Mohammed, Warith Deen

Mohammed, Warith Deen

 orig. Wallace D. Muhammad

(born Oct. 30, 1933, Detroit, Mich., U.S.) U.S. religious leader. The son of Elijah Muhammad, head of the Nation of Islam, Mohammed assumed leadership of the organization when his father died in 1975. He reformulated the Nation's teachings, rejecting the beliefs that white people were “blue-eyed devils” and that Elijah Muhammad was a prophet, and moved the Nation toward orthodox Sunni Islam. In 1976 Mohammed renamed the organization the World Community of al-Islam in the West; the name was changed to the American Muslim Mission in 1978 and to the Muslim American Society in 1985. He also changed his own name to Warith Deen Mohammed. A minority led by Louis Farrakhan split from Mohammed in 1978 and reestablished the Nation of Islam according to the precepts of Elijah Muhammad. In 2000 Mohammed and Farrakhan recognized each other as fellow Muslims. See also Islam.