Muslim Brotherhood-Linked Trust NAIT Controls Significant Portion of American Mosques

As Rubio advances terror designation, the North American Islamic Trust, cited in Brotherhood documents and terrorism cases, retains ownership of hundreds of U.S. mosques

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio moves forward with plans to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization, a Jewish Onliner investigation reveals that a trust linked to the Brotherhood holds titles to at least 400 mosques and Islamic institutions across America—a significant proportion of all Islamic facilities nationwide.

The most recent independent assessment of NAIT’s holdings, from the early 2000s, showed the organization controlled approximately 332 properties—representing 27 percent of America’s roughly 1,200 mosques at the time. In a 2023 announcement marking its 50th anniversary, NAIT stated it now serves as trustee for “400+ waqf institutions in USA and Canada.” Despite claiming income under $25,000 annually to avoid filing IRS returns, documents show NAIT has “advanced millions of dollars in interest-free loans” to Islamic centers and holds properties worth hundreds of millions across the United States.

Geographic distribution of NAIT-controlled Islamic centers across America, showing the organization’s reach into communities nationwide. Credit: NAIT Website

Federal court documents, congressional testimony, and public records show this organization—the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT)—was explicitly listed in the Muslim Brotherhood’s own 1991 strategic planning document. NAIT was also named as an unindicted co-conspirator in America’s largest terrorism financing case. The organization is currently led by board members who have publicly expressed support for jihad and the implementation of Sharia law “in all areas.”

The 1991 Blueprint

NAIT appears on a list of 29 organizations under the heading “our organizations and the organizations of our friends” in a May 22, 1991 memorandum authored by Mohamed Akram. The document, seized by the FBI and entered as evidence in federal court, describes a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with an explicit goal: “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Muslim Students Association (MSA)—the organizations NAIT openly acknowledges maintain a “foundational supporting relationship” with on its website—also appear on this list.

NAIT was established in 1973 by MSA, according to its incorporation documents, with original board members including known Muslim Brotherhood figures such as Jamal Barzinji, Ahmad Sakr, and Hisham al-Talib.

Excerpt from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Explanatory Memorandum from 1991 listing organizations designated as “friends”. Credit: Investigative Project

A Trail of Terror Ties

In 2007, federal prosecutors named NAIT as an unindicted co-conspirator in United States v. Holy Land Foundation, where defendants were convicted of funneling $12.4 million to Hamas. Court documents detail money flowing through NAIT financial accounts to Hamas leadership.

Though NAIT appealed to have its name removed from the co-conspirator list, U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis ruled there was “ample evidence to establish the association” between NAIT and Hamas, while finding the Justice Department had violated NAIT’s Fifth Amendment rights by not sealing the list. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this finding but refused to strike NAIT from the list.

Additionally, a 2015 investigation by the New York Post documented a disturbing pattern: NAIT-controlled mosques have been attended by terrorists responsible for major attacks on American soil.

NAIT purchased the property that became the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga in 1997, with NAIT agent Arif Shafi serving as both its registered agent and incorporator. Nearly two decades later, the mosque’s worshipper Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez killed five service members in a 2015 attack.

Fundraising materials from the Chattanooga mosque invoked the name of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader who issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The materials urged donations “in the cause of Allah” while featuring Qaradawi’s guidance.

The Islamic Society of Boston, also NAIT-controlled, counted among its worshippers both Boston Marathon bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as well as at least a dozen other individuals allegedly involved in terrorism. Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Virginia, owned by NAIT, allegedly provided assistance to multiple 9/11 hijackers and was also attended by Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. The mosque’s imam at the time, Anwar al-Awlaki, later became head of Al-Qaeda operations in Yemen before being eliminated in a 2011 drone strike.

The Bridgeview Blueprint

A 2004 Chicago Tribune investigation detailed how NAIT systematically took control of mosques from moderate Muslim communities. In Bridgeview, Illinois, Palestinian immigrants spent 27 years raising funds through bake sales for a mosque that practiced what they called “the Islam of flexibility and commitment to faith rather than fundamentalism.” In 1978, new immigrants promising Middle Eastern connections won election to the mosque board. Within three years, they had secured over $1.2 million from Kuwait ($369,000), Saudi Arabia ($152,000), and the UAE ($135,000).

The newcomers immediately replaced the community’s prayer leader and brought in Masoud Ali Masoud, a Muslim Brotherhood member from Jordan. They imposed strict rules: women must cover their hair, and genders must be segregated. When they moved to deed the mosque to NAIT in 1981, the original community fought back.

Their fliers warned that “the essence of NAIT is the [Muslim] Brotherhood” and accused the new leaders of “dividing the community and tearing down what we have been attempting to build for one-half of a century.” The battle turned violent, featuring fistfights and threats. After an internal struggle, a Cook County judge ruled for the hard-liners’ control over NAIT.

The mosque’s current imam, Jamal Said, was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case for approving donations to the terrorist organization. In 2003, Said raised $50,000 for Sami Al-Arian, later deported for leading the U.S.-designated terror group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Former mosque president Muhammad Salah served five years in an Israeli prison for financing Hamas operations and was designated a terrorist by the U.S. government. Osama bin Laden’s spiritual mentor, Abdullah Azzam, recruited fighters at the mosque in the 1980s. A bank closed the mosque’s accounts in 2005 for funding a group tied to bin Laden.

Current Leadership

NAIT’s current board of trustees includes three members with alleged ties to extremism and terrorism financing. Each appears on the government’s Holy Land Foundation co-conspirator list or has been identified in congressional testimony and federal investigations.

Gaddoor Saidi: NAIT’s chairman appears on the government’s Holy Land Foundation co-conspirator list. A 2020 investigation documented Saidi promoting Hamas leaders and Muslim Brotherhood ideologues on social media, including a February 2018 post featuring Adolf Hitler with a quote attributed to the Nazi leader under the heading “Words of Great Men.” His social media activity includes regular reposts from Shehab News Agency, a Hamas affiliate, and praise for Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader banned from entering the United States, England, and France for supporting suicide bombings.

Muzammil Siddiqi: A board member and former ISNA president, Siddiqi has lectured extensively on jihad, telling audiences “when people really carry on Jihad, they carry on the Islam in its peak” and warning that “no people have ever neglected Jihad except they became humiliated.” In a 2001 online dialogue, he stated that “once more people accept Islam, insha’allah, this will lead to the implementation of Sharia in all areas.”

He spoke at an October 2000 rally where he declared “Jerusalem belongs to Islam.” His mosque hosted Omar Abdel Rahman—the “Blind Sheikh” later convicted of conspiring to destroy New York landmarks—in 1992, with Siddiqi translating Rahman’s lecture promoting jihad in real time. In a 2001 interview, he told a reporter he “supported laws in countries where homosexuality is punishable by death.”

Bassam Osman: Serving as NAIT board member since 1980, Osman previously directed the Quranic Literary Institute, later implicated in terrorist funding litigation. Multiple congressional testimonies and Hudson Institute reports identify him as having “run-ins with the law with respect to financing terrorism.” His Illinois State Police chaplain appointment was revoked in 2010 after his extremist connections were exposed.

Image from Study, Muslim Brotherhood in the United States, published by the Hudson Institute, author Steven Merley. Credit: Global MB Research

The Financial Network

Former FBI agent Robert Stauffer’s 1980s investigation discovered “millions and millions of dollars” wired to ISNA through NAIT from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Egypt, Malaysia, and Libya. NAIT functioned as a “financial holding company for Muslim Brotherhood-related groups,” according to his findings. The ISNA/NAIT headquarters complex was funded by $21 million from Muslim Brotherhood leaders Youssef Qaradawi—who issued a fatwa calling for the killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq—and Youssef Nada, plus the emir of Qatar.

According to a 2007 report published by the Global Muslim Brotherhood Watch, a consistent pattern emerges: NAIT assumes mosque deeds, invests Saudi or Brotherhood money, drives out moderate leaders, and installs fundamentalist clergy who enforce conservative practices and Wahhabi interpretations. This same takeover strategy has played out in California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida. In one case, a Florida newspaper investigation documented that a mosque received “secret funding linked to Saudi Arabia” after NAIT took title.

Radicalism from the Pulpit

Following the June 2019 death of Mohamed Morsi—the Muslim Brotherhood leader convicted of ordering the murder of protesters during his brief rule of Egypt—imams at NAIT-affiliated mosques publicly mourned him and promoted conspiracy theories about his death.

At the Valley Ranch Islamic Center in Dallas, which maintains financial ties to NAIT, Imam Omar Suleiman claimed Morsi had been murdered, ignoring medical reports of a heart attack. Imam Yaser Birjas, also affiliated with the mosque, declared Morsi a “martyr.”

NAIT continues operating freely, holding titles to hundreds of mosques and financing Islamic centers nationwide, while Secretary Rubio navigates the legal complexities of designating its alleged parent organization as a terrorist group.