AlMaghrib Institute

AlMaghrib Institute is an Islamic studies institute founded in Houston, Texas, by Muhammad AlShareef in 2002.[1][2][3] AlMaghrib provides courses on Islam in a six-day, two-weekend intensive seminar and other courses in a shorter, three-day, single-weekend format.[4]

AlMaghrib Institute
TypeNon-profit educational
IndustryEducation
Founded2001
FounderMuhammad Alshareef
Headquarters
Houston, Texas
Area served
United States,
Canada,
United Kingdom,
Malaysia,
Australia,
Sweden,
Denmark,
Singapore,
Ireland
Key people
Muhammad Alshareef, Waleed Basyouni,Riad Ourzazi, Yasir Qadhi
ProductsSeminars
Websitewww.almaghrib.org

Instructors

Most of AlMaghrib instructors are graduates of the Islamic University of Madinah,[5] which is why AlMaghrib is characterized as Salafi in ideological orientation, despite founder Muhammad AlShareef's commitment not to use labels other than "Islam" and "Muslim".[6]

AlMaghrib's notable instructors include the following Islamic scholars, who are listed on AlMaghrib's website.[7]

Academics

AlMaghrib's founders are working toward establishing an M.A. and Ph.D.-granting Islamic seminary with a permanent campus in the United States, featuring teachers as full-time faculty.[8]

Controversies

AlMaghrib has received a significant amount of public scrutiny because recordings by Anwar al-Awlaki, the highest English-speaking cleric in Al-Qaeda, continued to be sold at AlMaghrib events, although AlMaghrib banned these in 2009.[9]

In addition, analysts have studied students of the Institute who were later involved in terrorist actions or plots, and speculated about the teachings of the Institute. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who in December 2009 attempted to detonate plastic explosives on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, was found to have taken a class at the AlMaghrib Institute in Houston.[10] Abdulmutallab claimed that al-Awlaki had also been a student at AlMaghrib.[11]

"It's ironic that he came to us," said instructor Yasir Qadhi of AbdulMutallab.[12] Qadhi, of New Haven, Connecticut, has been involved in de-radicalization efforts in the United States and was a leading participant in the U.S. Counter-Radicalization Strategy conference organized by the National Counterterrorism Center in the summer of 2008. Qadhi, the Dean of Academic Affairs at AlMaghrib Institute told CNN, "At some level, we did not convince him of the validity of our views," and "that is cause for regret".[13]

The following former students at the Institute were later implicated in questionable activities: Daniel Maldonado, a convert to Islam, was convicted in 2007 of training in Somalia with a group linked to Al Qaeeda militia. Tarek Mehanna, a pharmacist, was convicted for conspiracy, in a case widely criticized by journalists and civil libertarians.[14] Two young American men were held in Pakistan in 2009 for seeking to train with militants.[15][16]

On the other hand, some other American Salafi groups have accused AlMaghrib of being "liberal" and "apolitical." As a result of this external and internal scrutiny, AlMaghrib has attempted to change its image and avoided the public use of any classification as "Salafi".[17]

Alshareef has been banned from entering Denmark[18]

References
  1. Asef Bayat, Linda Herrera, Being Young and Muslim: New Cultural Politics in the Global South and North, p 170. ISBN 0195369211
  2. Gary R. Bunt, iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam: Rewiring the House of Islam, p 122. ISBN 0807887714
  3. Zareena Grewal, Islam Is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority, p 330. ISBN 1479800902
  4. Asef Bayat, Linda Herrera, Being Young and Muslim: New Cultural Politics in the Global South and North, p 170. ISBN 0195369211
  5. Zareena Grewal, Islam Is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority, p 331. ISBN 1479800902
  6. Juliane Hammer, Omid Safi, The Cambridge Companion to American Islam, p 261. ISBN 110743386X
  7. http://almaghrib.org/instructors
  8. Juliane Hammer, Omid Safi, The Cambridge Companion to American Islam, p 262. ISBN 110743386X
  9. Zareena Grewal, Islam Is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority, p 331. ISBN 1479800902
  10. "Terror suspect was student in Houston", Detroit Free Press, 31 December 2009
  11. Zareena Grewal, Islam Is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority, p 331. ISBN 1479800902
  12. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/30/terror.suspect.seminar/
  13. Terror suspect attended 2008 Islamic 'knowledge fest' in Houston, CNN, December 31, 2009
  14. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/16/tarek-mehanna-punished-speaking-truth
  15. Zareena Grewal, Islam Is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority, p 331. ISBN 1479800902
  16. , New York Times Magazine, 20 March 2011; accessed 22 September 2016
  17. Zareena Grewal, Islam Is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority, p 331. ISBN 1479800902
  18. "Ny i Danmark". www.nyidanmark.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2018-04-07.
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