Taking knowledge from the likes of Imam Zia Ullah Khan, Imam Siraj Wahaj

[faisal ahmad]

Does anyone know their backgrounds?

These two Imams are very inspirational speakers not just in North America but also over here in the UK (Imam Siraj Wahaj less so in recent years).

They often quote quran, hadith, answer fiqh questions at the end, yet the only thing I could find on either of their studies (institutionally or privately) is Imam Siraj Wahaj studying for four months in Makkah in the 70s I think.

Is this dangerous?

[ninjapro]

Does anyone know their backgrounds?

These two Imams are very inspirational speakers not just in North America but also over here in the UK (Imam Siraj Wahaj less so in recent years).

They often quote quran, hadith, answer fiqh questions at the end, yet the only thing I could find on either of their studies (institutionally or privately) is Imam Siraj Wahaj studying for four months in Makkah in the 70s I think.

Is this dangerous?

I went to one of Imam Siraj Wahaj's lectures, it was the the first time I've heard of him, and it was nice. He's funny and interesting to hear from. I don't remember hearing anything wrong...

I found the same info about the 4 months studying thing... I don't think it's dangerous

Anyway, here's a short bio of his early life:

Siraj Wahhaj was born as Jeffrey Kearse and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His mother was a nurse and his father a hospital dietitian. He went to church very religiously and went on to become a Sunday school teacher as a teenager in a Baptist church. Wahhaj then later went on to the New York University on a partial scholarship. He also played basketball where he met a teammate who interested him in the Nation of Islam (NoI), an African-American movement.

In 1969 he ended his schooling and joined the NoI, changing his name to Jeffrey12x. During this time he was vocal in his belief that that “white people are devils." He said of this, “I preached it. I taught it.” Imam Siraj says of his interest in the Nation: "It wasn't the theology that attracted me to the Nation of Islam at all... It was the kind of do-for-self black pride."

When Elijah Muhammed died in 1975, "His teachings began to unravel in my mind", and he became a Sunni Muslim with the encouragement of Muhammad's son Warith Deen Mohammed. Mohammed took over and reorganized the NoI, urging members to come to orthodox Islam. Kearse then changed his name again to Siraj Wahhaj, which means "bright light" in Arabic. He was chosen to study Islam at the Umm al-Qura university of Mecca for a period of four months in 1978. He also briefly taught a course in Islamic studies at Howard University, where Johari Abdul-Malik is the chaplain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siraj_Wahhaj

Never heard of Imam Zia Ullah Khan and can't seem to find any info on him.