IUMS: Organization of Islamic Thought or Global Organization for the Propaganda of Political Islam

The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) is a global Islamic organization, inspired by the Salafi school of Islam, which promotes religious studies, jurisprudence (fiqh), Islamic educational principles, and social reforms. As per the organization’s website, IUMS was established primarily to provide religious leadership in the Islamic world and to provide guidance on issues facing the global Muslim community. However, in this report, we will unmask some disguised aspects of IUMC which are as follows:

1. About the International Union of Muslim Scholars – IUMS.
2. About the relations of the International Union of the Muslim Scholars – IUMS with Muslim Brotherhood (MB)
3. Muslim Brotherhood (MB)’s steps in India in the form of the International Union of Muslim Scholars – IUMS.
4. About the relations between the International Union of Muslim Scholars – IUMS and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
5. The anti-India campaign of International Union of Muslim Scholars – IUMS.
6. Conclusion

Establishment of the organization

IUMS was founded on 11 July 2004 by Egyptian Islamic scholar Dr. Yusuf al-Qarzawi. Its headquarters are based in Doha, Qatar. According to the organization’s website, the organization has more than 95,000 members worldwide and is operational in more than 100 countries. Only a person who is a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence or a person associated with prestigious religious or educational institutions, a leader who has contributed to Islamic civilization and social reform can join this organization.

IUMS is the international face of Muslim Brotherhood

IUMS propagates the Salafi ideology of Islam and the ideology of political Islam “Muslim Brotherhood” the being disguised as an Islamic organization. Notably, in 2017, it was declared a terrorist organization by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Bahrain, due to its association with the “Muslim Brotherhood”. Moreover, the organization was accused of being associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and promoting extremist ideology. The organization’s former president Dr. Yusuf al-Qarzawi (now dead) and current president Ali al-Kardagi have remained a part of the Muslim Brotherhood. For this reason, Britain, France, and America have banned several leaders including Qarzawi from their countries.

Not only this, its Board of Trustees has also been associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. These include Rashid Ghannushi (leader of the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood), Safwat Hegazi (associated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood), Issam al-Bashir (leader of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood), Jamal Badawi (leader of the American Muslim Brotherhood), Isaac Farhan (Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood), Salah Sultan (former American Muslim Brotherhood member), etc.

India and the IUMS

IUMS is also functional in India. Indian Islamic scholar Salman Hussaini Al-Nadvi is on the Board of Trustees of IUMS. Al-Nadvi has been associated with Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow, one of the leading Islamic educational institutions in India. He has been a disciple of the famous Islamic scholar Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi (Ali Miyan). Maulana Salman Hussain Al-Nadvi was also a senior member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. However, he was removed from the board in 2018 due to his stand on the Ayodhya dispute. Nadvi gained the spotlight after writing a letter to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the terrorist organization Islamic State, expressing his support.

Furthermore, a controversial statement by Nadvi, posted on the YouTube channel of IUMS on July 22, 2023,  came to light. In his address, he said that Muslims should do “jihad through the Quran” and follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad, who called people to Islam, instead of censuring the corrupt, malicious, and criminal “media”. Al-Nadvi asserted that Muslims should “raid” European countries, America, and all the countries of the world and they should recite, interpret, and sell the Quran in these places. He further added: “InshaAllah, we will conquer them. We will attack them in their territory through the book of Allah.

Additionally, Salman Hussain Al Nadvi is a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Organization to endorse the Prophet of Islam (Islamic: الھیئة العالمیة لنصرة نبي الإسلام), a global campaign running to support the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). In addition, numerous members of this organization have religious affiliations with the “Muslim Brotherhood”. Recently, this organization had been found running an anti-India campaign in the name of Prophet Muhammad that could be read in the DFRAC‘s report.

Jamaat-e-Islami (India) Chief Syed Saadatullah Hussaini meets al-Qaradagi

Saadatullah Hussaini is the Ameer (National President) of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH). Hussaini became the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) in 2019. Before this, he was the National President of the Students Islamic Organization of India (SIO). He met the IUMS President Sheikh Ali Al-Kardaghi in Istanbul, Turkey in April, last year. On a related note, both of them also discussed the role of their respective organizations in the Muslim world.

Sajjad Nomani meets al-Qaradaghi

Sheikh Khalilur Rahman Sajjad Nomani is a prominent figure in India. He is an active member and spokesperson of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). He is highly vocal concerning Muslims. Sajjad Nomani had a meeting with IUMS President Sheikh Ali Al-Kardaghi in Doha, Qatar in April 2023 where Nomani stressed the need to organize a seminar on the religious duties of Muslim minorities, to promote awareness and education on religious and legal matters. Additionally,  they decided to organize an annual meeting with scholars from North, South, East and West India, to exchange views and experiences on religious and social issues.

IUMS and Zafarul Islam Khan

Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan is considered one of the leading intellectuals of the Indian Muslim community. He is recognized as a writer, journalist, and human rights activist. He is the founder and editor of the English newspaper Milli Gazette and has served as the head of both the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) and the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC). Dr. Khan is also an active member of the IUMS. Notably, he wrote an article in support of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), which was published on the IUMS website. In the article, he rejected the notion of the MB being a terrorist organization and appealed to Muslims to support it. He argued that if this respected, enlightened, and democratic Islamic organization were allowed to be destroyed, it would be a great disaster for Islam and Muslims.

IUMS in Aligarh Muslim University

As an active member of IUMS, Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan attended a conference at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in 2017 on the theme ‘Muslim Ummah: A Path to Progress.’ He conveyed the message of IUMS and its president, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qardaghi, to the conference.

Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan has been closely associated with controversies and often makes headlines in mainstream media due to his controversial statements. He once stated that Muslims are being oppressed in India and that Arab countries are protesting against it. He further cited that if Indian Muslims were to complain to Arab countries, it could result in a flood of consequences in India. Later, he had to apologize for this statement. Other than that, he has been in the news for expressing his support for Zakir Naik.

Interference in the affairs of India

IUMS has also been observed interfering in the affairs of India. IUMS responds on the issues associated with Muslims in India. IUMS President Sheikh Dr. Ali al-Qaradagi has been found giving statements against India.

IUMS on the issue of Kashmir

IUMS has been disseminating misleading propaganda by de-contextualizing events related to the Kashmir issue. On July 14, 2016, IUMS General Secretary Sheikh Al-Kardaghi issued a statement claiming that innocent people were being killed in Kashmir. He stated that Kashmir has been suffering repression for many years, and that violence against protesters had reached its peak, with more than 30 innocent civilians killed and over 400 people injured. Furthermore, the repression had escalated to such an extent that Islamic leaders and activists were even prevented from leaving their homes to offer Eid prayers.

However, contrary to Al-Kardaghi’s statement, in 2016, Eid prayers were offered in large numbers across various parts of Kashmir, including Eidgah, Hazratbal, Polo Ground, and other places in the capital, Srinagar. A slew of people also attended Eid prayers in cities across the Kashmir Valley, such as Baramulla, Sopore, Ganderbal, Bandipora, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam, Anantnag, and others. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah both attended Eid prayers at Hazratbal Dargah on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar. Furthermore, on the occasion of Eid, the Jammu & Kashmir government released 634 stone pelters, and the cases against them were also withdrawn to help them start new lives.

In another article addressing the Kashmir issue, he wrote that a conspiracy of genocide and demographic change is underway in Kashmir. He claimed that Modi’s assertion of resolving the Kashmir issue is false, and argued that international organizations should hold India accountable for human rights violations. He further called for the United Nations to conduct a referendum in Kashmir.

However, this article written against India was published on the IUMS website. The article was authored by Tasneem Shafiq, a Pakistani journalist associated with Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). ISPR is the media and public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces, responsible for running propaganda against India, including on issues related to Kashmir. From time to time, Tasneem Shafiq’s articles criticizing India are published in the official magazine of the Pakistani Army, Hilal.

IUMS claimed in another piece of article that the Modi government plans to make Muslims a minority in Kashmir by granting voting rights to non-local non-Muslims. This would add 2.5 million new non-Muslim voters to the existing 7.6 million voters, thereby weakening the political influence of Muslims. After revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, the government introduced controversial laws that granted non-local citizens the right to buy land and vote. This move is seen as favoring the Hindu-majority region of Jammu, further weakening the Muslim majority in Kashmir.

Nonetheless, this article was published a day earlier on  October 12, 2022, by the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) on its website and it was published on the website of IUMC on October 13, 2022. It is noteworthy that IAMC is the largest organization of Indian American Muslims in America. This organization has been running an anti-India agenda that was unveiled by DFRAC in its report “#IndianMuslimGenocideAlert and IAMC’s Anti-India Agenda”.

IUMS campaign against India

This so-called Islamic organization, formed by gathering Muslim scholars from around the world, has launched a well-planned campaign against India. Through its extensive network across Muslim countries, including the Arab and Gulf nations, it is portraying India as anti-Muslim by utilizing  the communal tensions within the country. To achieve this, the organization extensively uses both electronic and social media. Negative news related to Indian Muslims is translated into various languages, including Arabic, English, and Persian, and published on multiple media platforms globally.

IUMS not only documents incidents of anti-Muslim violence in India but also spreads this information across the world through social media and other platforms. Apart from this, the organization supports the voices raised on these issues through its affiliated organizations in India, as well as through its trustees and members.

Word Cloud

Given above the word cloud, shows the most frequent words in the tweets posted in Arabic by @iumsonline. Words that occur more frequently in the tweets appear larger, while words that occur less frequently appear smaller. This visualization helps to identify major themes and main topics present in the tweets.

The table above illustrates some Arabic words and the number of times each word appeared across all tweets.

The graph above shows the number of tweets made by @iumsonline each year on India, Indian Muslims, Kashmir and other India-related topics.

The graph above shows the frequency with which each hashtag has been used in tweets by @iumsonline on India-related topics, such as Kashmir, Indian Muslims, and others, since 2020.

Conclusion

The International Union of Muslim Scholars – IUMS is an organization of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) formed at the international level under the guise of Islamic scholars around the world. This organization claims to raise its voice regarding Muslim issues. However, under this pretext, it is also spreading the radical and extremist ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). This organization set foot in India as soon as it was formed. Many prominent personalities from India are occupying high positions in the organization. This organization is also openly waging anti-India campaigns disguised under Muslim issues. Certainly, various Muslim countries have banned this organization. Western countries have banned the founder, president, and members of the organization in their countries due to their extremist ideology.