G-d, is to help them get prayers. to help the brothers and sisters, not only in the Temple of Islam, but many Muslims who know me outside of America and immigrant Muslims in America, they pray for our success, and with their prayers, and our prayers we have been successful. As to my message to Minister Farrakhan is that we are happy to know that the situation has developed now because of his stance, his recent turn, the situation has developed now for us to embrace each other just grace each other and sit down together and support each other in all good.
Nathaniel Omar:
Now, if your father had a chance to see this work how would he feel?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Well, my father, he would have some serious criticisms, but he'd be very happy. He'd tell the people follow Wallace D. Mohammed, and Louis Farrakhan.
Nathaniel Omar:
How would participate in Savior’s Day. Will you be there in person?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yeah. I've been invited to join minister Farrakhan who will give the address on the 27th that would be Sunday, and I plan to join him, to be there. To show my support, and also to celebrate with him. It's big celebration. And I see it as a Savior's Day celebration.
Nathaniel Omar:
You know how we are.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
He will give the address on the 27th. We should all be there. We should join them on the 27th to hear the major address that's going to be delivered by Minister Farrakhan. I also intend to be at the Jumuah prayer. It's possible I may be asked to lead the prayer somewhere else and I may have to lead the prayer somewhere else and rush to that location, and join them as early as I can for the rest of the Jumuah time.
Also, in fact, he lists several concerns that he had and he itemized them and I thought to myself having any difficulty with the concerns that he itemized. I support his whole program for the 26th event, February 26th event. I support his whole program. His Family Day Unity march, or family day observance and celebration. I strongly support that. We need more awareness of our obligation as parents and of our obligation as adults in our community to support our neighborhood, and to support our families, even if you are single. All of us should have strong interest in family and to supportive of the good life of family. Farrakhan has taken a very good tradition to include family and family celebration, the celebration of family.
His words to me emphasis that the Hon. Elijah Muhammad's family has been of real value to the association that we both belong to, the association of followers that we both belong too, that's the following the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, what used to be the following of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. And he's also been very, very valuable to African-American people. I would say that we have to now recognize that the Hon. Elijah Muhammad has been very significant to the city of Chicago, the people of the city of Chicago, and the history of the city of Chicago.
Chicago magazine that I subscribe to, channel 11, listed him among 100 persons who had the most influence on the history of Chicago. And the Sun-Times even more recently, also, they had done a poll and the Hon. Elijah Muhammad was among the 100 persons to have influenced the history of Chicago. So, looking at the Hon. Elijah Muhammad as a servant of justice, of he would say freedom, justice, and equality, the Hon. Elijah Muhammad as a Muslim, he has always told us that we are growing in to the Muslim we will be. He never told us that we are the Muslims that we will be. He said we are growing in to the Muslims we will be. We are trying to be Muslims. We are trying to be upright.
Nathaniel Omar:
We are trying to be upright.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
And the Hon. Elijah Muhammad as a fighter for freedom, justice, and equality, his position was that he couldn't defend his people, [and lead them] into a society of productive and responsible people if his own people weren't disciplined and responsible for their families, and clean minded. So, he said, "What I'm doing is cleaning you up." And the Hon. Elijah Muhammad in my opinion, has been a very successful medicine man in the black community. He has helped to heal a lot of us. So, the Hon. Elijah Muhammad is to be seen not just as the Muslim's leader. He should be seen as the man with the people's deficiencies and social illnesses mainly on his mind and on his heart. And he sincerely worked for the betterment of African-Americans at large, just as did Frederick Douglas and Booker T. Washington, and DuBois, and Dr. King, and all.
Nathaniel Omar:
* Question asked by Nathaniel Omar about having a joint Jumuah with the Nation of Islam
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yeah. There's no reason for us not to join, the Jumuah that they have on that Friday. I hope to be there. But I say, I may receive invitations to be elsewhere, and there's not too many of me. If you would like to invite me, I have an obligation to a but as I say, I won't accept an invitation outside of Chicago. That will permit me to join them later. I don't give long khutbahs anymore.
Nathaniel Omar:
Now there were some other questions that I have unrelated to this subject. Could we talk about those also?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Sure.
Nathaniel Omar:
Before we move on do you have any more comments or closing statements that you'd like to say on this subject?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yes. In our last phone call, conversation with minister Farrakhan I expected to meet with him sometimes to look for areas of cooperation for the two groups. I would think that Islamic education is one of them, and there might be some other, even economics may be an area. And his recent letter to me expressed his desire that we do have that meeting and he invited me to come to his home in Michigan, or to meet him in Chicago, so I would love to respond as soon as possible. And sometime I do hope to have a full conversation with him perhaps today or tomorrow, and if I can reach him by phone, I will know within a couple days, most likely if that meeting is going to occur.
Nathaniel Omar:
Now, I have made some friends with some of the journalist over there and they want me to interview him. And I wanted to make sure that you and I are in agreement on this before I interview them.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Yeah. You can tell him what I'm going to say too. He’ll help sell our Journal. So, please get the interview.
Nathaniel Omar:
There's been a lot of fascination with the year 2000. People use the word millennium in just about everything. How can we as Muslims view this period. Should we as Muslims expect any special changes?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
There is a caution and there is a spiritual message. The caution is good but this is not our new millennium, this is Christian calendar), but I think we should embrace the Christians in their period of celebration, because there's been a big Islamic revival going on for at least 60 years and perhaps longer. In Pakistan there is the late Maulana Maududi. And they have been reform leaders for Islam in Africa, everywhere. And the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, though it might be very confused and very difficult to understand. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad had a spirit to contribute to a revival of Islam in the world, and from him has come his son, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, my leader, and because of that we do have a renewal of Islamic spirit and life in the United States. The Jews also have been experiencing difficulty, holding their children, keeping their children at home, keeping their children from being affected by the corrupt culture of the public life, the world, as all of us have been affected by that, preachers, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, all of us have been affected by that.
So, you see you will find that there are leaders among them too, who are taking a second look at how they have perceived their religions, and how they live their religion. So, there is a kind of revival going on everywhere, it's a general revival, it's a world revival. It's a revival of the spirit and the purity of religion in the faith communities, of the world. That's what we're experiencing. So, I don't think it's just Christian but this time period is really a celebration for all of us who are coming into new minds and better minds, and coming to grips with things we should've come grips with a long time ago, like justice in Islam.
We haven't respected justice in Islam to do justice by poor people, and justice by our suffering people of the world, and to address tyrants. There is a recent author of a book on Omar. He's a professor, he's a well-known scholar author of Islamic literature, and history. His recent book on opposition to Khalifah Omar, may Allah be pleased with him. He questions the history; the recent history of Islam modern leaders and how modern leaders have really neglected to address the tyrants who deny the Muslim public the right to live their lives as Muslims without their life being dictated for them by oppressors.
And you have many oppressors in Islamic world. You have many dictators; they may not see themselves as oppressors but they are certainly dictators. We have many dictators in the Islamic world and the rule of consensus, and the rule of shura does not exist. The prophet says that the hands of G-d is on the majority. The hands of G-d is on the majority, which means the rule of G-d is over the people. And the leaders respect that G-d rules over the people, and that people should be free to pursue what is G-d's way for them, and live that way. And the rulers should support that, whether it be an imam or religious leader or not. He can be strictly political, strictly government, but he should guarantee people the right to follow the Qur'an and they're not doing that.
So, we were living in the time of revival for the whole world and Muslims have serious need for reform in the Islamic community of the world.
Nathaniel Omar:
You didn’t go alone; you sent a whole delegation. Will you share with us the reason and benefit of taking the large delegation and how it differs from just going with an aid?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Rome, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Damascus Syria, these are opportunities that are open to us. We didn't plan this. We only embraced good people and they invited us to join them, so with the Focolare people we embraced the Focolare people. They are very excellent Christians in character and in purpose. Their character, their purpose is very clean and very, very powerful. They call it the principle of Christ Love and the live it, they don't just say it they live it. They practice sharing with each other, they practice helping families, and they include people of other religions in this movement, which is a world movement, conceived earlier in the 40s, I think, during the war, during World War II, by the leader, Chiara Lubich. We got to know that movement and get acquainted with their leader Chiara Lubich
And my sincere embracement of them, and what they stand for have brought me to be accepted in many, many cities where they have offices or followers. So, Rome was a trip that was not altogether I would say owing to the Focolare people or their offices because the Archbishop of Baltimore, Cardinal Keeler, I met with him too, and spoke with him very openly, very openly. Shared with him very serious thoughts of mine, and he appreciated that openness and he wanted to arrange a visit to the Vatican for me. So, it was the two, but I think of Baltimore, and the Focolare people the two of them combined support of me and my desire to have a visit to the Vatican, to see, and have an audience with the pope John Paul II, a man that I've admired ever since he became leader. Again, that's a leader, that's not a leader that's just for Catholics. He's a leader for humanity. And I think any sincere leader in a religion, and for such leaders we should recognize their contribution and should not let their differences in religion cause us to withhold support from people like that. Because they are making great contributions to the betterment of this whole world.
So, I wanted an audience with him and I got an audience with him, and since then I have returned to the Vatican as you know with religious leaders representing different faiths of the world hosted by his Holiness John Paul II. And I was honored. And I don't like to say I, because that honor really goes to us, we were honored to have a presence there and to be one of the presenters there.
The trip to Israel came as, I would say, because of their knowledge of my invitation to be at the World Conference of Religion and Peace international gathering there for their seventh anniversary in Amman Jordan hosted by the king and the prince. So, the minister of foreign affairs in Israel, he invited me to also be his guest and to attend an interfaith gathering, to be present for a dialogue on peace, religious peace resolving conflicts, etc. in Israel. One of the persons contributing to that meeting, a friend of mine and also a president of the same organization that I'm an international president of the World Conference of Religion and Peace, WCRP rabbi David Rosen
So, when I learned the rabbi David Rosen was involved, then I was anxious to get the invitation. I got an invitation to Israel. We had a great conference, World Conference of Religion and Peace, - we had a great conference in Amman Jordan. They took me by bus from our meeting in Israel to Amman Jordan, and it was a wonderful trip. I saw the sea of Galilee. I've only read about it in the Bible. I saw a lot over there. I saw the place where King Sol went with his men to test them which is in the Qur'an and the Bible. To test them to see who was strong with him and who was not. He said whoever takes the water and drinks it continuously like a horse or something from the water. He would not be of them, of his supporters, the supporters of King Sol. But whoever takes up a little bit with his hands, they would be amongst his supporters.
Well, I saw the water pool there, and it come from a source. It's very clear. I said this water looks good for drinking. They told me the Israeli host said, yes, it's clean, it's very clean. Very clear clean water. It was a great experience for me.
But it was even a much greater experience for us, because I represent -a following, a strong following of Muslims in America who have a great history, a very special history of our, very special life and a very special life. Peculiar circumstances that made it very difficult for us in this world. And I'm the leader of those people now and Islam has just simplified everything for us. And you don't see any more confusion for our life. We don't have identity problems anymore. We don't have a hang up with the past anymore.
I represent a great history in this country. The African-American people who follow the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. And that's how I saw myself. When I was at the Vatican, do you think I spoke there, and didn't take advantage of that opportunity to say Elijah Muhammad? I mentioned his name, I said that I thought that he would share with me the joy of that occasion if he had been alive to witness it.
Nathaniel Omar:
So, I want to talk about you about New Africa, because the concept of this village or town that we talked about, I'm wondering now if the establishment of CPC will this enhance us having theatres and homes and stores? 
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yes, we do. Yes, we do. We have been struggling since, I would say since we realized that our life had been taken from us by white folks during slavery. We've been struggling since then, and the struggle is to get more and more of our life to be our own responsibility. To me, that's a need in our soul, we won't be happy in our souls until we have that. No matter how successful we are, how successful we are financially, how politically, or in education or whatever, as individuals as long as we see the great numbers of the people still without hope, still without sustenance, material sustenance, without responsibility for their neighborhood, not just their home, their neighborhood, they don't have a strong hand in the affairs, and in the shaping of the people of their neighborhood, as long as that condition is exists, we haven't done our job.
And we’re joining Christains who are working hard, they're working quietly, and I think we should work quietly. They're working quietly but they are doing a great job to bring help to the neighborhood, help to the congregation, so their congregations have not only a spiritual life, but they also have a good material life. We are joining them in that effort to strengthen with material life for African-American people and I do believe that we are going to be successful in addressing the cultural needs as well as the material needs.
We'll be looking for opportunities to have theaters that will be a healing center, good entertainment, that's designed to heal the soul, heal the mind, free the mind for productive work. And by the way, you did a song once for us and that song was a song about the covenants of the oppressed to take charge of our lives.
Nathaniel Omar:
The rise of a mighty people.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yes. Yes. The Rise of a Mighty People. Yes. All right. So, you are expected to do some more of that, you know. You have an obligation to do some more of that. And eventually we will have our own theater.
Showing Islam, showing us as Muslims but also showing us as Muslims who have accepted our Muslim responsibility to better our environment, to better the environment that we live in and share with Christians and others.
Nathaniel Omar:
In the way of presidential politics, Republicans are lining up behind Bush. Democrats are lining up behind Vice President Gore, and I remember from the past, that you and I both were Bush men.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yes, I do. I do remember. But that was the daddy Bush, not the son. I think we have an obligation, the leaders to get the true picture of these candidates and get that picture of our voting public. The Journal has to do that. We should be given the informational campaign material that's circulated by all the candidates, so that our leadership will be able to make informed choices.
Nathaniel Omar:
I think you just answered this question, but since you're here, maybe you can elaborate on it. In terms of cultural activities, poetry, drama, theatres, songs, etc., are manifesting the growth you anticipated or would you like to see more of these activities?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Much more. I'm happy to see the amount of, I will say, support we do have around the country. Sister Salimah Omar, you’re familiar with who she is? She’s a jazz musician.
Salimah Omar. She's a young woman, but she has years, okay? She has years and she has a strong interest in not just creative art or music or whatever for the sake of entertainment, but she has, her interest is to create vehicle for the better life, the Muslim life for of our community, and preparing the message too. A message from us to our people who want to rise with us, of our new spirit, our new sense of, culture. I support her because I see that she will produce people who have the spirit of faith in it.
And Wali Ali is another colleague that I think we're going to get a lot of good help from, Wali Ali. So, Salimah Omar, Wali Ali, and two others, I hope that they will just take to lead along with yourself, along with yourself. Take the lead. At the next conference, annual convention, which will be in Chicago, that's been approved already It'll be in Chicago, there should be workshops for our artists of good character like Salimah Omar, Wali Ali, yourself and others, you all should connect, and you all should plan a workshop. And someone from the group should also address the convention, if it's no more than five minutes to let us know what we should expect from our artists in the future, in terms of us putting power into the popular culture.
Nathaniel Omar:
I want to last question concerning the youth. Have you observed any kind of enthusiasm for Islam in our youth? Anything in our youth that is necessarily for healthy Islamic growth? Can you share your hopes for the youth and the next generation?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
We want the youth to assume leadership positions, not for present as much as for the future, and that means we want them to study what we've accomplished so far, and study our leaders, study our leaders, we have many of them, myself, of course, but we have Imam Plemon Al-Amin of Atlanta, the most impressive, I would say effort in education that we have in the country. So, there are others too, there is imam Shuaibe in Oakland California, who is a very outstanding leaders all around leader, great speaker, who's an all-around leader, who is responsible for education for his congregation and who have done a lot of good, I would say, work for propagating in Islam in the proper picture, and the right picture in his area, in the Oakland area and I'm proud of him, because he's a speaker who's wanted by many people.
He goes all over the United States. There's also Qasim Ahmed that I work with in Chicago, on Stoney Island, and I was resident imam responsible for the school and the imam in Houston. And we have many of them, many of them. There are also some females coming to the forefront who are Islamic leaders. So, you have to understand that Islamic leadership is not only for males, it's for males and females. And that's the way it was in the time of our prophet peace be upon him, and after, and that's the way it will always be. There are females that will always rise to the position of being scholars and students of the religion of Islam and servants of the Muslim society, rise to positions that we demand that we give them recognition. And we have some females, but I won't name any of them. But I know at least 10 sisters in this community who in my opinion deserves to be counted among the leaders of Islam for us in America.
Nathaniel Omar:
Now I heard a place, I thought it was on the West Coast, recently, where you told them to step forward.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
Yes, I saw them coming forward, and I wanted them to know I’m cheering them on. And Sister Ayesha is definitely one of them. Yes sir. So, we have these leaders. We have to recognize them; we want our youth to see them not just see the brothers but also women. We should look and recognize our female leaders too we have in this community, and we should learn from them. For years we have seen women come forward, females from our community, and they have presented themselves as persons who have great leadership qualifications for the Islamic community in America. So, we want our youth to know them and to learn from them, as well as to know and learn from the male leaders in the community, like Imam Plemon Al-Amin of Atlanta.
My spokesperson for my ministry, Earl Abdul-Malik Mohammed and, Qasim Ahmed, and Faheem Shuaibe of Oakland, California and they might not have a tendency to look at the old soldiers, but these old soldiers, some of them are younger than I am. We should also look at those who have been with us and had positions in the time of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. They were ministers or leaders in the time of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, and there are still leaders now so we should really look closely at these persons and study them, and to look to see what contributions we all are making, separately and altogether, what contributions we are making separately and what contributions we are making together, and to study to see if that can be a strong support for them. If we can't offer them a beginning, a platform to stand on, a position to support for the future of our families in this America, in these United States of America, then they should be looking for another organization. So, that’s is what I invite our young leaders to do.
Nathaniel Omar:
That was all. Thank you very much for your time. I hope I didn't hold you too long. But if there's any other things that you think of that you want to speak to now?
Imam W. Deen Mohammed:
No. Nothing except the Eid that's coming up. And we know that we're all high-spirited. Sentiments, Steady sentiments advancing inside of us. We're ready for Eid to celebrate the great Eid Al-Fitr. So, we hope to gather all of the believers in the great celebration of the fast, the conclusion of the fast month the Eid Al-Fitr and we wish them a happy and blessed Eid. Eid Sayeed Mubarak As-salaam Alaikum

