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Extremism and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)

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Extremism and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) Global Muslim Brotherhood Research Center Extremism and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) Steven Merley February 2007 Contents SYNOPSIS ........................................................................................................................................5 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................5 SCOPE OF INQUIRY AND DEFINITIONS .........................................................................................6 1. Fundamentalism ............................................................................................................................6 2. Anti-Semitism ...............................................................................................................................6 3. Terrorism ........................................................................................................................................6 FOUNDING OF ISNA ........................................................................................................................6 ISNA STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS ............................................................................................9 Affiliates ......................................................................................................................................... 10 1. The Association of Muslim Social Scientists .......................................................................... 10 2. Fiqh Council of North America .............................................................................................. 10 3. North American Islamic Trust ................................................................................................ 11 Leadership ...................................................................................................................................... 11 1. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed (Secretary-General) .................................................................... 11 2. Muzammil H. Siddiqi (Board Member and Past President) .................................................. 11 3. Jamal Badawi (Board Member) ............................................................................................ 12 4. Mohammed Nur Abdullah (President) .................................................................................. 12 5. Taha J. Alwani (Chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America) ......................................... 13 Funding........................................................................................................................................... 13 EXTREMISM—GLOBAL AFFILIATIONS ..........................................................................................14 Saudi Arabian Fundamentalism ..................................................................................................... 14 1. Muslim World League ........................................................................................................... 15 2. World Assembly of Muslim Youth ......................................................................................... 16 Muslim Brotherhood ...................................................................................................................... 17 1. Youssef Qaradawi .................................................................................................................. 18 2. Gesellschaft Muslimischer Sozial und Geistenwissenschaftler ............................................ 19 3. Muslim Association of Britain ............................................................................................... 19 4. Jamaat-e-Islami ..................................................................................................................... 19 The International Board of Educational Research and Resources ............................................... 19 Tablighi Jamaat .............................................................................................................................. 20 EXTREMISM—U.S. AFFILIATIONS ................................................................................................20 Extremism and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) iii CONTENTS ORGANIZATIONAL EXTREMISM—FUNDAMENTALISM ..............................................................22 Statements of Leaders.................................................................................................................... 22 1. Rejection of Other Islamic Practices ...................................................................................... 22 2. Extreme Social Views ............................................................................................................ 23 3. Islamic Supremacy ................................................................................................................. 25 4. Politics and Religion .............................................................................................................. 26 5. Islamic Rule ........................................................................................................................... 27 Ideological Control ......................................................................................................................... 29 1. Exclusionary Policies .............................................................................................................. 29 2. Control of Mosques ............................................................................................................... 30 3. Conference Speakers ............................................................................................................. 32 4. Prison Chaplains .................................................................................................................... 32 ORGANIZATIONAL EXTREMISM—anti-SEMITISM .....................................................................32 Anti-Semitism and ISNA Leaders ................................................................................................... 32 Institute of Islamic Information & Education ................................................................................. 35 Conference Speakers ...................................................................................................................... 37 Islamic Horizons ............................................................................................................................ 38 ORGANIZATIONAL EXTREMISM—terroriSM ............................................................................39 Statements and Positions ............................................................................................................... 39 ISNA Links to Terrorism .................................................................................................................. 41 1. Palestinian Islamic Jihad........................................................................................................ 41 2. Hamas .................................................................................................................................... 42 3. Other Terror Connections ...................................................................................................... 45 CONCLUSIONS ..............................................................................................................................45 ENDNOTES. ....................................................................................................................................47 APPENDIX 1: ISNA LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE ..............................................................................63 APPENDIX 2: ISNA AND THE SAUDI/MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD GLOBAL NETWORK ...................65 APPENDIX 3: AMERICAN SAUDI/MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD NETWORK .......................................63 iv February 2007 Executive Summary Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the US has been increasingly concerned about its relations with Muslim communities. Domestically, it has reached out to various Islamic organizations in an effort to engage the Muslim-American population in the “war on terrorism” and the fight against Islamic radicals. One partner of the US State Department in this area has been the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a self-described “umbrella” organization for Muslims in North America. ISNA has been involved in various State Department efforts to reach out to the Islamic world, such as a 2005 conference in Belgium that was intended to help create an international network of Islamic moderates. An important factor in ISNA’s special relationship with the US government is its designation and reputation as a “moderate” group. However, there is a substantial body of evidence that leads to the opposite conclusion. This is troubling from the standpoint of US policy, because if a major partner in the State Department’s relations with Muslim communities is associated with Islamic fundamentalism and radicalism, it would undermine and discredit the anti-extremism efforts of the US government. ISNA is, in fact, an organization seriously tainted by extremism—the current views of the State Department and ISNA’s own protestations of moderation notwithstanding. This conclusion stems from a close analysis of three characteristics that can be used as indicators of extremism. ISNA’s orga- nization was evaluated based on the presence of fundamentalism, anti-Semitism,
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