08/04/1999
IWDM Study Library 
Radio Interview Baltimore MD 

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
This is the National Public broadcast of WD Mohammed Muslim American Spokesman. The following interview was conducted Thursday, August the fourth, 1999 at Radio Station WJHU 88.1 FM in Baltimore, Maryland. Interviewing the lmam Mohammed is Mark Steiner of the Mark Steiner Show.
Mark Steiner:
Hello, I'm Mark Steiner. This hour we are going to talk to Imam WD Mohammed, who is the spiritual leader of millions of Muslims in our country. Joining also who has not has been a guest show before, is the Imam Abdul Malik Muhammad. Welcome both. 
IWDM:
It's a pleasure to have you here. Thank you. Thank you. 
Mark Steiner:
I'm kind of glad I must say selfishly, but I'm glad you couldn't make it last week because now I have the chance to do the interview. Imam Mohammed just a little reflection just on you. I mean your life has been a story done by many people. I mean even the images that have appeared in movies like the movie Malcolm X. You're the son of Elijah Muhammad, the man who founded the Nation of Islam. I just like to search a little bit about your own history and your own break as a young young man with the idea of both black separatism and superiority and the ideology your father created and what led to that and then why did you break at such a young age with your father, one of the most powerful men at that point in the black community?
IWDM:
Actually, there was a strategy, kind of a scheme or plot to attract blacks who were culturally, I would say deprived, to identify with something of their own in the name of Islam until they could become better educated, we could become better educated and then begin to question what we were given and find our own way to real Islam. If it was a scheme that it worked, we lost some but it worked for the great majority. But when I say we lost some, I mean we lost some to the extreme ideas. They couldn't break those extremes of separatism. Separation of the races, white and black. But the great majority did successfully make the transition from the old ideas to what is really Islam, what is truly Islam. My life as a young boy, I couldn't see it back then because you accept what your parents give you and you don't question what you can't manage.
But as I got older, I began to look back at it and I was burdened but protected from the burden I was told when I was a little boy as far as back as I can remember, that I was special child and that I should follow my father and look at him always, that one day I was going to be with him, helping him in the work and the work of leading African Americans as Muslims you see. So that was a burden on me, but I think what it did, it made me look for all of the, made me more serious. So, it made me look for the things that were true and right and the principles of my community, the Nation of Islam as I understood them, the principles for us to govern our own personal life and behavior was good, but when it came to the doctrine of the Nation of Islam, it was in conflict with those principles because we were told not to lie to anybody.
Be honest all the time, be truthful all the time. The lessons that we got said your word is your bond, your bond is your life and be prepared to give your life before you let your word fail. So, all of that was good. Those was strong morals. So, it protected me and I was conditioned I think to select what was morally right and that's what accounted for me differing with the old teachings of the Nation of Islam about one race being superior to the other and made me question a goal that was a teaching, that was all for blacks and leaving other people out and made me question that.
Mark:
It must have a very difficult process for a man as young as you were then to be banned from even speaking to your own mother I read.
IWDM:
Yes, yes. I was excommunicated and I knew the rule. You're not to speak with anyone or have any association with anyone that's in the Temple of the Nation of Islam if you are put out of it and I was put out. My father denied me of that in hopes of getting me to take back my statement, change my position. He said, Wallace, he said, you know what this means? I said, yes sir. He said, it means that you will not speak to even your mother.
I said "Yes sir." He kept speaking, he said, you would not be able to call, write or talk to your mother. He didn't say your father.
Mark:
He knew what you wanted to do.
IWDM:
He knew the mother, the mother was closest to the young child.
Mark:
In the movie Malcolm X. Did you see the movie Malcolm X? 
IWDM:
Yes, I did. Okay. 
Mark:
You were portrayed that movie right? I see one of the figures is a great deal based on Imam WD Mohammed and I'm wondering what your thoughts are as you reflect back on 30 some years ago to your relationship to Malcolm X, to the kind of man he was and what he says to us all now, now that you are who you are as a believer of many Muslims in the country.
IWDM:
Yes, he was a man once he believed in something he had to give it all he had and he believed when he was believing in the streets, he gave the streets all he had.
When he believed in the Communist ideology he was trying to give that all he had. It was in prison now. He wasn't free to really practice. or pursue Communist ideology. And luckily I think it was fortunate for him and for us that he was attracted to the Nation of Islam teaching. His older brother invited him to look at the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and he did. He told me he got very interested in it and he said to himself, said, "This is what we should have." He believed that the black people should follow the teachings of the Nation of Islam. He came out and before he was even I think free of all his obligations to the release from prison, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, this is my young Minister. He has accepted in the prison and he's going to be my young Minister. We understood that he was going to make him the leading Minister for the rest of us and he became that.
He was in his personality, he was a very attractive man. He was a man that you would admire, you would love him. He could relax you right away, right outright. He could relax you right away. He felt very relaxed with him and for the young men of the Nation of Islam, he made it his business to let us know, to communicate his personal interests in us in our own personal welfare. He said, "What are you doing with your life? He asked me, he said, "Wallace, what are you doing with your life? He said, "What are you doing to help your father? I said, well, "I'm doing such and such." He said, You youngsters have to do more now." He was only about seven, six or seven years older than I. He said, "You youngsters have to do more." So, we admired him for that. I've seen him talk to white interviewers and he felt so relaxed with them and in turn they felt so relaxed with him, but yet he was very firm on the separation of races.
He was very firm on everything the Nation of Islam was standing for at that time. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave him what the Nation of Islam wanted and he gave it to the press. He was very friendly, but he was two people. He was a warm, very intelligent person and at the same time he was, I would say a Puritan when it came to following the teaching of Islam. 
Mark:
He was a Puritan?
IWDM: Yes, I think so. 
Mark:
What does it need to be a Puritan in following the teachings of Islam? 
IWDM:
It means you follow blindly. You don't question anything. That's what I meant by it.
Mark:
Did you speak to Malcolm X when he returned from his Hajj to Mecca and if you did, did he seek you out and what was that transformation you saw in him when he came back from Mecca?
IWDM:
Yes, I had an opportunity, a chance to speak to him by phone. Not immediately after he returned, but some months after he returned and he was at that time he was fearing for his life and he was sharing with me his beliefs concerning where the threat was really coming from and he believed that it wasn't coming only from the Nation Of Islam. He said Wallace, he says, I have really taught these brothers and I brought them into this and I know what they're capable of doing. He said that somebody else is behind it. He was fearing for his life and he wanted me to join him in his organization, but he had some political ideas at that time that I didn't feel quite comfortable with, so I couldn't join him at that time.
Mark:
Were you still a member of the Nation of Islam at that time?
IWDM:
No, I was out there, ex-communicated.
Mark:
Now, in the ensuing years and after Malcolm's assassination and his death, uh, let me ask this question. It seems to me some people would argue that Malcolm X's conversion from the Nation of Islam to what we might call Orthodox or to Islam itself was really the springboard for the growth of Islam among the African-American community in America. Do you think that's true?
IWDM:
Yes. Perhaps more than anything else, not so much his life, but his death perhaps contributed to great numbers coming of African-Americans, coming to Islam.
Mark:
And in the ensuing years when your father died and the battle as what was going to replace the Nation of Islam were to the heart of the Nation of Islam, and you left it and Louis Farrakhan took over the Nation of Islam and resurrected it, so to speak, in his image, in many ways. I think it's important to have a conversation about the differences between you and Louis Farrakhan.
The things that you're reading in the press lately about he's calling you from his bedside when he had prostate cancer and which seems to be a coming together of you and Minister Farrakhan. Could you give us the history where that is now?
IWDM:
Yes, that's true. Over the last I would say maybe 10 or 12 years, we have on three or four occasions met and most of the times our, the hosts for the meeting being members of Rabita, the Muslim World League based in Mecca. They had an interest in well, naturally getting Farrakhan to conform to what is essentially basic Islam. And he at these meetings, two of them and at two other meetings, one other meeting I am aware of, he said there that he believed in the Prophet of Islam, the Prophet of the Qur'an, Muhammad the Prophet, and he follows the same book as all Muslims.
But as soon as he would go back to the Temple to his following, his Nation of Islam following, he would kind of laugh at what he said and tell them, "Do you think I would betray my Savior," this and that. So we didn't believe him. We lost faith in him and what he would say. But this time was quite different. He wasn't invited to make any statements or to clear up the language or anything. He had the Jumu'ah prayers, the Friday Prayer. I'm sure the Jewish community know about Friday prayers of the Muslims. During the Saviors day, his annual celebration, he had the Friday prayer apparently observed, and he invited me to attend there to come and be there, attend. I believe he wanted to be there, but when I got there he couldn't be there. What caused me to change the way that I was viewing Minister Farrakhan was just that, that at the annual celebrations and all the focus is on Farrakhan, he decided to have the Friday day of observance, which is a sacred day of all Muslims.
So, I said to myself, he definitely is serious this time. And when talking with him, I finally had talked with him by phone, talking with him by phone, I could register his fear of dying. He had prostate cancer and he was afraid that he might not be around long. In fact, he told me, he said, we both are aging. We have to do something to pull the people together, especially these youngsters, before we leave here. So, I agreed with him. So, my position now is that he is serious about having his following look to the future, of them being in line with Islam and in line with the thinking of Muslims all over the world.
Mark:
Do you think that would mean that Lewis Farrakhan will join with you become a community?
IWDM:
No. We did discussed that and it's my opinion that the personalities are so different that Farrakhan should remain his own leader and they should have their own organization. But we both should try to do our best to be truthful and honest and straight with all people, with Muslims and with others.
Mark:
This may be a difficult question as we move beyond this issue of Nation of Islam and Islam. I want to go to other areas towards something more important in this discussion, but do you hold Louis Farrakhan complicit in or guilty of the death of Malcolm X?
IWDM:
Not directly. No, not directly. Well, what I mean by that, I think Farrakhan was used just like all the other Ministers. He wasn't the only one that was using language that would trigger somebody, a militant member of the FOI, the Muslim militant unit of men to actually go and seek to kill, to assassinate Malcolm. He wasn't the only one. There were others, but he was the most articulate one. He was the leading figure. So perhaps he contributed more than anybody else in the Nation of Islam to that.
But Malcolm said to me, he said, Wallace, he said they can't do this by themselves. What they're doing, how they're tracking me down and how they're harassing me, they can't do that by themselves. He said, I believe that the New York Police Department, I believe, I think he said the Intelligence department, and I think he was referring to the FBI, was behind it all. So I can't blame the Ministers. If anybody, I have to blame my father. Because my father was the leader and if he was allowing that kind of language to be put in the air that would get someone to actually go and try to assassinate Malcolm, then I would have to say my father would be the first one to blame.
I understand that there was a very confusing situation that existed at that time and there was fear on both sides. It was fear on the side of the Nation Islam that Malcolm perhaps would say things about the personal life of my father, let things out to people about the personal life of my father with his secretaries that he regarded as his wives. But Malcolm wasn't saying that. He was just saying my father had sexual relations with these young girls. And the Nation of Islam was fearing this getting out and maybe causing serious problems for the Nation of Islam to continue in unity with the support of the people. So, the Nation of Islam could've been destroyed by what he was saying. That was the thinking on the National staff. And on his side he was fearing that really long before he made the statement disrespecting the family of the Kennedys at a time when the Nation was in mourning, saying that the death of President Kennedy was the chickens coming home to roost. Yes, long before he said that he was fearing that the Nation of Islam, the National staff based in Chicago was trying to undermine him and reduce his importance to eventually get rid of him. So it is not a simple thing. It was very, very, very difficult. And my father and Malcolm was once loving each other. My father regarded him as a son and Malcolm was very loyal to my father.
But Malcolm became so popular that the National staff began to say he's overshadowing, he's overshadowing the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and they said a lot of things to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and to me. Many times there were not correct reports from Malcolm and my father began to suspect that some of these things are true so the relationship was weakened gradually and then when it was weakened he got two people, Elijah Muhammad, the great Iron fisted leader and Malcolm, the great spokesman for the Nation of Islam with all his popularity suspecting each other. They began to suspect each other. So not one thing, several things contributed to the assassination or death, the murder of Malcolm.
Mark:
In America people say there are five to 6 million maybe more Muslims in our country.
IWDM:
We actually believe about five to 6 million.
Mark:
And now what is the difference or what are the differences, there are differences, between organizations like yours, which is the American Muslim Society, which are mostly African-American Muslims, native born African-American Muslims and all the other Muslims in America, many of whom are immigrants from the Middle East and Asia.
IWDM:
Religiously speaking, there shouldn't be any difference. Certainly, there shouldn't be any basic difference between us. We both follow the same book, the book, the Holy book for all Muslims. The Qur'an revealed to Muhammad the Prophet about 14 centuries and some years ago. We both accept that Prophet, that's the Prophet of the Qur'an and the Prophet of the community of all Muslims, Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, who was born in Mecca and was persecuted for trying to preach the religion, the new religion at that time and finally was successful with the help of G-d and his wonderful supporters the helpers and people who helped him, his companions to become the leader for all Muslims of the world. So, we basically believe the same thing. We follow the same leader. We believe in the same Holy book, we have the same basic tenets. But where the difference comes is that in Islam, since the time of our Prophet, you've had Shi'ites formed who represent a large number. They are a minority among Muslims but they have large numbers and they have been very strong throughout the history of Islam. They don't agree with the rest of the Muslims of the world we will call Sunni. And that's just the title which also creates a bit of a problem. And then you have so many very, very strange, I would say organizations or sects, if I can use that good expression in Islam that are far from what is basic in Islam.
Announcer:
We will return to today's broadcast after this quick announcement. Imam Mohammed will be making appearances throughout the country and those wishing to support his mission of propagation and community assistance are asked to send their contributions made payable to Ministry of WD Mohammed and mail to Post Office box 1061 Calumet City, Illinois, 6 0 4 0 9.
And now back to today's program.
IWDM:
Because I believe that what the Islamic world has done is got separated from each other and the national interests have become so strong and they've developed national cultures and these national interest and natural cultures have separated them and I think for the most part it's been done intentionally. Indians don't want to be under Arabs, and so on. And then in America, Americas a new land, the land of opportunity. So many groups that come here who were unorthodox, very unorthodox and they find plenty freedom here to practice their religion. So, we have different groups that formed here. I don't want to name any of them.
Some of them are not black, some of them are immigrant Muslims and they have these special ideas of what, perceptions of what this Islam is and they're not all agreeing. So, we have many groups disagreeing with each other and my position is that we shouldn't have to attack each other. We should understand that as much, most of this has been done in innocence. People have not still intentionally deviated. This is done in innocence and we need to be reeducated. We need to be left alone with our ideas and our positions to benefit from this new time we living in and from this great America we living in. And we could get healed right here, I think.
Mark:
I know you reached out in a very serious way to the Jewish community in this country and in Israel. I know you reached out to the Christian community in many ways as well in this country. To build bridges and you visited the Vatican. Are the same bridges built between your organization and the immigrant communities?
IWDM:
We've been working on it and just very recently we are making some real progress but until maybe the last two or three years we weren't making any progress. But now we are. And it's mostly with the Islamic Society of North America. That's a big group. They are having their Convention Labor Day ,weekend, same time we are having our Convention and I'm going to attend one day most likely Friday with them. And then I'll leave in order to attend our Convention in Philadelphia for the rest of the days of the Labor Day weekend.
There's a good number of Indians and Pakistanis here in this country. And so whenever we meet they have the biggest numbers most likely. But then they're from all the ethnic groups.
Mark:
This is an important occasion for you to be attending that Convention.
IWDM:
It's very important. It's very important. The Islamic Society of North America and also their another one called Islamic Circle. I'm an associate member. We are associate members of and they're faith in us building lives in America and making progress here is the same as ours. So, we believe we can have a future in America. So, we are compatible, we work together.
Mark:
There is something I read in a couple of articles in LA Times in preparation for your coming to the program about a real difference. There is a group of Muslims that said that you are calling for integration and we can integrate ourselves into American society while they say we cannot. And they kind of build a stereotype of Muslims being something foreign to what America is. I mean is that true?
IWDM:
Yes, that's true. There are some who think that.... We agree that the religious life has to protect itself from the culture, the popular culture of the society. That's true almost anywhere. But in the West we have more freedom. So, our popular culture is more attached to our personal life, family life and religious life than it be in many other nations. But those governments to me are more of a threat to our life than our popular culture. So, I choose to live in America. And we stick to our religion, we stick to our family values, you see. And we stick to the idea that G-d, there is one G-d and G-d is over us all and G-d has all of us as His attendants and He cares about all of us. So, we are one family as a humanity, we are one family and if we stick to those ideas, we can survive. But I don't think America is anymore an opportunity or accommodation to Christians then it is to Jews, or Muslims, or Buddhists, or Hindus. All of us can live here but we have to be responsible for our own religious life. It's not the governments business.
Mark:
What is it you think and do you think that has a special appeal in the African-American community to believe in Islam? I mean there seems to be in the last 20 years there's almost an exponential growth in the number of African Americans who have become Muslim.
IWDM:
I think perhaps the thing that contributes to that more than any other thing is the identity problem in the black community. Slavery took us away from a comfortable identity with Africa. And then once we were free, we were lost to really connect back with history and religion and culture. Because Africa has different cultures like America, different religions. So, it made it impossible for us to connect back. So, we carried that burden of wanting to connect again and when Islam comes to us and we learned that Islam was also on the Continent of Africa before we were brought here to this country, that it gives us a sense of I would say identity as Muslims. And this identity as Muslim, it satisfies us and it eliminates the problem of us having to search for a comfortable identity. But I think the main reason is that an identity void inside many of us and Islam fills that void for many of us, It fills that void.
And one other thing, many of our people want discipline and they want discipline even from religion. Protestantism permits you to do too much and then go and ask forgiveness for it. I think many of our men see that as something that attributes to the weakness of the black community and they want to be morally strong and disciplined and Islam insist upon obedience to the moral dictates of our religion. Drinking is bad, it is never acceptable. To drink liquor is never acceptable. Going to the extreme with partying on the weekend and then going to church on Sunday, we can't have that. So, Islam is a strict religion. I think many of our men are needing discipline and their masculine nature want them to be responsible for their life, to have more responsibility for their life. So, they want a life of more discipline and Islam offers them a life of more discipline.
Mark:
My guest in the studio now is Imam WD Mohammed, the spiritual leader of millions of Muslims in our country. Also in the studio is the Imam Abdul Malik Mohammed who has been a guest on this show before. We are looking at Islam in America, we're looking at the life of WD Mohammed, we're looking the future of Islam America and this world. 410- 662- 8780 is the number here and you can call and join the conversation. 410- 662 -8780. We are going to take some calls. Jerry, go ahead you are on the air.
Caller:
Well the one that speaks very tolerant, very tolerant of view of his faith. But all too often we identify intolerance with Muslim nations and I don't think I have to enumerate too many, but Saudi Arabia and Iran maybe being examples in particular where they're very closed societies and they go out their way not to allow other beliefs whether secular or religious. And you sort of touched on it but I was wondering what was your stand on that idea?
IWDM:
Yes, yes. We understand exactly what the caller is saying and we find that most Muslim leaders, our leaders in the religion here, they say that they have more freedom to practice their religion. I mean to really live in accordance with the guidance, the principles of Islam and the guidance of the Quranic text. They have more freedom to do that and follow our Prophet here in America than they have in their own countries.
And I think that these countries have not made the progress for religious freedom that we have made. Our efforts to get the world to be more respectful of other religions began way back there with President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt and he did a lot to awaken the international world to the need for government of the international world, to the need to support the freedom of religion. For these Muslim countries, they have been trying to come from colonial, the colonial days when they were dominated by Western nations to have, I would say faith governments, secure governments and they have not been able to make progress for religious freedom regretfully. I know many of them will say, "We are Muslims, what do you mean we don't respect, don't give Muslims the right to practice their religion freely? But they don't. The best country I can think of is Saudi Arabia.
I'm not satisfied with the government involvement and control in the life of religion there. What I mean by that is they determine what the Mosques Preachers preach, how the mosque Preachers preach, et cetera. For the most part it's determined by the government authority. They say they don't but we know they do. For example, if I would go to almost any, I know the caller mentioned Saudi Arabia and Iran, but almost any Muslim country. If I would go there right now and try to get on the radio and speak freely the way that I am speaking here, I'd end up in jail or back home real fast. So, I agree with the caller. That's what I'm saying. I agree with the caller. 
Mark:
410 -662 -8780. Hakeem you're on the air.
Caller:
As Salaam Alaikum Imam. First, I want say that I believe that you have been an enormous inspiration to Muslims in this country and probably have been responsible for bringing about more unity among Muslims who have different views and ways of practicing Islam and bringing us together and towards unity.
IWDM:
I thank you.
Caller:
Now I have a magazine I was looking at this morning coincidentally and it's the May edition and on the cover it says "The Black Muslims: Who will inherit their 8 billion dollar empire now? And it had a picture on the cover of your father and Muhammad Ali. So, I was thinking this morning and I raised the question to another brother that the 8 million dollars that at that time the Nation of Islam was able to collect. Has that really served the African and the African-American and the Muslim community well?
IWDM:
I know really there was perhaps $5 million, about $5 million in banks. Cash assets. And property perhaps would've pushed it up way above $8 million.
Caller:
This is $80 million dollars.
IWDM:
Oh you said 80. Oh sorry, I thought you said eight. Yes, $80 million. I think that's an exaggeration, but I don't think about $4 to 5 million would be an exaggeration. That money was not, most of it did not benefit us at all.
Few properties remain with us, but most of the properties had to go for debts, debts to taxes that they weren't, weren't paid. Unpaid taxes, et cetera. So, we ended up losing most of that money. And the cash reserves that I mentioned that was lost in the court, the probate court where family members were claiming the assets of the Nation of Islam. And the Nation of Islam didn't have the language clear for the courts, for the lawyers. It was left in a mess and the court decided against the Nation of Islam and gave most of the properties and established that most of the properties were the properties of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and therefore those properties to go to his descendants, the family. But it didn't turn out that way. The court costs ate up the properties. The family members got hardly anything at all.
In fact, I don't think they got anything. I know of one person who was the administrator of the estate getting like $200 a week, that's all. So, it was a great loss but we don't cry over spilt milk. We don't think those millions were that much. The benefit we got, the good experience we got the lesson we learned from those experiences and the good moral guidance that we've gotten, self-respect and the recent self-help programs, those things are much more valuable than those millions that we lost. And we believe because we have stuck with those morals, with those principles, that support our good life, we are now ready to engage in business and make hundreds of millions of dollars.
Host Mark:
Caller, you are on the air.
Caller:
Hi. I just wanted to ask question related to the previous caller. I wanted to know whether other less prominent Muslim countries recognize your group as true Muslims or if there's friction there or they support you?
IWDM:
I don't know of any Muslim countries that have not accepted my leadership, that has not recognized me as a Muslim leader. I don't know of any. There might be some but I don't know of any. Even the most extreme ones. They recognize me as a Muslim leader.
Caller:
And they don't mind your tolerance as opposed to their intolerance.
IWDM:
No, I don't think they do. I think they're thanking G-d that there's a situation for a man to be free and they wish that they could have it at home.
Host Mark:
Part of what you did inherit from the Nation of Islam, from what I have been reading are your efforts in community development, your efforts to bring and create businesses and create a world inside the African American community, especially in the poorer sections of that community and that some of the money actually has come, and if I'm wrong you can clear this up. Money has come from Saudi Arabia and from other countries to help you grow. Is this true, not true? How does that work?
IWDM:
No. Monies have only come to us from the religious department of the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC through that Department for religious literature and to assist our religious schools, to give assistance to our religious schools. But very little has come from the emirates, from the Government of Sharjah, making contributions to our schools. What has come from Saudi Arabia has been mostly for Qur'ans, and Islamic religious literature. I'm a member of the Council of Mosques based in Saudi Arabia. So, I have rendered services. So, there was a time when I got some money for services that I rendered, but to me as an Imam, as a religious leader, that discontinued because of I would say differences with the young prince who was putting the money in my hand.
So, I had to break the relationship. It didn't last too long. So, I had to break the relationship.
Mark:
Because he was placing demands on how the money was going to be spent. Is that why?
IWDM:
Yes, the biggest amount of money came before I became the leader, came before I came into the leadership. And some came from another country, Abu Dhabi in the Emirates. Since the change took place, I didn't seek them for any money and they didn't offer me. But once they saw Farrakhan, they heard about Farrakhan, they offered him some and I'm sure that he received some loans of a few million dollars from Libia and perhaps from some of the Muslim countries.
Host Mark:
Something else that many find interesting regarding two aspects of you as a man. One you tend in many ways, even though your organization is larger than the Nation of Islam has ever been in terms of the number people who see you as a spoke person, spiritual leader in this country, but that you live in a house, you don't have a chauffeur, you drive almost a nondescript Neon car by yourself to and from wherever you have to go.
IWDM:
Yes, but the organization does have a big Chrysler. And whenever I travel to do business, I do get a chance to drive it.
Mark:
But it's also reflected in the ways that I've read that you manage the American Muslim Society where the Mosques and the local Imams really are very independent and not very centralized in one place like it used to be.
IWDM:
And as long as I am the leader they have to keep it that way.
Mark:
Why is that?
IWDM:
It's because I believe in democracy and justice and respect for the common person and the equal essence of every human being, male and female. I think America has helped me find that in Islam. And I stand upon that and since we don't have a dictatorship or too much organization where we deprive people of being free to find for themselves what they prefer. Islam encourages one to be very, very strong on obedience to the commandments of G-d and is also strong on respect for the opinions of the individual.
Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon him, he says every person has been created to be responsible for their own thinking and their own opinion. Every person is a Ra'i, a shepherd to himself.
Mark:
We have not talked at all to Imam Abdul Malik Mohammed. I just want to take a little diversion here and tell me from your perspective about Imam Mohammed and where you see the future of Islam going. As the time of all this will pass into the next world, where do you think that the light of Islam will go and his organization will go?
Imam Abdul Malik:
Well first of all he's my teacher and leader and my opinions and my understanding and awakening in religion is under his influence. I think that the direction for Islam is more and better and freer expression in society. And we look for a time when the Islamic institutions, Islamic establishment is seen as in a respectful way the same as we respect Christian institutions and Jewish institutions in this country. And also of equitable influence on this society.
Host Mark:
There's an image of Islam in America and that there are two views no matter what is said otherwise. We've done a show here with women in Islam with women who are Muslim and we saw a variety that day of dozens of Islamic women who called the show from overseas and here. So, there are two images and two aspects that people have. One of Iran being oppressive to women and Iran being a home of terrorism. And then I think.... I only bring this up because I think it is an image that's probably in the forefront of the consciousness of most Americans when they think of Islam.
IWDM:
Let me say that I am, I would say a conservative Muslim and I'm a conservative American and I think the West sometimes confuses the right of freedom and the right to equality. I think it's not as clear, it's not clear for me what is a genuine freedom and what is the real quality of man and also what is the equality of women and what is not. As many of them say the female is exploited by the commercial world. But not only the female, the commercial world will use anything to help sell products. There's few people in business that will not do anything that's acceptable to promote its product. It's not going to ask "Does G-d agree with this? Or is this wrong or right?" They're not going take time to even search those things and they are not people acknowledging religion to start with.
So, I tend to first caution myself by saying, "Well before you make the judgment now or further this issue is it as serious as it seems to be?" Because I have to look at what is true freedom in this country and what is not true freedom in this country. I believe true freedom is determined by your beliefs and your principles. Freedom for me may not be the same freedom that a person from Protestant religion would be looking for. It might not be exactly the same freedom. But I think the Founding Fathers of this country freedom in the context of the law of this land had differences, different kinds of freedom too. But the freedom that's promoted by the Declaration of Independence is the freedom of us to live the best life that G-d has created for us. And it means the freedom of our minds, the freedom of our minds, and this includes intellectual interests and to make a better world. That freedom is the freedom that I cherish.
Host Mark:
Imam WD Mohammed, it's been both an honor as well as our pleasure having you on our show.
IWDM:
Thank you.
Host Mark:
Great to have you here.
IWDM:
Thank you.
Host Mark:
Imam Abdul Malik Mohammed, great to have you as well. I'm glad you joined us as well.
Imam Abdul Malik:
Thank you.
Host Mark:
By the way, on August 15th, Iman Mohammed will be speaking at the Baltimore Convention Center and you can join him there than. I hope to be there as well. Thank you so much for being here and thank you. Good to have you here.

IWDM:
We Praise G-d. That is Praise and thanks is to G-d. The Lord Creator, Cherisher, Sustainer of the universe of all matter in the heavens and in the earth, as well as the human creation ourselves. We witness that He is the G-d of all, He cares for all as Allah says, G-d that is says in our Holy book. The book the Qur'an, the last revelation revealed about 14 hundred and some years ago to Prophet Muhammad of Mecca, a citizen of Mecca. That G-d is the same G-d that people have who are in the Christian faith and the Jewish faith. The Qur'an tells us that our G-d is One G-d.



