Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Islamic Center Of Boca Raton & ICOSF Hosted NFL's Azeez Al - Shaair & 1993 'Day Of Terror' Imam Siraj Wahhaj As Role Models
Islamic Center Of Boca Raton & ICOSF Hosted NFL's Azeez Al - Shaair & 1993 'Day Of Terror' Imam Siraj Wahhaj As Role Models
CAIR Praised Al-Shaair As Hero After He Was Fined For Pro Jihad Slogans On His Cleats & Fund Raised For Hamas 'Charity'
May 10, 2026
NFL Player Azeez al-Shaair Featured at Event With Alleged '93 WTC Bombing Co-Conspirator
Someone tell the Houston Texans that sports and terror do not mix.
April 24, 2026 by Joe Kaufman 2 Comments
An advertised weekend of events from April 10-12, 2026, at the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR) and the Islamic Center of South Florida (ICOSF), prominently featured Imam Siraj Wahhaj – named an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing – and NFL linebacker from the Houston Texans, Azeez al-Shaair.
The official event flyer for "Making it Happen with Imam Siraj Wahhaj," presented by Islamic Youth Expressional Services (IYES), shows al-Shaair as being a part of Saturday's programming at ICBR. This includes a 2:00–3:00 PM session on "Staying Steadfast as an NFL Player" and a 3:00–5:00 PM discussion panel with "Imam Siraj Wahhaj, NFL linebacker Player & other Guests."
The venue choice for al-Shaair should raise alarms. ICBR has a well-documented history of ties to terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The mosque was built with substantial seed money from the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), a U.S.-based charity shut down by the government in December 2001 for providing material support to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. GRF funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to ICBR for construction of its current facility.
Prominent figures at ICBR further illustrate the pattern. ICBR co-founder, Bassem Alhalabi, was an assistant to PIJ leader Sami al-Arian while al-Arian built a U.S. infrastructure for PIJ in the Tampa, Florida area. Another founding member, Syed Khawer Ahmad, created the first official website for al-Jamia al-Islamiya, the charitable arm of Hamas. Founding imam Ibrahim Dremali was placed on the federal no-fly list. His successor, Muneer Arafat, admitted in court to being a member of PIJ and supporting PIJ's goal of destroying Israel.
In 2007, an ICBR member, Rafiq Sabir, was sentenced to 25 years for conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda.
Compounding these associations, ICBR published violently anti-Semitic essays on its website. One, titled "Why can't the Jews and Muslims live together in peace?" described Jews as "people of treachery and betrayal" and "enemies." It stated that peace between Muslims and Jews is impossible "unless one is made to submit to the other by force." It ended with a religious edict that "the Day of Judgement will not begin until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them." An ICBR spokesman defended the essay "word for word."
Both ICBR and ICOSF are members of the South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF), an umbrella group for the majority of South Florida's radical Islamic institutions and the organizer of annual pro-Hamas conferences.
Against this backdrop, al-Shaair's participation stands out. Al-Shaair, who played college football at nearby Florida Atlantic University (FAU), has repeatedly injected anti-Israel messaging into his NFL career.
In January 2026, the league fined him approximately $11,600 for wearing eye black that read "STOP THE GENOCIDE." He has also worn cleats adorned with "Free Palestine" and used his Houston Texans logo and the NFL's "My Cause My Cleats" program to raise money with them for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), an organization that has partneredwith groups associated with Hamas financing.
As a result of these antics, al-Shaair has drawn much criticism. Sports analyst Jon Root has accused him of "openly supporting Hamas."
In March 2024, al-Shaair posted on his social media a quote from Ghassan Kanafani, former spokesman for the U.S.-designated terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Al-Shaair's post was amidst a false accusation of a Jewish "settler stealing a Palestinian's home." In truth, the family was evicted from the Jerusalem property under an Israeli court order, following a 45 year legal battle.
This Boca event was not isolated. Last month, al-Shaair spoke at Fajr Global's Annual Community Iftar for Gaza. One day after the October 7, 2023 massacre that took the lives of 1200 Israelis and left hundreds kidnapped, FAJR Global's co-founder and CEO Mosab Nasser, praised the Hamas attackers.
He posted in Arabic – while including photos from the attack – "Gaza enters history through its widest doors as a great power." And "Military analysts and political analysts say that what happened in Gaza was due to a flaw in the Israeli security and intelligence system, but they do not talk about the great development in the Palestinian military system… Gaza, God willing, will be a graveyard for these invaders and for anyone who tries to harm it."
On October 9, Nasser wrote, "As the Sun sets on Gaza, we pray that Allah SWT heal our injured and have mercy on our martyrs and break the back of our brutal enemy."
Siraj Wahhaj himself brings additional baggage. The Brooklyn imam was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and injured over 1,000. He had ties to the bomb-maker of the attack Clement Rodney Hampton-El and testified as a character witness for the "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman, the plot's spiritual leader. Wahhaj has praised Rahman and delivered sermons predicting that American democracy will "crumble," leaving only Islam.
Athletes can advocate causes, but when an NFL player lends his name and celebrity to events at a mosque with ICBR's track record – and shares the stage with a figure like Wahhaj – it normalizes dangerous associations.
The 1993 bombing was al-Qaeda's pre-cursor to 9/11. "Free Palestine" rhetoric in today's context often blurs into defense or celebration of Hamas's atrocities. Pairing that with venues seeded by al-Qaeda funders and featuring genocidal anti-Jewish texts crosses into territory that demands accountability, not applause.
The NFL has policies limiting on-field political displays for good reason: The game should be about competition, not importing foreign conflicts or extremism. Al-Shaair's pattern – eye black, cleats, mosque panels with radical speakers – suggests he sees his role differently.
Fans who support the Texans or the league have every right to question whether this reflects the values they want associated with professional football. Sports should build bridges, not provide cover for extremism. Al-Shaair's on-field talent does not immunize his dangerous off-field choices.
Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report
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