09/11/1997
IWDM Study Library
Radio Interview Power Talk Host

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Interviewer: Above Chicago, Imam W. Deen Mohammed. Thank you, sir, for being our guest this morning.
IWDM: Thank you, Troy.
Interviewer: Look, we're really excited about having an opportunity to talk to you. I realized that you're a very traveled man, you've been traveling around the globe quite a bit lately, haven't you?
IWDM: Well, there's a lot of traveling outside and inside too, inside the US and outside, that's what I do mostly. I do that because I think I can best serve the Muslims of the world, in particularly the Muslims of the US by carrying the message of unity and peace, brotherhood, tolerance, and respect for others.
I think I can do a better job by moving about rather than staying in one place. If I had enough money to buy enough time on radio and TV, I wouldn't have to move about so much.
Interviewer: Understood. Anyway, for anyone just tuning in, our guest today, son of the late Elijah Muhammad and now the Muslim religious leader, or referred to as Imam in the society of Muslims of America, W. Deen Mohammed. He's our guest by phone this morning.
Imam Mohammed, you have been credited as really transforming the black Muslim, could we talk a little bit about that? We've moved from nationalism with Islam in America to a broader perspective. Could you share with our listeners just a little bit as to what direction you feel in the past 20 years the Muslim in America under your leadership has moved in?
IWDM: Yes. What explains is a very complicated history and a very complicated idea to explain when we are talking about the Nation of Islam, the Temple of Islam called also the Nation of Islam in America.
It's easier to understand if we understand that circumstances really kind of dictated, what was formed as the Temple of Islam or the Nation of Islam. The circumstance number one was that at that time we still had two Americas, a black America, and a white America, or African-American, white America, and a European America.
Many of us knew that we didn't have equal citizenship in this country, our citizenship wasn't worth near as much as white citizenship. Some will say even today our citizenship is not worth as much as white citizenship.
What I'm getting at is this, that the Temple of Islam or Nation of Islam it began in around 1931 in the depressed area of Detroit, African-American neighborhoods. It began with most culturally deprive supporting it, and the poorest of the people of the city supporting it.
I remember seeing citizens in our group, in our religious community being the biggest donors or the biggest contributors to the financial support. I recall them, those that were giving that big amount of money being what we called back then junkmen. They couldn’t even afford a cart to pull their load of scrap metal and glass and cardboard. During World War II, there was a demand for all that stuff.
They could take the broken glass or whatever, and scrap metal and cardboard, waste cardboards and other things. They even took newspaper, brought them pennies, and they became the biggest support for the temple, they were very devoted people.
Those were the circumstances back then, we only had one college graduate. For most of the life of the Nation of Islam in America, we hardly had one college graduate. It was only late in the history of the Temple of Islam or the Nation of Islam that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad started to track some people who were more literate and were of better status in society. That was very late in his life, like in the '60s in his mission, like in the '60s.
By the '70s, he did have an official staff, most of them or at least 50% of them, they had college education or some college education. He had a few degreed people, maybe there were about 5 to 10 degreed people we'd count in the whole membership during the '70s of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's leadership. These were the circumstances.
During the '30s, we know the Great Depression was there, and you can imagine how poor African-Americans were fairing during that time.
A preacher by the name of Father Divine was already preaching, that he was like Christ and he was G-d, and his followers were taking him to be G-d. I think he was just accepting to be called Father Divine, but his followers, they carried it a little further and they said Father Divine is G-d.
The teacher of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he came in at that time. When Moorish Americans were already teaching a kind of esoteric, secret, symbolic, hard to understand idea they called Islam. It was not Islam, it was an attempt to have Islam. This man called W D Fard, he came and he put something together and used Noble Drew Ali Moorish American ideas of it. He used Father Divine ideas black man being G-d. And he used a lot of other things that he got either from his country in the Far East.
He came from India, what you call Pakistan now. At that time, it was called India. Before 1947 all of it was called India, so he came from that part of the Far East.
He brought a lot of ideas with him from myths, religious myths in that part of the world too. He put stuff together with good intentions, I do believe, something that he knew would be so fascinating, so strange, that it would capture the attention of blacks who wanted something else. They wanted an alternative.
It worked, he called it magnetism and it worked. I believe he didn't intend for us to hold onto that, he meant for us to call ourselves Muslim and want to be Muslim.
He left the Quran, our holy book, Quran, with my father in hope that as circumstances would improve of living as equal citizens in this country, that more informed people, people with more education and more knowledge of the world culture, et cetera. They would be able to come in and they would be able to decode or take the mystery out of the Temple of Islam's religion and find their way to the Quran. I believe that was the scheme.
I took up a lot of time to say that, but that was very important for me to say that.
Interviewer: Sure. I did want you to have the opportunity to say that. To anyone just tuning in, we have W Deen Mohammed, the Muslim religious leader, the Imam, the honorable Mohammed is our guest today by phone out of Chicago line.
Imam Mohammed, let's talk a little bit then about this whole notion of nationalism and its place in history, and where you see the impact of nationalism with the African-American community now.
IWDM: Yes. Troy, the Black Nationalist, we were called Black Nationalist. We were always in the minority, but we were very strong in certain places, like in New York, in Harlem. Black Nationalist was very strong, in Ohio, a few other places, very strong. We were always in the minority, never did the majority of African-Americans buy Black Nationalism.
I believe that those who became black nationalists, they experienced something that I believe most people need to experience. When they don't feel, can't feel, that they belong to the land and the people that they are with.
We are Americans and this land is America, U.S. We have to either identify with it in a healthy way, in a positive way, to progress. We can go little ways down the road, but if we only want to be able to make it with the great majority of American citizens down the road of progress, we have to have an appreciation for the land, appreciation for the people, appreciation for the constitution of these United States, for this form of democracy, et cetera.
In my opinion, Black Nationalism, though it's separated from sensitivities like that or interests like that, it at the same time tried to build up in us a sense of nation, a sense of government, a sense of national aspiration and discipline, and even governmental discipline.
In that particular focus, I think Black Nationalism has served us very well. I'm not excluding the respect that it tried to build in us for our motherland, Africa, and the people, and our people in Africa that we descended from. Right today I don't see Black Nationalism as having much of, I would say, a present or a future because circumstances have greatly changed. We don't have to now look outside to Africa or anywhere else or to think of separate states. On the book, on the law books we are given the same rights that other people are given in this country and what is left of us to do now is just to work hard to establish ourselves. As the Honorable Elijah Muhammad put it, to establish for ourselves the same respect that the other people are establishing for themselves or want to establish for themselves. That's all we have to do now.
Interviewer: Now, when you talk about-- You are the son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. What is your perspective on the place in history in the significance of the African-American progression to where we are now looking back? Certainly, you were there, you were in the nation with your father. Exactly, how do you think that history should be written about him from your perspective?
IWDM: Yes, I think that he should be, first of all, he's beginning to be recognized more and more by the professional class of African-American people. As the one man who shocked the conscious of the black man as well as the white man in America. And caused African-American people to have the courage to look at things that they have questions that they've never asked before. And to have courage to contend with the white world that wanted to shut us out. I would say in a more manly way than they had before. This new sense of our manhood, we owe a lot of that to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's leadership.
Interviewer: Certainly, one as follower of history, we would have to recognize that it's so much truth in that. What about also in his message to a black man? I wonder how much would that message be altered now if he were to write that as we are nearing the end of this millennium and getting ready to go into another one.
IWDM: Well, I'm going to say something, I don't know how many friends I'm going to win, but I'm going to say this. If the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was here today, knowing his strategy knowing how he gradually softened his language as the country became more, I would say, humane and more decent towards African-Americans. I would say if he was here knowing what he expected out of me as his son. I would say that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad would say, "Put the book in the museum and listen to my son Wallace D Mohammed."
Interviewer: That was something that was relevant for that period in place, that time in history and now you are saying that we need to move on.
IWDM: That's exactly what I'm saying.
Interviewer: I find it interesting because, laterally or either, shall we say, you have spiritual brothers that are products of the nation that might adhere a little closer to the former teachings or some of the former thoughts.
IWDM: I didn't get the--
Interviewer: Well, I was trying to clean it up.
IWDM: I didn't get the expression.
Interviewer: Sure. I'm just trying to say that there are Muslims in America that would hold onto some of the former teachings a little closer.
IWDM: Certainly. There are. There are some that feel they have to. They feel that the condition of African-American poor is such that they need that strong wine to drink, but Muslims are not supposed to drink strong wine or strong drink period.
Interviewer: Understood. You have been credited as establishing genuine dialogue between the leaders of Islam, Christianity and Judaism worldwide, particularly here in America. What is your perspective on that, because something that certainly was not a former thought?
IWDM: It's all part of my interest and strategy. I have an interest to open up the world to Muslims in America. Open up America mainly to Muslims in America and to Africa-American Muslims. And to do that, I think we have to open every door that's very important for us in America. The Christians community are the great majority, are in the great majority in America. They represent the establishment in America more than anybody else. The Jew influence is very big and great and important, though their numbers are not as large, near as large as Christians. Their numbers are not too much than ours, they're about the same maybe as ours.
They are very, very important because of how they have been able to use the legal systems and progress in all the important areas of this country's establishment. Education, colleges, universities, you name it. Authoring books, contributing to the progress of science, being strongly represented there and having political clout because of financial strength and political wisdom or savvy or whatever we want to call it. They are very strong and they have great financial holdings too.
They are very strong and they have a stronghold on our country. Our country feels a debt to them and I'm not condemning that. I think if we look at the history of our country, of our government's relationship with the Jewish people or Jewish community. We can understand why they have so much influence and so much power to bring our government to give them support in Israel, or give Israel support. That's understandable. I'm not saying to condemn it, but I'm just saying they are very powerful people.
We can't ignore this powerful people, we can't ignore the Christians, we can't ignore the Jews. We have to live in this country and Al-Islam, as I understand it from our holy book, the Quran, and as I understand it by my prophet, the prophet of Al-Islam. Muhammad the prophet whom our scripture calls, “a mercy to the world.” If he is a mercy to the world, then that tells us that we have to be interested in the whole world too. We have to have feelings for the whole world.
We have to want to make a contribution to all people and not exclude any people. And we have to compete. We have to be competitive. To be competitive, we need to make ties. And Al-Islam, again, tells us in our holy book that we should form ties. Some learned scholars in Al-Islam, they may say, "Well, these ties have to be formed only with Muslims." But if we look at the history of the prophet of Al-Islam, 14 centuries ago. He formed pacts and he negotiated with pagans, idolaters, people who worshiped idols, those we call pagans.
Why shouldn't we want to have ties with Christian people, people who have faith in G-d and have believe in the judgement. We should want to have ties with these people. We should want to be the friends of these people. Our religion teaches us to respect their religion, to respect the book that was revealed to them and to see them as a people of faith. There much for me to say. I just want to conclude with that. It's part of my strategy. To meet with Jews in dialogue. 

