Siraj Wahhaj – Curbing Youth Extremism and ISIS Recruitment

Siraj Wahhaj

Topic: Curbing Youth Extremism and ISIS Recruitment
The Muslim community should not consider the San Bernardino, Boston Marathon bombing, Major Nidal Hasan’s Texas shooting incident and other local reported incidents as isolated cases. We have to dig into the real causes leading some of the vulnerable Muslim youth to adopt extreme positions and be easy recruits for external terrorist organizations like ISIS. Extremists abroad and the FBI at home are targeting vulnerable Muslims.. War-terrorism-Islamophobia is a nexus of evil that impacts Muslim youth in many significant ways. It is creating a high level of anger among Muslim youth, who a 2009 Gallup survey found are angrier than youth in any other faith community in the United States. Anger is also associated with mental health issues. This session discusses the very reasons behind the Muslim Youth extremism and prescribes a way ahead for how to curb and prevent it.

Share Page

AI: Summary ©

The transcript discusses various cities around the world, including France, Germany, the United States, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the United States of America. It also touches on a new film called Mission Impossible and its potential return to Christ. The discussion also touches on the importance of following the Prophet's instructions and avoiding moral and political risks. A woman describes her experiences with Islam, including how her family's actions led her to become a Muslim sister and her struggles with addiction.

AI: Summary ©

00:00:15 --> 00:00:16
			Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim
		
00:00:19 --> 00:00:19
			Allah
		
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24
			Shinola ilaha illAllah hula hula sharika lah.
		
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28
			Saldana Mohammed Abu hora Salama bar.
		
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38
			Our Prophet Mohammed la salat wa salam said,
		
00:00:41 --> 00:00:45
			in the hub as my icon in de la. Abdullah
		
00:00:46 --> 00:00:47
			Abdul Rahman.
		
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52
			The names that is most beloved to Allah
		
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57
			is Abdullah Abdul Rahman.
		
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02
			We are called upon today
		
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05
			in this city of Chicago,
		
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08
			and Muslims around the world
		
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11
			to be a beacon of light.
		
00:01:14 --> 00:01:20
			1,700,000,000 Muslims around the world.
		
00:01:22 --> 00:01:26
			One third of them are in non Muslim countries.
		
00:01:28 --> 00:01:29
			So where do you find them?
		
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33
			You find them in France
		
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37
			10% of the population of France and Muslims.
		
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41
			Where do you find them? You find them in Germany?
		
00:01:42 --> 00:01:46
			Some 3000 messages in Germany? Where do you find them?
		
00:01:48 --> 00:01:58
			You find them all throughout Europe. You find them in the United States of America. You find them in
Latin America, you find them in Africa, you find them in Asia, you find Muslims all over the world.
		
00:02:01 --> 00:02:02
			Right now to Moscow.
		
00:02:04 --> 00:02:08
			They're building a Masjid that will accommodate 60,000 worshippers
		
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13
			in Birmingham, United Kingdom,
		
00:02:14 --> 00:02:15
			less he
		
00:02:16 --> 00:02:21
			had between 60 and 70,000 Muslims praying IED.
		
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26
			Dr. Oz masaka Rahim Allah.
		
00:02:28 --> 00:02:29
			He used to tell us
		
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32
			that years ago,
		
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36
			three or four people prayed he prayed together.
		
00:02:38 --> 00:02:48
			I was in Philadelphia last week. And the Imam awesome after she told me that the last Eve in
Philadelphia had 50,000 Muslims
		
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53
			all over the world.
		
00:02:54 --> 00:02:55
			In America,
		
00:02:56 --> 00:02:57
			in Paterson, New Jersey.
		
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02
			The largest Masjid is in Paterson, New Jersey
		
00:03:04 --> 00:03:08
			is a Masjid that used to be a synagogue.
		
00:03:10 --> 00:03:16
			all over America. Muslims are buying synagogues and churches and turning them to messages.
		
00:03:18 --> 00:03:26
			When someone say Islam against the West, I beg your pardon. I am the West.
		
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36
			There seems to be a problem.
		
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40
			Problem of extremism.
		
00:03:46 --> 00:03:51
			But extremism on all sides. Let me give you a couple of examples.
		
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57
			Have you ever heard of Andre Carson?
		
00:03:59 --> 00:04:06
			He's a congressman a Muslim Congress congressman of the United States of America. Recently he was
given death threats.
		
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11
			And the only reason he was given death threats is because he's a Muslim.
		
00:04:13 --> 00:04:22
			Two weeks ago, we had the first Muslim judge in New York City swiping on the Quran.
		
00:04:24 --> 00:04:25
			Someone
		
00:04:29 --> 00:04:36
			someone said that you have the audacity to sweat in on the Quran, and they sent a death threats.
		
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42
			New York City in Astoria, Queens.
		
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47
			A Muslim store owner was beaten.
		
00:04:48 --> 00:04:53
			And while the man was beating him, he was saying Death to the Muslims.
		
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59
			Last week, I was in Dallas, Texas.
		
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02
			In the masjid called Richardson Masjid
		
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07
			a dozen white men
		
00:05:08 --> 00:05:13
			with weapons rifles, marching in front of the masjid.
		
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18
			intimidating the followers there.
		
00:05:19 --> 00:05:27
			Why would they? Why would they march in they were rallying, they said because inside of the masjid
they were practicing Sharia.
		
00:05:30 --> 00:05:31
			In Iowa,
		
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35
			one out of three republicans
		
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39
			say that Islam ought to be illegal.
		
00:05:41 --> 00:05:45
			59% of the Republicans
		
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50
			agree with Trump
		
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55
			that Muslims ought not be allowed into America.
		
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01
			Not too far from here, Wheaton College.
		
00:06:03 --> 00:06:04
			I think two weeks ago,
		
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08
			an African American Christian professor
		
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13
			in solidarity with Muslim women put on hijab
		
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17
			and said that she would wear it for two weeks until
		
00:06:22 --> 00:06:31
			the holiday Christmas. She said she wanted to do it, to see what it looks what it looks like to wear
hijab in solidarity with Muslim women.
		
00:06:33 --> 00:06:34
			She was suspended.
		
00:06:35 --> 00:06:51
			And they said that we suspended her not because she wore the scarf, but they suspended her because
she had the audacity to say that the God that the Muslims worship and that God that the Christians
worship is the same and they suspended hung
		
00:06:53 --> 00:06:59
			all over America. We have violence. We have extreme Islam against Islam.
		
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03
			But it seems as if every time
		
00:07:04 --> 00:07:09
			it appears as if a Muslim is doing something that's violent,
		
00:07:11 --> 00:07:12
			it becomes a bigger issue.
		
00:07:13 --> 00:07:17
			I would like to take a moment to show you a clip.
		
00:07:19 --> 00:07:20
			There are two
		
00:07:21 --> 00:07:25
			movies that I recommend you to see and I want you to write them down.
		
00:07:32 --> 00:07:33
			One is called
		
00:07:35 --> 00:07:35
			terror
		
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41
			80 in parenthesis and then the word error.
		
00:07:44 --> 00:07:50
			Tremendous film, talking about an FBI informant who was a Muslim.
		
00:07:52 --> 00:07:57
			In the second, HBO called Newburgh for
		
00:07:59 --> 00:08:05
			I'm gonna play a clip for you the neuberg for if the brothers can set it up inshallah.
		
00:08:14 --> 00:08:15
			And then they have to stick around
		
00:08:17 --> 00:08:21
			to seeing what's gonna provide all the materials and the money, whatever they want.
		
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26
			Automatically, in some of the manufacturing
		
00:08:31 --> 00:08:37
			it's a small city just soak in and drown in a poverty. Somebody offers you a large chunk of change.
What do we got to do?
		
00:08:38 --> 00:08:45
			This operation was specifically designed to turn them into terrorists. Do what you want to be.
		
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58
			Once you see something like that, you can't unsee it.
		
00:09:04 --> 00:09:13
			You must see that movie, you can download it. If you can even watch it tonight. You should do it.
		
00:09:17 --> 00:09:18
			Number one sisters.
		
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22
			I discovered something recently.
		
00:09:24 --> 00:09:29
			I grew up watching Mission Impossible. Have you ever seen that?
		
00:09:31 --> 00:09:32
			Mission Impossible.
		
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38
			If you study this case, and many cases like it
		
00:09:39 --> 00:09:48
			notice what a law says unquote and yeah, you already know me know. It's 10 ibuka film in a van in
the back that
		
00:09:49 --> 00:09:50
			will lead to just assume
		
00:09:51 --> 00:10:00
			oh you who believe stay away from most cases of suspicion because suspicion in some cases is a sense
		
00:10:01 --> 00:10:06
			What you saw here is what is called a sting operation.
		
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11
			They sin in every Masjid
		
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14
			agents, spies.
		
00:10:16 --> 00:10:26
			That's been known for years. So it's one thing to have a spy. But there's another thing to have an
agent provocateur.
		
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29
			What is an agent provocateur?
		
00:10:31 --> 00:10:47
			An agent comes in a spy comes in, and he watches the people. And he looks at any kind of tendency.
And then they target those people. And then they're going to try to make them extremist.
		
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51
			years ago, I'll never forget.
		
00:10:53 --> 00:10:54
			I was in my Masjid
		
00:10:56 --> 00:11:01
			in a brother came to me a Muslim brother and said he mom. So Raj.
		
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06
			I know where you can get hand grenades.
		
00:11:09 --> 00:11:15
			So yeah, and why would you? Why would I want hand grenades?
		
00:11:17 --> 00:11:18
			Agent provocateur?
		
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21
			He wanted me to bytes.
		
00:11:22 --> 00:11:31
			And had I said okay, where can you get hand grenades. The next thing you know, you'll be reading
about mmm Suraj quarter off to jail somewhere.
		
00:11:33 --> 00:11:40
			They come in and they look at people now, can I can I be honest.
		
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45
			In my Masjid in New York City,
		
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49
			we have a couple of crazy brothers
		
00:11:50 --> 00:11:51
			and sisters.
		
00:11:53 --> 00:12:00
			And you can get those folks to do most everything.
		
00:12:01 --> 00:12:17
			And that's what they did to these brothers, these four Muslim brothers. Some of them weaken their
faith. An agent provocateur came and said, let us blow up a temple let us blow up a church let us
blow up a synagogue.
		
00:12:18 --> 00:12:38
			And so it was a sting operation and these brothers went to jail for 25 years. This case inshallah
will go to the Supreme Court case, is the same old principle of coming into the masjid and
radicalizing the people in the masjid.
		
00:12:40 --> 00:12:41
			I'm going to show you one more clip.
		
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44
			Brother show this clip.
		
00:12:45 --> 00:13:02
			Here's a man who was a agent and a foreman of the United States government. Even came to my Masjid,
I knew the brother. And again, you should watch this movie. I'm going to show you a small clip. The
brothers complaint now.
		
00:13:10 --> 00:13:11
			Saved message.
		
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25
			Talk when people came to my work today.
		
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28
			Don't say Please don't say story.
		
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31
			People came to my work today and talk to me.
		
00:13:45 --> 00:13:46
			don't like the word informed.
		
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54
			They want to make a big bus.
		
00:14:01 --> 00:14:01
			This is a
		
00:14:02 --> 00:14:03
			person of interest.
		
00:14:06 --> 00:14:16
			The FBI routinely uses informants to criminalize first amendment protected activity. And this is the
same pattern that emerges in case after case after case
		
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22
			if something happens to me, but where does that leave my family?
		
00:14:26 --> 00:14:27
			I'm not in control of this.
		
00:14:28 --> 00:14:29
			They are in control of it.
		
00:14:37 --> 00:14:41
			What I want to do in the next few moments, brothers and sisters
		
00:14:43 --> 00:14:46
			is advice from one of your uncle's.
		
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50
			Think about this if you
		
00:14:51 --> 00:14:55
			think about these cases, and then we'll conclude
		
00:14:59 --> 00:14:59
			a lesson quarter
		
00:15:00 --> 00:15:06
			Oh you believe? Yeah you know the nominal Atilla wa t rasuluh.
		
00:15:08 --> 00:15:12
			Oh you believe, obey Allah and obey the messenger,
		
00:15:13 --> 00:15:39
			Ola Amata Min kume and those charged with authority among your internet XActo for sharing for rudo
who is alive or soon in consuming only Bella while Yeoman Ashura and obey those charged with
authority. If you differ with those charged with authority, refer it back to Allah and the
messenger. If it is you believe in Allah and the Last Day,
		
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44
			you have a right to question authority.
		
00:15:45 --> 00:16:01
			The only one that we obey absolutely is Allah and His messenger. Everyone else. We have a right to
ask questions. For instance, I was in South Africa, I'll never forget one morning. I was at the
masjid for fudger prayer.
		
00:16:03 --> 00:16:09
			And when they were about to make this, this a lot, they turned out every light in the masjid.
		
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13
			And so we prayed the prayer when the prayer was over.
		
00:16:15 --> 00:16:21
			I talked to the brother next to me, I said, Brother, why did they turn off the lights? He says, I
don't know.
		
00:16:23 --> 00:16:49
			You should ask the Imam. So I went to the Imam. I said, Hey, Mama, notice I'm from New York City.
And I noticed that when you before you call the comma, you turn that all the lights? Why did you do
that? He says, Oh he ma'am. Brother, this is what we do. I said, but why do you do it? He says
that's just the way it is. So we have to be very careful that we are in fact obeying a lot in the
messenger.
		
00:16:50 --> 00:16:59
			1400 years ago something happened and I think Allah blessed us for it to happen. So that the Prophet
Alayhi salat wa salam could teach us a lesson.
		
00:17:01 --> 00:17:11
			The Prophet sent an answer, in head of a delegation and told the people to follow Him, obey him.
		
00:17:12 --> 00:17:13
			And he went.
		
00:17:14 --> 00:17:30
			And when he went on the expedition, he got angry at these people. And he said to them, did the
Prophet say obey me? They said, Yes. He said, I order you to go get firewood, and they went and they
got the firewood.
		
00:17:31 --> 00:17:35
			He said, Now I order you to light the fire, and they lit the fire.
		
00:17:36 --> 00:17:40
			And then he said, I order you to jump in the fire.
		
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44
			And they looked at one another.
		
00:17:46 --> 00:17:57
			And they looked at one another and said that we followed the prophet to stay away from the fire. So
as they hesitated, the fire went out. In the anger of the men dissipated.
		
00:17:58 --> 00:18:15
			And the word got back to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon them. I want you to listen what
the prophet said. There's three versions. One Muslim, two boccardi. I say all three of them. Number
one, Muslim Hadith. The Prophet Alayhi salat wa salam said,
		
00:18:16 --> 00:18:17
			lo Dr. Lu
		
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21
			Malhotra Joon Minh,
		
00:18:22 --> 00:18:33
			in the metadata field maruf had you gone in that file you would not have come out because obedience
is only what is right.
		
00:18:34 --> 00:18:37
			Bukhari Hadith, a little bit different.
		
00:18:38 --> 00:18:42
			Load the Hulu, her Mahara Juha Ella Yeoman qiyamah
		
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47
			had you gone in there, you'd never would have come out until the day of judgment
		
00:18:49 --> 00:18:59
			in the middle of mellow Anima Tata filma Ruth, obedience is only that which is right and just and
the last one is the scariest of the mall.
		
00:19:01 --> 00:19:02
			Makati Hadees.
		
00:19:03 --> 00:19:21
			Loud duck Aloha. makara Juha Abba, in the metadata field maroof had you gone in that fire, you will
never have come out for obedience is only that which is right, just unfair.
		
00:19:22 --> 00:19:27
			I've learned that all this that you see around us is nothing but a game.
		
00:19:29 --> 00:19:29
			It's a movie.
		
00:19:30 --> 00:19:31
			It ain't real.
		
00:19:33 --> 00:19:38
			And you brothers and sisters have to be very careful, because it's all an act.
		
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43
			How many of you saw in the movie mathematics?
		
00:19:46 --> 00:19:59
			When you have a movie, you have what is called the casting director. And the casting director is the
one to make the determination who's going to play what role so the cast
		
00:20:00 --> 00:20:06
			Director decided that Denzel Washington will play Malcolm X and not Brad Pitt.
		
00:20:10 --> 00:20:13
			It is. When you look at the movie Malcolm X.
		
00:20:14 --> 00:20:18
			You said, Oh, this is Malcolm. No, that's not Malcolm.
		
00:20:20 --> 00:20:20
			It's a movie.
		
00:20:21 --> 00:20:51
			And these people, brothers and sisters, I'm telling you, we're dealing with people that's got an
agenda. And the agenda is to destroy Islam is no question about that. If it's wrong for Muslims to
attack innocent people, then it's wrong for non Muslims to attack Muslims. All of it is unjust. All
of it is extreme. So our religion is a religion of balance. But balance is in the eye of the
beholder.
		
00:20:52 --> 00:20:53
			There was a Muslim
		
00:20:55 --> 00:21:07
			living in New York City, a businessman, very successful. He decided that he wanted to run for
Congress of the United States of America. Good Muslim brother. I helped them.
		
00:21:08 --> 00:21:15
			I took them to different Masjid. We raised money, we went on the radio, we went up, went on
television. He didn't win, but he did very well.
		
00:21:17 --> 00:21:20
			He decided to go to Hajj to go to Mecca.
		
00:21:21 --> 00:21:25
			And when he came back, the first thing that I noticed that he had a beard
		
00:21:26 --> 00:21:27
			and he said to me,
		
00:21:29 --> 00:21:30
			mmm Suraj I used to think
		
00:21:32 --> 00:21:35
			that to pray five times a day would be extremely.
		
00:21:36 --> 00:21:44
			This brother turned his life around. Now he's a full fully practicing Muslim.
		
00:21:45 --> 00:21:49
			In London, I was there in August.
		
00:21:51 --> 00:21:53
			And after me, after Jamal Badawi
		
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58
			and another brother we spoke
		
00:21:59 --> 00:22:02
			in the in, in the question and answer period,
		
00:22:03 --> 00:22:05
			a Muslim school teacher stood up,
		
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08
			almost with tears in his eyes.
		
00:22:10 --> 00:22:19
			He said that we as school teachers must observe the Muslims in our class.
		
00:22:20 --> 00:22:27
			And if any Muslim in our class is becoming more righteous, we must report them.
		
00:22:29 --> 00:22:32
			Imagine how the students feel
		
00:22:33 --> 00:22:35
			that now they are under suspicion.
		
00:22:37 --> 00:22:41
			If now they want to practice their faith, they're under suspicion.
		
00:22:43 --> 00:23:13
			No, we are not radicals. But we are not gonna let someone define our faith. We're gonna be Muslims,
all the days of our lives. We're gonna wear a hijab. We're gonna do everything that a Muslim
supposed to do. But we're not going to be extreme. Be going to obey Allah and His Messenger began to
be servants of Allah. And that's what it's all about. It's not about killing. It's about being
servants of Allah, the Almighty. If we do that,
		
00:23:14 --> 00:23:20
			Allah will bless us. actual question, how many of you heard of Martin Luther King Jr? Raise your
hand.
		
00:23:23 --> 00:23:28
			Did you know that in 1964, he got the Nobel Peace Prize.
		
00:23:29 --> 00:23:33
			Who can tell me? Where was Martin Luther King?
		
00:23:34 --> 00:23:38
			When he learned that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, where was he?
		
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54
			Not Washington DC. Nowhere.
		
00:23:57 --> 00:24:00
			Jail. Excellent. But wrong.
		
00:24:03 --> 00:24:03
			Where was he?
		
00:24:08 --> 00:24:09
			What do you say?
		
00:24:12 --> 00:24:13
			I tell you where he was.
		
00:24:14 --> 00:24:15
			He was in a hospital.
		
00:24:17 --> 00:24:18
			He was exhausted.
		
00:24:19 --> 00:24:23
			And you know why he was exhausted. He was fighting for his people
		
00:24:25 --> 00:24:25
			every day.
		
00:24:27 --> 00:24:45
			And you know what his message was? non violence. When Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968.
Did you know that there were 110 riots around the country that cause people to lose their lives,
lose property, lose businesses.
		
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48
			I'm saying to you as I conclude
		
00:24:50 --> 00:24:51
			13 years
		
00:24:52 --> 00:24:56
			in Mecca, muscles wall pressed
		
00:24:57 --> 00:24:59
			and those 13 years Allah
		
00:25:00 --> 00:25:06
			Never, ever mentioned once, even about fighting back.
		
00:25:07 --> 00:25:33
			Allah was training his own man, training his own man to be servants of Allah, training them to do
what Allah say do not to fight not to kill. It wasn't until after 13 years and migrated to Medina,
then finally, Allah revealed in court and what caught the Lucy cccb de la allatheena, you caught the
Luna Ko, well, I tried to do in the LA LA
		
00:25:35 --> 00:26:05
			and fight with those who fight against you. But don't go beyond the boundaries of Love, love, not
those who go beyond the boundaries. The key is that we are servants of Allah, and we do what the law
say, we're here in America, and we are going to make America better. We're not going to hide our
faith. We're gonna show the light everywhere. I want to remind you, I want to remind you, I want to
remind you, that the Prophet gave an example of what we are in.
		
00:26:06 --> 00:26:39
			We all in the same boat. He mentioned the bad people who tried to put a hole in the boat. He said,
If you hold his hand, you will save him and you save yourself. If you let him go, you destroy him
and you destroy yourself. We want America better. We want America hold and we are going to stand out
and show the light of Islam and we're gonna do it without patience, I love and obedience to Allah
and the messenger. May Allah bless all of you as salaam alaikum