Masjid At-Taqwa is a mosque in Brooklyn, New York. It was founded by former members of the Nation of Islam, including the prominent and controversial imam Siraj Wahhaj. The mosque is active in community engagement, most notably since its pivotal role in a 1988 effort to reduce drug-related crime and gang violence in the broader Brooklyn area. ¹

Background

Masjid At-Taqwa was founded in 1981 by Siraj Wahhaj and 25 other former members of the Black nationalist movement Nation of Islam. Wahhaj and his colleagues began conducting Muslim prayer services in the living room of a Brooklyn house that would become Masjid At-Taqwa, which means “God-fearing.” ²

Wahhaj , as a founding member and still the head imam of the mosque, described the transition from the Nation of Islam to Masjid At-Taqwa as one away from his racist past toward a more-orthodox practice of Islam. Wahhaj admitted that he had been a racist in Nation of Islam, preaching that “white people are devils.” Despite his conversion, Black pride and nationalism remain central features of Masjid At-Taqwa’s culture. ¹

Activities and Influence

Masjid At-Taqwa offers the customary prayer and religious services of a Muslim mosque, including daily prayers and formal jumaa, the traditional Muslim prayer service held on Fridays. It also offers educational classes, Qur’an classes, and youth and adult events and programming. ^{3 4}

Masjid At-Taqwa rose to local prominence in 1988 with 24-hour community patrolling in partnership with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to shut down crack-cocaine drug houses in the neighborhood surrounding the mosque. Wahhaj approached the NYPD about violence and drug problems of Bedford-Stuyvesant and responded by offering to patrol drug houses that had been recently raided by the police. He and the Masjid At-Taqwa congregants did so, preventing drug dealers from re-entering the drug houses after the raids to continue their operations. Wahhaj and the mosque received public praise for their efforts. ^{5 1}

Since the drug patrols, Masjid At-Taqwa has remained a prominent force in the Brooklyn community and frequently appears in local and national press for its community-outreach efforts. In March 2024, Masjid At-Taqwa was featured in a New York Times article detailing the mosque’s efforts to welcome African Muslim immigrants during its Ramadan celebration. ⁶

Masjid At-Taqwa has remained a prominent Muslim presence in Bedford-Stuyvesant. In 2023, it invited all local Muslims to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr, a major Muslim religious celebration that denotes the end of Ramadan. ⁷

Imam Siraj Wahhaj

Siraj Wahhaj is the head imam at Masjid At-Taqwa. ² He has been accused of radicalism and maintaining ties to terrorism. According to federal prosecutors, Wahhaj was investigated in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and was a character witness for Abdel-Rahman during his trial. Federal prosecutors claim Wahhaj’s name was included in a list of names of people who could possibly appear in the evidence, but he was never prosecuted. ⁸

Wahhaj has been criticized for his support for and connection to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom Wahhaj praised at a New York City event in 2019 and from whom Wahhaj received a humanitarian award. ⁹

Wahhaj has been praised by the local Brooklyn community and broader American culture for his work in the area and as a religious scholar. In 1991, he became the first Muslim to recite the Opening Prayer of the Qur’an (Al-Fatihah) before the U.S. House of Representatives. ¹⁰

For his community activism, former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz (D) honored Wahhaj with a “Siraj Wahhaj Day” proclamation in honor of his “lifetime of outstanding and meaningful achievement.” ¹⁰

Family Controversy

Wahhaj’s family was at the center of a 2018 scandal when Wahhaj’s son, Siraj Wahhaj (the younger), kidnapped his own son along with Siraj Wahhaj’s (the older) daughters, Hujrah Wahhaj and Subhannah Wahhaj. The Wahhaj siblings took the abducted child, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, to a remote compound in New Mexico where they were keeping 11 children total. Authorities raided the compound in August 2018 to find 11 emaciated children, and the remains of the deceased  Abdul-Ghani. All three of Wahhaj’s adult children were arrested along with two other adults. ¹¹ Following a federal prosecution, five individuals including Siraj (the younger), Hujirah, and Subhannah Wahhaj were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. ¹²

Support for Violent Jihad

In various lectures, Wahhaj has expressed radical opinions, including his wish for an Islamic state in the United States, his support for the death penalty by stoning for adultery and cutting off hands for theft, among other radical stances. ^{13 14 15}

In 1992, Wahhaj stated, “If only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate. If we were united and strong, we’d elect our own emir and give allegiance to him. Take my word, if eight million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us.” He has also said that Muslims fall into a “trap” by “having a premature discussion about Sharia when we are not there yet.” ^{16 17}

In 1998, he accused then-President Bill Clinton of bombing Muslim countries to distract from Clinton’s sexual misconduct. ¹⁸

Wahhaj also accused the U.S. government and the media of hiding deaths by focusing on the World Trade Center bombing and of putting troops in Muslim countries to murder those countries’ residents. He also suggested that Israeli intelligence (the Mossad) may have orchestrated the World Trade Center bombing. ¹⁹

At another conference, Wahhaj said, “We don’t need to arm the people with 9mms and Uzis. You need to arm them with righteousness first. And once you arm them with righteousness first, then you can arm them.” ²⁰

Finances

Masjid At-Taqwa does not report its yearly earnings because it is exempt from filing a tax return as a religious institution. ²¹

In the early 2020s, Siraj Wahhaj began a fundraising campaign to help rebuild Masjid At-Taqwa. The campaign was scheduled to end in January of 2025. ²²

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2.  “About Us” Masjid At-Taqwa. Accessed November 17, 2024. https://masjidattaqwabrooklyn.org/about-us/
3. “Our Services.” Masjid At-Taqwa. Accessed November 17, 2024. https://masjidattaqwabrooklyn.org/our-services/
4. “Events.” Masjid At-Taqwa. Accessed November 17, 2024.  https://masjidattaqwabrooklyn.org/events/
5. “METRO DATELINES; Moslems to Expand Anti-Drug Patrols.” New York Times. March 2, 1988. Accessed November 17, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/02/nyregion/metro-datelines-moslems-to-expand-anti-drug-patrols.html
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12. “Five New Mexico Compound Defendants Sentenced to Life in Prison in Connection with Kidnapping and Terrorism Plot.” Office of Public Affairs, March 6, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-new-mexico-compound-defendants-sentenced-life-prison-connection-kidnapping-and.
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16. “Siraj Wahhaj – Muslim Community Building in America – excerpt.” Investigative Project on Terrorism. 1992. Accessed November 17, 2024. https://www.investigativeproject.org/4987/siraj-wahhaj-muslim-community-building-in-america
17. Mauro, Ryan. “Popular Muslim Imam: Working Towards Sharia for America.” Middle East Forum. June 30, 2013. Accessed November 17, 2024. https://www.meforum.org/islamist-watch/popular-muslim-imam-working-towards-sharia-for
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19. Halev, Jonathan D. “Imam who prayed for Muslim conquest of Israel invited to speak at Islamic conference in Toronto.” The Documentation Project: Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel Campaigns in Canada. December 15, 2019. Accessed November 17, 2024. https://canadadocs.org/imam-who-prayed-for-muslim-conquest-of-israel-invited-to-speak-at-islamic-conference-in-toronto/
20. Mauro, Ryan. “Ford Interfaith Network Embraces CAIR-Michigan.” Middle East Forum. November 3, 2013. Accessed November 17, 2024. https://www.meforum.org/islamist-watch/ford-interfaith-network-embraces-cair-michigan
21. “Masjid At Taqwa Inc.” ProPublica. Accessed November 17, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/113004202
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