Islamic Society of Boston
Transcription
Islamic Society of Boston
THE CASE AGAINST THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF BOSTON AMERICANS FOR PEACE AND TOLERANCE BOSTON PEACEANDTOLERANCE.ORG MUSLIMS FACING TOMORROW TORONTO MUSLIMSFACINGTOMORROW.COM The Case Against the Islamic Society of Boston APRIL 2016 AMERICANS FOR PEACE AND TOLERANCE Email: apt@peaceandtolerance.org Tel: (617) 202-3004 COPYRIGHT © AMERICANS FOR PEACE AND TOLERANCE, 2016 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 ORIGINS 8 PEOPLE 12 Abdulrahman Alamoudi, ISB Founder 12 Osama Kandil, ISB Trustee 14 Walid Fitaihi, ISB Treasurer 15 Yusuf Al Qaradawi, Spiritual Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and ISB Trustee Muhammad Attawia, ISB Trustee 15 16 Jamal Badawi, ISB Trustee 17 Mustafa Abu Sway, ISB President 1990-1992 18 Basyouni Nehela, ISB Imam 19 Hossam Al Jabri, ISB Trustee 19 Mahdi Bray, ISB PR officer 20 Muhammad Ali Salaam, ISB leader and BRA official 20 Suhaib Webb, Imam 21 TERRORISM 23 TERROR FINANCE 26 ISB IDEOLOGY 31 Da’wah 31 Tarbiya Misogyny 32 34 Anti-Semitism 35 Homophobia 35 Extremists at the Pulpit 36 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 5 INTRODUCTION At this fraught time in the history of Islamist radicalism, extremism and terrorism, it is important that public authorities, especially including police and security services, not inadvertently confer legitimacy and credibility on organizations and individuals whose histories and associations raise legitimate questions about their ideological background, links and agendas. These groups have a history of falsely presenting themselves as the only legitimate voice of ordinary Muslims and that fact is enough to ring alarm bells because no one Muslim organization speaks for all of us. As shown in the case of the Islamic Society of Boston, one way in which authorities can unintentionally assist in building the credibility of undeserving, extremist groups and individuals is by sponsoring and attending their meetings and events. Meanwhile, the silent majority – genuinely moderate Muslims – are left without a voice. Given the importance of ensuring that official public outreach to Muslim communities involve only reliable representatives of moderate Islam – especially as models for Muslim youth – the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow believes that media and political leaders must not give legitimacy to organizations and groups that have any subversive links to terrorism. We consider ourselves the front line warriors in the battle against a global jihadist insurgency and we seek to create the necessary understanding of the issues by our policy makers and legal systems. Our work is made much more difficult if we have to constantly monitor the subversive agendas of Islamist groups who have learned to charm politicians in front of the cameras while preaching hate and radicalism from behind the pulpit. Raheel Raza President, Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow 6 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Islamic Society of Boston (ISB), one of New England’s most prominent religious institutions, has long benefitted from the support of Massachusetts’s political, cultural, religious and media elite. ISB officials have advised the Massachusetts governor, enjoyed the support of Boston’s mayors, spoken at Boston’s largest synagogue, and been made the subject of admiring pieces in the Boston Globe. This support is bewildering when one considers the wealth of evidence linking the ISB to the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups, its hosting of hate preachers, and its teaching of a radical curriculum within the American Muslim community. Clear evidence of this and more is based on years of research by counter-extremist groups and the fallout from an abortive high-profile lawsuit against critics of the ISB’s terror links. This dossier serves to document much of what we know about the ISB’s extremist links. It paints a troubling picture, and should remind those in the state and federal government who think the ISB might make a suitable interfaith or intercultural partner that they are sorely and dangerously wrong. What we do know about the ISB is troubling and incontrovertible. The ISB was established as a key component of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. Its founder, Abdulrahman Alamoudi, has been named by the federal government as a key Al Qaeda operative and imprisoned for almost two decades. Other trustees have included senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders who have repeatedly used antidemocratic, pro-terror and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Today, the ISB remains closely connected with Muslim Brotherhood organizations, but also works with other Islamist and Salafist groups, and continues to promote preachers from across the Islamist spectrum. Twelve leaders, donors and worshippers at the ISB’s two mosques have been either charged with terrorism offenses, killed, deported or fugitives from the law. The surviving Boston marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who attended the ISB, used his last hours hiding from police to scribble extremist rhetoric eerily similar to Islamist tracts found to be part of a Muslim Brotherhood training program, named Tarbiya, a version of which is taught at the ISB. The ISB has been financed by organizations and individuals based across the Middle East, from Saudi Arabia to Kuwait, some of which are closely connected with Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. The ISB itself also gave $14,000 to the Holy Land Foundation, a terror-financing charity that was shut down in 2001, with its leaders convicted in a high-profile trial, during which several ISB trustees were implicated. If there was once any suspicion that the ISB was simply misguided or merely included a few bad apples, that notion was disproved long ago. The ISB is institutionally and ideologically extreme. Its links to radical Islamism are indisputable, and its imams and preachers continue to peddle hate. The THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 7 ISB is not just a mosque; it is a key institution of American Islamism – or, as the writer Joy Brighton labels it: Sharia-ism. Perhaps one of the greatest injustices in the tale of the ISB has been the effect of the ISB’s extremist agenda on Boston’s historically moderate Muslim community. Today, those Boston Muslims who oppose the extremist ideals of the ISB and its affiliates have been intimidated into silence. Their platform was taken away by the ISB, which sought to impose its own strain of Islamism upon American Islam, facilitated by naively eager politicians keen to latch on to any Muslim voice. For as long as Massachusetts’ media and political elite continue to empower the ISB, Islamism and its violent ideas will continue to sow hatred for non-Muslims, foment extremist plots and marginalize those among Boston’s Muslims who oppose such dangerous bigotry. 8 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB ORIGINS The Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) was established in 1981 and officially incorporated in 1982 1 by members of Muslim Students Associations based at Harvard University, Boston University, MIT, Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute, Suffolk University, and Tufts University. 2 Until 2004, the ISB’s constitution declared: “The organization shall be affiliated with the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Arab Youth Association, the North American Islamic Trust and the Muslim Student Association.” 3 During the 2007 terror financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation, these four organizations would be uncovered as the building blocks of the American Muslim Brotherhood. 4 Muslim Student Associations (MSAs) across the United States were Sharia-ist groups founded and managed by Muslim Brotherhood activists who came to study in the US in the 1960s. These MSAs functioned as the organizational beachheads of Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] activism in the U.S. and are the predecessors to most of today’s American Islamist bodies. 5 During the 1980s, the leaders of the MSAs established Islamic community centers. This process was centrally directed by the Muslim Brotherhood leadership. In a 1982 talk at a national Muslim Brotherhood conference, which was secretly recorded by the FBI and submitted as evidence during the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial, US Muslim Brotherhood leader Zeid al Noman, described the process: “The reality of the Movement is that it is a students’ Movement. What the movement should be is to become a Movement for the residents…In the years ’80 and ’81, we started to work on a new kind of plan which is planning at the regions’ level…The first change was moving the Ikhwans from working at the branches of the MSA and the [Muslim Arab Youth] Association as branches whose activities are based on universities…to what is called at that time ‘The Muslim House’…a house near the university with Ikhwans living in a part of it and the rest of it becoming a mosque…We notice that during the past two or three years that many of the students’ gathering started to establish Islamic centers. This Islamic Society of Boston, Articles of Organization, 1982, Commonwealth of Massachusetts: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/ uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ISB-Articles-of-Organization.pdf 1 “Islamic Society of Boston,” The Pluralism Project at Harvard University, 2009, accessed on 10/18/15: http://www.pluralism.org/profiles/view/ 69268 2 Islamic Society of Boston, “The Society's Constitution”: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ISB-OriginalConstitution.pdf 3 "An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America,” 1991, presented as Government Exhibit 003-0085, U.S. v. HLF, et al., 2006. http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Muslim-Brotherhood-General-Strategic-Goalfor-North-America.pdf 4 "General Strategic Goal for North Americaa,” 1991, presented as Government Exhibit 003-0003, U.S. v. HLF, et al., 2006. http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Muslim-Brotherhood-History-in-the-US-1991.pdf 5 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 9 was also another healthy move for settling the Dawa’a, as the presence of the Islamic center means the presence of residents…means permanent foundations in these cities.” 6 As with the MSAs, the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA) was also active in Boston during the 1980s. When MAYA got around to officially incorporating as an Indiana corporation in 1993, ISB trustee Osama Kandil, along with Osama Bin Laden’s extremist nephew, was one of its incorporating directors. 7 According to the Muslim Brotherhood’s 1991 internal report on the history and future of the Muslim Brotherhood in America: “Muslim Arab Youth Association and its work centered around the Muslim Students coming to America from all the Arab countries. It developed significantly during the eighties and the Ikhwan play a fundamental role in leading and directing it at the leadership and the grassroots levels.” 8 According to the FBI, MAYA’s leaders, “played pivotal roles in building HAMAS’s infrastructure in the United States.” The FBI claims that "MAYA served as a conduit for money to HAMAS . . . and served as a forum where HAMAS could promote its ideology and recruit new members.” 9 While the MSAs developed these regional Islamic centers, it also established the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a national body to manage its expansion. According to the same 1991 internal report: “In 1980, the Muslim Students [Association] was developed into the Islamic Society in North America (ISNA) to include all the Muslim congregation from immigrants and citizens, and to be a nucleus for the Islamic Movement in North America.” 10 Today, the ISB is still closely associated with these parent Muslim Brotherhood organizations. The ISB continued to maintain its tax exempt status under the umbrella of ISNA. 11 And ISB financial records indicate that the ISB actively funded several local MSAs between 2000 and 2003 – giving the MSA of UMass Lowell $800, the Harvard Islamic Society $1500, the MIT MSA $3000, and the Islamic Society of Northeastern University a total of $9,816. 12 In 2000, the ISB donated $1,500 to the Muslim Arab Youth Association. 13 6 "Ikhwan in America. Zeid," Investigative Project, accessed on 10/20/15: http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/26.pdf Muslim Arab Youth Association, Articles of Organization, 1993, Indiana: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/ 4/2016/05/MAYA-Articles-of-Incorporation.pdf 7 “Shura Council Report on the future of the Group,” Investigative Project, accessed on 10/20/15: http://www.investigativeproject.org/document/ 21-shura-council-report-on-the-future-of-the-group 8 FBI Declaration in the Matter of Nabil Sadoun, Investigative Project, accessed on 01/23/16: http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/ misc/846.pdf 9 “Shura Council Report on the future of the Group,” Investigative Project, accessed on 10/20/15: http://www.investigativeproject.org/document/ 21-shura-council-report-on-the-future-of-the-group 10 John Kennedy. "Internal Revenue Service Letter: ISB Exemption under ISNA Umbrella." Letter to Boston Herald. 3 November 2003: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ISB-ISNA-Tax-Exempt-Group-Determination.pdf 11 Islamic Society of Boston, Check for “MSA UMASS - Lowell”: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ISBDonation-to-UMass-Lowell.pdf; Islamic Society of Boston, Check for “Event at Harvard with Jamal Badawi”: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ISB-Donations-to-Harvard-Islamic-Society.pdf; Islamic Society of Boston, Check for “MIT MSA”: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ISB-Donation-to-MIT-Muslim-StudentsAssociation.pdf; Islamic Society of Boston, Check for “Islamic Society of North Eastern Univ”: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/ uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ISB-Donations-to-Islamic-Society-of-Northeastern.pdf 12 Islamic Society of Boston, Check for “MAYA”: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ISB-Donation-toMAYA.pdf 13 10 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB In the decades following the establishment of the ISB, a number of new Islamist bodies associated with the ISB came to the fore. By 2008, control of the ISB’s mosque in Roxbury was handed over to the Muslim American Society (MAS National), which federal prosecutors have labelled the “overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.” 14 ISB and Muslim American Society officials assumed positions in each other’s organizations. 15 In July 2002, notes from a meeting of the ISB Board of trustees reported the establishment of a close working relationship with the MAS: “[T]he relationship is a marriage and presently it is in the engagement phase. MAS [National] shall run the day-to-day operations while the [ISB Trust Board of Trustees] should be entrusted to oversee security and finance.” 16 In 2004, Walid Salaam, the then-Director of the ISB’s Cambridge mosque, and its Imam, Basyouni Nehela, incorporated MAS Boston. 17 By 2008, MAS Boston had assumed responsibility of the ISBCC - the ISB’s Roxbury-based mosque and cultural center. The previous managers, the ISB Trust, have continued to own the land. Today, the ISBCC website states: “ISBCC is currently being managed administratively by MAS-Boston. As such, the board members of MAS-Boston are your board members!” 18 The leadership of the ISB Trust, and ISBCC Mosque/MAS Boston are closely intertwined: ISB Trust MAS Boston/ISBCC Mosque Hassan Al Alami Trustee President Jamal Badawi Trustee Sameh El Difrawi Trustee Mohammad Attawia Former Trustee MAS National Founder Founding Director Former Director A significant connection between the ISB and terrorism is PTech, a small software company in Boston. In 2002, PTech was raided by counter-terrorism agents. PTech had come to the attention of the authorities in the months following the 9/11 attacks, when PTech’s investor, Yassin Al Qadi, was identified by the United States government as one of Osama bin Laden's “chief money launderers.” 19 Further investigation found that a considerable number of PTech’s other staff and directors were affiliated with Hamas and Al Qaeda networks. 20 14 United States of America v. Sabri Benkahla, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 07-4778. "Minutes of ISB BOT Annual Meeting in Boston, July 2-4, 2002”, Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed 10/22/15: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/09/ISB-BoT-Annual-Meeting-Minutes-July-2002.pdf 15 Islamic Society of Boston, Board of Trustees Annual Meeting Minutes, July 2002: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/ sites/4/2016/05/Exhibit-9-ISB-BoT-Annual-Meeting-Minutes-July-2002.pdf 16 MAS Boston Society, Articles of Organization, 2004, Commonwealth of Massachusetts: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/ sites/4/2016/05/Exhibit-10-MAS-Boston-Articles-of-Organization.pdf 17 Screenshot of ISBCC website, accessed 3/5/16: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Exhibit-7-ISBCCBoard-Members.pdf 18 Jeff Johnson, “Tearful FBI Agent Apologizes To Sept. 11 Families and Victims,” CNS News, 7 July 2008, accessed 5/20/16: http://cnsnews.com/ news/article/tearful-fbi-agent-apologizes-sept-11-families-and-victims-0 19 Rachel Ehrenfeld, “The Business of Terror,” Frontpage Magazine, 17 June 2005, accessed 5/20/16: http://archive.frontpagemag.com/ readArticle.aspx?ARTID=8245 20 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 11 A number of prosecutions followed. In 2005, PTech board member Suliman Buheiri was convicted for his dealings with Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook. In 2008, PTech employee Muhamed Mubayyid was convicted for his role in Care International, an Al Qaeda-linked group used as “a front for the collection of donations…used to support violent jihadists.” 21 Then, in 2009, PTech founder Oussama Ziade was indicted on charges of dealing in the property of a designated terrorist, failing to block the terrorist's assets and making false statements to federal investigators. 22 He is currently a fugitive. Ziade was a donor to the ISB. 23 Quite a few staff and directors of PTech, in fact, were closely intertwined with the ISB. 24 Ziade’s co-founder of PTech, Abdulrahman Alamoudi, also originally founded the ISB. Alamoudi is currently serving a jail sentence for his role in the attempted assassination of a Saudi Crown Prince. 25 Other ISB connections include: Hossam Al Jabri, one of PTech’s software engineers, who is currently a board member of the ISB’s Roxbury mosque; Saladin Ali-Salaam, a PTech network administrator and the son of ISB leader Muhammad Ali-Salaam; and Suheil Laher, PTech’s “chief architect” and, today, a frequent speaker at the ISB. 26 Other ISB figures who were not directly involved in PTech nevertheless lent their support. Basyouni Nehela, an imam at the ISB, posted a message on the ISB’s website encouraging Muslims to support PTech against their ‘oppressors.’ 27 As an institution, the ISB is evidently closely connected with the Muslim Brotherhood. Who, then, are the key people involved? “Former Officers of a Muslim Charity, Care International, Inc., Convicted,” Department of Justice, 11 January 2008, accessed 5/20/16: https:// www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2008/January/08_nsd_021.html 21 “Ptech Officials Indicted for Allegedly Concealing Terror Financier's Assets,” IPT News, 16 July 2009, accessed 5/20/16: http:// www.investigativeproject.org/1094/ptech-officials-indicted-for-allegedly-concealing 22 23 Oussama Ziade, Check for the ISBCC: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Ziade-Checks.pdf David Bernstein, “The PTech connection?,” Boston Phoenix, 24 November 2008, accessed 5/20/16: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/ 72381-ptech-connection/ 24 Thomas Crampton, “Muslim Advocate Sentenced to 23 Years for Libyan Dealings,” New York Times, 16 October 2004, accessed 5/20/16: http:// www.nytimes.com/2004/10/16/politics/muslim-advocate-sentenced-to-23-years-for-libyan-dealings.html?_r=0 25 “Friday Halaqah with Sh. Suheil Laher,” Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, 27 February 2013, accessed on 20/10/15: http://isbcc.org/ friday-halaqah-with-sh-suheil-laher/ 26 Jonathan Wells, Jack Meyers, Maggie Mulvihill and Kevin Wisniewski, “Under suspicion: Hub mosque leader tied to radical groups,” Boston Herald, 29 October 2003; Screenshot of Islamic Society of Boston website, 12 December 2002: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/ uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Nehelas-statement-on-Ptech.pdf 27 12 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB PEOPLE Credit: Pluralism Project, Harvard University Abdulrahman Alamoudi, ISB Founder Abdulrahman Alamoudi, along with other students from Muslim Student Associations in Massachusetts, founded the ISB in 1982, and incorporated its legal entity in 1982. 28 Some twenty years later, in 2004, Alamoudi pled guilty in a U.S. court to conspiring with the Libyan regime to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. 29 The following year, the federal government stated that the “arrest of Alamoudi was a severe blow to al Qaida, as Alamoudi had a close relationship with al Qaida and had raised money for al Qaida in the United States.” Alamoudi, the U.S. government revealed, had given $1 million to the Al Qaeda Islamic Society of Boston, Articles of Organization, 1982, Commonwealth of Massachusetts: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/ uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ISB-Articles-of-Organization.pdf 28 Thomas Crampton, “Muslim Advocate Sentenced to 23 Years for Libyan Dealings,” New York Times, 16 October 2004, accessed 5/20/16: http:// www.nytimes.com/2004/10/16/politics/muslim-advocate-sentenced-to-23-years-for-libyan-dealings.html?_r=0 29 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 13 operative Saad Al Faqih and his British-based organization, the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia. 30 Alamoudi’s terrorism conviction should not have been a surprise. During the 1990s, he had established and sat on the boards of a number of Hamas-linked organizations, such as the American Muslim Council, as well as the Success Foundation and the Happy Hearts Trust, which funded the Humanitarian Relief Association, a prominent Hamas front group. 31 Alamoudi also worked, alongside Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook, for the United Association for Studies and Research, which, in 2000, federal prosecutors revealed to be a component of a Hamas fundraising network in the U.S.. 32 In 2001, Alamoudi attended a conference in Beirut with leaders of the terror groups Al Qaeda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. And in 2003, federal court documents alleged Alamoudi funneled tens of thousands of dollars to Hamas through other organizations under his control. 33 In the years after founding the ISB, Alamoudi was certainly not shy about his terror connections. At a rally in Washington D.C., Alamoudi told the crowd: “We are all supporters of Hamas, Allahu Akbar … I am also a supporter of Hezbollah.” 34 The “arrest of Alamoudi was a severe blow to al Qaida, as Alamoudi had a close relationship with al Qaida and had raised money for al Qaida in the United States.” Despite Alamoudi’s open support for terrorist groups, and contrary to its claims to have broken ties with him in the 1990s, the ISB paid for Alamoudi to travel to Boston and speak to the city’s Muslim community less than a month after the D.C. rally. 35 Alamoudi believed that the Islamist struggle in America, however, should eschew terrorist violence in favor of political infiltration and social engineering – in 1996, he told a crowd of Hamas supporters: “This country will become a Muslim country. And I think if we outside this country we can say ‘oh, Allah destroy America’, but once we are here, our mission in this country is to change it. … There is nowhere for Muslims to be violent in America, nowhere at all. We have other means to do it. You can be violent anywhere else but in America.” 36 The ISB, it seems, is a manifestation of this approach. Alamoudi was also a founder of PTech, a Massachusetts company funded by Yassin Al Qadi, who was identified by the United States government as one of Osama bin Laden's “chief money launderers.” 37 “Treasury Designates MIRA for Support to Al Qaida,” JS-2632, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 14 July 2005, accessed 5/21/16: https:// www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/js2632.aspx 30 31 Matthew Levitt, Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 187-188 Judith Miller, “Suit Accuses Islamic Charities Of Fund-Raising for Terrorism,” New York Times, 13 May 2000, accessed 5/21/16: http:// www.nytimes.com/2000/05/13/us/suit-accuses-islamic-charities-of-fund-raising-for-terrorism.html 32 33 United States of America v. Abdurahman Muhammad Alamoudi, United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, 30 September 2003 34 Mahdi Bray at Lafayette Park Rally, 28 October 2000, YouTube, accessed on 10/22/15: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBIcfigtbEU Islamic Society of Boston, Check to Lightstar Travel for Alamoudi: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ ISB-Check-to-LightStar-Travel-for-Alamoudi.pdf 35 36 Lorenzo Vidino, The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 216 Jeff Johnson, “Tearful FBI Agent Apologizes To Sept. 11 Families and Victims,” CNS News, 7 July 2008, accessed 5/20/16: http:// cnsnews.com/news/article/tearful-fbi-agent-apologizes-sept-11-families-and-victims-0 37 14 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB Osama Kandil, ISB Trustee Long-serving ISB trustee Osama Kandil also founded the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), along with Osama Bin Laden’s nephew, Abdullah Bin Laden. 38 In 1991, a Muslim Brotherhood document identified MAYA as one of its front groups. 39 During its heyday in the late 1980s and 1990s, MAYA’s organized conferences for young Islamists in America, and brought prominent Middle Eastern terrorists to incite, recruit, and fundraise among them. At a 1988 MAYA conference in Oklahoma, Osama Bin Laden’s mentor Abdullah Azzam told the audience of American Muslims: “It has been revealed that you should perform Jihad with your lives and your wealth.” 40 The current global leader of Hamas, Khalid Meshaal, was the keynote speaker at MAYA’s 1992 convention. In 1995, MAYA invited the Hamas military leader, Sheikh Muhammad Siyam, to address one of its conferences. Siyam told the crowd: “Finish off the Israelis. Kill them all. Exterminate them. No peace ever.” 41 By 2004, MAYA had been added to a U.S. government list of Islamic organizations that supported terror. 42 That same year, the government named Kandil as a member of the SAFA Group, a network of businesses and charities operating out of Virginia, accused of laundering funds for terrorist groups. 43 In addition, Kandil, along with Abdulrahman Alamoudi and Osama Bin Laden’s nephew Abdullah Bin Laden, was a director of an organization named Tabiah International, 44 which federal prosecutors linked to Al Qaeda. 45 Osama Kandil was the original chairman of the board of trustees of the ISB. He remained as such for over a decade. In 2004, following a media furor over the ISB’s extremist connections, the Boston Globe reported that Kandil and his colleagues had been replaced by a “new leadership,” which would work as a “moderating influence” and which was “free of extremist influences.” 46 This new face of the ISB was a facade – land registry records reveal that Kandil remains one of the legal owners of the ISB’s mosques up until the present time. 47 Muslim Arab Youth Association, Articles of Organization, 1993, Indiana: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/ 4/2016/05/MAYA-Articles-of-Incorporation.pdf 38 “Shura Council Report on the future of the Group,” Investigative Project, accessed on 10/20/15: http://www.investigativeproject.org/document/ 21-shura-council-report-on-the-future-of-the-group 39 40 Steve Emerson, “American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us” (New York, The Free Press, 2002) 127 David Firestone, “F.B.I. Traces Hamas's Plan to Finance Attacks to '93,” New York Times, 6 December 2001, accessed 5/21/16: http:// www.nytimes.com/2001/12/06/international/middleeast/06HOLY.html 41 “Records Sought About Tax-exempt Organizations for Committee’s Terror Finance Probe,” United States Senate Committee on Finance, 14 January 2004 42 Safa Group: Officers and Directors & Their Related Businesses and Organizations, Investigative Proejct, accessed on 10/22/15: http:// www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/890.pdf 43 Taibah International Aid Organization, 2002 Annual Report, Commonwealth of Virginia, 18 November 2002, accessed 5/20/16: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Taibah-International-2002-Annual-Report.pdf 44 Glenn Simpson, “Report Links Charity To an al Qaeda Front,” Wall Street Journal, 20 September 2002, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.wsj.com/ articles/SB1032477911855657875 45 “A moderating mosque,” Boston Globe, 15 October 2004, accessed 5/21/16: http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/ articles/2004/10/15/a_moderating_mosque/ 46 47 "Appointment of Trustee," Islamic Society of Boston Trust, Middlesex, South District, Registry of Deeds, 4 July 2007 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 15 Walid Fitaihi, ISB Treasurer Walid Fitaihi is a treasurer of the ISB, but he was also an inaugural trustee of the Islamic Society of Boston Trust, a body established in 1993 to to hold the legal ownership of the land on which the ISB’s mosques were built. In 2000, Fitaihi described Jews as the “murderers of prophets” In 2000, Fitaihi described Jews as the “murderers of prophets” and claimed that they would be “scourged” for their “oppression, murder and rape of the worshippers of Allah.” 48 In 2005, the ISB filed a lawsuit against a number of Boston media and human rights activists who had exposed the ISB’s extremist connections. The case dragged on for several years. In 2007, after a Massachusetts judge ruled that Fitaihi and his fellow trustees must be joined as plaintiffs to the suit and submit themselves to the discovery process, Fitaihi quickly resigned as a trustee before he would have to comply. 49 A few months later, the ISB dropped its lawsuit entirely, upon which Fitaihi was suddenly reappointed as a trustee. 50 According to bank records obtained during the ISB’s failed lawsuit, Fitaihi and his family donated over $2 million to the ISB. 51 Yusuf Al Qaradawi, Spiritual Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and ISB Trustee Yusuf Al Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood, was one of the original trustees of the ISB, and remained listed as such on IRS filings until 2000. 52 He was also listed as an “additional trustee” of the Islamic Society of Boston Trust. 53 Dean Barnett, “The Islamists Are Coming!” The Weekly Standard, Vol. 12, No. 37, 11 June 2007, accessed 5/21/16: http:// www.weeklystandard.com/the-islamists-are-coming/article/14838; Also see: Floyd Abrams, “Be Careful What You Sue For,” Wall Street Journal, 6 June 2007, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.wsj.com/articles/ SB118109777647426054 48 “Resignation of Trustee,” Islamic Society of Boston Trust, Middlesex Registry of Deeds, 7 March 2007: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wpcontent/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Walid-Fitaihi-resignation.pdf 49 "Appointment of Trustee," Islamic Society of Boston Trust, Middlesex, South District, Registry of Deeds, 4 July 2007: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Walid-Fitaihi-reappointment.pdf 50 “Islamic Society of Boston's Saudi Funding Ledger,” Americans for Peace and Tolerance, accessed on 10/22/15: www.scribd.com/doc/257176825/ Islamic-Society-of-Boston-s-Saudi-Funding-Ledger 51 Islamic Society of Boston, Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, 2000: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ ISB-990-2000.pdf 52 Declaration of Trust, Islamic Society of Boston Trust, Middlesex Registry of Deeds, 30 November 1993, http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wpcontent/uploads/sites/4/2015/09/Qaradawi-ISB-trust-land-records-1993.pdf 53 16 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB The ISB later claimed that the inclusion of Qaradawi as a trustee on its IRS forms was a “clerical error.” 54 But in 2002, two years after being banned from entering the United States, Qaradawi was still listed on the ISB website as a trustee. 55 That same year, Qaradawi produced a fundraising appeal on videotape for an ISB event. 56 Qaradawi is currently the subject of an Interpol wanted notice, brought after Egyptian prosecutors charged him with “incitement and assistance to commit intentional murder.” 57 He has claimed that Hitler was “divine punishment” for the Jews and has expressed support for suicide bombings. 58 Qaradawi claims that Hitler was “divine punishment” for the Jews and has expressed support for suicide bombings. Muhammad Attawia, ISB Trustee Muhammad Attawia is another original trustee of the ISB Trust. For a long time, among all the ISB trustees, he was relatively unknown. In 2007, however, the terror financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation produced a vast cache of Muslim Brotherhood documents detailing the Islamist movement’s strategies, activities and membership in America. In particular, Government Exhibit 003-0034 revealed a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood leadership telephone directory, in which Muhammad Attawia is named as the regional leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s New England branch. 59 Attawia was also once the vice-president of the Muslim American Society, 60 which federal prosecutors have labeled the “overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.” 61 In 2002, the ISB established a formal relationship with the Boston branch of the Muslim American Society, which was put in charge of the ISB’s Roxbury mosque. 62 Attawia is currently a member of the board of Islamic Relief USA, the American branch of a Britishbased Muslim Brotherhood charity, Islamic Relief Worldwide. 63 Dean Barnett, “Mosque Meltdown,” The Weekly Standard, 23 March 2006, accessed 5/20/16: http://www.weeklystandard.com/mosquemeltdown/article/13148 54 Screenshot of ISB website in 2002, Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed on 12/20/15: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wpcontent/uploads/sites/4/2015/12/Qaradawi-ISB-website.png 55 Dean Barnett, “The Islamists Are Coming!” The Weekly Standard, Vol. 12, No. 37, 11 June 2007, accessed 5/21/16: http:// www.weeklystandard.com/the-islamists-are-coming/article/14838 56 57 ALQARADAWI, YOUSF, Interpol website, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.interpol.int/notice/search/wanted/2014-58772 Qaradawi Video Compilation, Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch website, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.globalmbwatch.com/ 2010/03/20/recommended-viewing-qaradawi-video-compilation/ 58 Muslim Brotherhood 1991 Phone Directory, Government exhibit 003-0034, Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/09/MB-1991-Phone-Directory.pdf 59 MAS National - Annual Reports, 1998, 2000, and 2004: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/MASNational-Annual-Reports-1998-2000-2004.pdf 60 61 United States of America v. Sabri Benkahla, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 07-4778. "Minutes of ISB BOT Annual Meeting in Boston, July 2-4, 2002”, Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed 10/22/15: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/09/ISB-BoT-Annual-Meeting-Minutes-July-2002.pdf 62 Samuel Westrop, “Britain’s Hamas Appeal,” Gatestone Institute, 10 September 2014, accessed 5/20/16: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/ 4688/britain-hamas-appeal 63 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 17 One of Islamic Relief’s founding trustees, Essam El-Haddad, became the national security advisor to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President, Muhammad Morsi. 64 Islamic Relief’s branches work closely with extremist preachers and a number of organizations implicated in Al Qaeda terrorism. 65 And in Gaza, Islamic Relief funds the Al Falah Benevolent Society, which is run by Ramadan Tamboura, whom the newspaper Ha'aretz describes as a “well-known Hamas figure.” 66 In 2014, the United Arab Emirates listed Islamic Relief Worldwide as a terrorist organization. 67 In 2014, Israel banned Islamic Relief Worldwide from operating in the West Bank due to its ties to Hamas. 68 As far back as 2006, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office was warning that “The IRW’s activities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip are carried out by social welfare organizations controlled and staffed by Hamas operatives. The intensive activities of these associations are designed to further Hamas’s ideology among the Palestinian population.” 69 Between 2000 and 2007, the ISB gave $168,331 to Islamic Relief USA. 70 Since 2008, the ISB has hosted or advertised a number of Islamic Relief USA fundraisers in the Boston area. 71 Former ISBCC Imam Suhaib Webb claims that he raised $300,000 for Islamic Relief USA in 2014. 72 Jamal Badawi, ISB Trustee Jamal Badawi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood cleric, was appointed as a trustee of the ISB in 2007. 73 That same year, Badawi was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism trial for his role in participating in Hamas “fundraising activitie s on be half of the Holy Land Eric Trager, Katie Kiraly, Cooper Klose, and Eliot Calhoun, “Who's Who in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood,” The Washington Institute, September 2012, accessed 5/20/16: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/whos-who-in-the-muslim-brotherhood 64 “Islamic Relief Continues to Promote Hate Preachers,” Stand for Peace website, 13 June 2013, accessed 10/22/15: http:// standforpeace.org.uk/islamic-relief-continues-to-promote-hate-preachers/ See also: “Islamic Relief Worldwide,” Stand for Peace website, 4 July 2013, accessed 10/22/15: http://standforpeace.org.uk/islamic-reliefworldwide-terror-connections-and-promotion-of-hate-preachers/ 65 Avi Issacharoff, “Hamas May Not Be Moderate, but It's Cracking Down on Extremism,” Ha’aretz, 3 December 2009, accessed 5/21/16: http:// www.haaretz.com/hamas-may-not-be-moderate-but-it-s-cracking-down-on-extremism-1.2836 66 “UAE Cabinet approves list of designated terrorist organisations, groups,” Emirates News Agency, 15 November 2014, accessed 01/25/16: https://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates-international/1395272478814.html 67 “Israel bans UK-based Muslim charity accused of funding Hamas,” Reuters, 19 June 2014, accessed 5/20/16: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Exhibit-32-Israel-bans-UK-based-Muslim-charity-accused-of-fundingHamas-_-Reuters.pdf 68 “British national arrested for assisting Hamas,” Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2006, accessed 5/20/16: http://web.archive.org/ web/20130120194747/http:/www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+and+Islamic+Fundamentalism-/British +national+arrested+for+assisting+Hamas+29-May-2006.htm 69 List of ISB donations to National Islamic Organizations: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ Exhibit-92-ISB-Finanical-Relationship-with-National-Islamic-Orgs.pdf 70 “Palestine Humanitarian Crisis Emergency Fundraiser,” Islamic Relief flyer, accessed 5/20/16: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wpcontent/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Exhibit-31-gaza_flyer_roxbury.pdf 71 Suhaib Webb, Facebook page (screenshot), accessed 5/20/16: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ Exhibit-51-Please-donate-to-IRUSA.pdf 72 "Appointment of Trustee," Islamic Society of Boston Trust, Middlesex, South District, Registry of Deeds, 20 February 2007: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Badawi-appointment-ISB.pdf 73 18 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB Foundation...” 74 Documents uncovered in the trial reveal that Badawi appears in an internal Brotherhood members’ directory from 1992. 75 He has expressed opposition to democracy, and describes suicide bombers and Hamas terrorists as freedom fighters and “martyrs” who ought to be compared to those who fought the Nazis. He also supports the right of men to beat their wives. 76 Mustafa Abu Sway, ISB President 1990-1992 According to his own curriculum vitae, Mustafa Abu Sway was the President of the ISB from 1990-1992. 77 The Israeli government, however, claims that Abu Sway “is known as an activist” in the terrorist group Hamas. 78 In addition, Abu Sway has written school textbooks for the Palestinian Authority, in which he explains the “virtues of jihad” and glorifies martyrdom. 79 Hamas’ own website has cited Abu Sway’s work, such as his study of Hamas’ attitude towards Jews, in which Sway appears to argue that Hamas is not institutionally anti-Semitic but its attitude towards Jews is the unavoidable product of the Palestinians’ circumstances. 80 The Al Zaytouna Centre, which published Abu Sway’s study, has previously published a book containing writings of senior Hamas leaders, which sought to “present Hamas’ perspective towards political and social reform.” 81 In 2012, Hamas leader Khalid Meshal thanked the Al Zaytouna Center directly for organizing a conference for Islamist operatives. During his speech the Center, Meshal reaffirmed his commitment to “jihad and armed resistance” as the “correct and authentic means for the liberation of Palestine and the restoration of all rights.” 82 The Israeli government claims that Abu Sway “is known as an activist” in the terrorist group Hamas. Abu Sway has also served on the board for two Hamas organizations in Jerusalem, the Heritage Foundation and the Foundation for the Development of Society. 83 Oren Dorell, “Mosque that Boston suspects attended has radical ties,” USA Today, 25 April 2013, accessed 5/21/16:http://www.usatoday.com/ story/news/nation/2013/04/23/boston-mosque-radicals/2101411/ 74 1992 Muslim Brotherhood Phone Directory, Government Exhibit 003-0079, U.S. v HLF, et al., accessed 10/22/15: http:// www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/1083.pdf 75 “Jamal Badawi: Enduring Link to ISNA's Radical Past,” Investigative Project website, 8 May 2012, accessed 10/22/15: http:// www.investigativeproject.org/3569/jamal-badawi-enduring-link-to-isna-radical-past; “Wife Beating in Islamic Perspective,” Archive of IslamOnline.net website, accessed 10/22/15: http://web.archive.org/web/20060323035225/http:/www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite? pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503544256 76 77 “Curriculum Vitae: Dr. Mustafa Abu-Sway,” accessed 10/22/15: http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/abuswaycv.htm Daniel Pipes & Asaf Romirowsky, “Fulbright's Terrorist Tie,” New York Post, 20 October 2003, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.danielpipes.org/ 1287/fulbrights-terrorist-tie 78 Daniel Pipes, “Mustafa Abu Sway, Islamist,” DanielPipes.org website, 4 April 2005, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/ 2003/11/mustafa-abu-sway-islamist 79 “Refereed Academic Study: Hamas’ Conceptualization of the Other: Its stance towards Judaism, Jews, Zionism, Zionists and Israel,” Hamas website, 3 October 2014, accessed 10/22/15: http://hamas.ps/en/post/22/refereed-academic-study-hamas 80 “Islamic Resistance Movement-Hamas: Studies of Thought and Experience,” Al Zaytouna Centre website, accessed 10/22/15: http:// www.alzaytouna.net/en/publications/books/151745-islamic-resistance-movement–hamas-studies-of-thought-and-experience.html 81 Khalid Mishaal, “Hamas’ political thought and stances in light of the Arab uprisings,” Middle East Monitor website, accessed 10/22/15: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/downloads/documents/130319_KhalidMishaal_HamasPoliticalThoughtandStances.pdf 82 Daniel Pipes and Asaf Romirowsky, “Hamas in Florida Classroom,” New York Sun, 27 January 2004, accessed 5/20/16: http:// www.danielpipes.org/1487/hamas-in-florida-classroom 83 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 19 Basyouni Nehela, ISB Imam Basyouni Nehela is an Imam at the ISB’s Cambridge mosque, as well as a founding director of the Muslim American Society’s Boston branch. 84 Nehela manages the Muslim Brotherhood’s national Tarbiya program in the United States, a religious innovation of the Muslim Brotherhood in which students embark on a course of study of Islamist texts written by pro-terror and anti-Western ideologues. 85 In 2002, Nehela posted a message on the ISB’s website encouraging Muslims to support Ptech, a company funded by Al Qaeda financier Yassin Al Qadi, who was identified by the United States government as one of Osama bin Laden's “chief money launderers.” 86 A few weeks before Nehela posted the message, PTech was raided by federal agents investigating its terrorist links. Nehela described the investigation as “oppression” and declared that Muslims are “obligated to stand with the oppressed ones regardless of their religion or origin.” 87 Three of PTech’s members were accused of terrorism links, of whom two were eventually convicted. 88 Hossam Al Jabri, ISB Trustee In the late 1990s, Hossam Al Jabri was an ISB representative. 89 He is the former President of the Boston branch of the Muslim American Society, a Muslim Brotherhood organization; 90 and he is a current board member of the ISB’s Roxbury mosque and vice-President of MAS Boston. 91 MAS Boston Society, Articles of Organization, 2004, Commonwealth of Massachusetts: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/ sites/4/2016/05/Exhibit-10-MAS-Boston-Articles-of-Organization.pdf 84 “Revealed: Jihadist Lessons at the Boston Marathon Bombers’ Mosque,” Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/2015/04/03/revealed-jihadist-lessons-at-the-boston-marathon-bombers-mosque/ 85 Jeff Johnson, “Tearful FBI Agent Apologizes To Sept. 11 Families and Victims,” CNS News, 7 July 2008, accessed 5/20/16: http://cnsnews.com/ news/article/tearful-fbi-agent-apologizes-sept-11-families-and-victims-0 86 Screenshot of the ISB website, 12 December 2002: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Nehelasstatement-on-Ptech.pdf; Jonathan Wells, Jack Meyers, Maggie Mulvihill and Kevin Wisniewski, “Under suspicion: Hub mosque leader tied to radical groups,” Boston Herald, 29 October 2003, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1010353/posts 87 David Bernstein, “The PTech connection?,” Boston Phoenix, 24 November 2008, accessed 5/20/16: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/ 72381-ptech-connection/ 88 Elizabeth Dewar, “Islamic Students Celebrate Awareness,” The Harvard Crimson, 3 December 1998, accessed 5/21/16: http:// www.thecrimson.com/article/1998/12/3/islamic-students-celebrate-awareness-pthis-week/ 89 Annual Report 2006/2007, Muslim American Society - Boston Chapter: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/ 4/2016/05/MASBostonAnnualReport2006-2007.pdf 90 “Your Board Members,” ISBCC website, accessed 5/21/16: http://isbcc.org/your-board-members/; Business Entity Summary: MAS Boston Society Inc., Corporations Division, Commonwealth of Massachusetts: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/ 4/2016/05/MAS-Boston-Business-Entity-Summary-MA-Sec-State.pdf 91 20 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB Furthermore, Jabri was a software engineer at the terror-linked company PTech. While he was employed there, he donated tens of thousands of dollars to the ISB. 92 Jabri personally donated money to the Holy Land Foundation, the terror charity shut down by the U.S. government in 2007, during the period it was sending funds to Hamas. 93 Mahdi Bray, ISB PR officer The ISB employed Mahdi Bray, the director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, to lead a PR campaign during the ISB’s lawsuits against counter-extremist campaigners. 94 Bray has a long history of expressing support for terrorist groups and convicted terrorists. In 2000, Bray appeared with ISB founder Abdulrahman Alamoudi, later linked to Al Qaeda, at a rally in support of Hamas and Hezbollah. 95 In 2002, Bray was chairman of a “Support Committee for Imam Jamil Al-Amin,” an Islamic jihadist who murdered a police officer. 96 In 2003, Bray condemned the conviction of Sami Al Arian, a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. 97 And in 2005, Bray expressed support for Ali Al Tamimi, whom a U.S. court found guilty on charges that he encouraged followers to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops. 98 Bray was chairman of a “Support Committee for Imam Jamil Al-Amin,” a Islamic jihadist who murdered a police officer. The Muslim Brotherhood’s main English-language website has reported that Bray and other leaders of the Muslim American Society have travelled to Egypt on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood. 99 Muhammad Ali Salaam, ISB leader and BRA official Muhammad Ali Salaam was a city official tasked with directly overseeing a real estate deal between the ISB and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), with which the ISB was planning to build its mosque in Roxbury. David Bernstein, “The PTech connection?,” Boston Phoenix, 24 November 2008, accessed 5/20/16: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/ 72381-ptech-connection/ 92 "HLF Donors - Partial List, presented as Government Exhibit 001-0237, U.S. v. HLF, et al., 2006: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wpcontent/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/HLF-Partial-List-of-Donors.pdf ; “Texas Terrorism Trial Ties Boston Mosque Leaders to Extremist Network,” KHQ website, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.khq.com/story/9449507/texas-terrorism-trial-ties-boston-mosque-leaders-to-extremist-network 93 Islamic Society of Boston, Check for Mahdi Bray: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ConsultingCheck-to-Mahdi-Bray.pdf 94 95 “MASterful Lies,” IPT News, 23 October 2007, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.investigativeproject.org/530/masterful-lies Daniel Pipes, “Jamil Al-Amin Goes to Jail,” DanielPipes.org website, 23 February 2010, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/ 2002/03/jamil-al-amin-goes-to-jail 96 “TBCJP Statement about Dr. Al-Arian's Arrest,” Free Sami Al-Arian website, 26 February 2003, accessed 10/22/15: http:// www.freesamialarian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=508&Itemid=63 97 Timothy Dwyer, “Prosecution Called 'Overzealous',” The Washington Post, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ content/article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601548.html 98 99 “Military trials in Egypt?” IkhwanWeb, 2 January 2008, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=15117 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 21 Ali Salaam, however, was not an impartial arbiter. While working as the Deputy Director of the BRA, he was also assuming leadership roles in the ISB. In May 1999, in a letter written on BRA stationery, Ali Salaam negotiated with a contractor to provide a lower price for the ISB. 100 In the winter of 1999, Ali Salaam took part in an ISB fundraising trip to the Middle East to fundraise for the mosque project, at the request of ISB trustees. 101 During that same period, Ali Salaam cosigned a letter with ISB trustees sent to the President of Roxbury Community College, upon which the new ISB mosque was to be built. The letter included a check for the College of $10,000. 102 Ali Salaam also donated $11,690 of his own money to the ISB’s mosque project in Roxbury. 103 There was a flagrant conflict of interest. In February 1999, in a confidential memorandum, Ali Salaam advised the ISB Board on how to obtain favorable terms from the BRA. Although he is a city employee, Ali Salaam refers to the City of Boston as “they” and to the ISB as “we.” 104 In March 2000, the Roxbury land was valued by the city at $2,010,966. 105 But a few months later, in June 2000, the BRA agreed to sell the land for the Roxbury mosque to the ISB for $401,187.50, of which the ISB was only required to pay a paltry $175,000 in cash and make up the rest in public benefits. These benefits – which included a series of public lectures, books on Islamic law and the history of Islam, and maintenance of a nearby park – were never delivered. Ali Salaam’s son, Saladin Ali-Salaam, worked as a “network administrator,” along with several other ISB representatives, at PTech, the Massachusetts company linked to Hamas and Al Qaeda. 106 Suhaib Webb, Imam Suhaib Webb served as the Imam of the ISB’s Roxbury mosque from 2011 to 2014. Webb has claimed that animosity toward Jews is understandable, believes that eye contact between the sexes is a sin, and has suggested that homosexuals are cursed. 107 He has described secularism as a “radical, lunatic ideology.” 108 Muhammad Ali Salaam, Letter to Kaye Lynn Johnson, Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed 10/22/15: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2009/02/salaam_letter_contractor.pdf 100 Basyouni Nehlah, Letter to Paul McCann, Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed 10/22/15: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2009/02/ISB_salaam_trip_request.pdf 101 ISB letter to Grace Brown, Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/ uploads/sites/4/2009/02/letter_to_brown.pdf 102 Muhammad Ali Salaam, Checks for Islamic Society of Boston: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/AliSalaam-Checks.pdf 103 Muhammad Ali Salaam, Email to ISB trustees, Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed 10/22/15: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2009/02/salaam_isb_advice.pdf 104 Muhammad Ali Salaam, Boston Redevelopment Authority, Letter to Robert Fleming, City of Boston Trust Office. 29 March 2000: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Ali-Salaam-Letter-re-2-Million-Valuation.pdf 105 David Bernstein, “The PTech connection?,” Boston Phoenix, 24 November 2008, accessed 5/20/16: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/ 72381-ptech-connection/ 106 “Boston Imam Webb spouts off about Jews,” YouTube, 31 October 2013, accessed 10/22/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=yvk9YFvV6wM; “Suhaib Webb's Neanderthal Views on Sexuality,” YouTube, 30 October 2013, accessed 10/22/15: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=jXtugus9MfU; “Boston mosque Imam Suhaib Webb says gays are cursed,” YouTube, 25 April 2013, accessed 10/22/15: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaoKv1zRkjA 107 “Boston Imam Suhaib Webb Attacks Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Secularism,” YouTube, 30 October 2013, accessed 10/22/15: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=HES6TpiVC-g 108 22 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB In addition, according to FBI surveillance documents, Webb spoke at a dinner in 2001 alongside the late Al Qaeda leader, Anwar Al Awlaki, to raise money for the legal defense of Jamil Abdullah Al Amin, who murdered two police officers in Georgia. 109 Abdullah Faaruuq, ISB Imam Abdullah Faaruuq is an Imam who frequently preaches at the ISB’s Roxbury mosque. Faaruuq is also the Imam at the Mosque for the Praising of Allah, where he worked closely with Aafia Siddiqui in the 1990s. 110 Siddiqui later became a prominent Al Qaeda operative, who was convicted for attempted murder in 2010. Siddiqui worked with Faaruuq to radicalize the local Muslim population at prisons in which Faaruuq served as a chaplain. According to Deborah Scroggins, author of a book on Siddiqui: “Aafia ordered hundreds of Islamic books in English, usually from Saudi Arabia, and Faaruuq distributed them to the prisoners he visited. Faaruuq said the books included works by the famous Egyptian Islamist [and Muslim Brotherhood ideologue] Sayyid Qutb.” 111 Faaruuq encouraged Boston Muslims to “grab onto the gun and the sword.” In response to Aafia Siddiqui’s arrest, Faaruuq encouraged Boston Muslims to “grab onto the gun and the sword” to defend her. 112 In addition, at a fundraiser for Siddiqui, Faaruuq said of her arrest in Afghanistan: “They say she took up a machine gun while they held her captive in the other room and was ready to attack her captors. What a brave woman she is. And if my mother was in the same place, she would have taken her West Indian machete and cut her way through those kafirs [infidels].” 113 Faaruuq is also a supporter of Tarek Mehanna, a terrorist operative convicted on charges including “conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda” and “conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.” 114 Patrick Howley, “Boston imam shared ties with senior al-Qaida operative,” Daily Caller, 27 June 2013, accessed 10/22/15: http:// dailycaller.com/2013/06/27/dzhokhar-tsarnaevs-imam-shares-ties-with-senior-al-qaeda-operative/ 109 “Video Exposes Northeastern University’s Muslim Chaplain as an Islamist Extremist,” Counter-Jihad report, 7 September 2012, accessed 10/22/15: http://counterjihadreport.com/tag/abdullah-faaruuq/ 110 Deborah Scroggins, Wanted Women: Faith, Lies & The War on Terror: The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali & Aafia Siddiqui, (New York: Harper Collins, 2012,) 96 111 “Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and the Imam,” YouTube, 28 May 2010, accessed 10/22/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=qUYIHRRaPmA 112 “Raising Money for ‘Lady Al-Qaida,’” IPT News, 19 December 2011, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.investigativeproject.org/3350/raisingmoney-for-lady-al-qaida 113 Lisa Wangsness and Shelley Murphy, “An imam of fiery words and a fatherly presence,” Boston Globe, 30 August 2015, accessed 5/21/16: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/29/man-prayer-and-protest/h8bWNZoGLZFFOOJSl3IffK/story.html 114 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB |23 TERRORISM Over the past decade, twelve congregants, supporters, staff and donors of the ISB have been imprisoned, deported, killed or are on the run. Abdulrahman Alamoudi – the founder of the ISB and Al Qaeda operative. He was jailed by an American court in 2004 for conspiring with the Libyan regime to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. 115 Yusuf Qaradawi – a former trustee of the ISB and the spiritual leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood. He is a fugitive after being charged by the Egyptian government with “incitement and assistance to commit intentional murder.” 116 Aafia Siddiqui – formerly, a regular worshipper at the ISB, now a jailed Al Qaeda operative. When arrested, Siddiqui was found to be in possession of plans to carry out large scale attacks on New York. 117 Tarek Mehanna – a worshipper at the ISB who was convicted of attempting to murder Americans and providing support to Al Qaeda. 118 Thomas Crampton, “Muslim Advocate Sentenced to 23 Years for Libyan Dealings,” New York Times, 16 October 2004, accessed 5/21/16: http:// www.nytimes.com/2004/10/16/politics/muslim-advocate-sentenced-to-23-years-for-libyan-dealings.html; Also see: “Treasury Designates MIRA for Support to Al Qaida,” JS-2632, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 14 July 2005 115 116 ALQARADAWI, YOUSF, Interpol website, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.interpol.int/notice/search/wanted/2014-58772 Sally Jacobs, “The woman ISIS wanted back,” Boston Globe, 28 December 2014, accessed 5/21/16: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/ 2014/12/27/aafia/T1A0evotz4pbEf5U3vfLKJ/story.html 117 “Tarek Mehanna Sentenced in Boston to 17 Years in Prison on Terrorism-Related Charges,” Federal Bureau of Investigation, April 12, 2012, accessed 5/21/16: https://www.fbi.gov/boston/press-releases/2012/tarek-mehanna-sentenced-in-boston-to-17-years-in-prison-on-terrorismrelated-charges 118 24 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB Ahmad Abousamra – a key official in the Islamic State terror group who is on the FBI’s ‘Most Wanted’ list. In June 2015, the media reported Abousamra may have been killed in an airstrike carried out by Iraq forces. Abousamra is the son of Abdulbadi Abousamra, the vice-president of the Muslim American Society’s Boston branch, which runs the ISB’s Roxbury mosque. In 2014, the New York Post reported that Ahmad Abousamra was a “regular worshipper” at the ISB’s mosques. 119 Rezwan Ferdaus – an Al Qaeda operative convicted in 2012 for attempting to organize terrorist attacks. Ferdaus was a congregant of the ISB for about six months. 120 Oussama Ziade – one of the ISB’s donors. In 2009, he was indicted by the FBI on charges of dealing in the property of a designated terrorist, failing to block the terrorist's assets and making false statements to federal investigators. He is currently a fugitive. 121 Hafiz Masood – a former leader of Muslim American Society’s Boston branch, which runs the ISB’s Roxbury mosque. Hafiz Masood is the brother of Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed, who masterminded the 2008 Mumbai Massacre, in which 164 people were murdered. The Times of India reports that Hafiz Masood was raising money and recruiting for his brother’s terrorist group while living in the Boston area. 122 After being deported by the government for filing a fraudulent visa application, Hafiz Masood has since become a spokesperson for Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a branch of his brother’s terrorist group, Lashkar-i-Taiba. 123 Paul Sperry, “Boston bombers’ mosque tied to ISIS,” New York Post, 7 September 2014, accessed 5/21/16: http://nypost.com/2014/09/07/ jihadi-behind-beheading-videos-linked-to-notorious-us-mosque/ 119 Scot Yount, “Rezwan Ferdaus Asked to Leave Mosque for Radical Behavior,” NECN, 21 March 2014, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.necn.com/ news/new-england/_NECN__Rezwan_Ferdaus_Asked_to_Leave_Mosque_for_Radical_Behavior_NECN-251574711.html 120 “Former Ptech Officer Arrested for SBA Loan Fraud,” Federal Bureau of Investigation, 15 July 2009, accessed 5/20/16: https://www.fbi.gov/ boston/press-releases/2009/bs071509.htm 121 Indrani Bagchi, “In US, LeT chief's kin raised funds for jihad,” Times of India, 12 January 2009, accessed 5/21/16: http:// timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/In-US-LeT-chiefs-kin-raised-funds-for-jihad/articleshow/3964960.cms 122 Richard Leiby, “Pakistani brothers reflect their country’s contradictions,” Washington Post, 28 October 2012, accessed 5/21/16: https:// www.washingtonpost.com/world/pakistani-brothers-reflect-their-countrys-contradictions/2012/10/28/ f29af3ea-1c52-11e2-8817-41b9a7aaabc7_story.html 123 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB |25 Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – the Boston marathon bombers. Tamerlan died while attempting to flee from Boston police. In May 2015, Dzhokhar was sentenced to death by a federal court for his role in the attacks. Both the Tsarnaev brothers worshipped at the ISB. 124 Khairullozhon Matanov – a close friend of the Boston marathon bombers. In June 2015, Matanov was imprisoned for obstructing the authorities’ investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings. On the night of the bombings, Matanov invited the Tsarnaev brothers for dinner, and deleted documents and photos from his computer. 125 Matanov had first met Tamerlan Tsarnaev at the ISB’s Cambridge mosque. KI LL ED Usaama Rahim – a Boston Muslim under round-the-clock surveillance by an anti-terrorism task force. In June 2015, Rahim was shot and killed by a Boston police officer and an FBI agent after he lunged at them with a “military knife.” 126 Rahim had worked as a security guard at the ISB, and his brother, Ibrahim Rahim, is an imam who has frequently spoken at the ISB. 127 Jaweed Kaleem, “Boston Bomber Suspects Had Attended Cambridge Mosque, Officials Say,” Huffington Post, 26 April 2013, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/20/boston-bombers-mosque-cambridge_n_3125192.html 124 Deborah Feyerick, “Officials wonder why extremists are drawn to Cambridge mosque,” CNN website, 9 September 2014, accessed 10/23/15: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/08/us/cambridge-mosque/ 125 Evan Allen, Laura Crimaldi and Lisa Wangsness, “Man shot in Roslindale was under 24-hour surveillance,” Boston Globe, 2 June 2015, accessed 5/21/16: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/06/02/boston-police-officer-shoots-and-wounds-man-roslindale/ Akg16CkZJa719BLrBGFOdL/story.html 126 Ray Sanchez, Evan Pérez and Shimon Prokupecz, “Source: Man fatally shot by officers in Boston was under terror investigation,” CNN website, 3 June 2015, accessed 10/23/15: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/02/us/boston-police-shooting/; “Friday Sermon by Imam Ibrahim Rahim ‘Ihsan: Maintaining awareness of Allah,’” YouTube, 4 April 2014, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=JU40PBR1VJM 127 26 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB TERROR FINANCE In 2005, the ISB filed lawsuits against a number of media organizations and individuals who had spent several years exposing the ISB’s extremist links. One of ISB’s complaints to the courts concerned “false information that the ‘ISB receives funds from Wahabbis and/or Mustlem [sic] Brotherhood and/or other Saudi/Middle Eastern sources,’ a libel which the Defendants did subsequently publish.” 128 The ISB’s legal attacks, however, would backfire spectacularly. As the lawsuit continued, and new defendants were added by the ISB, the discovery process produced the ISB’s bank records, which, contrary to the ISB’s claims, did in fact show total donations to the ISB of over $8.6 million from Wahhabi, Gulf and Muslim Brotherhood sources. 129 Between 2000 and 2006, the ISB received: • $1 million loan from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), which, at the time, was funded by governments of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Libya. 130 The IDB has a long history of supporting Palestinian terrorism. In 2001 alone, the IDB transferred $538 million, raised through Saudi telethons, to support the Palestinian “resistance” and the families of suicide bombers. 131 • $50,000 through Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank (NCB). 132 In 1999, in response to international pressure, the Saudi government audited the bank. It was chaired at the time by Osama Bin Laden’s brother-in-law. The audit revealed several millions of dollars had been diverted to terrorist organizations. Documents made available after 9/11 revealed that this terror financing continued after the audit. 133 The NCB was founded by the late Saudi financier Khalid Bin Mahfouz, who also established the Muwafaq Foundation, accused by the U.S. government of being an Al Qaeda fundraising body. 134 The Islamic Society of Boston, et al., v. Boston Herald Inc., et al., Support the Mosque website, accessed 10/23/15: http:// www.supportthemosque.org/files/ISB_Complaint.pdf 128 “Islamic Society of Boston Direct Bank Records Showing $8.6 million in Saudi Funding,” Americans for Peace and Tolerance, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.scribd.com/doc/257241253/islamic-society-of-boston-direct-bank-records-showing-8-6-million-in-saudi-funding 129 “Islamic Society of Boston's Saudi Funding Ledger,” Americans for Peace and Tolerance, accessed on 10/22/15: www.scribd.com/doc/ 257176825/Islamic-Society-of-Boston-s-Saudi-Funding-Ledger 130 Caroline Glick, “Exposing the puppetmasters,” Jerusalem Post, 14 January 2011, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/ Columnists/Column-One-Exposing-the-puppetmasters 131 “Islamic Society of Boston Direct Bank Records Showing $8.6 million in Saudi Funding,” Americans for Peace and Tolerance, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.scribd.com/doc/257241253/islamic-society-of-boston-direct-bank-records-showing-8-6-million-in-saudi-funding 132 Written Testimony of Jean-Charles Brisard, International Expert on Terrorism, Financing Lead Investigator, 911 Lawsuit Ceo, Jcb Consulting International, Before the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, United States Senate, 22 October 2003, accessed 10/23/15: http://www.banking.senate.gov/public/_files/brisard.pdf 133 Mark Hosenball, “Terror Watch: Paying For Terror,” Newsweek, 11 May 2004, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.newsweek.com/terror-watchpaying-terror-127743 134 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 27 Mahfouz funded the Muwafaq Foundation with $30 million of his own money. 135 The director of Muwafaq, in fact, was Yassin Al Qadi, who was identified by the United States government as one of Osama bin Laden's “chief money launderers.” 136 Al Qadi also funded PTech, the terror-linked Boston company at which several ISB officials and associates were involved. • $50,000 from Ahmed Salem Bin Mahfouz, the brother of Khalid Bin Mahfouz. A French parliamentary report claims that one subsidiary of Sedco, a company owned by the Mahfouz family, is “suspected by the US of having made donations to Osama Bin Laden.” 137 Walid Fitaihi, the ISB’s former trustee, is a regular speaker at Sedco conferences. 138 Ahmed Mahfouz also founded the International Development Foundation, which the same French report also claims had “points of contact” with Al Qaeda. 135 Nathan Vardi, “Sins of the Father?” Forbes, 18 March 2002, accessed 10/23/15: http://www.forbes.com/global/2002/0318/047.html Jeff Johnson, “Tearful FBI Agent Apologizes To Sept. 11 Families and Victims,” CNS News, 7 July 2008, accessed 5/20/16: http:// cnsnews.com/news/article/tearful-fbi-agent-apologizes-sept-11-families-and-victims-0 136 National Report on the obstacles to the control and suppression of financial crime and laundering of capital in Europe, 11th Legislature of the National Assembly, accessed 10/23/15: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/legislatures/11/pdf/rap-info/i2311-5.pdf 137 138 “Multaqa SEDCO 2014: Dr. Walid Fitaihi” YouTube, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY-9ys9uEJc 28 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB • $6,450 from Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, whom Zacarias Moussaoui, the 9/11 terrorist, has named, during sworn testimony, as an Al Qaeda donor. 139 • $1,458.56 from Lajnat al Dawa al Islamia, a charity connected to the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood and which, in 2004, the U.S. Government designated as a terrorist entity. 140 Scott Shane, “Moussaoui Calls Saudi Princes Patrons of Al Qaeda,” New York Times, 3 February 2015, accessed 5/21/16: http:// www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/us/zacarias-moussaoui-calls-saudi-princes-patrons-of-al-qaeda.html?_r=0 139 Additional Background Information on Charities Designated Under Executive Order 13224, U.S. Treasury Department, accessed 10/23/15: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/terrorist-illicit-finance/Pages/protecting-charities_execorder_13224-i.aspx 140 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 29 In addition to this incoming money, the ISB also gave money to terror-linked organizations. The ISB granted: • $14,907 to the Benevolence International Foundation, which later, in 2002, the US government designated as a “financier of terrorism.” 141 The U.S. Treasury claims that the Foundation’s chief executive, Enaam Arnaout, had a “close relationship” with Bin Laden, and that “Various documents also established that Arnaout worked with others – including members of al Qaida – to purchase rockets, mortars, rifles, and offensive and defensive bombs, and to distribute them to various mujahideen camps, including camps operated by al Qaida.” 142 • $50,728 to LIFE for Relief and Development. In 2006, LIFE offices were raided by FBI agents. Terrorism investigators have claimed that LIFE’s staff are involved with the Iraqi Islamic Party, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. 143 LIFE’s PR coordinator, Muthanna Al Hanooti, is the son of the late Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohammed Al Hanooti. In 2011, Muthanna Al Hanooti was found guilty of working with Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Intelligence Services. Benevolence International Foundation 990 form, 1996, Americans for Peace and Tolerance, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.scribd.com/doc/ 283145975/Benevolence-International-Foundation-990-form-1996 141 “Treasury Designates Benevolence International Foundation and Related Entities as Financiers of Terrorism,” U.S. Treasury Department, 19 November 2002, accessed 5/21/16: https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/po3632.aspx 142 Glenn Simpson, “Islamic Charities Draw More Scrutiny,” Wall Street Journal, 23 February 2008, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.wsj.com/ articles/SB120372644333987125 143 30 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB • $14,221 to the Holy Land Foundation, 144 a Muslim Brotherhood charity that funneled at least $12.4 million dollars to the terror group, Hamas. 145 ISB trustees Muhammad Attawia, Jamal Badawi and Hossam Al Jabri were all implicated in documents uncovered during the Holy Land Foundation trial. 146 Islamic Society of Boston, Checks for the Holy Land Foundation: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ HLF-Checks-Complete.pdf 144 “Federal Judge Hands Downs Sentences in Holy Land Foundation Case,” U.S. Department of Justice, 27 May 2009, accessed 5/21/16: https:// www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-judge-hands-downs-sentences-holy-land-foundation-case 145 Muslim Brotherhood 1991 Phone Directory, Government exhibit 003-0034, Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed 10/22/15: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/09/MB-1991-Phone-Directory.pdf; 1992 Muslim Brotherhood Phone Directory, Government Exhibit 003-0079, U.S. v HLF, et al., accessed 10/22/15: http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/ 1083.pdf; "HLF Donors - Partial List, presented as Government Exhibit 001-0237, U.S. v. HLF, et al., 2006: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/ wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/HLF-Partial-List-of-Donors.pdf 146 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 31 ISB IDEOLOGY Da’wah As we have demonstrated, the ISB is a key component of the Muslim Brotherhood in America. But, as with many other Muslim Brotherhood organizations in the West, the ISB works closely with groups belonging to other Islamist movements. ISB officials, for instance, have frequently spoken at events organized by the Islamic Circle of North America, which has identified itself as the outpost of Jamaat-e-Islami, a South Asian Islamist movement. 147 A 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document, in fact, describes the ICNA as one of the “organizations of our friends.” 148 The ISB also collaborates with other Islamic groups to provide da’wah [proselytization; literally: a call to God] – a form of social outreach in Islam. Under Sharia-ism, da’wah can mean a number of things. For ordinary Muslims, da’wah simply means inviting non-Muslims to embrace Islam; and for Islamist missionary organizations such as Tablighi Jamaat, da’wah is the task of encouraging Muslims to become more pious. But for the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist networks, da’wah can mean the creation of grassroots support networks. Groups like the ISB gather volunteers, establish charities and community groups and provide welfare – all to persuade ordinary Muslims of the virtues of the Muslim Brotherhood cause. For the Muslim Brotherhood terror group Hamas in Gaza, writes the counter-terrorism expert Matthew Levitt, da’wah efforts are “crucial to terrorist activity: they provide cover for raising, laundering, and transferring funds, facilitate the group's propaganda and recruitment efforts, provide employment to its operatives, and serve as a logistical support network for its terrorist operations.” 149 Salafist terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda also subscribe to this very same da’wah model. In 2012, The Times reported, areas in Mali under the control of Al Qaeda terrorists enjoyed “subsidized state utilities, capped food prices and…welfare payments to the needy.” 150 “ICNA-Jamaat al-Muslimeen Unity Meeting,” CNS News archive, accessed 10/23/15: http://web.archive.org/web/20070205193049/http:// www.cnsnews.com/pdf/2005/unity.pdf 147 "An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America,” 1991, presented as Government Exhibit 003-0085, U.S. v. HLF, et al., 2006. http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/Muslim-Brotherhood-GeneralStrategic-Goal-for-North-America.pdf 148 149 Matthew Levitt, Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 23 Jerome Starkey, “Al-Qaeda superstar wins friends in Mali with cheap food and charm,” The Times, 29 November 2012, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/africa/article3614434.ece 150 32 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB Thousands of miles away in Boston, the ISB’s da’wah efforts have produced the mosques in Cambridge and Roxbury, as well as outreach work with students, interfaith groups and a close collaboration with a number of Islamic charities. In spite of the ISB’s extremist links, its da’wah efforts have served to sanitize the ISB’s reputation and legitimize its officials as the moral and political voices of American Islam. Despite these successes, the ISB da’wah has been missing the power of a grassroots volunteer body. Consequently, the ISB has recently entered into a partnership with the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA), a Salafist da’wah group established in Britain in 2008. According to the ISB’s website, “Muslim Now is the new Muslim department of iERA dedicated to welcome, empower and provide education for New Muslims … Existing Muslims should also take note of this course material so that they may better communicate Islamic practices to new Muslims and non Muslims. It highly recommended for New Muslims to visit the local Mosque for one on one training.” 151 But what sort of da’wah partner has the ISB embraced? The iERA is, in fact, run by some of the West’s most extreme Islamic preachers. The iERA was established by Abdur Raheem Green, a former jihadist in Afghanistan who warns Muslims of a Jewish “stench.” 152 Other officials include Zakir Naik, who has said that “every Muslim should be a terrorist,” and Abdullah Hakim Quick, who has called upon God to “clean and purify al-Aqsa from the filth of the Yahood [Jews]” and “clean all of the lands from the filth of the Kuffar [nonbelievers].” 153 The iERA works closely with Sheikh Mohammad Al Arifi, a Saudi cleric banned from the United Kingdom after he was accused of radicalizing young Western Muslims now fighting for the Islamic State terror movement. 154 In 2013, in fact, five members of an iERA “da’wah team” left for Syria to join the Islamic State. 155 Tarbiya In 2013, as he lay wounded, Boston bomber fugitive Dzhokhar Tsarnaev penciled a confession on the walls of the boat in which he had sought refuge. Four days earlier, he and his brother had exploded twin homemade pressure cooker bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon, murdering three and injuring 264. Some of Dzhokhar’s scribblings are mirrored in the writings of prominent Islamist ideologues, whose teachings are today propagated among young Boston Muslims: 151 “Islam Q & A,” Islamic Society of Boston website, accessed 10/23/15: http://isbcambridge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/islam-q-and-a.html 152 Abdurraheem Green, The Islamic Far-Right in Britain, accessed 10/23/15: http://tifrib.com/abdurraheem-green/ Shiraz Maher, “Britain's Newest Guest: "Every Muslim Should Be a Terrorist,” Gatestone Institute, accessed 10/23/15: http:// www.gatestoneinstitute.org/1364/britain-every-muslim-should-be-a-terrorist; “6/6 The History of the Crusades by Sheikh Abdul Hakim Quik,” YouTube, 17 May 2012, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlOrJu9Oqyo 153 “Britain bans controversial Saudi cleric al-Arifi,” Al-Arabiya, 25 June 2014, accessed 10/23/15: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/ 2014/06/25/Controversial-cleric-al-Arifi-banned-from-UK-.html 154 Samuel Westrop, “UK Salafist Group Linked to British ISIS Fighters,” Gatestone Institute, 19 November 2014, accessed 10/23/15: http:// www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4892/iera-isis-fighters 155 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 33 “We will pursue this evil force to its own lands, invade its Western heartland, and struggle to overcome it until all the world shouts by the name of the Prophet and the teachings of Islam spread throughout the world. […] “Regularly make the intention to go on jihad with the ambition to die as a martyr. You should be ready for this right now. […] “A Muslim has no relatives except those who share the belief in Allah. […] “To be true Muslims, we must be Mujahideen. We can no more sit back passively; we must try, actively, to change history, that is, wage Jihad.” 156 Dzhokhar was paraphrasing Muslim Brotherhood luminaries Hassan Al Banna, Sayyid Qutb and Fathi Yakan; as well as Abul A’la Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami – the Muslim Brotherhood’s South Asian cousin. These teachings can also be found in the library of the ISB. 157 The Tsarnaev brothers, in fact, were attendees of the ISB mosques. 158 Extremist tracts at the ISB are, in fact, part of an intensive Islamist teaching program aimed at Boston’s historically moderate Muslim community. This program is known as “Tarbiya,” and is another important component of the ISB’s da’wah’ efforts. Tarbiya is not a tenet of historical Islam; it is a religious innovation of the cultic Muslim Brotherhood. 159 One particular Tarbiya program, named “Young Muslims,” was explicitly endorsed by Suhaib Webb, the long-serving, recently retired Imam of the ISB’s mosque in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. 160 Documents for the program include a reading list of books by Muslim Brotherhood figures such as Hassan Al Banna and Sayyid Qutb; the South Asian jihadist ideologist Abul A'la Maududi; and Yusuf Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, whom the Anti-Defamation League describes as the “Theologian of Terror.” 161 The Muslim American Society, which runs the ISB’s Cambridge mosque, describes Tarbiya as a “rigorous educational curriculum,” which serves “to groom members who… are equipped with the necessary knowledge, understanding, and skills to make a difference in society.” 162 Eric Levenson, “Here’s the Note Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Wrote Inside the Boat Where He Was Captured,” Boston.com, 10 March 2015, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/03/10/here-the-note-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-wrote-inside-the-boat-wherewas-captured/h7xFrSTXKT6L4Euc8N5bEN/story.html 156 Islamic Society of Boston, List of Library Books: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/ISB-LibraryList.pdf 157 Oren Dorell, “Mosque that Boston suspects attended has radical ties,” USA Today, 25 April 2013, accessed 5/21/16: http:// www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/23/boston-mosque-radicals/2101411/ 158 Ehud Rosen, “The Muslim Brotherhood's Concept of Education,” Hudson Institute, 11 November 2008, accessed 5/20/16: http:// www.hudson.org/research/9881-the-muslim-brotherhood-s-concept-of-education 159 “Imam Suhaib Webb Shoutout to YoungMuslims,” YouTube, 1 July 2012, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=hJvrX_8fuug 160 “Young Muslims Personal Collective Development Plan,” Americans for Peace and Tolerance, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.scribd.com/ doc/259858290/Young-Muslims-Personal-Collective-Development-Plan; “Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi: Theologian of Terror,” Anti-Defamation League, 3 May 2013, accessed 10/23/15: http://www.adl.org/anti-semitism/muslim-arab-world/c/sheik-yusf-al-qaradawi.html 161 “MAS Tarbiya,” Muslim American Society website, accessed 10/23/15: http://muslimamericansociety.org/support/mas-departments/mastarbiya/ 162 34 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB The Tabriya course relies on texts that are today considered among the most important Islamist tracts, used by groups across the globe to justify jihad against non-Muslims. Abul A’la Maududi’s Towards Understanding the Quran, for example, advocates jihad against Jews and Christians so that “they should be forced to pay Jizyah [a tax on non-Muslims] in order to put an end to their independence and supremacy.” 163 As can be seen throughout this report, links to terror and support for extremist ideas are not foreign concepts for the ISB. It appears that many of the attitudes displayed by officials of the ISB towards women, minorities, terrorism and Western society, in fact, reflect the ideals of radical Islamist groups across the globe. What are worshippers at the ISB taught? Misogyny Before increased attention caused the ISB to sanitize its public posts, the ISB kept a treatise on its website titled “40 Recommendations for the Muslim Home.” The text advocated physical abuse of disobedient wives: “As to those women on whose part you fear ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful).” The article also advised parents to “hit” children who fail to pray and encouraged Muslim men to “hang up the whip where the members of the household can see it.” The ISB’s Tarbiya program encourages students to study the teachings of a text written by Ghulam Sarwar, titled “Islam: Belief and Teachings.” In this pamphlet, Sarwar writes that, “In the West, women have been reduced almost to a plaything of enjoyment and fancy. Women have tended to degrade themselves probably unwittingly in modern times for the sake of real or imaginary equality. “UK Islamic Mission – The Syllabus,” The Islamic Far-Right in Britain, 30 October 2013, accessed 10/23/15: http://tifrib.com/2013/10/30/ uk-islamic-mission-the-syllabus/ 163 THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 35 They have become objects of exploitation by men and the slogans of liberty and equality have virtually reduced them to playful commodities.” 164 A number of Bangladeshi groups have accused Ghulam Sarwar of complicity in Jamaat-e-Islami’s mass-murder of Bangladeshi journalists and intellectuals during the 1971 Liberation War. 165 Anti-Semitism A number of ISB officials have expressed anti-Semitic ideas. ISB imam, Suhaib Webb, has said that animosity toward Jews is understandable. 166 Walid Fitaihi, an ISB trustee, called Jews “murderers of prophets.” 167 The prescribed texts of the Tarbiya program also encourage anti-Semitism. Milestones, written by the Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, states that the “purpose” of “world Jewry… is to eliminate all limitations, especially the limitations imposed by faith and religion, so that the Jews may penetrate into body politic of the whole world and then may be free to perpetuate their evil designs. At the top of the list of these activities is usury, the aim of which is that all the wealth of mankind end up in the hands of Jewish financial institutions which run on interest.” 168 Homophobia ISB imam Suhaib Webb has condemned homosexuality as an “evil inclination.” 169 He has also described effeminate men as “cursed.” 170 Former ISB trustee Yusuf Qaradawi has written, in his treatise The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam, that homosexuality is a “perverted act … a reversal of the natural order, a corruption of man’s sexuality. … The jurists of Islam have held differing opinions concerning the punishment for this abominable practice. Should it be the same as the punishment for fornication, or should both the active and passive participants be put to death? While such punishments may seem cruel, they have been suggested to maintain the purity of the Islamic society and to keep it clean of perverted elements.” 171 Ghulam Sarwar, “Islam: Beliefs and Teachings,” Islamic Bulletin website, accessed 10/23/15: http://www.islamicbulletin.org/ free_downloads/kids/islam_children.pdf 164 “The Leading Collaborators of 1971 and their Present Whereabouts,” Liberation War Museum website, accessed 10/23/15: http:// www.banglagallery.com/LWM/collabo.html 165 “Boston Imam Webb spouts off about Jews,” YouTube, 31 October 2013, accessed 10/22/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=yvk9YFvV6wM 166 167 Dean Barnett, “The Islamists Are Coming!” The Weekly Standard, Vol. 12, No. 37, 11 June 2007 168 Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, The Mother Mosque Foundation, 1981, 110 Lisa Wangsness, “In life and words, Muslim leader bridges cultures,” Boston Globe, 12 May 2013, accessed 5/21/16: http:// www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/05/11/imam-william-suhaib-webb-emerges-face-boston-muslim-community-time-crisis/ Kd8v0O48vkHSZAnOpYCqOI/story.html 169 “Boston mosque Imam Suhaib Webb says gays are cursed,” YouTube, 25 April 2013, accessed 10/22/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=QaoKv1zRkjA 170 “UK Islamic Mission – The Syllabus,” The Islamic Far-Right in Britain, 30 October 2013, accessed 10/23/15: http://tifrib.com/2013/10/30/ uk-islamic-mission-the-syllabus/ 171 36 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB Extremists at the Pulpit Along with the extremist views held by many of its officials, the ISB has a history of inviting extremist preachers to address its worshippers. In 2012, Yasir Qadhi spoke at the ISB. 172 He had appeared a number of times before. Qadhi is a notorious hate preacher. In 2001, he told an audience of Muslims: “Hitler never intended to mass-destroy the Jews. There are a number of books out on this written by Christians, you should read them. The Hoax of the Holocaust, I advise you to read this book and write this down, the Hoax of the Holocaust, a very good book. All of this is false propaganda and I know it sounds so far-fetched, but read it. The evidences [sic] are very strong. And they’re talking about newspaper articles, clippings, everything and look up yourself what Hitler really wanted to do. We’re not defending Hitler, by the way, but the Jews, the way that they portray him, also is not correct.” 173 In 2008, Qadhi claimed to have renounced his anti-Semitism. At the same time, however, Qadhi expressed support for the British Holocaust denier David Irving. 174 Qadhi is also a staff member at the terror-linked Al Maghrib Institute, where his colleagues include Said Rageah, a Canadian Islamist preacher who has preached that God should “destroy” the enemies of Islam and that the Christians and Jews are “damned”; 175 and Abdullah Hakim Quick, a preacher who has called upon God to “clean and purify Al-Aqsa from the filth of the Yahood [Jews].” 176 Another Al Maghrib official, Abdulbary Yahya, has also spoken at the ISB. 177 The Muslim Brotherhood preacher Salah Soltan was a frequent speaker at the ISB during the first half of the ‘00s. 178 Sultan is a member, along with former ISB trustee Jamal Badawi, of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, a body of Muslim Brotherhood clerics led by the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader and former ISB trustee, Yusuf Qaradawi. 179 In an interview with a Hamas television station, Soltan claimed that Jews use Christian blood to make matzoh bread. He has also praised the Al Qaeda operative Abd Al Majid Al Zindani, called upon Muslims to prepare themselves for Jihad against Israel, and claimed that Jews were deliberately entering Egypt to infect Egyptian girls with the AIDS virus. 180 In 2015, Soltan was Islamic Society of Boston Hosts Virulently Anti-Semitic Preacher,” Americans for Peace and Tolerance: http://www.peaceandtolerance.org/ 2012/10/18/islamic-society-of-boston-hosts-virulently-anti-semitic-preacher/ 172 173 “YQ1,” Vimeo website, accessed 10/23/15: https://vimeo.com/5496661 “Qadhi Does It Again,” Harry’s Place website, 15 December 2008, accessed 10/23/15: http://hurryupharry.org/2008/12/15/qadhi-does-itagain/ 174 Ron Nurwisah, “Toronto imam preaching ‘hate instead of harmony,’” National Post, 21 October 2009, accessed 5/21/16: http:// news.nationalpost.com/holy-post/toronto-imam-preaching-hate-instead-of-harmony 175 “6/6 The History of the Crusades by Sheikh Abdul Hakim Quik,” YouTube, 17 May 2012, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hlOrJu9Oqyo 176 “Shaykh Abdulbary Yahya - (ISBCC Khutba 6/22/2012),” YouTube, 27 July 2012, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=9CxkbnVXDGY 177 "Minutes of ISB BOT Annual Meeting in Boston, July 2-4, 2002”, Americans for Peace and Tolerance website, accessed 10/22/15: http:// www.peaceandtolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/09/ISB-BoT-Annual-Meeting-Minutes-July-2002.pdf 178 179 “Members,” International Union of Muslims Scholars website, accessed 10/23/15: http://iumsonline.org/portal/en-US/members/38/ 180 Salah Sultan, Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch, accessed 10/23/15: http://www.globalmbwatch.com/salah-sultan/ THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB | 37 sentenced to death by an Egyptian court, along with other senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders, for inciting murder. 181 Other recent speakers at the ISB have included Tariq Ramadan, a Muslim Brotherhood writer and public commentator who has said killing Israeli schoolchildren is “contextually explicable”; 182 and Omar Suleiman, who describes homosexuality as a “disease” and a “repugnant shameless sin.” 183 In October 2015, the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) hosted a two-day conference on behalf of the Qalam Institute. One of the keynote speakers, Mufti Hussain Kamani, has a history of expressing extremist statements. Kamani has called upon God to “reward the martyrs of Palestine.” 184 And in a pamphlet titled, ‘The Prophetic Code,’ published by the Qalam Institute, Kamani cites Quranic verse and commentary, in which he tells Muslims: “do not resemble the Jews.” Parents are also advised to “beat” their children “if they do not [pray].” 185 In a talk titled ‘Sex, Masturbation and Islam,’ Kamani explains that a Muslim man must only fulfill his sexual desires “with his spouse…[or] with a female slave that belongs to him.” 186 Muslims must not be led astray by Western society, Kamani declares, in which “we are surrounded by filth … our environment is full of this filth, everywhere we turn.” Those who commit adultery or have sex outside of marriage, Kamani also states, must be “stoned to death.” 187 During another talk on ‘Rights of a Wife in Islam,’ Kamani explains “how to deal with the women folk” and how Muslim husbands can “train their wives.” Beating women, Kamani advises, should only be a “last measure.” 188 Another speaker at the conference is the founder of the Qalam Institute, Abdul Nasir Jangda, who frequently presents sermons about the iniquities and treacheries of the Jews during the time of Islam’s Prophet. Jangda describes Jews in this period as a “really bad people” who opposed the peaceful message of Islam and “liked the trouble because they were able to pull the strings and maintain some type of advantage in the community through political maneuvering. … They were very hateful, very spiteful.” 189 El-Sayed Gamal El-Din, “Badie, Muslim Brotherhood figures sentenced to death in 'Rabaa Control Room' case,” Ahram Online, 16 March 2015, accessed 10/23/15: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/125400/Egypt/Politics-/Badie,-Muslim-Brotherhood-figuressentenced-to-dea.aspx 181 “The Dismissal of Tariq Ramadan,” Wall Street Journal, 19 August 2009, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.wsj.com/articles/ SB10001424052970203550604574360193435076088 182 Laura Clark, Inderdeep Bains and David Williams, “'Trojan Horse' fear over six leading Muslim schools: Ofsted to warn Minister of 'serious concerns,’” Daily Mail, 20 November 2014, accessed 5/21/16: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2841916/Islamic-extremism-rife-CofEschool-East-London-institution-special-measures-inspectors-discovered-pupils-segregated-sixth-formers-posted-links-hardline-preachersFacebook.html 183 184 Hussain Kamani, Facebook, 14 July 2014, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.facebook.com/MuftiHussainKamani/posts/858697094158954 185 Hussain Kamani, “The Prophetic Code,” Qalam Institute, accessed 10/23/15: http://www.qalaminstitute.org/propheticcode.pdf “Sex, Masterbation _ Islam - The Cure by Mufti Hussain Kamani_FULL.mp4,” YouTube, 1 June 2012, accessed 10/23/15: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6dpxBhA3K0 186 “Islam's Position on Adultery and Fornication [Part 2/6],” YouTube, 24 January 2009, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=tjqphNTOFdk 187 “Rights Of A Wife In Islam | HD | Mufti Hussain Kamani,” YouTube, 27 July 2012, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ezCoHA5FSfE 188 “What Leads to Hellfire? - Abdul Nasir Jangda - Quran Weekly,” YouTube, 31 March 2012, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=vJXHV3VjA1I; “Seerah – Life of the Prophet: The First birth and death in Madinah,” Qalam Institute website, 17 June 2014, accessed 10/23/15: http://www.qalaminstitute.org/2014/06/seerah-life-of-the-prophet-the-first-birth-and-death-in-madinah 189 38 | THE CASE AGAINST THE ISB Jangda is also an instructor at the Al Maghrib Institute. His colleagues at Al Maghrib include Abu Eesa Niamatullah, who has said of Jews, “They find it so easy and natural to do what they do….Look at them today, look at the way they massacre. They blow up babies like as if it’s a computer game. They have no humanity, no morality, no ethics.” 190 The founder of Al Maghrib, Muhammad Al Shareef, has written a paper titled, ‘Why the Jews Were Cursed,’ in which he claims that Jews control the media and murder prophets, and advises Muslims not to “take Jews as our close allies.” 191 The infamous ‘underwear’ bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, attended seminars run by Al Maghrib in both London and Houston, where one of his instructors was Yasir Qadhi, a notorious hate preacher and a frequent speaker at the ISB. 192 According to detailed notes published by one of Jangda’s students, during a seminar that Jangda presented at the Al Maghrib Institute, Jangda defended the use of female sex slaves within Islam. Jangda reportedly concluded that, “Slavery in Islam ... is vastly different and superior morally and spiritually to the atrocious, obscene, and vile Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.” 193 Furthermore, Jangda apparently expressed support for the killing of apostates and adulterers; claimed that a wife cannot refuse her husband sex: “The thing to understand is that the husband has his set of divinely given rights one of which is the right to have his physical desires satisfied”; and called for people who drink alcohol to be beaten: “One of the largest causes of death in the United States is drunk driving. Such policies would help curb them immensely and avoid harm to the people at large.” 194 The other speakers at the ISB’s conference included a mixture of ISB and Qalam Institute officials and students. The link between the two groups is due to AbdelRahman Murphy, a “visiting imam” at the ISB, a speaker at the upcoming conference, and a “instructor” at the Qalam Institute. 195 Murphy has claimed “There is no such thing as an innocent Israeli.” 196 He also accuses Israel of perpetrating a “New Holocaust” against Gaza and that the terror group Hamas only exists because “Israel massacred civilians.” 197 The ISB has repeatedly claimed to have rejected the extremist beliefs of its founding trustees and former officials. Its continued embrace of some of America’s most radical preachers, however, suggests otherwise. “The Decree Upon Israel - For Killing #FREEPALESTINE,” YouTube, 22 July 2014, accessed 10/23/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=qQ-z8GTszgo 190 Muhammad Alshareef, “Why the Jews are Cursed,” Sunnah Online, accessed 10/23/15: http://web.archive.org/web/20140418033106/http:// sunnahonline.com/ilm/jihaad/0006.htm 191 “Terror suspect attended 2008 Islamic 'knowledge fest' in Houston,” CNN website, accessed 10/23/15: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/ 12/30/terror.suspect.seminar/ 192 Abdul Nasir Jangda, "Firm Ground, Al Maghrib,” accessed 10/23/15: https://drive.google.com/file/d/ 0B89y9kKMY4MxNnVnVG56aURGemM/view 193 194 Ibid. 195 AbdelRahman Murphy, Twitter account, accessed 10/23/15: https://twitter.com/abdelrahmanm AbdelRahman Murphy, Twitter post, accessed 10/23/15: http://standforpeace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ScreenShot-2015-09-01-at-19.10.09.png 196 AbdelRahman Murphy, Twitter posts, accessed 10/23/15: http://standforpeace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ScreenShot-2015-09-01-at-19.07.20.png and http://standforpeace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Screen-Shot-2015-09-01-at-19.06.39.png 197 MUSLIMSFACINGTOMORROW.COM PEACEANDTOLERANCE.ORG