10/27/2001
IWDM Study Library 
TV Interview Shreveport Louisiana

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Speaker 1:
Today we'd like to welcome you to our program. Imam Warith Deen Mohammed is the son of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who passed away in February of 1975. And Imam, we'd like for you, at this time, if you would, just comment briefly on when you first came into office in 1975, in terms of your major focuses. And basically, what your concerns were during that time?
IWDM:
Yeah. I became the leader in February. Actually, it was February 26th of 1975, with the passing of my father and our leader, who led us into many great things for our own good, for the good of our future. But some of those things were temporary. They were not ever to be permanent and that was the idea we had of Islam. It was not to be permanent. We were not taught the Quran, the Holy Book of Islam, and we were not given the life of Prophet Muhammad. We were prepared to be an independent-minded people, or community. And with innocence, sincerity, and with a very, very big appetite for what Islam is.
So, that appetite was held back to make it get stronger and stronger. What I mean by held back, your appetite was denied. Your appetite was denied. The food of real Islam was not given to us, to make us have more and more appetite for it. So, when I became the leader, my responsibility to my father's following, and to the community that was called the Nation of Islam at the time, was to take us from what we had been given before to the Quran, and to the true history and life of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad. Prayers and peace be upon him.
That was no easy job. We couldn't do it all suddenly, because it would have meant great difficulty for the minds of the believers who chose to follow the Muslims of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. And those that elected us made a point of telling us that we were not being selected to follow the Arabs or any other Muslims outside of our United States, that we were being selected to lead our people into Islam and the special community of a special group of Muslims, here in the United States, following our own teachings of Islam, and to follow our own thinking, to please G-d, to obey Allah. to obey what Allah wants from us and it was successful. We were told that we would lose everything that The Honorable Elijah Muhammad had accomplished. And he said that the next person may use something of what we had, or may not use any of what we had.
So, what I did, and not without the support of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his vision, and his wisdom. And what I accomplished with you also, with the help of G-d above everything was the successful transition from a Black separatist militant movement, moved to this now loving organization, to the Quran as read and understood by Muslims all over this planet. And to Muhammad, the Messenger of G-d, in this Quran, the seal of the Prophets, the last Prophet, Peace be Upon him.
So that was now our accomplishment. That was my job. And we were successful. G-d blessed us with success and now we have the teaching, but we don't throw out that which was Islamic or what was good for us, that we got in the first experience with The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and now that we gotten our life in good shape as Muslims, under G-d's word, the Quran and over his Messenger, Muhammad the Prophet.
So, we now can do something to show that we accept our responsibility to better our neighborhoods, to invest in our communities, and to invest materially for the material sentiments as well of our people and of our neighbors, who may not be of our faith.
Speaker 1:
Brother Imam, in mentioning this, I know we often speak about major accomplishments and since you have tenure in office being the leader, what would you say is your major accomplishment at that time and during your growth part when you were serving the community? If you could talk on, in fact, one particular gain.
IWDM:
Yeah. My major accomplishment is that I've done all this and I haven't gone crazy.
Speaker 1:
We are filming today's program with a live audience and, again, we thank you and the audience for tuning in with us today. So, Brother Imam, in talking about this again and being conscious of the time. I've been told studying the history of our people and coming out of slavery some 400 years ago that our people weren't allowed to read and to write or anything in reference to education or things of that nature. And focusing on this, I think about the point that you have been elected the President of the World Council of Religion and Peace. I think that's a major accomplishment in terms of everything, a one-time slave and where we are right now, and definitely your accomplishments as an African-American and as a Muslim. How did this come about?
IWDM:
In terms of the election of being the Muslim leader who follows the beauty and purity of his religion, Islam, as given in the Holy Book, the Quran. You will find that the best minds of the Christian leadership, Jewish leadership also, will find him to be a human being that they can embrace and a human being that they would like working with them if they are in the business of making a contribution to the whole of humanity, for the betterment of humanity.
So, Islam prepares us to embrace all nationalities, all colors, all ethnic groups, and all people who believe in G-d and being accountable to G-d or believe in G-d and the last day. Who believe in G-d and then letting them be accountable to G-d. Islam makes us attractive to all those people and I find such servants amongst Jews and Christians, et cetera that are attracted to me. And really, we don't see the religious differences as much as we see the common spirit in us to serve G-d, to serve humanity, and to be decent human beings. That's the strongest proof of our faith, no matter what they say to you.
Speaker 1:
And with some of what's happening, I thought about that appointment. And also, the umm....
IWDM:
Yeah. And there are two presidents in the United States. I'm one of them. The President of the Conference of Religion and Peace. Yeah. And our Secretary General is Dr. William Bennet, a wonderful, wonderful man that every time I see him, I forget he's Christian. And he forgets I'm Muslim.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
IWDM:
Praise be to Allah.
Speaker 1:
We are mentioning the different religious groups, religious leaders. I think recently you met with Dr. Schuller and that transpired over at-
IWDM:
No. In fact, it will be on Monday, this coming Monday.
Speaker 1:
What's the nature of that meeting?
IWDM:
Well, Dr. Schuller and I, we've gotten together and we've asked Christian leaders and Muslim leaders who are... made a bad mark on humanity and on our faith, on Muslim faith caused by the suicide bomber. And we think we owe it to Christians and to Muslims to make it clear that Islam condemns all wrongdoing, and does not at all treat murderers of innocent people any way except as murderers.
Speaker 1:
I say the Christian faith, we know also with your association with Focolare Movement. Can you comment on that?
IWDM:
Yes, yes. The group of Christians Catholics, started by a young girl about 18 or 19, I think. During the World War II, she began a movement to practice the religion and focusing or putting that whole, all the energy on Christ's love, that Christ asked his disciples and his followers to do. And that is love one another as G-d has loved them.
And I think to know them and who read the book of their leader's life, respect her coming into that mission or that role, accepting that role as a young girl during the war. And I read about her and I was convinced that she has a pure soul, that G-d had selected to have her work to do, not only for Christians or for Catholics but for people, for humanity at large. I'm convinced of that and her movement has moved as a group to include members from outside of the Christian faith as well.
I met Muslims who are members of her movement. Called the Focolare Movement and it moves powerfully throughout the world. And that the message is for people throughout the world. Made this whole movement out of going to the love of G-d, that's my interpretation, man. They might not approve of my interpretation for them, but that's the way I see them. And they're very beautiful people and I think it's G-d's will that the like minds of the two great religions, Christianity and Islam, join hands and embrace each other and cooperate with each other to project a better picture of what a true follower of Islam and a true follower of Christianity is.
I think G-d has selected her and myself for this job, in working with each other and giving this picture to the public, our Muslim audience as she did this with her audience. And it goes out to the general public in the world. I think that's G-d's will that we do that. I think she's G-d's helper.
Speaker 1:
And brother Imam, am I correct in mentioning or stating that you got the chance or the opportunity to make an address at the Vatican City?
IWDM:
Yes. Well, as the son of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, yes. I made the address as a guest of the Vatican, guest of the Pope John Paul II and he said, "All right, cool. That's it. You're the other speaker." And I'm telling you, it's almost like something happened in a dream or in my imagination, that it wasn't real but it was real. It really happened that the son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad addressed the Vatican in the presence of his Holiness, the Pope, yes.
Speaker 1:
Certainly, in today's time, in the year 2001 it's often no different than times of the past, a major youth problem that we see. Many of our youth are being lost. Many have tried to lose it in gangs and things of that nature. Do you have a message for the youth today.?
IWDM:
Yes. Forgive us. We have not shown you the world that G-d wants all of us to have. Forgive us. Let us get back on track.
Speaker 1:
I can recall in the past, you did some major addresses in terms the need for moral leadership, with which I think it's still a very important issue in our society today, the need for moral leadership. I've been really touched by the articles and by the addresses. But still, how would you surmise at this time for the moral sector of the Muslim society in terms of where we are and where we need to go?
IWDM:
I think that the moral character of American society has been improving at least for the last, maybe, 20 years but there's still serious problems that the leadership, in my opinion, has come to grips with the problems of society. And I say leadership, good leadership in Christianity and in the churches, good leadership in our community, in our mosque and the rest of our masajid. Good leadership in the Jewish community, the religious community, have all come to grips with the problems of the world now. And you have religion and government forming a partnership, but not a partnership that will cause problems with separation of church and state, but a promise of a partnership that allows under the law and constitution of this land. And this to me is a new time, we haven't seen it before, that religious leaders and government people are looking at these problems and saying, "How are we going to solve these problems with all of our responsibility? Let us just cooperate."
And you have seen the leadership of Mecca, The Supreme Council of Imams, the Custodians of the Holy Precincts King Fahd, come together with the leaders of other countries and leaders of other faiths. They are starting to see how can you stand upon what we have in common under G-d and cooperate with each other for a better world. So, we live in a time I call the time of religion, the day of religion, the minute and the hour and the day of religion, which is the time that we haven't seen before. So, I said, "We shouldn't worry too much about the morals of the people. We should work more now on giving them correct information and educating them better, so we can now partner together."
Speaker 1:
Imam, we thank you for those comments and in parting, really just you might have heard this but we're out of time. I want you to just comment in terms of the Collective Purchasing Conference in explaining what this program is or just a comment in general for the economic overview.
IWDM:
It's a return to our responsibility, to do for myself, to make improvements on our financial life so that we have jobs being created by the private sector and with Muslims in the forefront for Muslims, and also for our neighbors who need us.
Speaker 1:
Yes. Thank you very much. Brother Imam, we really thank you for appearing on our program. We've run out of time and InshaAllah (G-d Willing), we really do hope that we can get you back on the program. So, we can spend more time.



