A MOA video released in 2010 showed a map of states where it had “Islamic villages” at that time. Massachusetts was listed.
Fuqra is believed to be responsible for an attack on the Islamic Center of Quincy on March 30, 1990.[i]
A website apparently affiliated with MOA that has proven accurate in the past listed a “MOA Da’wah Center” in Springfield.[ii]
MOA General Counsel in Springfield
2567000_ma_springfieldMOA General Counsel Tahirah Amatul-Wadud works out of Springfield. She posted
an article by Sheikh Gilani on her Facebook account that preached that the Islamic State terrorist group (also known as ISIS or ISIL) is a front for British intelligence and that a Jewish conspiracy orchestrated the 9/11 attacks and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The article criticizes the U.S. for going to war with Nazi Germany:
“There was no need for America to go to war against Hitler. Hitler was not the enemy of America or the American people. There was a mutual animosity between Hitler and the Jews. So, the American people paid a very heavy price for fighting someone else’s war,” Gilani wrote.[iii]
She has informally declared her intention to run for governor in June 2016. It was immediately celebrated by Syeda Zainab Gilani, an apparent wife of Sheikh Gilani. Her Twitter account has a picture idolizing Sheikh Gilani and Hussain Adams, the executive director of MOA.[iv]
In December 2017, MOA & Islamberg General Counsel Tahirah Amatul-Wadud announced she was running for Congress in the Democratic Party primary in Massachusetts’ 1st District against Rep. Richard Neal. Amatul-Wadud characterized herself as “unapologetically progressive,” positioning herself to the left of Rep. Neal.
Her campaign website omitted her affiliations with MOA and CAIR. It said she is dedicated to “combating terrorism and supremacy in all its forms.” She preemptively accused expected critics of her campaign as being guilty of Islamophobia, xenophobia, sexism, misogyny, racism and “fake news.”[i]
[i] Mauro, Ryan. “Fuqra Member Announces Run for Congress.” (December 20, 2017). Clarion Project. https://clarionproject.org/slamist-extremist-group-member-announces-run-congress-massachusetts/
MOA responded to Ryan Mauro’s article about the launching of her campaign by calling him “cowardly” and an “anti-Muslim extremist” who belongs to a conspiracy that is putting “American Muslims under siege in their own country.”[i]
It said that Mauro has a “true motive” rather than patriotism or national security. It suggested that Americans “might question where Mauro’s patriotism really lies,” inferring he is loyal to a foreign power or influence.
MOA falsely claimed that Mauro “has purposefully placed a target on her family’s back in order to disrupt the political process and insert his will and extremist ideology on the American people.”
The article peculiarly mentioned the names of Mauro’s parents and his visual disability. It was later edited to identify Hussein Adams, MOA’s Deputy Director (officially the second-in-command underneath Pakistan-based Sheikh Gilani) as the author.
The article mirrored a Twitter account impersonating Mauro that was created right before the article’s publication. It likewise mentioned Mauro’s parents.
The impersonation account smeared Mauro as a racist agent of rabbis with genocidal intentions towards blacks and Muslims. In the tweet mentioning his parents, the impersonation account stated, “It’s official. I’ve just seen a secret ‘fatwa’ circling social media declaring me an undercover Zionist who should be killed.”
Twitter subsequently deleted the account.
[i] Adams, Hussein. “Anti-Muslim Extremist Ryan Mauro Targets American Muslim Congressional Candidate.” (2018, January 1). Islamic Post. https://www.islamicpostonline.com/featured/2018/01/12/anti-muslim-extremist-ryan-mauro-targets-american-muslim-congressional-candidate/
Link to CAIR-MASSACHUSETTS
cair masscair mass1
Amatul-Wadud is also on the board of the Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR’s description of her background leaves out the affiliation with MOA, only saying she is the “general counsel for a New York Muslim congregation.”
The U.S. Justice Department designated CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land
Foundation, a CAIR-linked charity that was shut down for financing the Hamas terrorist group. The Justice Department identified CAIR as an “entity” of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, a secret body established by the Brotherhood to advance Hamas’ cause.[v]
In another terrorism trial, that of Sabri Benkhala, federal prosecutors said in a 2008 court filing:
“From its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists … the conspirators agreed to use deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists.”
Congressional Run
Tahirah Amatul-Wadud ran for Congress in Massachusetts’ 1st District in 2018 against incumbent Rep. Richard Neal. She lost the Democratic Party primary but won a surprising 29% of the vote (about 20,000 votes), endorsements from several progressive organizations and positive media coverage. Only one media outlet in the state accurately covered her links to MOA and reliance upon donations from outside the state, particularly from Hancock, NY, the location of MOA’s headquarters.
[i] Al-Fuqra: Holy Warriors of Terrorism.” (1993). Anti-Defamation League: http://archive.adl.org/extremism/moa/al-fuqra.pdf
[ii] “MOA Da’wah Center Directory,” Al-Adaab.org, http://www.al-adaab.org/dawah/directory.html
[iii] Mauro, Ryan. (2016). CAIR-Fuqra Official Announces Intention to Run for Governor. Clarion Project. http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/cair-fuqra-official-announces-intention-run-governor
[iv] Mauro, Ryan. (2016). CAIR-Fuqra Official Announces Intention to Run for Governor. Clarion Project. http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/cair-fuqra-official-announces-intention-run-governor
[v] Mauro, Ryan. (2013). Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – Nat’l Headquarters. Clarion Project. http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/council-islamic-relations-cair
