Islamist Money in Politics

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American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) was founded in 2005 by noted Islamist student activist (and later, activist academic) Hatem Bazian, who also co-founded Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). AMP provides training, infrastructure, money, and logistical support to the college Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israeli products and companies. Chiefly, AMP has given extensive support to SJP, the most extreme BDS-supporting campus organization. In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said, "AMP provides speakers, training, printed materials, a so-called 'Apartheid Wall,' and [financial] grants to SJP activists. AMP even has a campus coordinator on staff whose job is to work directly with SJP and other pro-BDS campus groups across the country."

AMP's board is full of alumni of Muslim-Brotherhood-linked organizations such as IAP, UASR, and HLF. Notable examples include Osama Abu Irshad (late of IAP and UASR) and Salah Sarsour (who was convicted by an Israeli court of raising money for Hamas through the HLF).

AMP's publications and rhetoric routinely skirt the line between speech and incitement. AMP spokesmen openly approve of "resistance" against the State of Israel, and have endorsed Hamas's campaign of rocket fire against civilians. In private, the language is even stronger: a poster in Arabic displayed in AMP's Chicago headquarters in 2016 included the phrase, "No Jew will live among them in Jerusalem."

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Background: Investigative Project on Terrorism
Background: Clarion Project
Background: Discover the Networks

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) holds itself out as a benign "civil rights" organization fighting "Islamophobia." The reality is much more ominous.

The United States government named CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator to fund the terrorist group Hamas in America's most significant terror financing trial. A federal judge subsequently concluded: "The government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR ... with Hamas."

The U.S. also identified CAIR as a member of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee, and its immediate predecessor as sharing the common goal of dismantling American institutions and turning the U.S. into a Shari'a-compliant, Islamic state through incremental, stealth jihad.

The FBI has "suspended all formal contacts" with CAIR because "the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner." A recent Department of Justice Inspector General report admonished FBI field offices for having even superficial contacts with CAIR, in violation of Justice Department policy.

CAIR's current executive director, Nihad Awad, participated in a secret 1993 meeting of Hamas members and sympathizers, according to FBI wiretaps. One year later, Awad became a founding member of CAIR.

CAIR perfectly illustrates the nexus between "lawful" non-violent Islamists and violent jihadists; two different methods to achieve the same goal: the worldwide spread of Shari'a as governing law. As the most infamous member of the lawful group, CAIR takes advantage of our freedoms to undermine Western society from within, stealthily. With activism, rather than bombs.

"Violent jihad gets the headlines, but lawful Islamism gets results." It does so by: ending criticism of Islamists and Shari'a; tying the hands of law enforcement by preventing counter-jihad training; carving out special rights and enclaves for Muslims outside the constitutional order; forcing non-Muslims to comply with aspects of Shari'a; covertly fundraising for terror groups; and creating a false narrative of Muslim victimhood, which fuels extremism and aids in the recruitment of jihadists.

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Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF)

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The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) is a now-defunct charitable trust, originally established in 1988 as the "Occupied Land Fund" by Muslim Brotherhood operatives Shukri Abu-Baker, Mohammed el-Mezain, and Ghassan Elashi (who also co-founded IAP with Ghassan Dahduli). Initially funded with $210,000 from Elashi's brother-in-law, Hamas operative Musa Abu Marzook, HLF called itself America's largest Muslim charity even as it funneled millions of dollars to Hamas.

The U.S. government began monitoring HLF in 1996. A criminal investigation was begun in 1999 of HLF's website provider, InfoCom Corporation (which was run by Ghassam Elashi and his four brothers Bayan, Basman, Hazim, and Ihsan) after the name of Dahduli, an employee, was found as a contact in the address book of Osama bin Laden's secretary. On September 5, 2001, federal agents raided InfoCom; among their findings was that the web server used by HLF was being shared by IAP, CAIR, ICNA, ISNA, and MSA, as well as the American Muslims for Jerusalem. On December 4, 2001, the offices of HLF itself were raided and all its assets seized.

In the course of the investigation of HLF, the famous 1991 "Explanatory Memorandum" by Mohammed Akram, a leading Muslim Brotherhood officer was found in the home of Ismael Elbarasse when it was searched in 2004. The Memorandum described the Brotherhood's long-term strategy of subverting the United States, and outlined its large network of affiliated and allied US organizations.

In November 2008, Abu-Baker, el-Mezain, Elashi, and two other former HLF officials were convicted of conspiring to provide material support to the terror group Hamas. According to the indictment, total aid to Hamas from 1988 to 2004 exceeded $57 million.

International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)

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The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) is one of the many Islamist institutions set up by MSA and ISNA. A think tank, IIIT publishes scholarship and organizes educational conferences in close collaboration with U.S. universities, but with the overall goal of advancing the cause of Islamism. The term "Islamophobia" originated with the IIIT in the early 1990s, intended as a memetic club with which to attack critics of political Islam, though it only gained prominence after 9/11.

IIIT was closely associated with the SAAR Network, not least through the sharing of senior officials such as Hisham Altalib, M. Yaqub Mirza, and Jamal Barzinji, and was alleged to have received most of its funds from SAAR. IIIT was the largest donor to the think tank of convicted terror financier Sami al-Arian, and was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation trial.

IIIT was mentioned in the famous 1991 "Explanatory Memorandum" by Mohammed Akram, a leading officer of the Muslim Brotherhood, where it was described as a Brotherhood-allied organization.

Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP)

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The Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) is a now-defunct nonprofit that ostensibly created awareness of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, chiefly by publishing allegedly factual news items that were supposedly blacklisted by hostile Western media. In fact, IAP was a media-relations arm of Hamas in the U.S. It was founded in 1981 by Musa Abu Marzook, the Hamas operative who would later finance HLF, and Sami al-Arian, who would become the North American leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In a 1991 internal Muslim Brotherhood document, "Suggested Amendments to the Bylaws of the Palestine Committee," IAP is described as one branch of the Palestine Committee (along with UASR and the Occupied Land Fund, which would become the HLF), "representing the popular side of work for the cause." IAP's leadership would be appointed by the Palestine Committee, which would also determine its general strategy.

In 1993, the Palestine Committee held a secret meeting in Philadelphia, which was wiretapped by the FBI; two of the participants were Nihad Awad, president of IAP, and Omar Ahmad, IAP's director of public relations. At the meeting, it was decided that a new "neutral" advocacy group was needed, since IAP had been identified by the authorities as a Hamas front. The next year, Awad and Ahmad cofounded CAIR along with Ibrahim Hooper, who had been an IAP employee.

Rafeeq Jaber, a former president of IAP who also helped cofound CAIR, testified in the 2003 wrongful-death lawsuit of murdered student David Boim that he used IAP fundraisers to help fund HLF, which would later be shut down for laundering money to Hamas. IAP and HLF were ruled liable for $156 million, and IAP dissolved.

Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)

Background: Clarion Project
Background: Discover the Networks

Founded by South Asian Muslims, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) describes itself as an "organization which seeks to obtain the pleasure of Allah (SWT) through working for the establishment of Islam in all spheres of life." In his book American Jihad, counterterrorism expert Steve Emerson writes that "ICNA openly supports militant Islamic fundamentalist organizations, praises terror attacks, issues incendiary attacks on Western values and policies, and supports the imposition of Shari'a." A 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memorandum names ICNA among "our organizations and the organizations of our friends."

ICNA has close ties to the Jamaat-e-Islami religious party and the South Asian Islamist scene. Former ICNA vice president Ashraf Uzzaman Khan, who lives in New York and has one campaign contribution in the IMIP database, was recently convicted of war crimes for his alleged role in the murders of 18 intellectuals during the waning days of Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence.

ICNA's annual conferences are known for their radical speakers. The group's promotion of Islamist texts and its extensive indoctrination process are likewise well documented. Its handbook for members preaches about the need to institute Islamic law and outlines a five-step path to establishing a new global caliphate.

ICNA's charitable wing, ICNA Relief, has encouraged donations to jihadist causes and was a top funder of a Pakistani charity, the Jamaat-e-Islami-linked Al-Khidmat Foundation, at the time that Al-Khidmat was transferring money to Hamas.

Though both ICNA and ICNA Relief have branches across the U.S., the IMIP database currently includes the national organizations only, as well as ICNA's Council for Social Justice.

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Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)

Background: Investigative Project on Terrorism
Background: Clarion Project
Background: Discover the Networks

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the largest U.S.-based Muslim advocacy group, was designated as an unindicted co-conspirator in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation, an Islamic charity convicted of bankrolling Hamas. A federal judge upheld the label, noting the government's "ample evidence to establish the associations" of ISNA and others with the Hamas terror entity.

A 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memorandum places ISNA on its "list of our organizations and the organizations of our friends." As part of the Holy Land Foundation case, the government classified ISNA among those "individuals/entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood." The Investigative Project on Terrorism explains that "ISNA's leadership ranks include a number of people who date back to the group's foundation by Muslim Brotherhood members. The organization grew out of the Muslim Students Association (MSA), which also was founded by Brotherhood members." The FBI was aware of ISNA's status as a Brotherhood front as early as 1987 and concluded that "ISNA has as a political goal to exert influence on political decision making and legislation in North America."

ISNA has been known to promote radical views. For example, top official Sayyid Syeed has proclaimed that "our job is to change the Constitution of America." Another key ISNA figure, Muzammil Siddiqi, has expressed a desire to see "the implementation of Shari'a in all areas" of American life. Moreover, ISNA's Fiqh Council of North America, which interprets Islamic law, is filled with Islamists.

Scholar Stephen Schwartz has called ISNA, which provides Wahhabi materials to U.S. mosques, "one of the chief conduits through which the radical Saudi form of Islam passes into the United States."

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Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA)

Background: Clarion Project
Background: Discover the Networks

The Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) purports to speak for "indigenous" African-American Muslims, but the only voices heard are those of radical Islam.

A catalyst for MANA's formation was Imam Jamil al-Amin, a now-convicted cop killer who continues to enjoy the group's support.

MANA is led by Siraj Wahhaj, a Brooklyn-based imam who was included in a federal prosecutor's roster of "unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the thwarted follow-up plot. The NYPD later called him a "tier one person of interest" in its counterterrorism work. Wahhaj has preached that Muslims should view politics as "a weapon to use in the cause of Islam" and that the Constitution should be replaced by Islamic law. "I will never tell people, 'Don't be violent.' That's not the Islamic way," he said.

MANA's governing body once featured Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a Detroit imam who was killed after initiating a gunfight with federal agents sent to arrest him in 2009. The U.S. government described Abdullah as "a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group" dedicated to establishing a separate state under Shari'a on American soil. That organization, the Ummah, is run by al-Amin from prison.

Another important MANA figure is Kenny Gamble, a record producer who has been accused of constructing a "black Muslim enclave" in South Philadelphia. Asked about this in 2007, he responded by painting segregation as natural. He has also been linked to an "Islamic paramilitary boys group" featuring "hand-to-hand combat, firearms training, and survival tactics." Gamble, it should be noted, is a frequent campaign contributor.

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Muslim American Society (MAS)

Background: Investigative Project on Terrorism
Background: Clarion Project
Background: Discover the Networks

Of the many U.S.-based groups connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks to establish a global caliphate under Islamic law, none has stronger ties than the Muslim American Society (MAS).

The names of three founding incorporators of MAS were discovered in a Brotherhood phone directory listing its leaders in America. The Chicago Tribune concluded in 2004 that "in recent years, the U.S. Brotherhood operated under the name Muslim American Society, according to documents and interviews." Federal prosecutors later explained that "MAS was founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America." Under oath in 2012, Abdurrahman Alamoudi, a Brotherhood operative now serving time on charges related to terrorism, said, "Everyone knows that MAS is the Muslim Brotherhood."

The MAS website has defended the Brotherhood from its critics, referred to it as a mere "grassroots Islamic movement for reform and revival," and admitted that Brotherhood materials constituted the "foundational texts for the intellectual component for Islamic work in America." For these reasons, counterterrorism researcher Stephen Schwartz has described MAS as "a major component of the 'Wahhabi lobby'" promulgating fundamentalist Islam in the U.S.

Esam Omeish, a former MSA president and a prolific campaign contributor, resigned in disgrace from Virginia's Commission on Immigration after the exposure of a video in which Omeish was recorded lauding "the jihad way" among Palestinians fighting Israel. Furthermore, in a bizarre piece published by MAS after the death of Osama bin Laden, another of its officials called the terror master "a visionary who believed in the possibility of an Islamic state in Afghanistan and the possibility that this thing might someday be. There was nothing wrong with that dream." The article was later pulled.

MAS operates a number of local chapters often affiliated with Islamic centers, but the IMIP database currently focuses on the national organization.

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Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)

Background: Investigative Project on Terrorism
Background: Clarion Project
Background: Discover the Networks

Though the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) portrays itself as a moderate defender of American Muslims, its mainstream veneer conceals a troubling track record. "Far from being the zealous champion of civil rights that it presents itself to be," the Investigative Project on Terrorism notes, MPAC "has followed a consistent pattern of defending designated terrorist organizations and their supporters, opposing U.S. counterterrorism efforts, and spouting anti-Semitic rhetoric."

MPAC was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, one of whom described himself as a "close disciple" of Brotherhood ideologue Hasan al-Banna. Policy papers by MPAC have painted the Brotherhood as a force for moderation and argued against the terror designations of Hamas and Hezbollah — even as MPAC accused Israel of terrorism. Indeed, MPAC president Salam al-Marayati, an occasional campaign contributor, reflexively fingered Israel for complicity in 9/11 just hours after the attacks.

More recently, MPAC has been at the forefront of the campaign to downplay the threat of Islamic terrorism and impede law enforcement efforts to stop it.

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Muslim Students Association (MSA)

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The Muslim Students Association of the U.S. and Canada (MSA) was established in 1963 by a large group of Muslim students at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champlain. Many of the founders were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the most significant of whom were Dr. Hisham Altalib, Jamal Barzinji, and Ahmed Totanji. Funding came primarily from Saudi Arabia, and during the early years MSA chapters enforced Wahhabi Islamic practice at their events. Since then, MSA provided organizational support for the creation of ISNA, ICNA, IIIT, NAIT, and many other Islamist organizations in the United States. Many of these organizations feature "interlocking directorates," that is, boards of directors featuring many of the same members.

As an organization for college students, MSA has been at the forefront of the effort to radicalize and Islamize American universities. While individual MSA chapters can sometimes be moderate and peaceful, the organization as a whole has frequently featured officers and invited speakers who are terrorist supporters or actual terrorists themselves. (For example, MSA's president in 1982 and 1983 was Aburrahman Alamoudi, later the founder of the American Muslim Council and an active political influencer, before his conviction in 2004 for funneling money to al-Qaida and for involvement in a Libyan plot to assassinate then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah; a frequent guest speaker was Sami al-Arian, would would plead guilty in 2006 of conspiracy to support Palestinian Islamic Jihad.)

A 2007 NYPD report titled "Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat" described the MSA as an incubator for extremism that allows Islamists to "present a radical message in a way that resonates with the students." (The report attracted the ire of Muslim advocacy groups, and has since been "purged.")

North American Imam's Federation (NAIF)

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The North American Imam's [sic] Federation (NAIF) is a consortium of imams in the U.S. and Canada that provides professional support and advocacy on behalf of its members. It was founded in 2003 and formally registered in 2004. NAIF has been active in setting up Islamic jurisprudence organizations that are noted for their Salafist views, such as the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA), and shares much of its leadership with CAIR, ISNA, and ICNA. For example, a former board member was Siraj Wahhaj, also former vice president of ISNA, co-founder of MANA, and supporter of Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

A former executive committee member of NAIF was Ashrafuzzaman Khan, who is also former secretary-general of ICNA. Khan was convicted in absentia by Bangladesh in 2013 of being part of the Pakistan-backed Al-Badr death squad, personally murdering 7 professors and intellectuals in the final days of the Bangladesh War of Indpendence.

North American Islamic Trust (NAIT)

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The North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) describes itself as a wakf, or Islamic trust for the perpetual endowment of mosques, Islamic schools, and communal institutions. In practice, it does not merely endow these institutions, but exerts ideological control to enforce its brand of extremist Islamism.

As described on its website, NAIT was founded in 1973 by the Muslim Students' Association (MSA), and maintains close ties with MSA and with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)—both organizations that are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. NAIT finances mosques, schools, and community centers; but it also has publishing arms (American Trust Publications and the Islamic Book Service) that produce religious and ideological material, including works by prominent Muslim Brotherhood leaders such as Sayyid Qutb.

NAIT's most important function is to provide financing and regulatory support for new mosques and community centers, typically via zero-percent loans that are thus compatible with Sharia law. According to NAIT, it holds the deeds of mosques in over forty states; this amounts to over 25% of all the mosques in the United States, and according to some estimates, as much as three quarters of American mosques. NAIT uses this control to exert ideological influence; according to its own website, "[t]he fundamental motivation for entrusting the title of a center to NAIT" is to "keep these centers true to the Islamic purpose for which they were established." According to Islamic scholar Khalid Duran, once NAIT gains control of a mosque, Wahhabi literature becomes prevalent and only Wahhabi speakers give public presentations.

NAIT was mentioned in the famous 1991 "Explanatory Memorandum" by Mohammed Akram, a leading officer of the Muslim Brotherhood, where it was described as a Brotherhood-allied organization. NAIT was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation trial; evidence in that trial showed money being transferred from NAIT bank accounts to the terror group Hamas.

SAAR Network (SAAR)

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The SAAR Network (SAAR) and the Safa Group (SAFA) are both terms used to refer to a group of associated nonprofits, for-profit organizations, and asset-management companies, which often shared officers or members of the board, and were often registered to the same addresses. The Network served as a money-laundering conduit for al-Qaida and other terror groups. Their U.S. nucleus was the SAAR Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)3 incorporated in 1983, and named after the initials of Saudi banking magnate Sulaiman Abdul Aziz al-Rajhi, who founded the SAAR Network overseas and is a supporter of al-Qaida; the SAAR Foundation was dissolved in 2000 and reformed as the Safa Trust, which featured many of the same officers, notably Jamal Barzinji, M. Yaqub Mirza, Hisham Altalib, and Abdurahman Alamoudi—who would later be convicted on charges of conspiring to assassinate then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

Among the associated institutions and companies were the IIIT, Sterling Investment Group, Reston Investments, Mar-Jac Investments, and several dozen others. These are detailed in the Federal affidavit filed to seek a search warrant as part of Operation Green Quest; the affidavit accused the SAAR Network of supporting Hamas as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad via Sami al-Arian.

Safa Group (SAFA)

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The SAAR Network (SAAR) and the Safa Group (SAFA) are both terms used to refer to a group of associated nonprofits, for-profit organizations, and asset-management companies, which often shared officers or members of the board, and were often registered to the same addresses. The Network served as a money-laundering conduit for al-Qaida and other terror groups. Their U.S. nucleus was the SAAR Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)3 incorporated in 1983, and named after the initials of Saudi banking magnate Sulaiman Abdul Aziz al-Rajhi, who founded the SAAR Network overseas and is a supporter of al-Qaida; the SAAR Foundation was dissolved in 2000 and reformed as the Safa Trust, which featured many of the same officers, notably Jamal Barzinji, M. Yaqub Mirza, Hisham Altalib, and Abdurrahman Alamoudi—who would later be convicted on charges of conspiring to assassinate then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

United Association for Studies and Research (UASR)

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The United Association for Studies and Research (UASR) was founded in 1989 by senior Hamas operative Musa Abu Marzook (who also funded the establishment of HLF), ostensibly as an Islamic think tank focusing on "the study of ongoing issues in the Middle East." In fact, it functions as the media-relations headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States. It published a quarterly periodical called the Middle East Affairs Journal, which featured on its advisory council several academics known to be sympathetic to the Brotherhood

In a 1991 internal Muslim Brotherhood document, "Suggested Amendments to the Bylaws of the Palestine Committee," UASR is described as one branch of the Palestine Committee (along with IAP and the Occupied Land Fund, which would become the HLF). UASR's leadership would be appointed by the Palestine Committee, which would also determine its general strategy.

Muhammad Salah, a designated terrorist who had been an employee of UASR, cooperated with Israeli prosecutors in 1993 and identified UASR as the US base for the political command of Hamas.

While as a public entity the UASR appears to be defunct, many former leaders of UASR went on to positions within CAIR, including Anisa Abdel-Fattah (AKA Caroline F. Keeble), Mohamed Nimer, and Nabil Sadoun, who was deported in 2010 after not disclosing his ties to UASR on his visa application.

World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY)