Imam W. Deen Mohammed Conference & Dinner
“A Way Forward: A New Mind for A New People”
A Historical Perspective on The Ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Presented by American Islamic College and Study Al-Islam
Keynote & Dinner: Friday, September 23, 2022
Conference: Saturday, September 24, 2022
American Islamic College
640 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago, IL 60613
“I see myself tomorrow living in you. I won’t be dead…; I will be living in you… So please give me a nice future. Yes, give me the future you know I want… after I die on the earth…, I won’t be living anywhere except in you! So please give your Imam W. Deen Mohammed a nice future! You won’t be able to talk to him…, but he will be with you…. living in your time, too. So please remember me… that I am with you!” – Imam WD Mohammed (Rahmatullah Alaihi (ra): May Allah be pleased with him).
About Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam W. Deen Mohammed (ra), the son of Elijah Muhammad and Clara Muhammad (ra) was born Wallace D. Muhammad, on Oct. 30, 1933, Detroit, Michigan, and transitioned September 9, 2008, Markham, Illinois.
He will long be remembered as a Muslim religious leader, a Muslim African American who was a theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist, and Islamic thinker who welcomed all races of Muslims into the Nation of Islam, promoted peace, and mutual understanding among all people of faith.
Imam Mohammed led a massive migration of Muslims from the Nation of Islam – an extraordinary African American Muslim movement of social reform, self-esteem, and acceptance of a restored cultural identity led by his father, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (ra) – to a more mainstream understanding of Al-Islam, and he led a large delegation of Muslim Americans on Hajj, Pilgrimage to the Sacred House in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He represented Muslims at the World Parliament of Religious Leaders for the survival of the Earth, in Oxford, England. He toured China with “American Friends of China” and delivered the Keynote Address at the Muslim-Jewish Convocation, the first serious public dialogue between top leaders of Islam and Reformed Judaism, in Glencoe, Illinois. Imam W. Deen Mohammed led a delegation of Muslims to the Vatican in Rome, Italy, where he met with Pope John Paul II and, together with Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Vatican´s Chief of Staff for Interreligious Affairs, led a delegation of Muslim Americans to Jerusalem and areas under rule of the Palestinian Authority led by Palestinian leader, President Yasser Arafat, visiting Palestinian cities, government agencies, hospitals and homes throughout the West Bank. The visit culminated on Christmas Eve with a meeting in Gaza City with President Arafat. He traveled to Auschwitz, Poland, where he participated in the Conference on Religion and Peace hosted by the Center for Christian and Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University, met with Pope John Paul II with the Dalai Lama present on stage, addressed a gathering of 100,000 people at the Vatican, and presented at an Interfaith Conference for World Peace held in Israel as well as at the World Conference on Religion and Peace Assembly VII in Amman, Jordan. He was later elected as an International President in the U.S. for World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).
He encouraged Muslim Americans to register, vote and become full participants in the politics and economics of America. He signed the Williamsburg Charter at Williamsburg, VA, celebrating the First Amendment/First Freedom of the U. S. Constitution. He delivered the Invocation opening at the U. S. Senate in Washington, D.C., the first ever given by a Muslim. He toured the Pentagon and addressed Muslims in the U. S. Military and its Chaplains. He delivered an address on the floor of the Georgia State Legislature – the state of his father´s birth, the first ever given by a Muslim. Imam Mohammed participated in the Inaugural Interfaith Prayer Service for President William (Bill) Jefferson Clinton, and attended President Clinton’s re-election Inauguration, where Imam Mohammed read from the Holy Qur´an at the Presidential Inauguration Day National Prayer Service.
Keynote & Dinner: Friday, September 23, 2022
Date: Friday, September 23, 2022
Keynote Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Dinner (Sold Out) Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Keynote Venue: Auditorium, American Islamic College
Opening Prayer: Imam Omar Abdul Karim
Opening Remarks: Imam Dr. Mikal Ramadan
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Sylviane Diouf – “Enslaved Muslims in the Americas: Faith, Community and Culture”
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Sylviane A. Diouf, an award-winning historian of the African Diaspora, is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University. She is the author and editor of thirteen books and the curator of ten exhibitions.
Her acclaimed Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas was named Outstanding Academic Book in 1999. An updated 15th anniversary edition was released in 2013. Dr. Diouf’s Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America received prizes from the American Historical Association, the Alabama Historical Association, and the Hurston Wright Legacy Award. The author of the groundbreaking Slavery’s Exiles: The Story of the American Maroons, Dr. Diouf has contributed chapters to numerous books, lectured internationally and is the recipient of the Rosa Parks Award, the Dr. Betty Shabazz Achievement Award, the Imam Warith Deen Mohammed Humanitarian Award, and the Pen and Brush Achievement Award.
Conference: Saturday, September 24, 2022
Date: Saturday, September 24, 2022
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Conference (check-in begins at 7:00 a.m.)
Venue: Auditorium, American Islamic College
Thank you to our Sponsors!
Speakers & Moderators
Imam Zaid Shakir is amongst the most respected and influential Muslim scholars in the West. Born in Berkeley, California, the second of seven children, he accepted Islam in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force. He went on to obtain a BA sigma cum laude in International Relations at American University in Washington D.C. and later earned his MA in Political Science at Rutgers University.
Dr. Edward E. Curtis IV is a publicly engaged scholar of Muslim American, African American, and Arab American history and life. His thirteen books have been called “essential,” “exemplary,” “approachable,” “groundbreaking,” “must-read,” “wonderful,” and “a model of clarity.”
Professor Ayesha K. Mustafaa has been the editor of Muslim Journal weekly newspaper since January 1989. She is a graduate of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Penn., with a BA Degree and Double Major in Psychology and Political Science. She has a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Columbia College of Chicago, IL. She traveled with delegations led by Imam W. Deen Mohammed to Saudi Arabia, to Jerusalem and the West Bank, and there met Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. She presented at the 3-day International Media Conference, hosted by the Focolare Movement’s NetOne Media Group held in Rome, Italy, in 2004, with 800 participants from over 20 countries. She is the third woman editor of the nearly 47-year-old newspaper and its longest tenured editor. Since moving to Jackson, she has worked as editor of The Mississippi Link weekly newspaper, now serving as one of its contributing writers. In 2015, she joined the Tougaloo College Mass Communications Department faculty as an assistant professor after two years as an adjunct professor. She is a board member of the International Museum of Muslim Cultures and advisory member of The Mississippi Free Press.