• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Shocker: Saudi charity in Pakistan accused of funding al-Qaeda

Jun 30, 2011 12:51 am By Marisol Seibold

We consistently see the juxtaposition of armed jihad and social services in groups like Hamas and Hizballah, and other organizations in the Muslim world, because the Islamic tradition does not set off charitable work as strictly non-combatant in the way that is expected of the Red Cross, United Way, and other Western groups. Rather, Qur’an 9:60 includes those fighting “in the cause of Allah” as being eligible for zakat.

Therefore, charitable work in the Western sense cannot be handily split off from such groups’ overtly militant activities, and the former activity must never be used to excuse or downplay the group’s participation in the latter, though apologists often plead, for example, that “Hamas also provides social services…”

The group in question here is cut from the same cloth. “Saudi Arabian charity in Pakistan offers education – or is it extremism?” by Declan Walsh for the Guardian, June 29:

The imposing orphanage looms on the edge of Islamabad, housing 250 poor boys from across Pakistan who receive tuition, board and meals, and daily instruction in Saudi-style Islam.

A plaque over the doors identifies the generous benefactor: the International Islamic Relief Organisation, a government-sponsored charity from Saudi Arabia that the US accuses of spreading extremism and funding al-Qaida.

America may be widely despised in Pakistan — a new poll gives it 12% approval, but there is far greater tolerance for Pakistan’s regional ally, Saudi Arabia, in all its controversial manifestations.

Saudi influence is pervasive, from the soaring minarets of Islamabad’s Faisal mosque — the largest in Asia — to the corridors of power, where Saudi officials enjoy privileged access. In the past decade Riyadh has subsidised Pakistan’s oil supply, offered gilded exile to the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, and even attempted to solve its extremist woes.

When trouble erupted at the hardline Red Mosque in Islamabad in 2007, the Saudi ambassador was drafted in to broker peace.

But Saudi money and influence have attracted hostile scrutiny from western countries, particularly the US. Worries centre on a flood of charity donations, mainly earmarked for education, some of which finds their way into weapons and military training.

A senior western official in Islamabad said the main worry was Saudi funding for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Funding appeared to have stopped since the Mumbai attacks, he said, but the group continues to solicit private money from conservative Saudis under the guise of charitable donations.

The IIRO has also come under scrutiny. In 2009 the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, privately warned that US intelligence had discovered the IIRO and two other state-backed charities “continue to send money overseas and, at times, fund extremism overseas”, according to diplomatic cables released through WikiLeaks.

Files from Guantánamo Bay published this year show at least six detainees had been employed by IIRO, which US officials described as a “tier one terrorist NGO”.

The accusations are denied at the Islamabad orphanage. “Our only business is education”, said one employee who declined to be named. “We educate young boys, send them back into society, where they perform well.”

Saudi money has been flowing into Pakistan since the 1980s, when state and private donors funded an explosion of madrasas. Many come from the Ahle Hadith school of Islam, a strict version of the faith that is close to the Salafist faith taught in Saudi Arabia.

The amount or nature of donations is shrouded in secrecy, as most come through the undocumented hawala traders, although a western official estimated it at “tens of millions of dollars”.

Saudi Arabia’s defenders say they are being unfairly maligned as terrorists. “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have had exemplary relations since the day our country was born,” said Maulana Abdul Aziz Hanif, vice-president of the Ahle-Hadith community in Pakistan.

The faith was growing in popularity, Hanif added, with “thousands” of mosques across Pakistan — the Punjabi city of Gujranwala alone has 500. He denied ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba, which fights in the name of the faith. “We want nothing to do with them,” he said.

Secular critics say Saudi money and influence have had a corrosive influence on Pakistani society, encouraging a tide of conservatism: more veiled women, Islamist televangelists, and public shows of piety than ever before.

“All this hardline Islam is traceable to Saudi Arabia,” said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physics professor and outspoken critic of what he terms “Saudisation”.

He recently published a picture showing a group of female students at his university in the 1980s, all bare-headed. A picture taken recently shows a cluster of heavily veiled females.

Most Pakistanis are reluctant to criticise Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest shrines.

And the WikiLeaks files also show the Saudis have stepped up cooperation with the US in flushing out militant financiers. Officials insist its charities are now strictly above board. The IIRO, for instance, played a prominent role in emergency relief for victims of last year’s epic floods.

Still, some coincidences are striking. The Islamabad orphanage, set up in 2002, is not a madrasa — it follows the government curriculum. But its founding principal was Sultan Amir, a retired Pakistani intelligence officer known as the “father of the Taliban”….

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Islamic charities, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • James Lincoln on Erdogan: ‘Turks must defend the rights of Jerusalem, even with their lives’ for ‘the honor of the Islamic nation’
  • Carol on Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and UAE conduct joint military exercises amid rising Turkish threat
  • James Lincoln on EU Parliament members call for firing of border agency director for preventing illegal migrants from entering Europe
  • Jayme on Canadian Mental Health Association studies Muslim women’s mental health due to ‘discrimination’ and ‘hate crimes’
  • GreekEmpress on EU Parliament members call for firing of border agency director for preventing illegal migrants from entering Europe

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.