The MOA newspaper, Islamic Post, said in 2015 that it has a correspondent named Muaz Qadri in West Africa, including Gambia and Senegal.[i]
Convicted MOA terrorist Chris Childs, a member of the cell in Colorado, repeatedly called a phone number in Senegal according to phone records.
MOA documents seized around 1992 show that a member of the group was in communication with Sheikh Hassan Cisse, a Sufi imam who led a Muslim community in Kaolack, Senegal. He was the founder and chairman of the African-American Learning Institute at the time. He died in 2008.
A senior MOA official in Senegal going by the name of Maulana Muaz Abdul-Haqq Qadree signed a statement in July 2016 authored by Sheikh Gilani that appears to be an indirect call to jihad in Kashmir
against India. It demanded that an international unified Islamic force to “come to the aid” of oppressed Muslims wherever they are and to “defend” Pakistan and Kashmir.
“[W]e believe that it is the duty of the Muslims who are living in unoccupied Kashmir to reach out and help their Kashmiri brethren in the Indian-occupied Kashmir. This is the law of Sharia, which does not absolve them of any of their responsibility to help their brethren by every possible means,” the statement reads.[i]
The letter says that MOA will organize political protests, giving the casual observer the impression that it a call to non-violent action. However, the letter calls on Pakistan to “defend” Kashmir and the language would justify a violent jihad to any reader. It contains no caveats or clarifications to suggest a purely non-violent call to action.
[i] “American Muslims Hold International Teleconference Condemning Genocide Against Kashmiris, Appeal to United Nations.” (2016). Islamic Post. https://www.islamicpostonline.com/front-page/2016/07/18/american-muslims-hold-international-teleconference-condemning-genocide-against-kashmiris-appeal-to-united-nations/
[i] Islamic Post, July 2015. https://issuu.com/theislamicpost/docs/the_islamic_post_july_2015_volume_1
