The Honorable and Eminent, al-Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (born Wallace D. Muhammad on October 30, 1933, the son of Clara and Elijah Muhammad) is an influential American Muslim leader with numerous awards.

 

Imam W. Deen Mohammed was collectively elected as leader of his community after the 1975 passing of his father Elijah Muhammad, the messenger, leader, and builder of the Nation of Islam. Elijah Muhammad used Muhammad, and Imam Warith Deen Mohammed now uses Mohammed.

Here's a list of common variants of his name:
W.D. Muhammad
Wallace D. Muhammad
Wallace Delaney Muhammad
Wallace Deen Muhammad
Warith Deen Muhammad
Warithuddin Muhammad
Warith Deen Muhammad
W. Deen Mohammed

 

Imam Warith Deen Mohammed was accepted by followers of the Nation of Islam as its leader, after his father's death. After completing high school, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed began working in the NOI hierarchy and then formed the American Muslim Society which transitioned the followers of the Nation of Islam to traditional Islam.

 

Continuing his reform movement within NOI, W. D. Muhammad publicly shunned his father's theology and black separatist views. He forged ties with other American Muslim organizations and renamed his own the World Community of al-Islam in the West in 1976. Two years later, he changed the name of his organization to American Muslim Mission.

 

Farrakhan disagreed publicly with Imam Warith Deen Mohammed in 1977 over NOI's move toward Sunni Islam, and took a minority of NOI members with him into a splinter group.

 

W.D. Muhammad's embrace of mainstream Islam was rewarded with political and economic benefits. Imam Warith Deen Mohammed resigned as spiritual leader of the American Muslim Mission in 1978. Headquartered in Hazel Crest, Ill., "Muslim Journal" was known as "Muhammad Speaks" when it was the official publication of the Nation of Islam.

 

In 1981, Farrakhan announced restoration of the "old" Nation of Islam, and went forward with Elijah Muhammad's NOI teachings.

 

Imam Warith Deen Mohammed has been recognized with numerous awards and high honors. In April, 2005, Imam Mohammed participated in a program that featured a conversation with Imam W. Deen Mohammed and Cardinal George of the Catholic Archdiocese.

 

Imam W. Deen Mohammed with numerous awards represents African American Moslems as well as all moslems in North America.