Arizona is a hotbed of al-Qaeda activity in the U.S...
The Islamic Center of Tucson
Located in Tucson, Arizona.
At least a dozen terror‐linked individuals have been tied to the Islamic Center of Tucson (ICT). The mosque and the state of Arizona are mentioned 59 times in the 9/11 Commission Report.
The mosque also has significant links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. The Islamic Center of Tucson’s bylaws state that the North American Islamic Trust is the trustee and beneficiary of its property. The bylaws also mandate relationships with multiple groups that have Muslim Brotherhood origins.
The Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Students Association and the Muslim Arab Youth Association (a now‐defunct U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity) are allowed to have offices on the premises. The bylaws also require that the ICT work with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Phoenix mosque is long-standing FBI target
When Elton Simpson was convicted in federal court on charges he lied to the FBI, his case and its
connection to one Phoenix mosque had a familiar ring.
Within the past 10 years, another Muslim here was convicted in federal court on similar charges while another was sentenced to prison in a terrorism case. All three cases started as terrorism probes but ended with successful convictions on far less sinister charges, lying to agents or illegally supplying sensitive information.
Simpson was fatally shot Sunday in a planned attack in Texas, along with his roommate and one-time employer, Nadir Soofi. People who knew them were shocked because the act didn't fit their picture of the men.
Less shocking to Muslim leaders here was that the men once attended the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix or that FBI agents are contacting other members of the mosque. The house of worship has been in the news before, in high-profile incidents and linked to terror probes.
"They know my number," the mosque's president, Usama Shami, said of the FBI.
Agents began questioning Simpson in the mid-2000s after they talked a Somali man into being their confidential informant. The bureau paid the informant $132,000.
Shami said he has no problem with the FBI sending agents and informants into the mosque and tells the bureau "the mosque is the first line of defense, not the breeding ground or recruitment center."
"The problem is if you send somebody to spy as an informant, they can instigate," he said. "That's my problem. They're putting ideas in the heads of people."
The FBI declined comment on the case Wednesday, citing its ongoing investigation.
Deedra Abboud, a Muslim convert and a former community activist-turned-lawyer, said Wednesday that members of the mosque beside Interstate 17 were scared and that "everybody's being pressured by the FBI."
Federal agents were reportedly back at the mosque Thursday questioning people.
While the FBI's case bothered Simpson, she said so did a sense that the mosque turned its back on him.
"It was a combination of the two things: harassment by the FBI and the Muslim community avoiding him like the plague," said Abboud, who helped raise money for Simpson's bail and knows many of his closest acquaintances.
"It was the isolation," she said. "My theory is that he was upset with the Muslim community and he became more susceptible to radical ideas."
Shami disagreed that the mosque shunned Simpson. The mosque did decline to raise money for his legal defense, he said, because members were concerned with not knowing where the FBI case would lead.
"Our first priority is to protect the mosque. It cannot be part of any federal case," he said, adding that Simpson was always welcome to attend even after his conviction.
In 2008, the FBI arrested Akram Musa Abdullah, a 54-year-old Palestinian man living in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, Ariz.
Agents raided his house and hauled out a truckload of evidence. In interviews, agents asked him if he had raised money for the Holy Land Foundation, a group that supported Palestinian charities but also funneled money to Hamas and Hezbollah, according to claims the Bush administration made when it outlawed support for the organization.
Abdullah told agents never had raised money for the group and prosecutors accused him of lying to a federal agent in a terrorism-related case. A year later, Abdullah entered a plea agreement and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Also in 2008, a federal jury in Connecticut convicted another Muslim with roots in the Phoenix area, Hassan Abu-Jihaad, 32, after FBI agents reportedly recorded the Navy veteran and another man plotting an attack on a military recruiting station.
Investigators said they found an e-mail from Abu-Jihaad in which he shared with a London-based radical Islamic website the movements and vulnerabilities of a U.S. Navy battle group as it passed through the Straits of Hormuz. Abu-Jihaad was convicted of unlawfully communicating national defense information and sentenced to 10 years.
Abboud, the lawyer, helped Abu-Jihaad at the time and described him as an average guy overwhelmed with the charges. Neighbors described him as mild-mannered and polite.
Abu-Jihaad had other similarities to the Texas shooters: Like them, he had life struggles. Like them, he and his would-be conspirator attended the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, court records showed.
Shami said he never saw him there.
And as in current case, mosque leaders said he wasn't treated to fire-and-brimstone sermons inside the sand-colored mosque.
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix physician specializing in internal medicine and a self-described moderate Muslim, said he doesn't think any preacher poured hateful ideas into the defendants' heads but said they've not done enough to quell hatred of the United States.
"There are four steps to radicalization," he said. "Step 1 is the demonization of America."
Abboud disagrees about the degree of the problem but does acknowledge that extremist views exist in this area. Some people have told her that mocking the prophet Mohammed is a greater sin than taking a human life.
"There is a portion of society that is very confused about Islam," she said. "It's picking and choosing which version to follow."
Into that climate, the north Phoenix mosque was caught up in two other incidents.
In 2006, a delegation of Phoenix-area imams, including from the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, traveled to Minneapolis. After boarding the return flight, some passengers grew nervous about their on-board prayers. They were removed from the flight, handcuffed and interrogated.
They sued the airline and others. The case was dismissed in federal court in 2010.
Sons of those of imams and of the accused Mesa fundraiser Abdullah also were arrested in 2008 in a gun case.
They were part of group of about 20 young Muslim men who went to the desert near north Phoenix and fired hundreds of rounds from automatic rifles at a rock. The fusillade lasted an hour.
The Arizona Counter Terrorism Center, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives all were notified. Cases were brought in Maricopa Superior Court.
Most involved minor weapons charges and were settled without trial. Some young men reported the incident ruined their futures
Islamic leaders here were furious even as they said it was a typical Arizona way for young men to have innocent fun.
"I'm one of those who got mad. They went over there just to have fun shooting. ... It's showing off," said Soliman Saadeldin, brother of one of the so-called "Flying Imams," and a board member at the Islamic center at the time.
The case was another episode in a string in which the FBI looked into the activities of the Phoenix-area mosque.
Sunday in Texas, they had another reason, and it brought back all the old suspicions and fears.
"Everybody wants to say it's somebody else's fault and that it's not fair. Everybody has some responsibility," Abboud said.
Mosque where one Texas shooter had worshiped has been target of several FBI probes.
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