IIIT Announces 2nd Tour Of US Muslim Brotherhood For French Students

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For the second year, the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) has reported that students from their French affiliate have visited the US where they were given a tour of facilities tied to the US Muslim Brotherhood. According to the IIIT report:

A group of ten degree students at IIIT France visited The Fairfax Institute at IIIT to attend a course on History and Sociology of Islam in America in early March. Students accomplished course objectives through a series of field visits and lectures at IIIT and several institutions in the Washington area. These included American institutions such as the U.S. Congress, universities such as George Mason and Georgetown, national Muslim organizations, such as CAIR and ISNA, mosques such as Mustafa Center, Masjid Muhammad, and ADAMS Center, and the traveling exhibit of Collections and Stories of American Muslims. The diverse group of men and women in their mid-twenties to mid-fifties, most of them on their first visit to the United States, also experienced American culture through visits to museums where, among other things, they viewed the IMAX film on Ibn Battuta. The group attended the opening prayer at the U.S. House of Representatives delivered by the Muslim chaplain at Duke University, and joined the Jumu’a prayers on Capitol Hill. They socialized with IIIT staff and friends and families at dinners hosted by IIIT leaders. “Time seems to have stopped,” said one of the students as she observed the Muslim chaplain deliver the prayer at the House. She and her group intently observed people’s representatives taking the oath of allegiance before they left to continue their field visit. “Despite what we hear about problems around the world, I am impressed by the respect Muslims get in America,” observed another student. At each place, the group attended presentations and lectures from a number of scholars and activists who addressed different aspect of Muslim presence in America. At IIIT itself, the group attended lectures by IIIT leadership on the history and role of IIIT, as well as on Islamic finance and education. This was the second year that students from the academic program at IIIT France came to the United States for this course. The group arrived on February 28 and departed on March 6. They offered their impressions of the visit at the graduation ceremony on Friday, March 5 when they received their certificates for having completed the program successfully.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) are integral part of the US Muslim Brotherhood. The Imam and Executive Director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS), a prominent Muslim community organization in the Washington metropolitan area, is also the Vice-President of ISNA. A number of important U.S. Brotherhood leaders are known to have been members of ADAMS including the leaders of IIIT. Both Georgetown University and George Mason are closely tied to IIIT with IIIT having endowed a chair of Islamic Studies at George Mason. A post from the same time last year discussed the first visit of students from IIIT France who also toured the US Muslim Brotherhood.

According to a recent Hudson Institute report, IIIIT was founded in the U.S. in 1980 by U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Jamal Barzinji and Hisham Altalib who wished to promote the “Islamization of Knowledge” and who were also early leaders of ISNA. IIIT was associated with the now defunct SAAR Foundation, a network of Islamic organizations located in Northern Virginia that was raided by the Federal government in March 2002 in connection with the financing of terrorism and both organizations had been under investigation at that time by the U.S. Justice Department until at least mid 2007. The organization appeared to have withdrawn from public view following the 2002 raids but seems to be enjoying a renaissance of late. IIIT has a network of affiliates located in Europe, Africa, the MIddle East, and Asia. Although little is known about the activities of these IIIT affiliates, recent posts have discussed plans by IIIT to construct colleges in Bosnia and Lebanon.

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