Executive Summary
An Islamist movement in America composed of terrorist, paramilitary and criminal componentsis increasingly anticipating a nationwide armed uprising which will be sparked by a confrontation with police and/or white supremacists, according to Clarion Intelligence Network’s sources.
The nationwide movement, consisting largely of African-American prison converts, includes multiple Islamist groups connected to a violent organization named “Ummah” playing the biggest role.
Other components of this Islamist movement include Salafi extremists, Sufi extremists and more “mainstream” Muslim Brotherhood-type Sunnis such as Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj.
This racially-focused Islamist movement is focused on developing Islamist-dominated neighborhoods and communes. The objective is to create insular enclaves that minimize opposing influences and maximize the difficulties facing law enforcement in monitoring the communities.
A central theme of this movement is that minorities in the U.S., especially Muslims and black people, must prepare for an inevitable uprising against law enforcement, white supremacists and their “Zionist conspirators.”
They believe there will be a confrontation that unites Islamists, who will then ally with non-Muslim political partners to fight against the supposedly racist and tyrannical U.S. government and its shadowy puppeteers.
This sense of impending conflict has heightened as race issues have become more prominent in politics as well as in issues surrounding white supremacy, anti-Muslim extremism, anti-police bigotry and political violence. The Clarion Project has dubbed this mutually-reinforcing radicalism the “War of the Extremes.”
Many members of this Islamist movement are involved in criminal activity with the approval of imams, including illegally selling guns (oftentimes stolen from personal homes) for profit.
Sources in multiple Muslim communities say that members of security teams from radical mosques and organizations are involved in the gun trade, especially in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The criminal elements, particularly when it comes to firearms trafficking and martial arts training, come together despite their ideological differences.
As discussed in the lengthy expose below, this Islamist movement includes—but is not limited to:
- A nationwide paramilitary and organized crime group known as “The Ummah,” with a history of terrorism-related activity
- Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj’s black Islamist coalition
- A Sufi jihadist network that extends into Africa
- The United Muslim Movement founded by music producer and songwriter Kenny Gamble, now known as Luqman Abdul Haqq
- Jammat ul-Fuqra, a cult that claims to have 22 “Islamic villages” in America and is led by radical cleric in Pakistan linked to terrorist groups in Southeast Asia
- The U.S. Muslim Brotherhood/pro-Hamas network
“The Ummah”
The largest and arguably the most dangerous component of this Islamist movement is “The Ummah,” a group whose leaders have been involved in acts of terrorism, attacking police officers and extensive criminal activity.
The FBI describes Ummah as a “nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group.” In a criminal complaint, the FBI says:
“Their primary mission is to establish a separate, sovereign Islamic state (“The Ummah”) within the borders of the United States, governed by Shariah law. The Ummah is to be ruled over by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rapp Brown.”
The exact number of mosques loyal to Ummah is not known.
In 1995, it was estimated that Ummah was affiliated with 30-40 mosques in the United States and about 20-30,000 followers, which is more than the Nation of Islam led by Louis Farrakhan.
In 2000, it was reported that Al-Amin’s Ummah had over 28 mosques.
Ummah’s Spiritual Leader
Ummah’s spiritual leader, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (formerly famous as H. Rapp Brown in the 1960s), is a ferociously anti-American imam currently serving a life sentence for shooting two police officers in Georgia in 2000.
Al-Amin was a member of the Black Panthers when he was known as H. Rapp Brown (birth name: Hubert Gerold Brown).
In 1967, Al-Amin was charged with arson and inciting a riot after encouraging protestors in Maryland to become violent and destructive. He went so far as to say that black people were “going to burn America down” if their demands were not met. The charges were subsequently reduced to misdemeanors.
He went to prison from 1971 to 1976 after he tried to rob a bar in New York City and got into a shootout with police.
While in prison, an extremist group named Dar Ul-Islam preached to him. He converted to Islam and adopted the name of Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. Dar Ul-Islam was known for its violent and criminal activity, including paramilitary training and essentially setting up a militia.
After prison, he moved to Atlanta.
On August 7, 1995, he was arrested for allegedly shooting a suspected drug dealer in Atlanta, where Al-Amin led his Community Mosque. He was found with a pistol and booked on two weapons-related charges because the weapon was concealed and unlicensed.
At that time, Al-Amin was the chairman of Atlanta’s Council of Imams and described as a “revered imam, a spiritual leader of the second largest community of traditional Muslims in the United States.”
In 1996, he was under investigation for suspected links to over a dozen murders. Police believed he was basically acting as a mafia leader. His alleged victims were those who had crossed him, business competitors or people who “knew too much” to be allowed to live.
In May 1999, police pulled Al-Amin over when he was driving a stolen car. He got away because he pretended to be a police officer by showing a police badge from Alabama.
He was charged in September 1999 and then failed to show up for court in January 2000.
On March 16, 2000, two Georgia police officers attempted to arrest Al-Amin. He opened fire on them, murdering one and wounding the other. He then fled to White Hall, Alabama, where he was later arrested.
After his arrest, two of his followers robbed three banks in retaliation.
Top Ummah Leader in Detroit
Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a top Ummah leader and imam of Masjid ul-Haqq in Detroit, was killed in a shootout in Detroit in 2009.
He was recorded talking about impending terrorist attacks on federal targets and planning to leave the U.S. so he could lead Ummah operations from abroad. In 2009, his mosque had to relocate after they were evicted from another spot in Detroit for failing to pay property taxes. Abdullah was determined to violently retaliate.
When the police entered the Ummah mosque after the eviction, they found that the mosque was essentially an indoor training camp. The criminal complaint against Abdullah and 10 of his co-conspirators explains:
“Luqman Abdullah calls his followers to an offensive jihad, rather than a defensive jihad. He regularly preaches anti-government and anti-law enforcement rhetoric.
Abdullah and his followers have trained regularly in the use of firearms, and continues to train in martial arts and sword fighting.
Abdullah encourages the members of the Masjid Al-Haqq, many of whom are convicted felons, to carry a firearm, and information obtained during the course of this investigation indicates that many of Abdullah’s followers are usually armed…
…Members and former members of the Masjid Al-Haqq have stated they are willing to do anything Abdullah instructs and/or preaches, even including criminal conduct and acts of violence.”
The Sutra squad—the mosque’s security team—was the most trained element. These armed devotees regularly practiced in firearms, martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, sword-fighting and other forms of self-defense.
Shell casings were found on the basement floor of the mosque, where large holes could be seen in the concrete wall that was used as a shooting range. The combat training took place in the mosque basement and was specifically focused on fighting law enforcement and gangs who threatened mosque members.
Inside the part of the mosque that served as Abdullah’s apartment, the police found two guns, close to 40 knives and martial arts weapons.
The Justice Department put together a criminal complaint against Abdullah and 10 of his Ummah co-conspirators. When they tried to arrest him, he opened fire and killed a police dog.
Ummah: The Revival of Dar Ul-Islam
Ummah is essentially an alternative name for group Dar Ul-Islam (DUL).
In the criminal complaint against Abdullah it says that Abdullah privately told associates that Ummah is just another name for (the supposedly defunct) DUL.
Abdullah said that DUL/Ummah is led by an imam in New York. He said that Ummah wasn’t using the name of DUL in order to confuse the U.S. government.
Dar Ul-Islam split due to the birth of Jammat ul-Fuqra–now known as Muslims of the Americas (MOA) — a mostly African-American apocalyptic cult loyal to a radical Islamist cleric in Pakistan named Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, who has sent at least two of his sons to the U.S. and Canada in order to lead MOA after he dies.
Gilani’s critics believed he was an agent of Pakistani intelligence sent to infiltrate DUL. Fuqra was also competing with the Saudi-funded Wahhabists and the Nation of Islam for African-American converts.
The breaking point came in 1974. At the time, DUL was also using the name of Ikhwanul Muslimeen, or Muslim Brotherhood (not to be confused with the international Muslim Brotherhood organization headquartered in Egypt).
At Masjid Al-Yasin, the Brooklyn mosque where DUL was headquartered, Gilani’s supporters got into a shootout with DUL members opposed to him. Four people died in that incident.
One group within DUL pledged allegiance to Gilani and claimed the mantle of DUL, including the owner of Masjid Yasin mosque and leader of DUL, Imam Yahya Abdul-Karim.
In 1982, Abdul-Karim declared that DUL was over and replaced by the “international Jama’at al Fuqra” led by Gilani.
Imam Jamil Al-Amin led the other faction, which was opposed to Gilani.
In 1974, Al-Amin moved to Atlanta. In 1983, this remaining DUL faction chose Al-Amin as their national imam. In 1987, his DUL faction began calling themselves the National Islamic Community. The name was changed again later to the National Ummah, though the National Islamic Community name continued to be used and acknowledged as DUL’s successor.
In 2008, the year before he was killed, Imam Luqman Abdullah, his son, Mujahid Carswell, and others talked about taking the formal pledge of allegiance (bayat) to Abdullah, which involved signing a piece of paper with 24 points.
The pledge was to Dar Ul-Islam and its leading imam. The form said that this imam is “represented” by other imams, including Abdullah. Signatories agree to follow the representing imam and “do jihad with them.”
Child Radicalization and Abuse
A credible informant inside of the Detroit mosque “saw Luqman Abdullah discipline children inside the mosque by beating them with sticks on their hands, knees, and legs, until they were covered with bruises, including a boy Abdullah beat so badly with sticks that he was unable to walk for several days.”
Abdullah indoctrinated children at Ummah’s mosques, according to the complaint. It mentions an incident at one Georgia mosque:
“At one point, Abdullah spoke to the Gainesville Ummah Imam’s children, who were between approximately 9 and 11 years old. Abdullah told them stories about his shooting people with a 9mm gun. Abdullah said that he sometimes carries two handguns and said that he had shot a lot of people.”
In May 2009, Abdullah “stated he had participated in training camps, which were located in various states, with Jawallah (soldier) scouts.”
The Jawala Scouts were first exposed by Joe Kaufman of Americans Against Hate. The group trains boys as young as seven years old who are dressed in military fatigues. The Jawala Scouts were founded by Kenny Gamble’s United Muslim Movement and the Sankore Institute (see below).
Support for Terrorism and Terrorist Groups
Abdullah and his associates seemed to be obsessed with murdering cops and violently overthrowing the U.S. government. References were made to members’ having shot cops, gang members and other rival members.
Abdullah likewise claimed to have shot a number of people, describing two such shootings in detail.
In fact, attacking police officers, FBI agents and other government personnel is a necessity for them.
Ummah encourages members to support foreign terrorist groups that they don’t fully agree with. For example, Abdullah said that bombing buses filled with civilians is impermissible. On the other hand, attacking police officers, FBI agents and other government personnel is a necessity. February 6, 2009, Abdullah delivered a sermon that disparaged Jews and Christians and justified suicide bombings.
He preached that Muslims should support “Sheikh Osama Bin Laden,” the Taliban and Hezbollah. He also urged attendees to plan concrete actions against the “kuffar.”
A Jihadi Mafia
Ummah is also an organized crime group. A single criminal complaint against Abdullah and 10 of his accomplices listed practically every kind of crime, including arming felons; committing arson in order to defraud an insurance company; stealing cars, computers, cigarettes and TV sets; drug trafficking; armed robberies and trying to assemble explosives.
At one point, Abdullah even told an accomplice that he should sell his counterfeit goods out of his mosque in Detroit.
Abdullah said such crimes are justified because they are part of jihad and advancing the cause of Allah. He and others pointed to a story in the Quran about Muslims in Mecca and Medina robbing and stealing from caravans and donating a portion to the Islamic cause.
On August 19, 2009, Abdullah again justified the crimes by citing a hadith (saying of the prophet) where he claimed Mohammed says theft is permissible as long as a Muslim prays and is in a good state.
Ummah isn’t the only Islamist group to find ways of justifying crimes as permissible under Sharia Law.
The “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was one of the most influential clerics in the jihadist world when he was alive, preached that Muslims could rob banks in order to finance the jihad. Islamists also have justified drug trafficking by claiming they are only selling it to non-Muslims.
Crimes against governments and institutions that the jihadists view as hostile towards Islam have been justified for decades.
The Islamist Enclave Movement
Another key focus for Ummah and the other groups in this report is building communities. These communities then become insular enclaves where outside and opposing influences are minimized and difficulties in monitoring by law enforcement are maximized.
These communities form their own security teams to protect members from gangs, criminals and law enforcement. So much emphasis is placed on limiting the police presence that Abdullah told his followers to call him if they need help instead of the police. Our sources say that this is a common practice in the black Islamist communities.
Abdullah explained that the Islamists must buy homes near their mosques in order to incrementally achieve autonomy. He cited the examples of the Amish and Mormons, though obviously with a criminal, anti-American twist:
“If you get enough property, like, ‘Hey, leave them alone … You get enough where you demand your rights,” he explained.
He repeatedly said that police would be too afraid to take action against such enclaves, fearing that they’ll “take it to the streets” and war could erupt. Abdullah cited his own ability to get away with crimes as proof that the police are afraid of him and that Allah is blessing him.
Abdullah claimed that one time a police officer in Detroit arrested a member of Ummah who was carrying a gun. Once the officer found out he was a member of Abdullah’s Masjid al-Haqq, he let him go.
In 2008, Abdullah “discussed having small Islamic States separate from the nation of the United States,” according to the complaint.
At an April 24-25, 2009 conference of the Al-Ummah National Shura hosted by Imam Abdullah at his Detroit mosque, he again reiterated that Muslims need to work towards creating separate Islamic governments on U.S. soil.
A Nationwide Network
Abdullah traveled to meet and strategize with other Ummah members across the country. The complaint mentions some of his trips to Gainesville, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; Herndon, Virginia; Montgomery, Alabama; Flint, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois.
Abdullah told an associate that other Ummah leaders are in Las Vegas, Nevada; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio.
The complaint directly says that the imam of the Ummah-affiliated Muslim House in Flint, Michigan was involved in Abdullah’s car theft ring. In May 2009, Abdullah also met with an Ummah-affiliated imam in Alabama who had been shot by the police.
Imam Siraj Wahhaj’s Muslim Alliance for North America
The Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) is another major component of the black Islamist movement. It has links to Ummah and a history of pursuing enclaves and paramilitary capabilities.
According to an affiliated leader, MANA was “birthed” due to an initiative from Imam Jamil Al-Amin and Ummah.
The “emir” of MANA is Imam Siraj Wahhaj, the radical leader of the Masjid At-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn. The mosque and Wahhaj’s security team have a history of advocating violent jihad, paramilitary training (including preparations to fight and disarm cops) and associating with terrorists.
Wahhaj received major attention recently when terrorist training camps formed by some of his children were found in New Mexico and Alabama.
Though Wahhaj’s children formed their own cult/terrorist group that diverged from Wahhaj’s teachings, the foundational Islamist ideology and modus operandi is representative of Wahhaj and this Islamist movement.
Wahhaj is described by our sources as the most powerful African-American imam in America and one of the top “mainstream” Muslim leaders. Activist and sharia apologist Linda Sarsour calls Wahhaj her “mentor, motivator and encourager.”
“The Muslims in Pennsylvania love Imam Siraj. If Imam Siraj went there and told them to blow something up, they would do it like that [snaps fingers]. And not just in Pennsylvania, but in New York City,” a former member of Wahhaj’s mosque told Ryan Mauro of the Clarion Project and Martin Mawyer of the Christian Action Network.
He described Wahhaj as having an army of devotees across the country, many of whom carry arms, hate cops, have violent histories and believe in the enclave initiative.
Former Ummah Imam Luqman Abdullah was a member of MANA’s governing body until he was killed in the 2009 shootout. MANA characterizes his death as an “execution” at the hands of the U.S. government. To date, Wahhaj and MANA have never condemned Abdullah or Ummah.
Wahhaj and MANA’s leadership is also directly connected to the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood network like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), forming a bridge between Wahhaj’s African-American Islamist constituency and the Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas-linked groups that tend to be led by Arabs.
CAIR relentlessly portrays law enforcement and the U.S. government as engaged in a “war on Islam” and terror suspects as manipulated innocents. Ummah is a beneficiary of this strategy.
There may not be proof that CAIR and the other Muslim Brotherhood entities are privately preparing the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, but they have never denounced the radicalism of Ummah.
Quite the opposite, they’ve joined MANA in elevating Imam Abdullah as an innocent martyr who was deliberately murdered by the vicious U.S. government and minority-hating cops.
CAIR’s Links to Ummah
The criminal complaint against Imam Abdullah and his accomplices reveals a previously unknown link between Ummah and CAIR.
One of Abdullah’s indicted accomplices was his oldest son, Mujahid Carswell (also known as Mujahid Abdullah).
In February 2009, Carswell told an associate that he had moved to Windsor, Canada. Notably, Imam Abdullah had privately said that the majority of Ummah’s funding was coming from Canada, a fact that he tried to keep known only to his inner circle.
According to the complaint:
“Carswell said he goes to a large masjid [mosque] in Windsor and the people there are serious and organized. The mosque is also affiliated with CAIR. Carswell said he trains approximately sixty children, ages 8 to 18, in martial arts at the mosque.”
The Justice Department made a point of mentioning Ummah’s link to CAIR. They did not have to include that detail. They obviously saw it as significant and necessary to explain Ummah’s activities at the CAIR-linked mosque.
Here’s what else the complaint had to say about Carswell:
“He has no prior felony convictions. He is known to carry a .40 caliber handgun and to be a member of the Sutra [security] team at the mosque…[Source] has observed Mujahid Carswell ‘training’ children as young as 7 years old in martial arts, and beating them with his hands and with a stick to instill bravery and obedience in them.
“Mujahid Carswell has expressed a willingness to participate in firearms training with [source] on multiple occasions. [Source] related having seen Mujahid Carswell use toilet bowl cleaner to clean up blood in the basement of the Masjid Al-Haqq following a murder [source] witnessed there.”
In describing Ummah’s Detroit mosque to an associate, Carswell said that people had different roles. One of them was to be the “butcher” who may need to murder someone without anyone knowing about it.
Carswell moved back and forth between the U.S. and Canada while trafficking in stolen goods like laptops and fur coats. He also sold cocaine. He privately said that Ummah had low-level sources in law enforcement who would help them by looking up license plates for them.
Carswell worked with another Ummah member in Windsor, Canada named Mohammad Phillistine, also known as Mohammad Al-Sahli and Mohammad Palestine. Imam Abdullah described him as a businessman who helped financed the group and “a soldier and a warrior.”
This linkage between Carswell and the CAIR-linked mosque in Canada may help explain CAIR’s self-damning behavior after Imam Abdullah’s death.
Imam Abdullah’s funeral was attended by over 1,000 people in Detroit. CAIR and its fellow Muslim Brotherhood entities immediately turned on their spin machine and went into overdrive in order to create a controversy around the death.
The executive-director of CAIR’s Michigan branch, Dawud Walid, vouched for Imam Abdullah’s innocence, saying, “I knew him [Abdullah] for a long time and he was an essential part of that West Side Detroit community.”
The CAIR official said, “The entire investigation and subsequent killing of Imam Abdullah was nothing less than a cover-up and a fraud engineered on the part of the government.”
“This is a historically unprecedented killing of a Muslim leader in the U.S. by the FBI,” Walid claimed.
Walid made it sound like Abdullah’s death was a pre-meditated murder, claiming there was no evidence that he violently resisted or posed a threat.
As for Abdullah’s killing of a police dog, Walid suggested that he was merely defending himself.
In the aftermath, an attorney with CAIR-Michigan, Lena Masri, helped Abdullah’s family file a lawsuit against the U.S. government. CAIR also worked with Ummah-allied leaders in Michigan to turn Abdullah’s death into a rallying call for Muslim unity against law enforcement.
Other community leaders involved included Imam Abdul-Latif Azom of the Masjid Al-Falah mosque in Detroit and Imam Abdullah El-Amin of the Detroit Muslim Center. The Nation of Islam’s Final Call newspaper also promoted the coalition’s protests.
Another link between Ummah and CAIR is Imam Siraj Wahhaj’s MANA coalition, which included Imam Abdullah as a member of its governing body. The coalition includes organizations allied to Ummah and intertwined with CAIR and other Brotherhood entities.
Wahhaj is a former member of CAIR’s advisory board and continues to speak at CAIR events, including fundraisers. He’s held multiple leadership positions in the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), CAIR’s fellow Brotherhood entity.
Other Links Between Ummah and the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Network
In 1993, Al-Amin’s National Ummah, Imam W. Deen Mohammad’s organization and two other Islamist groups—the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)— formed a new umbrella called the Islamic Shura Council.
ISNA was identified by federal prosecutors as an “entity” of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as designated as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Holy Land Foundation trial, a Brotherhood charity whose officials were found guilty of financing the terror group Hamas.
While Ummah and Imam W. Deen Mohammad’s organization could rally the African-American Muslim community, ISNA was more oriented towards Arabs.
ICNA, a radical group with a “moderate” veneer, originated with the Jammat-e-Islami group of Pakistan. It was more oriented towards Southeast Asians and also linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Throughout the 1990s, Al-Amin participated in events including fundraisers for CAIR and similar groups. His extremism was a known fact—nevertheless, these groups chose to promote him as a partner and leader for Muslim-Americans.
For example, in 1994—while Ummah was in a coalition with ISNA and ICNA—Al-Amin said, “When we begin to look critically at the Constitution of the United States, we see that in its main essence it is diametrically opposed to what Allah has commanded.”
In a 1995 interview, he said, “Tyranny and oppression is worse than slaughter … ‘Fight them wherever you might find them.’ That’s a command from Allah.”
After he was arrested, the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood groups began a political assault on the U.S. government in the media. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, the top Muslim-American groups asserted his innocence, continued to honor him and fundraised for his legal defense.
CAIR, ISNA, the Muslim American Society and American Muslim Council said in a joint statement, “The charges against Imam Jamil are especially troubling because they are inconsistent with what is known of his moral character and past behavior as a Muslim.”
The executive-director of CAIR and (despite their differences) Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan visited Al-Amin in prison.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) likewise helped fundraise for Al-Amin’s defense in 2001. The MPAC leader at that time expressed solidarity with Al-Amin as “our brother” at least six times in a single fundraising speech.
The hysteria over his case was so much that Dr. Daniel Pipes, one of the top experts on Islamic extremism, referred to Al-Amin as “The Muslim O.J.”
Dr. Pipes wrote:
“Incredibly, rather than condemn Al-Amin’s 35-year history of ideological extremism, political violence and personal criminality, the Islamic organizations praised his ‘moral character.’
Rather than collect money to help pay educational expenses for Officer Kinchen’s two young, fatherless daughters, they raised money for Al-Amin’s legal defense fund.
Sadly, it looks like Jamil Al-Amin has turned into the Muslim version of O.J. Simpson. His admirers seem to care much less about justice than about his vindication.”
Sufi Extremist Network in Pennsylvania
Our sources state that this militant black Islamist movement also includes a very radical Sufi network based in (but not limited to) Pennsylvania: The Sankore Institute of Islamic African Studies International (SIIASI).
SIIASI is an extremely radical group led by a Sufi cleric who moved to the U.S. from Sudan and now lives in Mali.
The SIIASI website currently hosts a video featuring its leader, Muhammad Shareef, inviting supporters to Mali.
According to SIIASI’s website, Sankore Institute is linked to Ummah.
Imam Shareef says, “[O]ne of the first things I did was answer the invitation of Imam Jamil al-Amin … our growing community confederated with his national Ummah community” in 1999.”
There was then a meeting in the United Kingdom with Sufi Imam Hamza Yusef. The result of Al-Amin’s initiative was the creation of the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), Shareef recalls.
Shareef is a co-founder of MANA and a member of its governing body.
Our sources say that SIIASI is involved in the arming of felons and paramilitary training. This was previously known because pictures were posted of its members with swords and rifles.
Many SIIASI members are felons who are barred from handling firearms. The organization also said that it is “active in the area of prison reform and outreach as it pertains to Muslim inmates.”
SIIASI is also linked to the Jawala Scouts, which is accused of indoctrinating boys and giving them basic combat training while dressing them in military fatigues.
In a 2010 article, Shareef condemned “pacifist ‘imams’ who deny the obligation to jihad and who have deluded their followers into fruitless activity of supporting democratic constitutional government.”
The group has also urged Muslims to wage “litigation jihad” against the U.S. government.
SIIASI’s mosque in Pittsburgh, Masjid an-Nur (Light of the Age Mosque), was raided by the FBI on June 30, 2006.
One member of the mosque for three years, Larry M. Williams (also known as Hasan Ali), was arrested outside of the building. He was charged for being a felon in possession of a pistol and for failing to register as a sex offender, as was required after he was convicted of rape. He was also convicted for committing a robbery in Washington.
The raid was immediately condemned by Imam Siraj Wahhaj’s MANA coalition that included Ummah official Luqman Abdullah. The Islamic Council of Greater Pittsburgh likewise came to the defense of the radical group.
SIIASI’s Broader Network
SIIASI’s website has a section for its broader “confederation.”
The website doesn’t hide the group’s links to Ummah. It lists Imam Jamil Al-Amin as a coalition member and also lists the MANA coalition led by Imam Siraj Wahhaj.
SIIAI’s “confederation” page lists the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem, New York; the Islamic Revivalist Movement mosque in Cleveland, Ohio; the Nigerian Muslim Forum in the United Kingdom; the Native American Republic of Lakotah in South Dakota; the Mexica Movement and the Jericho Movement (which has extremist partners of its own).
SIIASI also lists the “Caribbean Emirates.” It is unclear what this is, but it may be the Jamaat al-Muslimeen extremist group based in Trinidad.
Masjid Uthman Dan Fodiyo, Philadelphia, PA
Last month, the Clarion Intelligence Network exclusively reported on a growing scandal centered around a Philadelphia mosque named Masjid Uthman Dan Fodiyo.
The scandal involves underage marriage, polygamy, spousal abuse and child abuse. Our report included new testimony from a young woman who was directly affected by the mosque’s extremism.
This mosque was formed in 2012. Our sources described it as the “sister mosque” of SIIASI’s Light of the Age Mosque, also known as Masjid An-Nur, located in Pittsburgh.
The Philadelphia mosque follows a radical Qadiri Sufi ideology that idolizes an African imam, Uthman Fodio, from modern-day Nigeria who died in 1817. He was a Sufi jihadist best known for his involvement in the Sokoto jihad in West Africa that established the Sokoto Caliphate in 1809.
By focusing on Fodio’s example, the mosque promotes violent jihad, Islamist conquest and theocratic caliphates.
According to our sources, the mosque’s membership also honors Ummah spiritual leader Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin as a political prisoner and Imam Luqman Abdullah as a martyr.
This claim is supported by a Facebook post from May 4 that praises Imam Al-Amin as the “Last REAL Amerikkkan Sunni Imam.”
Islamists often refer to the U.S. to some variation of “AmeriKKKa” to equate the country with white supremacy (KKK) to infer that it is at war with black people, Muslims and other minorities.
On October 4, 2018, Masjid Uthman Dan Fodiyo’s guest lecturer was Amir Khalil Abdullahi.
[insert photo named Abdullahi]
Our sources say that Abdullahi now regularly teaches at the mosque, holding classes that typically consist of about six men, 10 women and 20 children. Abdullahi’s preaching is anti-American and in line with Ummah’s ideology. In the post shown, Abdullahi refers to the “Amerikkkan white supremacist system.”
Abdullahi is a friend of convicted ISIS terrorist named Edward Archer, who shot a Philadelphia police officer in January 2016. Abdullahi stood by him after the news broke.
The anti-police bigotry is apparent in this post, in which he urges Muslims to stand by their “brother” like the police, who “have a fraternity you know a brotherhood!”
Masjid Al-Mumin, Pittsburgh, PA
Masjid Uthman Dan Fodiyo also has a branch in Pittsburgh called the Nur uz Zamaan Institute.
That institute is led by Imam Naeem Abdullah, who leads a mosque in Pittsburgh called Masjid Al-Mumin and hosts a radio show.
The branch says it collaborates with Masjid al-Mumin in Pittsburgh to strengthen ties between black Muslims in the U.S. and those in Africa, specifically in Gambia.
The institute teaches that Muslims must perform a “migration” so they can consolidate into communities on U.S. soil:
“On one level we must make immigration from all methodologies and foreign influences which do not have the best interests of the African-American Muslim at heart.
“We will no longer champion the causes of other Muslims to the detriment of our causes and interests … We understand that many will call us nationalists and we do not care…
“…We also realize that we must migrate on a physical level. We have to establish places of worship as we described above and then we have to move near those places of worship and establish our communities upon that foundation. Moving near our place of worship means that we must own the property in which we live…
“…In the same way that every major city in the United States has areas like “Chinatown” and “Little Italy”, we have to have a “Muslimtown” or a “Madinah” which supports the culture and tradition of Islam in all of its personal and communal aspects.
“This “Muslimtown” can be one square block or it can be a whole neighborhood or city. There is no minimum requirement as far as its size.”
Imam Naeem Abdullah was caught preaching anti-Semitism in January. He has also said that the 9/11 attacks and other acts of terrorism are “false flags” perpetrated by the enemies of Islam.
This imam has admitted to having once shared a house in New York with Tarik Shah, a martial artist and convicted Al-Qaeda terrorist. He described Shah as “one of my wazirs [deputies].”
One of the Pittsburgh imam’s books about sharia (Islamic) law regarding divorce and child custody has concerning content.
It preaches against “seeking the help of the disbelievers (kuffars) against a believer” and more specifically quotes an Islamic verse saying not to take Jews and Christians as friends, allies or protectors, especially against another Muslim.
The imam also condemns using “the courts of the disbelievers” for legal action against other Muslims and sharing any incriminating or private information about Muslims with outsiders. Obviously, this would include telling law enforcement about extremist or criminal activity.
“Thus, it is prohibited (haram) to expose those things which are considered private among the Muslims to those who disbelieve. This ruling is applicable regardless if you are talking about a family, community or an entire nation,” he says.
It is also forbidden to “secure the custody of your children using the system of the disbelievers.”
Even testifying in court or pledging allegiance to anything other than Islam is a “false oath” and a “major sin.”
The imam of Masjid Al-Mumin and the Nur uz Zamaan Institute in Pittsburgh uses the real-life example of an unidentified woman who commits some of the “greatest crimes in Islam” during a divorce and child custody battle. She alleged that the husband physically abused her. The imam is dismissive of her claim.
The imam condemns the woman (who he calls Fulaanah, a pseudonym) for her actions against her husband (Abdullah, also a pseudonym):
“She disobeyed Allah by leaving the marital home before the divorce was complete (without necessity). She has broken family ties.
She has sought the help of the disbelievers against a believer. Fulaanah is attempting to subvert the Islamic order of child custody by inducing the government of the disbelievers to award her full custody of her children regardless of her marital status.
She is also seeking to take Abdullah’s wealth from him by force in order to support herself. She has taken several false oaths to achieve her goals.
And lastly, she has turned Muslims against each other by tale-bearing and spreading false and negative information against her ex-husband Abdullah.”
Disturbingly, according to his bio, he has been a volunteer teacher and counselor for the New York Department of Corrections.
Masjid An-Nur, Camden, NJ
Masjid Uthman Dan Fodiyo’s website shows it has held an event about the “Black Muslim Agenda” at Masjid An-Nur in Camden, New Jersey.
Kenny Gamble’s United Muslim Movement
As mentioned above, Imam Luqman Abdullah told associates about his involvement in the Jawala Scouts’ training camps.
The Jawala Scouts are linked to Kenny Gamble, now known as Luqman Abdul Haqq, a music producer who is a senior leader in Imam Siraj Wahhaj’s MANA coalition.
Senior Ummah official Imam Luqman Abdullah was also on MANA’s governing body, as previously stated, thus linking Gamble/Haqq to Ummah.
“King Kenny” of Philadelphia International Records is accused by some of “build[ing] a black Muslim enclave” in the area.
Joe Kaufman, chairman of Americans Against Hate, first discovered Gamble’s radical associations, including to the Jawala Scouts and SIIASI.
Gamble founded the United Muslim Movement, which includes two mosques in Philadelphia: The United Muslim Masjid and the United Muslim Islamic Center.
The leadership of Gamble’s United Muslim Masjid has overlapped with the leadership of CAIR’s Pennsylvania branch.
Jammat ul-Fuqra
Jammat ul-Fuqra, now known as Muslims of the Americas (MOA), is a mostly African-American apocalyptic cult loyal to a radical Sufi cleric in Pakistan named Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani. As explained above, one faction of Dar Ul-Islam followed Gilani and had/has a rivalry with Imam Al-Amin.
Declassified FBI reports refer to MOA as a “terrorist organization” that is “armed and dangerous.”
The chief executive of MOA, Hussein Adams, is the son of convicted MOA terrorist Barry Adams who led a 1991 plot to set off bombs in Toronto and kill thousands of Hindus and Indians and bystanders (including Muslims). Our sources say Barry Adams remains a top “incognito” leader in MOA and leads the group’s operations in Trinidad and Venezuela.
MOA has a history of terrorist activity, including directly plotting and perpetrating attacks from the 1970s into the early 1990s. It even had a 101-acre terrorist training camp in Colorado that was searched in 1992 and found to have weaponry, including material for explosives, hidden in tunnels.
Declassified government documents state MOA still engages in paramilitary training and sends money to Pakistan for Sheikh Gilani to distribute to allied terrorist groups in Kashmir and perhaps elsewhere.
The group is headquartered at a 70-acre compound in upstate New York that it calls “Islamberg.” We have released footage of women at “Islamberg” getting basic guerilla training in the 2001-2002 timeframe.
A secret video made by Gilani in the early 1990s explicitly stated that he tasked MOA with offering “training camps” to aspiring jihadists, including non-MOA members.
MOA claims to have 22 such “Islamic villages” on U.S. soil. Clarion Project has a special website, FuqraFiles.com, about the group and these villages.
MOA has continually been the subject of counter-terrorism and criminal investigations since its formation.
FBI documents from as late as December 2016, obtained by the Clarion Project, confirm that MOA engages in paramilitary training inside and outside of its “Islamic villages.” The FBI documents refer to MOA as being a “terrorist organization” that is “armed and dangerous.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed in 2017 that its investigation into MOA’s weapons trafficking and arming of felons is ongoing.
FBI documents from 2003 state that MOA operates a large network of front businesses, especially security companies, and has links to Al-Qaeda affiliates overseas. FBI documents from 2003-2007 said:
“The MOA [Fuqra] is now an autonomous organization which possesses an infrastructure capable of planning and mounting terrorist campaigns overseas and within the U.S.”
MOA has been getting closer and closer to CAIR. Our sources say that MOA members are increasingly involved in both MOA and the militant black Islamist movement.
They say that a reconciliation with Ummah and the Sufi extremists like the Sankore Institute is strongly desired.
According to MOA’s cultish ideology, the final apocalyptic battle with Islam’s enemies is to erupt after the death of Sheikh Gilani. At least two of his sons are in the U.S. and Canada to prepare for the succession. MOA believes it will play a special role in this prophetic war.
Current and former MOA-affiliated sources tell us that the group would likely help Ummah or other Islamist militants if the anticipated uprising against law enforcement, the U.S. government and the perceived enemies of Islam were to commence.
Likewise, Ummah and other Islamist militants would offer aid to MOA if a confrontation resulted due to raids on their “Islamic villages.”
These sources say that it is possible that MOA could split after Sheikh Gilani dies, with a faction joining Ummah and similar groups in hopes of strengthening Dar Ul-Islam.
Conclusion
The activity, size and potential of this militant Islamist network truly make it a serious threat.
Its popularity and infrastructure dwarfs that of any designated terrorist group in the U.S. This is partly due to its strategic restraint and its relatively “moderate” image when contrasted with ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s open calls to kill any American civilian.
While this Islamist movement is less extreme than Al-Qaeda and ISIS (even though it shares similar goals), it is more extreme, violent and criminal than the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood groups who are more prominent and do not advocate violence on American soil.
For violent Islamists like Ummah who want to wage jihad on U.S. soil, this space between ISIS/Al-Qaeda-type Islamism and Muslim Brotherhood-type Islamism is the sweet spot.
The Dar Ul-Islam legacy movement isn’t seeking to completely unify their ranks. It’s grown to accept some minor level of ideological diversity within its Islamist framework.
For Ummah leaders, this is not just a recognition of reality, but reflects a decision to pursue decentralization, name alterations, organizational fronts and other deceptions to blind any monitors.
Before he died in 2009, Imam Luqman Abdullah told an associate that Ummah—dropping the name of Dar Ul-Islam—no longer sought unity. A confederation is preferable. He thought that a network with overlapping layers and many moving targets is more likely to disorient and thwart law enforcement and ultimately defeat the U.S. government and other perceived enemies of Islam.
This militant black Islamists’ desire is an achievable goal and one with truly dangerous consequences for homeland security and the stability of the United States.
The threat is intensified by the fact that this movement has learned over the decade and gotten smarter. Violent jihadism on U.S. soil is now a more palpable force and the current political environment—the “War of the Extremes”—is particularly conducive for the conflagration that these militants anticipate and seek — as many Islamists see it: the fulfillment of Islamic End Times prophecies.
