Warith Deen Mohammed was the son of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad

Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, who for many years led the nation’s largest contingent of Muslims and steered Islam away from the more separatist doctrine of his father, the late Elijah Muhammad, died Tuesday at his home near Chicago, The Washington Post reported. A spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiners Office in Illinois told The Associated Press that the 74-year-old former head of the American Society of Muslims died of heart disease. Find out more about Mohammed’s life and death at BET.com/News. Send your condolences below.

Nation of Islam leader’s son led champ

A former manager of boxing legend Muhammad Ali has died at age 79, following recent open-heart surgery in Chicago. Jabir Herbert Muhammad, son of former Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, led a controversial career in the Nation and overseeing Ali’s boxing accomplishments from 1966 to 1981. Herbert Muhammad was among those who broke ranks with former Nation of Islam spokesman Malcolm X, who heavily recruited Ali to join the Nation and, at one point, offered to deliver the boxer, then known as Cassius Clay, into the Nation. Herbert Muhammad and much of the nation took little interest in Ali until after he’d defeated Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title, which Malcolm X had predicted. Herbert Muhammad soon took over Ali’s direction, but the relationship soured when they entered legal battles years later. Herbert Muhammad claimed the two eventually resolved their differences.