Warith Deen Umar (born Wallace Gene Marks, 1945) is a New York-area

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

and resident of

Bethlehem, New York Bethlehem is a town in Albany County, New York, United States. The town's population was 35,034 at the 2020 census. Bethlehem is located immediately to the south of the city of Albany and includes the following hamlets: Delmar, Elsmere, Gl ...

. He was formerly the head Muslim chaplain of the

New York State Department of Correctional Services The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYSDOCCS) is the department of the New York State government that administers the state prison and parole system, including 42 prisons funded by the state government. New ...

. He retired in August 2000, but continued to visit prisons as volunteer chaplain until ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' reported that he had praised the

September 11 Events Pre-1600 * 9 – The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends: The Roman Empire suffers the greatest defeat of its history and the Rhine is established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next four hu ...

hijackers. New York Governor

George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984 ...

banned Umar from visiting state prisons.

Biography

Umar was born the seventh child of a Black Muslim minister, and named in honor of Wallace Delaney Fard. In 1971, Umar was convicted on weapons charges as part of the Harlem Five and sentenced to two years in prison. Before beginning his sentence, he met

Louis Farrakhan Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott; May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI), a Black nationalism, black nationalist organization. Farrakhan is notable for his leadership of the 1995 Million M ...

and once he began serving his sentence, Umar became a

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

leader, changing his name to Wallace 10X. After prison he returned to school, bachelor's degree in

Criminal Justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

and a Masters of Arts in

Islamic Studies Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

. In 1975, on parole, he became one of New York's first Muslim prison chaplains. Umar drew public attention in 2009 when he gave a speech at the annual convention of the

Islamic Society of North America The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is a non-profit Muslim religious organization based in the United States and serving North America. It provides a number of programs and services to North America's Muslim communities and broader societ ...

in which he asserted that

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

happened to the Jews "because they were serially disobedient to Allah." He went on to allege that a group of Jews close to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

"control the world." The ISNA immediately condemned the tenor of the comments. At one time Umar was employed as the Administrative Chaplain for the State of New York Department of Corrections. A "Radical Muslim," Umar was found to have denied prisoners access to "mainstream" imams and religious instructional and devotional materials. Instead, he was found to have attempted to incite prisoners against America, preaching that the 9/11 hijackers should be remembered as

martyrs A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

and heroes. Umar was consequently banned from ever entering a New York State prison.Onward Muslim soldiers: how jihad still threatens America and the West, Robert Spencer, Regnery Publishing, 2003, p. 275.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Umar, Warith Deen 1945 births Living people American imams African-American Muslims Converts to Islam People from Bethlehem, New York Prison chaplains Muslim chaplains Muslims from New York (state)