Imam at U.S. Mosque Connected to Terrorists Refuses to Criticize ISIS

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik is the outreach director for Dar al-Hijrah, a mosque with quite a disturbing history that includes the attendance of three 9/11 hijackers; Anwar al-Awlaki as the Imam; unindicted co-conspirator in the first World Trade Center attack Mohammed al-Hanooti as an Imam; a current Imam and colleague named Shaker Elsayed who founded a Muslim Brotherhood front organization; and was attended by Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi before the latter was banned form the U.S. in 1999.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik speaks at Dar al-Hijrah.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik speaks at Dar al-Hijrah.

Despite all that, Abdul-Malik is openly encouraging Muslims not to condemn ISIS. Why? Well, if you can follow the (il)logic, it’s the fault of everyone who thinks Muslims should condemn ISIS in the first place; somehow it must be racist:

American Muslim leaders gathered at Washington’s National Press Club late last month to release a scathing 17-page letter to the Islamic State that distanced mainstream Muslims from the militant group’s actions. But one prominent imam from Northern Virginia refused to give his endorsement.

“It sounded like they were apologizing for something they haven’t done, like they were running for cover,” Imam Johari Abdul-Malik said in an interview with The Huffington Post.

President Barack Obama has called on the world’s Muslims to “explicitly, forcefully and consistently reject” the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, while Secretary of State John Kerry recently said that Muslims need to “reclaim Islam.” In response, some of the largest Muslim organizations have issued sweeping condemnations of the militant group’s extremism. The letter unveiled at the National Press Club had the signatures of 126 prominent Islamic scholars, including the grand muftis of Egypt, Jerusalem, Bulgaria and Kosovo.

But not all Muslims have engaged in these condemnations. Many have written blog posts and created social media campaigns to criticize what they see as Muslim institutions’ knee-jerk instinct to decry faraway atrocities that are unconnected to their communities.

“Dr. King said we are all caught up in a network of mutuality — whatever affects one directly will indirectly affect the other,” Abdul-Malik said. “If I speak up against ISIS, it’s because I’m a human being, not because I’m a Muslim.”

Abdul-Malik has spoken frequently of the Islamic State in his Friday sermons at Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia. His mosque is one of the largest Islamic prayer centers in the Washington, D.C. area, serving 3,000 worshippers each Friday.

“I talk about it because I want to tell our community to keep their heads up,” he said. “I talk about it so young people don’t get caught up in any false theology.”

Abdul-Malik is one of many Muslims who have found themselves in an ongoing debate as global concern grows over the Islamist movement in Syria and Iraq. They’re having lively conversations at mosques and universities, in living rooms and on social media about how much Muslims should condemn the Islamic State — or if they should do so at all.

Again, a huge problem for Abdul-Malik is the mosque he serves. Consider one of his fellow Imams at Dar al-Hijrah. His name is Shaker Elsayed, founder of the Muslim American Society (MAS). Elsayed admitted that the organization is Muslim Brotherhood. In a 2013 video, Elsayed also promoted armed Jihad and suggested Muslims pick up arms:

As Shoebat.com reported, Abdul-Malik also has a connection to the Imam / Resident Islamic Scholar of the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB), Suhaib Webb. The ISB was attended by the Tsarnaev brothers and founded by a convicted terrorist.

Prior to studying in Cairo’s al-Azhar University beginning in 2004, Webb was the Imam at the same Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City (ISGOC) mosque attended by Alton Nolen, who beheaded a woman in Moore, OK on September 25th of this year. Two days prior to 9/11, Webb joined then Dar al-Hijrah mosque Imam Anwar al-Awlaki for a fundraiser.

In light of the similarities between ISIS and how Nolen carried out his beheading, perhaps Abdul-Malik’s refusal to condemn ISIS is even a bit more ill-advised.

Sohaib Webb (L) and Dar al-Hijrah's Johari Abdul Malik.

Sohaib Webb (L) and Dar al-Hijrah’s Johari Abdul Malik.

Below is audio from what purports to be the 2010 Muslim Public Affairs Council’s annual convention at the Adams Center. The voice of Abdul-Malik can be heard at the beginning during which he heaps praise on Mohamed Magid, who has been identified by the Investigative Project on Terrorism as a Muslim Brotherhood infiltrator of the Obama administration, as has the founder of MPAC, Salam al-Marayati.

At about the 4:30 mark, Webb can be heard speaking:

Last year, Hussam Ayloush, the Executive Director of a Muslim Brotherhood front group seemed to employ the same strategy as Abdul-Malik when asked if his group would condemn Hamas. The argument falls apart, especially because Ayloush’s group is a front for Hamas:

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