Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Conestoga High School students to go on CAIR sponsored da'wa visit to terror tied Foundation for Islamic Education Conestoga High School students to go on CAIR sponsored da'wa visit to terror tied Foundation for Islamic EducationNovember 5, 2007
Conestoga High School Da'wa Field Trip – Visit Planned To Saudi Dominated, Terror Tied Foundation for Islamic Education November 5, 2007 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On November 8, 2007 Conestoga High School students are scheduled to participate in a "mosque visit" to the Foundation for Islamic Education in Villanova, PA. [source, http://pa.cair.com/index.php?Page=upcomingin&Side=ifaith#mosquevisit] The visit is being arranged by the Council on American Islamic Relations, a Saudi funded front group for Hamas. CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the ongoing Holy Land Foundation Hamas funding prosecution, "Federal prosecutors have named three prominent Islamic organizations in America as participants in an alleged criminal conspiracy to support a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas. Prosecutors applied the label of "unindicted co-conspirator" to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, and the North American Islamic Trust in connection with a trial planned in Texas next month for five officials of a defunct charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development." [source http://www.nysun.com/article/55778] The FIE was created by and is managed by the Saudis.
"Organizational Structure, The Foundation for Islamic Education is a private institute owned and managed by its own Board of Trustees in Saudi Arabia." [source, FIE website, page since removed] FIE functions as a satellite campus of the Al-Azhar University, located in Cairo, Egypt.
"The FIE is in correlation with The American Open University, a satellite campus accredited through Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt." [source FIE website, page since removed] Al-Azhar is the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is also the alma mater of Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin-Laden's mentor. FIE's incorporation documents filed with the State of Pennsylvania list the following officers: Mahmoud Abdullah Taiba, president, Abdullah I. Al-Hobayb, treasurer. [source https://www.corporations.state.pa.us/corp/soskb/Corp.asp?1083508>Pennsylvania's incorporation filing for FIE] FIE's directors are Saudis.
"The President of the Board is His Excellency Mahmoud Abdullah Taiba, a member of Majlis Ash-Shura and former Secretary General of Ministry of Energy and Electricity in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia." [source FIE website, page since removed] Taiba's presence on the Majlis Ash-Shura indicated he is intimately involved in promoting Wahhabism, the fundamentalist Sunni sect which dominates Saudi religious life. FIE's treasurer is Abdullah I. Al-Hobayb
Al-Hobayb Group has many subsidiaries in various fields. One subsidiary, ABB Contracting Co. Ltd., was established for contracting in the electrical works field, power generation and allied activities on a turnkey basis…ABB Contracting has branches in Dammam, Jeddah, and Al-Khobar and its head office in Riyadh….Eng. Abdullah I. Al-Hobayb, President, P.O. Box 556, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia, Tel: 966-1-479-0100 [source, U.S. Saudi Arabian Business Council website, page since removed] As noted in previous PipeLineNews articles [Muslim Youth Jihad Camp Returns To Pennsylvania, Complete With Al-Qaeda Linked Cleric, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=jihadcamp7606.htm] in the past the FIE has hosted youth camps [self-described before 9/11 as "jihad camps"] which included a pro-terrorist speaker, Riyadh Ul Haq
"In the first excerpt, he appears to be extolling the virtues of martyrdom [shahadah]…anyone who supports Muslims who engage in jihad, their blood is made halal [blessed] In a few of the clips there is no mistaking Riyadh ul-Haq's admiration for the Taliban and his disdain for homosexuals…ul-Haq's most questionable comments are reserved for Jews. He seems to repeat conspiracy theories found in the imaginary "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" In another quote, he prays that Allah to expose the Jews for what they truly are and give all Muslims the understanding and the sense to see through their propaganda, their lies, and deceit and to view them as they really are and thus treat them accordingly…" [source, Islamica magazine http://www.islamicamagazine.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=244] Speakers at other events included:
Though the discredited CAIR organized this mosque visit, claiming it was designed merely to "provide an insight to Pennsylvania students about their neighbors' faith traditions," this is clearly Islamic da'wa, an effort to convert students to Islam. This event is extremely troubling from a number of perspectives; FIE has direct and fundamental ties to the Saudi Wahhabist religious establishment, the most extreme form of Islam, from which bin-Laden emerged. FIE has a long history of hosting radical Muslim speakers, even calling its events "jihad camps" pre September 11. CAIR's deep involvement itself is in itself highly problematic. CAIR's tainting influence looms menacingly over this event which was designed as a not very thinly disguised effort to recruit students into the Islamic faith. As such, this "mosque visit" is completely inappropriate in any public school setting and should therefore not go forward. Concerned parents and citizens can contact Conestoga High School at 610.240.1000, fax 610.240.1055. http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=fie11.05.07%2Ehtm ------------------------------- MIM: The announcement of the visit on CAIR's website. High School mosque visitHigh school students from Conestoga High School will visit the mosque at Villanova PA to learn about Islam and Muslims. Event: Conestoga High School students visit Mainline mosqueTime: 12:00 noon – 2:00 PM Date: November 8, 2007 Place: Foundation for Islamic Education, 1860 Montgomery Avenue, Villanova PA 19085 http://pa.cair.com/index.php?Page=upcomingin&Side=ifaith#mosquevisit MIM: FIE trustee Mahmoud Abdullah Taiba is named on the official Saudi website as the vice chairman of the Shura Consultative Council the main legislative body in Saudi Arabia.
----------------------------- MIM: From the FIE's former website note the Da'wah and Media Department. The American Muslim Society is also based in the FIE. The AMS is an extension of the Islamic Association of Palestine and is directly tied to CAIR. For more documentation on the ties between CAIR the IAP and FIE see: "The Islamic Association of Palestine Lives On " http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3222or scroll down to the documentation below the FIE urls)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Foundation for Islamic Education in Villanova and the Saudi Wahhabists July 12, 2006 Badr Al-Olayan, 2nd left, Abdul Rahman Al-Jomaih, and Abdul Aziz Hanafi, (FIE treasurer ) right, distribute certificates and prizes to outstanding students during the graduation ceremony at JCCI auditorium. (AN photo) article below : http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=61867&d=10&m=4&y=2005 MIM: Last year the FIE was at the center of a zoning controversy in Villanova. Saudi Wahhabists Promoting Islamic Extremism Through Villanova Jihad Camps By Beila Rabinowitz and William Meyer http://www.pipelinenews.org/ July 12, 2006 - Villanova, PA - PipeLineNews.org - The heavy hand of the Saudi Kingdom is being felt in Villanova, Pennsylvania. When Villanova's Foundation for Islamic Education [FIE] requested an expansion permit from Lower Merion Council they were met with protests from concerned residents who were fed up with the group's flaunting of its zoning agreement. As we noted in a July 10 piece - Residents Protest Expansion Of Islamic Center In Villanova, PA - Venue For Young Muslim "Jihad Camps" - "Residents of Lower Merion County protesting the expansion of the Foundation for Islamic Education because of zoning violations, recently became aware that the center is planning to hold a Muslim Youth camp with many of the controversial speakers who appeared at a self-described "Jihad Camp" in 2001. The FIE is funded and owned by the ex-Saudi Minister of Energy and Electricity - Abdullah Taiba and is a satellite campus of the American Open University the American division of al-Azhar University in Cairo, a hotbed of Muslim Brotherhood activity. A hearing on the expansion permit is scheduled to take place on August 10. Even prior to the news about the camp, Lower Merion councilman Philip Rosenzweig conceded that "it would take time for the FIE to reestablish trust with the neighbors," according to a July 5th article Philadelphia Inquirer..." The FIE acknowledged they had violated the rules, but what they didn't tell residents is that their Foundation is a satellite campus of the radical Islamist Al-Azhar University [Cairo, Egypt]. FIE's Pennsylvania's incorporation filing for FIE lists the following corporate officers:
Mahmoud Abdullah Taiba, President of FIE epitomizes the Saudi mixture of finance and fundamentalism. Taiba, an engineer by profession is the chairman of the Saudi Consolidated Electric Company and the former Secretary General of the Saudi Energy and Electricity Ministry. In 2005 he was appointed by King Fahd to be the new vice chairman of the Shoura Council. The Majlis Ash Shoura [Council of Consultation] evaluates most matters in the kingdom for their compatibility with Islamic law. Decisions made by the Shoura council are implemented upon the review of King Fahd. Taiba is therefore a key player in the inner workings of Saudi Arabia's official religion, which is the Wahhabist Sunni sect of Islam, Islam's most fundamentalist, intolerant strain. It also makes Villanova's FIE is a direct extension of the Saudi government, controlled by the Saudi royal family whose goal is to promote Wahhabism worldwide. The image to the above left shows, left to right - Badr Al-Olayan, Abdul Rahman Al-Jomaih and FIE Treasurer Abdul Aziz Hanafi as they distribute certificates and prizes to outstanding students during a graduation ceremony held for recent Islamic converts. Abdulaziz A. Hanafi is among the most influential businessmen in Saudi Arabia; the above image appeared in an Arab News article, "IEF Director Refutes Reports of Forced Conversions" which details the Philippine government's investigation into reports that its workers in Saudi Arabia had been forcibly converted to Islam and recruited by terrorist organizations [an April 2005 Dept. of State report lists the Abu Sayyaf Group - ASF - as a "violent Muslim terrorist group operating in the southern Philippines...The ASG engages in kidnappings for ransom, bombings, beheadings, assassinations, and extortion"]. Forced conversion is a recurring charge made against radical Islam, it occurs in nearly every Islamic state, please see our June 1, 2005 article Multiculturalism And The Phenomenon Of Forced Conversion To Islam. We take the charges lodged against the FIE's Saudi headquarters very seriously. To the already established transgressions of FIE, developed in our above linked July 10th article we now must add the influence that the Saudi based Islamic Education Foundation is exercising through FIE, to the mix. While in no way alleging that those at FIE are actively engaged in terrorism, the philosophy that they espouse is Wahhabism, they are an adjunct of a Saudi hate factory Al-Azhar University that is a focal point of the Muslim Brotherhood and they are a puppet of the Saudi government. The Brotherhood is the group responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat [the "Blind Sheik" Abdul Rahman the Imam who was convicted in the first World Trade Center bombing and Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin-Laden's top lieutenant both were implicated in the plot to kill Sadat] and it is the immediate predecessor to al-Qaeda. What we are talking about here is an ideology that has declared war on the West. FIE's camp programs prior to 2001 were actually called "jihad camps," the speakers list on the current camp contains troubling people including Siraj Wahhaj who was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 plot to blow up New York landmarks. He also testified as a character witness for the above referenced Blind Sheik in his terrorism trial. FIE has been an exceedingly poor neighbor and the information that we set forth in this piece only deepens our concern leading us to demand that FIE's requested permit be denied by the Lower Merion Council, that a thorough investigation be made and proceedings to shut the place down be initiated. -------------------------------- MIM: For more on the FIE see: The Foundation for Islamic Education in Villanova and the Saudi ...
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-------------------- MIM: The FIE is the headquarters for the American Muslim Society aka The Islamic Association of Palestine. The Islamic Association of Palestine lives onOctober 22, 2007
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, October 22, 2007 In November of 2004, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a propaganda center for Hamas, was found liable for the murder of an American teenager, David Boim, who was slain during a Hamas drive-by shooting in Israel. Soon after, the group dissolved its corporation and went into nonexistence – but not before leaving remnants of its being along with a thorn on American society. That thorn, CAIR or the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has attempted to put separation between itself and the IAP, its parent organization. However, a recent discovery regarding the IAP's American Muslim Society (AMS) would suggest that the two are still, to this day, very much connected, leaving the legitimacy of CAIR's own existence open to question. The IAP was originally incorporated in November of 1981. According to the state of Illinois, the Registered Agent for the corporation was Aly A. Mishal, an individual who is listed as an "Unindicted Co-conspirator" in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial held in Dallas, Texas that began in July. The IAP's brain trust included such individuals as Mousa Abu Marzook, who became the head of Hamas during the inception of the violent Intifada in 1987, and Sami Al-Arian, who helped found Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in 1979. During the start of the 90's, a young group of radicals had taken over the leadership of the IAP. In March of 1990, the IAP officially split up its organization and incorporated an office in Richardson, Texas, the city where HLF was located. The group name on the documents was the American Middle Eastern League for Palestine (AMELP). The incorporator was then-IAP President Yasser Salah Bushnaq. Among other things, AMELP would serve as the IAP's publishing house. What is interesting is that, according to the state of Texas, AMELP is still active, classified as an "IN GOOD STANDING – EXEMPT CORPORATION." What is even more interesting is that the Registered Agent of AMELP is Ghassan Dahduli – an associate of convicted Al-Qaeda operative Wadi Al-Hage – who was deported from the U.S. in November of 2001 for fraudulently obtaining a work visa. In April of 1991, the IAP's Illinois corporation was dissolved, and a new one was formed in October of 1993, using the alias American Muslim Society (AMS). Listed in the new corporation were the following "assumed names": Islamic Association for Palestine in Chicago, Islamic Association for Palestine in North America, Al-Zaytouna and Al-Zaytouna Newspaper. Just as AMELP was acting as the IAP in Texas, AMS was doubling as the national organization and a local IAP chapter. Less than a year after AMS was created, the IAP founded another group, CAIR. In June of 1994, using seed money they received from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), the President of the IAP Omar Ahmad, the future President of the IAP (and Registered Agent of AMS) Rafiq Jaber, Nihad Awad and Ibrahim Hooper opened up an office in Washington, D.C. Throughout CAIR's existence, the organization has been haunted by its parent group's ties to Hamas. CAIR's response to this was to either ignore reports or to dismiss tough questions as being the result of a biased conspiracy against all Muslims. In May of 2007, CAIR could no longer deny reality, as the organization was named as a "co-conspirator" in the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas. The label was given, in lieu of a trial that was about to take place, naming past employees of HLF as defendants. During the HLF trial, testimony from federal agents would reveal that CAIR was a part of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee, a secret Hamas support network comprising of a handful of groups and led by Marzook. These revelations did much to put an end to the speculation concerning CAIR's relationship with the IAP. However, new information should end the speculation altogether. Prior to the IAP's dissolution, the group created local offices in various parts of the United States. One of the chapters, the American Muslim Society of the Tristate Area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey & Delaware (AMS Tri-State), was set up in Villanova, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, and was incorporated in January of 2001. Like AMELP, this chapter was never shut down. The AMS Tri-State headquarters is located at the Foundation for Islamic Education (FIE), a satellite campus for Cairo, Egypt's Al-Azhar University whose entire Board of Trustees resides in Saudi Arabia. FIE has played host to several Islamist radicals. They include: Maher Hathout, a Senior Advisor to the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), who has on numerous occasions stated his support for Hezbollah; Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss-born Muslim scholar, who had his visa revoked by the U.S. State Department, due to his providing of funds to Hamas; and Riyadh ul-Haq, a Muslim cleric from England, who was banned from entry into Canada, on grounds that he had incited hatred against Jews, Hindus, homosexuals and moderate Muslims. Four and a half years after AMS Tri-State was founded, CAIR opened its own chapter in Philadelphia. Philadelphia was very important to both organizations, as it was the site of an infamous 1993 meeting that comprised of IAP and future CAIR leaders discussing ways in which they could raise money for Hamas from American shores. It was not just the Hamas meeting that the two groups had in common. When one looks at the board members of each organization, he/she sees a striking similarity. Iftikhar Hussein, the Secretary General of AMS Tri-State, is also the Chairman of the Board of CAIR-Philadelphia (CAIR-Pennsylvania). Zaheer Chaudhry, the President of AMS Tri-State, was, up until recently, a CAIR-Philly board member. [One other AMS Tri-State leader, the group's Vice President Aziz Al-Taee (a.k.a. Aziz Kadoory Aziz), who is not affiliated with CAIR-Philadelphia, is of note, as he has, in the past, pled guilty to purchasing stolen computers and selling packaging for crack cocaine. Al-Taee also claims to be the last person to speak to his then-business partner Nick Berg, before Berg was kidnapped and subsequently beheaded in Iraq.] Additionally, Adeeba Al-Zaman, the former Communications Director and former Office Manager of CAIR-Philadelphia, was a moderator at an AMS Youth Forum held at FIE, in August of 2003. The links from AMS Tri-State to CAIR-Philadelphia are significant, as they prove that CAIR still – even today – has a working relationship with the IAP (through its remnants). When Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook was facing deportation from the United States in 1996 – Marzook had been in the U.S. since 1981 – CAIR's propaganda machine shifted into high gear, as the group took to his defense. On May 10, 1996, two days after U.S. District Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy ordered Marzook's extradition to Israel, Nihad Awad, the Executive Director of CAIR, organized a press conference, at which he stated, "[T]he arrest, detention and extradition is politically motivated…[T]his campaign has been orchestrated to serve as a wedge between America and Islamic countries." The following month, CAIR, joined by the IAP and a group calling itself Muslims for a Better America, signed an open letter calling the proceedings against Marzook an "injustice" and alleging that "our judicial system has been kidnapped by Israeli interests." CAIR had much to thank Marzook for. Indeed, the organization owed him for its very existence. Yet, since Marzook's departure to Jordan, and later to Syria, CAIR has worked marvels in order to conceal and dodge questions concerning its terrorist pedigree. Today, though, after all that emerged at the Holy Land trial, and certainly after this new information surfaced regarding its ongoing relationship with one of the IAP's local chapters, CAIR no longer has the luxury of denial. Being that that is the case, should not CAIR and all that remains of the group that created it be removed from America as well – once and for all? Joe Kaufman is the Chairman of Americans Against Hate and the founder of CAIR Watch. Beila Rabinowitz is the Director of Militant Islam Monitor. http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=F3165790-E9DA-4778-A5ED-960C7D87B5C4 MIM: Documentation showing how Iftekhar Hussain of CAIR is connected to the American Muslim Society. The names of the Saudi trustees who own the Foundation for Islamic Education. September 30, 2007 http://www.blogger.com/profile/14592269636537976301 About MeIftekhar is the Chair of CAIR PA Philadelphia. He is also currently serving as Secretary General of the American Muslim Society of the Tristate Area of PA, NJ & DE. He is engaged in local interfaith educational initiatives with a focus on 'Islam and the Middle East' and 'US Foreign Policy and the Muslim world'. On behalf of CAIR-PA, he has developed a 10-part course titled 'Understanding Islam and Muslims through History and Jurisprudence' and has taught it at churches, synagogues, mosques and local county night schools. He has presented this course at over 20 different venues over the past 6 years. Iftekhar serves as Friday prayer service leader at suburban mosques in the Delaware Valley. Iftekhar was born in Bangladesh, has lived in the Middle East and Europe and studied and obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees at Texas A&M University and worked toward a PhD at Penn State University. He works as a consultant in the Pharmaceutical industry, traveling in Asia Pacific and Europe on business process re-engineering assignments. Iftekhar is married to Bushra Kourani for the past 10 years and has three children Yousef (age 9), Omar (age 8) and Huda (age 4). InterestsFavorite Books
http://pa.cair.com/index.php?Page=chairmessage&Side=about September 13, 2007 Chairman's MessageDear Friends, As Salaam Alaikum (Peace be unto you) On behalf of the entire CAIR-PA Executive Committee, I wish you Ramadan Mubarak and happiness on the occasion of the start of Ramadan 2007. Fasting, the fourth pillar of Islam, is practiced during the month of Ramadan. Ramadan is derived from an Arabic word for intense heat and scorched ground and shortness of rations -- and it is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar (Hijri calender), established in the year 638 CE. It is considered the most venerated, blessed and spiritually-beneficial month of the Islamic year. Prayers, fasting, charity, and self-accountability are especially stressed at this time; religious observances associated with Ramadan are kept throughout the month. Verses in the Qur'an regarding fasting: O YOU who have attained to faith! Fasting is ordained for you as it was ordained for those before you, so that you might remain conscious of God: [fasting] during a certain number of days. But whoever of you is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days; and [in such cases] it is incumbent upon those who can afford it to make sacrifice by feeding a needy person. And whoever does more good than he is bound to do does good unto himself thereby; for to fast is to do good unto yourselves – if you but knew it. It was the month of Ramadān in which the Qur'ān was [first] bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false. Hence, whoever of you lives to see this month shall fast throughout it; but he that is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days. God wills that you shall have ease, and does not will you to suffer hardship; but [He desires] that you complete the number [of days required], and that you extol God for His having guided you aright, and that you render your thanks [unto Him]. [2:183-185] Muslim communities across the Delaware Valley will hold ‘Sharing Ramadan' events throughout the month where you are invited to participate in the breaking of the fast at sunset. Please check the CAIR-PA website to find a mosque near you. "These events allow American Muslims to share and celebrate the importance of the month of Ramadan with people of all faiths" said Aliya Khabir, CAIR-PA Philadelphia Executive Committee member. Thank you and May God bless you. Sincerely, Iftekhar Hussain -----------------------------
http://www.corporations.state.pa.us/corp/soskb/Corp.asp?1888177 |