 Huma Abedin & Hillary Clinton May 6, 2000 |
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Huma Abedin’s father, Syed Zainul Abedin, was born in India, in 1928 [prior to the partition]. It is possible that he was named for the fourth Imam, Ali Ibn el Hussain, Zainul Abedeen, also known as Zayn al-Abidin.
Syed Zainul Abedin’s undergraduate education was at Aligarh Muslim University, and his graduate education was at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his PhD, in American Civilization, in 1974:
Franklin Library, University of Pennsylvania: Syed Zainul Abedin
He seems to have been living in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and working at Western Michigan University, for several years before he was awarded his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania; from the library catalog at WMU:
Communal violence in India : a case study
by R.A. Schermerhorn, edited [by] Syed Z. Abedin
Kalamazoo, Mich. : Consultative Committee of Indian Muslims, [1976?]The Muslim minority in India
edited by Syed Z. Abedin
Kalamazoo, MI : Muslim Students Association, Western Michigan University, [1972]The future of South Asia
edited by Syed Z. Abedin
Kalamazoo, Mich. : Muslim Students Association, Western Michigan University, 1972The Muslim minority in India
edited by Syed Z. Abedin
Kalamazoo, MI : Muslim Students Association, Western Michigan University, [1972]The World of Islam [videorecording]
Lecturers: Dr. Visho Sharma, Mr. Salam Khadduri, and Prof. Sayed
[Kalamazoo, Mich.] : WMU-TV, [1971]
Professor Abedin then abruptly uprooted his family [to include his wife, Saleha, and his 2-year-old daughter, Huma], circa 1977, and headed to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Thereafter he founded the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, with offices in both Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and London, England.
In addition, he was a counselor of the Râbitat al-‘Alam al-Islâmî, also known as the Muslim World League, during the 1980’s.
Syed Zainul Abedin died in 1993.
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Huma Abedin’s mother, Saleha Mahmood Abedin, was born in [what is now known as] Pakistan, probably in 1940.
She received her PhD, in Sociology, from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1977:
Franklin Library, University of Pennsylvania: Saleha Mahmood Abedin
There is also a copy of her PhD dissertation, on microform, at Western Michigan University [which lists her year of birth as 1940].
For many years after the family resettled in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Saleha Mahmood Abedin was a Professor in the Department of Sociology, at King Abdul Aziz University.
More recently, she has been part of the administration of Dar Al-Hekma Women’s College, which she helped to create.
Saleha Mahmood Abedin also serves as the director of her late husband’s Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, and as the editor of its Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs.
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Abdullah Omar Naseef was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 1939.
He received a "Bachelor’s Degree in Sciences", from Riyadh University, in 1964, and in 1971, he received his PhD, in Geology, from the University of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England:
The geology of the northeastern At-Taif area, Saudi Arabia.
Abdullah Omar Nasseef
Leeds, 1971
lib.leeds.ac.uk
[Parenthetically: Leeds was in the news earlier this year, for refusing to allow Matthias Köntzel to deliver his lecture, Hitler’s Legacy: Islamic anti-Semitism in the Middle East.]
There is very little evidence that Naseef was much of a practicing geologist; he may have taught geology circa 1973 or 1974, at King Abdul Aziz University, but thereafter he abandoned geology and quickly moved his way up the academic power structure:
1973-1974 Director of Geology King Abdul Aziz University 1974-1976 Secretary General King Abdul Aziz University 1976-1980 Vice President King Abdul Aziz University 1980-1982 Rector King Abdul Aziz University
Instead of pursuing his training as a geologist, it appears that Naseef was much more interested in spending the new Saudi oil revenues on an ambitious program of Wahhabi proselytization throughout the world.
In 1981, Naseef edited the tract, Social and natural sciences: the Islamic perspective, which is on file at Leeds; in 1984, as Secretary General of the Muslim World League, Naseef oversaw the opening of the Glasgow Central Mosque, which remains the largest mosque in Scotland; in 1988, he edited the tract, Today’s problems, tomorrow’s solutions: future thoughts on the structure of Muslim societies, which is on file at Penn.
The internet is replete with stories of young Muslim scholars and activists who were funded & encouraged by Naseef in the 1970’s and 1980’s, when he first left geology and became a fixture in the Wahhabi proselytization movement. Now, as he nears retirement, Naseef has possessed so many officiary titles over the course of his career that one could spend literally days [maybe even weeks] googling all of them; here are a few of the more prominent positions he has held:
Vice Chairman, Shoura [Shura] Council of Saudi Arabia
This is a unicameral parliament, roughly equivalent to the UK House of Lords, or the US Senate. It as also known as Majlis as-Shura, Majlis-e-Shoora, etc.Secretary General, Muslim World League
The MWL is also known as Râbitat al-‘Alam al-Islâmî, or simply Rabitah [Rabita].President, World Muslim Congress
The WMC is also known as Motamar Al-Alam Al-Islami.President, King Abdul Aziz University
Chairman, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
University of Oxford; Oxford, EnglandChairman, Saudi Arabian Boy Scouts Association
President, International Union [Federation] of Muslim Scouts
In a moment, we will return to Naseef’s associations with Al-Qaeda and Wahhabi terrorism, but first let us note that Naseef was almost surely the driving force behind the Abedin family’s abrupt departure from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and their relocation to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, circa 1977, and, over the course of the last 30 years, he was doubtless responsible for funding the careers of both Syed Zainul Abedin and Saleha Mahmood Abedin:
Interview: Dr. Abidullah Ghazi
Islamic Voice
Vol 14-10 No:166, October 2000
islamicvoice.com
GOOGLE CACHE
…I thought why Islam cannot be taught like that. On the initiation of our colleagues, I began preparing some books and a curriculum. Later we shifted to Gary in Indiana state, 40 kms from Chicago. In 1976, I met Rabita chief Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef and Dr. Zainul Abedin of Insitute of Muslim Minority Affairs. They encouraged me to take up this venture. The first book to come out was Our Prophet, an assignment from King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah at Dr. Naseef’s behest…
Contemporary discussions on religious minorities in Islam
Jorgen S. Nielsen
Brigham Young University Law Review, 2002
findarticles.com
GOOGLE CACHE
…Trained in social science and being of Indian origin, Professor Abedin was the founder of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, an institution that had the quiet but active support of the then General Secretary of the Muslim World League, Dr. Umar Abdallah Nasif…
Plurality of Religion – Plurality in Religion
Christian W. Troll
sankt-georgen.de
GOOGLE CACHE
…After studies at Aligarh Muslim University Zaiunul Abedin was close to the "Jamâ´at-i Islami-i Hind" and later in the United States, which he took during his student years in Philadelphia as his country of adoption, he became in the early 1980’s councilor of the "Râbitat al-‘Alam al-Islâmî" (Mecca). He established the "Institute for Muslim Minority Affairs" in Jeddah with a branch in London and founded and directed for many year its important organ, the "Journal of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs"…
Note that the piece by Christian W. Troll also includes a very interesting insight into the political philosopy of Abdullah Omar Naseef:
Plurality of Religion – Plurality in Religion
Christian W. Troll
sankt-georgen.de
GOOGLE CACHE
… The West and secularism are projected as total negation of that for which Islam stands. "In fact, the secular world view is the total negation of the Islamic faith", ‘Abdullah Naseef the General Secretary of the Islamic World League, wrote in 1989. He considers it to be the foremost task of the Islamic thinker, whom he qualifies as dâ’i ("inviter", missionary), to destroy "the world view of secularism and its intellectual bases. This task includes not only the philosophical refutation of the basic position of secularism but the detailed analysis of all its manifestations, in the Islamic societies as elsewhere. The struggle of Islamic thought with modern secularism is part of the eternal warfare of Islam against kufr, against the powers of atheism, lie and evil"…
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Fatima Umar Naseef was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 1944.
She is usually referred to as either a Lecturer, or a Professor, in Sociology, at King Abdul Aziz University, and she is said to be the first Saudi woman ever allowed to issue a Fatwa.
My best guess is that Fatima Umar [Omar] Naseef is [or has been] one of Abdullah Omar Naseef’s wives – it seems much less likely that she would have been a sister who never married.
Fatima Naseef’s most famous work was originally written in Arabic, then translated to French, circa 1995-1997, as Droits et Devoirs de la femme en Islam: à la lumière du Coran et de la Sunna, and was finally published in English, in 1999, as Women in Islam: a discourse in rights and obligations:
The Library of Congress indicates that the French edition was translated from the Arabic by "M. Boudjenoun" and "A. Bourezak", and that, for the 1999 English edition, the translation was supervised and edited by none other than Saleha Mahmood Abedin.
Furthermore, that English translation was published by Saleha Mahmood Abedin’s Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs:
Fatima Naseef seems to fancy herself the Muslim Rosa Luxembourg, or Emma Goldman, and she has developed a theory of "Radical Feminist" Islam, in which Muslim women fight side-by-side with their male brethren, in the cause of the greater Jihad:
ISLAMIC FEMINISM BEFORE AND AFTER SEPTEMBER 11TH
Miriam Cooke
Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy
Volume 9, Summer 2002
HTML: law.duke.edu
PDF: law.duke.edu
GOOGLE CACHE…This is not the first time that Muslim women have declared jihad. In the 7th century women joined the Prophet Muhammad in his jihad against the forces of the jahiliya, age of ignorance that preceded the advent of Islam.13 Of these warriors, the best known is Nusayba Bint al-Ka’b (variously referred to as al-Najariya and al-Maziniya) who fought with Muhammad at the famous battle of Uhud in [*pg 230] 625 C.E. Indeed, she is credited with having protected him personally.14 These early women’s activism, however, did not provide precedent for those who followed them…
Muslim women from different walks of life have been authorizing themselves to be both mujahidat, female participants in jihad, and even muqatilat, women who fight with arms, for the Qur’an does call for conventional fighting (qital).30 In Surat al-Baqara, men and women are told to fight, however loathsome fighting might be: "Fighting is written for you even though you hate it. But it may well be that you hate what is good for you and that you love what is bad for you. God is the one who knows and not you."31
This is the verse that the Saudi preacher Fatima Umar Naseef cites in a chapter about women’s political rights in Islam.32 She quotes a Tradition attributed to the Prophet’s wife Aisha that describes jihad for women as being "without fighting," yet it remains jihad.33 However, when infidels invade Dar al-Islam, "all inhabitants of this country should go out and fight the enemy. Indeed, it is unlawful for anyone to refrain from fighting."34 In other words, women may fight without their husbands’ permission, children without permission from their fathers and slaves without permission from their masters. She cites the Egyptian scholar Sayyid Qutb who had asserted in the 1960s that, in cases of emergency, women, like the women surrounding the Prophet in the 7th century, [*pg 233] may have to be mobilized for jihad.35 Naseef’s advocacy of total mobilization and the resultant transgression of hierarchical norms is striking, especially when articulated by a highly respected Muslim woman scholar. But she is not alone…
By the way, the authoress of that review, Miriam Cooke, of Duke University, is on David Horowitz’s list of The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America; see also her Wikipedia entry.
And remember that Saleha Mahmood Abedin was responsible for both the English language translation & the English language publication of that work, as excerpted by Miriam Cooke:
However, when infidels invade Dar al-Islam, "all inhabitants of this country should go out and fight the enemy. Indeed, it is unlawful for anyone to refrain from fighting."
Recall that Abdullah Omar Naseef has served as the Chairman of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies [e.g. here; GOOGLE CACHE]. Note that an "Hassan Abedin" serves as a fellow at the OXCIS:
Dr Hassan Abedin
BA (Clark Univ., Massachusetts), MA (London), Ph.D (London)
King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Fellow
oxcis.ac.uk
GOOGLE CACHE
[in the past, he was also listed as the "Development Officer"]
It turns out that his full name is Hassan Syed Abedin, and he is almost certainly Huma Abedin’s brother [or at least her half-brother, depending upon how many wives her father took]; from the catalog of the library of the University of London, this is Hassan Syed Abedin’s PhD dissertation, in "International Relations":
Abdul Aziz Al-Saud and the Great Game in Arabia, 1896-1946
Abedin, Hassan Syed
335 leaves : genealogical tables, maps
Thesis(PhD)–University of London, 2003
International Relations
catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk
Next, note that there is a "Khadijah Abdullah Omar Naseef", listed as a "Teaching Assistant" at the Women’s Campus of the Department of Sociology of King Abdul Aziz University:
Faculty, Department of Sociology, King Abdul Aziz University
My best guess is that Khadijah Abdullah Omar Naseef is the daughter of Fatima Umar Naseef, by Abdullah Omar Naseef, and that she is probably a contemporary of Huma Abedin & Hassan Syed Abedin [perhaps even a childhood acquaintance, or close friend].
Just two months ago, on August 10, 2007, Khadijah Abdullah Omar Naseef appears to have self-published a new work, Liberation Theology: Islam and the Feminist Agenda in the Qur’an, under the pseudonym "Omar Naseef", at the self-publishing label, "AuthorHouse", of Bloomington, Indiana:
Liberation Theology: Islam and the Feminist Agenda in the Qur’an
Finally, note that there is an "Osama I Naseef" listed in the directory of King Abdul Aziz University:
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September 11 Terror Litigation
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Case Number 1:02CV01616(JR)
ABDULLAH OMAR NASEEF, DEFENDANT #97
PDF: findlaw.com
PDF: motleyrice.com
HTML: judicialwatch.org
PDF: september11terrorlitigation.com
Rabita Trust
268. Rabita Trust is a charitable organization which was created to organize the repatriation and rehabilitation of stranded Pakistanis (Biharis) from Bangladesh. Founded in 1988, the trust fund was started jointly by the government of Pakistan and the Saudi-based charity, the Muslim World League (Rabita al-Alam-e-Islami). Rabita Trust received the majority of its funding from the Muslim World League, a world-wide Islamic organization heavily funded by the Saudis, but which has also been involved with terrorism.
269. Rabita Trust was initially granted 250 million Riyals from the Pakistani government as well as 50 million Riyals from the Muslim World League to help relocate some 250,000 displaced Pakistani refugees in Bangladesh. In its 15 years of existence, the Rabita Trust has only managed to relocate a few hundred Biharis.
270. Rabita Trust is an al Qaeda front, and the Head of Rabita Trust is a known al Qaeda member. A Treasury Department press release issued when Rabita Trust’s assets were frozen indicated that:
Rabita Trust is headed by Wa’el Hamza Jalaidan, one of the founders of al-Qaida with bin Laden. He is the logistics chief of bin Laden’s organization and fought on bin Laden’s side in Afghanistan.
271. According to an authoritative biography of bin Laden and the original members of al Qaeda, the head of Rabita Trust, Wa’el Jalaidan, fought alongside Osama bin Laden and championed his cause. Detailing how al Qaeda’s key founders fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war of the 1980s, this account is noted for its accuracy and clarity. The biography, written by a fellow compatriot of bin Laden, noted:
One of the men who led the Arab Afghan Jihad forces came from one of the wealthiest Saudi families; he was influenced by the Afghan struggle, who would live together with them and sacrifice everything for the Afghani jihad. This man was Osama bin Laden, a young, tall man who followed Dr. Abdullah Azzam to fight in Afghanistan. Another Saudi joined together with them; his name was Wa’el Jalaidan, a US student who was studying agriculture and left to fight jihad in Afghanistan. These three: Osama bin Laden (a.k.a. ‘Abu Abdallah’), Dr. Abdullah Azzam (a.k.a. Abu Muhammed), and Wa’el Jalaidan (a.k.a. Abu Al- Hassen al-Madani), gathered together in December 1979 to create the new Islamic revolution in Afghanistan.
Accordingly, Jalaidan was branded a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity by the United States Treasury Department and his assets have been frozen.
272. Rabita Trust is the sister organization of the International Islamic Relief Organization as they are both subsidiaries of the Muslim World League.
273. Rabita Trust, a subsidiary of the Muslim World League, is connected to the SAAR Network, through two officers, Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef and Abdullah al-Obaid. The SAAR Network was the focus of March 2002 raids led by United States authorities for the network’s ties to al Qaeda.
274. On October 12, 2001, President George W. Bush’s Executive Order designated Defendant Rabita Trust as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity and the Treasury Department froze its assets. Defendant Abdullah Omar Naseef founded the Defendant Rabita Trust in July 1988 and is currently its chairman.
275. Abdullah Omar Naseef (or "Naseef") also served as Secretary-General of the Muslim World League during the time he created Defendant Rabita Trust and has attempted to spread Muslim World League offices around the world. Part of his global efforts are found in his involvement in a SAAR Network charity. Naseef is an officer of Makkah al-Mukarramah, Inc., registered in Virginia as a non-profit organization. A second shared executive is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Rabita Trust, Abdullah al-Obaid, who is also an officer at two of the SAAR Network businesses that were raided, the Muslim World League and Sanabel
al-Kheer. Defendant Abdullah Omar al-Obaid is unique in that, not only is he an officer at the Muslim World League and the SAAR Network, but he is also the Deputy General Manager at one of the al-Rajhi’s largest businesses, al-Watania Poultry in Saudi Arabia. Al-Watania Poultry has branches worldwide and in the United States.
Fund-Raising Methods and Procedures for International Terrorist Organizations
Testimony of Steven Emerson Before the House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations "PATRIOT Act Oversight: Investigating Patterns of Terrorist Fundraising"
February 12, 2002
PDF: financialservices.house.govRabita Trust for the Rehabilitation of Stranded Pakistanis
The Rabita Trust, while ostensibly working in Pakistan, has its roots in Saudi Arabia. In July 1988, Pakistani President Zia ul-Haq and Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef, the then-Secretary- General of the World League (MWL), established the Rabita Trust for the repatriation and rehabilitation of stranded Pakistanis.27 The Muslim World League (MWL) is an organization based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is funded by wealthy Saudis.28 Naseef also served as one of the vice-presidents of Rabita Trust"29 and is currently the chairman of the foundation.30 Effectively, the Rabita Trust is a subsidiary of the Muslim World League, and therefore an offshoot of a Saudi organization.
Operating under the guise of a charity, the Rabita Trust instead served to promote terrorism. According to a press release issued by the Department of the Treasury on October 12, 2001:
The Secretary-General of the Rabita Trust Wa’el Hamza Jalaidan, one of the founders of Al-Qaeda along with Osama bin Laden. Wa’el Julaidan is the logistics chief of Bin Laden’s organization and fought on Bin Laden’s side in Afghanistan.
Rabita Trust was designated a SDGT on October 12, 2001, by President Bush’s Executive Order freezing the assets of terrorists and terrorist groups.
Terrorism Financing: Origination, Organization, and Prevention: Saudi Arabia, Terrorist Financing and the War on Terror
Testimony of Steven Emerson with Jonathan Levin Before the United States Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs
July 31, 2003
PDF: senate.govThe Muslim World League
In May 1962, in an effort to strengthen Saudi presence in regional affairs and dilute Egypt’s influence, King Faysal of Saudi Arabia sponsored a pan-Islamic conference in Mecca. The objectives of the conference were to (1) promote cooperation among Muslim states, (2) counter Soviet and communist threats in the Arab world, and (3) mobilize the Muslim world to oppose the state of Israel. The Mecca meeting resulted in the creation of the Muslim World League (rabitat al-‘alam al-Islami).74
According to former Secretary General of MWL, Dr. Abdullah Naseef: The establishment [of MWL] came in a decision approved by the first General Islamic Conference held under the auspices of Saudi Arabia in Makkah in Dhul-Hijjah, 1381/1962. The conference was attended by a large number of Islamic leaders, Ulema [clerics], and intellectuals from various countries and continents.75
Since its founding, the League has functioned as the quasi-official religious missionary and propaganda arm of the Saudi Kingdom. In March 1997, Secretary General Abdullah Al-Obaid thanked King Fahd for his continued support, noting that the Saudi government had officially provided more than $1.33 billion in financial aid to MWL since 1962.76 In 1997, Prince Majid bin Abdel Aziz, emir of the Mecca province,
attended a meeting of the MWL Constituent Council in Saudi Arabia and delivered a speech on behalf of King Fahd:
Since its unification under King Abdel Aziz, may God grant him mercy, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has devoted its concern to Muslim affairs, and proffered its hand to assist Muslims wherever they may be… the kingdom has sponsored many such conferences and meetings. Foremost amongst them, is the Muslim World League which today we regard – thanks be to God – as an outstanding Muslim body devoted to the spreading of the Islamic call… Islamic unity must be cornerstone of co-operation to which we aspire. It’s the source of strength, and the secret of our potency.77
Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Uthman Ibn Jubair was Chairman of the Saudi Shura Council78 and a member of the MWL Jurisprudence Council until he died in January, 2002.79 The Deputy Chairman of the Saudi Shura Council, Dr. Abdullah Naseef, is a former Secretary General of the MWL.80
On its current website, MWL lists its main objectives as "to disseminate Islamic Dawah and expound the teachings of Islam. To defend Islamic causes in a manner that safeguards the interests and aspirations of Muslims, solves their problems, refutes false allegations against Islam, and repels inimical trends and dogma which the enemies of Islam seek to exploit in order to destroy the unity of Muslims and to sow seeds of doubt in our Muslim brethren."81
There have been credible reports and intelligence that MWL has assisted Islamic militants with financial and organizational assistance. According to intelligence sources, bin Laden’s mentor, Shaykh Abdallah Azzam, was first sponsored by the Muslim World League in the early 1980’s to open and head a relief agency in Peshawar, Pakistan that would aid arriving Arab-Afghan warriors.82 The Peshawar MWL branch office was also led for a time by Wa’il Jalaidan.83 The Peshawar office was financed by Osama bin Laden, and later was subsidized by large donations from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.84 In addition, the Egyptian MWL branch office served as the "third route to the Al-Ansar House in Jedda," one of Bin Laden’s "guest houses" used to funnel recruits to terrorist training camps.85
In February 2000, Jalaidan was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Rabita Trust (another financial arm of MWL in Pakistan) and served as its Director General.86 Soon thereafter, U.S. officials sent a confidential memorandum to UN police forces in southeastern Europe titled "Secret: US office only-Release to UNMIK [the U. N. administration in Kosovo]."87 The document named MWL representative Wael Jalaidan as an associate of Osama bin Laden and stated that Jalaidan had directly assisted bin Laden’s efforts to "move money and men to and from the Balkans."88 MWL’s Rabita Trust itself was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) Organization by the U.S. government on October 12, 2001.89
Saudi Support for Islamic Extremism in the United States
Testimony of Matthew Epstein Before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security
September 10, 2003
PDF: kyl.senate.govWorld Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY)
CAIR has repeatedly sent representatives to Saudi Arabia seeking financial and political support. CAIR often received such support from the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY).
The relationship between WAMY and the Saudi government was perhaps best described by Dr Abdul Wahab Noorwali, Assistant Secretary General of WAMY, "Saudi Arabia’s support has been enormous since the establishment of WAMY in 1963. The Kingdom provides us with a supportive environment that allows us to work openly within the society to collect funds and spread activities. It also provides us with protection abroad through Saudi embassies and consulates, in addition to financial support."59 Abdullah Naseef, Vice Chairman of the Majlis as-Shura of the Saudi Arabian Government, Vice Chairman of WAMY and former Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, explained "Praise is due to Allah SWT and then to the kings of Saudi Arabia who supported this pioneering organization and other non-governmental bodies such as the Muslim World League in Makkah in 1962 and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth in Riyadh in 1973."60
• In 1998, the Saudi Gazette reported that CAIR’s Executive Director Nihad Awad addressed a press conference at the WAMY headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. According to the report, "He [Awad] said CAIR needed funds to fight discrimination against Muslims, to promote the true image of Islam and to combat the anti-Islamic propaganda."61
• According to a December 23, 1999 Arab News article, Dr. Hamid Shaygi, assistant Secretary General of WAMY announced at a Riyadh press conference, with Nihad Awad in attendance, that WAMY "was extending both moral and financial support to CAIR in its effort to construct headquarters at a cost of $3.5 million in Washington, D.C." The article continued saying WAMY would also "introduce CAIR to Saudi philanthropists and recommend their financial support for the headquarters project."62
• On one fundraising trip to Saudi Arabia in 2002, CAIR and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) proudly announced their cooperation on a million dollar public relations campaign. As reported by The Muslim World, the weekly newspaper of the Saudi Muslim World League:
WAMY supports CAIR campaign against US anti-Islamic sentiment
RIYADH – The World Assembly of Muslim youth (WAMY) is extending support to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a US-based organization, which has launched a media campaign by publishing advertisements in leading American newspapers and distributing books on Islam free of charge…
Speaking to newsmen at WAMY’s new office in Riyadh, on 12 November, Muhammad Ibn Ali Al-Qotatibi, Editor-in-Chief of Future Magazine, a WAMY publication, said CAIR had already booked a quarter-page for every Friday of 52 week, in the ‘USA Today.’ The advertisement will commence in the 3rd week of Ramadhan and will cost $1.04 million…
Al-Qotaibi said Awadh had already met leading Saudi businessmen at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industries on 12 November, to brief them about the projects and raise funds. Among the top businessmen Awadh is scheduled to meet, with Prince Waleed Ibn Talal.
He said CAIR was also planning the Publication of advertisements in 10 other leading newspapers in America, and that is why he is in the Kingdom seeking funds for the purpose."63
Terrorist Hunter: The Extraordinary Story of a Woman Who Went Undercover to Infiltrate the Radical Islamic Groups Operating in America
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060528192/FTR #569 The Triumph of Treason
Dave Emory
Recorded September 10, 2006
ftrsummary.blogspot.com
REAL AUDIO: wfmu.orgObserving the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks; this program highlights the heroic work of Rita Katz, a private citizen whose ground-breaking research on the terrorist-funding apparatus was first subverted, and then ignored. The targets of Katz’s research are connected to both the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist milieu of al-Qaeda, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and to the upper echelons of the Republican Party and the Bush administration. Not surprisingly, the investigation of Ms. Katz, John Loftus and the agents of Operation Green Quest was actively neutralized by elements of the FBI and CIA…
19. "While Mark was cross-examining me on IIIT, Dave was pounding me with the Muslim World League. According to the way Mark and Dave addressed their questions, I understood that they were dividing between them the organizations connected to the SAAR network. They went, systematically, from one category to another. As I’d done years before, they started at the base of the pyramid, the U.S.-based organizations, and slowly made their way toward the pyramid’s peak. When they got there, I knew, they’d find the Rajhi brothers. But at that point they were still climbing. Dave, for instance, asked me how I could tie the designated Rabita Trust to MWL and to 555. I told him that Rabita, according to MWL’s Web site, was a subsidiary of MWL. I told him that Rabita’s director, Naseef, listed his address at 555 Grove. I sent him all the corporate records." (Ibid.; p. 320.)
20. "The reason Dave and Mark were unfamiliar with such basic facts as the contents of MWL’s Web site was that they couldn’t browse the Internet at work. If government agents were to browse sites such as MWL’s on their office computers, the traces (signatures) left while visiting them might raise suspicions in those who operate the sites. Amazingly, there was only one computer in each of their offices that could not be traced as a government computer, and the queue for that machine is obviously long. After I taught mark and Dave how to use the Internet to find documents, browse relevant sites, and figure out who ran these sites, along with the other research tools I often use, they began surfing late at night, at home. For long months, the investigation continued in that fashion. Green Quest worked nights and weekends, and so did I. They came to my office at least once a week. They needed me, and I was always there for them. Thus between Mark and Dave, Green Quest was studying the ties between SAAR and terrorism. They needed my input for every single step of their investigation because they knew so little at first." (Ibid.; pp. 320-321.)
RABITA TRUST
discoverthenetworks.org• Former Pakistan-based charity suspected of financing terrorist groups
A financial arm of the Saudi-sponsored Muslim World League, Rabita Trust is a now-defunct Pakistan-based charity whose professed purpose was to give aid to Afghani refugees in Pakistan. Its additional objectives were to disseminate Islamic culture, explain the teachings of Islam, and "defend" Islam "in a manner that safeguards the interests and aspirations of Muslims, … refutes false allegations against Islam, and repels inimical trends and dogma which the enemies of Islam seek to exploit in order to destroy the unity of Muslims and to sow seeds of doubt in the Muslim brethren."
Rabita Trust was established in 1988 by the late Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq and the Muslim World League’s former Secretary-General Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef. Rabita Trust was scrutinized by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee based on evidence that it knowingly funded terrorist groups. The organization was directed by Wael Hamza Jalaidan, an al Qaeda founder and chief of logistics, until the United States and Saudi Arabia moved to close it down with Pakistani assistance. Because Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. ally, was a member of Rabita Trust’s Board of Directors, the U.S. initially resisted adding the group to its list of terrorist-sponsoring charities. But under U.S. pressure, Musharraf eventually resigned from the Board, at which point the United States designated Rabita Trust as a "Global Terrorist Entity" and froze its assets on October 12, 2001.
SAAR FOUNDATION (SAFA TRUST GROUP)
discoverthenetworks.org(This U.S. Corporation was dissolved in the year 2000)
Former Address:
555 Grove St.
Herndon, VA• Organization founded for the professed purpose of supplying food, education, and technology to Islamic countries
• Suspected of fundraising for international terrorist groups, including Hamas and al QaedaSAAR is the acronym for Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Rajihi, the Saudi sheik who set up the SAAR Foundation in the 1970s ostensibly to allow scholars and scientists from the Middle East and Asia to create charitable programs that would supply food, education, and technology to Islamic countries. The U.S. branch of SAAR was dissolved in December 2000 after raising $1.7 billion in the United States. SAAR was part of the SAFA Trust Group, a group of shell companies headquartered at 555 Grove Street in Herndon, Virginia, where the FBI and the U.S. Customs agency believe SAAR was set up to raise funds and launder money for international terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and al Qaeda.
In March 2002 the FBI and U.S. Customs raided SAAR’s Virginia offices and seized records of the SAFA Group (SAAR included). The information obtained in this raid revealed a pattern of multi-layered transactions by the SAFA Group that were designed to confuse law-enforcement authorities and keep them off the money trail. Of $54 million dollars raised by the SAAR Foundation ostensibly for "charity," $26 million went to the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, a notorious location for drug runners and money laundering. Only $20 million made its way to SAFA Group charities. According to David Kane, the federal agent who led the raid, SAAR/SAFA’s intent was "to route money through hidden paths to terrorists, and to defraud the Untied States by impeding, importing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the IRS."
Abdurahman Alamoudi, who has been linked to terrorism funding by federal authorities, led several organizations in the SAAR/SAFA Trust Group. The SAAR Foundation was also implicated in funding Sami Al-Arian, who was the U.S. leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), for which he raised money while working as a professor at the University of South Florida.
WORLD ASSEMBLY OF MUSLIM YOUTH (WAMY)
discoverthenetworks.orgP.O. Box 10845
Riyadh 11443
Saudi Arabia
Phone :966 14641669
URL: Website• Saudi-based Islamic organization with chapters in 55 countries
• Founded by Osama bin Laden’s nephew
• Holds conferences and distributes literature promoting jihad and anti-Semitism
• Raises funds for Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas
• Has been linked to both the 9/11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombingA non-governmental youth and student group affiliated with the United Nations, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) was founded in 1972. It defines itself as "an independent organization and Islamic forum that supports the work of Muslim organizations and needy communities the world over." While WAMY’s international headquarters are located in Saudi Arabia, the organization also maintains satellite chapters in 55 additional countries and is affiliated with some 500 other Muslim youth groups on five continents.
Specifically, WAMY aims to achieve the following: "Preserve the identity of Muslim youth and help overcome the problems they face in modern society"; "educate and train them in order for them to become active and positive citizens in their countries"; "introduce Islam to non-Muslims in its purest form as a comprehensive system and way of life"; "establish a relationship of dialogue, understanding and appreciation between Muslim organizations and the western societies"; and "provide assistance to Muslim and non-Muslim organizations to fulfil [sic] these goals through training and cooperation."
Toward these ends, WAMY holds regional and local Muslim youth and student camps; helps to establish Muslim scout groups; organizes conferences, symposia, workshops and research circles "to address youth and students issues"; publishes books, brochures, reports, and exhibition material "that best introduce Islam to non-Muslims in its holistic vision"; organizes exchange visits, Hajj and Umra trips; and provides training and support to Muslim youth organizations around the world. These activities have earned WAMY the designation of "humanitarian and relief-works organization" from the United Nations.
The World Assembly of Muslim Youth is also one of the vehicles through which the Saudi Wahhabi government funds Islamic extremism and international terrorism. WAMY was co-founded by Kamal Helwabi, a former senior member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and by Osama bin Laden’s nephew, Abdullah bin Laden (who served as WAMY’s President through 2002 and is now its Treasurer). WAMY raises funds for the terrorist group Hamas, and in October 2002 made Hamas leader Khaled Mash’al an "honored guest" at a Muslim youth and globalization conference held in Riyadh. WAMY also helps finance the Kashmir insurgency against India, characterizing it as a "liberation" movement.
A Saudi opposition group reports that WAMY disseminates literature encouraging "religious hatred and violence against Jews, Christians, Shi’a and Ashaari Muslims." As WAMY puts it, this literature is expressly designed "to teach our children to love taking revenge on the Jews and the oppressors, and teach them that our youngsters will liberate Palestine and Jerusalem when they go back to Islam and make jihad for the sake of Allah." Some WAMY publications have included interviews with Saudi clerics such as Ayed al-Qarni, an adviser to Saudi Prince Fahd. In one such interview, al-Qarni stated that he prays for America’s destruction daily, that he encourages students to go to Iraq to fight against U.S. forces, and that those who cannot go should at least contribute money to the cause. Another WAMY publication features a list of "martyrs" who have attacked and murdered Israelis; one of the individuals on this list is a man who drove 14 bus passengers off a cliff as a member of the group "Heroes from Palestine."
Investigations of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center uncovered, in an apartment of one of the terrorists, an envelope marked "WAMY" along with a training manual on how to set up terrorist cells in other countries and stage attacks.
WAMY came under FBI scrutiny after 9/11, when it was determined that a radiologist, Dr. Al Badr al-Hamzi, whose credit card was found among the possessions of the hijackers, was receiving funding from the organization. The Senate Finance Committee requested that the IRS examine WAMY’s U.S. branch for links to terrorism. WAMY was also named in a trillion-dollar lawsuit by the families of the victims of 9/11.
In May 2004, federal law-enforcement, immigration, and anti-terrorism agents raided WAMY’s Alexandria, Virginia office, seizing all of its computers and hard drives, and arresting a volunteer board member, Ibrahim Abdullah, on immigration charges. WAMY had been operating out of the office of Jamal Barzinji, who was involved with a total of seven organizations that were raided by federal agents in connection with terrorist financing. After the raid on its office, WAMY likened itself to the YMCA, saying that it was interested only in "youth education, youth development, and serving the Muslim community.
Though WAMY’s activities in the United States were derailed, its operations elsewhere in the world continue unabated — in many instances with the help of other, likeminded organizations. For example, WAMY’s efforts in Somalia are supported by the "Christian charities" Novib and Oxfam, which are based in the United Kingdom and Holland, respectively.
One of WAMY’s closest affiliates is the European Council for Fatwa and Research, which aims to spread fundamentalist Islam and implement Shari’a (Islamic Law) worldwide. Another organization with intimate ties to WAMY is the Muslim Students’ Association of the U.S. and Canada. And four directors of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) — including Anwar Ibrahim, a terror-supporting Malaysian Islamist who co-founded IIIT — are trustees of WAMY.
In December 1999, WAMY announced at a press conference in Saudi Arabia that it "was extending both moral and financial support to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) "to help it construct its $3.5 million headquarters in Washington, D.C." WAMY also agreed to "introduce CAIR to Saudi philanthropists and recommend their financial support for the headquarters project." In 2002, CAIR and WAMY jointly announced, again from Saudi Arabia, their collaboration on a $1 million public-relations campaign.
Islam scholar Stephen Schwartz calls WAMY "the Saudi equivalent of the Hitler Youth: a hate-mongering, ultra-extremist group preaching, among other niceties, that Shia Muslims are not real Muslims, but products of a Jewish conspiracy." The website Militant Islam Monitor characterizes the organization as "part of the Saudi Wahhabist ‘Jihad through conversion’ drive."
A Troubling Presence at a Funeral
By Ben Johnson
June 11, 2004…Magid, who was born and educated in the Sudan, is the Director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS). ADAMS has numerous close affiliations with the main targets of "Operation Green Quest," "the largest U.S. terror finance investigation anywhere in the world." In March 2002, federal agents raided ADAMS’s facility in Herndon, Virginia, as part of an investigation into financial support for terrorism. Federal affidavits state that the "Grove Street addresses" (500 and 555 Grove St. in Herndon) housed more than 100 interlocking Muslim organizations, most headed by Jamal Barzinji, and these groups gave material aid to terrorists. Among those raided were several major ADAMS associates, including its chairman. Magid himself was present when federal agents raided the Herndon offices of ADAMS in March 2002…
