RUTHFULLY YOURS

The South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF), an umbrella group representing most if not all of South Florida’s radical Muslim organizations and mosques, has reported on its website (SoFlo Muslims) that it will be conducting town hall meetings featuring local imams. On the promotional piece the group put out concerning this project is a photo of Izhar Khan, an imam that was charged by the US government with participating in a conspiracy to provide funds to the Taliban for the purpose of murdering American troops overseas. For this reason and more, any town hall event put on by this group should be considered a threat to the community.

SFMF was founded in April 2017. The group’s member organizations include entities linked to international terrorism. The Executive Director of SFMF, Nezar Hamze, who also holds the position of Sheriff’s Deputy at the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO), previously worked for the Hamas-related group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR is a member of SFMF. The SFMF Public Relations Director, Wilfredo Ruiz, is also from CAIR. Recently, SFMF parted ways with its Facebook Manager, Abdurahman al-Ghani, who had used social media to refer to Jews as “demonic” and to proclaim that Islam “will over-take the World in numbers.”

On July 6th, SFMF put out a message that read, in part: “The South Florida Muslim Federation gathered the Council Of Imams at the Islamic Center of South Florida to discuss important community projects and challenges the community is facing. During the meeting, the Imams unanimously agreed to hold unified Town Hall meetings where the community can interact with the Imams and ask questions.”

The Islamic Center of South Florida (ICOSF) is located at 1641 NW 15th Street, in Pompano Beach. The property is owned by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), a Muslim Brotherhood-related group that the US government named a party to the financing of Hamas. Maintaining its Brotherhood existence, this month, ICOSF honored the legacy of recently deceased ex-Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Speaking at the event were member of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt, Mostafa Hindawee, and member of the Central Executive Council of Pakistani Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami, Asif Luqman Qazi.

The graphic that SFMF is using to promote its town hall project – on its website and on social media – contains a photo of Izhar Khan, the imam of Masjid Jamaat Al-Mumineen (MJAM). For the Muslim Federation to use Khan or his mosque in any type of capacity is a matter of controversy, as Khan spent 20 months in a Miami federal detention center for his alleged participation in the terror financing scheme to ship $50 thousand to the Pakistani Taliban for the specific goal of murdering American troops overseas.

As stated by the US Justice Department, “Izhar is a Pakistani Taliban sympathizer who worked with [his father Hafiz] and others to collect and deliver money for the Pakistani Taliban… Izhar… provided and attempted to provide material support and resources… knowing and intending that they be used in preparation for and in carrying out… a conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim persons in a foreign country.”

This is not the first time Khan has been associated with SFMF. This past March, Khan attended SFMF’s Council of Imams meeting at the Islamic Center of Greater Miami (ICGM), a.k.a. Masjid Miami Gardens. As well, Khan’s mosque, MJAM, is one of the member organizations of the Muslim Federation.

In announcing the creation of its town hall project, SFMF Executive Director Nezar Hamze referred to Izhar Khan, as well as the other imams involved with the Federation, as “the backbone of our community.” This includes ICOSF’s imam Hasan Sabri, whose photo is also on the SFMF promo and who, during a sermon in 2000, denounced America as an enemy and threatened Muslims who accept her assistance.

Sabri stated, “Allah tells us, in the Quran, that the kuffar will continue to fight Muslims… until Islam will cease to be and until Muslims are either liquidated or they have joined the Christian or the Jewish faith… [I]t is imperative upon us as Muslims belonging to the Ummah of Islam to understand exactly what’s happening to our brothers… so that we will know what the enemies of Islam are planning, and so that we will plan ourselves… [The US] is calling its people and its army and its nation to rush to the help of Muslims, but in reality… they want to mobilize Muslims… to use their money… and to use their lives, so that they will further [America’s] plans in that part of the world… [D]o not rely on the kuffar, because if you do so, you will suffer.”

Lauding radicals like Izhar Khan and Hasan Sabri, who have dangerous track records of hostility towards the US, as the “backbone” of the community reveals the sinister intent of the South Florida Muslim Federation and the threat that the group presents to Florida and greater American society. SFMF needs to be investigated by law enforcement for its promotion of such fanatics and be shut down immediately.

The Federation’s leader Nezar Hamze’s position as Deputy Sheriff in the BSO also needs to be scrutinized for its blatant conflict of interests that makes a mockery of the BSO mandate to protect the public and keep the community safe.

Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.