An Islamist who promotes an ideology similar to the teachings of the Islamic State—the organization that murdered and raped its way across vast sections of the Middle East and beyond— has set up shop in El Paso, Texas. This evangelist of Islamist hostility and supremacism, who claims to be studying for a Ph.D. (but won’t say where) and brags of being investigated by the FBI, goes by the name of Abu Najim Bin al-Iskandar or Abu Najm Rodriguez.
“I’ve been active online for over 20 years, much of that time under investigation by the FBI/JTTF [the Joint Terrorism Task Force] for something or another,” Iskandar declared in an email to Focus on Western Islamism (FWI), which he accused of buying into a narrative offered by Hindu radicals about his statements. “Must be slow at the MEF & FWI.” (“It is a long-standing practice of the FBI to neither confirm nor deny the existence of investigations,” the FBI informed FWI via email.)
Iskandar expresses particular contempt for Hindus in Bangladesh and Muslims who assimilate in the West. He displayed this contempt in numerous messages posted on X after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh in August. His calls for the subjugation of non-Muslims have caught the attention of Hindu activists and journalists in India who accuse Iskandar of “instigating Islamists in Bangladesh against the Hindu community.”
For his part, Iskandar insists that his posts do not promote violence but are protected speech under the First Amendment. In an email, he challenged FWI to “produce a single social media post or communication where I am conveying my own views about non-Muslims wherein I ‘promote violence.’” He continued, “It seems to me that you’ve swallowed whole the hit pieces that Hindu propagandists have published about me online. If that’s the bar set for your own publications, then I have nothing to worry about in terms of anyone of import taking what you publish seriously.”
But Iskandar calls for the destruction of non-Muslim places of worship, declaring that Muslims who refuse to do so “earn the punishment of Allah.” (He offers this message, as well as many other similar posts, on X under the handle @IbnalIskandar.) He invokes the motto “مع المحبرة حتى المقبرة,” (“with the inkwell to the grave”), a phrase from the ninth-century scholar Ibn Hanbal, founder of the Hanbali school of jurisprudence, whose writings inspire many modern-day Islamists.
Umar Lee, a former Salafist who has become a vocal critic of Islamism, is not convinced by Iskandar’s argument that he isn’t promoting violence but merely citing Islamic texts. “This Iskandar guy is dangerous,” he said. When asked if Iskandar is promoting an ideology similar to that of ISIS, Lee responded, “I would say so.”
Affiliated with Islamic University of Minnesota
Iskandar’s Facebook page indicates he has received a master’s degree from the Islamic University of Minnesota, a school described as a “hotbed of extremism” by John Rossomando in 2016. Rossomando found that the IUM curriculum promotes ideologies similar to those embraced by ISIS, including advocating for the murder of Muslims who don’t pray, of apostates, and of certain prisoners or non-believers within Muslim-ruled territory.
IUM’s founder and chancellor, Waleed Idris al-Meneesey, has made anti-Semitic remarks and advocated for Muslims to reject the U.S. legal system in favor of Sharia law (an opinion shared by Iskandar, as shown below). Meneesey also wrote the foreword to a book of translations produced and sold by Iskandar on his website, suggesting a relationship between the two. IUM’s founder also serves as chairman, chief scholar, and imam of Dar Al Farooq Center in Minnesota, a Somali mosque described by FWI in 2022 as “a pipeline for international terrorism recruitment where no fewer than six congregants have sought to join ISIS or Al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia.”
Iskandar and Non-Muslims
Like Meneesey, Iskandar has a problem with non-Muslims who insist on exercising their right to religious freedom and equality in Muslim-majority environments. In a post on X, he declared that Muslims who do not demolish non-Muslim places of worship in areas that they have conquered earn “the punishment of Allah through the resurgence of Disbelief and the reconquest of Muslim lands by Disbelievers.”
According to another post on X by Iskandar, Hindus should be “grateful” to be given the option to convert to Islam rather than face execution, further suggesting that Hindus were fortunate to be dealing with more lenient Hanafis instead of stricter Islamic schools like the Malikis or Hanbalis.
Muslims in the West should be helping one another evade law enforcement and avoid being forcibly subject to man-made laws.
Iskandar also advocates for Hindus to be humiliated, taxed under Islamic rule, and be “restricted from exhibiting their Shirk or having any role in government.”
Iskandar calls for the application of traditional Islamic law in dealing with Hindus and other religious minorities. “We haven’t been following Islamic law in dealing with Hindus, not ever in India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh. Anytime is a good time to start,” he posted.
Iskandar’s statements follow a series of violent incidents targeting religious minorities in Bangladesh after the fall of the Hasina government in August. These attacks, perpetrated largely by Jamaat-e-Islami, a group banned in Bangladesh, India, and Russia, have left Hindus and Christians in fear for their lives. Iskandar’s posts showed no sympathy for the victims. “What’s crazy is that Muslims are talking about the future of Bangladesh being ‘more Islamic’ while at the same time calling for good treatment of Hindus,” he wrote.
Iskandar also vehemently opposes interfaith dialogue, criticizing Adam Kelwick, a prominent Muslim leader in England who invited anti-Muslim protesters into his mosque in Southport, England, in August “to come and talk with us.” Afterwards, Kelwick said the discussions went “amazingly well.” In response, Iskandar declared, “Allah AWJ [‘the mighty, the venerable’] has no need for polytheists to enter His House except in a state of fear.”
Iskandar further suggests that Muslims living in Western democracies should not follow the rules of the land, stating on X, “Muslims in the West should be helping one another evade law enforcement and avoid being forcibly subject to man-made laws.” He excoriates Muslims who follow kafir (non-Muslim) law; he says they should follow only Sharia law: “Most of these Muslims [are] fully westernized[,] acting like ticks dug into the skin under the safety provided by polytheist democrats [and] have no concept of allegiance to global Muslim Ummah and to Islam. Westernized Muslims exhibit a proud acceptance of man-made laws and the criminalization of Jihad and hatred for Disbelievers.”
In another post, Iskandar declared that Muslims who disassociate themselves from teachers deemed to be extremists by non-Muslims should not receive funding or support from their fellow Muslims because of their cowardice.
Defiant When Challenged
In response to FWI queries about his posts, and their potential to promote and glorify violence against non-Muslims and moderate Muslims, Iskandar denied FWI’s suggestion, declaring in an email response, “Out of my ~5,000 X posts, close to 85% of them are original translations of authoritative, classical Islamic texts.” He added that “I suggest that if you think my posts ‘promote violence,’ then your problem is with Islamic law, authoritative exegeses, and concordances of Hadith compilations.” Iskandar also challenged FWI to provide screenshots of his posts. When FWI then provided them, Iskandar declared, “Not a single screenshot constitutes the ‘promotion of violence’ by any legal definition or even a reasonable conventional understanding of the term.” Iskandar added that the posts did not violate X’s policies regarding violence, “despite their having been reported by agenda-driven individuals.” Iskandar added that his posts present “well-established Islamic legal rulings and not personal opinions.”
Iskandar went on to write, “If I find a publication that engages in defamation against me, I’m not averse to pursuing litigation,” he warned before declaring, “This will be my last direct correspondence with you on the matter. Any further correspondence will be through legal counsel, if necessary.”
Mat McDermott, director of communications for the Washington, D.C.-based Hindu American Foundation, says that Iskandar’s comments highlight “the importance of separation of church and state, secularism, and run counter to the views of most Americans, no matter their religious affiliation or lack thereof.” Moreover, McDermott says Iskandar’s calls for the demolition of non-Muslim places of worship and for the humiliation of Hindus “are wholly abhorrent and run counter to the liberal view of spirituality — liberal in the sense of openness and pluralism of belief — that forms a core part of the Hindu dharma traditions.”
Middle East Forum President Daniel Pipes warns that Iskandar’s declaration that he is not threatening violence but merely citing Islamic texts “suggests his connection to the ISIS ideology runs deep,” because, as Pipes points out, that is the ISIS approach. Pipes noted in 2014 how “ISIS unabashedly and brutally applies premodern Islamic law, making no concessions whatsoever to modern mores.”
