A family friend of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the alleged perpetrator of the bombings in N.Y. and N.J., says Rahami attended the Muslim Community of New Jersey mosque and was there two weeks ago, but his overall attendance was “inconsistent.” The imam of the mosque is an official with an Islamist group named the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA).
The Muslim Community of New Jersey mosque, which hascondemned Rahami’s terrorist attacks, lists its imam and religious affairs director as Asif Hirani.
Hirani is also an official with ICNA, serving as the program manager for its proselytizing campaign known as “WhyIslam” and an instructor for a branch of ICNA known as the Islamic Learning Foundation.
ICNA was derived from a Southeast Asian Islamist party called Jamaat-e-Islami. You can read our more comprehensive profile of ICNA here.
There is no indication that ICNA or Hirani support or approve of ISIS and Rahami’s bombings, but a 300-page teaching guide made by ICNA tells ICNA supporters that it is based on the work of some of the pioneers of the Islamist extremist movements, including Hamas financier Yousef Al-Qaradawi.