Masjid Muhammad

OUR HISTORY A Short History of Masjid Muhammad “The Nation’s Masjid” Dating back to the mid 1930s, Masjid Muhammad, The Nation’s Mosque® (of America) is representative of the oldest established Muslim community in the Nation’s Capital and America. This community established the first Mosque to be built from the ground up in America’s capital city by its citizens, and the first in America by descendants of enslaved, African Americans and African-Muslims. Also called, “The Nation’s Masjid (Mosque)” or “Washington Masjid”, is the place of worship for several thousand Muslims in the Washington, D.C. area. Every Friday, near midday when the traditional “Adhan” (call to prayer) is heard there, hundreds gather to offer praise and thanks to Allah (G-d) and listen to the Imam deliver a meaningful, inspiring khutbah (sermon). This is the Jumua’h service, the Muslim’s congregational worship, as commanded by Allah in the Holy Quran and as has been practiced in the world for more than 1400 years. When the Hon. Elijah Muhammad passed in 1975, his son, Warith Deen Mohammed inherited, and confirmed with overwhelming majority support, the leadership of the Nation of Islam. He began to implement far-reaching changes, both physical and spiritual in nature. Temple No. 4 or Mosque No. 4, then under Dr. Lonnie Shabazz (Abdul Alim Shabazz), was renamed the Washington Masjid. The word “Masjid” was introduced, meaning a place of prostration and worship. Other changes included removing most of the seating to permit worship in the traditional Islamic manner, dissolution of the militaristic Fruit of Islam, called “FOI”, which had been initiated in response to the hostility which the early Muslims in America had encountered, and admission of Caucasians into the community. Essentially, under the leadership of the late Imam W.D. Mohammed, Masjid Muhammad, as hoped by his father Elijah, transitioned from a nationalist presentation of Islam into the mainstream practice of proper universal Islam fol