The buckle of the Bible Belt has been identified by the Dept of Homeland Security as one of many states infested by terrorist linked organizations. What’s even more disturbing is how former administrations have padded their pockets, allowing them not only to exist, but flourish.
According to a published report by the Middle East Forum, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants were awarded to terror-linked and extremist organizations. According to this study,” DHS authorized over $25 million between 2013 and 2023 to radical groups, many with documented links to foreign terrorist organizations. The funding was distributed through three DHS spending programs, with the majority originating from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). Based on this review, DHS grant beneficiaries seemingly share a common ideological heritage with groups like the Taliban, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Hamas, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
One of those groups was the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Relief, whose director is Imam Rafiq Madhi of Knoxville TN. According to the report: “The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Relief received the largest appropriations, totaling $10,346,248 in disaster relief funding despite its ties to Jamaat-e-Islami, a South Asian Islamist movement involved in a 1971 genocide against secular intellectuals in Bangladesh that killed up to 3 million people. Jamaat-e-Islami’s militant wing, Hizbul Mujahideen, is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.”
In addition to that, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) ICNA was named as one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s likeminded “organizations of our friends” in the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood Explanatory Memorandum plan for North America. ( several first pages are in Arabic, English follows)This document identified the likeminded “organizations of our friends” that shared the common goal of destroying America and turning it into a Muslim nation. These “friends” were identified by the Brotherhood as groups that could help teach Muslims “that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands … so that … God’s religion [Islam] is made victorious over all other religions.”
ICNA’s pursuit of establishing Islam as the “sole basis of global society and governance” was revealed with the publication of its 2010 Member’s Hand Book.
One way ICNA pursues this goal is through dawa in U.S. public schools, ie, proselytizing. ICNA reported that: “Reaching the youth has not always been an area explored by those in the Dawa field. Our representatives visit public schools sharing knowledge of Islam as an attempt to correct the misrepresentations often found in secular reading materials.” ICNA works closely with the Muslim American Society (MAS) that was recently confirmed to be Muslim Brotherhood.
Imam Rafiq Madhi oversees ICNA Relief in Knoxville, but also is affiliated with the Understanding Islam Dawa Foundation, an institution dedicated to planting the seed of Islam throughout non Muslim schools, and universities by way of groups such as the Muslim Student Association.
According to his profile on the ICNA website, Imam Rafiq Mahdi, born as William E. Henderson II in Knoxville, Tennessee, underwent a profound transformation from his Christian upbringing to Islam at the age of 23. Imam Mahdi’s thirst for knowledge led him to The Islamic University of Madinah, where he earned a diploma in Arabic Language and Islamic Studies. Under the guidance of Sheik Abu Bakr Al-Jazairy, he immersed himself in the intricacies of tafseer at the Masjid of The Prophet Muhammad in Madinah. Imam Mahdi co-founded The Muslim Community of Knoxville Inc., assuming leadership roles as its first Imam and vice president. He served as Imam in various communities, including Miami, FL, FT. Lauderdale, FL, and Knoxville, TN. Currently, Imam Mahdi serves as the Director of Disaster Relief Services and Outreach for ICNA Relief USA, aligning with his belief in the organization’s mission as a true expression of Islam’s core values.
This is just the tip of the iceberg as Tennessee is home to many groups and individuals with documented affiliations and support of Islamic Terror organizations. As we head into another election cycle one of the first questions we need to be asking candidates for all political offices is their awareness of this issue, their acknowledgement and extent of this threat, and what course of action they will take.
Stay tuned for part two!