(Analyst's note: Absolutely must read. Ever wonder just how we get "homegrown" radical Muslims in the United States? A Muslim "missionary group" that on the surface appears benign to many is called Tablighi Jamaat - claim to preach in strict accordance with Qur'an and Sunnah - is growing within the U.S. It is estimated that 15,000 missionaries in U.S. alone are working to first convert primarily young U.S. citizens to Islam and then eventually giving the most promising converts the opportunity to prepare for and particpate in the Islamist Jihad of war against non-Muslims by going to Pakistain for four more months of additional "missionary" training. They are also offered the opportunity to receive military training. The result are jihadi Muslims. The Tablighi Jamaat, operating in over 80 countries (to include the Soviet Union, France, and England) in a coordinated operation, also seek to "revitalize" those who are already Muslim.
These Muslims preachers work generally in groups (called Jamaats) of 10-12 and in theory fund themselves. They all preach something that is very close to the radical Wahhabi-Salafi jihadist ideology practiced by most Islamists jihadists worldwide. Little is known about the secret group structure other than all Tablighi Jamaat leaders are said to be related to one man either by blood or marriage. At the top is the emir who presides over an advisory council (shura). They are known to have a synergistic relationship with the Saudi Wahhabis from whom they receive guidance, advice and of course large-scale funding. Sometimes the Wahabis even assist on the "missions." The World Muslim League is also a source of funding and support. "In both Western Europe and the United States, Tablighis operate interchangeably out of Deobandi and Wahhabi controlled mosques and Islamic centers.
In the past 20 years, the Tablighis have radicalized so much that they are a "[...] driving force of Islamic extremism and a major recruiting agency for terrorist causes worldwide." [...] "We have a significant presence of Tablighi Jamaat in the United States," the deputy chief of the FBI's international terrorism section said in 2003, "and we have found that Al-Qaeda used them for recruiting now and in the past." Harakat ul-Jihad-i Islami is just one violent spin off of Tablighi.
As for star pupils, we have the "American Taliban John Lindh," the "shoe bomber" Richard Reide, the "dirty bomber Jose Padilla, and Lyman Harris - just to name a few. This group is very likely a "trojan horse" within our country and represents a serious national security problem within the United States. It is critical that our federal gov't not continue to ignore this problem. With just the numbers alone, it is now certain that we will see more involvement - both at home and abroad -- of the Tablighi.)
"[...] The Tablighi headquarters in the United States for the past decade appears to be in the Al-Falah mosque in Queens, New York. Its missionaries—predominantly from South Asia—regularly visit Sunni mosques and Islamic centers across the country. The willingness of Saudi-controlled front organizations and charities, such as the World Muslim League, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth [WAMY], the Haramain Foundation, the International Islamic Relief Organization [IIRO] and others, to spend large amounts of money to co-opt the religious establishment has helped catalyze recruitment. As a result Wahhabi and Deobandi influence dominate American Islam.
"[...] Many Nation of Islam members found attractive both the Tablighi Jamaat's anti-state separatist message and its description of American society as racist, decadent, and oppressive. Seeing such fertile ground, Tablighi and Wahhabi missionaries targeted the African American community with great success."
"[...] The president of the Islamic Research Foundation in Louisville, Kentucky, a strong advocate of Tablighi missionary work, for instance, insists that "if all the Afro-American brothers and sisters become Muslims, we can change the political landscape of America" and "make U.S. foreign policy pro-Islamic and Muslim friendly." As a result of Tablighi and Wahhabi proselytizing, African Americans comprise between 30 and 40 percent of the American Muslim community, and perhaps 85 percent of all American Muslim converts. Much of this success is due to a successful proselytizing drive in the penitentiary system. Prison officials say that by the mid-1990s, between 10 and 20 percent of the nation's 1.5 million inmates identified themselves as Muslims. Some 30,000 African Americans convert to Islam in prison every year."
