Getting Back on Track
By Siraj Wahhaj | 2026-01-16T12:18:00.21705+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Getting Back on Track - Imam Siraj Wahhaj
Introduction and Opening Recitation
Imam Siraj Wahhaj is the Imam of Masjid At-Taqwa in Brooklyn, New York, and he is well known among Muslims in North America as a dynamic speaker and supporter of Islamic causes. Imam Siraj accepted Islam in 1969 and he received Imam training at Umm al-Qura University in Mecca in 1978. He has gone on to become a national and international speaker on Islam.
He has been the Vice President of ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) since 1997 and has served on Majlis Ash-Shura since 1987. He has also appeared on several national TV shows and interviews, especially about anti-drug campaigns. He has received high praises from the media and the NYPD for initiating anti-drug patrol in Brooklyn, New York, since 1988.
I ask now Brother Ahmad Nasuki to come forward and recite some ayat from the Quran, inshallah.
Quranic Recitation (Quran 39:53-56):
"Say, [O Muhammad], “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.” And return [in repentance] to your Lord and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you; then you will not be helped. And follow the best of what has been revealed to you from your Lord before the punishment comes upon you suddenly while you do not perceive. Lest a soul should say, “Alas, for my negligence concerning [the rights of] Allah,” and I was indeed among the mockers.”"
Say, O my servants who have transgressed against themselves by committing evil deeds and sins, despair not of the mercy of Allah. Verily, Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. And turn in repentance and obedience with true faith, Islamic monotheism, to your Lord and submit to Him in Islam before the torment or the punishment comes upon you, and then you will not be helped. And follow the best of that which is sent down to you from your Lord, i.e., this Quran, do what it orders you to do and keep away from what it forbids, before the punishment and the torment comes on you suddenly while you perceive not. Lest a person should say, alas, my grief that I was undutiful to Allah, I have not done what Allah has ordered me to do, and I was indeed among those who mocked at the truth, mocked at the right to be worshipped, Allah, Islam, and the Quran, and Muhammad, and all the faithful believers.
Or lest he should say, if only Allah had guided me, I should have indeed have been among the muttaqun, the pious and the righteous. Or lest he should say that when he sees the torment and the punishment, if only I had another chance to return to this world, then I should indeed be among the muhsinun, the good doers.
The Khutbah Begins
As-salamu alaykum. You look good. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillah. Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wahdahu la sharika lah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu, amma ba'd.
Brothers and sisters, the students of George Mason University, especially the MSA, I am very humbled by your invitation of me to come tonight to speak to you for a few moments in what I believe to be a really critical discussion, not just for Muslims on campus, not just Muslims in America, not just Muslims around the world, but for every American, indeed every human being. We have to ask ourselves the question, how do we get back on track? Indeed, many of you who sit here may think you're on track. You don't really need this lecture. I believe all of us are off track. Beginning with the imams, the heads of nations, parents, teachers, I believe all of us are off track.
The Five Main Points
My objective tonight is to get you to see five things. If I do these five things, I'm going to be happy. And you're going to have to help me because each of these five things are going to take about an hour and a half. Nobody's laughing.
Number one, if we leave here, and I have adequately given you, number one, the nature of God, the nature of God or if you like the attributes of Allah. He has the most beautiful names. We cannot have this topic tonight going back until you understand about the creator. So number one, I want you to know about the creator.
Number two, tonight I will talk about the nature of man. Not the nature of Muslims, but the nature of man.
Number two and 2A, I want to talk something about Muhammad, under the title, the nature of man. Number three, I put that as a separate category, so you could make it one, two, three, if you like. Or one, two, two, and 2A, if you like. But let's call it three, let's keep it a separate category. I want to spend a couple of minutes talking about Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. I want to tell you why I want to talk about him in terms of this topic.
So number three, I want to talk about the nature of sin. The nature of sin, number four. And number five, I want to talk about how to get back. And in the talk, these five points I'm going to be weaving back and forth in and out so that you get a good picture.
And I want you to remind me if I forget. I want to give some advice to the American justice system or criminal system. I want to give some advice based upon what we will get from this talk. If you remind me, would you remind me? Don't let me walk out without giving the advice to the American criminal justice system. Okay, would you do that? That's your responsibility.
Point One: The Nature of God
Now, number one. And I will debate any of you on the issue that I'm about to bring. My argument tonight is no one knows anything about Allah, God, no one knows anything about God except what he reveals about himself. Other than that, you're guessing and you're speculating. You can't think what you think you know God is unless he reveals himself. And who does he reveal himself to? He reveals himself to prophets and messengers.
According to our tradition, there have been 124,000 prophets called al-anbiya, prophets. And 315 messengers, rusul. Rasul, and the plural, rusul. I wish I had a board to write with, but you're going to have to use your imagination. I can write on that? There's something I can write on? All right, that's okay. I'll write here. You'll see it, inshallah.
So, every messenger, rasul, is also a prophet, nabi. The plural, al-anbiya. But every anbiya, every prophet, is not a messenger. Messengers are higher levels. And these 315 messengers, they receive books. The Quran mentions many of them, many of them Allah doesn't mention in the Quran. The Bible mentions some of them, the Bible don't mention all of them.
And of those 315 rusul, messengers, in the Quran, 5 of them are mentioned in a very special way. These are the highest level of prophets. 5 of them are mentioned. I will mention them. Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Special of the 315, 5 of them are specially mentioned in the Quran in a very, very heavy level. Higher than the others. And that is Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon them.
The Divine Books and Revelation
If you want to know about God, you have to go to the Torah. Where does the Torah come from? The Torah comes from Allah. And God, Allah revealed the Torah to the great prophet Moses. So, Muslims must believe in the Torah. The Torah is not an inferior book. Allah mentioned, in the Torah is guidance and light. If you want to know about God, then you have to get it through Moses, peace and blessings be upon him.
Muslims believe in Moses. We believe in the angels, we believe in God's books, all of them, and we believe in all of God's prophets. So, where did the Torah come from? It came from Allah. True? Where did the Gospel come from? The Gospel comes from Allah. The Gospel revealed to whom? Jesus. Peace and blessings be upon him is guidance and light.
So, all of the revelation of all of the prophets, we believe in. And if you want to know about God, you have to read the scripture. And finally, the last revelation, Al-Quran. Guidance and light from the Quran. And if you want to know about God and the nature of God, you can't guess and you can't speculate. You got to read the scripture.
Understanding Allah's Attributes
Now, I'm going to choose a few verses from the Quran to make my point about the nature of God. First of all, when you start dealing with Allah, it's difficult because he's Al-Khaliq, he's the creator. We're makhluk, we're creation. And it's difficult to really appreciate him because Allah calls himself in the Quran, in the Torah, in the Gospel, he calls himself Al-Wahid. He's Wahid, he's one, he's unique. There is nothing like him.
And if you think you know, you don't know. Except what Allah reveals, he reveals something about himself so that human beings can get some measure of understanding of who he is and who his nature is. But he has to
reveal it, you can't guess it. And this is what prophets come with. Prophets come teaching the knowledge of God.
Now let me give you one verse from the Quran and see if I can develop this a little bit. Allah says in Quran, stop. You better know, Allah is saying, you better know that God is strong and punishing. See you can't look at Allah one sided and what you say good side, the merciful side, the forgiving side, only. Because Allah says, you better know. You better know that he's strong and punishing, and punishment on the one hand. But on the other hand, he's forgiving and merciful.
And sometimes, we're not sure whether we're going to see the punishment of God or his mercy. He forgives whomever he pleases, and he punishes whomever he pleases. And no one can change him from his will. Either he's going to punish or he's going to forgive. But you better know that he has both of them. And that's going to be critical when we get into the last portion about how to come back to him.
The Extent of Allah's Punishment and Mercy
Now, let me give you an example. Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, says something incredible in one of the traditions. He said, if the believer knew the extent of Allah's punishment, none of them, not one would anticipate, expect to go to paradise. By the way, this hadith, you want to check it? It's Sahih Muslim, in the volume called At-Tawbah, repentance. That if the believer understood the extent of God's anger, his punishment, not one of us would think, would anticipate, would expect to go to paradise. I'm going to give you some examples.
And then he ended by saying, and if the disbeliever knew the extent of Allah's mercy, every one of them would think that they would go to paradise. Right? You see? And the key for us is to number one, understand him, know him, what makes him angry, and then also know what can get his forgiveness. That's what we want to do because we want to come back. Because my position tonight, you ready? Is my, you ready? You ready? My position tonight, all of us are far gone. All of us.
And that's why the Bible says, it says in the Bible, there's not one righteous, no, not even one. I'm going to talk about that in a minute. Because some of you sitting up here think you're okay. But you're not. I'm going to show you in a couple of minutes. Alright? What are we talking about? We're talking about the nature of Allah.
Because we have to understand, if you want to make tawbah, you want to get back on track. You better know. You better know what the track is. And you better know the one that you got to get back to.
The Story of the Cat and the Dog
Two examples. How many of you have pets at home? Raise your hand. You have a pet man? You have a pet? Huh? You do or you don't? You're not sure? You had one this morning? Well, we got a cat. My wife calls it pretty girl. What am I going to say? And I want to talk, two traditions. I want to talk about a cat and a dog. First, the cat. And I did it in this order for a reason.
According to our tradition, this tradition is called Mutafaqun Alayhi. It's in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. One of the most authentic hadith. A woman was punished in the hell fire, by God because of a cat that she had, that she locked up in the house. And she didn't feed it. And she didn't give it water. And more than she let it go so it can get its own food and water. And she locked the cat up until the cat died. And the prophet said that Allah punished this woman in the hell fire, because of a cat.
This is Allah the Lord of the worlds. The supreme being, the creator of everything is punishing his great creature, his great creature man, human beings, because of what they did to a cat. And you see these people who are making dogs fight and kill each other. Man, shoot man. What? Shoot, you crazy. What you talking about?
Now a dog. There are many versions of this hadith, this tradition. I give you one of them. A prostitute from Bani Israel, from the children of Israel. A prostitute, she was thirsty. And she went and she got some water. And after she got water she saw a dog that was licking its tongue in the mud because it was thirsty trying to get water. And she said that this dog is suffering what I'm suffering from.
So this prostitute, she went down in the well. And the hadith said she took her shoe. You thought I was searching for something heavy, right? Her shoe. And she put water in the shoe, put the shoe in her mouth. And climbed out of the well and gave water to a dog. And the prophet said peace and blessings be upon him that Allah looked upon that deed of the woman and he was pleased. And he forgave her her sins. And one tradition said he entered her into paradise.
Forgiving water to a dog. Go to paradise, water to a dog. The God, the creator of the heaven and the earth. He is so merciful that a person give water to a dog. And God forgave the sin of the person and put him in paradise because of the good kind that they did to an animal. If they did it for an animal, think of the good that God would do if you give water to a human being. Right?
So now look at you, you got them both. On the one hand, a cat punished in a hellfire because you didn't let the cat go. And a dog, you go to paradise because you gave it good treatment. And the only one, the only one who can put you in paradise, the only one is Allah. And the only one that can assign you to hellfire, the only one is Allah. God, the almighty. So we are beginning now to see that there are two sides of Allah.
The Story of the Little Girl
Now, let me give you this quickly and then we go on. One morning I was in the masjid. I was going to the masjid. I parked my car. And I'm sitting there gathering my books together early in the morning, maybe 8 o'clock, 7, 7:45 in the morning. It was in the summertime. No, it was in, it was, it was like fall, but the weather was nice. And my window was open.
And I'm looking, there were about three or four children, age six, seven, eight. And they were going to school. And there was a man accompanying them. And then there was a little girl, she was lagging behind. Maybe she's
The Rights of Parents and Allah
She's saying he has no rights. Ha! If he don't have rights, who have rights? Her father. Why? Why does a, why, why, why does her father have a right to tell her what to do? You don't have to read it in a book. You don't have to read it in the Quran. You don't have to read it in the Torah. You don't have to read it in the Gospel.
Inherently, every baby born by nature knows that the mother and father have two rights over it. Number one, the mother and father have the right to tell her what to do. Oh, you don't like what I'm saying. Things change now. You can't tell me what to do. I hear it, man. I hear little kids looking at them. You can't, you can't tell me what to do. I'll call the cops on you. And they will. And they will.
But by nature, every child knows that a, my parents have a right to tell me what to do. And you know what? Every parent knows that. Right? Right? I have women. They walk down the street of Brooklyn. Not in Northern Virginia. But they're walking down the street in Brooklyn. And they tell the child, you better come over here. I'll break your arm. Take it out the socket and put it back in. What? But she knows she has the right, a, to tell her what to do. And two, and two, and number two, to punish.
A parent has an inherent right to punish the child as long as they don't go beyond the boundaries. And it becomes child abuse. But every parent has a right to, to, to discipline the child. Watch this. Spare the rod, spoil the child. Who said that? Spare the rod, spoiling, spoiling the child. In old days, man, we'd, boom, spank him. No, I'm serious. You don't do that no more. And that's why you have problems. I'm serious.
The prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, said, teach your children to make prayer at the age of seven. And if they don't, if you don't get the message in your mind, you'll get it in your, you said it. Now, if, if a parent have a right to discipline the children. If a parent have an inherent right. And what give them the right? By birth. Mother gave birth to the child.
And that's why, by the way, if you study Islam, when someone asks the prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, what deed is most loved by Allah? He said, prayer on time. He said, obedience to parents. So, in Islam, in Islam, we respect our parents. My mother's still alive. And I still say, yes, ma'am. I don't argue with my mother.
Whatever she say, yes, mom. Whatever my mother say. Whatever my mother say. I would never talk back to my mother, never. I would let my mother spank me if she wanted to. If she can catch me. I'm pretty fast. But, you know, we have respect for our parents. Now, number one, number two.
The Laws of Nations
I don't know any nation on this earth that doesn't have law. You know what I mean? Laws to govern it. Should we have a society without laws? Should we? Should we? You don't know? You look like you're hesitating. I don't know. Maybe we should have law. Every nation on this earth have law. But the law of man is tricky. Let me tell you why the law of man is tricky. Three things.
Number one, laws differ from country to country. Let me give you one example. Do you know communist China, if you're caught distributing pornography, you don't know what pornography is? Close your ears. You don't know what pornography is, right? Does your son know? He doesn't know. Okay, good. You know if you're caught selling pornography in communist China, you know what the punishment is? Death. Death. Immediate death. Laws differ from country to country.
The country lapel, if you commit adultery, you know what the punishment is? Let me show you. I'm trying to demonstrate to you. The people who commit adultery, the man and the woman, they're put in a chair, and the chair is tied, and sturdy on a board, and then they are placed over a pool of water, and they're slowly dipped in the water, until their heads go under the water, and you can hear them grasping for air, and they pull them out, and they dip them again. And they pull them out, before they drown, and they dip them again, and they keep on doing that, until they drown to death. Laws differ from country to country. In some countries, if you commit incest, they will burn you alive. Some countries, they will burn you alive. And if you study, and I study these things, and I will tell you all the laws, how they differ from country to country. Number one.
Number two, laws differ from state to state. Now, I ask you a question. Are you permitted, yeah you, see the rule is, whoever sits in front of me, when I give a talk, I'm going to talk to you. Now you know, see that's why they're sitting back there. They already know. Are you permitted to marry your cousin? No. In? In? Aha! What you say? Same thing, yeah. Safe, right? It all depends on what state you live in. Some states, the United States of America, you can marry your first cousin. Some states you can't. Because the law differs from state to state.
Now, you don't know what fornication is? I know this sounds x-rated, it's like an x-rated talk, right? I got to keep thinking about my young brother here. I'm so sorry. Dad will explain it to you later, right? Do you know, that fornication, two unmarried couples, two unmarried people, in some states, like Michigan, you know what the penalty is? $5,000 fine, and five years in prison. It's on the books. But, in the state of Arkansas, the punishment for adultery, adultery, $20 fine. Fornication, adultery, the punishment in Arkansas, $20 fine. You get my point? State to state.
Number three, laws differ from time to time. So the laws change. The laws in America, from the days of the old colonial, is different. There are strong laws that protected the family. And those laws have changed. And by the
way, just to be honest with you, is that even though these laws exist on the books, they're seldom enforced. So I said, Michigan, but they don't enforce it. Okay?
Allah's Right to Punish
So, what am I saying? What point am I making? If the country has the right, if the legislative, if the judicial have a right, if the executive have a right to carry out the law, if the legislative have the right to make the law, and the judicial to judge the law, and they punish you. You're punished in this country, in any country, if you violate the law of that country, right? If in some instances, there's death penalty, and these penalties are the creation of man, if man has a right to create law and punish, if parents have the right to order the children and to punish them if they disobey, then you tell me, how come Allah, God, the creator of all of us, He don't have the right to punish us? He has the right to punish us. Am I right?
And you know what? Really, brothers and sisters, that's why Allah says in Quran:
He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills. And Allah has power over all things. Now we got that out of the way, the nature of God.
Point Two: The Nature of Man
Number two, the nature of man. This will take a few minutes. Now, brothers and sisters, I'm going to tell you something about yourself. Don't worry, I'm in the same category. We are all sinners. We are, all of us. Every one of us who stand and who sit here, mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers and teachers and presidents and judges and all of us are sinners.
A couple of them, a couple of things I want to take from tradition. Let me give you one which I think is the most remarkable. I taught this tradition about to give you and one of my students said, Imam Siraj, that is very dangerous. What you said is very dangerous. And I'm going to say I'm going to say it to you. What the prophet said, peace and blessing upon him. Listen to it. It is a very deep statement. He said:
(Sahih Muslim 2749)
By the One in whose hand is my soul, if you did not commit sin, Allah would have taken you away and replaced you with people who would commit sins and then seek forgiveness from Allah, and He would forgive them. Had not human beings committed any sin, Allah would have destroyed all of you and brought people who would commit sin so that they can ask Allah's forgiveness so that Allah would forgive them. This is authentic hadith, mutafaqun alayhi, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
What does this tradition mean? I just said it, be honest. What does it mean to you? Now I'm raising my hand because I want you to raise your hand. What does it mean to you? Yes ma'am. Yes, yes, that's true. But there's something more here, yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, but something else. Why would God destroy us and bring someone who would commit sin, yes. I guess he's trying to show that it's impossible. Yes. It is impossible to be a human being and not sin.
Doesn't God want us to sin? No. Who said yes? No. He don't want us to sin, but he understands the nature. Let me say a few things and you'll see where I'm coming from. See if you remember the statement. To err is human and, very good, and to forgive is divine. To err is human. One of the statements that Prophet Muhammad made, peace and blessing be upon him and he made it often, and I often make it is eloquent. He said:
إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ
I am only a human being. I am only a human being.
Human Nature and Making Mistakes
What is the fifth leading cause of death in this country? Smoking. Huh? Smoking? Pretty good. It's not bad. No, it's not smoking. The fifth leading cause of death in America is accidents. It's accidents. Why? Because you're a human being. How many basketball players do we have here? When we make a mistake sister, raise your hand. When we make a mistake in basketball, what do they call it? Turnover. Good, it's a turnover. You make a mistake in football it's a fumble, interception. Tennis, I don't know. Tennis foul. Every sport must have a way to somehow notate mistakes and errors. No one is perfect, never. If you shoot foul shots you're going to miss eventually you're going to miss because you're a human being. If you throw the ball you're not going to catch it all the time. Right? You got my point, right? Because you're human beings.
And then the prophet said, every human being is a sinner. Every human being is a sinner. Every human being? Every? Every? Every? Yes? Every human being? Every? Every? Every? Every human being? Every human being? Every human being! And the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him said that God said:
O my servants, every one of you are misguided unless I guide you, therefore ask me and I will guide you. Every one of you are misguided, every one of you are misguided unless I, God, Allah guide you, therefore you ask me and I will guide you.
What do you think? You say every day, 17 times a day, every day at least:
Guide me to the straight path, guide me to the straight path, every prayer, every rakah, guide me to the straight path. You know why? Because if Allah don't guide us, we're misguided.
The Prophet Muhammad's Special Status
Now, here's a tough one. Anybody ever give you a check? Anybody ever give you a blank check? I got a blank check twice in my life. Allahu Akbar. I love it. What if somebody gave you a blank check, Allah, and said to you, no matter what you do, it will never be held against you. You'll go to paradise. No problem, no accounting at all. You understand what I'm saying? No matter what you do, do whatever you want to do, no punishment in this life and no punishment in the hereafter. How many would like that? You don't like that? You don't like this? You don't like it? No? You think it's a trick question, right? Man, tell me, no matter what I do, I'm straight, I'm going to paradise? Shoot. What are you talking about, man? What would you do? What would you do?
Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was given a blank check. And there's many hadith that proves it. One day the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was praying so long until his feet began to swell. And his wife, Aisha, she's looking at him and she says, why are you doing that? Why are you doing that? Allah has already forgiven you your past sins and your future sins. This is all throughout tradition. We know that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, he has a special thing that no matter what he does, Allah is going to forgive him.
Now, this hadith shows us that despite that, he's still the most righteous and the most pious. Despite Allah giving him that gift, and Aisha says, why are you making all this extra prayer, right? Because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is special.
Point Three: Prophet Adam and the First Sin
Now, this is a tough part. We're almost finished. By the way, I'm coming to my conclusion. I've only got a couple more to go, right? We did the nature of God, nature of man a little bit, and now something about Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. I'm going to talk about the nature of sin, and then we're going to talk about how to get back. I'll be finished. I'd be surprised if two hours and I'm still talking. I'd be surprised. I'm saying I'd be surprised.
This is tough. Jews, Christians, and Muslims agree with this point. If you ask a Jew, a Christian, or a Muslim, who was the first man they would say? Adam. Same name. Adam in Torah, Adam in Gospel, and Adam in Quran. First man, Adam. We believe that.
Now, I don't have time to go into it, but I'll just leave it for you to consider. Allah has a way of bringing people from different time zones together. So Allah brought Moses and Adam, and they had a debate. And Moses, peace and blessings be upon him, I know it's strange. I know, I know, I know. I know it's strange. But Allah has the power to bring people who have died together to have a conversation. We'll talk about that another time.
That's what I'm saying.
I'll just kind of leave it for you. By the way, you find it in Sahih Bukhari, volume number 8, under the section called Qadr, the pre-measurement.
Anyway, Moses was, and by the way, if you study, you'll find that one of the wisest men ever was Musa, Moses. If you study the hadith, volume number 4 in Sahih Bukhari, under the section Al-Anbiya, the Prophets, it talks about Moses and how wise he was, the smartest human being on the earth. And with just another conversation.
But Moses was condemning Adam. He said, you know, God created you, put you in a garden, and you disappointed us. And then Adam said, how can you blame me for something that was written for me before I was created? And then the remarkable thing, the Prophet said, peace and blessing be upon him, Adam defeated Moses in that argument.
So another issue, but this is just nice for you to think about. You can go, that's your homework assignment. And the next time you invite me back, give me the answer. You will invite me back again. Inshallah.
The Test of Paradise
Now here's the toughie. Let's set the stage first. How many of you want to go to paradise? Raise your hand. Okay, great. Okay. Let me set the stage. Ya Adam. This is great, this is great stuff, man. This is great stuff. Here Adam and his wife, I want you to imagine they're in paradise. Can you see it? Everything in paradise, Allah says, you can have anything you want. Anything. One exception. Just don't go near that tree. That's it. You know how big Jannah is? It's bigger than this auditorium. Right? It's bigger. You're in paradise, man. The place where you want to go, you're there. Both feet are in. And all you got to do is avoid one tree. God, man. One tree.
How many of you, and I want an honest answer, think you would not have eaten from the tree? Raise your hand. Good. Very good. Raise your hand. You change your mind? You put it right back down. Raise them up high, raise them up high. High. Good. How many of you say, yeah, I probably would have eaten from the tree, yeah. Why do you say yes? It's just too tempting. I mean like, when people throw things in your face, I mean honestly, honestly. I love it, yes. When somebody throws something in your face, you can't have that one thing, it's like why? Yes. But God is telling you don't do it. Makes a difference? It does? It does? It makes a difference? Yes? Huh? Still human.
Well let me tell you something, I agree with you. From the very beginning, we see the nature of man. Rebellious.
Point Four: The Nature of Sin
Let me give you a few pointers, then we almost finish. Think about this. Do you know how many people are on this earth? About six billion. And every day on this earth, intimacy between men and women happen 100 million times, 100 million times a day. This is not my figures, this is according to who? According to who? Who? World Health Organization. According to WHO? Number who's on first? No, no. That's a different
problem. According to the World Health Organization, 100 million times a day intimacy between men and women.
Now between you and I, it's rumored that most of that takes place in New York City. But that's another issue. 100 million times a day, that results in 910,000 conceptions a day. That results in 350,000 sexually transmitted diseases a day. That results in 150,000 abortions a day. 150,000 abortions a day. 350,000 sexually transmitted diseases a day. 910,000 conceptions every day on this earth.
Now, sisters, I want you to excuse me for one minute. Stay here, I want to talk to the brothers. But don't go nowhere. Brothers, I want to talk to you for a second. And don't worry, the women, they can't hear us. Okay? And I want an honest answer. First, how many brothers are married? Okay, good. Good. Alright, this is the question. How many of the men here love and are attracted to women? Raise your hand. Yeah, right. Alright. You're not sure? Any brother that didn't raise their hand, see me later, we've got to talk. Alright, we'll talk later.
What I am saying, what I am saying is it is absolutely natural for men and women to be attracted to one another. It is absolutely natural. Allah created you like that. But, if you want to be successful, you have to do according to what He commands. Adam and his wife, by the way, Allah mentions in the Quran, if you study the Quran, it's beautiful. They both ate from the tree. Allah gave both of them the instructions. The dual:
You two eat. You two. You two don't go near the tree. Or you two become, you know, among the wrongdoers.
Now, the bottom line, brothers and sisters, number four, is the nature of sin. If God tell man and woman what not to do, there's a price that you have to pay if you do it. In the Bible, they say something like this, the wages of sin is death. Is it? Am I right? The wages of sin is death, right? There is a price that you have to pay every time you commit a sin. What is a sin? What's a sin? Let's do this for a second. Let's not call it a sin. Let's call it something different. And sometimes what Allah has mentioned here, what they do, is they make us understand something on the human level in order to understand the divine level. Let's not call it sin. Let's call it crime. Okay? Let's not call it sin. Let's call it crime.
Crime Statistics
Now, I need you to help me. Most populated nation on the earth? China. Population of China? 1,300,000,000. Second most populated nation on the earth? India. Population? 1,084,000,000, something like that. By the way, soon India is going to surpass China as the most populated nation on the earth. Number three. Third most populated nation on the earth? No, not Indonesia. United States of America. United States of America is the third most populated nation on the earth with a population of 300,000,000. What's the population of China? What did I say? 1,300,000,000. 1,300,000,000. So, China has how many more people than America? One whole billion more. Yet, Americans have 500,000 more prisoners than all of China.
Just think about it. If all of the people who are under the supervision of the criminal justice system in America, if they were a state of the United States of America, they would be the 16th most populated state in America. You with me so far?
Now, let me read this to you. It's going to blow your mind. These are not my figures. These are the figures from the FBI. And what you do, see that book there, brother? Show them that. This show the book. This is called the World Almanac. I advise all leaders to pick this up every year. And these give you the actual facts. This tells you what's going on in America and what's going on around the world. You don't have to guess. These are the actual facts. It's the World Almanac. It comes out every year. And I get them. Three companies put them out. I get all of them and I compare them. This is what I do. I'm a researcher. I'm not a speaker. No, really. I'm very, very shy. I am.
Now, these are the latest figures put out by the FBI. It's the number of victimizations. That means people are victims of crimes. All of them together. Are you ready? In the United States, 23,440,720 victims of crime. Violent crime, 5,173,720. Property crime, 18,039,930. Theft, theft, 13,605,590. The prisons are filled up with people. Man is a sinner. Man is a criminal.
And you want me to be honest with you? Do you know the difference between many of us on the outside and those on the inside of prison? You know, one of the major differences? They got caught. Seriously. Think about all the things that we do. You don't have to look around the world. You don't have to look at no one else. Just look at yourself tonight. And look what you do. You say, well, it makes a difference. God said don't do it, but yet God is telling us every day what not to do. And we're still doing the opposite. Aren't we? Aren't we?
Muslims and Their Practices
You want to talk about Adam. How could Adam do that? Ah, there you go. There you go, boy. Don't give me a mic, man. Be here all night. Allah gave Adam instruction. No problem. How many instructions does he give us? Ask a couple questions. How many in here are Muslims? Raise your hand. Okay, good. I'll ask you a couple questions. This is my own. I did some research. It's not scientific. It's a little study.
According to Cornell University, they did a study in 2002. And they said that there are 8 million Muslims in America. That's what they said. And they said at the present rate of expansion of growth of Muslims in America, they said, Cornell University, by 2014, there will be 16 million Muslims in America.
Let me ask you this question. See if you agree with my finding. Do you think that there are more Muslims who go to the masjid or Muslims who don't go to the masjid? Who say don't go? Who say go? I agree with you. I agree with you. Do you think more Muslim children go to full-time Muslim school or public school?
Let's see if we can play with some figures. According to the New York City Police Department, they just put out a study about Muslims in New York City. They said there are between 600,000 and 750,000 Muslims in New York City. I think there are more than that. But let's take this figure. Let's take the high figure. Let's take
750,000. How many masjids do you think in New York City? There are 200 masjids in New York City. Let's assume that each masjid has 1,000 people going to the masjid. How many people is that? Just mathematics, man. 200,000, right? 200,000 going to the masjid. And you know each masjid don't have 1,000. Right? It's less. On average, it's less. Where are the Muslims?
If, you know how many Muslim schools we have in New York City? Muslim full-time schools? 35. Let's say each one has 1,000 students. How many students is that? 35,000. Where are the Muslim children? Over 95% of Muslim children in America go to public school. Less than 5% go to Muslim full-time school. Where are the Muslims?
How many of us are making prayer on a regular, I'm not, don't raise your hand. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not trying to get you to raise your hand. How many Muslims are making prayer on a regular basis? How many Muslims fast in the month of Ramadan? You go to the masjids in Ramadan. Don't you find that the masjids in Ramadan are filled? That you don't see? During the rest of the year? Where are they? I saw a brother at the masjid in Ramadan. I said, oh brother, as-salamu alaykum. I'll see you next year.
The Eid Prayer Story
I had to give the Eid prayer once. I was in the city. Please don't ask me the city. Don't ask me the city. I was, huh? Don't ask me the city. And I had to give the sermon. So, you know, the Eid prayer is like 8 o'clock in the morning. 8, 8:15, 8:30, something like that. So, I said brothers and sisters, I'm sorry, the organizers said brothers and sisters, Imam Siraj is about to give the Eid prayer. It's very important for those of you who did not pray Fajr prayer this morning. You should pray it now first. Stand up now and pray your Fajr prayer.
Now, I had my back. And I said, I refuse to look. But temptation got the best of me. And I heard all this rustling and moving around. And I looked and behold, 75% of the people were standing up making Fajr prayer. How many of us are making Fajr prayer? Only Allah knows. How many of us really fast in the month of Ramadan? Because nobody knows. Because in the presence of everybody, we look like we're fasting. We look like we're good Muslims. But the reality is Allah knows really what we do in the public and what we do in private.
The Danger of Hypocrisy
I'll give you a quick example from the Quran, which is very beautiful. You see brothers and sisters, one of the worst things that you can be is a hypocrite. See, what do you mean a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a person who shows one thing to the public, in private there's something different. I'll give you an example. Look at this verse in Quran and give me five minutes, I'll be finished inshallah. Can I get five minutes? Five? Okay. Five minutes, I promise you I'll be finished. I'll be finished in five minutes inshallah. Why are you laughing? I really will be finished in five minutes if you let me talk.
When they meet those who believe, they say, We believe, but when they are alone with their evil ones, they say, We are really like you. We are really with you. We were only mocking.
And you know what? Really, you know what my concern is? My concern is for the youth, and let me tell you why. Let me tell you why my concern is for the youth. You see brothers and sisters, I decided that I want to become Muslim. I became a Muslim. Nobody in my family is Muslim. Nobody. Mother, father, brother, cousin, uncle, nobody. I'm the first one to become Muslim in my family. I became Muslim because I want to be Muslim.
But the danger is, the danger is that when my children start growing up, where am I taking them? I'm taking them to the masjid. I got their hair. I'm taking them to the masjid. I'm Muslim. I'm taking them to the masjid. But the question is, when did my children decide that they want to be Muslim? And when did you decide that you want to be Muslim? Or are you still living under the shadow of your parents? Are you still acting like a Muslim because you're old, and your parents are telling you to dress like that? If you're on your own, would you dress like that? If you're on your own, would you read the Quran? If you're on your own, would you read the hadith of the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him? If you're on your own?
But see, when you're children are under the shadow of your parents, maybe you act one way at home. I know Muslim sisters who leave the house with their full hijab. And when they get out of the house, on the way to school, they take off the hijab and put on other clothing. And so:
إِنَّا مَعَكُمْ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِئُونَ
We are really with you. We are only mocking. You got to be careful, especially the youth, because you have to make the decision, I want to be Muslim on my own. You hear me? You understand what I'm saying?
Living as a Muslim in America
And now comes the difficulty, my conclusion. Here comes the difficulty. Live in America. It's rough being a Muslim in America. Muslims watch television. Now, I know brothers and sisters, none of you watch TV. I know that. There's a television, wallahi, I've never seen it. There's a television program, I have never, I have never, I have never seen it. I've never watched it. It's called Desperate Housewives. And it comes on, what day again? Oh, all of a sudden you don't know. I believe, I believe. I read, wallahi, I read an article in a magazine, front page, Desperate Housewives, and I read about the program. I know what kind of program it is. And I believe there's worse than that. I believe, and you'll tell me later what they are.
I think if you watch, and I'm being honest, does Desperate Housewives, a half an hour or one hour? One hour. If you watch it one hour, you probably commit at least a thousand sins. I'm serious. You can't watch these programs and not be accumulating sins. You're looking, first of all brothers, brothers, you're supposed to lower your gaze, man. Now I heard, there are some of these shows, and I say, now I know what the brothers do. They say, you know in America, it's research. They turn it on, stuff them up. You know, look, stuff them up. You see
The Story of Brother Abdulrahman
I know a brother of mine says, you're not going to believe this. Let me tell you something. I hope none of you have a drug problem. I'm serious. I hope none of you have a drug problem. Drug problems are serious. By the way, we had a brother in our community, Abdulrahman, he was on drugs for 30 years. This man got the AIDS virus. He's my height, 6 feet tall. He got down to 60 pounds, wallahi. And the doctor told him, you're going to die. You're going to die. He said, leave me to talk to someone who knows. And he said, he called to Allah. He was on drugs for 30 years. He called on to Allah. That was 15 years ago. You see him today, a picture of him, wallahi. Looks good and clean. He's our brother.
Anyone have a drug problem, we get this brother, Abdulrahman. This brother is so good, I'm telling you. He can look at you and tell what drugs you're on. When he comes, everybody's going like this. No, I'm serious. You say, man, that brother over there, he's on crack. That sister, she's smoking reefer. I'm serious. Honestly, he can do that. Allah bless them. You know what I'm saying? He's been there. He's been there.
The Importance of Following Allah's Commands
So brothers and sisters, what I'm saying to you in my conclusion is this. When you commit sin, it is not to your advantage. And by the way, this is what Allah said in Quran. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is closer to the believers than themselves. You have to believe that every commandment that Allah gives you is for your best interest. And whatever he says stay away from is to your detriment if you don't. And shaitan will do the opposite. He will whisper to you to do those things that will bring you down.
And the real danger is you young brothers and sisters on these college campuses. And young brothers and sisters in this world. It's a test. It's a fitna. It's a trial. But I say to you in my conclusion that you got to come back. And you can come back.
Point Five: How to Get Back - The Story of the Man Who Killed 100
And let me say that this is critical. There's a case going on in New York City right now. It's a case in court. It's about an FBI agent who became a corrupt. He had infiltrated the mafia. And in that he caused, from what we understand, the death of five people. Giving information to the mafia. One of the people in the mafia, they gave him immunity to testify. And the district attorney asked him, how many people did you kill? He said, I stopped counting at 50. I stopped counting at 50.
There are people, brothers and sisters, who murder every day. In this country, some 20,000 Americans will be murdered every year. Now, I said that for a reason. I said that for a reason. Every year in this country, people
will be murdering one another. The first murder on the planet Earth didn't take long. The first son of Adam murdered.
There was a man in one of the traditions who murdered 100 people. Let me go back. He murdered 99 people. And he wanted to make tawbah, what I want you to make today. Turn back to Allah. And he went and asked the question, who's the most learned person on the Earth? They said, a monk, a monk. He went to this monk and said, I murdered 99 people. Can I make tawbah? He said, no. And he killed the monk. A lot of wisdom in that. Yep, sir, a lot of wisdom in that. He told him no, and he killed the monk.
Then he said, who's the wisest person on the Earth? They pointed to an alim, a knowledgeable man. He said, I killed 100 people. Is there a way for me to make tawbah, repentance to God, to come back to God? He says, yes, there is a way. Nothing can stop you from making repentance to your Lord. And he told him what to do.
This man, he said, the place that you live in is a wicked place. Go to this place where people worship God and they don't associate partners with God. Go worship with them. So the man, he went. And on his way there, he died. And so the angels now are arguing, is he going to go to hell? Is he going to go to paradise? So the angels of punishment said he did no good. And the angels of mercy said he intended to do good. So Allah sent an angel and the angel measured the land where he came from and where he was going and he said, whichever is closest, the angels can take them. Angels of forgiveness or angels of punishment.
One narration said, before they measured, Allah stretched the land so that he was a little bit closer to where he was going. They measured and Allah forgave him his sin. Murdered a hundred people.
Allah's Mercy and Justice
Now I got something for you to think about. New York City, there was a judge, an African-American judge years ago called Turnham Loose Bruce. It's a real case. His name was Judge Bruce Wright. He was very lenient and he would turn people loose. Would you like a judge, for instance, everybody who comes in front of him for him to let them go? Would you like that? No one would like that. Why? It's not just.
But yet Allah has a way to judge in such a way that if he judged that man and forgives this man, maybe the people that he hurt, they'll get blessings for it. And this, I have proof of that from tradition, but I'm ruthless. I don't have time to go into the details but the person that you kill, maybe the one who dies, go to Jannah. I got evidence for that, inshallah.
The Call to Repentance
So brothers and sisters:
Turn back to Allah. You have to go back to Allah. What this taught is what my young brother, where's the brother who read the Quran? My brother read the Quran this afternoon. He began the program with this ayat from the Quran. It's very important:
Do not despair of the mercy of Allah. I don't care whatever you did today, even before you came here. Allah forgives every sin. Doesn't Allah forgive every sin? Almost. Yes, Allah forgives every sin, including shirk, if you do it while you are alive. But what he doesn't forgive if you die in shirk, there's no forgiveness for that.
So I'm saying to you, at least before you leave here tonight:
There's no god but Allah. Muhammad is his messenger. At least that. This is why before the prophets, Umar, Abu Bakr, at-Tariq died, he said, say:
Say, there's no god but Allah. Say, it's that alone. And then make intention from this night forward, what you're doing, you stop doing it.
Brothers, I know you're attracted to the sisters. I know you are. We'll get married. If any brother want to get married tonight, I'll perform it. I'm serious, I'll do a mass performance right now. Put your guardians on the phone, and we'll hook you up.
Final Words of Advice
So brothers, sisters, Allah is most merciful. He wants us to come back to him. He wants us to make tawbah. Do it, it's for your benefit. And remember this, before I go, you may say it's a little sin, it's no big deal. But it is a big deal. If you sleep with a woman, brother, that's not your wife. Sleep with a man that's not your husband. You don't know that that day, you may get the AIDS virus. Maybe one time you did it. Or you become pregnant. Or you get gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, and all of that.
Be patient, and I'm telling you brothers and sisters, Allah will give you something good. Be patient and wait for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Turn back to Allah. Get back on track. Starting tonight. Who should get on track? Imam Siraj, he's number one. In all of us, we need to get back on track. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you, and help guide you.
Now, we have time for some questions. And brothers and sisters, it is now five to eight. Anyone have any questions, statements, please don't hesitate. We have another mic out there. Feel free, brothers and sisters. I have time for a couple of questions, inshallah. Anyone like to ask? Again? Ha! Advice! Okay.
Advice to the Criminal Justice System
My advice to the criminal justice system. Do you have any idea how many Muslims are in the prisons of America? According to all that I have researched, there are at least 300,000 Muslims, Muslim inmates, in the prisons of America. Many of them converted in prison. I want to read something to you. I get letters all the time from prison. I thought this was a very special letter. I just want to read a couple of sentences. I think it helps to make my point.
As-salamu alaykum. I am inviting you from the Station State Prison in Alabama. I would like to inform you that recently, I was paroled after 16 years for the conviction of manslaughter. It is my desire and near intention to transfer my parole to New York City. So until approval, I will remain incarcerated. I am told that the process takes about 4 to 6 months. Allah knows best. Upon arrival, I would like your support with making an Islamic adjustment back into society. I have never seen or been inside any masjid nor have I seen a Muslim on the streets. I declare:
There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, while incarcerated in 1993 and striving still, alhamdulillah. I do not know my way around New York, so I am hoping someone would guide me to the masjid upon my arrival. However, I would like to make salah, prayer, in the house of Allah on the very day that I arrive.
I am told that every year, between 30,000 and 40,000 inmates in the prisons of America convert to Islam. 30,000 to 40,000. This is the question. This man, we learn from this hadith, if there is no tawbah, then people become hopeless. If you can't reach back to God, you make a mistake, you can't get back, it's hopeless and you do hopeless things.
If a person serves 16 years in prison, I am asking you this question, did he pay his debt to society? Did he? Did he? Huh? But this is the question. If you go to prison for whatever, you serve your term, and they said this is the punishment for your crime. You paid your debt to society. But the problem is when you come out of prison, you never pay your debt, because you are stigmatized for the rest of your life.
And that person who comes out of prison, and they look for a job, the first thing they ask, have you been to prison? Most brothers say no, and they hire them. But one month later, after checking, a background check, they find out that they've been in prison, and then they fire them on the spot. If you tell them, if they ask you, have you been to prison? You say yes, I'm honest, I've been to prison, but I was released and this was my case. They say okay, we'll call you. And they would never call them.
We have to have ways to get them out of prison. We have to have some way for them to come back to society like this brother wants to come back. And this is one of my mandates, is to make sure that all across America when people come out of prison, they have something so they can go back into the mainstream of society.
Questions and Answers
I have time for three questions. You don't have to write them down. You can write them if you want, but you don't have to write them down. Three questions. Yes, sir.
Question 1: How to Stay Away from Hypocrisy
The best way to do what? Stay away from hypocrisy. Stay away from hypocrisy. You see brother, let me ask you a question. And I want an honest answer. How many of you think it's possible to believe in Allah and yet not make prayer? If you think it's possible, raise your hand. It's okay, raise them up high. Come on, raise them up high. Okay, no.
It is interesting, I have never ever read in my Islamic life, and I've studied, and I'm not an alim at all, but I have never ever read any suggestion or hint that it is possible to love Allah and not pray. On the contrary, I read, and you read, where you can actually pray and still not be a believer:
Say, the desert Arabs say, we