Men in the Hood
By Siraj Wahhaj | 2026-01-16T09:59:06.19071+00:00 | Topic: Iman
28 Men in the 'Hood - Imam Siraj Wahhaj
Opening Greetings and Introduction
As-salamu alaykum. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Alhamdulillah. Ashadu an la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lah, wa ashadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu wa amma ba'd.
أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله وأما بعد
Brothers and sisters, I'm very happy to be here. Imam Zaid Shakir, may Allah bless you. Brother Tariq and your wonderful group for gathering us together. Brothers and sisters, a couple of weeks ago, myself and some of these same imams that you see here were gathered together in Washington, D.C. at an ISNA conference. And at that conference, there were some 30,000 people, over 200 speakers.
Meeting the Global Deaf Muslims
And that night, Imam, I had the opportunity to have dinner with all of these speakers around the country, around the world. But the night that I came, Imam Zaid, I didn't have dinner with any of those speakers. Rather, I had dinner with three young men from an organization called the Global Deaf Muslims. One of the brothers couldn't hear at all. He had to use sign language, just as we have here. Two of them, they could hear barely.
And I'm reminded of something that Allah the Almighty revealed in the Quran to our beloved messenger, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam:
"Say, O mankind, I am the messenger of Allah to all of you."
I am so pleased that this organization and this great work of United Against Poverty, United for Change, United Against Poverty, has had fit to have an interpreter. So that even if there is one person in the audience who can't hear, they'll be able to get the message. How often we go to the masjid and enjoy the Jumu'ah prayer, we go to Salat al-Tarawih, we enjoy that, and don't realize that there are so many people that can't have that same sweetness or can't experience the same sweetness as us. Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him, is the messenger of Allah for everyone.
The Reality of Poverty in Our Communities
What I'm going to say this afternoon, thank you, and by the way, Imam, I don't know who to give credit to. I'm telling you, Imam, this water, I don't know if it's Connecticut, it's the best water I've ever tasted in my life. For real.
Now, I'm going to say from the beginning, I hope that what I'm going to say is not going to be misunderstood. I know that it might, so I'm going to take my time. One of the things that almost any Imam will tell you who have a masjid in the inner city, we don't have to read the Wall Street Journal to recognize the difficulty of our society economically right now. There's not a day that go by, all day long, where people are knocking at the door of the Imam. Imam, I'm about to be evicted. Imam, I need money for food. Imam, all day long, every day, and if we would give money for everyone who came, we would have no money. Every Imam will tell you that, the reality of where we live right now.
One block north of Masjid al-Taqwa is a man's homeless shelter. Atlantic Avenue and Bedford Avenue, 1,000 homeless men, many of them Latino American, African American men. And you'd be shocked to learn that there are a number of Muslims in that homeless shelter. Poverty is real. Everywhere you go, someone is begging for food, begging for money.
A Lesson About True Need
The other morning, I went to my newspaper stand to buy my newspapers. It's in a grocery store owned by Muslims. There was a man outside saying, sir, can you give me some money? And the thing that I always do, I would ask the question, why? Why do you need money? I need some food or something to drink. I said, okay, come in the store with me. I said, this man wants something to eat or something to drink, I'll pay for it. And he said, I'll get something to drink. He went and got a soda, and that was it.
I got into my car, and I was about to go running, so I wanted to write a couple of notes. So I stood there for a while, and I noticed the same young man was standing outside of the store. And I wrote my notes, and when I looked up, I noticed that he was gone, but the soda was still there. And so I drove to the corner and made a right turn, and I saw him, and he was begging people for money. I blew the horn, got his attention, and said, come. I said, you came to me, you said you wanted money, and I gave you what you said you wanted. And yet, you left that soda there. He had that cheapest smile on, said, well, I had to go to the bathroom. But yet, he was going around asking for money. Every day. All throughout.
Now for me, I'm going to ask you, I want to know why you need the money. If you need the money for food, I think we should help people to eat. So every day, we have examples of people in extreme poverty.
Understanding Relative Poverty
But poverty is relative, isn't it? I mean, when you think that you're poor, when you look at people around the world, then you realize you ain't as bad as you think you are. For instance, the average European city, the average person drinks 375 liters of water a day. In America, it's like 450 liters of water a day. In Arizona, 1,000 liters of water a day, the average American uses in Arizona, in Phoenix. In the United Kingdom, the average person uses 50 liters of water a day just to flush their toilets.
I'm a private person. It takes a lot for me to go to the bathroom on a plane. I mean, I'm horrified. I don't know if you feel the same way. I mean, honestly, if I go to use the bathroom on a plane, and if I come out of that bathroom and there's a long line of people there, I'm like, I would die. So, you know, I'm private. In some places of India, 1,440 people will share the same toilet. And yet, you have some places like Mozambique. Imam Dawud Hakim Quick, he knows. The average person uses less than 10 liters of water a day. I'm not saying 10 liters of water to drink. I'm saying 10 liters of water to drink to wash their clothes and to wash their bodies.
We complain about our homes. I don't like my home. My home is this. If you want to complain about your home, go to Haiti, and see 400,000 people still living in tents in Haiti from the last earthquake. So poverty is relative.
The Prophetic Perspective on Poverty
And this is why the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
"Look to those who are less than you, and don't look to those who are more than you, because it is more appropriate that you don't look down on the blessings that Allah has for you." (Sahih Muslim 2963)
So the first thing we want to talk about is that poverty is relative.
The Need for Community Connection
Having said that, having acknowledged how poor people are, having acknowledged how we have to help the poor, and by the way, I want to give out a shout out to the Nation of Islam. Right now, they have a massive campaign to go into the community. All throughout America, they're going to the community, talking to the people. And if I would have a complaint against Muslims, I would say that we are not connected to the people, to the masses of the people. They don't really know us.
And one of the things that I hope that we will do, that our imams, our leaders will go back to our cities, and you will go back to your cities and develop programs to deal with the people. I hope that this conference is not just hearing wonderful speeches, being inspired and motivated, but rather being inspired and motivated to do something. I hope that would happen.
Islam's Holistic Approach to Poverty
Having said that, let me tell you my message for today. The perspective that Islam takes, or the direction that Islam takes, is holistic. And I would argue that many of the people, they deal with part of the problem, while Islam deals with the complexity, as Brother Shakur mentioned, the complexity of the problem, and that's what I'm going to talk about for the next few minutes, inshallah.
One of the things that the Quran has done, one of the things that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, has done, one of the things that all the Prophets have done, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
(Sahih Bukhari 3443, Sahih Muslim 2365)
So you're going to find a similar chord throughout the teachings of all the Prophets. So the Quran, and the Sunnah, and the Prophet, and all of the Prophets conjoined together, have a very cohesive, consistent message.
The First Class Experience and Societal Attitudes
And you will find, I'm going to give you one or two examples, inshallah. One of the things that the Quran has done, that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, has done, that Jesus has done, and other Prophets, is put this whole issue of poverty in perspective. Now, I'm going to ask you a question, how many of you have ever flown a plane? Okay, do they have to have the lights off? You need it for your, you need it, okay. Because you know, I don't like, to be honest with you, I don't like looking at you in the dark. I don't like that. I want to look at you, the way you're looking at me, I want to look at you. No, I'm serious.
How many of you have ever flown first class, raise your hand. Imam Zaid, you've never flown first class? You've never flown first class? Come on, man. Come on, get out of here. I don't believe that. I believe you, huh? Serious? Free up, same thing, first class.
Now, I'm going to be honest with you, I love first class. No, I'm serious, wallahi, I love it. No, no, no, I have never made anyone who invited me to a city ask them, I never made them put me on first class. But when they do, Allahu Akbar. It's, you know, but I'm telling you, something happens to you when you fly first class. I'm honest.
First of all, you have your own entrance. You walk on a carpet. If you're not first class, you can't walk on that carpet. I'm telling you the truth. You got to go on the other side. So, no, no, you can't, you got to walk over here. And, you know, there's some amenities. Like, for instance, when you go to first class, you don't have to stand on the same line. You go to a separate line. You know, you're the first one to get on a plane, the first one to get off the plane. When you get your luggage, you're the first one to get your luggage. I like that.
But then there's something else about you, you know. I was sitting on first class. They have their own bathrooms. And I'm sitting in first class and somebody from economy seat coming to first class. I'm, like, looking at them, like, what you doing in my bathroom? I'm sick, I'm telling you, I'm sick.
Society's Disdain for the Poor
But, you know, brothers and sisters, but there's a disdain that people have in this society for poor people. They look down on people that are very poor, the way they're dressed. You know, and it's a kind of sickness of our society to look down on the poor.
How Islam Changed Perceptions of Poverty
So what Islam has done, or all the prophets have done, what Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, has done, is change that whole idea about the poor people and looking down on the poor people. And they do it in a number of ways. One of the things that was done by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, he said:
(Sahih Bukhari 3241, Sahih Muslim 2737)
"I looked into Jannah and saw that the majority of the inhabitants were poor."
So this whole idea of poor people being less than was changed with Islam. And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2354)
"And poor people will enter Jannah 500 years before rich people."
So the thing that has been done is that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, made poor people dignified. Some of his great companions were dignified.
Building Brotherhood and Unity
Having said that, also the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, made the wealthy people, made them feel responsible for their brothers because:
"This Ummah of yours is one Ummah, and I am your Lord, so worship me."
So the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, made a bond of brotherhood between these Muslims. The blacks, and the whites, and the Arabs, and the non-Arabs, and the Persians, and the men, and the women, and the rich, and the poor. They were one Ummah, and they were a magnificent brotherhood.
The Story of Abdurrahman ibn Auf and Sa'd ibn al-Rabi'
So it was said about the Prophet, And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, made a bond of brotherhood between some of the poor Muhajireen and the Ansar. He made a bond of brotherhood because
The Prophetic Model of Sharing
And really, he said:
"The food of one person can feed two. The food of two people can feed four. The food of four people can feed eight." (Sahih Muslim 2059)
This is the way it was, this is the brotherhood of Islam.
Examples of Muslim Community Service
Now, I've gone all across the country, and I've seen some great communities, Masjid al-Islam, right here in New Haven, doing wonderful work for the people in the community. There's another Masjid, Masjid al-Islam in Dallas, Texas. Qadhi, you know, Yasir, you know that Masjid, right? African-Americans primarily. They've done unbelievable work in the community. They have given hundreds or tens of thousands of, fed tens of thousands of people over the years, have given clothing out to the people in the neighborhood. They're not Muslims. The people in the neighborhood are not Muslims. And the Muslims, they give, and they don't care who they give to, but they give it to the people in the neighborhood.
Los Angeles, the UMMA clinic. UMMA Free Clinic. These are Muslim doctors who give health care, health services to the poor people in the Los Angeles area. And while all of that is good and is wonderful, to me, that's not the signature of a Muslim. That's not the signature of a Muslim. It's good, we do it, we give the care. But that's not, you know what I mean by the signature? More than the identity, the signature.
What is Our Signature?
I'll give you an example. First example I'm going to give you is going to be real bad. I'm admitting to you, it's real bad. Imam Abdullah Hakim Quick. I'm not sure, you know, exactly how old you are. I know you're from Canada and Jamaica and all that stuff, right? Have you ever heard of the Temptations? You did? Mashallah. Mashallah. Well, the Temptations, you know, my wife will tell you, where is she? She used to love the Temptations. Yeah, there she is. She loved the Temptations. Even once in a while I can hear her, you know.
But the Temptations had a signature about them. When you hear them, you say, oh, that's the Temptations. Stevie Wonder, signature. What's her name? Aretha Franklin, signature. For those who say, what are you talking about? I put it this way. You know, to me there's nothing better on this earth than good recitation of the Quran. To me that's really, to me my love, all the love I used to have when I was young for the music, nothing touches good recitation of Al-Quran. Nothing, nothing comes near.
So there are some reciters, you know, everybody recites the Quran, you know, but then there's others who recite it. It's like, okay, Sheikh Abdulrahman Ibn Sudeis. That's Sudeis, right? The Imam of the Haram. Mashallah. When you hear him, right, it's like his signature that, yeah, that's him.
The True Signature of Muslims
So what's the signature of the Muslims? While feeding people is good, we should do that, and don't get me wrong, Sister Asma is right. We should help that, you know, the shelter, the women's shelter in Baltimore. I think it's in Baltimore, right? It's in Baltimore? We should help that even if we raise money while we're here at this one day conference, it'll be good. Give it to them and let her do the work. I've seen the work that she's done. You know, food pantries like Masjid al-Islam, it's good, we should continue, we should do more, but that ain't our signature.
This is our signature:
"You are the best of people evolved for mankind because you enjoin the good and you forbid the evil, and you believe in Allah." (Quran 3:110)
That's our signature.
Exploitation of the Poor
These people in these societies, especially the poor, are taken advantage of in this society. They're getting ripped off. Who's ripping them off? In the inner cities, you can see, you want to make some money? Come, young man, and you sell some drugs, you make plenty of money. So in the inner cities, you see those who have the chains, the gold chains, and they have all of the money, and they're getting enticing our youngsters to sell drugs.
The Gospel of Prosperity - A Deceptive Teaching
Not only that, don't get mad at me. Imam Zaid, they're going to get mad at me. What I'm going to say, they're going to get mad at me. I can still say it, Imam. Don't be afraid, say it.
Brothers and sisters, one of the most destructive teachings, in my opinion, of some of the people in the church, not all of them, because there are many people in the church is against what I'm going to say. There's gospel of prosperity. It's a trick. What is the gospel of prosperity? The gospel of prosperity, right, Imam? Imam Majid, is that you? Mashallah. Mashallah, I didn't see you there, man. You're a pretty man, man. No, I'm serious. No, for real. He's both handsome and pretty.
The gospel of prosperity is when the preacher tells the congregation, basically, listen, if you are poor, you are poor because you are disobeying God. That's why you're poor. Some woman, she was criticizing that philosophy. They said that they have a God that's a vending God, a vending machine God, which means that you press in something, a prayer, and you get these blessings automatically. But it ain't always like that.
Their teaching, the problem is that it's like, okay, if you're poor, it's your fault. God wants you to be rich. And if you're poor, if you're sick, it's your fault. And once you understand the Bible, you follow the Bible, you're going to be prosperous, you're going to have a lot of money, you're going to be healthy. Now, the preachers have a lot of money. They get it from the congregation.
Now, see, that teaching ain't real because what happens when the majority of the people are poor, what happens then now? It's somehow your fault, man. You poor, it's your fault that you ain't doing it right. And that's wrong.
The Story of the Black Woman with Epilepsy
And I'm going to give you one example and then I'm going to close. Incredible hadith. Abdullah ibn Umar, Abdullah ibn al-'As, he said to 'Ata, he said:
أَلَا أُرِيكَ امْرَأَةً مِنْ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ
"Shall I show you a woman from the people of Jannah?" He said, of course.
He said:
هَذِهِ الْمَرْأَةُ السَّوْدَاءُ
"This black woman," this black woman, people of paradise. Because she came to the prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, and said, oh, messenger of Allah, I have epilepsy. And whenever I have this fit of epilepsy, I'm exposed.
So,
فَادْعُ اللَّهَ لِي
"Make dua for me." Here's a faithful believer. She's asking a messenger, make dua for her.
And the prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, said:
إِنْ شِئْتِ صَبَرْتِ وَلَكِ الْجَنَّةُ
"If you wish, you'll be patient and you will have Jannah. But if you wish, I'll make dua that Allah heals you." (Sahih Bukhari 5652, Sahih Muslim 2576)
She said,
أَصْبِرُ
"I'll be patient." She said, but you know what? When I have epilepsy, I'm exposed. When I make dua, I'm not exposed. And the prophet did it.
And I looked at that, I studied that thing for years. It makes me, I love the messenger of Allah, peace and blessing be upon him. Because he's teaching us a lesson, man. And no guarantee, because if you follow Islam, if you become hafiz of Quran, if you memorize every hadith in Bukhari and Muslim, Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, memorize all of those hadith, practice everything of the sunnah, there's still no guarantee that you're going to become rich or you're going to be healthy. Ain't no guarantee.
The Islamic Worldview on Poverty
So we have this worldview, this Islamic worldview. What we have to do, in my opinion, be advocates of the poor. As Imam Zaid said yesterday at Masjid al-Taqwa khutbah, that the prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him, is a champion of the poor. That's true. We should do that. We should help those who are poor.
But on the other hand, brothers and sisters, we have to teach them the whole picture.
A Lesson from the Bible - The Rich Young Man
If you don't believe me, that this is the way of the prophets, I give you one example from the Bible. You find this in Matthew, you find it in Luke, and you find it in Mark. A young man came to 'Isa, Jesus, peace and blessing be upon him, according to the Bible, and said, oh, good master, what shall I do to get eternal life? And according to what the Bible said, Jesus said that if you keep the commandments, then you will have eternal life. If you, you know, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery, and he named some of the commandments.
And a young man said, oh, I've been doing that since I was a young man. What else? How would I be perfect? And according to what they say, Jesus said in words, get all of your wealth and sell it and give the money to the poor and you'll have treasures in heaven. And the man, he walked away sad. And Jesus said, hardly you will
find a wealthy person in paradise. He said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a wealthy person to go to paradise.
It doesn't mean that wealthy people won't be in paradise. They will be, inshallah. But it does mean that we have the right, have the right attitude, the right attitude.
Closing Message
Yes, give to the poor, but teach the people, teach the people the beauty of Islam and the guidance of Islam. May Allah bless you, bless this conference, and bless us to do something to help the poor. Thank you. As-salamu alaykum.