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Following Jewish Onliner’s report that CAIR-Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid is scheduled to speak in London alongside figures with documented Hamas and al-Qaeda-related histories, a deeper examination of the chapter has uncovered a series of connections stretching back more than 25 years.
They include an early CAIR-Michigan executive director who was later imprisoned for violating U.S. sanctions involving a two-million-barrel Iraqi oil allocation, a former chapter president who is now the father-in-law of Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and an early board member who co-founded a campaign supporting the head of a charity later designated by the U.S. Treasury over support to al-Qaeda.
The review also found that current CAIR-Michigan board member Jukaku Tayeb serves on the Founders Committee of the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA, an organization listed first in a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memorandum among “our organizations and the organizations of our friends.”
Jewish Onliner’s original report was subsequently shared on X by Mark Levin.
An Early Director Later Convicted in Iraqi Oil Case
One of the earliest documented leaders of CAIR-Michigan was Muthanna Al-Hanooti.
A June 2000 CAIR release announcing the opening of its Michigan regional office identified Al-Hanooti as executive director, according to records later preserved by the Investigative Project on Terrorism. Michigan corporate records from the same period also listed Al-Hanooti as CAIR-Michigan’s registered agent, according to the report.
Al-Hanooti later became the subject of a federal case involving Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi government. The Justice Department reported that Al-Hanooti pleaded guilty in 2010 to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after accepting rights to an allocation of two million barrels of Iraqi oil from Iraq in December 2002 without the required U.S. government license.
He was sentenced in March 2011 to one year and one day in federal prison.
Federal prosecutors had also charged Al-Hanooti with conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of the Iraqi government and making false statements concerning his alleged work on behalf of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.
Walid’s Record Before the London Conference
Walid became CAIR-Michigan executive director in July 2005 and has remained in the position for more than two decades. CAIR itself identified Walid as executive director since July 2005 in a 2007 account of the chapter. His tenure has included several controversial statements concerning Jews, Israel and Hamas.
During a May 2012 sermon at the Islamic Organization of North America mosque in Warren, Michigan, Walid asked who had “incurred the wrath of Allah” before answering in Arabic, “They are the Jews, they are the Jews.” The remarks were later documented by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
The same report documented a separate exchange involving the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. After another user asserted that Muhammad had ordered Jews killed, Walid responded that Muhammad had not personally ordered the punishment, saying Sa’ad ibn Mu’adh had ordered it and adding that “it was a correct one.” Walid’s wider explanation characterized the historical episode as punishment for wartime treason rather than violence against Jews generally.
Two years earlier, Walid drew criticism over remarks at a Jerusalem Day rally concerning the exclusion of Gaza’s governing authority from Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Critics interpreted the remarks as calling for Hamas to be included in the negotiations. Walid subsequently said, “I didn’t even mention the word Hamas.”
Walid is now scheduled to appear at The Thinking Muslim Conference in London on November 8 alongside Azzam Tamimi and Moazzam Begg.
UK Conference to Host CAIR-Michigan Director Alongside Hamas “Special Envoy” & Al-Qaeda Member
Jewish Onliner is an independent publication. If you find our work valuable, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You can also subscribe to us on WhatsApp and Telegram. Follow us on Instagram, Discord, and X.
Jewish Onliner previously documented Tamimi’s statements supporting Hamas and his description by Malaysia’s Bernama news agency as a Hamas “special envoy.” U.S. military records alleged that Begg belonged to al-Qaeda
El-Sayed’s Father-in-Law and the ISNA Connection
One of CAIR-Michigan’s longest-serving figures is Dr. Jukaku Tayeb.
CAIR identified Tayeb as the chapter’s president in 2007. ISNA’s current biography lists him as a current CAIR-Michigan board member and former president, as well as a member of the ISNA Founders Committee.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that ISNA Founders Committee members must contribute at least $5,000 annually and also contribute to its Founders Legacy Fund. Tayeb is also the father-in-law of Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat in 2026.
PolitiFact reported that Tayeb contributed $300,000 through June to Fighting for Michigan, a super PAC created to support El-Sayed, tying him for the PAC’s largest donor at that point. The PAC is legally independent of El-Sayed’s campaign, and PolitiFact found that Tayeb was a major donor rather than the individual running the organization.
Tayeb’s role at ISNA provides another connection.
A 1991 memorandum written for Muslim Brotherhood leadership in North America included an attachment titled “A list of our organizations and the organizations of our friends.” The Islamic Society of North America appears as number one on the list. A copy of the document later entered into evidence in the Holy Land Foundation case is preserved in U.S. Defense Department records. Additionally, ISNA along with CAIR were both identified as an unindicted co-conspirators in the case, which ended up being the largest terrorism-financing trial in American history. Jewish Onliner previously examined ISNA and the 1991 memorandum as part of its Brotherhood in Your Backyard investigation.
ISNA separately came under congressional scrutiny on September 16, when Rep. Keith Self of Texas announced that he had requested an IRS review of its tax-exempt status over alleged campaign activity surrounding El-Sayed’s convention appearance. Self cited reporting that El-Sayed’s campaign operated a booth at the event, distributed campaign materials, recruited volunteers and solicited donations. Self’s letter requested that Treasury examine whether the organization improperly intervened in the Senate race.
A CAIR-Michigan Board Member and the Free Rabih Haddad Committee
In a July 2003 statement published by the ACLU, Homam Albaroudi identified himself as both a CAIR-Michigan board member and a co-founder of the Free Rabih Haddad Committee. Treasury had designated Haddad’s organization, the Global Relief Foundation, in October 2002 over its support for al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
Treasury specifically identified Haddad as a GRF co-founder and senior official and said that he had previously worked for Maktab al-Khidamat in Pakistan, which Treasury described as a precursor organization to al-Qaeda. Albaroudi’s committee was formed to advocate for Haddad following his detention.
A Chapter With a Longer Record
The records shift the focus from one London conference to the continuity of CAIR-Michigan’s leadership and its overlapping institutional relationships. Walid’s two-decade tenure and Tayeb’s continuing roles at both the chapter and ISNA mean this history cannot be treated solely as a record of departed officials. The same individuals connect the chapter’s earlier years to its present public engagements and organizational affiliations.