Muslim leader brings message of unity to Tacoma

Photo courtesy of Muslim Journal

IMAM W. Deen Mohammed

On July 8, the leader and international spokesman for the largest Muslim community in America will be in Tacoma for a dinner reception and speaking engagement at the Oasis of Hope Center. Imam W. Deen Mohammed will bring with him a message of religious and racial unity, which he will present in a free public address titled “True Human Essence and the Nature Upon Which It Was Created.”

Imam Amir Abdul-Matin is founder of the Islamic Education and Community Center of Tacoma and it was he who invited Imam Mohammed to Tacoma. He explained that while the center is not housed in a physical location, it is a “virtual” center of activity based on ideas and grassroots organizing focused on bringing people of all races and religions together to foster understanding and human connection.

Imam Abdul-Matin praised Imam Mohammed for his vision and wisdom, and said Tacomans could learn a lot about the true nature of Islam, and themselves, by listening to the visiting scriptural scholar. He said society must rid itself of prejudicial attitudes toward one another and toward Islam, which is often maligned in the media due to a lack of knowledge about what the religion stands for.

“Religious and racial unity are what we need,” Imam Abdul-Matin said. “We have to break down these barriers and start getting people together and let the human come out. That’s what we are first: human beings.”

He provided a quote from Imam Mohammed that parallels this call for humans to embrace one another. “The world is fed up with petty issues of whites and blacks. We need to remove all doubts about Islam as a religion, not a social or political movement, but a religion that wants many of the same things as Christianity.”

“He’s my teacher. When I hear what he says, it meshes with my soul,” Imam Abdul-Matin said. “I know this is right because my heart tells me it’s right.

“Bringing back to the conscious mind what’s in the heart of the human being about their humanity – that’s what teaching the religion is.”

Imam Mohammed is the son of Elijah Muhammad, who was leader of the Nation of Islam until his death in 1975. Often at odds with his father and the ideology of the Nation of Islam, Imam Mohammed was expelled from the group several times, but became leader of the organization upon his father’s death. He then embarked upon a mission to reform the group to be more in line with traditional Islam. He brought about many changes, including opening up the previously black-only organization to include members of all races.

Today, he is the spiritual leader of an estimated 2.5 million Muslims. He is an esteemed member of The World Supreme Council of Mosques, The Peace Council, and an international president of the World Conference of Religion and Peace. He has met with countless world religious and political leaders during the past 25 years, including Pope John Paul II, and addressed a gathering of more than 100,000 at the Vatican at an interfaith conference on the “Eve of the New Millennium.”

“I want to make sure our Muslim people understand clearly what Islam is,” Imam Mohammed said. “I don’t want them to be confused by fanatics or radicals and some good people who have been hurt by the politics of their own countries. They’re trying to tell us what Islam is, and they’re distorting the facts about Islam.”

Imam Abdul-Matin explained that the root of the word “Islam” is “salaama,” which means to surrender, and also “salaam,” or peace. “Islam means total submission to the will of God…and Muslim means those who submit their wills to God. That’s what Islam means. It doesn’t mean a foreign religion over in the Middle East run by terrorists and extremists. The word in itself is defining the nature of the human being.”

Joining Imam Mohammed for his Tacoma engagement will be Dr. Dexter Gordon, director of African American Studies at University of Puget Sound, and Islamic scholar Imam Mohamad Joban, a full time imam (prayer leader) at Muslim Association of Puget Sound. Residing in Redmond with his wife and twins, Imam Joban is the current president of the Imam Fatwa Committee in Washington State, an instructor with Internet Islamic University, as well as the Muslim chaplain for the Department of Corrections in Washington.

While Imam Mohammed’s 7 p.m. lecture is free to the public (doors open at 6:30), admission is a $50 donation for the reception, dinner and awards ceremony, which begins at 5 p.m. Oasis of Hope Center is located at 1937 S. ‘G’ St. For more information, contact Imam Abdul-Matin at (253) 227-8856 or (253) 857-4074.

Commenting rules