Gilani previously supported certain Afghan militant groups in the early 1990s that were fighting for control of the country. In recent years, he has hinted at the possibility of fighting the Pakistani Taliban in order to protect Sufi shrines and communities it has targeted.

Very little is known about the extent of Shiekh Gilani and MOA’s material aid to other Islamist militant/terrorist groups. MOA-affiliated sources confirm that he has told U.S.-based followers that the money he receives goes to unspecified “mujahideen” in Kashmir and Pakistan. It is known that MOA members regularly go to Pakistan and some get guerilla training and others deliver humanitarian aid in Pakistan and Kashmir.

In 1990, MOA wrote letters to President Bush that said all able-bodied Muslims are required to participate in jihad against India over its treatment of Kashmir. The group explicitly said it would try to bring Muslim-American recruits to Pakistan.

A classified Canadian government report from 2006 says that Fuqra/MOA members “send regular donations in support of Fuqra jihad activities in Kashmir.”[i] An analyst for a think-tank in Lahore, Pakistan said in 2007 that it is “very clear” that Sheikh Gilani fundraises from the U.S. “for supporting Kashmiri militants.”[ii]

On July 11, 2016, Sheikh Gilani held a video conference with MOA leaders and ordered them to publish a statement that appeared to be an indirect call to jihad in Kashmir against India. It called for an international unified Islamic force to “come to the aid” of oppressed Muslims wherever they are and to “defend” Pakistan and Kashmir.

“[W]e believe that it is the duty of the Muslims who are living in unoccupied Kashmir to reach out and help their Kashmiri brethren in the Indian-occupied Kashmir. This is the law of Sharia, which does not absolve them of any of their responsibility to help their brethren by every possible means,” the statement reads.[iii]

The letter says that MOA will organize political protests, giving the casual observer the impression that it a call to non-violent action. However, the letter calls on Pakistan to “defend” Kashmir and the language would justify a violent jihad to any reader. It contains no caveats or clarifications to suggest a purely non-violent call to action.

[i] Sean Webby and Brandon Bailey. (2007). “The Mysterious Saga of Sister Khadijah.” Mercury News.

[ii] Id.

[iii] “American Muslims Hold International Teleconference Condemning Genocide Against Kashmiris, Appeal to United Nations.” (2016). Islamic Post.

Internal Fuqra/MOA documents seized by law enforcement in 1992 include notes showing that a member named M. Mubarik stayed at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October 1991. They also found plans for extensive meetings in the country with the International Islamic University, the Islamic Economic Development Foundation, the Islamic Religious Council (Majilis Agama Islam) and the University of Malaysia.

MOA terror suspects were also found to possess a book titled “New World of Islam” by Ustaz Ashaari Muhammade, the leader of a Fuqra-type sect in Malaysia named Al-Arqam. This group, like Fuqra, followed an extremist ideology and set up strict, private Islamic communes where members live a poor lifestyle. It was banned by the Malaysian government in 1994.

[i] Shadzia, Umm. (2011). North American Muslim Journalists Travel Abroad. Islamic Post.

Fuqra/MOA is known to have an office in Venezuela and a leader based in Senegal. MOA-affiliated sources say that MOA has a “village” in Mexico.

MOA said it had a village and Quranic Open University “campus” in South America in a 1994 book. The text talked about its Muslim-American members enforcing Sharia Law in such villages and showed a picture of a man in the South American village sitting in a chair as he was about to be lashed.[i]

A 2011 issue of the Fuqra/MOA newspaper states that two “correspondents” are based in an unidentified South American country. It mentions that one travelled from South America to Muree, Pakistan as a representative of the Islamic Post newspaper and the Quranic Open University.[ii]

The other identified South American “correspondent” is named as Khidr B. Abdul-Muqit. The same name appears in a Fuqra/MOA log of paramilitary training by its youth that was captured by law enforcement during raids in 1992. A document from 1990 identifying welfare recipients mentions a mother with a son by that name.

Venezuela

MOA is known to have a presence in Venezuela. A 2015 MOA press release lists an office in Caracas.[iii] MOA-affiliated sources said the presence in Venezuela was kept a tight secret, even from its own members, until it leaked out.

The address matches a building that was owned by an insurance company led by Pedro Torres Ciliberto, who has been a fugitive since 2009. He is wanted on charges of money laundering and bank fraud and is accused of assisting international criminals in hiding money in offshore accounts. He was a strong supporter of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez[iv] and was a close friend of the former Vice President’s.[v]

Ali Abdel-Aziz, a former MOA member who served as an informant for the NYPD for eight years including two years living at Islamberg, says that Sheikh Gilani is making a concerted effort to develop MOA communities in countries outside the U.S. He described Venezuela as the most promising one.

Ali said he was sent by MOA to Venezuela and that major MOA officials are traveling back and forth between the U.S. and the country. He said that even Sheikh Gilani had visited Venezuela and may move there from Pakistan.

One source says that Ali visited the country twice between 2006 and 2009. One trip in 2008 was for scouting land for beginning a new “jamaat,” or a community of believers living in one location. The source said one of the purposes of the new site was to serve as an alternative location for the Trinidad MOA if necessary, including convicted terrorist Barry Adams (also known as Tyrone Cole). Sheikh Gilani married Adams’ daughter and his son, Hussain, is chief executive of MOA.

Ali said the Muslim community in Venezuela is “paranoid” about any American presence and was supportive of the Chavez regime, making it an attractive spot for MOA expansion.[vi] MOA newspaper coverage of events in Venezuela has been gently in favor of Chavez and his successor, President Nicolas Maduro.

A MOA-linked militant group in Trinidad named Jamaat Al-Muslimeen does extensive black market business in Venezuela and engages in drug and firearms trafficking with the Colombian narco-terrorist group FARC, according to an intelligence source with experience in Trinidad. The Venezuelan government is known to collaborate with the FARC.

Guyana

A Muslim journalist in Canada wrote in 2010, “My own personal investigation has uncovered a trail of blood left by Gilani’s dervishes that stretched from Trinidad, Guyana, the United States and Canada.”[vii]

A 1983 issue of the Islamic Chronicle, the name of the Fuqra/MOA newspaper then, identifies a correspondent based in Georgetown, Guyana named Hasan Muhammad Siddiq.

Mexico

A MOA-affiliated source reports that the group has a quickly growing “jamaat” in Mexico. The location is unknown. A handful of MOA members distributed an online link in 2016 that was about a known Sufi Muslim community in Chiapas, but it has no publicly documented links to MOA.

A 2003 file from the DEA’s El Paso Intelligence Center shows it was distributed to its Regional Office in Guadaljaro, the capital of the state of Jalisco in western Mexico. This indicates a link between MOA’s Texas activity and that part of Mexico. A separate DEA investigation into MOA in Virginia in 2004 stated that MOA drug traffickers were dealing with Mexican cocaine dealers.

Sources inside MOA have confirmed that MOA has one of its “Islamic villages” in Mexico and that it is expanding. A source inside the group said in 2017 that it is led by a MOA elder named Khalifa Muhammad Khalil.

[i] Target Islam: Exposing the Malicious Conspiracy of the Zionists Against the World of Islam and Prominent Muslim Leaders. (1994). Quranic Open University and Pakistan Foundation for Strategic Studies.

[ii] Shadzia, Umm. (2011). North American Muslim Journalists Travel Abroad. Islamic Post.

[iii] “American Taliban (Private Militia) Besiege Islamberg.” (2015). The Muslims of America. http://www.tmoamerica.org/pdf/TMOA-Press-Release-Doggart_American_Taliban.pdf

[iv] Olivares, Francisco. (2012). “Loose Ends.” El Universal. Retrieved from: http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/120211/loose-ends

[v] Fall of the Boligarchs. (2009). The Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/15066082

[vi] Mawyer, Martin. Twilight in America. (2011). http://www.christianaction.org/shop/twilight-in-america

[vii] Baksh, Nazim. (2010). When Conversion Goes Awry: The Strange Case of Umar Lee. Nazim’s Blog. http://www.nazimbaksh.ca/?p=46

Fuqra/Muslims of America (MOA) has had a long presence in the Caribbean. MOA currently has an office in Trinidad and has had links to the Jamaat al-Muslimeen group there. It has also been active in Jamaica and possibly other countries.

A December 2010 FBI counter-terrorism report said that “the Muslims of the Americas terrorist organization” has a “jamaat” (private commune) in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

The documents confirmed that MOA is an alternative name for Jamaat ul-Fuqra and described the group as “armed and dangerous,” urging personnel to “use extreme caution when dealing with confirmed members or individuals who are believed to be associated with this group.”

Regarding MOA’s jamaats, the FBI reports said, “Organized training is also conducted to include weapons training, tactics, hand-to-hand combat, rappelling, and live-fire exercises.”

It is possible that the MOA presence in the Caribbean was built from the dissolved Islamic Political Party of America that existed in the 1970s and was led by Yusuf Muzafarrudin Hamud. The IPPA had branches in Trinidad, Guyana, Grenada, Dominica and the Virgin Islands.

He dissolved IPPA after a trip to Pakistan in 1977 where he met with the leaders of Islamist parties. In November of that year, they formed the International Islamic Education Institute with Pakistani Supreme Court Justice Barduzaman Kaikus as the chairman and Sheikh Gilani as secretary-general. Hamud said that IPPA and this new Institute would be intertwined. [i]

Notably, MOA currently has a front named the Islamic Political Party of America and it is tied to a U.S.-based group named Jamaat Al-Muslimeen, the name of a militant group in Trinidad linked to MOA. B. Raman, the counter-terrorism division of India’s Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agencyfrom 1988 to 1994, said that Sheikh Gilani repeatedly visited the Caribbean.[ii] It is possible that trips to the Caribbean are organized through the Tablighi Jamaat movement. Extremists are known to operate under the Tablighi Jamaat name and B. Raman went so far as to say that Fuqra is a “front organization” for the movement. [iii]

In a secret videotape produced by Sheikh Gilani to advertise his guerilla warfare training in Pakistan and Kashmir, he tells viewers that MOA can be contacted in the West Indies to sign up for the courses. The video was produced in the early 1990s. [iv]

Senior MOA official Atiq Shahid wrote a letter to President Bush dated March 18, 1990 that declared that all able-bodied Muslims are obliged to participate in jihad against India over its actions in Kashmir. The letter said MOA had formed a Jihad Conference in the U.S., Canada and West Indies to provide information about the situation and material aid to the Kashmir Freedom Front. It asked President Bush to grant visas to its members so they can wage a “successful struggle.”

A book published by MOA refers to the group having a Quranic Open University campus (a MOA front) in the West Indies and says that members are punished for violating Islamic Law. The book refers to lashings. [v]

Documents from a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation of MOA from 2003-2004 states that Canadian intelligence said that the MOA compound in Ontario, named “Hasanville,” has frequent visitors from the Caribbean. Members of the Canadian compound occasionally go to Trinidad and Jamaica.

Trinidad

MOA was/is linked to the Trinidad-based Jamaat Al-Muslimeen group led by Yasin Abu Bakr, which attempted to overthrow the government in 1990. More information on the relationship between MOA and JAM is provided in the section of this website about MOA’s links to other Islamist groups. A 2015 MOA press release lists an office on Touissant Rd in Las Lomas. [vi] A 2011 issue of the Islamic Post, the MOA’s official newspaper, lists its address as being on Rashaad Ave, Mon Plasir Rd in Cunupia, Trinidad. A Facebook page the United Muslim Christian Forum (MOA’s interfaith branch) in Trinidad says it was founded in 2009 and its location is in Port of Spain. [vii]

An MOA front named White Hawk Security Consultants is advertised in an issue of the Islamic Post in 2011 and lists an address for it in Caroni, Trinidad. This is also the name of another MOA-linked security group in Virginia. The advertisement says the security group offers private investigation, debt collection, executive airport retrieval, 24-hour monitoring and response, confidential reviews, personal bodyguards, security and safety consultation, audits and risk assessments and licensed bailiffs.

However, a Trinidad newspaper reported on 2010 that a company named White Hawk SecurityConsultants Ltd would be considered defunct and removed from the registry in three months unless it is shown to be active. [viii] A search of the Trinidad Ministry Legal Affairs shows White Hawk Security Consultants as active and located in St. Helena Village, Piarco. Law enforcement sources state that the White Hawk office in Trinidad is linked to Barry Adams, also known as Tyrone Cole or “Khalifa Abu Bakr” according to MOA-affiliated sources.

1991 Toronto Bomb Plot / Barry Adams, AKA Tyrone Cole

Three Trinidad nationals were part of the MOA plot in 1991 to the Indian Centre Cinema and Mandir Vishnu Hindu temple in Richmond Hill, Toronto, killing up to 4,500 people during the Hindu Festival of Lights event. [ix] The conspirators, Tyrone Junior Cole (also known as Barry Adams), Robert Wesley and Caba Jose Harris were all found guilty and sentenced to 12 years for conspiracy to create mischief that endangers lives. They were not convicted on murder charges. They were released in 2006 and deported to Trinidad. [x] Barry Adams / Tyrone Junior Cole is said by intelligence and MOA-affiliated sources to be the leader, or “Khalifa,” of the group’s branch in Trinidad. He is the father of MOA chief executive Hussein Adams. MOA-affiliated sources say that Sheikh Gilani told his followers that Cole’s spiritual status had risen to such a high “station” while he was in prison that he would leave his body and meet with Gilani in Pakistan. Gilani said that he and Cole met with the “Ahli Bayt,” or family of the Prophet Muhammad, in this out-of- body spiritual realm.

Various sources say that Cole was originally assumed to be the successor to Sheikh Gilani, but those plans were scrapped because he was caught and prosecuted and is barred from visiting the U.S. It is believed he has significant power behind the scenes and may be the most influential khalifa. Some MOA members have pledged allegiance to Cole and refer to him as “Abu,” or father. Their primary allegiance remains to Gilani, but a pledge to khalifa is a promise to follow the orders of that khalifa if Gilani permanently leaves his body (they don’t believe he actually dies) and/or is unable to govern. MOA-affiliated sources know him by “Junior” and/or “Khalifa Abu Bakr” and most did not match the name with Cole. They knew nothing of his work except that he was “on a mission,” inferring that no further questions should be asked.

Ali Abdel-Aziz, a former MOA member who served as an informant for the NYPD for eight years including two years living at Islamberg, says MOA sent him to Trinidad to prepare for Cole’s arrival in 2006. He describes Cole as being so secretive that he is “like a ghost.” [xi]

Ali went with a MOA official from Binghamton, New York. Ali returned to Trinidad twice between 2007 and 2009 and visited the compound housing Cole, which may belong to the Jamaat Al-Muslimeen. He also went to Venezuela twice to establish a village as an alternative option for Cole. [xii]

FOX News Channel journalist Catherine Herridge reported in 2007 that a law enforcement source told her that four MOA members had just been in Trinidad and are suspected of meeting “Abu Bakr,” the leader of Jamaat Al-Muslimeen. This was assumed to be a reference to Imam Yasin Abu Bakr. However, it is possible that it was actually a reference to Cole if the MOA-affiliated sources are correct that he is known as Khalifa Abu Bakr.

MOA never publicly mentions him or highlights its work in Trinidad. No pictures or videos of Adams can be found anywhere, with the exception of a 2008 video posted on YouTube which MOA-affiliated sources say features the influential MOA Khalifa.

The video is of a sermon during which Adams urges viewers to follow in the footsteps of the “Ahli Bayt” who “fell fighting” in Karbala around the year 680. Cole calls Muslims to embody the “spirit of shahada [martyrdom]” and emulate their stand as an example of “honor” and “exemplary conduct.”

“This is a defining moment today and in the history of the Muslim ummah and the future to come,” he says.

Intelligence sources describe Cole as going “off the radar for months” in Trinidad in the summer of 2016. It is believed that he was in Venezuela.

Concern From Leaders in Trinidad

A member of the Trinidad parliament, Dr. Amery Browne, expressed concern about the MOA presence in Trinidad in 2011, describing the presence of the deportees as a “very, very dangerous development.” He also criticized the performance of the security services. [xiii] He said that the deportees had begun establishing a commune in Trinidad and MOA members from the U.S. are coming to reside there. [xiv] Senator Penelope Beckles pointed to the presence of the three deportees, noting that they have terrorism expertise, in making the case for new counter-terrorism legislation. She complained that deportees, including ones with terrorist ties, have no restrictions on their movement.

“We don’t have legislation to track them… they obviously would have been funded. When they return to Trinidad, how are they funded? How do they go about their day-to- day affairs? Some of the deportees would have been well established,” she said. [xv]

Drug Trafficking

A suspect in a 2005 Drug Enforcement Agency into MOA-linked drug trafficking in Binghamton, NY had a link to Trinidad. The suspect possessed a piece of paper with a Trinidad address on it, which referred to a “Caricom invoice” for female clothing and books.

Jamaica and Others

Michael Scheuer, former CIA intelligence officer and chief of Agency’s Bin Laden Station from 1996 to1999, said that MOA had an outpost in Jamaica, in addition to Trinidad. [xvi] Convicted Fuqra/MOA terrorist Edward Flinton said that a “pseudo-military” instructor going by the name of “The Doorsman” held classes for members in the Caribbean, but could not be more specific. He mentioned Dominica and Grenada as possibilities. It’s possible he was thinking of Trinidad.

[i] Robert Dannin and Jolie Stahl. (2005). Black Pilgrimage to Islam. Oxford University Press.

[ii] Raman, B. (1999). Dagestan: Focus on Pakistan’s Tablighi Jamaat. South Asia Analysis Group.

http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/paper80

[iii] Raman, B. (1999). Dagestan: Focus on Pakistan’s Tablighi Jamaat. South Asia Analysis Group.

http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/paper80

[iv] The “Soldiers of Allah” videotape is discussed in greater detail in the section of this website about

guerilla training. The video can be seen on our YouTube channel.

[v] Ahmad, Dr. Mrs. Suhir. (1994). Target Islam: Exposing the Malicious Conspiracy of the Zionists

Against the World of Islam and Prominent Muslim Leader. Quranic Open University and Pakistan

Foundation for Strategic Studies.

[vi] “American Taliban (Private Militia) Besiege Islamberg.” (2015). The Muslims of America.

http://www.tmoamerica.org/pdf/TMOA-Press- Release-Doggart_American_Taliban.pdf

[vii] “About United Muslim Christian Forum of Trinidad and Tobago.” Facebook group.

https://www.facebook.com/United-Muslim- Christian-Forum- of-Trinidad- and-Tobago- 153082524754236/about/

[viii] “Notice of Intended Removal of Defunct Companies From Register.” (2010). Trinidad and Tobago

Gazette. http://www.news.gov.tt/archive/E-

Gazette/Gazette%202010/gazette/Gazette%20No.%20160%20of%202010.pdf

[ix] Goddard, John. (2010). Forgotten Islamist terror plot targeted Toronto. Toronto Star.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/08/31/forgotten_islamist_terror_plot_targeted_toronto.html

[x] Goddard, John. (2010). Forgotten Islamist terror plot targeted Toronto. Toronto Star.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/08/31/forgotten_islamist_terror_plot_targeted_toronto.html

[xi] Mawyer, Martin. Twilight in America. (2011). http://www.christianaction.org/shop/twilight-in- america

[xii] Interview with journalist Mike Russell who has authored an investigative series about Ali Abdel-Aziz.

[xiii] “SIA Involved in Vindra Case, Arrest of Terrorists.’” (2011). Trinidad Express. http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/____SIA_involved_in_Vindra_case__arrest_of_terrorists_-

116963408.html

[xiv] “Jamaat Al-Fuqra Regrouping in Trinidad?” (2011). Caribbean Muslims.

http://www.caribbeanmuslims.com/news/294/Jamaat-al%252dFuqra- regrouping-in- Trinidad%3F

[xv] “Beckles Sounds Warning on Deported ‘Terrorists.’” (2011). Trinidad Express.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Beckles_sounds_warning_on_deported__terrorists_-

123970184.html

[xvi] Berger, J.M. (2011). Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam. Potomac Books.

Jamaat Al-Fuqra/Muslims of the Americas (MOA) have a village named “Hasanville” in Barry’s Bay, Ontario, Canada.

MOA members affiliated with Hasanville attempted to bomb an Indian theater and Hindu temple in Toronto during the Hindu Festival of Lights in 1991, killing up to 4,500 people.[1]

A December 2010 FBI counter-terrorism report said that “the Muslims of the Americas terrorist organization” has a “jamaat” (private commune) in Canada.

The documents confirmed that MOA is an alternative name for Jamaat ul-Fuqra and described the group as “armed and dangerous,” urging personnel to “use extreme caution when dealing with confirmed members or individuals who are believed to be associated with this group.”

Regarding MOA’s jamaats, the FBI reports said, “Organized training is also conducted to include weapons training, tactics, hand-to-hand combat, rappelling, and live-fire exercises.”

Jihad Recruitment and Training

A MOA newsletter states that the group held its first International Jihad Conference in Toronto on January 12, 1982. The objective was to recruit fighters and solicit material aid for overseas jihad with the fight against the Soviets being the primary concern.

Another internal MOA document stated that a sub-section named the International Jihad Council had a branch in Toronto.

A secret Fuqra videotape that appears to have been filmed in the 1990s (after 1992) shows Sheikh Gilani advertising Fuqra’s guerilla warfare training in preparation for waging violent jihad. He tells viewers not to make any copies of the tape because it could be “very bad” if the enemies of Islam find it.

He tells viewers interested in taking “one of the most advanced training courses in Islamic military warfare” to contact one of his International Quranic Open University Offices, mentioning one in Canada. The film shows Gilani’s followers receiving guerilla warfare training in Pakistan. [2]

A Canadian linked to Sheikh Gilani named Saldar Joginder Singh was imprisoned in India after hijacking an aircraft.[3]

Documents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in 2003 mentioned the MOA compound in Canada and said, “MOA members from all compounds also travel to Pakistan for both religious education as well as military style training and operational experience fighting in the Kashmir region of Pakistan.”

A classified Canadian government report from 2006 says that Fuqra/MOA members “send regular donations in support of Fuqra jihad activities in Kashmir.”[4]

Hasanville, Ontario

Hasanville is located at Barry’s Bay, Combermere, Ontario near Algonquin Park and was founded in 1991 by the leader of Fuqra’s Canadian branch, Glenn Neville Ford, and Max Lon Fongenie.

The community is named in honor of one of convicted MOA terrorist Barry Adams’ children, Hasan, who died in a car accident along with his sister, Maryam, who has a community in New York named in her honor. The two children were the siblings of Hussein Adams, also known as “K2,” the chief executive of MOA who is based out of “Islamberg” in upstate New York.

Both were arrested for their alleged involvement in the Fuqra’s 1991 plot to bomb the Hindu Festival of Lights in Toronto. Ford was acquitted and Fongenie escaped to Pakistan. The three Fuqra members from Texas who were convicted for the plot frequently visited Hasanville in the run-up to the planned attack. Two acquitted suspects, Ford and Khidr Ali, returned to Hasanville.[5]

Documents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in 2003 refer to a meeting of multiple agencies regarding MOA in April 2003 to compare activity at multiple MOA compounds, including Hasanville.

The agencies said all the compounds are interconnected and have members involved in criminal scams “to raise money for MOA/JAF.” The scams include but are not limited to insurance fraud, mail fraud, credit card craud, worker’s compensation fraud, illegal straw purchases of weapons, conversions of semi-automatic weapons to fully-automatic, etc. The money is sent via mail orders to the “Islamberg” headquarters in New York and Lahore, Pakistan and ultimately ends up with Sheikh Gilani.

The documents state that Hasanville is linked to “Islamberg” and the compounds in York, S.C.; Red House, VA and Fresno, CA. The Fresno site is notably where MOA had a massive charter school scam.

Canadian intelligence said that Hasanville has frequent visitors from the Caribbean and members occasionally travel to Trinidad and Jamaica. There is significant MOA activity in Trinidad.[6]

The documents also say that a liaison with the police in Toronto said in 2003 that MOA was setting up a new religious center in Barry’s Bay and many vehicles with license plates from Virginia were seen in the area. The documents state that many of the MOA members are alleged to have served in the U.S. military.

Murder of a Rival Muslim Cleric in Tucson, Arizona in 1990

Seven members of Fuqra orchestrated the murder of a controversial liberal Muslim cleric in Tucson, Arizona on January 31, 1990. One of those involved, Glen Cusford Francis, wasn’t arrested until 2009. He was apprehended in Calgary. He used multiple false identities, including the name of Ben Phillips to attend the cleric’s mosque in preparation for the murder.[7]

1991 TorontoBomb Plot

Five members of Fuqra were arrested on October 3, 1991 in Niagra Falls near the Canadian border shortly before they planned to bomb the Indian Centre Cinema and Vishnu Hindu temple in Richmond Hill, Toronto, killing up to 4,500 people during the Hindu Festival of Lights event.[8] Documents from trial, including exhibits, is available on Fuqra Files’ evidence section.

Those arrested at the Canadian border were in two cars and authorities found a letter referring to “dying as a soldier of Allah.” They also found intricate plans for the attacks, including aerial photos, recordings from inside the targeted buildings, plans for creating the explosives and a diagram outlining how they planned to wrap bombs around natural gas pipelines.

The authorities learned that they were entering the U.S. to retrieve weapons from Wilfred Savary in Brooklyn, also known as Mustafa Muhammad Abd al-Rashid or Abdu Rashid. He also owned one of the vehicles the cell was using. The authorities raided his home and found 2 rifles, 7 handguns and 2,000 rounds of ammunition.[9]

Evidence obtained from the vehicles also triggered a raid on a location in Pontiac, Michigan.

Videotapes were found showing the conspirators making explosives and training in firearms at a compound in Pennsylvania. The evidence showed that the Texan/Canadian cell had a support network for guns, money and vehicles.[10]

The trial set for 1993 was postponed so that a massive security presence could be assembled due to fears of a Fuqra attack after a link between the group and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was found. The judge explicitly described the suspects as members of a “terrorist movement.”

Glenn Neville Ford was prosecuted and acquitted. He is a convert to Islam from Trinidad who moved to Toronto in the mid-70s. He founded the Canadian branch of Fuqra in or before 1982. He traveled twice to Sheikh Gilani’s International Quranic Open University in Lahore, Pakistan, which the FBI described as a terrorist front.

Ford founded the Hasanville commune at Barry’s Bay, Combermere, Ontario near Algonquin Park in 1991. The Texan Fuqra members involved in the plot began regularly going to Hasanville that year. After being acquitted, Ford moved back to Hasanville.[11]

Mubin Shaikh, a Sufi Muslim and the former undercover operative for Canadian Security Investigative Service, wrote on his blog in 2010, “looks like they [Fuqra] gave up using violence…I know Mr. Ford personally and he has since become a Sufi Muslim—in fact, I…[met] with him a few weeks ago at the Jerrahi Cultural Centre—a well-known peaceful and mystical centre. I can personally state that the leader of Hasanville will sit with CSIS [Canadian Security Investigative Service] at any time—provided I am present.”

However, Ford was a Sufi Muslim during the entire course of his time with Fuqra/MOA, as the organization is officially Sufi.[12]

The other co-founder of Hasanville, Max Lon Fongenie, escaped to Pakistan. He, like Ford, is originally from Trinidad and moved to Toronto.

Khidr Ali, another resident of Toronto, was acquitted and moved back to Hasanville.

The three Fuqra members from Texas—Barry Adams, Robert Wesley and Caba Jose Harris—were all found guilty and sentenced to 12 years for conspiracy to create mischief that endangers lives. They were not convicted on murder charges. They were released in 2006 and deported to Trinidad.[13]

Barry Adams also went by the name of Tyrone Junior Cole. His son, Hussain Adams, is now the chief executive of Muslims of the Americas and leads the Islamberg commune in Hancock, New York.

Robert Wesley’s name was also reported as Robert Johnson, Wali Muhammad and Abdul Baqqer. Caba Jose Harris’ alternate name was Amir Mohammed Ahmed.

Wilfred Savary pled guilty to illegal weapons possession.

A letter from the Colorado Assistant Attorney General said that four of those involved in the 1991 Hindu Festival of Lights bomb plot have “close ties” to the leader of the militant Jamaat al-Muslimeen group in Trinidad, Yasin Abu Bakr.

He was a student in Toronto before going back to Trinidad. He and his group launched a coup against the government of Trinidad in 1990 that failed. The letter pointed out that Jamaat al-Muslimeen does not publicly state it has links to Fuqra but notes that the two groups are “alarmingly similar.”[14]

MOA did not confirm or deny that its members were involved in the 1991 Hindu Festival of Lights bomb plot. MOA says more broadly that none of its members have ever been involved in terrorism.

One internal MOA notice from that time appears to acknowledge the affiliation. It is a notice that five “of our Muslim brothers” were arrested in Canada and pressures members to support their families, particularly with donations. The notice does not deny that they were involved in a plot or condemn their actions.

MOA’s January 1992 newsletter tries to put some distance between the group and the plotters while soliciting aid from members. It says that an entity named the American Muslim Action Committee was contacted by a woman who told them that five Canadian Muslims have been arrested. The entity dispatched a delegation to Toronto to meet with their families and was ashamed to see that the Muslim community there was not helping them.

The newsletter complains “our bretheren” are being held with no legal representation or possibility of bail. It asks MOA members to contribute to a fund for them.

MOA downplayed its links to the plot in a 1994 book it published.[15] It acknowledged that the plotters visited Pakistan and had a connection to Sheikh Gilani there. It said they attended a religious school in Pakistan, visited a refugee camp in Kashmir and visited a “mujahideen” camp for one day. MOA claimed that they requested to join the jihad there but Sheikh Gilani rejected their request, so they went back home.

The book describes the plotters as “five Muslim missionaries” and casts doubt on the claims that they were planning a terrorist attack, attributing the accusation to a Zionist-controlled media that is trying to destroy MOA and Islam.

MOA Islamic Centre in Toronto

An online directory of MOA “Dawah Centers” that has proven accurate in the past lists an MOA Islamic Centre in Toronto.[16]

Drug Trafficking

A 2005 investigation into MOA members involved in drug trafficking in Binghamton, NY included evidence that the suspects had ties to Canada. One suspect possessed Mapquest directions to Quebec. Surveillance of one residence showed a vehicle with a plate registered to Ontario, the province where Hasanville is located.[17]

[1] Goddard, John. (2010). Forgotten Islamist terror plot targeted Toronto. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/08/31/forgotten_islamist_terror_plot_targeted_toronto.html

[2] The video can be seen on the Fuqra Files YouTube channel and is discussed in greater detail in the section of this website about guerilla training.

[3] “Shoe Bomb Suspect ‘Linked to Radical Islamic Leader.’” (2001). Ananova. https://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_489443.html

[4] Sean Webby and Brandon Bailey. (2007). “The Mysterious Saga of Sister Khadijah.” Mercury News. http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_147273385694614&key=a74b4412712f29a988486127c26fa9f9&libId=iskbhtuk01001kjr000DAbd3fw7d9&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fhindunet.org%2Fhvk%2Farticles%2F0207%2F100.html&v=1&exp=-100%3ACILITE%3A87&type=U&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mercurynews.com%2Fmld%2Fmercurynews%2F16677008.htm&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&title=The%20mysterious%20saga%20of%20Sister%20Khadijah&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mercurynews.com%2Fmld%2Fmercurynews%2F16677008.htm

[5] Goddard, John. (2010). Forgotten Islamist terror plot targeted Toronto. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/08/31/forgotten_islamist_terror_plot_targeted_toronto.html

[6] For more information, see the section of this website about MOA’s activity outside of the United States.

[7] Sagara, Eric. (2009). Man arrested in ’90 slaying of controversial leader at local mosque. Tucson Citizen: http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2009/04/29/115381-man-arrested-in-90-slaying-of-controversial-religious-leader-at-local-mosque/

[8] Goddard, John. (2010). Forgotten Islamist terror plot targeted Toronto. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/08/31/forgotten_islamist_terror_plot_targeted_toronto.html

[9] Goddard, John. (2010). Forgotten Islamist terror plot targeted Toronto. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/08/31/forgotten_islamist_terror_plot_targeted_toronto.html

[10] Martines, Lawrence J. (2010). Jam’at Al-Fuqra, a.k.a. Society of the Impoverished. Journal of Counterterrorism and Homeland Security International. Vo. 8, No. 3.

[11] Goddard, John. (2010). Forgotten Islamist terror plot targeted Toronto. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/08/31/forgotten_islamist_terror_plot_targeted_toronto.html

[12] Shaikh, Mubin. (2010). Islamist Terror Plot in Canada from 2004. Mubin Shaikh—The Toronto 18 Investigation and Related News. http://mubinshaikh.blogspot.com/2010/08/islamist-terror-plot-in-canada-from.html?m=1

[13] Goddard, John. (2010). Forgotten Islamist terror plot targeted Toronto. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/08/31/forgotten_islamist_terror_plot_targeted_toronto.html

[14] Wamsley, Douglas. “Memorandum: Overview of the Fuqra Investigation.” (1994). State of Colorado, Department of Law, Office of the Attorney General.

[15] Ahmad, Dr. Mrs. Suhir. (1994). Target Islam: Exposing the Malicious Conspiracy of the Zionists Against the World of Islam and Prominent Muslim Leader. Quranic Open University and Pakistan Foundation for Strategic Studies.

[16] “MOA Da’wah Center Directory,” Al-Adaab.org, http://www.al-adaab.org/dawah/directory.html

[17] Documentation from Drug Enforcement Agency investigation into MOA-associated drug trafficking in 2005, closed in January 2007.

Gilani previously supported certain Afghan militant groups in the early 1990s that were fighting for control of the country. In recent years, he has hinted at the possibility of fighting the Pakistani Taliban in order to protect Sufi shrines and communities it has targeted.

Very little is known about the extent of Shiekh Gilani and MOA’s material aid to other Islamist militant/terrorist groups. MOA-affiliated sources confirm that he has told U.S.-based followers that the money he receives goes to unspecified “mujahideen” in Kashmir and Pakistan. It is known that MOA members regularly go to Pakistan and some get guerilla training and others deliver humanitarian aid in Pakistan and Kashmir.

In 1990, MOA wrote letters to President Bush that said all able-bodied Muslims are required to participate in jihad against India over its treatment of Kashmir. The group explicitly said it would try to bring Muslim-American recruits to Pakistan.

A classified Canadian government report from 2006 says that Fuqra/MOA members “send regular donations in support of Fuqra jihad activities in Kashmir.”[i] An analyst for a think-tank in Lahore, Pakistan said in 2007 that it is “very clear” that Sheikh Gilani fundraises from the U.S. “for supporting Kashmiri militants.”[ii]

On July 11, 2016, Sheikh Gilani held a video conference with MOA leaders and ordered them to publish a statement that appeared to be an indirect call to jihad in Kashmir against India. It called for an international unified Islamic force to “come to the aid” of oppressed Muslims wherever they are and to “defend” Pakistan and Kashmir.

“[W]e believe that it is the duty of the Muslims who are living in unoccupied Kashmir to reach out and help their Kashmiri brethren in the Indian-occupied Kashmir. This is the law of Sharia, which does not absolve them of any of their responsibility to help their brethren by every possible means,” the statement reads.[iii]

The letter says that MOA will organize political protests, giving the casual observer the impression that it a call to non-violent action. However, the letter calls on Pakistan to “defend” Kashmir and the language would justify a violent jihad to any reader. It contains no caveats or clarifications to suggest a purely non-violent call to action.

[i] Sean Webby and Brandon Bailey. (2007). “The Mysterious Saga of Sister Khadijah.” Mercury News.

[ii] Id.

[iii] “American Muslims Hold International Teleconference Condemning Genocide Against Kashmiris, Appeal to United Nations.” (2016). Islamic Post.

Fuqra/MOA condemns Shiites as non-Muslims and believes that Shiite Islam was created by Jewish adversaries as part of a Zionist conspiracy. However, the group has occasionally spoken positively about former Iranian President Ahmadinejad and the Syrian dictatorship backed by Iran.

Sheikh Gilani has had ties to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his Hezb-i-Islami party. He is known to be backed by the Iranian regime.[1]

After Iranian President Ahmadinejad accused the U.S. government of orchestrating the 9/11 attacks, MOA praised his comments and said his agenda is similar to that of the Mahdi, the messianic figure that is supposed to appear at the End Times:

“President Ahmadinejad called on the U.N. to upgrade its organization by restructuring as it is the “key structure for coordinating the common global management.” Imam Al-Mahdi’s, peace be upon him, mission will be a global management for peace, security and the realization of human rights. Could this profound knowledge be what led to the premature exit of ‘missing delegates’ – a puerile means to distract from a poignant message?”[2]

MOA’s newspaper is giving positive coverage to Iranian-backed Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who is part of the Allawite ethnicity that is an offshoot of the Shiites. Its articles consistently paint the Syrian rebels as terrorists acting on behalf of a conspiracy against Islam. One biased article legitimized the Syrian parliamentary elections and used them to make Assad appear popularly supported.[3]

Both the Iranian and Syrian regimes are designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism by the U.S. State Department for supporting Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and others.

Sheikh Gilani and his organization have historically had a hostile attitude towards Iran, but it also condemns U.S. accusations and pressure on Iran.

MOA’s newspaper is giving positive coverage to Iranian-backed Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who is part of the Allawite ethnicity that is an offshoot of the Shiites. Its articles consistently paint the Syrian rebels as terrorists acting on behalf of a conspiracy against Islam. One biased article legitimized the Syrian parliamentary elections and used them to make Assad appear popularly supported.[3]

Both the Iranian and Syrian regimes are designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism by the U.S. State Department for supporting Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and others.

Sheikh Gilani and his organization have historically had a hostile attitude towards Iran, but it also condemns U.S. accusations and pressure on Iran.

Gilani and MOA were highly supportive of the Egyptian cleric. Gilani expressed an interest in making a greater impact in Egypt in 1993, according to notes taken by law enforcement based on the account of an attendee.

Ali Abdel-Aziz, a former Fuqra/Muslims of the Americas (MOA) member who served as an informant for the NYPD for eight years including two years living at Islamberg, is from Egypt. He says that MOA sent him to Egypt to establish a “jamaat,” or community, of MOA members. The trip is believed to have occurred between 2006 and 2009.

Abdel-Aziz says he facilitated the travel of about 10 MOA members to Egypt and there were around 15 members there with him.[ii]

[i] “The Wandering Mujahidin: Armed and Dangerous.” (1993). State Department Intelligence and Research Bureau.

[ii] Mawyer, Martin. Twilight in America. (2011). http://www.christianaction.org/shop/twilight-in-america

Sheikh Gilani was at one point linked to a “mujahiding hub” that included an international network of Islamist terrorists, including Sheikh Abdul Majeed Al-Zindani in Yemen, according to a 1993 State Department intelligence document.

It reads:

“A close working relationship reportedly exists among [Gulbuddin] Hekmatyar, Egyptian Islamic Gama’at spiritual leader Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, Yemeni Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Zindani and Sudanese National Islamic Front (NIF) leader Hassan al-Turabi. Sheikh Jilani, the leader of the Jama’at al-Fuqra based in Lahore, is also believed to have some ties to the mujahidin network. This circle of mutual admiration nurtures the network of safe havens, bases and logistical support.”[1]

Every single one of the terrorist allies of Sheikh Gilani listed above are closely linked to Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. The memo said that Bin Laden was financing the “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman’s network in the United States by funneling money through Hassan al-Turabi’s National Islamic Front.[2]

An issue of the Fuqra/MOA newspaper from 1983 states that it has a “correspondent” in Yemen named Faqir Muhammad Ahmed Qadri.

The U.S. Treasury Department named Zindani as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” in 2004 because of his involvement with Usama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. The Department said he was linked to Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish terrorist group in Iraq loyal to Al-Qaeda, and leads a radical university in Yemen known for producing terrorists.[3]

Zindani also has links to Hamas and the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

[1] “The Wandering Mujahidin: Armed and Dangerous.” (1993). State Department Intelligence and Research Bureau.

[2] Id.

[3] “United States Designates Bin Laden Loyalist.” (2004). United States Department of Treasury. https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/js1190.aspx