The current Jama`at al-Fuqara' is obscured by a vague public ideology, careful to avoid any reference to Islamist ambitions or armed struggle. MOA and its subsidiary, the International Qur'anic Open University (IQOU),2 carries out a number of public events and hosts videos and news of its activities online.3 Its Pakistan-based leader, Shaykh Mubarak Ali Gilani, and other U.S.-based leaders have done much to present a devout but always law abiding image, even organizing a Muslims Scouts wing for boys that helps the needy in their various communities. Fears persist, however, due to the group's origins as al-Fuqara', and whether the militancy present at some of its compounds could turn anti-American. Jama`at al-Fuqara' was designated a terrorist organization by the State Department in 1999 for its earlier offenses in the United States, including a range of firearms and explosives charges and a series of violent crimes.4 Yet its founder, Pakistani cleric Shaykh Gilani, continues to deny that such an organization called Jama`at al-Fuqara' has ever existed. Gilani expressed in interviews to the Pakistani press his fears that the U.S. government seeks to brand him as a terrorist and thus jeopardize the security of his thousands of followers in the United States, the majority of whom are African-Americans living in compounds largely isolated from the rest of American society.5 That fear may be true; the group's past ties to militancy and Gilani's own record are correctly a cause for concern for U.S. law enforcement and counter-terrorism officials.....
Jama'at al-Fuqara': A Domestic Threat to the United States?
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- Written by RC_Anderson
The current Jama`at al-Fuqara' is obscured by a vague public ideology, careful to avoid any reference to Islamist ambitions or armed struggle. MOA and its subsidiary, the International Qur'anic Open University (IQOU),2 carries out a number of public events and hosts videos and news of its activities online.3 Its Pakistan-based leader, Shaykh Mubarak Ali Gilani, and other U.S.-based leaders have done much to present a devout but always law abiding image, even organizing a Muslims Scouts wing for boys that helps the needy in their various communities. Fears persist, however, due to the group's origins as al-Fuqara', and whether the militancy present at some of its compounds could turn anti-American. Jama`at al-Fuqara' was designated a terrorist organization by the State Department in 1999 for its earlier offenses in the United States, including a range of firearms and explosives charges and a series of violent crimes.4 Yet its founder, Pakistani cleric Shaykh Gilani, continues to deny that such an organization called Jama`at al-Fuqara' has ever existed. Gilani expressed in interviews to the Pakistani press his fears that the U.S. government seeks to brand him as a terrorist and thus jeopardize the security of his thousands of followers in the United States, the majority of whom are African-Americans living in compounds largely isolated from the rest of American society.5 That fear may be true; the group's past ties to militancy and Gilani's own record are correctly a cause for concern for U.S. law enforcement and counter-terrorism officials.....
