Bangladesh targets alleged Jamaat fronts

Businesses and nonprofit groups in Bangladesh are being scrutinized for their alleged connections to the dangerous Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami.  When asked by the Dhaka Tribune how the government of Bangladesh could determine whether or not such entities are connected to Jamaat, Finance Minister AMA Muhith rightly said, “Firstly, we will check the background of the members of board of directors in the institutions. Secondly, we will identify the source of funds of those firms.”

The Dhaka Tribune article included a graphic of “top firms linked to Jamaat men.”  However, please note that the relationship between these firms and Jamaat-e-Islami cannot be confirmed by Money Jihad at this time:

• Islami Bank Foundation*
• Ibn Sina Trust
• Fouad Al-Khateeb Charity Foundation
• Rabita al-Alam al-Islami†
• Agro Industrial Trust
• Daily Sangram
• Daily Naya Diganta
• Manarat Interational University
• International Islamic University Chittagong
• Darul Ihsan University
• Far East Ilsami Life Insurance Company Ltd
• Takaful Islami Insurance Ltd
• Keari Limited
• Coral Reef Properties Ltd
• Education Aid
• Panjeri Publications
• Allama Iqbal Sangsad
• Maududi Research Sangsad
• Al-Mutada Development Society
• Center for Strategy & Peace Studies

* The Islami Bank Foundation is the “charitable” arm of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, the notorious terror-linked sharia bank.
† Rabita al-Alam al-Islami is the Saudi-funded Bangladeshi branch of the Muslim World League.

Pay to play: Saudi Arabia shakes down Denmark for halal fees to terror-linked MWL

The Muslim World League is the primary vessel for the dissemination of oppressive Wahhabi doctrine across the world.  MWL has also worked with or helped create terrorist organizations such as JMB in Bangladesh.  Now it appears that the MWL is the beneficiary of Saudi trade scheme that requires Danish companies to pay for halal certification by the MWL in order to export its products to Saudi Arabia.

This situation is somewhat similar to halal certification fees benefiting the Muslim Brotherhood in France.  One difference is that if Saudi Arabia can force exporters to obtain halal certification from MWL chapters worldwide, that could represent a fortune in certifying fees for the MWL.

The news comes from Islam versus Europe, which translated the news from EPN, a webpage of the major Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten:

“The Saudi organization MWL is against freedom of religion, in favor of the death penalty for homosexuals – and get paid to halal approve Danish companies. Great Danish food producers such as Danish Crown, Rose Poultry and Arla are annually forced to pay thousands of dollars into the organization Muslim World League, which advocates oppression of women, the death penalty for homosexuals and the elimination of democracy. This is because Saudi Arabia requires that Danish companies that want to export halal products to the wealthy monarchy have to pay to the Danish branch of the Muslim World League in order to be halal certified.”

Saudi-backed tycoon finances Jamaat-e-Islami

Mir Quasem Ali

Mir Quasem Ali serves as the de facto treasurer of Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI or simply “Jamaat”), the Islamist political party in Bangladesh with close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and militant causes.  He has served for nearly 40 years as Saudi Arabia’s money man in Bangladesh, being involved major Wahhabi-backed institutions since the 1970s.

Mir Quasem Ali (also often spelled Mir Kashem Ali) is in jail at the moment for war crimes he and his Al-Badr group committed during Bangladesh’s struggle for independence in 1971, but he is still sometimes touted as the party’s next leader.

According to one account, Mir Quasem Ali fled to Saudi Arabia after Bangladesh secured its independence, and returned after amnesty was offered in 1974.  He landed a job at the newly founded Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, Bangladesh’s biggest sharia bank (which itself has close ties to Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank), and he became IBBL’s director for many years according to an article by Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury:

…IBBL provides JEI an opportunity to launder money from abroad and also channel un-audited funds to various militant groups in the country and abroad. Islamic Bank Foundation (IBF), a JEI floated organization oversees all the projects of IBBL and profits generated by it and the interest / commission accrued on foreign donations goes to the IBBL account of IBF.

The IBF is headed by Mir Qasem Ali, JEI Executive Committee member and Country Director of the Saudi based Islamic NGO Rabeta-al-alam-al-Islami that funds a number of projects in Bangladesh. Mir Quasem Ali, the main brain behind JEI’s finances, is now in jail facing trial on war crimes charges. He remained Director of IBBL for a number of years since its inception in 1975…

Money Jihad readers will recall that Bangladeshi authorities say that IBBL has diverted 8 percent of its corporate zakat to terrorists.  The U.S. Senate also blasted HSBC last year for its banking relationships with IBBL.

In his role as country director for the Saudi-backed Muslim World League’s branch in Bangladesh—Rabeta-al-Alam-al-Islami Bangladesh—Mir Quasem Ali collected funds for local militants, Rohingya fighters from Burma, and Afghan mujahideen, which Money Jihad blogged about in 2011.

Mir Quasem Ali also sits on the board of the Saudi-funded Ibn Sina Trust, whose website describes his position with the trust and his previous positions with Rabeta-al-Alam-al-Islami and IBBL without referring to his current status in jail.

An article from the Policy Research Group in 2009 laid out additional details about Jamaat’s money laundering, terrorist financing, and business operations, and Mir Quasem Ali’s role in overseeing them:

Sheikh: preventing terror finance violates rights

Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulrahman Al-Hussein, formerly the chief of the presidency of Saudi Arabia’s two holy mosques and a member of the Senior Ulema Council, has written a 1,600 word opinion piece in the Arab News defending the transfer of funds overseas through “charity” from Saudi Arabia.  Hussein asserts that such “charity” is a personal freedom and human right.

In the piece, Sheikh Saleh Hussein slams a 2003 U.S. congressional hearing, which he claims had no facts, just emotional smears, about Saudi charities involved in financing terror.  He blames that hearing, subsequent arm twisting at the United Nations, and traitorous reporting by local Gulf journalists, for giving Saudi Arabia a bad reputation as the world’s terror financial hub.

If the evidence of Saudi perfidy is all based on false or exaggerated rhetoric, can the sheikh please explain the following events?

• Why the Saudi International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) branch in the Philippines, which was designated by the U.S. as a terrorist entity, was founded by Osama Bin Laden’s brother-in-law, Muhammad Jamal Khalifah—a senior Al Qaeda leader?
• Why Saudi Arabia conceded that Al Haramain (a charity that operated under the control of the government of Saudi Arabia) branches in Bosnia, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Pakistan were terrorist entities?
• Why the former head of Al Haramain in the U.S. was convicted last year to 33 months in prison for funding jihad in Chechnya?
• Why the founder of Saudi Arabia’s largest private bank (and the Sunni world’s largest sharia bank) was named in the infamous “Golden Chain” list of 20 financial benefactors of Al Qaeda, and why Saudi Arabia has resisted all legal attempts to access his bank’s records?
• Why Saudi Arabia sponsors telethons to raise money for suicide bombers?
• Why the chief of the Bangladeshi terrorist organization JMB says his funding sources include the Saudi-based Muslim World League and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth?
• Why the Saudi government continues to award public contracts to the Bin Laden family for construction projects?

Oh, and one more question.  Sheikh Hussein concludes his commentary by invoking a verse from the eighth chapter of the Koran (“The Spoils”), a sura which addresses taking the spoils of war from conquered infidels.  If the sheikh is truly interested in defending the principle of charity toward the poor, this is a quite remarkable passage to select!

Seven ways to stop funding terror

Money Jihad has previously proposed methods to limit zakat and hawala—two major mechanisms for funding terror.  Here’s a more comprehensive set of our recommendations that would reduce terrorist financing overall:

1. Drill, baby, drill.  The U.S. should expand offshore oil drilling, open federal lands for drilling, ease its permitting process for new refineries, encourage hydraulic fracturing methods that tap previously inaccessible energy sources underground, and approve the Keystone XL pipeline.  Increasing domestic U.S. and Western Hemisphere energy production will reduce reliance on Persian Gulf oil supplies and thereby minimize the profits reaped by hostile, foreign regimes that sponsor terror.
2. Eliminate foreign aid to Pakistan.  Pakistan uses its ISI spy service to fund the Taliban, the Haqqani network, and Lashkar-e-Taiba.  Continuing to waste money on Pakistan is not only wasteful when we can least afford it, but it is suicidal.
3. Study the true enemy and threat.  Among the most important concepts for the Western public to understand are:
   • The Koran calls upon Muslims to strive with their lives and wealth for the cause of jihad (Chapter 9, Verse 41).
   • Zakat, one of the five pillars of Islam, shall be allocated to several categories in accordance with the Koran 9:60, one of which is for those waging jihad for Allah.
   • Islam imposes the jizya tax on “infidels” living in Muslims territory (Koran 9:29), even today.
   • Islam calls for taxes on Muslims apart from zakat such as khums and ushr which finance terrorist organizations throughout the Islamic world.
   • Sharia finance is a destructive, opaque financial system that has kept Islamic economies in tatters for centuries.
   • Sharia banks and halal businesses are involved in financing terrorism.
   • Radical Muslims believe, as Anwar al-Awlaki instructed them, that there is a basis in Islamic law for stealing (through robbery, welfare fraud, tax cheating, etc.), especially if the theft takes place to finance jihad.

   If we fail to acknowledge Islam as the animating force behind terror finance, we’ll get confused and aim at the wrong targets.  For example, we’ve spent billions of dollars complying with extensive bureaucratic requirements such as currency reports that have yielded minimal results.

4. Launch a new offensive against Muslim American charities and entities that fund terrorism.  Pick a few of the highest profile ones and make an example of them by prosecuting their leaders and dressing them in orange jumpsuits.  Prosecute Islamic Relief USA under the laws against providing material support for terrorism.  Prosecute the Council on American-Islamic Relations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.  Strip the halal food certifier IFANCA and the mosque deed financier North American Islamic Trust of their tax-exempt status.

Jihad chief discloses Islamic charity donors

JMB chief Maulana Saidur Rahman

Maulana Saidur Rahman, the jailed chief of the terrorist organization Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), has admitted that JMB’s financial sources include the major Saudi international Wahhabi charities and the Great Britain-based charity Muslim Aid.  Here is Saidur Rahman’s account of JMB donors along with the countries where they are based:

• U.K.:  Muslim Aid
• Saudi Arabia:  World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY)
• Saudi Arabia:  Rabeta-al-Alam-al-Islami (an alternate spelling for Rabita al-Alam al-Islami, more commonly known as the Muslim World League [MWL])
• International Federation of Islamic Organisations (probably referring to the Nigeria/German-based International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations [IIFSO])
• Islamic World Committee
• Qatar:  Charitable Society (a front also used by Osama bin Laden)
• International Islamic Front (an alternate designation for Al Qaeda)
• Kuwait:  Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS)

Most of the above entities will be familiar to Money Jihad regulars.  Do not be lulled into the false argument that WAMY and MWL only have religious, charitable, or educational objectives.  They have violent, terrifying, and political objectives, and JMB’s bomb attacks have killed citizens across Bangladesh.  That Muslim Aid is still allowed to operate in Britain (or that RIHS is allowed to operate in Spain) shows the deadly consequences of Western political correctness and dhimmitude.

This information comes from Rajeev Sharma writing for the Sakal Times on Dec. 30:

Terror funds via Dhaka

Bangladesh has to do a lot more to curb terrorism

Under the prime ministership of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has cracked down on the jehadi brand of terrorism and terror outfits that have been needling India for years. But Dhaka needs to do more to make the efforts more effective. The Hasina government needs to clamp down on sources of funding to the militants.

Militant organisations like Jama’tul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) or Harkat ul Jehad Islam (HUJI) have been banned but not liquidated. Another set of leaders has taken over. Training camps continue to impart ideological and arms training. Mere banning will not serve the purpose. A top  JMB commander, Mustafizur Rahman Shaheen, who was arrested recently, said during interrogation that JMB has not been liquidated after its ban, or with execution of its topmost leaders Abdur Rahman and his deputy Bangla Bhai. He said JMB cadres were operating under various banners to stage Islamic revolution.

The JMB, HUJI and Islamic networks were spawned by al Qaeda and Taliban jehadis. They were trained by Inter Services Intelligence and Lashkar e Toiba. None of the umbilical cords has been cut for good. In all 20 local and foreign NGOs including al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s International Islamic Front finance radical Islamic groups JMB and HUJI. Huge funds pour in every month from Pakistani militant leaders, Sajedur Rahman and Hafiz Mohammad Ibrahim through the hawala channel to JMB chief Maulana Saidur Rahman. This was revealed by Maulana Saidur Rahman.

JMB chief Saidur Rahman said its activists learnt operational tactics of hitting multiple targets simultaneously from the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka. From them they acquired techniques for manufacturing explosive devices and arms. He said the JMB follows al Qaeda’s ideology and works to expand and strengthen al Qaeda’s base in Bangladesh. Information about location of JMB suicide squad members was disclosed by JMB military wing chief Boma Mizan and Zaved Iqbal, both of whom were arrested ahead of Saidur Rahman’s arrest.

Saidur Rahman said bin Laden’s International Islamic Front (IIF) has been offering financial assistance to JMB and HUJI regularly as part of its worldwide endeavour to assist all pro-al Qaeda outfits.

Muslim Aid distances itself from UoG, MWL

Responding to our post last week about a conference of the Muslim World League (the leading sponsor of Wahhabism on earth), a Muslim Aid spokesperson has contacted Money Jihad in an attempt to deny their links to the Union of Good (a pro-Hamas network of charities) and the MWL.  Muslim Aid tells us that it’s all based on a “misunderstanding.”

Muslim Aid’s credibility is questionable, but it is quite interesting and satisfying to see them throw UoG and MWL under the bus so quickly.  From Muslim Aid’s Communications Department through our “Contact us” page on July 26:

Name: Inlia Aziz
Email: inlia@muslimaid.org
Website: http://www.muslimaid.org
Message: Dear Sir/ Madam

I would like to bring your kind attention to the blog “World Muslim League plays host” which was published on your website on 25th July 2011.

I would like to inform you that Muslim Aid has never been a member of the Union of Good. It is based on a misunderstanding. Our regulator, the UK Charity Commission is aware of this unfortunate association which we strongly reject.

I would also like to inform you that our CEO did not attend the conference of the Muslim World League in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He is currently at Muslim Aid headquarters in London.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further queries.

Thank you

Kind regards

Inlia Aziz
Communications Department
Muslim Aid | PO Box 3, London E1 1JX | Tel: 020 7377 4200 Fax: 020 7377 4201 | Web: http://www.muslimaid.org

A few final notes.  First, it’s true that the U.K. Charity Commission is “aware,” of Muslim Aid, but it is also true that the Charity Commission has made an international laughingstock of itself for whitewashing Muslim Aid’s financial improprieties.

Second, Inlia Aziz may well be correct that Muslim Aid’s CEO did not attend the conference.  The Saudi Gazette reported that Muslim Aid’s assistant CEO was a participant.  I corrected that portion of my blog post accordingly, and followed up with an email back to Inlia Aziz, also on July 26.  I asked, “Did your organization send anybody to the conference in question?”

As of yet, no response.

World Muslim League plays host

Muslim Aid, a Britsh-based Union of Good charity (which means it funds Hamas), has sent its assistant CEO as a representative to a conference of the Muslim World League in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The Muslim World League is the primary financial vessel for Saudi hardcore Wahhabist ideological propagation around the world (see some recent coverage here and here).  MWL money put the conference together during which the “problems facing the Muslim world” are being discussed.

Yes, “problems,” and how, when, and where to line each others’ pockets to fund Islamist zealotry.  Meanwhile, the U.K. continues to slumber while a pro-Wahhabi, Hamas-funding “charity” thrives within its borders.

From the Saudi Gazette today:

MAKKAH – Several reputed scholars presented their papers Sunday, the second day of the three-day Muslim World League conference here on ‘Issues and Challenges of the Muslim World.’ The papers dwelt at length the causes and effects of the ongoing crisis in the Muslim World.

The scholars were unanimous in calling the situation in some of the Muslim countries as demonstration of modern sedition (fitna) and that the only solution to the misfortune befalling the Ummah is to seek refuge in Islam and the Tradition of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Sunday’s deliberations spread into three sessions and saw many prominent figures of the Ummah discussing topics like ‘Current Situation and Problems’, ‘Rights and Obligations’, and ‘Reformation of the Society.’

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh and Dr. Saleh Bin Abdullah Bin Humaid, Chairman of the Supreme Judiciary Council, chaired the morning sessions which dealt with in-depth discussions on economic and social situations in Muslim countries as well as challenges facing them and means of addressing them by Islamic teachings.

Eminent participants unanimously termed the holding of the conference as timely and important. “This conference is a very timely one and a very important one. The Muslim World is facing many crises. At this point of time Saudi Arabia is organizing this conference, and I appreciate Rabita Alam Al-Islami for leading the way and which will definitely contribute to the unity of Ummah,” said Hamid Azad, Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Muslim Aid, London.

“I hope this conference will pave the way for establishing peace in the Muslim countries and globally as well,” he said.

Azad praised the speech of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, in which, he said, four points have been outlined for maintaining order in the society.

A participant from India, Hussain Mudavoor, was upbeat about the timing and holding of the international meet and praised King Abdullah and the MWL for organizing the conference.

“Apart from a number of valuable presentation by Islamic scholars of the world, the best thing I found is the gathering of so many Muslim luminaries at one place, and that too to discuss the issues facing the Ummah. This is the character of Islam, which the Kingdom is upholding well despite upheavals in the Muslim society,” Mudavoor, Principal of an Arabic college in a southern Indian state, said.

The three-day conference is expected to release a final communiqué Monday.

Wahhabi money flows for Koran memorization

The World Muslim League, the Saudi grand poobah of Wahhabist indoctrination around the globe, recently sponsored an international Koran memorization and recitation contest in Pakistan for children.  Two Muslim World League subcomponents, the Holy Quran Memorization International Organization and International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) helped organize the event.  IIRO’s Philippines and Indonesia branches have been blacklisted by the U.S. for financing terrorism.

The winner was a 7-year-old.

The Pakistani Bait-ul-Mal (meaning “house of money,” the traditional Arabic term for the Islamic treasury), an agency funded mostly by Pakistani taxpayers, announced it would award over $3 million rupees (over $40,000) to the winners of each six categories of the indoctrination contest.  Additional cash prizes will be given to the children by the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan.

During a lavish ceremony for the Wahhabi-approved whiz kids, a former president of Pakistan praised Saudi officials for “their keen interest in support the people of Pakistan especially during the 2005 earthquake and 2010 flood.”

The cash awards are small in comparison to the billions spent globally on Islamism, but the attendance of such high-profile guests to the function demonstrates the relevance and influence the World Muslim League still exerts across the globe.

Here’s the report from the Pakistani Observer.  Pakistan’s International News had additional coverage on July 12.

IT IS they who truly follow God’s revelation, and are constant in their prayer, and spend on others, secretly and openly, out of what We provide for them as sustenance- it is they who may look forward for a bargain that can never fail, since He will grant them their just rewards, and give them yet more out of His bounty: for, verily, He is much-forgiving, ever responsive to gratitude. (35: 29-30).

These were the Quranic verses recited by a 7 year old Hafiz Jamal in a well attended function held at The national Library of Pakistan.

The function was organized by the Director General of The Muslim World League and Islamic Relief Organization Pakistan Office, Mohammad Abdu Atian to honour the top 10 Huffaz of Holy Quran among 1577 children below 10 years of age who took part in the annual competition. Children from all provinces of Pakistan participated in the competition.

Four prominent chief guest attended the functions. The are the former President of Pakistan Mr. Mohammad Rafiq Tarar, Chairman Baitul Mal Mr. Zumard Khan, the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Pakistan Mr. Abdul Aziz Ibrahim Al-Ghadeer and the Saudi Military Attaché Brig (Navy) Abdullah bin Saeed al-Ghamdi. Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Habbab, Director of Education in Islamic Relief Organization in Saudi Arabia also attended. There were a large number of Huffaz, their families and teachers. Representatives from print and electronic media were also in attendance to cover the function.

It was a high profile and well organized function. The Huffaz thrilled the audience with their heart-felt recitation of Holy Quran. Safi Mohammad Nawaz ( 7 years old) secured the first position. Khamsa Javed Ali memorized Holy Quran in just 115 days. Both were asked by Al-Ghadeer to sit on the platform of honour.

Hafiz Bilal Wazir who is 16 years old was introduced. He could tell you within a split of a second the entire detail of a given verse including in which page it is mentioned. Mr. Atian calls him the Computer. Others among the audience believe that he is faster than the computer.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Tarar paid rich tribute to Saudi Arabia and commended the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud and second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud for their keen interest in support the people of Pakistan especially during the 2005 earthquake and 2010 flood.

He also paid rich tribute to the Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Mr. Abdul Aziz Ibrahim Al-Ghadeer for his role in promoting the bilateral relations and personal involvement in the relief of the victims of the 2010 flood.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Zumard Khan announced a grant from Baitul Mal of Rs.3.1 million to be spent on the Huffaz. Last year, Baitul Mal donated Rs.2.5 million.

The Saudi Ambassador announced that he would arrange in the near future a dinner at his residence for the Huffaz and their teachers.

Prizes would also be distributed among all the Huffaz as a gesture of goodwill and encouragement from Al-Ghadeer.

The Muslim World League and Holy Quran Memorization International Organization have been recognized by the United Nations. They have now the status of Observer in the UN and OIC.

In collaboration with “ Holy Quran Memorization International Organiozation, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Muslim World League and International Islamic Relief Orgasnization regularly organize a grand annual function of prize distribution amongst the top Huffaz of the age of ten years or below on competitive basis.

The participants are selected from all over Pakistan. Five top selectees are granted return ticket for performance of Umra besides cash awards.

MWL funds new Kazakh mosque

The Muslim World League, undoubtedly wanting to overcome the shame of Borat, has journeyed to Kazakhstan to fund a new Wahabbi mosque.