Dar al-Hijrah
Encyclopedia
The Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center is a mosque
in Northern Virginia
. It is located in Culmore
, Lake Barcroft area of unincorporated
Fairfax County, Virginia, directly between the Bailey's Crossroads, and Seven Corners, Virginia, US Post Offices.
s to be established in Northern Virginia, near Washington, DC
. It is also one of the area's largest and most influential mosques.
The Saudi-backed North American Islamic Trust
(NAIT) purchased the mosque's grounds on June 19, 1983. The mosque was first established in a house that is still on the Center's campus, and now serves as a food bank
. The current building, on a 3.4 acre
plot, was finished for $5 million in 1991 ($ today) with financial help from the Saudi
Embassy's Islamic Affairs Department.
In 1993 some area residents attempted to force closure of the mosque, saying it violated Fairfax County zoning ordinance
s. Worshipers reacted negatively, and believed the attempt was fueled by anti-Islamic bigotry.
The mosque sits at the corner of Virginia State Route 7
(Leesburg Pike) and Row Street, near a number of apartment units and single-family homes in which many Muslim
families live. Numerous halal
restaurants, grocery stores, and other Muslim businesses are also located nearby.
attendance exceeds 3,000 people. In September 2004, about sixty percent of its membership was Arab, with an increasing percentage coming from countries such as Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh.
Activities in addition to prayers include lectures, conferences, youth recreation and outdoor activities (such as camping and field trips) through its Youth Center, women's classes, health fairs, and financial assistance. It also operates an Islamic School called the "Washington Islamic Academy in Northern Virginia". In addition, Dar Al-Hijrah co-sponsors an annual civic picnic, along with other Northern Virginia organizations, at which candidates for local office meet Muslim voters.
Dar Al-Hijrah is open for group tours.
from 1995–99 was Mohammed al-Hanooti
, born in Haifa
, British Mandate of Palestine. He spoke up for Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, who was deported in 1997 and indict
ed years later on charges of arranging financial support for Hamas
, which the U.S. views as a terrorist organization. In 1998, al-Hanooti criticized President Clinton for ordering U.S. military strikes in Sudan and Afghanistan, saying there was not enough convincing evidence to justify the violence. In 1999 he testified in support of Ihab M. Ali, who refused to testify before a grand jury
investigating the 1998 United States embassy bombings
, telling the federal judge that Islamic law
"gives him the right to abstain from giving testimony in case it hurts him or it hurts any other Muslim." Al-Hanooti was named as an unindicted co-conspirator
in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
.
was Imam at the mosque between January 2001 and April 2002. Fluent in English, known for giving eloquent talks on Islam, and with a mandate to attract young non-Arabic speakers, al-Awlaki "was the magic bullet," according to mosque spokesman Johari Abdul-Malik; "he had everything all in a box." "He had an allure. He was charming."
He has been accused since of being a senior al-Qaeda
recruiter and motivator linked to various terrorists, including three 9/11 hijackers, the accused Fort Hood shooter
, and the accused Christmas Day 2009 bomber. Supporters of the mosque say that al-Awlaki publicly condemned the 9/11 attacks, and was not known to give radical speeches at the time. But writing on the IslamOnline.net
website six days after the 9/11 attacks, he suggested that Israeli intelligence agents might have been responsible for the attacks, and that the FBI
"went into the roster of the airplanes and whoever has a Muslim or Arab name became the hijacker by default."
After setting up their base of operations in San Diego upon their arrival in the US with the assistance of a number of people later investigated by the FBI and press, Khalid al-Mihdhar
and Nawaf Al-Hazmi
established a close relationship with Awlaki who had been Imam of the Masjid Ar-Ribat al-Islami
mosque since 1996. After leaving San Diego and Arizona, Hani Hanjour
specified the Virgnia mosque as his forwarding mailing address, and also attended Awlaki's sermons at the Virginia mosque with Al-Hazmi where the 9/11 Commission Report
concluded their appearances "may not have been coincidental". The Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan
also attended the mosque during the same time period as the hijackers, while Awlaki held Hasan's mother's funeral in May of that year. "In my view, he is more than a coincidental figure," said House Intelligence Committee
member Representative Anna Eshoo
(D-CA) in 2003.
Board member Esam Omeish
was reported by the Washington Post
as having been one of the mosque officials who hired al-Awlaki (Paul Sperry
says he "personally" hired him). Omeish said in 2004 that he was convinced that al-Awlaki: "has no inclination or active involvement in any events or circumstances that have to do with terrorism." On April 6, 2010, The New York Times
reported that President Obama had authorized the targeted killing
of al-Awlaki.
has been the mosque's Director of Outreach since June 2002. Speaking on his role at the mosque, he said:
During his tenure at Dar Al-Hijrah, Abdul-Malik has commented publicly on Islamic affairs on the criminal cases of several American Muslims. Abdul-Malik spoke up in 2003 in defense of Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi
, founder of the American Muslim Council
, who was indicted on charges of engaging in illegal financial transactions with Libya. However, in 2004 al-Amoudi pled guilty to financial and conspiracy charges, and was sentenced to 23 year in jail.
When Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
, who worshiped and taught Islamic studies at Dar Al-Hijrah, for which he also was a camp counselor, was charged by U.S. prosecutors with plotting with members of al-Qaeda to assassinate President George W. Bush
, Abdul-Malik said in February 2005: "Our whole community is under siege. They don't see this as a case of criminality. They see it as a civil rights case. As a frontal attack on their community." He added: "The feeling I get here on a daily basis must be what it was like to be a member of Martin Luther King Jr.
's church following the case of Rosa Parks
. People always ask, 'What is the latest from the courthouse?'" Abdul-Malik accused the government of singling out Abu Ali to stir anti-Muslim sentiment. Abu Ali was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, and conspiracy to assassinate President Bush, and is serving a life sentence
. When in April 2005 Ali al-Timimi
of Fairfax, Virginia
, an American-born Muslim cleric, was convicted of inciting followers to wage war against the US just days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and of recruiting for the Pakistan
i terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Toiba
, and the paintball terrorist cell, Abdul-Malik said: "There is a view many Muslims have when they come to America that you could not be arrested for something you say. But now they have discovered they are not free to speak their minds. And if our opinions are out of vogue in the current climate, we feel we are all at risk." Al-Timimi was sentenced to life imprisonment.
After the July 2005 London bombings
that killed 55 people, a 30-second anti-terrorism public service TV spot was run called “Not in the Name of Islam,” featuring Abdul-Malik and two American Muslim women. And in January 2008, Abdul-Malik was trying to establish a nationwide movement of Muslim men to lobby for the new interpretation of Chapter 4, Verse 34 of the Koran
, long interpreted as giving husbands the right to beat their wives as the final step in an escalating series of punishments for being rebellious (following admonishing their wives, and then abandoning them in bed). “That is the linchpin, the fulcrum that justifies domestic violence in the Muslim context,” he said. The new interpretation would interpret the verse as calling for women to be obedient to God.
In November 2009, Abdul-Malik responded to al-Awlaki's support of the Fort Hood shooter
by saying:
Abdul-Malik went on to say that, of those who worshiped at the mosque and had discussed the Fort Hood shootings,
, formerly a Muslim Brotherhood
member in the Sudan, and one of the founders of both the mosque and the Muslim American Society
(MAS), was the mosque's Imam between August 2003 and May 2005. He left the mosque to become the executive director of the Fiqh Council of North America
, an association of Islamic legal
scholars.
Commenting in 2004 on the beheading
s of American hostages Nick Berg
and Daniel Pearl
, he said:
And in 2004, speaking of Palestinian suicide bombers he said "if certain Muslims are to be cornered where they cannot defend themselves, except through these kinds of means, and their local religious leaders issued fatwa
s to permit that, then it becomes acceptable as an exceptional rule, but should not be taken as a principle."
, a Sharia
h law scholar born in Cairo, Egypt
, has been the resident imam at Dar Al-Hijrah since June 1, 2005. From 2000 through 2005 he was the Secretary General of the Muslim American Society.
Elsayed served as an unofficial spokesman for the family of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
, who had worshiped at Dar Al-Hijrah, and was charged with plotting to assassinate President Bush. Elsayed said the case against Abu Ali was based on a confession to Saudi authorities he termed "laughable," and Elsayed accused the Justice Department
of unfairly targeting Abu Ali and other young Muslims for prosecution. Abu Ali was convicted, and sentenced to life in prison.
(ISNA), the President of the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), the General Manager of the North American Islamic Trust
(NAIT), the President of Muslim American Society
(MAS), the President of the Dar Al-Hijrah Executive Committee, and four other members. Directors serve for five-year terms, and new directors are elected by the currently serving directors.
Dar Al-Hijrah has a 7-member executive committee; every two years four committee members are appointed by the mosque's board of directors, while the other three are elected by its membership. Imams Shaker Elsayed and Johari Abdul-Malik serve on the Executive Committee.
The mosque had 250 voting member families as of September 2004.
Dr. Esam Omeish
, former President of the MAS, is a member of the Board. In 2004 Omeish, at 36 then the youngest member of the mosque's Board, said there is "no question" that the mosque leadership needs to be more open and inclusive of younger people, including women. "The bottom line is that this is a mosque that is in the heart of Washington," he said. "Our goal is to make the congregation reflect that reality." Omeish acknowledged that some mosque members raised acceptable questions about the mosque's constitution, and that proposals under consideration in 2004 included direct elections to the mosque's board of directors, director term limit
s, and phasing out the board seats that the constitution assigns to officials of certain Muslim organizations.
department provides food, clothing, and other household items to needy local families of all faiths.
During the Islamic month of Ramadan
, Dar Al-Hijrah serves everyone who wants to come eat, whether Muslim
or non-Muslim; over 800 free meals every night. Also during Ramadan, it sponsors interfaith and civic iftar
dinners with different faith groups to promote mutual understanding. It also distributes tens of thousands of dollars in zakat
every Ramadan.
, the sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting
s, attended the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque at the same time in 2001 as Nawaf al-Hazmi
and Hani Hanjour
(two of the September 11 hijackers), who attended the mosque for several weeks during 2001 when Anwar al-Awlaki
was Imam there; a law enforcement official said that the FBI will probably look into whether Hasan associated with the hijackers. The mosque issued a statement condemning the Fort Hood shootings, and al-Awlaki's praise of them. In addition, the phone number for the mosque was found in the Hamburg, Germany, apartment of one a planner of the September 11 attacks, Ramzi bin al-Shibh.
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
, who was convicted of providing material support to al Qaeda
and conspiracy to assassinate President George W. Bush
, worshiped and taught Islamic studies at the mosque around that time, where he was also a camp counselor.
Abelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar
, a member of the mosque's Executive Committee, was convicted in November 2007 of contempt
and obstruction of justice
for refusal to testify before a grand jury
with regard to Hamas, and sentenced to 135 months in prison.
Jeffrey Goldberg
, in his 2008 book Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror, characterizes Dar Al-Hijrah as an openly political mosque that has conducted militant Friday sermons, especially prior to the September 11 attacks. The Washington Post
reported that its leaders have strongly criticized U.S. law enforcement actions against Muslims and U.S. policies in the Middle East
. The Washington Post also reported that the mosque is closely affiliated with the Muslim American Society
, which has been linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
in Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
. It is located in Culmore
Culmore
Culmore is a village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is between Derry and Muff, at the mouth of the River Foyle. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 2,960 people.- History :...
, Lake Barcroft area of unincorporated
Unincorporated
Unincorporated may refer to:* Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality* Unincorporated entity, a type of organization* Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress has determined that only select parts of the U.S...
Fairfax County, Virginia, directly between the Bailey's Crossroads, and Seven Corners, Virginia, US Post Offices.
Background
Founded in 1982 by a group of mostly Arab university students, it is one of the first masjidMosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s to be established in Northern Virginia, near Washington, DC
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. It is also one of the area's largest and most influential mosques.
The Saudi-backed North American Islamic Trust
North American Islamic Trust
The North American Islamic Trust is a Saudi-backed organization based in Plainfield, Indiana, that owns Islamic properties and promotes waqf in North America...
(NAIT) purchased the mosque's grounds on June 19, 1983. The mosque was first established in a house that is still on the Center's campus, and now serves as a food bank
Food bank
A food bank or foodbank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes mostly donated food to a wide variety of agencies that in turn feed the hungry. The largest sources of food are for-profit growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers who in the normal course of business have...
. The current building, on a 3.4 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
plot, was finished for $5 million in 1991 ($ today) with financial help from the Saudi
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
Embassy's Islamic Affairs Department.
In 1993 some area residents attempted to force closure of the mosque, saying it violated Fairfax County zoning ordinance
Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
s. Worshipers reacted negatively, and believed the attempt was fueled by anti-Islamic bigotry.
The mosque sits at the corner of Virginia State Route 7
Virginia State Route 7
State Route 7 is a major primary state highway and busy commuter route in Northern Virginia, United States. It travels southeast from downtown Winchester to State Route 400 in downtown Alexandria...
(Leesburg Pike) and Row Street, near a number of apartment units and single-family homes in which many Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
families live. Numerous halal
Halal
Halal is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law...
restaurants, grocery stores, and other Muslim businesses are also located nearby.
Activities
The mosque holds prayers five times daily, and Friday prayerJumu'ah
Jumu'ah is a congregational prayer that Muslims hold every Friday, just after noon in lieu of dhuhr...
attendance exceeds 3,000 people. In September 2004, about sixty percent of its membership was Arab, with an increasing percentage coming from countries such as Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh.
Activities in addition to prayers include lectures, conferences, youth recreation and outdoor activities (such as camping and field trips) through its Youth Center, women's classes, health fairs, and financial assistance. It also operates an Islamic School called the "Washington Islamic Academy in Northern Virginia". In addition, Dar Al-Hijrah co-sponsors an annual civic picnic, along with other Northern Virginia organizations, at which candidates for local office meet Muslim voters.
Dar Al-Hijrah is open for group tours.
Mohammed al-Hanooti
The mosque's ImamImam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
from 1995–99 was Mohammed al-Hanooti
Mohammed al-Hanooti
Mohammed al-Hanooti is a former Imam of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia...
, born in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, British Mandate of Palestine. He spoke up for Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, who was deported in 1997 and indict
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
ed years later on charges of arranging financial support for Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, which the U.S. views as a terrorist organization. In 1998, al-Hanooti criticized President Clinton for ordering U.S. military strikes in Sudan and Afghanistan, saying there was not enough convincing evidence to justify the violence. In 1999 he testified in support of Ihab M. Ali, who refused to testify before a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
investigating the 1998 United States embassy bombings
1998 United States embassy bombings
The 1998 United States embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the East African capitals of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The date of the...
, telling the federal judge that Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
"gives him the right to abstain from giving testimony in case it hurts him or it hurts any other Muslim." Al-Hanooti was named as an unindicted co-conspirator
Unindicted co-conspirator
An unindicted co-conspirator, or unindicted conspirator, is a person or entity that is alleged in an indictment to have engaged in conspiracy, but who is not charged in the same indictment...
in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
1993 World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
.
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-AwlakiAnwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
was Imam at the mosque between January 2001 and April 2002. Fluent in English, known for giving eloquent talks on Islam, and with a mandate to attract young non-Arabic speakers, al-Awlaki "was the magic bullet," according to mosque spokesman Johari Abdul-Malik; "he had everything all in a box." "He had an allure. He was charming."
He has been accused since of being a senior al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
recruiter and motivator linked to various terrorists, including three 9/11 hijackers, the accused Fort Hood shooter
Nidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
, and the accused Christmas Day 2009 bomber. Supporters of the mosque say that al-Awlaki publicly condemned the 9/11 attacks, and was not known to give radical speeches at the time. But writing on the IslamOnline.net
IslamOnline
Islamonline is a global Islamic website on the Internet providing services to Muslims and non-Muslims in several languages. Its motto is "credibility and distinction." Sunni Muslim scholar....
website six days after the 9/11 attacks, he suggested that Israeli intelligence agents might have been responsible for the attacks, and that the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
"went into the roster of the airplanes and whoever has a Muslim or Arab name became the hijacker by default."
After setting up their base of operations in San Diego upon their arrival in the US with the assistance of a number of people later investigated by the FBI and press, Khalid al-Mihdhar
Khalid al-Mihdhar
Khalid Muhammad Abdallah al-Mihdhar was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
and Nawaf Al-Hazmi
Nawaf al-Hazmi
Nawaf Muhammed Salim al-Hazmi was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
established a close relationship with Awlaki who had been Imam of the Masjid Ar-Ribat al-Islami
Masjid Ar-Ribat al-Islami
Masjid Ar-Ribat al-Islami is a Sunni mosque in San Diego, California, on 7173 Saranac Street on the San Diego-La Mesa, California border.Anwar Al-Awlaki, who has been accused of being a senior Al-Qaeda recruiter and motivator linked to various terrorists, served as Imam of the mosque from...
mosque since 1996. After leaving San Diego and Arizona, Hani Hanjour
Hani Hanjour
Hani Saleh Hasan Hanjour was the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, crashing the plane into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
specified the Virgnia mosque as his forwarding mailing address, and also attended Awlaki's sermons at the Virginia mosque with Al-Hazmi where the 9/11 Commission Report
9/11 Commission Report
The 9/11 Commission Report, formally named Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, is the official report of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks...
concluded their appearances "may not have been coincidental". The Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
also attended the mosque during the same time period as the hijackers, while Awlaki held Hasan's mother's funeral in May of that year. "In my view, he is more than a coincidental figure," said House Intelligence Committee
United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Mike Rogers. It is the primary committee in the U.S...
member Representative Anna Eshoo
Anna Eshoo
Anna Georges Eshoo is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, which includes part of Silicon Valley, includes the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto...
(D-CA) in 2003.
Board member Esam Omeish
Esam Omeish
Esam S. Omeish is a Libyan-born American physician and chief of the Division of General Surgery at Inova Alexandria Hospital since 2006...
was reported by the Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
as having been one of the mosque officials who hired al-Awlaki (Paul Sperry
Paul Sperry
Paul E. Sperry is a conservative pundit, author, investigative journalist, and Stanford University Hoover Institute media fellow. In the wake of the Fort Hood Shooting, he gave an interview to Coast to Coast AM on November 7, 2009, about his co-authored book Muslim Mafia.-Clinton incident:In 1999,...
says he "personally" hired him). Omeish said in 2004 that he was convinced that al-Awlaki: "has no inclination or active involvement in any events or circumstances that have to do with terrorism." On April 6, 2010, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that President Obama had authorized the targeted killing
Targeted killing
Targeted killing is the deliberate, specific targeting and killing, by a government or its agents, of a supposed terrorist or of a supposed "unlawful combatant" who is not in that government's custody...
of al-Awlaki.
Johari Abdul-Malik
Brooklyn-born convert-to-Islam Imam Johari Abdul-MalikJohari Abdul-Malik
Johari Abdul-Malik Winslow Seale is a convert to Islam, and has been the Director of Outreach for the Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Northern Virginia since June 2002....
has been the mosque's Director of Outreach since June 2002. Speaking on his role at the mosque, he said:
“It’s important that there’s an American at the mosque to speak with media, to defend Islam, who can talk about the rights of Muslims. It would be difficult for us if we had an imam who didn’t understand the process here.”
During his tenure at Dar Al-Hijrah, Abdul-Malik has commented publicly on Islamic affairs on the criminal cases of several American Muslims. Abdul-Malik spoke up in 2003 in defense of Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi
Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi
Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi, also known as Abdurahman Alamoudi, the founder of the American Muslim Council, pled guilty to financial and conspiracy charges in 2004, which resulted in a 23-year prison sentence.-Biography:...
, founder of the American Muslim Council
American Muslim Council
The American Muslim Council is an Islamic organization and registered charity in the United States. Its headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois....
, who was indicted on charges of engaging in illegal financial transactions with Libya. However, in 2004 al-Amoudi pled guilty to financial and conspiracy charges, and was sentenced to 23 year in jail.
When Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is an American who was convicted of providing material support to the al Qaeda terrorist network and conspiracy to assassinate President George W. Bush.-Background:...
, who worshiped and taught Islamic studies at Dar Al-Hijrah, for which he also was a camp counselor, was charged by U.S. prosecutors with plotting with members of al-Qaeda to assassinate President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, Abdul-Malik said in February 2005: "Our whole community is under siege. They don't see this as a case of criminality. They see it as a civil rights case. As a frontal attack on their community." He added: "The feeling I get here on a daily basis must be what it was like to be a member of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
's church following the case of Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
. People always ask, 'What is the latest from the courthouse?'" Abdul-Malik accused the government of singling out Abu Ali to stir anti-Muslim sentiment. Abu Ali was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, and conspiracy to assassinate President Bush, and is serving a life sentence
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
. When in April 2005 Ali al-Timimi
Ali al-Tamimi
Ali Al-Tamimi is a former Fairfax County resident, biologist, and Islamic teacher...
of Fairfax, Virginia
Fairfax, Virginia
The City of Fairfax is an independent city forming an enclave within the confines of Fairfax County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Although politically independent of the surrounding county, the City is nevertheless the county seat....
, an American-born Muslim cleric, was convicted of inciting followers to wage war against the US just days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and of recruiting for the Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Toiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
, and the paintball terrorist cell, Abdul-Malik said: "There is a view many Muslims have when they come to America that you could not be arrested for something you say. But now they have discovered they are not free to speak their minds. And if our opinions are out of vogue in the current climate, we feel we are all at risk." Al-Timimi was sentenced to life imprisonment.
After the July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
that killed 55 people, a 30-second anti-terrorism public service TV spot was run called “Not in the Name of Islam,” featuring Abdul-Malik and two American Muslim women. And in January 2008, Abdul-Malik was trying to establish a nationwide movement of Muslim men to lobby for the new interpretation of Chapter 4, Verse 34 of the Koran
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, long interpreted as giving husbands the right to beat their wives as the final step in an escalating series of punishments for being rebellious (following admonishing their wives, and then abandoning them in bed). “That is the linchpin, the fulcrum that justifies domestic violence in the Muslim context,” he said. The new interpretation would interpret the verse as calling for women to be obedient to God.
In November 2009, Abdul-Malik responded to al-Awlaki's support of the Fort Hood shooter
Nidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
by saying:
"Al-Awlaqi ... supported the crime that Hasan committed and said that the US Muslims who opposed the crime have betrayed the Muslim ummahUmmahUmmah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
(the community of Muslims worldwide) and are hypocrites. I answer him by saying that he has thus separated himself from the Muslim community in the United States. The holy Koran teaches us that we as US Muslims should enrich the society we live in with humanitarian services, wisdom, teaching God's beautiful verses about love, mercy, and compassion to all mankind."
Abdul-Malik went on to say that, of those who worshiped at the mosque and had discussed the Fort Hood shootings,
"Many of the immigrants focused on the conspiracy theoryConspiracy theoryA conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
. Some said that Hasan did not commit the crime, but that it was committed by other US military personnel who then killed him and said that he was the one who did it. They are like those who said that the September 11 attacks were not committed by those who committed them, and that it too was a “conspiracy.” I am one of those whose ancestors came here hundreds of years ago. I am a black American, and I know that “denialDenialDenial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence.The subject may use:* simple denial: deny the reality of the...
” is the explanation of those who cannot explain what they see or hear, especially if they belong to a minority group and are not used to the US way of life. But we black Americans have passed these stages. We became involved in political action, and the President of the United States is now one of us. Perhaps I am saying what I am saying because I was a Christian, and became Muslim. But I believe that this issue is a temporary one, and we ask God to raise us from one stage to another."
Mohammed Adam El-Sheikh
Sheikh Mohammed Adam El-SheikhMohammed Adam El-Sheikh
Sheikh Mohamad Adam El-Sheikh is a Sudanese/American executive director of the Fiqh Council of North America.-Education:He graduated from the faculty of Shari’ah and Law, Omdurman Islamic University, Sudan, in 1969....
, formerly a Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
member in the Sudan, and one of the founders of both the mosque and the Muslim American Society
Muslim American Society
The Muslim American Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 that describes itself as an Islamic revival and reform movement....
(MAS), was the mosque's Imam between August 2003 and May 2005. He left the mosque to become the executive director of the Fiqh Council of North America
Fiqh Council of North America
The Fiqh Council of North America is an association of Muslims who interpret Islamic law on the North American continent.Its 18 members issue religious rulings, resolve disputes, and answer questions relating to the Islamic faith...
, an association of Islamic legal
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
scholars.
Commenting in 2004 on the beheading
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
s of American hostages Nick Berg
Nick Berg
Nicholas Evan "Nick" Berg was an American businessman who went to Iraq after the US invasion of Iraq. He was abducted and later beheaded according to a video released in May 2004 by Islamist militants...
and Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl was an American journalist who was kidnapped and killed by Al-Qaeda.At the time of his kidnapping, Pearl served as the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, and was based in Mumbai, India. He went to Pakistan as part of an investigation into the alleged links between...
, he said:
"beheadings are not mentioned in the KoranQur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
at all. According to Islamic penal law, killers will be sentenced to death, but the means of execution are not mentioned. ...we don't condone this. They are not following Islam. They are following their own whims."
And in 2004, speaking of Palestinian suicide bombers he said "if certain Muslims are to be cornered where they cannot defend themselves, except through these kinds of means, and their local religious leaders issued fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
s to permit that, then it becomes acceptable as an exceptional rule, but should not be taken as a principle."
Shaker Elsayed
Shaker ElsayedShaker Elsayed
Shaker Elsayed is a dual citizen of Egypt and the US, and has been the Imam of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, since June 1, 2005...
, a Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
h law scholar born in Cairo, Egypt
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, has been the resident imam at Dar Al-Hijrah since June 1, 2005. From 2000 through 2005 he was the Secretary General of the Muslim American Society.
Elsayed served as an unofficial spokesman for the family of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is an American who was convicted of providing material support to the al Qaeda terrorist network and conspiracy to assassinate President George W. Bush.-Background:...
, who had worshiped at Dar Al-Hijrah, and was charged with plotting to assassinate President Bush. Elsayed said the case against Abu Ali was based on a confession to Saudi authorities he termed "laughable," and Elsayed accused the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
of unfairly targeting Abu Ali and other young Muslims for prosecution. Abu Ali was convicted, and sentenced to life in prison.
Board of Directors and Executive Committee
The mosque's 9-member board of directors consists of the Secretary General of the Islamic Society of North AmericaIslamic Society of North America
The Islamic Society of North America , based in Plainfield, Indiana, USA, is a Muslim umbrella group. It has been described in the media as the largest Muslim organization in North America.-History:...
(ISNA), the President of the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), the General Manager of the North American Islamic Trust
North American Islamic Trust
The North American Islamic Trust is a Saudi-backed organization based in Plainfield, Indiana, that owns Islamic properties and promotes waqf in North America...
(NAIT), the President of Muslim American Society
Muslim American Society
The Muslim American Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 that describes itself as an Islamic revival and reform movement....
(MAS), the President of the Dar Al-Hijrah Executive Committee, and four other members. Directors serve for five-year terms, and new directors are elected by the currently serving directors.
Dar Al-Hijrah has a 7-member executive committee; every two years four committee members are appointed by the mosque's board of directors, while the other three are elected by its membership. Imams Shaker Elsayed and Johari Abdul-Malik serve on the Executive Committee.
The mosque had 250 voting member families as of September 2004.
Dr. Esam Omeish
Esam Omeish
Esam S. Omeish is a Libyan-born American physician and chief of the Division of General Surgery at Inova Alexandria Hospital since 2006...
, former President of the MAS, is a member of the Board. In 2004 Omeish, at 36 then the youngest member of the mosque's Board, said there is "no question" that the mosque leadership needs to be more open and inclusive of younger people, including women. "The bottom line is that this is a mosque that is in the heart of Washington," he said. "Our goal is to make the congregation reflect that reality." Omeish acknowledged that some mosque members raised acceptable questions about the mosque's constitution, and that proposals under consideration in 2004 included direct elections to the mosque's board of directors, director term limit
Term limit
A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method to curb the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes "president for...
s, and phasing out the board seats that the constitution assigns to officials of certain Muslim organizations.
Outreach
Dar Al-Hijrah is active in community outreach and service, and promoting mutual understanding in the local area. It participates in community food, back-to-school supply, and clean-up drives, is engaged in interfaith projects, and participates in civil rights work. It's social servicesSocial work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
department provides food, clothing, and other household items to needy local families of all faiths.
During the Islamic month of Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
, Dar Al-Hijrah serves everyone who wants to come eat, whether Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
or non-Muslim; over 800 free meals every night. Also during Ramadan, it sponsors interfaith and civic iftar
Iftar
Iftar , refers to the evening meal when Muslims break their fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Iftar is one of the religious observances of Ramadan and is often done as a community, with people gathering to break their fast together. Iftar is done right after Maghrib time...
dinners with different faith groups to promote mutual understanding. It also distributes tens of thousands of dollars in zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
every Ramadan.
Controversy
Several sources indicated that Nidal Malik HasanNidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
, the sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting
Fort Hood shooting
The Fort Hood shooting was a mass shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others...
s, attended the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque at the same time in 2001 as Nawaf al-Hazmi
Nawaf al-Hazmi
Nawaf Muhammed Salim al-Hazmi was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
and Hani Hanjour
Hani Hanjour
Hani Saleh Hasan Hanjour was the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, crashing the plane into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
(two of the September 11 hijackers), who attended the mosque for several weeks during 2001 when Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
was Imam there; a law enforcement official said that the FBI will probably look into whether Hasan associated with the hijackers. The mosque issued a statement condemning the Fort Hood shootings, and al-Awlaki's praise of them. In addition, the phone number for the mosque was found in the Hamburg, Germany, apartment of one a planner of the September 11 attacks, Ramzi bin al-Shibh.
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is an American who was convicted of providing material support to the al Qaeda terrorist network and conspiracy to assassinate President George W. Bush.-Background:...
, who was convicted of providing material support to al Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
and conspiracy to assassinate President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, worshiped and taught Islamic studies at the mosque around that time, where he was also a camp counselor.
Abelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar
Abelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar
Abelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar is a Palestinian Muslim activist and former Howard University business professor, who was convicted of contempt and obstruction of justice for refusal to testify before a grand jury, and sentenced in November 2007 to 135 months in prison.-Background:Ashqar is a...
, a member of the mosque's Executive Committee, was convicted in November 2007 of contempt
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
and obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice
The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
for refusal to testify before a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
with regard to Hamas, and sentenced to 135 months in prison.
Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Mark Goldberg is an American journalist. He is an author and a staff writer for The Atlantic, having previously worked for The New Yorker. Goldberg writes principally on foreign affairs, with a focus on the Middle East and Africa...
, in his 2008 book Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror, characterizes Dar Al-Hijrah as an openly political mosque that has conducted militant Friday sermons, especially prior to the September 11 attacks. The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
reported that its leaders have strongly criticized U.S. law enforcement actions against Muslims and U.S. policies in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. The Washington Post also reported that the mosque is closely affiliated with the Muslim American Society
Muslim American Society
The Muslim American Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 that describes itself as an Islamic revival and reform movement....
, which has been linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.