Post Time: 2026-03-13

Country: United States, Australia, United Kingdom. City: Atlanta, Buffalo, Independence, Lakeland, Sunnyvale- Complete talk: - Complete program: - More visualization: Shaykh Omar Suleiman makes a call to action and he asks us to take note of giants like Imam Siraj Wahhaj who persevered and because of that persistence we benefit from their legacy. Imam @OmarSuleimanPersonal cautions us against glorifying the actions of the past if we use that as an excuse for our inaction in the present, which is a departure from Prophetic teaching. Watch others guests who spoke at this event "In the Footsteps of Giants" like Imam Zaid Shakir, Imam Mohamed Magid, Dr. Yasir Qadhi, and Dr. Rania Awaad at: More special guests hosted at the MCC: Imam Omar spoke at the Muslim Community Center - East Bay (MCC East Bay) in Pleasanton, California on Sunday, October 14, 2018. More MCC East Bay: Events & Activities: Weekly Updates: Facebook: Instagram: Siraj Wahhaj (born Jeffrey Kearse (Arabic: سراج وهّاج), March 11, 1950) is an African-American imam of Al-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, New York and the leader of The Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA). He was also the former vice-president of the Islamic Society of North America. Wahhaj was born as Jeffrey Kearse and raised in Brooklyn. His mother was a nurse and his father a hospital dietitian. He went to church regularly and went on to become a Sunday school teacher as a teenager in a Baptist church. In 1969 he ended his schooling and joined the Nation of Islam, changing his name to Jeffrey12x. During this time he was vocal in his belief that “white people are devils." He said of this, “I preached it. I taught it.” While Wahhaj acknowledges the black pride instilled in him from the Nation of Islam, he concedes that pride went too far when he began denigrating others and that he felt he was "other than [him]self" during this portion of his life. When Elijah Muhammed died in 1975, "His teachings began to unravel in my mind", and he became a Sunni Muslim with the encouragement of Muhammad's son Warith Deen Mohammed. Mohammed took over and reorganized the Nation of Islam, urging members to come to orthodox Islam. Kearse then changed his name again to Siraj Wahhaj, which means "bright lantern" in Arabic. He was chosen to study Islam at the Umm al-Qura University of Mecca for a period of four months in 1978. Wahhaj established a mosque in a friend's Brooklyn apartment in 1981. Soon after, the congregation purchased the space of an abandoned clothing store for what would become Masjid at-Taqwa. Wahhaj leads the daily prayers and performs the Friday sermon at the mosque. He also conducts full days of teaching address here in Islamic studies, Arabic and marital counseling. In cooperation with local police, Wahhaj led the local Muslim community in an anti-drug patrol in 1988. The community staked out drug houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the cold of winter for 40 days and nights, forcing the closure of 15 drug houses. The effort, which fundamentally changed the character of the neighborhood by "reclaim[ing] the area from drugs and crime," received high praise from the New York City Police Department and international attention from the media. In 1991, he became the first Muslim to offer an invocation (opening prayer) at the United States House of Representatives. About the Speaker: Imam Omar Suleiman is the President of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and a professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University. He’s also the resident scholar of the Valley Ranch Islamic Center, and Co-Chair of Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square, a multi-faith alliance for peace and justice. Originally from New Orleans, LA, he began his journey of traditional Islamic learning in the year 2000 and has spent years studying in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Malaysia, etc. Upon becoming certified in various traditional sciences, he completed a Bachelor’s degree in Islamic law, a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, a click Master’s degree in Islamic Finance, a Master’s Degree in just click the following webpage Political History, and is in the process of completing his PhD from the International Islamic University of Malaysia in Islamic Thought and Civilization. More MCC East Bay: Events & Activities: Weekly Updates: Support MCC: Facebook: Instagram: