Muslim Brotherhood Speakers at 40th ICNA-MAS Convention

Baltimore, MD will be hosting the 40th Annual ICNA/MAS convention Memorial Day weekend, May 23-25, 2015.

The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) is part of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) network in the U.S., and was listed as an affiliated organization in the seized MB document, “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America”.   The Muslim American Society (MAS) claims to have no affiliation with the MB, but in 2004 then-Secretary General of MAS, Shaker Elsayed, was quoted as saying, “Ikhwan [Brotherhood] members founded MAS…”

This years convention is listing 26 featured speakers to include:

Imam Siraj Wahhaj –  Vice President of ISNA and the Imam of Masjid Al-Taqwa in Brookyn, New York.  Wahhaj has also held positions with the following Muslim Brotherhood (MB) organizations: North American Islamic Trust (NAIT),  the American Muslim Council (AMC) and the Muslim Alliance of North America (MANA).  Wahhaj was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Naeem Baig – President of ICNA and the chairman of the American Muslim Taskforce (AMT), an umbrella body of 10 national American Muslim organizations.  According to the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch (GMBDW), “The AMT today is comprised of the most important U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organizations including the Muslim American Society (MAS). Council On American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle Of North America (ICNA), Islamic Society Of North America (ISNA), Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and the Muslim Student Association (MSA).”

Dr. Jamal Badawi – a professor at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.  Badawi holds high level positions in a number of MB organizations.  The GMBDW notes, “Documents released during the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial indicate that he was (and probably still is), a member of the leadership structure of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.“

Sh. Yusuf Islahi – a member of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) party of India.  In 2010 the  Investigative Report on Terrorism (IPT)  reported that JIH supports Islamic rule over politics/the economy and has backed terrorism against American troops and in the Middle East.  At the time of the report, Islahi was noted to be a member of the governing board of the JIH party of India.

Dr. Mukhtar Maghraoui – reported to be with the Islamic Center Boca Raton (ICBR) Maghraoui, is a  former member of the Fiqh Council of North America – an organization comprised of Islamic scholars associated with the Global Muslim Brotherhood.  A 2014 article in The Clarion Project links the ICBR to MB groups.

Sh. Abdool Rehman Khan – chairman of the Shari’ah Council of Islamic Circle of North America and a member of the Fiqh Council of North America.

Imam Suhaib Webb – Imam of the Islamic Society of Boston’s Cultural Center (ISBCC) and former education director of the Muslim American Society (MAS).    His MB ties were featured in a December 2011  GMBDW report.

Ustadha Yasmin Mogahed –  the GMBDW advises, “Yasmin Mogahed is also the sister of Dahlia Mogahed, formerly a Faith Advisor to US President Obama and close to Saudi-funded Georgetown Professor John Esposito, himself a long-time supporter of the Global Muslim Brotherhood. Yasmin Mogahed is a regular speaker on the Global Muslim Brotherhood speaking circuit.”

Dr. Altaf Husain – former two-term national president of the Muslim Students Association (MSA),  a current executive committee member of the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA),  ISNA Vice President-US, and a board member of the Peaceful Families Project.  We reported in May 2015,  The Peaceful Families Project board also includes Salma Elkadi Abugideiri and Muna AbuSulayma, the daughters of two major MB leaders.

Imam Khalid Griggs– Imam of the Community Mosque of Winston-Salem, Associate Chaplain for Muslim Life at Wake Forest University, and Board Chair of the ICNA Council for Social Justice.  A 2012 article in the Creeping Sharia blog highlights Griggs’ radical affiliations including  being “a member of the Shura Council for the Muslim Alliance of North America (MANA), an organization co-founded and led by Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.”  In  Jan 2015, the Washington Times reported about a call for a Wake Forest University donor boycott until the university addressed the 2010 hiring of Griggs and his radical ties.

Dalia Mogahed – Formerly a Faith Advisor to US President Obama , The IPT notes that she is “a tenacious defender of groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).”   We reported on  her scheduled June 2015 video appearance at the MSA National Retreat.

Nihad Awad – National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington, DC..  The IPT offers a number of reports on CAIR’s link to the MB.

Nahela Alexandra Morales – leader of ICNA’s WHY-ISLAM Hispanic Outreach to Mexico.

Sr. Saadia Z. Yunus – daughter of past ICNA president (1977 – 2000), Dr. Mohammad Yunus.

Qasim Mazhar – Operations Manger for ICNA’S youth branch,  Young Muslims.

The ICNA’s Young Muslims will be holding their convention, Lost in Whispers, at the same dates and location.

Some past convention highlights:

The 2014 conference featured Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Tariq Ramada.

According to an IPT report, at the 2000 convention Tayyib Yunus, then leader of the Young Muslims  branch and son of former ICNA president Dr. Mohammad Yunus, urged ICNA members to send their children to fight in jihad:

“The youth is very important, as parents, for us to facilitate the youth. And, we all want to see our youth to succeed to become doctors, to become engineers; but how many of you can actually say that you want to send your son to Jihad, to Chechnya ? How many of you can actually say that? [Takbir! Allahu Akbar!] How many of you can actually say that you want to send your child [He begins to sob] Takbir! Allahua Akbar! Takbir! Allahua Akbar! [He cries uncontrollably now, after a delay, he begins to speak again] How many of you can actually say that you want to send your youth to fight in Jihad or to send them to Azhar or to these Islamic Institutions to become educated?” [Emphasis added]