Mohammed was born Wallace D. Muhammad on Yemans Street in Hamtramck, Michigan in 1933. In 1992 he officially changed his name to Warithuddin Muhammad, Warith Deen Muhammad, which translates to 'Inheritor of the Religion of Muhammad'. His parents were Clara and Elijah Muhammad, both highly active in the Nation of Islam (NOI), the organization that preached a form of Black nationalism and its own version of Islam. From 1934 until his death in 1975, Elijah Muhammad led the Nation under the title, "the Messenger of Allah."