Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Zulfiqar Ali Shah: Fundraiser for shuttered Kind Hearts (for terror) charity now Religious Director at Islamic Society of Milwaukee
Zulfiqar Ali Shah: Fundraiser for shuttered Kind Hearts (for terror) charity now Religious Director at Islamic Society of Milwaukee
Kind Hearts demands meeting with secretary of Treasury to demand release of funds earmarked for terror on 'humanitarian grounds'
February 27, 2006
On The Lam Former ICNA President And Director of Universal Heritage Foundation Shows Up As Religious Director At Islamic Society of Milwaukee
On The Lam Former ICNA President And Director of Universal Heritage Foundation Shows Up As Religious Director At Islamic Society of Milwaukee
By Beila Rabinowitz
February 27, 2006 – Philadelphia, PA – PipeLineNews.org - Could it be that the ground is getting too hot under the feet of Zulfiqar Ali Shah?
With his latest plans apparently in ruins, Shah is on the run.
The ex president of the Islamic Circle of North America and the Director of the Universal Heritage Foundation most recently served as the South Asian Affairs coordinator for Kind Hearts an Islamist "charity" busted by the feds last month for its ties to terror funding.
Shah has now moved his Islamist flim-flam operation North, to Wisconsin.
An announcement on the homepage of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee reads, "The Islamic Society of Milwaukee would like to welcome Zufiqar Ali Shah as our new religious director .We are honored to have him join our community."
Why such a group would be pleased to host a man who seems at best to be just one step ahead of federal terror investigators, is hard to explain.
Zulfiqar Ali Shah's is a key figure in the radical Islamist network both in North America and abroad. Enterprises in which Shah has been previously involved are tied to international terrorism.
President of the Islamic Circle of North America - a group linked to Al Qaeda and Jamaat Al Islamiya. Principal of the School for Islamic Studies in Broward [an educational institution linked to dirty bomber wannabe Jose Padilla and Adnan Hassoun, who are both jailed on terrorism charges]. Additionally, the co-founder of the school, Mohammed Javed Qureshi, was instrumental in converting Jose Padilla to Islam. Southeast Asia coordinator for Kind Hearts, a charity which was just shut down by the U. S. Treasury department for terrorism funding.
"KindHearts officials and fundraisers have coordinated with Hamas leaders and made contributions to Hamas-affiliated organizations. Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) Usama Hamdan, a leader of Hamas in Lebanon, reportedly phoned a top fundraiser for KindHearts during a September 2003 KindHearts fundraiser. During the call, Hamas leader Hamdan reportedly communicated to the fundraiser his gratitude for KindHearts' support. The KindHearts fundraiser reportedly also provided advice to Hamdan, telling him not to trust the United Nations Relief and Works Agency." - US Treasury Document, Feds Bust Kind-Hearts Phony Muslim Charity
One must wonder what happened to Shah's former job, as the CEO of the Universal Heritage Foundation in Kissimmee Florida, which now appears to have been abandoned and its website shut down.
With Shah's money man [Super Stop Petroleum principal] Mohammed Qureshi embroiled in considerable legal trouble perhaps Shah was forced to make the judgment to pursue more fallow grounds, or at least disassociate himself from Qureshi's intricately assembled but now apparently crumbling empire of hundreds of shell corporations.
In 2004 the UHF announced its inaugural conference in 2004, after the purchase of a 31 acre "pristine campus" intended to be a school, camp, and Islamic Center. The speakers' list at the event was revealed by PipeLineNews.org to be a veritable laundry list of proponents of jihad and terror apologists.
According to our sources, the campus is now deserted and the website has been shut down - indicating that for all intents and purposes the UHF Islamist enterprise's plans for a Da'wa and Jihad training center have for now at least, been scuttled.
©1999-2006 Beila Rabinowitz/PipeLineNews.org, all rights reserved. Requests for permission to reprint must be obtained from both Ms. Rabinowitz and William Mayer
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MIM: As usual being a radical Islamist means brazening it out when caught in the act of terror funding -so Muslims are planning to protest the closure of Kind Hearts by demanding a meeting with the Secretary of the US Treasury, to demand that their "religious funds" be released "on humanitarian grounds".
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the MercifulFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUSLIM COALITION SEEKS TREASURY MEETING ON CHARITY CLOSURESTreasury secretary asked to address concerns about due process
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 2/28/06) - The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a coalition of national Muslim organizations,* wrote today to Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow to request a meeting to discuss growing concerns "about the continued targeting of Muslim charities without due process of law."
AMT's letter said government closures of Islamic charities, such as the recent shutdown of Ohio-based KindHearts, have impaired the ability of American Muslims to carry out their religious obligation to help the needy in this country and overseas. The government froze KindHearts' assets, most of which were earmarked for earthquake relief in Pakistan and for KindHearts new South Asia Division.
KindHearts officials say they had no prior notice of the government's action, despite the fact that a U.S. Senate Finance Committee probe of U.S. Muslim charities, including KindHearts, ended without any charges or even allegations of wrongdoing.
SEE ALSO: Leaders Vigorously Rebut U.S. Allegations (Toledo Blade)
In its letter, AMT stated: "As leading American Muslim organizations, we note that although we understand the political climate of our country and support our government's efforts to thwart terrorist financing; we find it unfair that our government has yet made another extrajudicial decision to effectively wipe-out more than five years of humanitarian assistance to the world's needy by the mere stroke of a pen. The immediate effects of KindHearts' closure have already been felt in orphanages, schools, shelters, and medical centers around the world."
* The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), is an umbrella organization represented by the: American Muslim Alliance (AMA), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Muslim Alliance of North America (MANA), Muslim American Society (MAS), Muslim Student Association û National(MSA), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), Project Islamic Hope (PIH), United Muslims of America (UMA)
- END -CONTACT: Agha Saeed, 510-299-9313, E-Mail: [email protected]
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: [email protected]
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
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Date Posted: Tuesday, February 28, 2006
From the Desk of the Director
By Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, MAS Freedom Foundation
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful
February 28, 2006
KINDHEARTS VS. HARDHEARTS
A Case of Religious Freedom and Theft
The recent government closure and freezing of assets of Kind Hearts, a Muslim Ohio-based charity, is yet another encroachment on the religious freedom of American Muslims by its own government. U.S. law enforcement officials say they have frozen Kind Hearts' assets because the organization allegedly has connections to Hamas, which has been designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization.
Let's get a few things straight. Firstly, the act of giving charity (Zakat) is more than simply a commendable action; it is the fourth of five pillars of the Islamic faith. Secondly, when you freeze the assets of Muslim charities for alleged criminal activities without providing lawful means to dispense those assets to intended recipients, you violate the First Amendment rights of American Muslims who donated the money. Let's be clear: the money we give to charities to assist the needy is mandated by our lord Allah (SWT).
Thus, the government freezing of these funds without allowing a lawful fiduciary process for their transfer, violates the principle of freedom of religion as guaranteed in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. American Muslims do not give Zakat to support terrorism and criminal activities. They give it to alleviate the suffering of the poor, orphans and widows, those who suffer from sickness, and for the victims of catastrophic disasters.
The investigation of Muslim charities, which is highly politically motivated, should not impede a lawful transfer of funds to those recipients for whom Muslims donated the money in the first place. The government breaches our constitutional rights when it stops our religious obligation of Zakat from reaching its source. It is high time that Muslims stop being so complacent about their charitable religious responsibilities.
Let's call a spade a spade. The government interruption of Muslim charitable giving, and their refusal to release the funds to the needy, while claiming such activities are being investigated for terrorist ties, are not just unacceptable; they're illegal. Even more despicable is taking money from starving women and children, the elderly, the sick and the destitute. As Allah said in the Holy Qu'ran, "Woe to those who are neglectful of their prayer and want only to be seen of men and refuse to provide the neighborly deeds."
Dear brothers and sisters; your government is stealing from poor American Muslims and calling it a war on terrorism. They are violating your Constitutional rights and calling it the spread of democracy. Is it not your duty to God and country to break the silence? Now is the time to speak.
The Freedom Foundation is the public affairs arm of the Muslim American Society (MAS), a national grassroots religious, social, and educational organization. MAS is America's largest grassroots Muslim organization with over 50 chapters nationwide. Learn more at www.masnet.org. Support our work at MAS Freedom Foundation. Make A Donation.
____________________________________________
MAS Freedom Foundation
1050 17th Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Tel.: (202) 496-1288, Fax: (202) 463-0686
URL: http://www.masnet.org/index_publicaffairs.asp
Email: [email protected]
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