Islamic media is reporting on the death of Mohammad al-Hanooti, best known a former imam of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center According to the OnIslam report:
June 7, 2015 CAIRO – Leading American Muslim organizations have mourned the passing away of Sheikh Muhammad al-Hanooti, imam of Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center and one of the most respected Muslim scholars in the Washington and nationwide.
‘To God we belong and to Him we return,’ the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net.
‘Sheikh Hanooti’s legacy of scholarship and community service will serve as an example to this and future generations of American Muslims. He was a mentor to many leaders in our community. Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.’
Shaikh al-Hanooti, 78, was nationally renowned scholar and Imam.
He was born in March 12, 1937, in Haifa, Palestine, where he learned Shari`ah from his father, Sheikh Ali Hanouti. In Al-Azhar, he studied Hadith at the hands of Sheikh Muhammad Said Azzawi from 1953-1958.
Sheikh Hanooti was a member of the Fiqh Council of North America and was the Mufti (interpreter of Islamic law) for the Washington metropolitan area.
A funeral prayer was held on Friday, June 5, at Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Va.
Similar condolences were offered by the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA).
Read the rest here.
Al-Hanooti’s CV indicates that he had multiple ties to the US Muslim Brotherhood including serving as a former Imam for the Dar Al Hijrah Mosque in Northern Virginia area, a former Imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic. and as a member of the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA). All three organizations have close ties to the US. Muslim Brotherhood and/or Hamas. In addition, a GMBDW research report on the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) described Sheikh Al-Hanooti’s additional ties to Hamas:
A 2001 FBI memo identifies current ISNA-affiliated Fiqh Council of North America member Mohammad Al-Hanooti as a participant in a 1993 Philadelphia meeting of “senior leaders of HAMAS, the Holy Land Relief Foundation and the Islamic Association of Palestine. The memo also cites FBI informants who said that Al-Hanooti “was a big supporter of HAMAS and that “it was well known in the Palestinian community in the northern New Jersey area that Al- Hanooti was an active HAMAS supporter, purportedly holding fund-raising activities, as well as supporting visitors to the United States from Israel and Jordan, to speak on behalf of HAMAS. ” Another FBI informant stated that “In 1993, that Al-Hanooti collected over six million U. S. dollars for support of HAMAS in Israel. ”
Finally, a Hudson Institute report authored by the GMBDW editor identifies Mohamed al-Hanooti as a leader of the US Muslim Brotherhood and explains how a 1988 US Brotherhood document included him as one of the heads of its committees:
The same spreadsheet identifies a number of committees, focusing on such issues as finance, politics, social issues, curricula, security, and Palestine. Those identified as heads of committees may include individuals mentioned throughout this report: Mohamed Hanooti, Jamal Badawi, Bassam Othman, Abdurahman Alamoudi, and Hammad Zaki.The spreadsheet also identifies several organizations as being part of the U.S. MB. These groups were AMSS, AMSE, IMA, ISNA, MAYA, MSA, MISQ, and NAIT.
In January 2013, the GMBDW reported that Sheikh Al-Hanooti had prohibited Muslim children from having their photos taken with Santa Claus, calling the practice a’ sin’ and ‘an abomination’ that contravenes the tenets of Islam.
