Al Maghrib Institute, Islamic Fundamentalism, Madinah University, Al Qaeda, and the Saudi Connection
Al Maghrib Institute is a Wahabist/Salafist Muslim institute which freely operates throughout the United States and Canada. It was founded by Mohammed Alshareef, a Salafist preacher who was allegedly on a US State Department list of dangerous Muslim clerics after 9/11. Alshareef is a graduate from Saudi’s ultra-conservative Salafist/Wahabist Madinah University, the same university from where, as we will cite below, according to the Harvard Graduate School of Education, fifteen out of nineteen 9/11 hijackers graduated and from where international terrorist Osama bin Laden himself graduated.
Currently, Al Maghrib operates in the United States and in Canada, once claiming on its official website to have “the largest Islamic student body in North America”. According to this writer, its activities are beyond doubt a means to convey to hundreds, if not thousands, of unsuspecting North American Sunni Muslim youth the ideas and beliefs of the Wahabi and Salafi sect, who reject moderation in their faith, the following of expert interpretations (Madhabs) of any one of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence, and label ordinary Sunni Muslims and Sufis as ‘pagans’ and ‘grave worshippers’ (1).
Al Qaeda and 9/11 demonstrated to the world what Wahabism and Salafism can bring to the table, and as such, similar to the growth of global Wahabism and Salafism, Al Maghrib’s operating and growth in North America can never result in anything positive either. What follows are rational reasons for which Canadians and Americans of all faiths need to take action against Al Maghrib Institute and call for it to be closed down for good.
The Saudi Connection to Wahabism and Salafism
The link between Wahabism/Salafism and global terrorism is acutely embarrassing to Saudi Arabia, whose royal family has spend huge sums in spreading Wahabism and Salafism abroad (2).
Fifteen out of nineteen hijackers and Osama bin Laden himself come from Saudi
Arabia alone, and all followed the Wahabist and Salafist brand of Islam (3).
That fundamentalist Wahabism is the official religion of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia was documented by Freedom House Inc. (4), and reported by PBS back in
2001, after 9/11 (5).
Additionally, Freedom House’s study of Wahabism, Saudia Arabia and its school curriculum of hate too, concluded that the official Saudi Islam of Wahabism is conducive to the proliferation of the ideologies of hate and terror, like those held by Osama bin Laden and his followers (6).
Salafist/Wahabist Islam is the Islam of Al Qaeda
Investigators hunting Osama bin Laden’s network have discovered that all the suspected terrorists arrested in Europe follow an extreme Salafist/Wahabist interpretation of Islam (7).
Additionally, numerous studies carried out by the intelligence agencies throughout Europe and the United States clearly link Wahabism and Salafism to terrorism. UK’s newspaper Guardian reported that investigators in at least nine European countries working against the clock to track down suspected members of cells sponsored by al-Qaeda have found a Salafi connection in every case. (8).
In their book, ‘The Age of Sacred Terror’, Steven Simon and Daniel Benjamin, former Director and Senior Director of Counter-Terrorism on the National Security Council devote a full chapter to “Ibn Taymiyyah’s Children”-thereby linking Wahabism and Salafism to the Islam of Al Qaeda and the ideology of hate and terror (9).
The following excerpt is from the 9/11 Commission Report:
“Usama Bin Ladin and other Islamist terrorist leaders draw on a long tradition
of extreme intolerance within one stream of Islam (a minority tradition), from
at least Ibn Taimiyya, through the founders of Wahabism…That stream is motivated
by religion and does not distinguish politics from religion, thus distorting
both . . . It is not a position with which Americans can bargain or negotiate.
With it there is no common ground—not even respect for life—on which to begin a
dialogue. It can only be destroyed or utterly isolated.” (10)
In 2004 at a public policy conference at the Nixon Centre, Dr. Charles Fairbanks, the director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at John Hopkins University noted, “Not all Wahabis are terrorists, but all terrorists are, at least, influenced by Wahabism”(11).
Al Maghrib’s Connection to
Saudi’s Madinah University
The Islamic University of
Medinah has long been known as a recruiting ground for fighters, despite
periodic clampdowns. Formal teaching is of the ultra-conservative kind approved
by the Saudi royals.
Seventy percent of its students are non-Saudis, from 139 different countries
(12).
The leading centre for the study and export of Wahabist and Salafist ideas is the Islamic University of Madinah, in Saudi Arabia (13), which was founded by the King in 1961 to “convey the eternal message of Islam to the entire world”. Thus, the Saudi’s proliferated and export Wahabism and Salafism by teaching it at their infamous Madinah University (14).
The former
Kuwaiti
Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sayyid Yusuf ibn Sayyid Hashim al-Rifaie,
also a world renowned Islamic scholar, wrote the following about Saudi’s Madinah
University,
“You built a university in al-Madina al-Munawwara and named it the Islamic University, near the Master of Prophets, peace and greetings be upon him. People and scholars then flocked to it with their cherished children and sons, rejoicing at the chance of drinking form this spring, thinking it would increase them in love and followership of their Beloved, peace and greetings be upon him, his dear Family, his Companions, and the Successors. But there you were teaching them how to deprecate him and all of them! You also had the students spy on and surveil one another so as to report to you the names and activities of those you named grave-lovers (al-quburiy-yun)! Namely, those who made frequent visits and salutations upon the Master of Messengers and the Mercy of Allah to the worlds so that you might wage war against them, ostracize them and expel them! You would only keep whoever became your client and obeyed you- for those alone are truthful and trusted according to you.
Whoever graduated successfully at your hands, having drunk in the gamut of your beliefs, you sent back to their countries as your representatives to sound out your warnings and announce your glad tidings that their misguided fathers and way ward nations must renew their Islam. Such graduates you pampered with lavish salaries, opening offices for them and every conceivable opportunity. As a result, dissensions and enmity flared up between them and the Ulema and pious Muslims of the generations of their fathers and past Shaykhs. Such graduates resemble the time bombs you manufactured and filled with all kinds of bad opinions of others and deep-seated contempt. This has transformed Muslim countries, especially Africa and Asia, into battle-fields of perpetual dissensions among Muslims. This condition has even spread to the Muslim countries that gained their independence from Russia only recently, all the way to Muslim minorities and communities in Europe, America, Australia and elsewhere! To Allah is our complaint.” (15)
Also, in an article posted
on the official Harvard Graduate School of Education website gse.harvard.edu,
Jeffrey Gagnon from the Harvard Graduate School of Education had this to say
about Wahabism, Madinah University and the Saudi connection,
"...basic tenets of Wahabi Islam allow for the use of excessive violence for the proliferation of faith... Presently, Wahhabi fundamentalism is taught at Madinah University in Saudi Arabia. Madinah graduated fifteen of the Saudis who participated in the September 11 hijackings, as well as Osama bin Laden. Thus, Al Qaeda’s members perceive the conflict through the lens of Wahhabism and view the U.S. not only as political enemies but as religious ones as well” (16).
According to the official Al Maghrib Institute website itself, Al Maghrib boasts that 66%, meaning 4 out of 6 its the “instructors” graduated and were educated at Saudi’s Madinah University, the same university from which Osama bin Laden and fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers graduated as cited above from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Below are the biographies of all six of Al Maghrib’s instructors from their official website, all of whom do have a Saudi connection when it comes to the brand of Islam, and four out of six of whom graduated from Saudi’s Madinah University. One should be careful with not confusing Saudi Islam to Prophet Muhammad’s Islam, as mentioned above, the link to Saudi Wahabism and Salafism is what is being highlighted.
1. Muhammad Alshareef
“Muhammad Alshareef was born in 1975 and raised in Canada. In his youth, he memorized the Quran and later graduated with an Islamic Law degree from the Islamic University of Madinah, class of 1999. He is the founder of AlMaghrib Institute through which he teaches university-level seminars on Islam. AlMaghrib Institute seminars have been conducted across the USA and Canada, as well as in Australia.
While he continues to teach, Muhammad Alshareef now devotes much of his time to recruiting, training and advising other students of knowledge in becoming AlMaghrib Institute instructors. Being a true visionary with exceptional talents in motivating others, Muhammad Alshareef …actively keeps in touch with the online community at the AlMaghrib Forums” (17).
2. Yaser Birjas
“Yaser Birjas is originally from the holy land of Palestine and was born in Kuwait. He graduated as class valedictorian with the highest honors from University of Madinah’s College of Shariah (Fiqh and Usul) in 1996…After graduating from the University of Madinah, Yaser Birjas went on to work as a youth counselor…He is also an instructor at AlMaghrib Institute, an organization that provides trademark double-weekend seminars leading its students towards a bachelor's degree in Islamic Studies…” (18).
3. AbdulBary Yahya
“AbdulBary Yahya was born in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and very soon thereafter immigrated to the U.S. with his family. He grew up in Seattle, WA and after completing his primary and secondary education there, began his studies at the Islamic University of Madinah. It was at the University that he befriended Muhammad Alshareef, as they sat next to each other in the first year of their studies.Upon graduation from the Islamic University of Madinah’s College of Shariah, AbdulBary Yahya returned to Vietnam and Cambodia...He presently resides in Seattle, WA with his family, and is an instructor with AlMaghrib Institute…” (19)
4. Yasir Qadhi
“Yasir Qadhi was born in Houston, Texas and completed his primary and secondary education in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, after which he was accepted as a student at the Islamic University of Madinah. After completing a diploma in Arabic, he graduated with a B.A. from the College of Hadith and Islamic Sciences. Thereafter, he completed a M.A. in Islamic Theology from the College of Dawah…Yasir Qadhi is currently pursuing his doctorate… At AlMaghrib Instiute he teaches the Light of Guidance and the Light Upon Light courses, which focus on aqeedah.” (20)
5. Mohammed Faqih
“…Mohammed Faqih completed a B.A. in Islamic Studies from the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America in Fairfax, VA, and graduated in Quran Memorization and Recitation from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia…and is an instructor with AlMaghrib Institute...” (21)
6. Waleed Basyouni
“…Shaykh Waleed Basyouni graduated with a Bachelors in Islamic Sciences from Al-Imam Muhammad University (a university named after the founder of Wahabism, Ibn Abdul Wahab), Kingdom of Saudia Arabia; did his Masters in Islamic Theology, World Religions and Modern Religious Sects from Al-Imam Muhammad University…Shaykh Waleed is the latest addition to AlMaghrib Institute's faculty of instructors…” (22).
Hence, four out of six, meaning 66% of the instructors who teach young North American Muslim youth at the Islamic institute which claims to have “the largest Islamic student body in North America” graduated from the very same educational institute and university, perhaps even with the same curriculum of intolerance and hate, as international terrorist Osama bin Laden and fifteen of the nineteen hijackers from 9/11.
Al Maghrib Teaches Salafist /Wahabist Islam
Al Maghrib is accused by many of its former students of being Salafist/Wahabist organization, and as such, many of them have asked other young Muslims to boycott it (23). In these Blogs calling for an Al Maghrib boycott we read,
“Although they (Al Maghrib) refuse to label themselves anything but “Muslim”, this is really a childish way of trying to elevate oneself from sectarianship.
Since Al Maghrib doesn’t tell us what they are, labeling Al Maghrib as Salafi/Wahabi is difficult because one has to investigate their beliefs and teachings. On every issue imaginable between Salafi’s and the Ahl ul Sunnah wa’l Jamaat (Sunni Islam), Al Maghrib takes the Salafi position.
1) Bidaa’t Hassanat - A good innovation - Al-Maghrib teaches that this does not exist
2) Mawlid - An innovation which no one should participate in
3) Shirk - Accusations of Shirk are applied to the majority (Sunni) Ahlul Sunnah scholars and individuals, constantly. They actually have to teach people not to call others Ahlul Bidaat and AhlulShirk because it was getting so out-of-hand and obvious as to what they were doing in their classes. While they teach (now) not to declare it openly, they teach the students to believe it in their heart.
4) Madhabs - Don’t have to follow a Madhab. They teach Madhabs are based on something other than Quran and Sunnah. General idea is let al-Maghrib filter the Madhabs for you and give you the Quran and Sunnah for any fiqh question
5) Aqeedah - They teach Abd’ul Wahab’s ‘Tawheed’. What more needs to be said? The Ashari and Maturidi aqeedah are called something other than ‘Ahl ul Sunnah’
6) History - They teach that the majority of Muslims have gone astray
7) Personalities - They emphasize Ibn Taymiyya, Abdul Wahab, Bilal Phillips. Traditional scholars are ignored.” (24)
Conclusion
More and more “homegrown” young Western born Muslims are being radicalized by Wahabism and Islamist fundamentalist interpretations on a daily basis. This process of radicalization is very dangerous, as according to the experts cited throughout this article, such radicalization often leads to the acceptance of violent political Islam, the likes of which Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda follow. The vast majority of these “homegrown” youth learn their Islam from the internet, and the brand of this Islam is clearly, in every instance, Salafi and Wahabi Islam.
Al Maghrib Institute, which according to itself has the largest body of Islamic students in Canada and America, propagates the ideology of Salafism and Wahabism, the extreme ends of which result in the embracing of radical Islamist ideology, and at the very minimum developing the belief that terrorism against non-Muslims, Westerners, Sufis and non-Wahabi Muslims is Halal (permitted as per Islamic Law). It should be remembered that this is, again, according to numerous studies carried out throughout the world, by various intelligence agencies as cited in most of the media.
As such, that 66% of Al Maghrib’s instructors graduated from Madinah University, and its connections to the ideology of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda should be enough of a rallying cry for sane Canadians, Americans, their politicians and intelligence agencies, to consider taking serious action towards closing Al Maghrib down once in for all, or at the least, doing all they could to minimize its influence over North American Sunni Muslim youth.
This call of action is without even getting into other allegations against its founder Mohammed Alshareef, who was allegedly on a US State Department list of dangerous Muslim clerics after 9/11, and that his associate who teaches at Al Maghrib and is a role model for ‘the largest Islamic student body in North America’ Yaser Birjas, was allegedly in extensive detention in the United States.
Canadians and Americans need to wake up and be more vigilant against such organizations, the long term existence and operating of which can never be of any benefit to the peace and security of their nations.
References:
(1)
‘Advice
to Our Brothers, the Scholars of Najd’ by
Kuwaiti Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs
Sayyid Yusuf ibn Sayyid Hashim al-Rifaie
http://www.rifaieonline.com/advice.htm
(2)
Guardian:
Salafi Purist teaching backed by Saudi royals.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4285597-108952,00.html
(3) Ibid.
(4)
http://www.freedomhouse.org/religion/pdfdocs/KSAtextbooks06.pdf
http://www.freedomhouse.org/religion/pdfdocs/ArabicExcerpts.pdf
(5) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/analyses/wahhabism.html
(6) http://www.freedomhouse.org/religion/news/bn2005/bn-2005-2006-05-23.htm
(7)
Guardian:
Extremist view of Islam unites terror suspects
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4285597-108952,00.html
(8) Ibid.
(9) Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, The Age of Sacred Terror (New York: Random House, 2002).
(10) The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. http://www.9-11commission.gov/
(11) Understanding Sufism and its Potential Role in US Policy www.nixoncenter.org/publications/monographs/Sufism.pdf
(12)
Guardian:
Extremist view of Islam unites terror suspects
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4285597-108952,00.html
(13) Ibid.
(14) Ibid.
(15)
‘Advice to Our
Brothers, the Scholars of Najd’ by
Kuwaiti Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs
Sayyid Yusuf ibn Sayyid Hashim al-Rifaie
http://www.rifaieonline.com/advice.htm
(16) Harvard Graduate School of Education: Understanding the US-Al Qaeda Conflict.http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~t656_web/peace/Articles_Spring_2003/Gagnon_Jeffrey_USalQaedaConflict.htm
(17) Instructors Details: http://www.almaghrib.org/moreinstructors.php#Alshareef
(18) Ibid.
(19) Ibid.
(20) Ibid.
(21) Ibid.
(22) Ibid.
(23) Ibid.
(24) Al Maghrib Boycott: http://www.yursil.com/blog/2006/03/al-maghrib-boycott/