The Institute for International Islamic Thought (IIIT) is a Virginia-based international Muslim advocacy and education organization. The group maintains affiliates in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, United Kingdom, Jordan, Morocco, and Egypt. ¹ IIIT considers itself to be a platform for Muslim perspectives on social science issues and claims to be a “voice for moderation, diversity and modernity in Islamic thought.” ²

IIIT was formerly under Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) scrutiny over alleged links to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. ³ From after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks through 2007, the federal government probed IIIT as part of the Operation Green Quest terrorism-financing investigation, over the group’s alleged links to convicted terrorist Sami Al-Arian. ³

Founding and History

Founding Conference

IIIT was founded in 1980 following a decision to do so made at a 1997 major Islamist conference in Lugano, Switzerland. The event’s lead organizer was Abu Saud, a senior member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and father-in-law of Ahmed Elkadi, the president of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood during the 1980s and early 1990s. ⁴

Attending that conference was Abdulhamid Abu Sulayman, founder of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth; Ismail Raji al-Faruqi, a leader of the Muslim Students Association (MSA); and Mahmoud Rashdan, founder of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Following the conference, Abu Sulayman incorporated IIIT in the United States, using al-Faruqi’s residence as the organization’s address. ⁴

Alleged Terrorism and Radical Ties

The nonprofit has faced repeated allegations of associating itself with the Muslim Brotherhood and groups and individuals designated by the U.S. government as terrorist entities. In 2002, the headquarters of IIIT was raided as part of Operation Green Quest. IIIT was the largest donor to Palestinian academic Sami al-Arian’s alleged front for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist group, providing at least $50,000. ³ Al-Arian was convicted in 2006 after he had pled guilty over charges related to racketeering. ⁵

IIIT had also employed a founder of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Bashir Musa Nafi, until he was deported from the United States in June 1996. Nafi was a close friend of Al-Arian’s. ⁶ Another former IIIT employee, Tarik Hamdi, gave cell phone batteries to Osama Bin Laden, according to a former U.S. Treasury Department official in 2002. ⁷

In 2003, IIIT donated $720 to the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation in Oregon. The Foundation was shut down as an Al-Qaeda front the following year. ⁸

A 2004 report by the Washington Post described IIIT’s founders as “onetime [Muslim] Brotherhood sympathizers with money from wealthy Saudis.” ⁹

Activities

IIIT has published several journals, books, and audiobooks in English and Arabic. ¹⁰ The organization runs the double-blind peer-reviewed journal The American Journal of Islam and Society, which publishes scholarly works examining Islamic perspectives on issues in anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, psychology and law. ¹¹

The nonprofit runs a sister journal of The American Journal of Islam and Society in Arabic named Al-Fikr al-Islāmī al-Muʿāṣir. IIIT also publishes the Journal of Education in Muslim Societies, which examines education policy and pedagogy in the Islamic world, in partnership with Indiana University Press. ¹¹

In addition to the journal, the nonprofit manages the Advancing Education in Muslim Societies program, a research project on education policy and Islamic pedagogy. ¹² The nonprofit carries out its educational policy research work under the name ‘The Fairfax Institute.’ ¹³

Leadership

As of 2024, Hisham Altalib is the president of IIIT. Born in Mosul, Iraq, Hisham came to the United States in 1972 with a history of Islamist activism at Liverpool University in the United Kingdom, where he had received his undergraduate degree. ¹⁴

Hisham was one of the founders of IIIT and the Muslim Students Association. He had previously worked as IIIT’s Director of Finance, in 2015. ¹⁵

Hisham also manages the Altalib Family Foundation, a 501(c)(3) private foundation, which contributed to efforts to release convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui. Siddiqui was convicted in 2010 of weapons offenses and assaults on government employees, among other charges. ¹⁶

Prior to his work with IIIT, Hisham used to work for the Al-Taqwa Bank run by Muslim Brotherhood member Youssef Nada. Al-Talib was reportedly identified by the FBI as an Iraqi member of the Muslim Brotherhood before he moved to the U.S. ¹⁷

Sayyid Syeed was IIIT’s Director of Academic Outreach from 1984 to 1994. ¹⁸ In 2006, he was recorded saying, “Our job is to change the constitution of America.” ¹⁹

Funding

Between 2020 and 2022, IIT received financial support from Safa Trust, ²⁰ of which Hisham Altalib is also a board member, and York Foundation, which IIIT has identified as a related organization in its tax filings. ²¹ As of 2022, $319,549 of the organization’s revenue came from government grants. ²²

1. “Offices & Representatives.” IIIT. Accessed November 26, 2024. https://iiit.org/en/offices-affiliates/
2. “About Us,” International Institute of Islamic Thought (blog), accessed October 29, 2024, https://iiit.org/en/about-us/.
3. “Forgotten Investigation, Emails Offer Insight into IIIT Probe,” IPT News, August 3, 2008. http://www.investigativeproject.org/737/forgotten-investigation-emails-offer-insight-into-iiit-probe. The original FBI file can be read at: http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/459.pdf
4. Shafiq, Muhammad. Growth of Islamic Thought in North America (Beltsville, MD: Amana Publications, 1994, p. 27). As documented in “The Muslim Brotherhood in the United States” by Steven Merley,  Hudson Institute, Research Monographs on the Muslim World, Series No. 2, Paper No. 3, April 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20100326134946/http://www.currenttrends.org/doclib/20090411_merley.usbrotherhood.pdf.
5. Letitia Stein, “Former Florida Professor Deported from U.S. over Palestinian Terrorist Ties,” Reuters, February 6, 2015, sec. United Kingdom, https://www.reuters.com/article/world/uk/former-florida-professor-deported-from-us-over-palestinian-terrorist-ties-idUSKBN0LA2K9/.
6. “Al-Arian Indicted for Contempt,” IPT News, June 26, 2008. http://www.investigativeproject.org/700/al-arian-indicted-for-contempt
7. “Prepared Statement of Mr. Matthew A. Levitt, Senior Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy,” U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Subcommittee on International Trade and Finance, Hearing on “The Role of Charities and NGOs in the Financing of Terrorist Activities.” August 1, 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20080131121650/http://banking.senate.gov/02_08hrg/080102/levitt.htm
8. Weinglass, Ilan. “Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced Terror,” FrontPage Magazine, January 12, 2006. https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/johns-hopkins-school-of-advanced-terror
9. John Mintz and Douglas Farah, “In Search Of Friends Among The Foes,” Washington Post, September 11, 2004, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/09/11/in-search-of-friends-among-the-foes/654a7d58-057b-4965-ab44-4b1045915086/.
10. “Publications & Translations,” International Institute of Islamic Thought (blog), accessed November 4, 2024, https://iiit.org/en/publications-translations/.
11.  “Journals – Open Access,” Institute for International Islamic Thought, accessed October 31, 2024, https://iiit.org/en/journals/.
12. “Advancing Education in Muslim Societies,” Institute for International Islamic Thought, accessed October 31, 2024, https://iiit.org/en/aems-research/.
13. “The Fairfax Institute,” International Institute of Islamic Thought (blog), accessed October 31, 2024, https://iiit.org/en/the-fairfax-institute-tfi/.
14.  Book Details – Parent-Child Relations: A Guide to Raising Children (Revised Edition),” International Institute of Islamic Thought (blog), accessed November 4, 2024, https://iiit.org/en/book/parent-child-relations-a-guide-to-raising-children-revised-edition/
15. “Dr. Hisham Altalib Speaks on Parenting with Islamic Principles,” Hartford International University, accessed November 4, 2024, https://www.hartfordinternational.edu/news-events/news/dr-hisham-altalib-speaks-parenting-islamic-principles.
16. Sam Westrop, “American Islamists Advocate for Lady Al-Qaeda – Middle East Forum,” Middle East Forum, September 13, 2021, https://www.meforum.org/american-islamists-advocate-for-lady-al-qaeda.
17. Malkin, Michelle. “Who is White House Visitor Hisham Altalib?” Townhall.com, September 26, 2012. http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2012/09/26/who_is_white_house_visitor_hisham_altalib
18. Baran, Zeyno. “The Muslim Brotherhood’s U.S. Network,” Current Trends in Islamist Ideology vol. 6, February 27, 2008. http://www.currenttrends.org/research/detail/the-muslim-brotherhoods-us-network
19. Jihad in America: The Grand Deception – Apple TV (United States: SAE Productions, 2014), https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/jihad-in-america-the-grand-deception/umc.cmc.1nyg5qnuvkt2k19zomg9fhi75.
20. “Safa Trust Inc – Nonprofit Explorer,” ProPublica, May 9, 2013, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/541399426.
21. “York Foundation – Nonprofit Explorer – ProPublica,” ProPublica, accessed November 11, 2024, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/311621645.
22. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). International Institute of Islamic Thought. 2022.