John Moore/Getty Images/AP Photo/Mary Altaffer 9 Aug 20183,825
Left-wing Islamic activist Linda Sarsour reportedly has ties to the father of the man arrested for allegedly training children to carry out school shootings on a New Mexico compound.
Police arrested Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 39, last week for allegedly holding a series of weapons training sessions on a Taos, New Mexico, compound where authorities say they found 11 children living in squalor.
Investigators say the decomposed remains of a boy had also been found on the compound. Wahhaj’s father, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, announced Thursday that the decomposed remains of the child found at the compound were of his three-year-old grandson, Abdul-ghani Wahhaj, who went missing in Jonesboro, Georgia, in December.
Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who presides over a Brooklyn, New York, mosque, is said to be an “unindicted co-conspirator” of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and a prominent leader of the Muslim Alliance in North America. Authorities believed he was connected to the bombings, but prosecutors never filed charges against him.
But the younger Wahhaj is not the only person who had ties to Imam Wahhaj.
Linda Sarsour, a prominent Democratic activist who helped organize the Women’s March on Washington, called Imam Wahhaj a “mentor” at an Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) conference in 2017:
My favorite person in this room, that’s mutual, is Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been a mentor, and motivator and encourager of mine, someone who has taught me to speak truth to power and not worry about the consequences, someone who has taught me we are on this earth to please Allah, and only Allah, that we are not here to please any man or women on this Earth, so I’m grateful to you, Imam Siraj … I’m grateful to you Imam Siraj, God bless you and protect you for a long time because we need you now more than ever.
Sarsour has also showered praise upon Imam Wahhaj in a series of tweets:
"Islam has made me love people." ~ Imam Siraj #RIS2016
Had a dream last night that I was chillin on my Brooklyn stoops with Imam Siraj, @ImamSuhaibWebb and @DawudWalid. It was awesome.
Imam Siraj Wahhaj is Black American and most loved religious leader amongst diverse groups of Muslims. #blackmuslimfuture
@GMUPatriot13 Imam Siraj is an amazing man. I have prayed at Masjid Taqwa a few times but it's far from where I live.
Imam Siraj is the man. ~ @imamzaidshakir #taqwa30
Sarsour has not only praised Imam Wahhaj for helping shape her views about Islam, but she has also shared a stage with him at several conferences held by ISNA and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) — both organizations with ties to the global Muslim Brotherhood.
But as investigators continue to uncover more information about the training compound, a spokesperson for Imam Wahhaj’s Brooklyn mosque, Masjid at Taqwa, dismissed the authorities’ claims as nothing but fake news.
A spokesperson for Imam Wahhaj’s Brooklyn mosque claimed in a Facebook video Thursday that the media and authorities are promoting “false narratives” by trying to link international terrorism allegations to what he calls a domestic event.
“They’re not bringing up accurate events — they’re bringing up false narratives,” spokesman Ali Abdul-Karim Judan said. “Look how this case has turned from a domestic situation, and now they’re trying to create an atmosphere where his son is involved with an extremist radical group.”
JihadNational SecurityImamImam Siraj Wahhajislamic extremismLinda SarsourNew Mexicoterrorism
