The Brotherhood in Your Backyard: Helping Hand for Relief and Development
Renewed congressional scrutiny of the Muslim Brotherhood brings attention to the 29 organizations from the 1991 Memorandum, their offshoots, and their documented advancement of Brotherhood objectives
Helping Hand for Relief and Development, or HHRD, describes itself as an offshoot of the Islamic Circle of North America, or ICNA. A 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memorandum includes ICNA as item 26 on a page titled “our organizations and the organizations of our friends." Public filings show that HHRD grew into an $89.3 million nonprofit and reported more than $72.5 million in foreign grants and assistance in 2024.
At the same time, congressional records show that lawmakers raised concerns over HHRD’s alleged partnerships with Pakistan’s Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation and reported collaboration with U.S. designated terrorist organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba-linked elements, while House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul later pressed USAID over what he called “credible allegations” involving the charity. Those allegations were serious enough to prompt demands for investigation, even as HHRD continued to present itself as a mainstream humanitarian aid organization with global reach.
HHRD — A Self-Described ICNA “Offshoot”
Helping Hand for Relief and Development was not in existence when the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memorandum listed the Islamic Circle of North America as organization No. 26. However, HHRD’s own records place it within ICNA’s later institutional orbit. In a 2025 WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) report, HHRD stated: “Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) is an offshoot of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). We provide emergency relief and development services in other nations while ICNA provides relief inside the USA.”
An earlier HHRD annual report used similar language. While discussing relief work during the Alberta wildfires, the charity referred to the “Islamic Circle of North America Relief Canada (Edmonton Chapter)” as its “parent organization.” Those two documents provide the clearest basis for treating HHRD as an ICNA offshoot in this series.
ICNA’s public materials also present HHRD as part of its broader relief architecture. On ICNA’s relief page, the organization features “ICNA Relief” as its domestic U.S. arm and “Helping Hands” as the international counterpart. A dedicated ICNA page for HHRD describes the charity as a global humanitarian organization founded in 2005 and routes donors through the hotline “(855) 855-ICNA.”
Links Between HHRD and ICNA Leadership
Publicly available materials suggest that HHRD and ICNA have overlapping leadership and institutional ties. On ICNA’s own website, a webinar page identifies HHRD chief executive Javaid Siddiqi as “currently the CEO of Helping Hand USA and the former President of ICNA.” HHRD’s own “About Us” page lists Siddiqi as its CEO.
Other overlaps are visible as well. HHRD’s board includes Faizah Aslam, while Message International identified her as secretary general of ICNA Sisters. A 2023 ICNA South Central Region booklet also identified Faraz Khan as “President, Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) – South Central Region,” while HHRD’s board includes a trustee by the same name.
HHRD’s International Aid Network
On its website, HHRD describes itself as a “global humanitarian relief and development organization” responding to emergencies while also running long-term programs. It lists work in areas including education, healthcare and nutrition, orphan support, children with disabilities, physical rehabilitation, shelter relief, skills development, youth empowerment, in-kind gifts, and WASH.
Its 2025 annual report presents the organization at substantial scale. HHRD claimed impact on 4,213,222 lives through 15 programs, including emergency relief, healthcare, orphan support, WASH, shelter relief, and skills development. The report also stated that the charity worked across countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan, Gaza, Syria, Türkiye, Haiti, Mexico, Nepal, Bosnia, Indonesia, and several African states. These are HHRD’s own figures and descriptions, but they show how the organization portrays its international footprint.
Finances & Overseas Transfers
Public filings show that HHRD has grown into a major nonprofit. ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer reports that for the fiscal year ending December 2024, HHRD had $89.3 million in revenue, $88.2 million in expenses, and $82 million in total assets. Charity Navigator gives the organization a 100 Accountability & Finance score for FY2024.
The same 2024 Form 990 discloses $72,565,091 in “grants and other assistance to foreign organizations, foreign governments, and foreign individuals.” Schedule F lists activity across South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, East Asia and the Pacific, North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean, and Russia and neighboring states.
The filing also identifies foreign NGOs in Pakistan, Jordan, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Haiti. The filing further states that foreign transfers are reviewed by the director of programs, the chief financial officer, the chief executive officer, and the director of compliance.
Congressional Records & Alleged Terror Ties
Congressional records show that some lawmakers raised concerns about HHRD’s foreign relationships. In 2019, an introduced House resolution stated that HHRD had “openly partnered in 2017” with Pakistan’s Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, which the U.S. government had designated as a terrorist organization in 2016. The same resolution called for investigation into reported collaboration with elements linked to the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba
In 2023, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul pressed USAID over a $110,000 award to HHRD and argued that the agency had failed to investigate what he called “credible allegations” involving the charity. Publicly accessible data from USAspending confirms that the award existed.