1. Siraj Wahhaj was the former vice-president of the Islamic Society of North America.
12 Facts About Siraj Wahhaj
1. 2.
Siraj Wahhaj's mother was a nurse and his father a hospital dietitian.
3.
Siraj Wahhaj went to church regularly and went on to become a Sunday school teacher as a teenager in a Baptist church.
4.
Kearse then changed his name again to Siraj Wahhaj, which means "bright lantern" in Arabic.
5.
Siraj Wahhaj was chosen to study Islam at the Umm al-Qura University of Mecca for a period of four months in 1978.
6.
Siraj Wahhaj established a mosque in a friend's Brooklyn apartment in 1981.
7.
Siraj Wahhaj leads the daily prayers and performs the Friday sermon at the mosque.
8.
Siraj Wahhaj conducts full days of teaching in Islamic studies, Arabic and marital counseling.
9.
In cooperation with local police, Siraj Wahhaj led the local Muslim community in an anti-drug patrol in 1988.
10.
Siraj Wahhaj has made statements in support of Islamic laws over liberal democracy.
11.
Siraj Wahhaj had eight children, aged 31 to 51 as of May 2023.
12.
Siraj Wahhaj indicated that the three had severed ties with the rest of their family in 2017 and added that it was a tip he himself provided to the police that led to their arrest.