Ali Abdel-Aziz, a former MOA member who served as an informant for the NYPD for 8 years including two years at Islamberg, said that MOA has an Islamic political party led by an individual in South Carolina. The official would meet with MOA leaders in his apartment in Binghamton, N.Y.[ii]

These are references to a MOA front named the Islamic Political Party of America (IPPA). It was reportedly established five months before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Its website had an image of an Islamic flag next to the U.S. Capitol Building.[iii]

Its now-defunct website identified its national coordinators as two senior MOA officials, Suhir Ahmed and Ali Abdur-Rasheed. It listed a Washington D.C. address and a headquarters as being in Charlotte, N.C.

The website condemned terrorism but emphasized that the “raping” of resources and wealth also qualifies as terrorism, an indirect but common way of accusing the U.S. government of terrorism.

The IPPA platform said that the government has no right to impose its ideology on children, reflecting MOA’s preference for rejecting public school. It said that an Islamic system must replace capitalism and that the instituting of the “IPPA system” would help create the “ideal society.”

The foreign affairs plank of the IPPA platform said that a Muslim must “do whatever may be in his power to correct the situation” if a dictator is killing his own people. It says Muslims must, at a minimum, condemn the oppressive government if “direct action” is not possible.

In 2002, IPPA condemned Jerry Falwell, founder of Liberty University, as a “terrorist provocateur” who takes orders from Zionists to build public support for Israel.

In 2003, IPPA recited the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that 4,000 Jews didn’t show up for work at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The same article condemned the U.S. government’s arrests of anti-American imam Jamil Al-Amin, previously known as H. Rap Brown, for murdering a police officer. It also condemned the arrests of Sami Al-Arian and Mazen al-Najjar for being secret operatives of the terrorist group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In 2011, the IPPA website applauded George Galloway, an anti-American British politician who is accused of supporting Hamas.

An individual named Jibril Hough has identified himself as the president of the IPPA. He was or is also the spokesman for the Islamic Center of Charlotte in North Carolina. He is a close associate of Ali Rashid, a leader of the MOA commune in South Carolina and a fellow IPPA official.[iv]

IPPA had links to a U.S.-based radical group named Jamaat Al-Muslimeen. It is likely, albeit unproven, that JAM is linked to the militant group of the same name that is based in Trinidad.[v]

This U.S.-based JAM’s website was openly supportive of IPPA in 2006.

It referred to an event in Greensboro, N.C. on June 24 where IPPA representatives came to discuss areas of cooperation. It summarized the IPPA’s message:

“In a forceful presentation, the IPPA representative said that formation of a political party does not mean that we are getting involved with the kafir system. We are simply trying to ensure that Muslims are not denied their rights in the realm of politics. The USA is our country and we must ensure that we are not denied whatever is good in this country.”[vi]

The U.S.-based JAM had an International Baltimore Conference in 2008 that featured Dr. Suhir Ahmed, a prominent MOA official, speaking as the “national coordinator” of IPPA.[vii]

Imam Badi Ali, a speaker at the JAM-IPPA event and member of the JAM leadership council, issued a fatwa in 2009 ruling that Muslims are required to support the Taliban in fighting against the U.S. and Pakistani military forces. He said that fighting for the U.S. military is strictly prohibited by Islamic Law and that the Taliban “are the fighters in the way of Allah.”[viii]

[i] “Fuqra/MOA Propaganda Tape: Muslims Are Majority in USA.” (2002). Produced by the International Quranic Open University at Islamberg, N.Y. and the Directorate of Information of The Muslims of the Americas. Fuqra Files YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/_INNLAsab5g

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

[iii] Beila Rabinowitz and William Mayer. (2008). Radical Conference Highlights Alliance Between Islamists and Left. Pipeline News. http://www.pipelinenews.org/2009/mar/12/radical-conference-highlights-alliance-between-islamists.html

[iv] Jasser, M. Zuhdi. (2010). Connecting the Dots of Islamism—Jibril Hough, the Islamic Political Party of America (IPPA) and the Jamaat Al-Muslimeen (JAM). American-Islamic Forum for Democracy. http://aifdemocracy.org/aifd-briefer-connecting-the-dots-of-islamism-jibril-hough-the-islamic-political-party-of-america-ippa-and-the-jamaat-al-muslimeen-jam/

[v] For more information, read the section of this website about Fuqra’s links to other Islamist groups and the section about Fuqra’s activity in Trinidad.

[vi] News #1045. (2006). New Trend Magazine. http://www.newtrendmag.org/ntma1045.htm

[vii] Jama’at Al-Muslimeen #1. (2008). New Trend Magazine. http://www.newtrendmag.org/jami0001.htm

[viii] Jasser, M. Zuhdi. (2010). Connecting the Dots of Islamism—Jibril Hough, the Islamic Political Party of America (IPPA) and the Jamaat Al-Muslimeen (JAM). American-Islamic Forum for Democracy. http://aifdemocracy.org/aifd-briefer-connecting-the-dots-of-islamism-jibril-hough-the-islamic-political-party-of-america-ippa-and-the-jamaat-al-muslimeen-jam/