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The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) is a privately held non-profit organization concerned with issues of Islamic thought. It was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.

Mission statement

Governed by a Board of Trustees that meets regularly and periodically elects one of its members to serve as President, the Institute describes itself as an intellectual forum working from an Islamic perspective to promote and support research projects, organize intellectual and cultural meetings, and publish scholarly works.

Notable personnel

Controversy

Muslim Brotherhood

The Institute was founded in 1981 with seed money from the Muslim Brotherhood. It has branches and offices in a number of major cities worldwide.

Basheer Nafi and the Islamic Jihad and Hamas

In 1996 Basheer Nafi, who had been working as a top-level researcher and editor at the Institute, was arrested by federal Immigration and Naturalization Service agents and charged with immigration fraud. He was considered an active leader of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization who was working for a network of academic front groups, and was linked as well to the Islamist militant group Hamas. He pleaded guilty to a lesser violation of his visa status, and was deported and barred from entering the U.S. for five years.

Book; targeting civilians with terror

An Institute book by IIIT official AbdulHamid AbuSulayman entitled "Violence," published in 2001, said Israel is a "foreign usurper" that must be confronted with "fear, terror and lack of security." The book maintained "Fighting is a duty of the oppressed people." Palestinian fighters must choose their targets "whether the targets are civilian or military," it said, adding that any such attacks should not be "excessive." The book said such attacks were justified acts of a liberation struggle, not terrorism.

Sami Al-Arian and the Islamic Jihad

On March 20, 2002, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials closed the Institute temporarily. The agents were seeking evidence that the Institute was contributing to terrorists, and seized about 25 computers and documents that included financial records, mailing lists, and staff lists. The search was part of a larger series of raids that led to the convictions of two people, including Abdurahman Alamoudi, who worked for the SAAR Foundation, and who admitted that he plotted with Libya to assassinate the Saudi ruler and was sentenced to 23 years in jail.

A leader of the Institute, Iqbal Unus, his wife and daughter brought suit charging that their rights were violated and the government was guilty of assault, trespass, and false imprisonment when their home was searched in the raid. A federal judge dismissed the suit, however. The lawsuit had also named a terrorism researcher, Rita Katz, as a defendant, but the judge dismissed her from the case and awarded her $41,000 in legal fees.

The Institute was a leading financier of Sami Al-Arian's now-defunct World and Islam Studies Enterprise, a "think tank" shut down after the FBI confiscated its files in 1995. That think tank raised money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the State Department labeled a terrorist group in 1995. Al-Arian pleaded guilty in 2006 to helping a terrorist organization. Taha Jaber Al- Awani, an officer of the Institute, was named an unindicted co-conspirator in Al-Arian's case.

The Institute, whose money was believed to come from wealthy Saudi Arabians through the SAAR Foundation (a tightly connected Herndon-based network of more than 100 organizations; also known as the Safa Group), also funded other Al-Arian organizations, including the Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, the Islamic Academy of Florida and the Islamic Committee for Palestine. Two incorporators of the Islamic trust that owns the Islamic Academy of Florida were Jamal Barzinji and Hisham Al-Talib, both of whom also served as directors of the Institute.

Attorneys for the Institute claimed that the raid violated its free speech and privacy rights, and asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa C. Buchanan to order the boxes of records returned. But on May 4, 2002, the Judge found that the investigative agents had acted properly, and declined to lift her order sealing the affidavits, though she urged prosecutors to return seized property as soon as possible.

In October 2002, Virginia Representative James P. Moran, Jr., said he was returning donations from the Institute, as: "I don't want any contributors to my campaign contributing to any individuals or organizations, even inadvertently, that might fund terrorism or organizations involved in terrorism."

On October 16, 2006, and on March 20, 2008, Al-Arian refused to answer questions about the Institute before a federal grand jury, asserting that he believed his life would be in danger if he testified. He was found guilty of contempt the following month.

The Institute canceled its $1.5 million offer to Temple University for an endowed chair in Islamic studies after concerns were raised about the Institute's possible funding of suspected terrorists. Negotiations between Temple and the Institute broke down after trustees and others pressed Temple to reject the gift. Temple president Ann Weaver Hart had said that “after much discussion and consideration, Temple decided to neither accept or reject this generous offer. The university indicated that no decision regarding this matter would be made until post-9/11 federal investigations of the IIIT are complete."

"Such a massive ream of documents came out of those search warrants," one law enforcement official said, "it takes incredibly lengthy investigative work."

Tarik A. Hamdi and al-Qaeda

In 2005, Tarik A. Hamdi, who had worked at the Institute, was accused in a federal affidavit of having been the "American contact" for one of Osama bin-Laden's front organisations, and having given a satellite telephone battery to a Bin-Laden aide in Afghanistan for a telephone used by Bin Laden.

SAAR Network raid

The Institute's headquarters was the subject of a March 20, 2002, raid, along with 19 other business and non-profit entities allegedly related to the SAAR Foundation, as part of a joint FBI-Customs Service program known as Operation Green Quest. No arrests were made, and neither the Institute nor any of the other entities were shut down permanently. To date, no charges have been made nor substantive evidence indicating any wrongdoing been presented. In the aftermath, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, with the help of Grover Norquist, arranged a meeting with representatives of the Muslim-American community, including Talat M. Othman and Khaled Saffuri.

References

1. Mintz, John, and Farah, Douglas, "In Search Of Friends Among The Foes; U.S. Hopes to Work With Diverse Group", The Washington Post, September 11, 2004, accessed January 27, 2010
2. About Us International Institute of Islamic Thought
3. Schmitt, Christopher H., and Kurlantzick, Joshua, "When charity goes awry; Islamic groups say they may lose control of money they send overseas," U.S. News and World Report, October 21, 2001, accessed January 26, 2010
4. Fechter, Michael, "U.S. deports Jihad figure," Tampa Tribune, July 3, 1996, accessed January 26, 2010
5. Branigan, William, "U.S. Cites Immigration Offense In Quickly Deporting Palestinian; Herndon Arrest Followed FBI Probe of Think Tank," The Washington Post, July 5, 1996, accessed January 26, 2010
6. "Researcher with USF Link Deported," Miami Herald, July 4, 1996, accessed January 26, 2010
7. Mintz, John, and Farah, Douglas, "In Search Of Friends Among The Foes; U.S. Hopes to Work With Diverse Group", The Washington Post, September 11, 2004, accessed January 27, 2010
8. Markon, Jerry, "Muslim Anger Burns Over Lingering Probe of Charities", The Washington Post, October 11, 2006, accessed January 27, 2010
9. Markon, Jerry, "Witness Is Silent in Terror Probe; Ex-Professor Says Grand Jury Testimony Would Endanger Him," The Washington Post, November 14, 2006, accessed January 27, 2010
10. Gerstein, Josh, "Judge Dismisses Suit Questioning Federal Tactics," New York Sun, November 8, 2007, accessed January 27, 2010
11. [http://www.nysun.com/national/a-prosecutor-is-called-relentless/82727/ Gerstein, Josh, "A Prosecutor Is Called 'Relentless'," New York Sun, July 28, 2008, accessed January 27, 2010]
12. Gerstein, Josh, "Judge Dismisses Suit Questioning Federal Tactics," New York Sun, November 8, 2007, accessed January 27, 2010
13. Jacoby, Mary, "Muslims denounce raids linked to Al-Arian," St. Petersburg Times, March 22, 2002, accessed January 26, 2010
14. Miller, Judith, "A Nation Challenged: The Money Trail; U.S. Raids Continue, Prompting Protests," The New York Times, March 22, 2002, accessed January 26, 2010
15. Fechter, Michael, "Affidavit Ties In Al-Arian", Tampa Tribune, October 18, 2003, accessed January 27, 2010
16. "Islam", St. Petersburg Times, March 11, 2003, accessed January 27, 2010
17. Jacoby, Mary, "Affidavit: Al-Arian's group got money from Saudi charity; The former USF professor's civil liberties group received $10,000 from a group linked to terrorism, a statement from a U.S. Customs Service agent says," St. Petersburg Times, August 1, 2003, accessed January 27, 2010
18. Jacoby, Mary, and Brink, Graham, "Saudi form of Islam wars with moderates," St. Petersburg Times, March 11, 2003, accessed January 27, 2010
19. desc=U.S.+Magistrate+Denies+Muslim+Groups%27+Request%3B+Return+Sought+of+Property+Seized+in+Va.&pqatl=google Masters, Brooke A., "U.S. Magistrate Denies Muslim Groups' Request; Return Sought of Property Seized in Va.", The Washington Post, May 4, 2002, accessed January 27, 2010
20. "Rep. James P. Moran Jr. returns contributions from Muslim groups targeted in terrorism probe," AP, November 1, 2002, accessed January 26, 2010
21. "Prof Accused of Terror Link in Contempt," Fox News, November 17, 2006, accessed January 27, 2010
22. Markon, Jerry, "Witness Is Silent in Terror Probe; Ex-Professor Says Grand Jury Testimony Would Endanger Him," The Washington Post, November 14, 2006, accessed January 27, 2010
23. Markon, Jerry, "Former Professor Indicted In Muslim Charities Case," The Washington Post, June 27, 2008, accessed January 27, 2010
24. "U.S. probe makes Islamic group drop university offer," China Post, January 7, 2008, accessed January 27, 2010
25. Markon, Jerry, "Muslim Anger Burns Over Lingering Probe of Charities", The Washington Post, October 11, 2006, accessed January 27, 2010
26. Sherman, Mark, "'Bin Laden contact' working for Iraq ministry", The Independent, August 12, 2005, accessed January 27, 2010
27. "US man linked to to al-Qaida works for Iraq", Bangor Daily News, August 12, 2005, accessed January 27, 2010
28. O'Neill Met With Muslim Activists Tied to Charities Raided by Treasury Wall Street Journal

External links

• Official website
• London, UK Office

• Institutes
• Think tanks based in the United States
• Non-profit organizations based in the United States
• Islamic organizations
• Organizations established in 1981
• Muslim Brotherhood
• International non-profit organizations