By Paul L. Williams Ph.D., (author
of THE DAY OF ISLAM)
With files from Douglas Hagmann, Northeast Intelligence Network,
(www.homelandsecurityus.com/Gilani) 2006 article: Pakistani terror Sheikh angry
over investigative report With the able assistance of Bill Krayer and Michael
Travis
Candian Free
Press
Friday, May 11, 2007
Situated within
a dense forest at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains on the outskirts of
The 70 acre
complex is surrounded with "No trespassing" signs; the rocky terrain
is infested with rattlesnakes; and the woods are home to black bears, coyotes,
wolves, and a few bobcats.
The entrance to
the community is at the bottom of a very steep hill that is difficult to
navigate even on a bright sunny day in May. The road, dubbed
A sentry post
has been established at the base of the hill.
The sentry, at
the time of this visit, is an African American dressed in Islamic garb - - a
skull cap, a prayer shawl, and a loose fitting shalwat kameez. He instructs
us to turn around and leave. "Our community is not open to visitors,"
he says.
Behind the
sentry and across a small stream stand dozens of inhabitants of the compound -
- the men wearing skull caps and loose fitting tunics, the women in full burqa.
They appear ready to deal with any unauthorized intruders.
The hillside is
blighted by rusty trailers that appear to be without power or running water and
a number of outhouses. The scent of raw sewage is in the air.
The place is
even off limits to the local undertaker who says that he has delivered bodies
to the complex but has never been granted entrance. "They come and take
the bodies from my hearse. They won't allow me to get past the sentry post.
They say that they want to prepare the bodies for burial. But I never get the
bodies back. I don't know what's going on there but I don't think it's
legal."
On the other
side of the hill where few dare to go is a tiny village replete with a
make-shift learning center (dubbed the "International Quranic Open University");
a trailer converted into a Laundromat; a small, green community center; a small
and rather squalid grocery store; a newly constructed majid; over forty
clapboard homes; and scores of additional trailers.
It is home to
hundreds - - all in Islamic attire, and all African-Americans. Most drive late
model SUVs with license plates from
While buzzing
with activity during the week, the place becomes a virtual hive on weekends.
The guest includes arrivals from the inner cities of
Venturing into
the complex last summer, Douglas Hagmann, an intrepid investigator and director
of the Northeast Intelligence Service, came upon a military training area at
the eastern perimeter of the property. The area was equipped with ropes hanging
from tall trees, wooden fences for scaling, a make-shift obstacle course, and a
firing range. Hagmann said that the range appeared to have been in regular use.
Islamberg is
not as benign as a Buddhist monastery or a Carmelite convent. Nearly every
weekend, neighbors hear sounds of gunfire. Some, including a combat veteran of
the Vietnam War, have heard the bang of small explosives. None of the neighbors
wished to be identified for fear of "retaliation." "We don't
even dare to slow down when we drive by," one resident said. "They
own the mountain and they know it and there is nothing we can do about it but
move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy a property near that?"
The complex
serves to scare the bejeesus out of the local residents. "If you go there,
you better wear body armor," a customer at the Circle E Diner in Hancock said.
"They have armed guards and if they shoot you, nobody will find your
body."
At Cousins, a
watering hole in nearby Deposit, a barfly, who didn't wish to be identified,
said: "The place is dangerous. You can hear gunfire up there. I can't
understand why the FBI won't shut it down."
Islamberg is a
branch of Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization formed in
1980 by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, who refers to himself as
"the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," Gilani, has been directly linked by court
documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra or "community of the impoverished," an
organization that seeks to "purify" Islam through violence.
Though
primarily based in
Before becoming
a citizen of Islamberg or any of the other Fuqra compounds, the recruits - -
primarily inner city black men who became converts in prison - - are compelled
to sign an oath that reads: "I shall always hear and obey, and whenever
given the command, I shall readily fight for Allah's sake."
In the past,
thousands of members of the U.S. branches of Jamaat ul-Fuqra traveled to
Pakistan for paramilitary training, but encampments, such as Islamberg, are now
capable of providing boot-camp training so raw recruits are no longer required
to travel abroad amidst the increased scrutiny of post 9/11.
Over the years,
numerous members of Jamaat ul-Fuqra have been convicted in US courts of such
crimes as conspiracy to commit murder, firebombing, gun smuggling, and workers'
compensation fraud. Others remain leading suspects in criminal cases throughout
the country, including ten unsolved assassinations and seventeen fire-bombings
between 1979 and 1990.
The criminal
charges against the group and the criminal convictions are not things of the
past. In 2001, a resident of a
By 2004 federal
investigators uncovered evidence that linked both the DC "sniper
killer" John Allen Muhammed and "Shoe Bomber" Richard Reid to
the group and reports surfaced that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel
Pearl was captured and beheaded in the process of attempting to obtain an
interview with Sheikh Gilani in
Even though
Jamaat ul-Fuqra has been involved in terror attacks and sundry criminal
activities, recruited thousands of members from federal and state penal
systems, and appears to be operating paramilitary facilities for militant
Muslims, it remains to be placed on the official US Terror Watch List. On the
contrary, it continues to operate, flourish, and expand as a legitimate
nonprofit, tax-deductible charity.
Update on story: May 21, 2007 Islamberg not the
only radical Muslim compound flourishing in North America
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/paul-williams051107.htm