Sheikh Gilani and the Founding of Jamaat ul-Fuqra / Muslims of the Americas (MOA)
Sheikh Muhiyudden Ali Shah Gilani is the radical Pakistan-based founder of Jamaat ul-Fuqra/Muslims of America (MOA). He is elderly and believed to be on the cusp of death. In October 2016, it was announced in a private MOA meeting that his U.S.-based son, Sultan Ahmed Gilani, would succeed him as imam of MOA.[1]
Although Sheikh Gilani and his group used the name of Jamaat ul-Fuqra (“Community of the Impoverished”) and variations to identify themselves, it was never established as a formal, incorporated organization in the U.S. or Pakistan. Gilani and MOA use this fact to claim that Fuqra never existed and any mention of it is part of a Satanic-Zionist conspiracy against Islam. However, the group’s published materials up until the early 1990s clearly identified it as Jamaat ul-Fuqra, operating under the names of incorporated fronts like Muslims of America/The Muslims of the Americas, Kashmiri-American Friendship Society and Quranic Open University.
Sheikh Gilani titles himself the head of the Qadri Sufi Order, the Imam of the Muslims of the Americas and the Vice Chancellor of the International Quranic Open University (the “academic” wing of MOA/Fuqra). He claims to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and a figure foretold in Islamic apocalyptic prophecies.
Sheikh Gilani claims to be the custodian of the Mian Mir Shrine in Mian Mir Village in Lahore, Pakistan. According to former MOA members, Gilani is lying. They say that Gilani’s father chose his cousin as his successor for the title of Custodian. He goes by the name of “Sai Mian Mir Sahib” and works at the “Sai Mian Mir Ji Welfare Trust.”
Gilani resides in Pakistan and has a history of links to the government there.
Gilani, whose late name is alternatively spelled by MOA as “Jilani” or “Gillani,” was born on August 15, 1936 as Muhiyudeen Ali Shah Gilani. His name varies based on the various titles he goes by, such as “Sultan,” “Sayeed” and “Mubarak.” MOA-affiliated sources say that all males in the Gilani family, including his sons, have the title of “Shah” attached to their name.
His followers often affectionately refer to him as “Abu” (father), “Abu Ji,” “Shah Sahib” and “Sahb-Sahb” (pronounced Sob-Sob). He is also referred to as the “Perfect Murshid.”
U.S. government estimates of MOA’s size within the United States range from 1,500 to 3,000 members. MOA estimates range from 15,000 to 22,000. In 1994, MOA published a book making the unbelievable claim that Gilani had 300,000 followers in the U.S.
Ali Abdel-Aziz, who served as a NYPD informant inside MOA for seven years from 2003 to 2010, put the number at 15,000 because he claimed that the low estimates did not include the children of members.
Gilani also claims to be the “Sixth Sultan of Fuqra.” The Fuqra are seven souls that existed 70,000 years before the birth of Adam. An apocalyptic war and Doomsday are to take place during the reign of the 7th Sultan. His first book published in 1980 states that he, the 6th Sultan, will guide the 7th Sultan, implying that he’ll identify the 7th Sultan and train him before he dies.[2] More information about these beliefs is available in the section of this website about the MOA ideology.
It is known among MOA members that Gilani is dying and suffers from various illnesses, including diabetes.
Famous Jihadi Cousin: Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Pakistan-Controlled Kashmir
The MOA leader is often confused with a close cousin of his that has a nearly identical name, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a prominent Kashmiri jihadist with close ties to the Pakistani government. He originally was a senior figure in Jamaat-e-Islami, a theocratic Islamist group that can be described as the Pakistani branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Geelani then created his own political party, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat and leads a Pakistan-backed Kashmiri coalition named the All Parties Al-Hurriyat Conference. He remains supportive of Jamaat-e-Islami.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani has been long accused of supporting anti-Western terrorist groups in Kashmir and provoking violent protests and riots against rival Muslims and India. MOA/Fuqra has also had a history of ties to these groups, particularly Hizbul Mujahideen.
Geelani has tried to appear “moderate” by condemning the Islamic State (ISIS) and stating that Al-Qaeda is not a part of the Kashmiri cause. However, Geelani is widely reported to support Islamist terrorist groups linked to A-Qaeda such as Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and virtually any other Kashmiri militant group favoring unity with Pakistan.
Geelani also condemned the killing of Osama Bin Laden and performed last rite prayers for him in an event in Srinagar that brought together thousands of mourners.
Geelani has also endorsed massive terrorist attacks inside India, including the attacks on India’s parliament in 2001 that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a potentially-nuclear war. Nine people died in the attacks carried out by the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist groups, almost certainly on behalf of elements of the Pakistani government and ISI intelligence service that use “cutouts” to do its dirty work. According to the authoritative book, The Exile: The Flight of Usama Bin Laden, the U.S. strongly believed that Pakistani intelligence approved of the plot with the intention of assisting Bin Laden’s escape into Pakistan from the Tora Bora Mountains in Afghanistan.
Sheikh Gilani and his family boast of this relationship without commenting on their significant theological differences, as Sheikh Gilani of MOA identifies as Sufi-Sunni and has rejected the ideology preached by Abul A’la Maududi (the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami) while Syed Geelani promotes Maududi’s teachings.
One of Sheikh Gilani’s Pakistani sons and other relatives are known to meet with this cousin, perhaps acting as a conduit to the militant cause the family shares.
Gilani’s Links to Terrorism and Crime
The entities led by Sheikh Gilani have a long history of involvement in terrorism, crime, human rights abuses and extremism. Gilani publicly disavows terrorism and praises the United States as a country, while condemning its government, media, military, society and history.
The group’s cultish devotion to Gilani makes it inconceivable that any large-scale terrorist or criminal activity would occur without his approval. A 2006 Regional Organized Crime Information Center report, which was restricted to law enforcement, states that Gilani is “now known as an international terrorist” linked to criminal activity in the U.S.[3]
It is known that funding committed from the crimes committed by the Colorado Fuqra in the 1980s and early 1990s was funneled to Gilani in Pakistan. The Colorado Fuqra’s terrorist training camp was raided in 1992. It is also known that Gilani received money from a MOA-run charter school scam in California that was shut down in 2002.
Declassified Drug Enforcement Administration and Naval Criminal Investigative Service documents also show that Gilani receives money from drug trafficking and various other forms of crime within the U.S. Defrauding the U.S. government is seen as a permissible crime in some Islamist circles, as opposed to robberies of random civilians.
In 1983, two Fuqra/MOA terrorists died while carrying out a firebombing in Michigan, targeting the Ahmadiyya sect. The attack happened after they murdered an Ahmadi cleric. A confidential law enforcement document reports that the FBI concluded they were “acting on behalf and at the direction of the Fuqra and Sheikh Jilani, the religious leader.” A MOA-affiliated source says that Gilani gave final approval for the attacks two days before they took place.
In 1986, Gilani obtained the birth certificate of a deceased person named Masood Ahmad in Pennsylvania. A reliable source said Gilani planned to use the birth certificate to obtain false identification as he traveled around the U.S.[4]
Gilani says he left the U.S. in 1990 and never returned. He is not allowed to enter the U.S.
Notably, he left the country not long after a 1989 raid on a storage locker in Colorado Springs used by MOA members where the authorities found weapons, plans for terrorist attacks and many of the group’s documents. This evidence led to the raid on the Colorado terrorist training camp and other sites in 1992.
He also left the U.S. after being interviewed by David Bowers, an undersheriff in Chaffee County who played a leading role in the investigation into the Jamaat ul-Fuqra network in Colorado. The interaction proves that Sheikh Gilani believes lying and deception are permissible actions in some situations.
“I briefly met with Gilani during the course of the investigation when he was in America. He refused to talk other than to say that he had no involvement with the group and refused to answer any questions. He insisted that he was a peace-loving man and had no knowledge of the actions of those in charge of the compound,” Bowers told Ryan Mauro of the Clarion Project.
In 1993, Susan Fenger, the Chief Criminal Investigator of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment who played a key role in the raid on the MOA training camp the previous year, was informed that Sheikh Gilani had put a bounty on her head for $50,000.
Other MOA-affiliated sources confirm that Gilani sent orders to assassinate Fenger and other law enforcement personnel associated with the prosecution of Fuqra members in Colorado. Senior members discussed ideas for plots and went as far as to select candidates for the “mission.” Fenger was told that Gilani was furious that he had to spend many thousands of dollars in bail bond money to have his operatives released. You can read her testimony in the section of this website for first-hand testimony.
“I was able to trace funds obtained from illegal sources (such as falsified and fraudulent workers compensation claims) to the New York compound, where the main financial accounting took place and from there to Pakistan into Gilani’s hands. Everything in the U.S. Fuqra compounds occurred not only with the knowledge of Gilani, but at his direction, as well. I was able to chart just how the chain of command occurred,” she told us.
Gilani claims that any MOA who have committed crimes are secret agents of a conspiracy against him and the MOA by agents of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that he claims to be working on behalf of a Satanic-Zionist conspiracy. At the same time, Gilani and MOA continue to promote Muslim Brotherhood clerics and worked with Muslim Brotherhood affiliates.
Gilani’s claim that crimes committed by MOA members were done by “rogues” belonging to a broader conspiracy is contradicted by his repeated reassurances that he retains control of MOA.
In 1994, MOA published a book that includes a passionate denial of a U.S. congressional intelligence report alleging that Gilani had transferred operational control over MOA to the “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman, a radical Egyptian cleric in New York who was responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. MOA’s book was emphatic that Gilani still controls MOA, even though he is not in America anymore. It states that the administrators he appointed have his full trust in being able to oversee governance. MOA’s book, obviously published with Gilani’s permission, states he is “in full control of the situations that surround the Quranic Open University and Muslims of America.”[5]
After 2001, Gilani specifically places the blame for MOA’s criminality on a deceased man, Jamil Abdul-Haqq, one of his closest advisors and a “Khalifa” selected to help lead the “Islamberg” headquarters in Hancock, N.Y. Gilani claims that Haqq was a secret agent of the Dar ul-Islam movement (which Gilani claims to be synonymous with the Muslim Brotherhood), which is a secret agent of the Saudi-backed Wahhabists, which is a secret agent of the Satanic-Zionist conspiracy behind the governments of Israel, the U.S. and the U.K..
He says that Haqq and the Brotherhood “hit team” committed the “biggest fraud in history” by coming into the MOA and signing the incorporation papers to legally control the organization. Gilani claims that Haqq would morph to pose as Gilani and talk in his name.
Gilani never explains why, if he has such divine guidance, he mistakenly empowered an enemy agent and didn’t know about his activity for decades.
MOA-affiliated sources are certain that he is aware of, and approves of, this activity.
“I never once heard, over my entire nine years there, Sheikh Gilani take a total stand against violence or fighting jihad. Actually, he said the money that we raised and sent to him—usually using couriers bringing cash to Pakistan—was going to ‘mujahideen’ in Kashmir who are fighting the Indians. He never said exactly who they were,” one former MOA member says.
The section of this website about MOA’s ideology and links to other Islamist groups show that Gilani believes in terrorism and has been involved with terrorist groups.
There is information indicating that Gilani has been involved in terrorist conspiracies to overthrow governments in Muslim countries.
In the 1970s, the Pakistani government led by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reportedly registered three cases against him based on the Defense of Pakistan Rule. He was detained and released. He then went to Saudi Arabia. [9]
Gilani’s first book, published in 1981, claims that he spiritually entered the Holy Court of the Prophet Muhammad where he takes part in decisions about earthly affairs.
Gilani later writes that he spiritually entered the Holy Court of the Prophet Muhammad and saw the divine orders for Pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto to be replaced with General Zia ul-Haq. Gilani writes that Muslims must help him make Pakistan the “Fort of Islam,” the Pakistani army the “Army of Allah” and assist him in “enforcing the Islamic Order.”[10]
He also claims he witnessed a ruling that a certain head of state be removed from power. Gilani declined to say who it was, except that he was “foreign,” meaning outside of Pakistan.
Gilani claims he told this unidentified leader about the ruling, who became angry and accused Gilani of plotting his overthrow. This leader had the Pakistani government investigate him and, Gilani admits, legal proceedings against him began.
Although Gilani does not identify which foreign leader he is referring to, it is most likely Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Gilani and MOA celebrated his assassination in 1981.[11] A MOA-affiliated source says that the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, who orchestrated the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other plots, was a “dear spiritual friend” of Gilani’s. MOA publications substantiate the claim.
Reported Indictment / Request for Extradition
In 2001, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was on his way to interview Gilani in Pakistan when he was abducted and then beaded on videotape. A section of this website reviews the evidence why Gilani should still be considered a suspect.
Information from that episode suggests that the U.S. had a secret indictment of Gilani and submitted an extradition request to Pakistan.
Brigadier Javed Cheema, the Director-General of the Pakistan Interior Ministry’s Crisis Management Cell, implied that such an extradition request exists in February 2002. He said that the U.S. government considered Gilani to be a wanted terrorist.[6]
A second Pakistani official said the U.S. provided documentation showing that Gilani and his organization (going by the alternative name of Tanzeem ul-Fuqra) was involved in crimes in the U.S. in the 1980s, including ones related to the Fuqra camp in Colorado that was raided and the firebombing of a Hare Krishna temple in Denver in 1984.[7]
Gilani’s close associate and former Pakistani intelligence operative, Khalid Khawaja, wrote an article suggesting that Pearl’s captors release him in exchange for the U.S. ending a request for Pakistan to extradite Gilani.[8]
Gilani’s Family
Gilani openly says that he comes from one of the wealthiest families in Pakistan.[12] He is the oldest son of Pir Maqsood Shah Gilani, who oversees the Shrine of Hazrat Mian Mir in Lahore.[13] His father died in 2002.
Gilani’s father is considered one of the “founding fathers” of Pakistan. He was a member of the Muslim League, an Islamist political party.[14]
MOA-affiliated sources say that Gilani currently has three American wives. He divorced his first Pakistani wife, with whom he had three sons, Mansur, Ali and Shaffat. One account reports that he briefly had a second wife who was the daughter of the Governor of Punjab Province.[15]
Gilani had at least two American wives when he lived in the U.S. His first went by the name of Cynthia Ruben, who then used the names of Cynthia Ruben Shaw and Cynthia Gilani.
He also married a teenage girl named Naimah. She was living in Michigan and was the daughter of a top MOA operative. She is now known as “Syeda Naimah.” Sources differ on how old she was when her father betrothed her to Gilani. One says she was 12 years old and their Islamic marriage happened in 1983. Another source thinks Naimah was closer to 14 years old.
A woman who grew up inside MOA says that the marriage to Naimah was a way of uniting Gilani’s African-American community with his Pakistani community. She said, “It was the kind of marriage that reminds me of ancient times where a father would marry his daughter off to someone important in order to have a treaty with that community. She left to live with him in Pakistan and her father became the new leader of the community.”
Gilani and Naimah have three sons: Sultan Ahmed, Mudassir, and Hamza. The eldest two live in North America. Sources differ on whether Hamza is now in the U.S. or is still in Pakistan. They also have one daughter, Fatimah Samad, who sources say is estranged from her father and is not involved with MOA.
Gilani’s second wife, Zainab, is the daughter of convicted terrorist Barry Adams, also known as Tyrone Cole and Khalifah Abu Bakr and “Shaykh Al-Islam.” Sources say that she married Gilani in 1988 when she was 17 years old. This means that the current executive of MOA, Hussein Adams, is the son of a convicted terrorist and the brother of Sheikh Gilani’s second wife.
MOA members know very little about Barry Adams. Sources who have been involved with leadership discussions state that Barry Adams is more influential in Gilani’s decision-making than the “Council of Khalifas” governing body, though he does not have an official position. Adams was described as Gilani’s unofficial second-in-command until Gilani’s sons came to the U.S. Little is known about his currently activity, including by prominent MOA members.
Zainab and Gilani have a son named Noor Hussein, who looks almost identical to Hamza.
A YouTube comment in October 2017 by an individual named Noor Hussein Gilani indicated he was living in Pakistan.
These sources say that it was commonly believed within MOA that Noor Hussein was the “7th Sultan of Fuqra” shortly after he was born.
In October 2017, a YouTube user initially claiming to be Noor Hussein Gilani attacked Ryan Mauro and Fuqra Files in the comments section of a Youtube video about MOA and Gilani. He said Mauro and the organization he belongs to “ARe the NEW TALIBAN !! THE NEW TERRORIST !!!!” Noor accused Mauro and Clarion Project of being funded by extremist Zionists. Noor said:
“I live in Pakistan and my family (Gillani) is from Multan. I am the cousin of Yusuf Raza Gillani -the former prime minister of our country. We know Syed Mubarik Gillani very well as we have same ancestral line. The Gillanis are one of the MOST WELL RESPECTED families in Pakistan. Many of our relatives are members of the army which fight terrorists and who helped your country to do the same. But you on other hand -from my research are just a puppet being paid to spread lies.”
Noor then changed his user name so it did not identify him as Noor Gillani any longer.
Gilani’s third American wife is named Shabana Smith, according to MOA-affiliated sources. She is the daughter of MOA official Khadijah Smith. The sources say that Smith and others in MOA were furious when Shabana went to Pakistan in 1997 and Gilani unexpectedly married her without even talking to her parents about it. One source says that Shabana was 17 years old at the time. Another says she was 14 years old. Sources say they have one son named Mushtaq.
Gilani appears to have alienated some of his Pakistani family members.
A sister-in-law of Gilani describes him as “an idiot; arrogant with everyone and especially with the members of his own family, including his own father…He loves to shroud himself in mystery but he is stupid.”[18]
One of his cousins said in 2002, “He has been doing certain [jihadist] things, but he has been in this only for money.”[19]
Other relatives say that he was always aggressive. His father tried to keep him away from the Mian Mir village in Lahore because he “was fearful of his aggression and thought he would get into brawls and create trouble for him,” one said.[20]
One publication about Gilani points out that another member of the family is the custodian of the Mian Mir Shrine in Lahore. The author theorizes that this means that his family does not view him as following proper Sufi theology.[21]
A former sister-in-law of Gilani’s reportedly visited him in Pakistan in early 2010 at Mian Mir. The account states that it was very difficult to get access to him and that, at the time, he had a young, European wife. Gilani blessed his first Pakistani wife, indicating they remain on good terms.
Succession
In October 2016, it was announced in a private MOA meeting that his son, Sultan Ahmed Gilani, would succeed him as imam of MOA.[17]
Sultan Ahmed Gilani is the current unofficial leader of MOA. His official title is the Assistant to the Vice Chancellor (which is Sheikh Gilani) and board member of TMOA (a meaningless reconfiguration of MOA).
Sultan was/is married to a woman in Pakistan who is involved with the Muslim League political party. He has a wife in the U.S.
Mudassir is currently living in Canada and leading that wing of MOA.
Several MOA-affiliated sources say that there has been talk of Mudassir being the Mahdi, a messianic figure trained by the 6th Sultan (Sheikh Gilani) and becomes a military leader for the final apocalyptic after the 7th Sultan is revealed, according to MOA beliefs. The Mahdi will lead a final war against the enemies of Islam, particularly Israel and the “Zionist-Satanic conspiracy,” and prevail when the Islamic version of Jesus arrives and intervenes.
However, other sources have said that MOA taught them that the Mahdi will not be a MOA member, but will be protected by two special bodyguards from MOA. Sheikh Gilani claims to have met the Mahdi. Other descriptions of the Mahdi do not match Mudassir.
Noor Hussein is most commonly identified as the “7th Sultan,” who will only reign for a short period before the apocalyptic jihad occurs. He is purposely kept hidden in order to match the prophecy that the 7th Sultan will be trained by the 6th Sultan in private.
A source says that Zainab, Noor Hussein’s mother, will be making decisions and interacting with MOA on his behalf until he reaches a time of maturity when he is introduced as the 7th Sultan.
Early Life
Sheikh Gilani claims that he has had a “special quality” since birth that led to people coming to him for prayers and advice. He says of his childhood, “I used to receive visits from many non-human beings. They became my followers. They would serve me and served me well.”[22]
Starting at the age of 10, he claims his grandmother would see Hazrat Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, miraculously appear and take him away to prepare for his divine role in the future.[23]
“I am a mystery and a riddle event to my own self,” Gilani writes.[24]
He spent his childhood in Kashmir. He says that he is not Kashmiri but his family has “strong spiritual ties” there. Gilani says that he hoisted Pakistan’s national flag in Kashmir at age 11 when Pakistan was born in 1947. He claims that he and his family were the last to leave Kashmir during the war with India in October 1947.
Gilani went to the Forman Christian College in Lahore with his cousin. He admits that he failed the exams. He addresses his failure by saying he preferred to focus on his spirituality and by bashing the school as offering nothing worthwhile except for the friends he’d go hunting with. After two years, he began being privately tutored.[25]
He formed the “Climbers Club of Pakistan” and served as its secretary-general. Gilani says this was done with the guidance and patronage of the Pakistani government. The club was linked to the Pakistani military, as other officials in Gilani’s group had positions in the army.[26]
There are reports that future Pakistani President Musharaff patronized Gilani in 1966 and was involved in the Climbers Club, but one author describes it as a “highly suspect rumor.” The author confirms that the Climbers Club was a front used by the Pakistani military train Special Services Group personnel, some of which later attacked Indian forces in 1986-1987. MOA-affiliated sources say that Gilani did have a relationship with Musharraf and those close to Musharraf in 1999.
A writer who knew an associate of Gilani’s first Pakistani wife says Gilani was a member of the “Lahore Scouts” and met this wife when he was leading a climbing trip. Participants believed they were communicating with spirits while in the mountains.
The writer says that Gilani was nationalist and not religious at the time of his first two marriages at this time. His second wife was the daughter of Governor of Punjab Province, but the marriage did not last long. The first wife then divorced him after he married an African-American girl from the U.S. and opened an English-language school in Islamabad with her. This is a reference to Naimah. The writer says that Gilani and Naimah lived in Rawalpindi.[27]
1970s
In the 1970s, Gilani belonged to the Tehrik-e-Istaqal political party and served as the Vice President of its Punjab chapter.[28] He was an opponent of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who feared Gilani because of his family connections. The Bhutto regime registered three cases against Gilani using the Defense of Pakistan Rule.[29]
Gilani claims he invented the El-Gilani Methodology, a form of Quranic Psychiatry, in 1968. He formed the Islamic Research and Educational Society in 1974 to support his psychiatric work. This was the “parent body” of the Quranic Open University that he established in Lahore, New York, California, North Carolina, Detroit and Toronto.
In 1975, Gilani claims, he was personally visited by the Prophet Muhammad, who singled him out for a mission to “propagate al-Islam.”
Gilani worked out of the Shahar Mental Hospital in Taif, Saudi Arabia, in 1976 to 1977.[30] He says that the Saudi government requested that he come demonstrate his El-Gilani Methodology and that the doctors confirmed its authenticity. Gilani claims to have healed the son of Saudi King Fahd’s chief bodyguard.[31] Psychiatrists from the U.S., U.K., Pakistan, Sudan, Egypt and elsewhere supposedly witnessed his healings.[32]
He says that psychiatrists upset at his proven methodology waged a campaign against him in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.[33] He later wrote a letter to an American doctor in 1989 touting his El-Gilani Methodology and complained that his results were never published academically because of religious persecution.
Although Gilani claims that his psychiatric demonstration was the reason for his move to Saudi Arabia, one author says he moved there immediately after being released by the Pakistani authorities and that he was trying to avoid further prosecution by the Bhutto regime.[34]
Gilani had a following in Brooklyn, N.Y. by 1974. The story behind his initial trip to the U.S. is unclear. One MOA source says that Hussain Abdallah, a member of the Dar Ul-Islam movement, went to Pakistan and then arranged for Gilani to visit the U.S. sometime after that.
On February 4 of that year, a gun battle breaks out at Masjid Yasin mosque between Gilani supporters and Muslim opponents. Four people die. A 2003 FBI report says that the police found a large amount of rifles, shotguns and pistols stored inside the mosque and that the house of worship had been of concern to law enforcement since 1973.
In 1976, Gilani visited Manchester in the United Kingdom and stayed in various homes owned by Pakistanis as he writes a book about psychiatry. A person who met him says that Gilani is close friends with a Muslim who follows the Deobandi school of Islam there. Those who meet Gilani describe him as coming from an extremely wealthy family and “very nice” but a lavish spender. The sister of Gilani’s wife says he is constantly spending money. Friends of Gilani’s also mention that he has connections to Pakistani intelligence.[35]
In 1977, an associate of Gilani’s, Yusuf Muzafarrudin Hamud (the chairman of the Islamic Political Party of America), goes to Lahore, Pakistan. Hamud meets with leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Tablighi Jamaat organizations.
In November, Hamud and those who he met form the International Islamic Education Institute and install Sheikh Gilani as its Secretary-General. The Pakistani Supreme Court Justice Bardurazman Kaikus is chosen as its chairman. At the time, Gilani was referred to as “Branch Amir,” presumably referring to a high-ranking position in the Islamic Political Party of America. Hamid then dissolves the Party.[36]
In July 1977, Pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto was overthrown in an Islamist military coup led by General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq.
Gilani later writes that, before the coup occurred, he spiritually entered the Holy Court of the Prophet Muhammad and saw the divine orders for Bhutto to be replaced with General Zia ul-Haq. Gilani writes that Muslims must help him make Pakistan the “Fort of Islam,” turn the Pakistani army into the “Army of Allah” and assist General Haq in “enforcing the Islamic Order.”[37]
Gilani arrived in Jersey City in early 1978.[38] In 1979-1980, Gilani stayed at the home of a follower named Nur Muhammad in Jersey City. Followers met there weekly.[39]
An early student of Gilani’s describes the period between July and September of 1978 as especially difficult for the Fuqra organization.
Gilani’s first book does not go into detail about what transpired, but a student acknowledges that there was significant opposition to the group, with some members causing internal dissension and some leaving. The student boasts that Gilani overcame them and all the former members had “worse than unfortunate” experiences afterwards.[40]
In 1978, Sheikh Gilani reportedly visits the Masjid Yasin mosque in Brooklyn, a headquarters of Dar Ul-Islam, and begins winning converts. Interestingly, the location was acquired in 1972 by Imam Yahya Abdul-Karim from a childhood friend named Ben Benu; a last name that appears in MOA membership today.
The Darl ul-Islam paramilitary structure includes a “ministry of defense” named “Ra’d” (Arabic for “Thunder”) teaches young members self-defense and is seen a violent but disciplined force. Members of the militia protect women from assault and retaliate against opponents.[41]
A cleric in the area named Sheikh Sulaiman al-Hadi says that Gilani operated through the Tablighi Jamaat movement during this time, using the group’s connections to become introduced to Muslim communities. Some members of the Masjid Yasin mosque believed that Gilani is an operative of Pakistani intelligence tasked with destroying Dar Ul-Islam, but he quickly succeeds in earning support as he travels.[42]
In October 1978, Gilani held a spiritual retreat for his early followers in Pakistan in the Himalaya Mountains in Punjab. One student writes in Gilani’s book that he saw the Prophet Muhammad, who told him that Gilani is the “greatest saint of this century.” He is informed that Gilani and his followers will get “invisible assistance from Allah” when “these people would clash with kafirs and eliminate kafir.”[43]
The early students also took Islamic studies classes in Pakistan, specifically at Jamia Ghousia and Jamia Naeemia.[44] The Jamia-e-Namia reportedly has the names of Gilani’s first American disciples engraved into it from the early 1980s.[45] Another report states that there are 11 such names in a yellow registry that identify by their father’s names, including the son of David Fauntroy in Philadelphia; the son of James R. Hearst in Philadelphia and the son of Motten B. Clark in Brooklyn.[46]
In December 1978, Gilani travels back to the United Kingdom.[47] In January 1979, an associate of Gilani’s first meets him at a birthday party for a child, who later writes about the experience. Gilani is married to the author’s friend’s sister at the time. Those who know Gilani tell the author that he is “very important” in Pakistan and “very hard to see” there because of how private he is and how many people want to meet him.
The author describes him as an “idiosyncratic and flamboyant character” that fits neither the image of a saint nor a terrorist. The author’s friends are emphatic that he performs miracles. They believe that Gilani’s mere contact with the boy at the center of the birthday party resulted in his mother giving birth to boys.
Shortly after the party, Gilani gets into a fierce argument about theology with the chairman of the Manchester Jami’ia Mosque who belongs to the Tablighi Jamaat movement.
In May-August 1979, Gilani met with the Islamist groups, Hezb-i-Islami and the Islamic Revolution of Afghanistan led by Mawlawi Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi in an attempt to unify their ranks against the Soviet Union. Fuqra materials show that he offered his services to any Islamic group partaking in jihad, including the Pakistani Army.
In September 1979, an Islamic pilgrimage, or “hijrah,” took place amongst Gilani’s followers in the United States from the East Coast to the West Coast, according to the MOA newspaper, Islamic Chronicle. It says that the followers traveled across the country and disowned their mothers and fathers, instead proclaiming, “We love Allah and we love our Shaikh.” However, a book later published by MOA, puts the date of the “hijrah” as happening in 1982. This later date appears more accurate.
In December 1979, Gilani published his “Victory Letter” in Urdu declaring that Muslims are required to participate in jihad against Russian forces in Afghanistan and Zionist threats. Gilani writes later that “our call went unheeded.”[48]
1980s: Jihad in Afghanistan & End of Dar Ul-Islam
Gilani says he first arrived in the U.S. in May 1980, but various accounts say he visited before then. For example, a book published by MOA in 1999 says he arrived in December 1979.[49] Gilani says Allah supported his trip with miraculous signs and that his “sole aim was to save humanity.”[50]
Gilani wins followers from the black Islamist group, Dar Ul-Islam, causing a fissure within the organization. Dar Ul-Islam is a radical militant group whose “name was derived from the classical Muslim division of the world into the realm of Islam (Dar Al-Islam) and the realm of war (Dar Al-Harb).”[51]
A book by MOA confirms that Hussain Abdallah faced pressure from rivals within Dar Ul-Islam over his promotion of Gilani. The book says that the opponents of Gilani would come to their office on Fulton St. in Brooklyn and harass them.[52]
Gilani’s first retreat in the U.S. took place in December 1980 at Mount Cello in New York. Skeptics looked for narcotics in the kitchen of where they stayed in order to debunk their miracles and bizarre behavior but none were found, according to MOA’s account.[53] A participant recalls the temperature as being below zero degrees and staying by a frozen lake.[54]
Also in December 1980, first edition of Sheikh Gilani’s book, Futuhat-i-Muhammadiyah, is published through the Quranic Research Institute in Mian Mir, Lahore, Pakistan. Dar Ul-Islam forbids members from reading it.[55] MOA-affiliated sources say that only approved members were allowed to read the book, even many years later, and were shocked that Ryan Mauro of the Clarion Project obtained one.
The release of the book coincides with a trip by Gilani to the U.S. to recruit for the jihad in Afghanistan against the Soviets. He establishes a “zavia” in Jersey City, N.J.[56]
Only 200 copies of Gilani’s book are printed of the first edition and 1,000 copies are made of the second edition in April 1981. It is printed by Habib Press at 16 Edwards Rd in Lahore. The book lays out the early history of Gilani’s organizations, including Jamaat ul-Fuqra, and their ideology.[57] It includes testimonies from early recruits that speak of wild spiritual experiences and miracles that confirm Gilani’s status as the Sixth Sultan.
Somewhere between the publishing of the first edition in December 1980 and the second edition in April 1981, an American member who studied under Gilani in Pakistan defects and causes division among his followers. The name of the student is removed from the second edition. Gilani writes that the former student was influenced by Satan to start his own group.
From January 19 to 26, 1981, Sheikh Gilani’s second retreat took place, this time at Grand Gorge in New York. A participant says that Gilani met his family before the trip in Far Rockaway and ordered him to move to Brooklyn. Audiotapes recorded during the retreat and copies of Gilani’s book are distributed in Canada, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Virginia, Michigan and Akron, OH.[58]
Gilani claims 300 to 400 people attended the Grand Gorge retreat. He says that about five members of Dar ul-Islam were ordered to assassinate him after the event. When they met him, they fell before him and wept and became his followers, he claims.[59]
A third retreat happens in Sundown Valley, but some enlistees are absent because they fear retaliation from Dar ul-Islam loyalists. The retreat includes seven women.[60]
After the third retreat, Gilani goes to Toronto to meet with the members of his “jamaat” (community) and they formally pledge allegiance to him as their leader. A fourth retreat happens at Hunter Mountain.
He then goes to Jersey City, N.J., where he stays for several weeks as followers from Detroit, MI; Akron, OH; Georgia; Washington D.C.; Virginia; Philadelphia; Burlington, N.J.; Trenton, N.J.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Reading, P.A. and elsewhere come and pledge allegiance to him.[61]
While in Jersey City, Gilani notices a heavy presence of local police and “secret service.” MOA claims that attendees are followed and monitored by law enforcement. MOA accuses the media of being controlled by Jews for claiming that he is preaching fundamentalism. The group chastises the psychiatric community for supposedly stopping him from getting attention. Nonetheless, he opens Quranic Psychiatry centers in New York, California and Philadelphia.[62]
A FBI report places MOA’s official birth as happening in 1982.[63] Imam Yahya Abdul-Karim, the former Dar ul-Islam leader, officially declared the expiration of the organization and its replacement with the “international Jama’at al Fuqrah” of Sheikh Gilani that year.[64]
In February 1982, Gilani urges the audience at the Masjid Yasin mosque in Brooklyn to participate in violent jihad. A 2003 FBI counter-terrorism report says he admonished Muslim-Americans for not “so far gone forth to jihad (holy war) for the pleasure of Allah).”
In August 1983, Sheikh Gilani and his wife, going by the name of Cynthia Ruben, were seen in Colorado. He tried to buy the land for what would become the Buena Vista training camp in 1985. He had a PO Box in Bailey in the 1980s.[65]
Jihad in Afghanistan
Senior MOA official Hasib Haqq, who was active in the group during this time, says that thousands of Muslims who did not belong to MOA rallied around Gilani to join the jihad in Afghanistan because of their obligation to help Muslims facing oppression anywhere in the world. Hasib Haqq says that this recruitment drive was done openly and the U.S. government was directly told about it.[66]
MOA’s first International Jihad Conference took place in Toronto on January 12, 1982. It called on Muslims to wage jihad against the Russians. MOA says that, by this time, the U.S. government was told of its intention to recruit for the jihad in Afghanistan so that it would not interfere with the dispatching of fighters and potential material support, with munitions being mentioned as one of the things MOA hoped to acquire from the Pakistani government.
The second International Jihad Conference took place one week later in Jersey City, N.J. The third was held in Washington, D.C. MOA claims that a majority of attendees at an event in New York City supported Gilani and the women “were also skilled in weapons.”
MOA’s newspaper reported that the President of Pakistani sent word to Gilani through his defense officials that the government would provide material aid to MOA’s “commandos” and permit them to use Pakistan as a staging ground for jihad in Afghanistan.
MOA materials tell the story of what allegedly came of the group’s contribution to the jihad in Afghanistan.
Fuqra contacted the leaders of the Afghan mujahideen in Peshawar, Pakistan and arranged for the U.S. and Canadian recruits to arrive and join their ranks. The intention was for Gilani’s followers to join other jihadist groups and not to fight under his banner. MOA publications said between 900 and 1,000 North American recruits signed up and were ready to go “fight and die as Allah pleased.” The materials say that initial training and the organization of combat units took place.
The Pakistani embassy blocked visas for some recruits and, according to MOA, stalled the processing and questioned members for no reason. A MOA letter to the U.S. government in 1990 complains that the American bureaucracy stopped thousands of recruits from entering Afghanistan in 1982.
Sheikh Gilani and 13 recruits, accompanied by a large security detail, went to the Rawalpindi headquarters for the jihadists and were tracked by U.S. and Pakistani intelligence. They met with an Afghan mujahideen leader there named Shaikh Siggathullah.
Gilani’s recruits traveled to Peshawar, the Muree Mountains and the Khyber Pass Mountains during the various phases of training and planning.
As Gilani’s recruits were in the staging area in Peshawar, the Pakistani government told Gilani to get his “commandos” out of the country as soon as possible. They met another group of mujahideen in the Northwest Frontier Province led by Sheikh Babaji for more training. Sheikh Gilani splits his recruits into two groups, sending one to the staging ground of Peshawar and the other to Islamabad.
Gilani joined the group that goes to Islamabad and meets privately with a Pakistani government official regarding secret “unofficial” aid that only Gilani knows the details of. He also meets with the aforementioned Sheikh Siggathullah to finalize plans for MOA’s entry into the jihad in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani government arrests the group of Gilani’s followers that went to Peshawar, including a MOA official named Salih Ghafur. Gilani called the police in Peshawar and threatened to launch a revolution against the government of Pakistan if one hair on his recruits’ heads is harmed. The police tell him that the U.S. government pressured the Pakistani government into intercepting his recruits. The MOA newspaper reports that Gilani’s arrested followers were ready to fight and die trying to escape the prison so they can enter Afghanistan for jihad.
A MOA book published later in 1994 says that the members detained in Peshawar were handed over to the U.S. government. It claims that multiple Muslim-American groups warned Pakistani President Zia Haq that he should expect “a violent reaction by Muslims in America.” The book claims that several of Gilani’s followers in America mysteriously went missing after the threat.[67]
The “Soldiers of Allah” tape distributed by Sheikh Gilani to his American followers in 1991 tells a slightly different version of events. Gilani says that Russia threatened to directly invade Pakistan upon learning that his followers were there and ready to enter Afghanistan. Gilani says that he made the decision not to enter Afghanistan so that Pakistan would not be put at risk and his group was disappointed when another opportunity did not present itself.
A year after the attempt to enter the jihad, Gilani began training fighters in coordination with an unidentified commander. He says that they trained Afghans to capture Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Sheikh Gilani’s recruits reportedly fought in Afghanistan as members of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s organization. Two dozen African-American recruits were seen amongst the mujahideen in Afghanistan in 1985.[68]
Khalid Khawaja, a Pakistani intelligence operative and associate of Usama Bin Laden, says he met Gilani in 1988 and suspected he was an agent of the CIA. He came to realize he is a “great leader” devoted to the mission of jihad. Khawaja then becomes one of Gilani’s closest associates, with one former MOA member describing him as Gilani’s “right-hand man” in Pakistan.[69]
In the U.S., Gilani was massively exaggerating his role in Afghanistan to his American followers. A MOA book, The Doors of Beholding and Presence, made the outrageous claim to members that 90 percent of Afghans saw Gilani as their Sheikh.
American Hijra
MOA members trekked across the United States in what the group calls the “longest hijrah [holy pilgrimage] in history” in the winter of 1982. Members along the East Coast, specifically in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, sold all their belongings and moved to California. From the West Coast, they established “Islamic villages” across the U.S. and Canada. MOA describes the trip has facing many hardships. One of the stated purposes of the trip was to counter the “enslavement” and “oppression” of the U.S. government that was keeping Muslims ignorant and dependent upon it.[70]
The first group to go on the “hijrah” is originally from Trenton, N.J. and moves from New York to California. They left in five vehicles, driving away as some Dar ul-Islam members yell and try to stop them on Georgia Ave in Brooklyn. The trip takes five days to complete and then smaller groups of MOA members follow.
Suhir Ahmed, a significant MOA figure, arrives in Los Angeles and rents a house on Greenleaf St. in Compton.[71] She describes living in extremely harsh conditions where the members are overrun with ants. She writes that Sheikh Gilani made a “treaty” with the ants and they miraculously leave his followers alone. In 1983, she and her family move to Spring Street and live in a garage. Eventually, she and her family move to the “Islamville” compound in South Carolina.[72]
Suhir Ahmed also describes returning to California when Gilani orders her to visit the “Baladullah” compound led by Khadijah Ghafur (who is later convicted for a charter school scam) in Fresno. Ahmed lives there for a period of time on Gilani’s orders.
In 1985, Gilani moves from the U.S. to Pakistan and chooses specific MOA members to attend Islamic universities so they can become his teachers and scholars. In 1987, his first group of female followers came to his Quranic Open University in Lahore for religious studies.[73]
In 1990, Gilani leaves the U.S. for Pakistan and never returns. He departs the country only months after a storage locker rented by MOA operatives in Colorado Springs is raided by police and sensitive documents, weapons and plans for terrorist attacks are discovered.
1990s
On March 18, 1990, the MOA leadership informs President Bush that it has declared jihad on India and that the jihad is obligatory for all able-bodied Muslims. The letter, written by Atiq Shahid of South Carolina, states that MOA is organizing an international force to go to Kashmir and that the group will provide material aid to the Kashmir Freedom Front.
The letter to President Bush requests that the U.S. government ensure that visas are granted to recruits for a “successful struggle.” It says MOA has formed Jihad Conferences in the U.S., Canada and the West Indies to collect material aid and disseminate information.
On May 19, 1990, MOA sends another letter to President Bush following a meeting with the Kashmir Freedom Front. The letter compares India’s actions in Kashmir to Nazi Germany and says that MOA has issued a fatwa endorsing “all efforts” to intervene. The letter complains that the U.S. government stopped thousands of recruits from fighting in Afghanistan and asks that MOA be treated differently this time.
In August 1991, some of Sheikh Gilani’s trained operatives known as “Soldiers of Allah” fought in the civil war in Afghanistan, according to a secret tape he later produced. The video states that he is providing guerilla training to non-MOA members for jihad and that MOA offices in the U.S., Canada and West Indies should be contacted for those interested in training.
Gilani says on the tape that his Soldiers of Allah are fighting agents of Russia who control Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. He says that he organized jihad camps in 1992 in order to prepare for the assault on Kabul. He appointed 12 commanders in charge of overseeing the construction of a 12,000-man army.
In 1992, Sheikh Gilani issues a fatwa declaring that “there is no jihad in Afghanistan” because it is a civil war between Muslims and no fighter who dies in it qualifies as a martyr. A public MOA letter asks the U.S. government and Muslims to work for peace and to “stop assisting the puppet government of Sibghat Allah.” This is a reference to Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, the Acting President of Afghanistan who briefly served from April to June, 1992.
On October 8, 1992, state and local law enforcement launch Operation Mountain Storm and raid a 101-acre MOA terrorist training camp in Buena Vista, Colorado, along with two MOA safehouses in Colorado Springs and two in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Seven members were prosecuted as a result.
Fuqra gets significant media attention after the World Trade Center bombing on February 26, 1993. At least one Fuqra associate is linked to the bombing. Gilani denies any involvement, though he had close ties to the “Blind Sheikh” responsible.
Sheikh Gilani attends a major terrorist summit in Khartoum, Sudan on December 2-4, 1993. Footage from the event shows attendees pledging to violent jihad against the West. The film, which includes an interview with Gilani, later airs in a documentary.[74]
The Summit is organized by an Islamist cleric named Hassan al-Turabi closely linked to Gilani and the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Turabi is the leader of the National Islamic Front—essentially the Sudanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood—and seeks to unify jihadists of varying ideologies into a common front against the West. Turabi has been referred to as “The Pope of Terrorism.”[75]
Notes by law enforcement based on an interview with the producer state that Iran had a “tremendous presence” at the event and that the Sudanese regime agreed to support terrorists of all ideological stripes. The notes say that Gilani’s recruits undertake a six-month course with the Pakistani ISI intelligence service. Gilani and his operatives have decided to become low profile and focus on winning new converts.
The producer of the documentary filming the terrorist summit saw Sheikh Gilani with agents of Pakistani intelligence, including Gilani’s closest aide in Pakistan, Khalid Khawaja and former ISI director Hamid Gul. Gilani is wearing civilian clothes and Khawaja asks the journalist not to report that Gilani was in Sudan.
The journalist interviews Gilani and he denies the existence of Jamaat ul-Fuqra and says he is not responsible for any criminal or terrorist activity undertaken by his followers. Gilani claims that he is leading troops in Kashmir and is concerned about the plight of Muslims in Egypt and Syria.
In 1999, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is overthrown in a military coup and replaced by President Pervez Musharraf. MOA claims that a miracle at the OPG Girls’ College in Islamabad where MOA women worked foretold the event. The message is that Allah, and therefore Gilani, endorsed the coup.
The wife of senior MOA official, Khalifa Ali Abdur Rasheed of South Carolina, was working at the school. She, Amirah Najah Rasheed, was spiritually informed that an event signaling the “revival of Islam” was about to happen in Pakistan. About 4 to 5 months later, the coup happens.[76]
Also in 1999, MOA claims that Islamville in South Carolina became the holiest shrine in America because of a miracle that happened when Gilani sent a fax to it from Islamabad, Pakistan. The name of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad appeared on the wall on either side of the fax machine and a rainbow appeared between the names.[77]
2000s
Sheikh Gilani faces a crisis in 2002 when Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is abducted and beheaded on the way to interview him in Pakistan. The incident results in global attention that MOA-affiliated sources believe forced him into even greater isolation. You can read more about Gilani’s possible involvement in the murder of Daniel Pearl in the relevant section on this website.
In 2008, Sheikh Gilani has a special event in Pakistan to celebrate his lifelong friendships with a fellow “adventurer” named Brig. Muhammad Sher Khan and Dr. Farakh Ahmed Khan.[78]
In 2009, MOA announces that Gilani introduced the Mahdi, a messianic-type figure in Islamic End Times prophecies, to a select group of top officials.[79]
In 2016, Gilani gives his eldest son in the U.S., Sultan Ahmed Gilani, operational leadership over MOA.[80]
Current Life in Pakistan
Sheikh Gilani is believed to be of very poor health and his successor, the 7th Sultan, is expected to be publicly named soon. Gilani gave operational leadership over MOA to his eldest son in the U.S., Sultan Ahmed Gilani, around October 2016.[81] A former MOA member and NYPD informant, Ali Abdel-Aziz, said that Gilani is angry with the Pakistani government’s treatment of him and hopes to move to Venezuela.
Gilani preaches in favor of a minimal lifestyle, but he is reported by several sources to live a wealthy lifestyle in Pakistan with several upscale homes. One former member of MOA was devoted to Gilani and left after going to Pakistan and seeing his lavishness while his members live in poverty.[82]
Gilani reportedly had a training facility in Abbottabad in 2005. MOA members are known to have traveled to the area, purportedly for humanitarian purposes. Abbottabad is also where Osama Bin Laden was hiding and killed by U.S. Navy Seals in 2011. It is now known that Bin Laden communicated with the Pakistani ISI intelligence service and Al-Qaeda operatives using ISI-backed terrorist groups like Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba as liaisons. MOA has a history of ties to Hizbul Mujahideen and is openly supportive of its jihad in Kashmir against India. Abbotabad has a heavy Pakistani military and intelligence presence.[83]
One video posted by MOA in 2012 shows members constructing a private village for him named “Gilaniville” in Pakistan or Kashmir. Gilani emphasized in his first book that Allah has said nothing positive about wealth and material possessions.[84]
One MOA-affiliated source said that Sheikh Gilani is preparing “Gilanville” to become a Sufi shrine in his remembrance.
Gilani’s following in Pakistan is said to be very small. MOA-affiliated sources say that few people in Pakistan have even heard of him. One journalist estimated his group to only number between 200 and 300, not including the members’ families.
The members are entirely in the Lahore area and highly devoted and changed their names upon joining te group. One follower, Wasim Yousouf, is the son of a merchant in Rawalpindi. He describes Gilani as “a master” to the journalist and boasted, “even Osama [Bin Laden] bows before Pir Mubarak Shah Gilani.” The journalist described Gilani’s “real” home in Lahore as being guarded and looking like a fortress with high walls.[85]
Gilani has also referred to “my village of Nadirabad.” A location by that name exists in Lahore and has a “Gilani Street.” He says that Nadirabad is named after his uncle, Syed Nadir Ali Shah.
A member of MOA who traveled to Pakistan and met Gilani in 1999 says he had a giant home with servants and lavish meals. He told Ryan Mauro of the Clarion Project that he had large televisions, even though he banned members in the U.S. from having them, and overheard Gilani watching WWF professional wrestling in his entertainment room, specifically a match involving “Stonecold” Steve Austin.
He said that Gilani had homes in Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad, Northwest Frontier Province, Rawalpindi and Azad (Free) Kashmir. The individual, whose full testimony can be found in the section of this website for first-hand accounts, said:
“I went from seeing his followers suffer in poverty in America as they sent 30 percent of whatever little money they made to him and he was there in Pakistan living rich and obese. And here we are delivering him cash.
He had three cell phones. Those were really expensive back then, especially in Pakistan. His homes were giant. He had a Mercedes and a land cruiser, with the latter being his favorite. He and his wives had tailored clothing and servants who cooked and cleaned for them and their guests. We lived like kings during the last week especially.”
Another MOA-affiliated source said:
“Yeah, Jamaat ul-Fuqra means “Community of the Impoverished.” Impoverished because of him. He ain’t impoverished. He lives like a fucking king. He’s got this big house that people have talked about who came back from seeing him. He goes around like he’s this pious Islamic leader. He doesn’t care what his supporters do as long as it makes him money. If it makes him money, he’ll find some way to justify it. Gilani is a phony. He’s phonier than a $2 bill.”
Current MOA / Fuqra Structure
Sheikh Gilani remains in Pakistan as the supreme leader of MOA, but his death is expected to be imminent. Two of his sons, Mudassir and Sultan, are in the U.S. and Canada to prepare for the transition.
At least one of Sheikh Gilani’s American wives, Zainab (the daughter of convicted terrorist Barry Adams), is moving (or has moved) to America. Hussein Adams, the son of convicted terrorist Barry Adams, lives in New York and appears to outsiders as the head of the organization, alternatively using the titles of Chief Executive and Deputy Director.
The names of the leaders on the Council of Khalifas are not published. Sources say that Barry Adams is the most influential member of that body and uses the alias of “Khalifa Abu Bakr.” Sources say he is based out of Trinidad and Venezuela.
Since MOA technically changes to TMOA (Muslims of America to The Muslims of the Americas), the group publicly acknowledges ownership of its camps in New York, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Canada. The rest are described as “unofficial communities.” Members who have publicly identified themselves as TMOA board members include Sultan Jilani (alternative spelling of Gilani), M. Faruq Qadree and Ismail Shahid. Sheiikh Syed Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani is identified as the “Imam of The Muslims of America, Inc. (TMOA).”
MOA has not published a count of its membership. Its newspaper, Islamic Post, says it has a circulation of 20,000.
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[2] Jilani, Mubarak Ali. (1981). Futuhat-i-Muhammadiyah. Quranic Research Institute of Pakistan: Lahore.
[3] Jamaat Ul-Fuqra: Gilani Followers Conducting Paramilitary Training in U.S. (2006). Organized Crime Information Center. https://info.publicintelligence.net/ROCICjamaatulfuqra.pdf
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[12] His Eminence Sultan Mohyuddin Syed Mubarik Ali Gilani Hashimi Hassani wal Husaini. (n.d.). “Pillar of Lies.” International Quranic Open University-Muslims of the Americas.
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[22] His Eminence Sultan Mohyuddin Syed Mubarik Ali Gilani Hashimi Hassani wal Husaini. (n.d.). “Pillar of Lies.” International Quranic Open University-Muslims of the Americas.
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[24] His Eminence Sultan Mohyuddin Syed Mubarik Ali Gilani Hashimi Hassani wal Husaini. (n.d.). “Pillar of Lies.” International Quranic Open University-Muslims of the Americas.
[25] His Eminence Sultan Mohyuddin Syed Mubarik Ali Gilani Hashimi Hassani wal Husaini. (n.d.). “Pillar of Lies.” International Quranic Open University-Muslims of the Americas.
[26] His Eminence Sultan Mohyuddin Syed Mubarik Ali Gilani Hashimi Hassani wal Husaini. (n.d.). “Pillar of Lies.” International Quranic Open University-Muslims of the Americas.
[27] Werbner, Pnina. Enigmas of a Pakistani Warrior Saint. Politics of Worship in the Contemporary Middle East. (2013). Koninkljke Brill.
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[48] Jilani, Mubarak Ali. (1981). Futuhat-i-Muhammadiyah. Quranic Research Institute of Pakistan: Lahore.
[49] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[50] His Eminence Sultan Mohyuddin Syed Mubarik Ali Gilani Hashimi Hassani wal Husaini. (n.d.). “Pillar of Lies.” International Quranic Open University-Muslims of the Americas.
[51] Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck. (1991). Muslims of America. Oxford University Press.
[52] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[53] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[54] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[55] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[56] Jilani, Mubarak Ali. (1981). Futuhat-i-Muhammadiyah. Quranic Research Institute of Pakistan: Lahore.
[57] Jilani, Mubarak Ali. (1981). Futuhat-i-Muhammadiyah. Quranic Research Institute of Pakistan: Lahore.
[58] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[59] His Eminence Sultan Mohyuddin Syed Mubarik Ali Gilani Hashimi Hassani wal Husaini. (n.d.). “Pillar of Lies.” International Quranic Open University-Muslims of the Americas.
[60] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[61] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[62] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[63] Mauro, Ryan. (2014). Exclusive: Islamist Terror Enclave Discovered in Texas. Clarion Project. http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/exclusive-clarion-project-discovers-texas-terror-enclave
[64] Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck. (1991). The Muslims of America. Oxford University Press.
[65] Colorado State Police intelligence report. (1990).
[66] “N.Y. Police Discuss Islamberg Cooperation.” (2002). Fuqra Files YouTube Channel.
[67] 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.
[68] 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.
[69] Werbner, Pnina. Enigmas of a Pakistani Warrior Saint. Politics of Worship in the Contemporary Middle East. (2013). Koninkljke Brill.
[70] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[71] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[72] Ahmed, Dr. Suhir. (1999). Al-Islam in America: Tragedy and Triumph. Published by the Muslims of the Americas, Inc.—USA and International Quranic Open University.
[73] 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.
[74] “Seeds of Terror Film Shows Fuqra Leader Sheikh Gilani at Sudan Jihad Summit.” (1995). Fuqra Files YouTube Channel. https://youtu.be/4vNz_rkGWik
[75] Joscelyn, Thomas. (2005). The Pope of Terrorism. Weekly Standard. http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-pope-of-terrorism-part-i/article/7079
[76] His Eminence Sultan Mohyuddin Syed Mubarik Ali Gilani Hashimi Hassani wal Husaini. (n.d.). “Pillar of Lies.” International Quranic Open University-Muslims of the Americas.
[77] “Final Confirmation of Hazrat Imam Mahdi.” (2009). Islamic Post.
[78] El Sheikh Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani. (2008). Journey to the Land of Gold and Apricots. Islamic Post. https://islamicpost.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/journey-to-the-land-of-gold-and-apricots/
[79] “Final Confirmation of Hazrat Imam Mahdi.” (2009). Islamic Post.
[80] Mawyer, Martin. (2016). American Terrorist Group Names New Leader. Christian Action Network. http://christianaction.org/blog/http/http/christianactionorg/blog/2016/10/24/american-terrorist-group-names-new-leader-1
[81] Mawyer, Martin. (2016). American Terrorist Group Names New Leader. Christian Action Network. http://christianaction.org/blog/http/http/christianactionorg/blog/2016/10/24/american-terrorist-group-names-new-leader-1
[82] The defector briefly had a blog in 2006 and wrote under the name “Fuqra Hater.” His story is told in the section of this website for first-hand testimony.
[83] “Jamaat al-Fuqra Dossier,” Center for Policing Terrorism, March 16, 2005.
[84] Jilani, Mubarak Ali. (1981). Futuhat-i-Muhammadiyah. Quranic Research Institute of Pakistan: Lahore.
[85] Levy, Bernard-Henri. (2004). Who Killed Daniel Pearl? Melville House.
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