Encyclopedia of Islam

Daoud Ahmed

  

181  J

---

Both Abd al-Aziz and Shaykh Khalid of J

ordan

gave Daoud a charter to establish Islamic work 

in North America. By this time, he had opened 

centers in several American cities, but in 1944, he 

incorporated his following as the Muslim Mission 

in America.

Sheikh Daoud offered Islam as the rightful and 

original 

Faith

 of African Americans and a means 

of their throwing off their self-understanding as 

Negroes. At the same time, however, he refused to 

slant his presentation and opposed the racial theo-

ries of both Noble Drew Ali and Elijah Muhammad 

and the n

ation

 

oF

 i

slam

. He saw Islam as a way to 

the establishment of human equality and human 

rights as the means of reaching ultimate peace.

Sheikh Daoud continued to lead his move-

ment, soon eclipsed by the Nation of Islam, 

until his death in February 1980. Along the way, 

he authored one book, Islam the True Faith, the 

Religion of Humanity (1965), a broad survey of 

Muslim teachings, leaders, and history. Since his 

death, the Muslim Mission has been absorbed into 

the larger Muslim community.

See also  a

Frican

  a

mericans

,  i

slam

 

among

; 

daaWa

; 

reneWal

 

and

 

reForm

 

movements

.

J. Gordon Melton