Warith Deen Mohammed

Warith Deen Mohammed (born Wallace D. Muhammad; October 30, 1933 – September 9, 2008) was an American religious leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist, and Islamic thinker. He was a son of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam from 1933 to 1975. In 1975, upon Elijah Muhammad's death, he became the Nation of Islam's leader. In 1976, he disbanded the original Nation of Islam and transformed it into an ostensibly orthodox and mainstream Islamic movement. He rejected the previous deification of Wallace Fard Muhammad, accepted whites as fellow-worshippers, forged closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, and introduced the Five Pillars of Islam into his group's theology. This organization was called the Bilalians (1975), World Community of Al-Islam in the West (1976–77), American Muslim Mission (1978–85), and finally the American Society of Muslims. Splinter groups which resisted these changes were formed after Elijah Muhammad's death, particularly under Louis Farrakhan, who would revive the name Nation of Islam for his organization, Final Call, in 1978. Farrakhan's NOI and the previous Final Call claim that they are direct continuations of the pre-1975 NOI.