A Conversation with Imam Siraj Wahaj

Duston Barto

He came into Masjid Ash-Shaheed in a very unassuming way, as if he was unaware of the massive level of popularity he’s achieved.  He seemed almost shy, not wanting to sit in the spotlight, but instead taking a seat near an old friend.  When he started to speak, his words and mannerisms reflected the same humility and humanity.  As he began to build the excitement in the room toward the goals of fundraising following his speech on the growth of Islam in the world, he illuminated the room with his wit and warm character.  This man that so many people learn from on YouTube and through lessons and articles online was at once larger than life and simply a regular guy.

I got the chance to sit down with Imam Siraj Wahaj following his energetic fundraiser at Masjid Ash-Shaheed on July 13^th, I got to learn a little bit more about his path from Christianity to Islam.  In 1969, as a freshman at New York University, he joined the Nation of Islam as a follower of Elijah Muhammad and became a minister under his guidance.  In 1975 when Elijah Muhammad died and his son Warith Muhammad took over leadership, there was an event called “Saviors Day” and it was at this event that Warith Deen Muhammad began moving the Nation of Islam into traditional Islam; so Imam Siraj Wahaj followed this transition and continued for another 7 years.

I asked Imam Siraj why he left W. D. Muhammad’s leadership; a community that today is perhaps the largest voice of Islam in America.  Imam Siraj said “I think what happened is that while I respected the Imam (since he had already directed me to the Qur’an and created in me a profound love for it and Islam and the Sunnah of the Prophet) that I wasn’t patient enough for Imam Muhammad to evolve his community.”  So in 1982 Imam Siraj Wahaj left the W.D. Muhammad movement to establish Masjid al-Taqwah in Brooklyn. Over the years Imam Siraj Wahaj and Imam W. D. Muhammad reconciled the differences in the communities and re-established those high levels of respect for one another.

Over the years there have been a lot of stories about how Masjid al-Taqwah and legends of how Imam Siraj Wahaj waged an all-out war on the drug dens of that neighborhood.  So I asked the Imam to set the record straight on where the legend meets reality.  He explained patiently to me, “What happened was that we had a really good relationship with the police department and we told them about our plans to close those 15 crack houses. We decided to have a rally on a particular day in January and the police cooperated with us so that, at our signal, they raided all 15 drug houses at once and got them out. My position was “If you get them out, we’ll keep them out.” So after they arrested [the drug dealers] and closed the drug houses; literally we stood our men in front of the drug houses and had brothers walking up and down the street and in cars telling people that no more drugs are sold here.  … There was a lot of publicity and it was on the news that we had announced we were going to be there for 40 days and 40 nights. This was a 24-hour anti-drug patrol, so people came to buy drugs and we told them: “No, the drug houses are closed” and that effectively killed their business.  So we didn’t run around with bats or anything like that, it was all nonviolent.”

We continued to talk about the nature of the Ummah and what he’s seen in his travels. I asked him if he’d formulated any core understanding of what to teach to help communities that seem at odds with the world around them and he energetically responded with “I did. I think it’s important to know that as a Muslim we are the biggest advocates of freedom of religion and freedom of choice and freedom of speech. I say that because Allah revealed to Muhammad “If it were the will of Allah, everyone on earth would believe. Would you, then, compel mankind against their will until they become believers? No one can believe except by Allah’s permission.” Inherent in that is the concept that everyone has the right even to disobey Allah. It’s not our job to make people believe. It’s our job to struggle with them and debate with them in the best way. So that is my message; that we have to be tolerant [because] it’s mandatory. On the other hand I want Muslims to feel that they are a part of this country… This is your country; if you want to improve upon it then you should do it. You have a right to do it; and it’s mandatory to enjoin the good and forbid the evil and you know, you don’t want to act like “no, it’s their country” No! It’s our country and we have to take ownership of it! I think once we do that and we get involved in helping to continue the process.”

He shifted in his seat and leaned forward to emphasize, “I mean right now, this is the 50^th year of the civil rights bill and look how that dramatically changed America. It’s changed to such a degree that we have a Black president, Black mayors, governors, congressmen and now we see Muslims moving into these positions. So, the same thing that happened to African-Americans is now happening to the Muslim community. I have no doubt that one day there will be a Muslim president!”

On being Muslim in America, Imam Siraj continued with “One of the blessings of living in America as opposed to a Muslim country is that we have people of different faiths, so for us who are indigenous Muslims; African-American, European-American, Latino-American, etc. we have family members who are not Muslims, and we have good relations with them. Again, I preach to have good relations with them like Prophet Muhammad taught us… “Those who believe in Allah and the last day let him Honor and give good treatment to his neighbor.” He didn’t say “Muslim neighbors” he said “neighbors” which is every kind of ethnicity, not only people of the book but Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, and things like that.  So I think living in this pluralistic society with different cultures and religions is extraordinary and that’s why I feel and preach that Muslims have got to appreciate where we are.”

“Another thing too; I’ve argued that some of the best Muslims in the world are in places like America, lemme tell you why: If you live in Saudi Arabia then you have to work really hard not to practice.  For instance, I’m in Saudi Arabia and the time for salat comes, everything closes down! If people can’t make it to the masjid, people are outside praying so you’d have to go out of your way not to pray. Then you have, for instance, the fact that you don’t have to worry about when you go to the grocery store to check and make sure there’s no pork or alcohol like we do. The temptations that we have here; like where it is legal for me to buy alcohol here, I could gamble here, so if you’re a Muslim living in a society where you can do it and you don’t do it, you could be classified as a real strong Muslim. But then on the other hand we have some of the weakest Muslims living here; those that succumb to the drugs and prostitution and alcohol and things like that or even propagate it. Some of my friends have moved to the Middle East; but this is my country! I grew up here! I love it! I’m a NY Nicks fan, Mets and Yankees; the Jets and the Giants… those are my teams!”

We continued discussing the realities of being Muslim in America and the challenges that Muslim-Americans face.  We talked about the issues of Muslims leaving the faith from the back door and Imam Siraj Wahaj declared, “I think the biggest challenge is really retaining our faith.” He elaborated, “Right now Muslim children are going to college and the big issue is Atheism on the rise. Our faith is severely challenged in this society.”

“I’ve always said that whatever issues are facing the society, Muslims are facing these same issues. Like for instance, if you want to talk about Homosexuality, there are gay masjids out there and an openly gay Imam in Washington DC; so whatever is happening out there is happening in here.” He briefly talked about the harsh financial struggles of most communities then continued, “…The biggest struggle is retaining our faith and our unity, the other burning issue I know, and I mean the real mature kind of unity. We’re not going to agree 100% all the time, I know that we’ll disagree but not in such a way that causes indemnity among one another. … So keeping our faith, our integrity and then next to that is, you know, I have a love for dawah.”

“The biggest form of Dawah is the actions of the Muslims.  I often ask myself “If I were not a Muslim and I read all the stuff about what Muslims are doing; why would I want to be a Muslim?” If I didn’t know about the Qur’an and I don’t know about the Sunnah of the Prophet, Why would I want to be a Muslim? … In the minds of the public, the image of Islam comes from two places; either it comes from the media or it comes from us. So this means we’ve got a lot of work to do and if we do our work well (and that’s one of the great challenges too) is actually doing the work of Dawah.”

We talked further about the issue of Muslims falling out of faith and how Muslim communities can both be on the rise (Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and especially in the USA) but yet so many Muslims are leaving the faith.  So Imam Siraj illuminated an aspect that I don’t think many have considered, “…our children are battling institutions and you can’t fight an institution with an individual but you can fight an institution with another institution. I’ll give you an example: Two years ago the city council of New York voted 50:1 to make the two days of the Eid holiday to become official holidays so the schools would be closed. … Why is this significant? Because 10-12% of the public school enrollment are Muslims. So we have a sizeable Muslim enrollment; we’re talking about 100-120,000 Muslim children in public schools. If that’s happening, how do you counter all the things they are getting that are bad? One of the good things about NYC is that we have 35 full-time Muslim schools and that helps. However, only 5% of the Muslim children go to the full time Muslim schools. That means 95% of our children are going into public school. Where are they going to get their Islamic training? You can’t just do it at Jummuah. It’s complex. Building institutions and keeping our children, from A-Z, keeping them in Islam.”

As with all the Imams I talk to, I had to know, what is Siraj Wahaj’s favorite part of the Qur’an?  He struggled to think and reflect on things that stand out to him before answering, “Allah gives a comment to something the Prophet has said; the Prophet said “I am only human” it’s so beautiful on so many levels. It paints the picture that he’s not a God, he’s not divine, he’s born, he’s going to die, he ate food, answered the call of nature, got married and stuff like that. So therefore the verse in the Qur’an that made him say that “Say, Muhammad, Tell them ‘I am nothing more than a human being just like you.’”

But really you can never say that’s my absolute favorite because the moment I say that I’m thinking of ten other things so it’s a question I can’t really answer.” Good enough for me though!

After we left the interview to go back out to the rest of the community enjoying their meal, Imam Siraj Wahaj found a spot on the floor and sat right down without hesitation.  He didn’t want to trouble a single person to accommodate him at the already full tables.  Wisdom and humility were shown in every bit of his words and actions, let’s look to the lessons our Imam teaches us and strive to learn them.

Official Site of Siraj Wahhaj: http://sirajwahhaj.com/