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Al-Muntada Trust
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The Al-Muntada Trust is an international charitable organisation, initially founded in the United Kingdom, which aims to provide food, education and community outreach in impoverished countries.[1]
Although the organisation has done good work in these areas, it has also been heavily criticised for its links to militant Islamist organisations and support for Islamic fundamentalism, as described in a 2005 report from The Center for Security Policy:
Al-Muntada has, incidentally, been particularly active in promoting Wahhabi-style Islamism in Nigeria. As explained by a Sufi of Kano state, “before al-Muntada came to Kano there had been little or no inter-religious conflict…Now…we are almost on the verge of civil war.” Al-Muntada, he explains, pays for Nigerian clerics to be “brainwashed” in Saudi universities and imposed on Nigerian Muslims through its well-funded network of mosques and schools.[2]
The charity funded an armed group that launched a rebellion in Yobe State in 2004,[3] and it has reportedly also given funds to the brutal paramilitary group Boko Haram.[4]
In 2004 the charity's director, Sheik Muhiddeen Abdullahi, was arrested. It was discovered that he had conducted millions of dollars worth of financial transactions with the fundamentalist cleric Alhaji Sharu.[5]
In 2012 the Al-Muntada Trust organised a conference to be held at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London. The speakers who were invited to the event included Abd al-Aziz Fawzan al-Fawzan, who said that all "infidels", even one's relatives, should be hated and that homosexuality is an "abomination"; Muhammed Abd Al-Rahmen Al-Arifi, who says that the US and its allies are "infidel countries" and regards Shia Muslims as "evil"; the all-round nut Haitham al-Haddad; and Nabil Al-Awadhi, who says that homosexuals and emos are dangers to society, that Europeans are in the thrall of Satan, and that there should be video games about killing Jews.[6] The conference was cancelled following complaints.[7]
Other fundamentalists hosted by the charity in the past include Ali Al-Timimi, who was sentenced to life in prison after recruiting fighters for the Taliban; Abuz Zubair, owner of the extremist forum Islamic Awakening; and Khalid Yasin, a 9/11 truther who says that homosexuals should be executed.[8]
External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ What We Do, Al-Muntada Trust.
- ↑ David McCormack, An African Vortex: Islamism in Sub-Saharan Africa. Center for Security Policy via offnews.info, January 2005.
- ↑ J. Peter Pham, Militant Islamism's Shadow Rises Over Sub-Saharan Africa. Archived from World Defense Review, 6 May 2004.
- ↑ Boko Haram’s funding traced to UK, S/Arabia - Sect planned to turn Nigeria into Afghanistan - Arrested kingpin opens up. Archived from Nigerian Tribune, 13 February 2012.
- ↑ Authorities Arrest Sponsor of Muslim Militants. Archived from Compass Direct News, 15 March 2011.
- ↑ Call to action: Grand Connaught Rooms to host Jihadist conference. Archived from Harry's Place, 25 June 2012.
- ↑ Grand Connaught Rooms Jihadist Conference: Event cancelled. Archived from Harry's Place, 21 June 2012.
- ↑ ISIS’s Banker, Al Muntada Trust, and senior Labour MPs. Harry's Place, 1 September 2014.