North American Islamic Trust - Wahhabism

Wahhabism

Saudi Arabia has funded NAIT in order to spread Wahhabism, the conservative fundamentalist Saudi Arabian version of Islam that views other versions as heretical, in the US. As NAIT has helped US communities build mosques, NAIT in turn has been dependent on Saudi funding. According to a September 30, 2002, Newsweek report, "NAIT money has helped the Saudi Arabian sect of Wahhabism—or Salafism, as the broader, pan-Islamic movement is called—to seize control of hundreds of mosques in the U.S. Muslim communities." US law enforcement officials have indicated that they feel the mosques supported by NAIT have especially radical agendas. Furthermore, NAIT's book service promotes the writings of the founder of Wahhabism, Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab.

The mosques built through NAIT often require continued maintenance support from NAIT, which keeps title to the mosques, often appoints individuals to the mosques' boards of directors, appoints the mosque's imam (who is often Wahhabi), supplies free Wahhabi literature, and brings promising candidates to Saudi Arabia for additional indoctrination before sending them back to the US. The Constitution of Dar Al-Hijrah requires, for example, that the mosque at all times include on its 9-member Board of Directors the then-current General Manager of NAIT, Secretary General of ISNA, President of Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), and President of Muslim American Society (MAS). Directors serve for 5-year terms, and new Directors are elected by the then-current Directors.

The effort to spread Wahhabism has led to conflict with more moderate and less fundamentalist Moslems as with Saudi backing NAIT has seized control of mosques in various states including Florida, California, Illinois, Texas, and Arizona. "We feel this is very much a war for the heart and soul of our religion," said Jamaluddin Hoffman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, which represents Sufi Muslims. Khalid Durán, an Islamic scholar and author, said NAIT wants "all the mosques to be ideologically pure in their own Wahhabist line. They want to prevent others from having influence." Durán and others say NAIT often takes title to a mosque after extremists have seized control. Soon, Wahhabi literature shows up in the mosques and related Islamic schools, only Wahhabi-oriented speakers are allowed to speak, and women are often separated from men for services.