Temple No. 1 / Masjid Wali Muhammad

The Workman’s Circle, a Jewish Labor Fraternity, erected this building in 1940. Temple No. 1 of the Nation of Islam purchased it in the 1950s. By then, the Nation of Islam, led by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, had established temples in major cities throughout the United States. During the Civil Rights era, the Nation of Islam focused on Black nationalism and self-empowerment. This building served as the temple, a community center, a school, and Detroit headquarters. Malcolm X Shabazz was one of the ministers here before he left the Nation of Islam in 1964. Masjid Wali Muhammad After the death of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad in 1975, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed reorganized the Nation of Islam to become a Sunni Islamic Community. The congregation of Temple No. 1 followed his embrace of Universal Islam. The previously exclusively black congregation was opened to all believers. In 1976 Temple No. 1 was rededicated as a masjid (mosque) and renamed World Community of al-Islam in the West. In 2013, Detroit designated Masjid Wali Muhammad as a local historic district.