Siraj Wahhaj is the Imam of the Taqwa mosque in New York. He is a prominent Islamist cleric with a long history of involvement in extremist causes.
Last week, we published a compilation of his sermons on homosexuality, in which Wahhaj condemns homosexuals as a “disease of this society” and cites the the death penalty stipulated by the Quran.
This week, we have put together a compilation of Siraj Wahhaj’s comments about jihad, which are even more extreme. In the first few clips, Wahhaj is raising money for the Benevolence International Foundation, which the Treasury Department designated in 2002 as a “financier of terrorism.” Its leader, Enaam Arnaout, was a close associate of Bin Laden. According to prosecutors, the Benevolence International Foundation raised funds “to support Al Qaeda and other groups engaged in armed violence overseas.”
Transcript:
Source: http://goo.gl/ylvdDC
Tonight I’m asking you to go in your pocket. This isn’t just another fundraiser for a masjid or building an Islamic school. This is a very basic and fundamental fundraiser to send money to the Muslims who suffer in Chechnya. Unbelievable suffering.
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Now, you make the checks out to the Benevolence International Foundation. Am I right? Who we make the check out to? Benevolence International Foundation.
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I pray one day, Inshallah, Allah will bless us ... I pray one day Allah will bless us to raise an army and I’m serious about this. We were very close, recently. We had made intention to raise an army of 10,000 men in New York City. Muslim men to go fight in the way of subhanahu wa ta’ala. And this is serious.
And the day is going to come, when that happens, is Muslims who really understand the words of the Prophet. All life is long life except the life of the hereafter. If you’re serious about that, if you understand the ayah from the Koran ... No soul can die except by the permission of Allah. It is written in the Book. If you make intention to fight for Allah, subhana wa ta’ala, those who fight against us, if you do that then, inshallah, one day, we’re going to take Muslims to go there, wherever it is, to show Muslims, not just for affirming them, but to demonstrate our commitment for this work.
I go to the hospital and I look at old men, fathers, mothers, the little babies, sick, dying. They’re in there crying. They can’t go to sleep at night because their baby is there. Their brother, their sister, their mother, their father, their son, their friends, and everybody is in the hospital. Everybody’s crying. But yet, Muslims die all over the world, bleeding, and nothing’s being said. Why? Because of this disease, anesthesia. Muslim body going to sleep.
Now the Muslim body must wake up and feel the pain, for the pain is a gift from Allah. When you feel the pain, you want to do something about it. I want to feel the pain of the Muslims in Bosnia. When that Muslim’s Bosnian baby is shot down, I want to see my real baby. I want to feel the same pain as if that was my baby. When those women are raped, I want to feel like that’s my mother being raped. I want to feel my brothers and my sisters, because Allah made us brothers. What makes us brothers is our common faith. We must get back to faith. Get back to Imam, get back into the belief of Allah, subhana wa ta’ala
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Help your Muslim brother if he’s oppressed or if he’s the oppressor. Help them. Now let me tell you what I suggest we do. Are you ready? Some are not going to like it. Some Muslim’s heart going to be weak, and they’re not ready for what I’m going to say. And they may publicize it in the Times, you may see it tomorrow in the newspaper. But I’m telling you what I’m saying that we ought to do. We ought to declare jihad.
Why? Why must we declare jihad? No, Brother Siraj, just do jihad over there. Let the Muslims be over there. We sit quiet here. No, we’re not going to sit quiet. Let me tell you why. If Prophet Mohammad said that a Muslim can’t go to sleep because another brother’s in pain, I’m saying to the city of New York, if we as Muslims can’t sleep at night, you won’t sleep at night. We will raise our voices. 800,000 Muslims in New York City. Can you imagine, if 800,000 Muslims decide to march every day? I’m not telling you, no, don’t pick up a gun, no. Just march. March through the city of New York. Let them hear your voice. Let them hear it at night. Let them hear it 24 hours, until the whole city can’t sleep.
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I want us as Muslims to defy, to defy the United Nations arms embargo. I want us to direct defy it, challenge it. What do you mean? United States Security Council brought the resolution that we can use violence, use military action to do what? To bring some humanitarian aid, to bring some medicines, to bring some foods to those in Bosnia. Oh, that’s very nice. Oh, we’re very happy, we’re going to bring some medicine, oh, that’s so sweet.
But we don’t want medicine, man, we want some guns. We want some guns in Bosnia so the Muslims can defend themselves. And so, I’m saying, brothers and sisters, when this war is over, we need to collect money. Prophet Mohammad said He who equips a person to fight a military expedition, bismillah, that person who equips those who fight receives the same reward as those who fight. I’m saying this. I’m asking for us to greet the duty for jihad here in America. How? By helping our Muslim brothers and sisters by sending money over there and bringing weapons to Bosnia to the Muslims by any means necessary.
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And so, brothers and sisters, we call for jihad to struggle in the way we can struggle. With our money, our property, our time, to bring about relief to the brothers and sisters in Bosnia. But don’t stop there. Collect money for the Muslims who are dying by the millions in Somalia. Don’t stop there. Let us march to Palestine and liberate our brothers and sisters there. But don’t stop there. Let’s go to Algeria, and liberate the Muslims there. Don’t stop there. Go all over the world.
Brothers and sisters, Wednesday, I was on the plane coming back from Washington, D.C. from a meeting that took place. Many of the imams around the country got together with some of the Muslims from Algeria, from the Front of Islamic Salvation in Algeria. We had a meeting to show the commitment of the Muslims in America to help our Muslims in Algeria. Alhamdulillah. We made a commitment to help our brothers and sisters in Algeria. Alhamdulillah. Let Allah bless that nation to establish the deen of Islam, alhamdulillah.
