Prophetic Interactions Across Culture, Gender, and Religions
By Siraj Wahhaj | 2026-01-16T09:30:48.809414+00:00 | Topic: Muslim Identity
Prophetic Interactions Across Culture, Gender, and Religions
Imam Siraj Wahhaj
Introduction and Opening Remarks
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, alhamdulillah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. My respected brothers and sisters, it gives me a great pleasure to address you this afternoon for a few moments.
Someone once said that the most important knowledge you can have is the knowledge of yourself. Although I agree that the knowledge of self is critical, but the most important knowledge you can ever have is the knowledge of Allah. Who are we? Human beings are very complex. They're not simple. When I was in the third grade, they taught us a song that I never forgot. Would you like for me to sing it to you now? It's not going to happen. But the song went something like this: Getting to know you. Getting to know all about you.
The Purpose of This Gathering
So this afternoon I want to take a few moments getting to know us. You have come here for this great conference to learn about the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). So much he has taught us. I'd like to do three things for a few minutes. Number one, of course, you should love the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). You should. He is so huge that he gave us an admonition. He said, Do not exaggerate your praise on me. Like the Christians did with Jesus. I am only God's servant. So therefore say, the servant of Allah and his messenger.
Understanding Our Humanity
He said about himself, peace and blessings be upon him, I want to let you know, I am a nightmare for camera people. You know why I am a nightmare? I never stand still. See, nobody is there right now. See? Some will be off camera. Because I like walking around in the audience. Brother Yusuf, please come to the courtyard. And everyone knows that whenever Imam Siraj gives a talk, don't sit in the front row. Because if you sit in the front row, I am going to do something to you.
I have a question for you, young man. Hassan, if I say, you better not go anywhere, you know why? Next minute, I am going to be over here. See, I am watching him as he does. See? I am not going to do nothing. Now listen. I am going to say something in Arabic. If a person say (إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ - Innama ana bashar) - I am a human. I am going to give you the mic. And I want you to say, what does that mean to you? I am a human. What does that mean to you?
It means that I have the same qualities that the Prophet, may peace be upon him, had. And we all have the same qualities as human beings. Good. I am a human. Okay, so brother Hassan answered, I think, more correctly. But
I would say that as human, Allah has given us reasoning. He has given us the ability to talk, to express ourselves. And that is what distinguishes us from the animals. Good.
One more, this young man here. I don't know the answer. Don't give me the mic. Huh? Don't give me the mic. I don't know the answer. That is exactly why I am giving you the mic. I don't know the answer. I don't know the answer. I am fine. I am fine. All right.
The Prophet's Humble Declaration
I am a human being. I could be boasting. Do you know who I am? I am a human being. I am the best thing on the planet. But if I say (إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ - Innama ana basharun mithlukum) - as the Prophet said, that means something different. It means, I am only a human being. Not that I am a human being. But I am only a human being. I am just like you. No, no. Yes. Yes. Yes. No, no, no. I am only a human being. I am not special. I am not. He got it. I am not an angel. Allahu Akbar. High five. High five. See. You see.
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, I am only a human being. I am not divine. I am not Allah. I am not an angel. I am but a human being. And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said that because Allah ordered him to say that. (قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ - Qul innama ana basharun mithlukum) - Say, Muhammad, tell the people, I am only a human being just like you (Quran 18:110). All the Prophets were given the same commandment. They're not angels. They're not Allah. They're not the Lord. They're not to be worshipped. They're only human beings.
The Nature of Humankind
Let's say something about us as human beings. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said (النَّاسُ بَنُو آدَمَ وَآدَمُ مِنْ تُرَابٍ - An-nasu banu Adama wa Adamu min turab) - and mankind, all of them are the children of Adam. And Adam was created from the dust (Sunan At-Tirmidhi 3955).
How are we human beings? We're very complex. On the one hand, Allah said, (وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ - Wa laqad karramna bani Adam) - I have honored the children of Adam (Quran 17:70). We as human beings, we're honored by Allah. Honored so much that Allah ordered every angel to bow down to the first man. Did every angel bow down? No. No. No. No. I asked a question. Did every angel bow down to Allah? Okay. Now you're good. How about the angel of death? Did he bow down? How about Jibreel? Mikael? Every angel bowed down to Adam because Allah ordered them to do it. And they did because human beings are special and Allah has given them great honor.
Then Allah says, Don't you see? Allah has subjected everything, everything to this man. So you're special. But there's a problem. Allah gave to this man free will. So he can commit sin.
The Reality of Human Sinfulness
Is there anyone here other than Naeem and Dr. Ayman? Is there anyone here besides those two who have never
committed any sin? What? What did I say? What did I do? I didn't do nothing. I didn't do nothing. Anybody here without sin? No. You know why? Because we are human beings.
I was teaching a class once and I gave a hadith. One of the students, he's a principal of a public school. And I gave this hadith, which I'm going to give now if you permit me to. She said to me, Imam Siraj, that is a very dangerous hadith that you just gave. Dangerous. You want me to give it to you? Or don't do it? Bismillah. Go for it. Remember you told me to say it. All right.
Listen to what the Prophet said. Eye-opening hadith. (وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَوْ لَمْ تُذْنِبُوا لَذَهَبَ اللَّهُ بِكُمْ وَلَجَاءَ بِقَوْمٍ يُذْنِبُونَ فَيَسْتَغْفِرُونَ اللَّهَ فَيَغْفِرُ لَهُمْ - Wa alladhi nafsi biyadihi law lam tudhnibu ladhahaba Allahu bikum wa laja'a biqawmin yudhniboona fayastaghfiroona Allaha fayaghfiru lahum) - I swear by Allah, in whose hand my life is. If you had never committed sin, Allah would have removed you, got rid of you, and brought people who would sin so that they would ask Allah for forgiveness and Allah would forgive them (Sahih Muslim 2749).
(Sahih Muslim 2749)
You hear what I just said? You mean Allah wants us to commit sin? No. Allah created us and He knew how He created us. We are sinful. All of the children of Adam are sinful. He knows it. That's the way He created us. But Alhamdulillah, He is forgiving and merciful. You better know Allah is strong in punishment on the one hand, but on the other hand, He is forgiving and merciful. That's why we need someone like the Prophet Muhammad.
The Framework of This Talk
How many minutes I got left? How many do you want? So, I want to do three things. Number one, I want you to know something about this Prophet Muhammad. Know something about yourself. And then I want to finish with what do we get out of this conference? How does knowing about Prophet Muhammad, how does it help me in my life now, in my life in the hereafter?
The Prophet as a Mercy to All Worlds
Saif, he mentioned the ayah from Quran that Allah sent the Prophet only as a mercy to all of the worlds. (وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ - Wa ma arsalnaka illa rahmatan lil-'alamin) - And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad[, except as a mercy to the worlds (Quran 21:107). Let me give you a couple of examples about him. If you know anything about the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, you know he was very sensitive, very loving, very merciful. And he wasn't afraid to cry in front of his Sahaba. I'll give you many examples, I'll give you one right now.
The Prophet's Visit to His Mother's Grave
Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, said the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, visited the grave of his mother. And he began to cry. And therefore his crying made those with him cry. Can you imagine, the Prophet started crying, everybody started crying. Sensitive, visiting the grave of his mother. He said, I ask
Allah's permission to beg for mercy for my mother. Remember, his mother died, he was six years old. Now he's the messenger of Allah.
All these years later, he goes to visit the grave of his mother, and at the grave of his mother, he stopped crying. And then those around him started crying. So Allah didn't give me permission to make istighfar, or to beg for forgiveness. So I asked Allah, can I visit her grave? Allah gave me permission, so he said, therefore visit the graves, because they remind you of death (Sahih Muslim 976).
The Day More Difficult Than Uhud
How merciful was he? I'm going to give two examples, I'll try to do it quickly, and then I'll make my concluding remarks. Aisha, Dr. Hisham, you mentioned in your talk about asking questions. The wife of the Prophet, Aisha, asked the Prophet a question that she, probably like us, thought she knew the answer. She said, O Messenger of Allah, has there ever come to you a day more difficult than Uhud?
I mean, no way. Can I talk to the brothers for one second? I'm going to talk about sports. You may not want to hear this. You want to hear this? You want to hear it? Don't. Yes? I can say it? Brothers, how many of you know about baseball? Okay, I'll paint this picture for you. You know about baseball? Oh, you won the national title. Oh, forgive me. Belated congratulations, you won the national title. Whoopee, whoopee, whoopee. So no, really, congratulations, you deserve it.
And so let me tell you this, right? It's the ninth inning. You're winning, 10 to nothing. Two outs, two strikes. All you need is one more strike, you win the game. You're winning, 10 to nothing. Two outs, last batter, two strikes. All you need to do, throw one more strike, you win. How would you feel if you lost that game after being ahead 10 to nothing? How would you feel? Devastated? That was Uhud. Victory was right there. But because some disobeyed the commandment of the messenger of Allah, that victory was lost.
Dr. Saeed, you can help me, but I read somewhere maybe 85, 87 sahaba lost their lives. How many? 70, okay, they have different narrations. Among them, Hamza, the beloved uncle of the prophet, (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). The prophet got wounded. Devastating loss. And so you think, man, what can be worse than Uhud? But yet there was something more he mentioned.
The Journey to Taif
He went to give dawah to the people of Taif. And they treated him so badly, ran him out. And he was, what's that word? Dejected? There's a word I'm looking for. But feel really bad. He looked up and behold, the angel Jibreel. Must be something important. And here comes Jibreel, (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). And said, Allah has heard what your people have said about you, said to you. And how they responded to you. So he has sent the angel of the mountain for you to order to do what you want.
And then behold, the angel of the mountain. He says to the prophet, (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam), assalamu alaykum. I am the angel of the mountains. Allah has sent me so that you may order me to pour down rocks, the
mountains on these people. Here's that moment now. You can get even payback. And the prophet says, (بَلْ أَرْجُو أَنْ يُخْرِجَ اللَّهُ مِنْ أَصْلَابِهِمْ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ وَحْدَهُ لَا يُشْرِكُ بِهِ شَيْئًا - Bal arju an yukhrija Allahu min aslabihim man ya'budu Allaha wahdahu la yushriku bihi shay'an) - I hope that among the loins of these people will come those who will worship Allah and not associate any with him (Sahih Al-Bukhari 3231, Sahih Muslim 1795).
(Sahih Al-Bukhari 3231)
(Sahih Muslim 1795)
He's not even talking about these people gonna be good people. These people gonna become Muslim. He went beyond them and said, maybe their offspring, maybe among them will come those who believe in Allah and worship Allah without associating any with Allah. But why was it a difficult day? Was it a difficult day because of what they said about him? I don't think so. Because if that were the case, you could have stopped the hadith right there. This is what they did to me.
I think, this is my opinion. Shaykh can, you know, in question and answer period, he can add something, take something away. Because that was the big test. Will you want to get revenge? You could have. Here's a divine decree now. Number one. Number two. Let me try to finish this up.
The Story of the Hypocrite's Funeral
Let's go to the Quran. In the 9th chapter of Quran, I think the 80th verse, Allah says this. (اسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ أَوْ لَا تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ إِن تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً فَلَن يَغْفِرْ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ - Istaghfir lahum aw la tastaghfir lahum in tastaghfir lahum sab'eena marratan falan yaghfira Allahu lahum) - Ask Allah's forgiveness for them or do not ask Allah's forgiveness. Even if you ask Allah's forgiveness 70 times, Allah would not forgive them (Quran 9:80).
(Quran 9:80)
Now, if you know the Arabic construction, Allah is only speaking to one person. He's not talking to us. He's talking to the Prophet Muhammad, right? Don't know one person. Masculine. He's talking to the Prophet. Who the who? The hypocrites. Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Salul, chief hypocrite, dies. And his son Abdullah comes to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, Ya Rasulullah, my father has died. Please, can I take your shirt to shroud my father in? And the Prophet gives him the shirt because that's the way he is. The Prophet said, no, never said no. When people ask him, he never said no. So he gave him his shirt and he shrouded his father.
And then his son said, could you lead Salatul Janazah over my father? The verse is there. Even if you ask forgiveness 70 times, Allah is not going to forgive them. The verse is there. He's a hypocrite. The Prophet wasn't unsure. He knows he's a hypocrite. So he stands up. Stand up for a second, brother. Let me ask you a question. I'm going to do something to you. I need to know something. Do you know martial arts? A little. So if someone hits you, you know how to fall? No. I'm not talking to you no more.
Umar's Objection and the Prophet's Choice
So let me tell you what happened, right? So the Prophet gets up to lead Salat over a known hypocrite. The verse is there. So Umar grabbed the thobe of the Prophet. Ya Rasulullah, you're going to pray over him when Allah prohibited you from praying over the hypocrite. You see, that wasn't bad, right? Good. You know what the Prophet said? No, Umar went to the Quran. You know what the Prophet said? Ya Umar, Allah has given me a
choice. And he read the verse. (اسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ أَوْ لَا تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ - Istaghfir lahum aw la tastaghfir lahum) - give me a choice (Quran 9:80).
(Quran 9:80)
And Umar's going back and forth and arguing. So the Prophet leads the Salat al-Janazah. Then Allah reveals the ayat. (وَلَا تُصَلِّ عَلَى أَحَدٍ مِّنْهُم مَّاتَ أَبَدًا وَلَا تَقُمْ عَلَى قَبْرِهِ - Wala tusalli 'ala ahadin minhum mata abadan wa la taqum 'ala qabrihi) - Never to pray over them nor even stand at their grave (Quran 9:84). Was the Prophet wrong? Of course not. He was given a choice. He even said to Umar and others, I will ask more than 70 times. I will ask 70 and 70 and 70 because this is the way he is. This is how merciful he is.
The Wisdom Behind the Prophet's Mercy
And I'm asking myself the question, Gee, why did the Prophet do that? Until I found Tafsir in Tabari and Qurtubi. Someone asked the Prophet, Why did you make Janazah Salat over him? He said, Neither my shirt nor my prayer will do anything for him on Yawmul Qiyamah. But I hope by me doing that, 1,000 people from his tribe will become sincere Muslims. And that's what happened. Sometimes you got to look beyond the time. You got to look beyond the person in front of you. So the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, his mercy is, you know, abounding.
Applying the Prophet's Mercy in Our Lives
Finally, in my conclusion, The Prophet's mercy, what do we do with that? Merely, Oh the Prophet's so merciful, Oh the Prophet's so merciful. I think that's part of it. But part of it is this. He's there for us to imitate. I'm going to give you two examples of what happened to me personally.
The Stranger at Newark Airport
A couple of years ago, I was at Newark Airport. And I was standing outside. And I was at the wrong terminal. So I'm standing outside. And a car comes. He rolls down the window and said, Do you need help? I said, Yes, I'm going to Sunset Terminal. He says, Get in the car. I'll help you. He didn't look like a Muslim. He wasn't dressed like a Muslim. I don't think he had a beard. He didn't have a kufi. He didn't have a jalebi. None of that. A kameez, anything.
And he said to me, Assalamu alaikum. I said, Wa alaikum salam. Did I do the right thing? Giving him salams? How could a Muslim say salam to another Muslim? Return the salams. Someone asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, He said (أَيُّ الْإِسْلَامِ خَيْرٌ - Ayyu al-Islami khayr) - Which Islam is the best? What Islam is the best? He said, (تُطْعِمُ الطَّعَامَ وَتَقْرَأُ السَّلَامَ عَلَى مَنْ عَرَفْتَ وَمَنْ لَمْ تَعْرِفْ - Tut'imu at-ta'ama wa taqra'u as-salama 'ala man 'arafta wa man lam ta'rif) - Give feed to the poor and give salams to those you know and those you don't know (Sahih Al-Bukhari 12, Sahih Muslim 39).
(Sahih Al-Bukhari 12, Sahih Muslim 39)
So he gives me the salam. I give him the salam. I get in the car and he says to me, He don't know who I am. He doesn't know Imam Siraj Wahaj. He doesn't know that. But he's a Muslim, a strange Muslim. He never met. He
said, I want you to do me a favor. He said, I'm from Saudi Arabia. And me and my wife been married for years. And never had children. Please can you make dua to Allah that we will have children.
The Power of Dua
And you know something about me brothers and sisters? One thing about me? If you ask me to make dua, I'm going to make dua. Two weeks straight. Every day. I begged Allah to help that man and his wife have a baby. I probably would never know. If he walked up in front of me right now, I probably wouldn't recognize who he was. I have no way of knowing. But I know Allah said, (ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ - Ud'uni astajib lakum) - Call upon me and I will answer (Quran 40:60). The Lord said, call upon me and I will answer.
(Quran 40:60)
So I, Allah, as if that's my own family. As if it's my own brother, or my son, or my father. Somebody, I don't even know him. A complete stranger. Yet I prayed for him two weeks solid. Every day. So, two months ago, I'm in the What's the name of that? Memphis, Tennessee. A brother comes next to me. His name is Ahmed. He said, Imam Siraj, I heard that talk that you gave about the man from Saudi Arabia. And me and my wife was in the same condition. And he said, about a year ago he asked me to make dua for him and his wife. I did the same thing. He said, Imam, three months after your dua, my wife conceived. And she had a baby. The baby now is three months. And put the baby in my arms. I just did what we do. It's my brother.
Visiting the Sick
Last thing, I'm in Virginia, and five years ago, we did a program. And the program we just finished. And we're about to eat dinner. A brother came to me. He said, Imam Siraj, there's a brother in the hospital. Can you make dua for him? I said, yeah, I can. But what hospital is he in? He said, ain't that far from here. I said, let's go. How could Muslim Allah comes? Visit the sick. Part of what we do. It's his right. It's his right that we come visit him.
I went with him to go visit him. And he said, when we got to his room, he said, guess what? Imam Siraj is here. He said, no, he's not. He said, yeah, yeah, he is. He said, stop playing with me, man. I said to him, Assalamualaikum. If you could have seen his face. He could see his face. Imam Siraj came to visit him in the hospital. What am I saying? The mercy of the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, has to rub off to us. We have to be the same way to one another.