The Muslim Student Association: Coming In Peace?

Accuracy in Academia ^ | February 6, 2004 | Malcolm A. Kline

[yonif]

February 6, 2004 - If you have seen signs for the Muslim Student Association on college campuses and wondered who they are, where they came from and whether they exist on student fees alone, you are not alone. Federal investigators are curious too.

The Senate Finance Committee is investigating non-profit groups to determine whether those organizations might be a source of funding for terrorist activities. Among the groups that the Committee wants Internal Revenue Service records on: the Muslim Student Association (MSA), active on campuses throughout the United States.

"Many of these groups not only enjoy tax-exempt status, but their reputations as charities and foundations often allow them to escape scrutiny, making it easier to hide and move their funds to other groups and individuals who threaten our national security," Senators Chuck Grassley and Max Baucus pointed out in their letter to the IRS.

"Often these groups are nothing more than shell companies for the same small group of people, moving funds from one charity to the next charity to hide the trail," the senators write. "These groups also receive donations from foreign sources, including countries the government has identified as having a significant problem with terrorism."

On some campuses, notably the University of Virginia until about eight years ago, the MSA is virtually the only religious group that school officials will recognize. On other campuses, even without exclusive recognition, the MSA makes its presence felt.

In late January, according to our UCLA correspondent, the MSA held its annual Islamic Awareness Week on that campus. In all, the MSA claims chapters on 138 campuses nationwide.

Nor is this the first time the MSA has come up in a federal investigation. Last February, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents arrested Sami Omar al-Hussayen, a computer science major from the University of Idaho at Moscow. The U.S. Justice Department indictment charged Hussayen with visa fraud and the transfer of large amounts of cash from Iraq to the Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA). Hussayen was head of his university's MSA, according to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The U.S. indictment also connects Hussayen with a tacit endorsement of suicide bombers posted on a web site that he registered. Hussayen, the indictment charges, registered the site exactly one year before the September 11 attacks. The posting, which appeared in June 2001, about three months before the fateful hijackings, was entitled "Provision of Suicide Operations."

Written by a radical Saudi sheikh, the posting read, "the Mujahid must kill himself if he knows that this will lead to killing a great number of the enemies, and that he will not be able to kill them without killing himself first, or demolishing a center vital to the enemy or its military force, and so on."

"This is not possible except by involving the human element in the operation. In this new era, this can be accomplished with the modern means of bombing or bringing down an airplane on an important location that will cause the enemy great losses."

The national MSA protested the Bush Administration's decision, shortly after the September 11 attacks on the United States, to freeze the assets of groups that federal investigators linked to the Palestinian Hamas faction that took a benign view of the hijackings.

"American Muslims support President Bush's effort to cut off funding for terrorism and we call for a peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict," the groups, including the MSA, insisted in their petition to the Bush Administration. The MSA claims credit, in turn, for the founding of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

Terrorism expert Steven Emerson reports that, "In September 2002, a full year after the 9/11 attacks, speakers at ISNA's annual conference still refused to acknowledge Bin Laden's role in the terrorist attacks." Emerson, a former congressional staffer and television reporter, became immersed in the study of terrorism soon after the Oklahoma City bombings in the mid-1990s which he covered for CNN.

The MSA in turn links up to other organizations that are tacitly radical. For example, MSA events frequently feature speakers from the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). Emerson told a congressional committee that "WAMY's U.S. office was incorporated in Falls Church, Virginia in 1992 by Osama bin Laden's brother, Abdullah bin Laden."

Another terrorism expert, Stephen Schwartz, told Congress that the form of Islam that governs such groups is Wahabism, the official sect in Saudi Arabia. "Shia and other non-Wahabi Muslim community leaders estimate that 80 percent of American mosques are under Wahabi control," Schwarz testified.

Schwartz, director of the Islam and Democracy Program for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, explained exactly what this meant. "Wahabi control over mosques means control of property, buildings, appointment of imams, content of preaching-including faxing of Friday sermons from Riyadh, Saudi, Arabia-and of literature distributed in mosques and mosque bookstores, notices on bulletin boards, and organizational solicitation," Schwartz said.

"Similar influence extends to prison and military chaplaincies, Islamic elementary and secondary schools (academies), college campus activity, endowment of academic chairs and programs in Middle East (Studies), and most notoriously, charities ostensibly helping Muslims abroad, many of which have been linked to or designated as sponsors of terrorism."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia. If you would like to comment on this article, please e-mail mal.kline@academia.org

[yonif]

Ping.

[MrBambaLaMamba]

The most effective way to end war and ensure peace is to kill the enemy.

End terrorism, kill terrorists.

[cyborg]

The MSA at my old school was just an excuse for muslim students who were secretly into debauched American culture to find eachother. The real jihadists never hung out in the clubhouse with the other student clubs for fear of getting tainted by the evils of western culture *LOL*

[SiliconValleyGuy]

Just the title of this is an oxymoron. "Muslim" and "peace" should never appear in the same sentence.

[tubavil]

The arab, muslim terrorist organization MSA operates openly in Seattle, with the blessings of their sponsor, the University of Washington.

They are having a (hamas) fundraiser in 4 days featuring
"Dr. Abdalla Idris Ali" Former President of ISNA, Board of Advisors of the American Muslim Council, past Board member of the Council of Islamic Schools in North America.

http://www.islamichouse.org/

[MonroeDNA]

We will find Saudi backing.

[PattonReincarnated]

>>The most effective way to end war and ensure peace is to kill the enemy.

>>End terrorism, kill terrorists.

Dittos. Dead terrorists don't kill.

[PattonReincarnated]

>> They are having a (hamas) fundraiser in 4 days

I looked at the their web site, and I didn't see Hamas mentioned. Is Dr. Abdalla Idris Ali associated with Hamas? And ... if this is the case, what exactly is our government doing about this. Sounds like time for a little terrorist round up. Afterall, Hamas has the distinction of being recognized as a terrorist organization by the US Gov.

[tubavil]

Is Dr. Abdalla Idris Ali associated with Hamas?

From Daniel Pipes:

At a fundraiser for the Assalam Center, to which Mahgoub is associated, on October 25, 2002, there was featured an individual by the name of Abdalla Idris Ali. Ali sits on the board of the American Muslim Council, an organization whose leaders have openly supported terrorist groups, such as Hamas.

There are a dozen name variations if you want to do a google search: Shaikh Abdalla Idris, Dr. Abdalla Idris Ali, Abdullah Idris Ali, Sheikh Abdullah Idrees, etc. (very handy for flying in from Toronto for example, a different spelling each time ensures you are one step ahead of US-VISIT.

No muslims, no terror.

[AGreatPer]

Interisting post yonif.

Good luck in NASCAR.

BTW, you have a supporter here.

[yonif]

We got one on campus. I am on the finance committee and I denied them funds. However, most of those on the committee are leftists, so they got money from the school.

[yonif]

Thanks.

[Sabertooth]

The national MSA protested the Bush Administration's decision, shortly after the September 11 attacks on the United States, to freeze the assets of groups that federal investigators linked to the Palestinian Hamas faction that took a benign view of the hijackings.

"American Muslims support President Bush's effort to cut off funding for terrorism and we call for a peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict," the groups, including the MSA, insisted in their petition to the Bush Administration. The MSA claims credit, in turn, for the founding of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

Terrorism expert Steven Emerson reports that, "In September 2002, a full year after the 9/11 attacks, speakers at ISNA's annual conference still refused to acknowledge Bin Laden's role in the terrorist attacks." Emerson, a former congressional staffer and television reporter, became immersed in the study of terrorism soon after the Oklahoma City bombings in the mid-1990s which he covered for CNN.

The MSA in turn links up to other organizations that are tacitly radical. For example, MSA events frequently feature speakers from the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). Emerson told a congressional committee that "WAMY's U.S. office was incorporated in Falls Church, Virginia in 1992 by Osama bin Laden's brother, Abdullah bin Laden."

And yet, Suhail Khan, who got his position in the Bush White House through his contacts with Grover Norquist, has only recently been an active alumnus of the Muslim Students of America.

This is not really surprising, since Suhail's faither, Mahboob Khan, was one of the founders of the MSA

Muslim Students Association Telling Lies
... One of the founders of the Muslim Students Association was the late
Dr. Mahboob Khan. Dr. Khan's son, Suhail Khan, went from the ...
209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1046642/posts - 44k - Cached - Similar pages

Mahboob biodata
... Ph.D. Dr. Mahboob Khan passed away on April 16, 1999, in Sunnyvale ... As a student, Dr.
Khan helped establish the Muslim Students Association (MSA) which ...
www.musalman.com/newstrack/biodata.html - 3k - Cached - Similar pages

The South End Online
... Bilal Khan, the president of the Muslim Student ... we are supporting Hamas," said Mahboob,
a fourth ... national chapter of the Muslim Students Association, which is ...
www.southend.wayne.edu/days/jan2002/ 01092001/nation/terror/terror.html - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

Islamic Voice
... Mahboob Khan, the Madras-born leader of the Muslims in Bay Area of California ... Dr.
Khan was one of the founders of Muslim Students Association of America in ...
www.islamicvoice.com/may.99/community.htm - 25k - Cached - Similar pages

ehaab.com :: resume
... 2002 Muslim Students’ Association, UCLA Los Angeles, CA. ... Bilal Khan, Editor of
Al-Talib, the Muslim ... Mostafa Mahboob, former Editor of Al-Talib CURRENTLY ...
www.ehaab.com/resume.htm - 57k - Cached - Similar pages

[DOC] Professional Resume
File Format: Microsoft Word 2000 - View as HTML
... 2002 Muslim Students? Association, UCLA Los Angeles, CA. ... Bilal Khan, Editor of
Al-Talib, the Muslim ... Mostafa Mahboob, former Editor of Al-Talib CURRENTLY ...
www.ehaab.com/resume.doc - Supplemental Result - Similar pages

Islamic Center of PITTSBURGH - Activities
... Muslim Students Association (Pitt and CMU) (click for details). ... legal scholar; Muqtedar
Khan, assistant professor of ... Physicians in Pittsburgh Dr Mahboob Chaudhry. ...
www.icp-pgh.org/archives/feb28.html - 75k - Cached - Similar pages

FrontPage magazine.com
... that Khan’s late father, Mahboob Khan, was a ... s White House surrogate, Suhail Khan.49. ... Religious
Affairs Committee of the Muslim Students Association (see below ...
www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11209 - 101k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

Think-Israel
... fact that Khan's late father, Mahboob Khan, was a ... Grover Norquist's White House surrogate,
Suhail Khan. ... Committee of the Muslim Students Association (see below ...
www.think-israel.org/gaffney.norquist.html - 81k - Cached - Similar pages

Frank Gaffney exposes Grover Norquist's compromise by Islamists
... that Khan’s late father, Mahboob Khan, was a ... Norquist’s White House surrogate,
Suhail Khan. ... Affairs Committee of the Muslim Students Association (see below ...
www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/gaffney_on_norquist.html - 91k - Cached - Similar pages
Google Search
mahboob + khan + "muslim students association"

Notice that Mahboob Khan was also a co-founder of the Islamic Society of North America, referenced by Stephen Emerson above.

Well, hopefully, Suahil Khan has realized that as a member of the Bush Administration, it's time he put his terror symp ways behind him.

Right?

Other program committee members present at the meeting included: ISNA President Sh. Muhammad Nur Abdullah, Secretary General Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, returning local Convention Steering Committee chairman, ISNA Majlis member, and chairman of Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, Kareem Irfan, ISNA Majlis member and president of the Islamic Center of Long Island, NY, Faroque Khan--a new addition to the committee--and new MSA National Treasurer Eman Hasaballah, representing the MSA. Unable to attend was new committee member Suhail Khan of Washington DC.
2004 ISNA Convention Program Committee meets early at HQ
Monday, December 15th, 2003

[Don Joe]

Just the title of this is an oxymoron. "Muslim" and "peace" should never appear in the same sentence.

Never?

Stephen Schwartz, who's blown the whistle on a lot of this stuff, is a Muslim. So is Mansour Ijaz. Then there's that Sheikh in Italy, who insists that Israel is entitled to their land, and that the Arab world should recognize this fact and deal openly, honestly, and as friends with them.

There are lots of peaceful Muslims, but Islam, as practiced today, is by and large not "a religion of peace", as far as I can determine. Those Muslims who are peaceful and reasonable, with few noticable exceptions, seem to live their lives very quietly, for fear of being targetted themselves.

[Don Joe]

And yet, Suhail Khan, who got his position in the Bush White House through his contacts with Grover Norquist, has only recently been an active alumnus of the Muslim Students of America.

Grover Norquist

[Don Joe]

Oops, I didn't notice that you'd already included that link.

What a mind blower. I'm surprised it hasn't been shouted from the rooftops. What reason could Roger Ailes have for allowing Fox Nudes News give wall to wall coverage for supermarket tabloid style material, while avoiding vitally important information like this?

[Cindy]

re port no. 14...

That's interesting.

[Calpernia]

BUMP!!!!

[swarthyguy]

Good thing is that the Republican outreach effort to Muslims in American led by Grover has failed miserably.

They hate Bush despite his calming the waters of hate and denouncing vigilante action immediately after 9.11.

For that he gets bricks instead of flowers.

66% of Muslim Americans are in the ABB category. Good.