Religion
Warith Deen Mohammed
1933–2008 · Muslim religious leader
Hamtramck-born son of Elijah Muhammad who, after 1975, led most of the Nation of Islam's followers into mainstream Sunni Islam.
- Born
Hamtramck, Michigan- Died
Chicago, Illinois
aged 74- Birth name
- Wallace D. Muhammad
- Also known as
- W. D. Mohammed · Imam W. Deen Mohammed
- Detroit years
- 1933–1935
- Field
- Religion
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Warith Deen Mohammed was born Wallace D. Muhammad on Yemans Street in Hamtramck on October 30, 1933, in the years when his father, Elijah Muhammad, was building the young Nation of Islam in Detroit. He was named after the movement's founder, W. D. Fard. The family moved to Chicago when he was still a toddler, and he grew up there, studying Arabic and the Quran and gradually questioning his father's teachings. When Elijah Muhammad died in 1975, Warith Deen was chosen to succeed him and quickly transformed the organization: he dropped the belief in Fard's divinity, opened membership to white people, introduced the Five Pillars of Islam and led hundreds of thousands of followers toward orthodox Sunni practice under a series of new names. Detroit honored its native son in 1977, when Mayor Coleman Young gave him a key to the city and proclaimed October 30 Wallace D. Muhammad Day. He remained a respected interfaith voice until his death in Chicago in 2008.
Highlights
- Born in Hamtramck on October 30, 1933
- Led the Nation of Islam after his father's death in 1975
- Brought most of its members into mainstream Sunni Islam
- Received the key to the city of Detroit from Coleman Young in 1977