The Islamic Center of Jersey City (ICJC) has a history of links to extremism.
The president of ICJC, Ahmed Shedeed, is a Muslim Brotherhood supporter. His Facebook page has a photo of him at a rally in New York City for Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who was the Brotherhood’s candidate. He also “likes” the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and three Arabic pages that have Morsi as their main photo. He repeatedly shares Brotherhood-themed photos on his page.[1]
The ICJC website features Islamist preaching. It advises Muslims to respond to questions about jihad by attacking U.S. foreign policy:[2]
“Why should we be on the defensive? Why don’t we adopt a more assertive attitude? If they confront us with one question, we should respond with ten of our own. If they ask us about jihad, we should ask them about America’s openly aggressive policies in many parts of the world, not to mention all of their covert operations.”
It also justifies jihad as a fight against oppression (which it previously accused the U.S. of being guilty of) and “worldly” rule:
“The Islamic teachings about jihad are what uproots oppression and guarantees people the freedom to think and to choose their religion for themselves without being under any compulsion. Islam seeks to have people freely submit themselves to their Creator and not be placed under the subjugation of any worldly dictator, race, tribe, or nationality.”
It preaches that the West is racist:
“We can stress how Islam teaches equality between all people. There is no preference for anyone over anyone else except by a person’s piety and virtue. This is the way to do away with the problem of racism that people in the West suffer from.”
It justifies polygamy:
“If they ask you about polygamy, ask them about the sexual promiscuity that is rife in their societies that has brought humiliation to so many women and allowed men to absolve themselves of their responsibilities towards them and towards their children?”
The ICJC website also links[3] to an article asking the question, “Does Islam Allow Wife Beating?” The answer is yes, “light disciplinary action in order to correct the moral infraction of his wife” is justified in “extreme cases.” The face may not be touched and it cannot leave marks.
Offenses permitting such physical “discipline” include “persist[ing] in bad habits and showing contempt of her husband and disregard for her martial obligations” and “lewdness on the part of the wife or extreme refraction and rejection of the husband’s reasonable requests on a consistent basis.”[4]
The ICJC’s director from 1978 to 1990, Mohammed Al-Hanooti, was president of the Islamic Association for Palestine from 1984 to 1986. It was a pro-Hamas organization and Muslim Brotherhood front. Al-Hanooti also attended a secret meeting of U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas members and supporters in Philadelphia in 1993.[5] A 1988 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood document lists Al-Hanooti as the head of one of its committees.[6]
A 2001 FBI memo states that informants reported that he is a “big supporter” of Hamas and was “purportedly holding fund-raising activities, as well as supporting visitors to the United States from Israel and Jordan, to speak on behalf of HAMAS.” Another FBI informant reported “in 1993, that Al-Hanooti collected over six million U.S. dollars for support of HAMAS in Israel.”[7]
[ad] He left ICJC to serve as the director of the Hamas-linked Islamic Center of Passaic County until 1995. He was then the imam of the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center until 1999. He has been a member of the Fiqh Committee of the Islamic Society of North America since 1978.[8]
Mohammad Salameh, a terrorist convicted for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, often attended the mosque in the early 1990s. Al-Hanooti was also named a “possible unindicted co-conspirator” in the plot.[9]
In 2000, the ICJC’s imam, Sayyid Askar, said, “Jihad is an absolute obligation upon those whose land has been occupied, and all Muslims have to stand together to repulse the enemy.”[10]
[1] Mauro, Ryan. “Four Islamists on Gov. Christie’s Muslim Outreach Committee,” RadicalIslam.org, November 15, 2012. https://www.radicalislam.org/analysis/four-islamists-gov-christies-muslim-outreach-committee
[2] “Article,” ICJC website, https://www.icjc.net/page8.html
[3] “Article.”
[4] “Does Islam Allow Wife-Beating?” Islamic Finder, https://www.islamicfinder.org/articles/article.php?id=307&lang=english.
[5] “Islamic Center of Jersey City,” Investigative Project on Terrorism, https://www.investigativeproject.org/case/404.
[6] Merley, Steven. “The Muslim Brotherhood in the United States,” Hudson Institute, Research Monographs on the Muslim World, Series No. 2, Paper No. 3, April 2009. https://www.currenttrends.org/doclib/20090411_merley.usbrotherhood.pdf
[7] “Extremism and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA),” February 2007, https://globalmbreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/20080127_extremism_and_isna.pdf.
[8] “Muhammad Ali Al-Hanooti,” On Islam, https://onislam.net/english/news/259-Advisers/169964.html.
[9] “Islamic Center of Jersey City.”
[10] “Islamic Center of Jersey City.”