Mustafa Shalabi
Encyclopedia
Mustafa Shalabi was a founder of several charities alleged to have links to terrorism who was found murdered on February 25, 1991.
Shalabi was an early associate of Sheik
Omar Abdel-Rahman
, after Abdel-Rahman's arrival in the United States
.
Funds he raised are said to have been used to finance the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Abdel-Rahman is said to have circulated a denunciation of Shalabi in early 1991.
Shalabi took this threat seriously enough to send his wife back to Egypt
. Shalabi was found murdered a few days later. Abdel-Rahman denied knowledge of any plots to assassinate Shalabi, but the assassination is attributed to his followers.
The Al Kifah Refugee Center
that Shalabi founded has been described as of pivotal importance in Operation Cyclone
-- America's covert program to send radical, foreign, militant, fundamentalist, Islamists to Afghanistan, to strengthen the resistance against the Communists.
Maktab al-Khadamat
, the organization Osama bin Laden
was to hijack and turn into al Qaeda was one of the main beneficiaries of the American aid funneled through questionable charities like al Kifah.
According to Gerald Posner
's book Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11:
Other future terrorists whom Shalabi would have met at the al Kifah center include:
Shalabi is said to have also founded the Brooklyn Jihad Center'.
Other sources say that "the Jihad Center" was merely another name for the al Kifah Refugee Center.
Shalabi was an early associate of Sheik
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Omar Abdel-Rahman
Omar Abdel-Rahman
Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman , commonly known in the United States as "The Blind Sheikh", is a blind Egyptian Muslim leader who is currently serving a life sentence at the Butner Medical Center which is part of the Butner Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina, United...
, after Abdel-Rahman's arrival in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Funds he raised are said to have been used to finance the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Abdel-Rahman is said to have circulated a denunciation of Shalabi in early 1991.
Shalabi took this threat seriously enough to send his wife back to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Shalabi was found murdered a few days later. Abdel-Rahman denied knowledge of any plots to assassinate Shalabi, but the assassination is attributed to his followers.
The Al Kifah Refugee Center
Al Kifah Refugee Center
The Al Kifah Refugee Center is a charity that was active in the United Statesand was based in the Faruq Mosque in Brooklyn.-Overview:Al Kifah Refugee Center had clandestine links to forces fighting in Afghanistan dating to the late 1980s, when the fighters enjoyed American support in their struggle...
that Shalabi founded has been described as of pivotal importance in Operation Cyclone
Operation Cyclone
Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency program to arm, train, and finance the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, 1979 to 1989...
-- America's covert program to send radical, foreign, militant, fundamentalist, Islamists to Afghanistan, to strengthen the resistance against the Communists.
Maktab al-Khadamat
Maktab al-Khadamat
The Maktab al-Khidamat, also Maktab Khadamāt al-Mujāhidīn al-'Arab , also known as the Afghan Services Bureau, is reliably believed to have been founded in 1984 by Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden to raise funds and recruit foreign mujahidin for the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan...
, the organization Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
was to hijack and turn into al Qaeda was one of the main beneficiaries of the American aid funneled through questionable charities like al Kifah.
According to Gerald Posner
Gerald Posner
Gerald Posner is an investigative journalist and author of several books, including Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK which explores the John F...
's book Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11:
- "The center's director was Emir Mustafa Shalabi, a young Egyptian immigrant with a shock of red hair. Shalabi was infused with the same religious fervor for the Afghan cause that roused many young Muslims who regarded it as a holy war to liberate an Islamic country from communist domination. Neighbors began calling Alkifah the "jihad office." Shalabi invited SergeantSergeantSergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Ali MohamedAli MohamedAli Abdul Saoud Mohamed, is a double agent who worked for both the CIA and Egyptian Islamic Jihad simultaneously, reporting on the workings of each for the benefit of the other....
, a former Egyptian army officer and U.S. Army Green Beret, to the center's basement offices under the al-Farooq mosque. Armed with official U.S. Army videotapes and military documents marked "Top Secret," Mohamed conducted a series of weekend "training" classes and a two-week-long intensive seminar. Almost all the volunteers were Arab immigrants. They bought $600 one-way fares as a sign they were willing to give their lives for Islam."
Other future terrorists whom Shalabi would have met at the al Kifah center include:
| El-Sayyid A. Nosair | Charged with killing Rabbi Rabbi In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah... Meir Kahane Meir Kahane Martin David Kahane , also known as Meir Kahane , was an American-Israeli rabbi and ultra-nationalist writer and political figure. He was an ordained Orthodox rabbi and later served as a member of the Israeli Knesset... . |
| Mohammed Salameh | Convicted in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. |
| Clement Rodney Hampton-El Clement Rodney Hampton-El Clement Rodney Hampton-El, also known as Dr. Rashid, had been a member of the Moorish Science Temple of America was convicted in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.-External links:* , MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base... |
Convicted in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. |
| Mahmud Abouhalima Mahmud Abouhalima Mahmud Abouhalima is a convicted perpetrator of the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing. His red hair earned him the nickname Mahmud the Red.-Life:... |
Convicted of conspiracy in the 1998 East African embassy bombings 1998 United States embassy bombings The 1998 United States embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the East African capitals of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The date of the... . |
| Imam Imam An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question... Fawaz Damra Fawaz Damra Fawaz Mohammed Damrah was the imam of the Islamic Center of Parma, the largest mosque in the Cleveland area. He participated in numerous interfaith efforts and taught at Cleveland State University and the local community college. A video made by Steven Emerson was aired on PBS. In one scene,... |
Alleged to have recruited suicide bombers. |
Shalabi is said to have also founded the Brooklyn Jihad Center'.
Other sources say that "the Jihad Center" was merely another name for the al Kifah Refugee Center.