The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) has announced the formation of its Council of Scholars in the US. According to the announcement:
IIIT announced today, Wednesday, December 16th, 2009, the formation of the Council of Scholars in the US. The Council of Scholars is to provide advice to IIIT on academic matters. It is comprised of eight senior scholars from American and Canadian Universities who are professors of religion, Islamic studies or social sciences with published works and current research interests that intersect with IIIT areas of interest and with a record of research and publications in the sociological study of Islam and Muslim world affairs.
Members of the Council include:
Prof. Abdul Hakeem Jackson – University of Michigan
Prof. Mahmoud Ayoub – Hartford Seminary
Prof. Sulayman Nyang – Howard University
Prof. Asma Afsaruddin – University of Notre Dame
Prof. Ingrid Matteson – Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian/Muslim Relations
Prof. Muqtedar Khan – University of Delaware
Prof. Mazin Hashim – USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences
Prof. Cemil Aydin – George Mason University
IIIT has indicated that the Council will play an important role in the supervision of IIIT academic programs.
According to a recent Hudson Institute report, IIIIT was founded in the U.S. in 1980 by U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Jamal Barzinji and Hisham Altalib who wished to promote the “Islamization of Knowledge” and who were also early leaders of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). IIIT was associated with the now defunct SAAR Foundation, a network of Islamic organizations located in Northern Virginia that was raided by the Federal government in March 2002 in connection with the financing of terrorism. The organization appeared to have withdrawn from public view following the 2002 raids but seems to be enjoying a renaissance of late. IIIT has a network of affiliates located in Europe, Africa, the MIddle East, and Asia. Although little is known about the activities of these IIIT affiliates, recent posts have discussed plans by IIIT to construct colleges in Bosnia and Lebanon. A report in the Washington Post from June 2007 indicated that IIIT and the SAAR Foundation were still under investigation by the Justice Department.
It should be noted that IIIT Council Member Ingrid Mattson is also the President of ISNA, which according to the Hudson report is an important part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. Hakeem Jackson is a former member of the Fiqh Council of North America and a past trustee of the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), both organizations being part of ISNA.
Asma Afsaruddin and Muqtedar Khan have been important leaders of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID). CSID was founded in 1998 and many members of the early CSID board were associated with IIIT.
These are further examples of the interlocking leadership of the U.S. Brotherhood.