The Islamic American University (IAU) is a Michigan-based university that offers degrees mostly through correspondence as well as on-campus and online. ^{1 2} Although IAU had a formerly active online presence, as of July 2024, the IAU website offers little information about the university. ³

The former Islamic American University website openly declared that the university was a project of the Muslim American Society, a federal 501(c)(3) nonprofit that federal prosecutors alleged in a 2008 terrorism trial “was founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.” ^{4 5} IAU is known for its radical former leaders and board members who have espoused anti-Semitic sentiments in support of radical Islamic and Sharia law prevailing against the Western world. ⁶

History

The Islamic American University was founded by Salah el Deen Soltan who served as its president, professor, and trustee from 1999 to 2004. ^{7 8} Soltan was a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, an Islamist extremist organization founded in Egypt in 1928 and the parent organization of Hamas. ⁹ Soltan founded IAU to spread Islam through a grassroots organization of teachers and imams who could proselytize the West. ^{10 11}

Degrees and Programs

Starting in 2006, the Islamic American University offered programs aimed at training Islamic teachers and preachers. IAU offered a certificate program in Qur’anic Memorization and recitation, as well as a bachelor’s degree in the following majors: Islamic studies with a concentration in imam and khateeb studies, Islamic studies with a concentration in teaching in Islamic schools, and Arabic language with a concentration in teaching Arabic. The Islamic American University also offered a master’s degree in Da’wah and Usul-Edden, or proselytizing and Muslim theology, and a master’s degree in Usul-al-Fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence and legal studies. ¹²

As of July 2024, IAU has no recent information on degrees or areas of concentration it offers. ¹³

Controversial Leadership

Salah el Deen Soltan

Islamic American University founder Salah el Deen Soltan was listed in The Investigative Project on Terrorism’s 2008 report on the Muslim American Society and Muslim Brotherhood for his alleged radicalism and Islamic extremism. In a 2006 résumé, Soltan stated that his vision for his life was to “live happily” and “to die as a martyr,” suggesting his death in Islamic jihad for the sake of Allah. After media outlets reported on this phrasing, he removed the reference to martyrdom from his résumé. Soltan also praised and defended Yemeni religious scholar and al-Qaeda member Abd-Al-Majid Al-Zindani whom the United States State Department named a specially designated global terrorist in 2004 for his personal spiritual direction of Osama bin Laden and his role in the purchase of weapons on behalf of al-Qaeda. Soltan maintained that Al-Zindani was “known worldwide for his refinement, virtue, and broad horizons.” ¹⁴

During a live question and answer session in 2005, Soltan taught about the “‘role of the Jews in sowing anxiety among Muslims as learned from their saying: ‘Allah’s decision is subject to change.’” ¹⁵

In 2015, Soltan was sentenced to death in an Egyptian court for the role he played in leading the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood briefly controlled the Egyptian government from 2012 until a 2013 coup d’etat, after which its members were proscribed by the new regime. Soltan’s son, Mohammad, received a life sentence for his participation in protests and demonstrations against the new Egyptian regime. ¹⁶

However, Soltan’s death sentence was not carried out, and in 2023, United States Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) gave a speech in the U.S. Senate calling for the release of Salah Soltan after one of Soltan’s letters from jail was published expressing his desire for forgiveness for his past anti-Semitism and Islamist extremism. Senator Cardin asked that the letter be entered into the U.S. Congressional Record and urged Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to release Soltan back to the United States. ¹⁷

Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Yusuf al-Qaradawi was the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood was the chairman of the Islamic American University until 2017. ¹⁸ He was also mentioned in the Investigative Project on Terrorism’s 2008 report on the Muslim American Society and Muslim Brotherhood for his anti-Semitism and his approval of suicide bombings, among other acts of Islamic terrorism. ¹⁹ He was the former host of Al Jazeera’s most popular show, “Shariah and Life.” He has made numerous fatwas, or religious edicts, related to his approval of justified killings, domestic violence against women, female genital mutilation, and terrorism. ²⁰

In 1995, at a Muslim Arab Youth Association conference in Toledo, Ohio, al-Qaradawi stated that “our brothers in Hamas, in Palestine, the Islamic resistance, the Islamic Jihad, after all the rest have given up and despaired, the movement of the Jihad brings us back to our faith.” He continued his statements, claiming that “what remains,” for Islam “then, is to conquer Rome…This means that Islam will come back to Europe for the third time, after it was expelled from it twice… Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing], that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America!” His remarks continued, as he expressed the eventual death of the Jews at the hands of Muslims, where “the balance of power will change, and this is what is told in the Hadith of Ibn-Omar and the Hadith of Abu-Hurairah: ‘You shall continue to fight the Jews and they will fight you, until the Muslims will kill them. And the Jew will hide behind the stone and the tree, and the stone and the tree will say: ‘Oh servant of Allah, Oh Muslim, this is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him!’ The resurrection will not come before this happens.’ This is a text from the good omens in which we believe.” ²¹

Al-Qaradawi also angered many in the West by praising suicide bombers in Israel and Iraq. The U.S. government has barred him from entering the country since late 1999. He says that action was taken after he praised Palestinian militants. ²²

Other Leaders

There is no information about Islamic American University’s leadership on its website as of 2024. ²³

Finances

Although there is no federal 990 form for the Islamic American University, it has received several grants and donations from other Muslim and non-Muslim organizations:

In 2010, the Panama City Advanced School, a private K-12 Florida school granted IAU $15,000. ²⁴

In 2011, the Quran Institute of America granted IAU $7,000, followed by a $2,000 grant in 2012. ^{25 26}

In 2011, the Judes Foundation granted IAU $5,000. ²⁷

In 2012, the Hannan Foundation granted IAU $20,000. ²⁸

In 2013 and 2014, the Al Midani Foundation granted IAU $20,000; in 2015, the Al-Midani Foundation granted IAU $105,000 In 2017, the Al Midani Foundation granted IAU $10,000. ^{29 30 31}

1. Home IAU. Islamic American University. 2006. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20060706142453/http://www.islamicau.org/
2. Cohen, Laurie, Ahmed-Ullah, Noreen S., and Roe, Sam. “Rare look at secretive Brotherhood in America” Chicago Tribune. May 13, 2019. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2004/09/19/a-rare-look-at-secretive-brotherhood-in-america/
3. Home. Islamic American University. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.islamicau.org/
4. “Brief for the United States.” United States of America v. Sabri Benkahla. United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, case number 07-4778. Retrieved from the Investigative Project on Terrorism August 6, 2024 https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/542.pdf#page=58
5. Kamaras, Jacob. “Muslim Brotherhood-linked mosque’s imam replaced as speaker at service for Boston Marathon attack victims.” Jewish News Syndicate. April 21, 2013. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.jns.org/muslim-brotherhood-linked-mosques-imam-replaced-as-speaker-at-service-for-boston-marathon-attack-victims/
6. Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Investigative Project on Terrorism. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/167/yusuf-al-qaradawi
7. “Cardin Calls for Release of Egyptian Political Prisoner, Salah el Deen Soltan.” Ben Cardin–US Senator for Maryland. July 27, 2023. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.cardin.senate.gov/press-releases/cardin-calls-for-release-of-egyptian-political-prisoner-salah-el-deen-soltan/
8. Muslim American Society. Investigative Project on Terrorism. January 1, 2008. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/85.pdf
9. Warikoo, Niraj. “Egyptian-American sentenced to death in Egypt.” USA Today. April 11, 2015. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/04/11/michigan-muslims-sentenced-egypt/25661551/
10. Islamic American University. Muslim American Society. 2006. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20060710175922/http://www.masnet.org/university.asp
11. Cohen, Laurie, Ahmed-Ullah, Noreen S., and Roe, Sam. “Rare look at secretive Brotherhood in America” Chicago Tribune. May 13, 2019. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2004/09/19/a-rare-look-at-secretive-brotherhood-in-america/
12. About IAU. Islamic American University. 2006. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20060713024415/http://www.islamicau.org/about.asp
13. Home. Islamic American University. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.islamicau.org/
14. Muslim American Society. Investigative Project on Terrorism. January 1, 2008. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/85.pdf
15. Muslim American Society. Investigative Project on Terrorism. January 1, 2008. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/85.pdf
16. Warikoo, Niraj. “Egyptian-American sentenced to death in Egypt.” USA Today. April 11, 2015. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/04/11/michigan-muslims-sentenced-egypt/25661551/
17. “Cardin Calls for Release of Egyptian Political Prisoner, Salah el Deen Soltan.” Ben Cardin–US Senator for Maryland. July 27, 2023. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.cardin.senate.gov/press-releases/cardin-calls-for-release-of-egyptian-political-prisoner-salah-el-deen-soltan/
18.  Cohen, Laurie, Ahmed-Ullah, Noreen S., and Roe, Sam. “Rare look at secretive Brotherhood in America” Chicago Tribune. May 13, 2019. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2004/09/19/a-rare-look-at-secretive-brotherhood-in-america/
19. Muslim American Society. Investigative Project on Terrorism. January 1, 2008. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/85.pdf
20. Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Investigative Project on Terrorism. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/167/yusuf-al-qaradawi
21. Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Investigative Project on Terrorism. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/167/yusuf-al-qaradawi
22. Cohen, Laurie, Ahmed-Ullah, Noreen S., and Roe, Sam. “Rare look at secretive Brotherhood in America” Chicago Tribune. May 13, 2019. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2004/09/19/a-rare-look-at-secretive-brotherhood-in-america/
23.  Islamic American University main website page. Accessed July 23, 2024. https://www.islamicau.org/
24. Panama City Advanced School Corporation – 2010 990 Form. ProPublica. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/593321453/2011_10_EO%2F59-3321453_990_201012
25. The Quran Institute Of America – 2011 990 Form. ProPublica. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/203293913/2012_10_EO%2F20-3293913_990_201112
26. The Quran Institute Of America – 2012 990 Form. ProPublica. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/203293913/2013_09_EO%2F20-3293913_990_201212
27. The Judes Foundation – 2011 990 Form. ProPublica. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/203920433/2012_11_PF%2F20-3920433_990PF_201112
28. Hannan Foundation – 2012 990 Form. ProPublica. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/383544600/2013_10_PF%2F38-3544600_990PF_201212
29. Al Midani Foundation – 2013 990 Form. ProPublica. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/320149002/201443219349102764/IRS990PF
30. Al Midani Foundation – 2014 990 Form. ProPublica. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/320149002/201511339349102256/IRS990PF
31. Islamic American University – 2017 Past Awards Received. Instrumentl. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.instrumentl.com/990-report/islamic-american-university