PCUSA Stated Clerk mourns
passing of Nation of Islam head
The Layman, September 12, 2008
Many religious leaders joined together to mourn the death of the former leader of the Nation of Islam, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, who passed away Sept. 9. He was 74. Among them was Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). Mohammad led the Nation of Islam in a different direction than his father, Elijah Muhammad-choosing to abandon his Black-separatist and racially-charged teachings. Instead, he sought to bring African-American Muslims closer to mainstream Islam.
“We are grateful for his years of faithful leadership to the African American Muslim community, to his commitment to overcome racial separation and animosity and the friendship he has fostered with other faith communities,” Parsons said of Mohammed in a prepared statement issued Sept. 10. “We pray for his family and close associates, and stand ready to offer our support to the community at this time of sorrow and transition.”
Mohammed was respected in this country as a supporter of civil rights and stronger interfaith relations, which included building ties with the PCUSA. Mohammed offered the invocation in the U.S. Senate in 1990; he was the first Muslim to do so. He also offered Islamic prayers at both inaugural interfaith prayer services for President Clinton.
The Rev. Jay T. Rock, the PCUSA’s coordinator for interfaith relations said, “I want to express our great sadness and share our condolences with the many Muslims who looked to Imam Mohammed for guidance and inspiration. The Imam was a model of loving service, active commitment to community development and dedication to God. We celebrate his life and we will sorely miss him.”
The PCUSA has shown an increased interest in such interfaith relations. At the June 2008 meeting of the 218th General Assembly, a proposed overture sought to proclaim that “the PCUSA affirms that Jews, Christians and Muslims worship a common God, although each understands that God differently.” The final overture was amended to read: “… that though we hold differing understandings of how God has been revealed to humankind, the PCUSA affirms that, as children of this loving God, we share the commandments of love for God and neighbor.”
At that time, Joseph Small from the PCUSA Office of Theology and Worship clarified the overture by saying the central point was “to affirm belief in one God is not identical as affirming belief in the same God.” Small said that Christianity, Islam and Judaism are “monotheistic faiths” and it’s quite clear that Christians and Muslims understand who God is quite differently, and that difference is something that needs to be before Christians and Muslims.”
In his blog on CNN.com, Ahmed M. Rehab, Executive Director of the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations summed up his experience with the Imam. “I once asked him how he would like to be remembered after his passing. ‘That I preached the Unity of God,’ he smiled.”