Once again illustrating the close relationships among U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organizations, the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) announced in September that it Vice-President and founder Jamal Barzinji has received a lifetime achievement award from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Accoirding to the CAIR announcement:
Dr. Jamal Barzinji, founder, trustee and Vice President of IIIT received CAIR’s highest Achievement Award on Saturday, September 29th, 2012 at CAIR’s annual banquet held in Arlington, Virginia. Nihad Awad, founder and Executive Director of CAIR, presented the Award to Dr. Jamal in the presence of more than a thousand Muslim community leaders, leading politicians and representatives of Jewish, Christian organizations, and interfaith groups. Nihad Awad praised the life-long achievements of Dr. Jamal Barzinji and his pioneering role in establishing and leading Muslim student and community organizations in the UK and the US since the early sixties, including the Muslim Students Association (MSA), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) and the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), among others. He noted Dr. Jamal’s strategic vision for the American Muslim community as part of American society, his dedication to the cause of reforming Islamic thought to address the multiple crises of the Muslim Ummah and his inspiring leadership in all the organizations he served in. Following is his presentation speech:
Read the rest here.
A post from September 2008 reported that Dr. Jamal Barzinji, was awarded a Community Service award by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). The earlier IIIT announcement provided useful biographical information on Dr. Barzinji who can be considered one of the “founding fathers” of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood:
The award proclamation noted the fifty years of Dr. Jamal Barzinji’s service to Islam and Muslims in the West, beginning with his founding role in the establishment of Muslim Student Society of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland (MSS) in 1959. Most recently he has been the Recipient of the first Faith in Action Award given by the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD), Washington, D.C. in 2007. Along the way, Dr. Barzinji has served as President of the MSA (1972), founding general manager of North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) (1973), chair of MSA’s Planning and Organization Committee, member of ISNA’s Majlis Al-Shura, founding member of International Charitable Foundation, Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), and the Association of Muslim Scientists & Engineers (AMSE), founding member, Trustee and Vice President of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) (1981), dean of School of Islamic Revealed Knowledge & Human Sciences at the International Islamic University Malaysia (1994 to 1998), and advisor and consultant to various educational, charitable and professional organizations. Dr. Bazrinji has had progressive experience of well over forty years in development and leadership of diverse organizations (business, educational, think-tanks, political and charitable), such as Amana Mutual Funds, Mar-Jac Poultry, Safa Trust, SAAR Foundation, Bank Islam Malaysia, and Nada International. He holds Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, with a minor in Management from Louisiana State University, U.S.A. (1974), and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering & Fuel Technology from the University of Sheffield, England (1962).
A report from the Hudson Institute identifies all of the above organizations as part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. This biography interestingly omits Dr. Barzinji’s role as a one of the founders of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi youth organization that U.S. government agencies and officials have has helped spread Islamic extremism around the world as well as sponsoring terrorism in places such as Bosnia, Israel, and Kashmir.
The Hudson Institute report details how the IIIIT was founded in the U.S. in 1980 by U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Iraqi-born Jamal Barzinji and Hisham Altalib who wished to promote the Islamization of Knowledge as conceived by Ismail Al-Faruqi 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 and both organizations had been under investigation at that time by the U.S. Justice Department until at least mid 2007. 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, posts have discussed plans by IIIT to construct colleges in Bosnia and Lebanon.
Documents released in the Holy Land Trial have revealed that the founders and current leaders of CAIR were part of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as identifying the organization itself as being part of the US. Brotherhood. A recent post discussed an interview with the Deputy leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in which he confirms a relationship between his organization and CAIR. Investigative research posted on GMBDW had determined that CAIR had it origins in the U.S. Hamas infrastructure and CAIR and its leaders have a long history of defending almost all individuals accused of terrorism by the US. government, frequently calling such prosecutions a “war on Islam.” In 2009, a US federal judge ruled “The Government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (“IAP”), and with Hamas.”