wfn.org | U.S. MUSLIM LEADER EXTENDS FRIENDSHIP TO NCCCUSA

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National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: Carol Fouke or Wendy McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2252
Internet: carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

NCC11/19/96                    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IMAM MOHAMMED EXTENDS HAND OF FRIENDSHIP TO NCC

 CHICAGO, Nov. 15 ---- "We would like to be your
friends," Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, son and
successor of Elijah Mohammed, told the National
Council of Churches (NCC) General Assembly at its
annual meeting.  It was the first time an American
Muslim leader has addressed the NCC's top body.

 The Imam's greetings prefaced a report from the
NCC's Commission on Interfaith Relations, which is
working on a policy statement on interfaith
relations to be completed before the year 2000.  "We
live in a society that is becoming increasingly
plural religiously and in a time when we must
approach many issues related to the common good
together," said the Rev. Margaret Orr Thomas, who
chairs the Commission.

 Imam Mohammed told the assembly that Christian-
Muslim relations have a long history dating back to
the "the time when our prophet was preaching," in the
late 7th-early 8th centuries.  The Christian ruler of
Ethiopia refused to turn over persecuted followers
of Mohammed to the Meccans.

Imam Mohammed also spoke at an interfaith
breakfast earlier in the morning where he reviewed
the history of Islam in the United States and
explained the evolution of the African American
Muslim community, including reference to the
separate Nation of Islam under Minister Louis
Farrakhan.  Describing the original ministry of W.D.
Farad in the 1930s, whom he believes came from what
is now Pakistan, the Imam said, "Farad attracted
Blacks who felt. . . .there was no hope in
Christianity or in America for them."  A "sincerely
religious man," Farad's ministry in Detroit, Chicago
and Milwaukee influenced W. D. Mohammed's father,
Elijah Mohammed.

Saying he found himself "oppressed mentally and
spiritually," although the Nation of Islam
"flattered my ego," Imam Mohammed took the advice of
his father who told him that "wisdom is deep."  The
Imam said that in his father's later years, he had
"softened his language" and come "to see the white
race and life in America in a different light."
Looking for the "deeper meanings" he saw evident in
his father's thought and life led him to lead his
father's movement increasingly toward Islamic
orthodoxy, integrating the community into the
multiracial, multicultural reality of worldwide
Islam.

Imam Mohammed said he tells Muslims in his
group -- which, he said, claims the majority of the
"at least 1.5 to 2 million African Americans" who
are Muslims-- to feel free to go to any mosque or to
study the Koran on their own and attend mosque when
they can.  "Like (in your churches), most Muslims
don't attend mosque regularly but still consider
themselves Muslim," he said.

Rather than having a regimented, centralized
structure, Imam Mohammed's organization (now
referred to loosely as "the Ministry of W.D.
Mohammed") has given autonomy to local organizations
and schools who meet as a consultative body.  "That
vision fits well in this democratic society," Imam
Mohammed said.  The Imam has met with world
political and religious leaders, including Pope John
Paul II and is a tireless laborer in the cause of
peace and justice, Dr. Thomas said.

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