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8 Things to Know About Huma Abedin’s Involvement with an Islamist Journal
by KYLE SHIDELER
August 28, 2016

Following a New York Post article, which released new and revealing snippets from the pages of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, a 2012 controversy about the nature of Huma Abedin's associations, has again kicked into high gear.

While some in the media have attempted to defend Abedin, and the journal, they've played fast and loose with the facts.

At the heart of the matter is Abedin's involvement with an organization founded by a man named Abdullah Omar Naseef, a Saudi official who spent decades involved with organizations which would go on to be designated for engaging in terror finance.

Here's what you need to know:

1. Huma Abedin and terror-funder Abdullah Omar Naseef are directly connected.

This isn't six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Huma Abedin served as the associate editor of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs for 12 years from 1996-2008, and appeared on the masthead of the organization's journal right up until the time she began to work at the State Department for Hillary Clinton. This included the time she was working as an intern for Hillary Clinton at the White House. Nassef held the position of Chairman of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Huma Abedin and Naseef overlapped at IMMA for a period of seven years. As former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy noted, "the journal was the IMMA's raison d'etre."

2. The Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs was the Abedin family business.

Syed Abedin, Huma's father, founded the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs with Abdullah Omar Naseef in the 1970s. The Abedin patriarch was the editor, until passing away after which time Huma's mother, Saleha Abedin took over the journal and held the same position, and still does to this day. Abedin's brother and sister have also all held positions with the IMMA.

3. The Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs promotes views on Sharia, Islam and a Muslim's role in the West popularized by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Editions of the journal openly endorsed the positions of known Muslim Brotherhood theoreticians, including Sayyid Qutb, and called for the imposition of sharia law among Muslim minorities residing in the West. "Muslim minority affairs" primarily refers to questions of the Fiqh (jurisprudence) of Minorities, the area of Sharia law jurisprudence concerned with the role and status of Muslims who have immigrated to non-Muslim states, popularized by Muslim Brotherhood thinker Yusuf Al Qaradawi. Qaradawi is best known for his fatwas supporting Hamas suicide bombing and attacks on Americans in Iraq during the 2003 Iraq War.

4. The Journal's benefactor, Abdullah Omar Naseef, served as Secretary General of the World Muslim League.

The controversy about Naseef stems from his role with the Muslim World League. Naseef held the position of Secretary General of MWL for a decade, from 1983-1993. The purpose of the Muslim World was to support efforts to proselytize Islam in the West. The organization combined Saudi funds with the intellectual efforts of Muslim Brotherhood thinkers including Said Ramadan and Taha Jaber Alwani who served as founding members.

5. The Muslim World League was specifically mentioned as a funding source by Osama Bin Laden.

The Muslim World League was specifically mentioned by Osama bin Laden as a source of funding and after 9/11 the Muslim World League offices in Herdon, VA were raided by law enforcement. A Muslim World League subsidiary, the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), would have two of its branches named as specially designated global terrorist entities.

6. Abdullah Omar Naseef created another organization, the Rabita Trust, which was also shut down for terrorism.

Another WML subsidiary founded by Nassef, the Rabita Trust, is also a specially designated global terrorist entity according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Nassef also appointed Rabita Trust Director General Wael Hamza Julaidan, a close associate of Osama Bin Laden. The U.S. Treasury department would eventually designate Julaidan as a specially designated global terrorist.

7. In addition to Al Qaeda finance connections, Naseef also worked for a group of Hamas financiers. So did Huma's mom.

In addition to his Muslim World League ties, Naseef also held a position as an officer with the International Islamic Council for Daw'a and Relief, a position he shared with Abedin's mother Saleha. The IICDR is a member of the Hamas finance coalition known as the Union of the Good, which the U.S. government considers a specially designated global terrorist entity. Yusuf al Qaradawi, a preeminent Muslim Brotherhood jurist, runs the Union of the Good.

8. Huma's mom ran a women's organization dedicated to supporting Sharia law in place of women's rights.

Saleha Abedin's position at the International Islamic Council for Daw'a and Relief was to run the International Islamic Committee for Woman and Child (IICWC). The IICWC is a group which advocates for sharia law provisions of family law and seeks the repeal of Egypt's Mubarak-era prohibitions on female genital mutilation, child marriage, and marital rape. For the IICWC's positions on matters of sharia jurisprudence the Committee turned to Hamas supporting Muslim Brotherhood cleric Yusuf Al Qaradawi.

Kyle Shideler is the director of the Counterterrorism Education and Analysis Project at the Center for Security Policy (centerforsecuritypolicy.org).

Read more: Family Security Matters

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/8-things-to-know-about-huma-abedins-involvement-with-an-islamist-journal?f=must_reads#ixzz4IkQEjOum

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