Renowned Islamic scholar coming to Stevens
Lecture, held on the final day of Ramadan, is open to Stevens community
HOBOKEN, N.J. — Imam Siraj Wahaj, a world-renowned Islamic Scholar and community activist, will be giving a lecture at Stevens Institute of Technology on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2005 at 5:15 pm in the Howe Center 4th floor Bissinger room. The lecture, “The Almighty God, as taught by Moses, Jesus Christ and Mohammad,” will be held on the final day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. In celebration, a free Halal Dinner will be catered for the event. All Stevens students and employees are cordially invited. At the end of the lecture, Wahaj will be glad to answer any questions from the audience.
This event is presented by the Pakistani Student Association (PakSA), Black Student Union (BSU), Russian Organization of Stevens Tech (ROOST), National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the Malaysian Student Association (MASA) and Student Life as part of Islamic Awareness Week at Stevens. The events for Islamic Awareness Week are as listed:
Monday, Oct. 31, 3 p.m. , Hayden lounge: “Islam Explained” presentation.
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 3 p.m. Hayden Lounge: “The Last Day” video presentation.
Wednesday, Nov. 2, 5:15 p.m. Bissinger room: Imam Siraj Wahaj.
Thursday, Nov. 3, 3 p.m. , Hayden Lounge: “The Miracles of the Quran” video.
Wahaj is a well-known African-American Muslim speaker in North America , and a supporter of Islamic causes in America . He's currently the Imam (religious congregation leader) of the Masjid Al-Taqwa Mosque. Born and raised in New York as Jeffrey Kearse, he became a Sunday school teacher as a teenager, then later went to New York University (NYU) where he studied Math Education. In 1969, he converted to Islam. He changed his name to Siraj Wahaj, which means “Bright Light” in Arabic, and was chosen to receive Imam training at the Ummul Qura university of Mecca in 1978. In addition, he also taught Islamic Studies at Howard University.
Siraj has been vice president of Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) since 1997 and has served on the Majlis Ash-Shura, a consultative council of Islamic scholars, since 1987. He is also a member of the board of advisors for the American Muslim Council. He has appeared on several national television talk shows and interviews in America and was the first person to give an Islamic invocation to the United States Congress. He led his Brooklyn community in an anti-drug patrol in Brooklyn, New York, which was a success and put a dent in the drug trade in Bedford-Stuyvesant, and received praise from the New York Police Department for his work.
For more information, please contact Hesham Ismail at hismail@stevens.edu.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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