Siraj Wahhaj was born in 1950 in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. He joined the Nation of Islam in 1969 and became the imam of Masjid Muhammad 7C in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1976. Two years later, he studied with the Muslim World League in Chicago, Illinois and at Umm Al-Qura University in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He founded Masjid At-Taqwa in 1981, and purchased a building in Bedford-Stuyvesant to house the mosque the following year. As the imam of Masjid At-Taqwa, he coordinated successful efforts to reduce crime in the area, especially through anti-drug patrols in January of 1988, and also emphasized significant community outreach. He was the first Muslim to give an opening prayer for the United States House of Representatives in 1991, and in 2004, he founded the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) to advocate for Muslim Americans' needs and civil rights. He also served on the city's Majils As-Shura Islamic Leadership Council of New York, campaigned for New York City public schools to formally recognize Muslim Eid holidays, and represented Masjid At-Taqwa in the Raza v. City of New York lawsuit against the New York City Police Department for religiously-motivated surveillance.