Imam Siraj Wahhaj (born Jeffrey Kearse (Arabic: سراج وهّاج), March 11, 1950) is an African-Americanimam of Al-Taqwamosque in Brooklyn, New York and the leader of The Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA).  He was also the former vice-president of the Islamic Society of North America.

Early life and education

Imam Siraj Wahhaj was born as Jeffrey Kearse and raised in Brooklyn. His mother was a nurse and his father a hospital dietitian. He went to church regularly and went on to become a Sunday school teacher as a teenager in a Baptist church. In 1969 he ended his schooling and joined the Nation of Islam, changing his name to Jeffrey12x. During this time he was vocal in his belief that “white people are devils.” He said of this, “I preached it. I taught it.” While Wahhaj acknowledges the black pride instilled in him from the Nation of Islam, he concedes that pride went too far when he began denigrating others and that he felt he was “other than [him]self” during this portion of his life.^[5] 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 Nation of Islam, urging members to come to orthodox Islam.