PAST AND FUTURE- At a program marking the 85th anniversary of the Nation of Islam, Melvin K. Ra’Oof, a member of Masjid Bilal in Church Hill, describes plans for a new worship center with Daisha Coleman. The masjid sponsored the event Saturday at the Virginia Commonwealth University Commons celebrating the 1930 start of the offshoot of Islam in Detroit and recalling some of its leaders such as Malcolm X. The masjid and its members are no longer associated with the Nation of Islam. After the 1975 death of leader Elijah Muhammad, Masjid Bilal affiliated with Mr. Muhammad’s late son, Warith Deen Muhammed, who dropped the NOI name and converted his followers to a traditional Sunni form of Islam.
