War Profiteering and False Testimony: Emgage and Muslim leadership

Scams cannot go far without complicity, sometimes mixed with a giant helping of fakery.

And do not take a human life-made sacred by Allah, except by legal right. This is what He has commanded you, so perhaps you will understand. 

-Quran 6:151

The flesh and body that is raised on unlawful sustenance shall not enter Paradise. Hell is more deserving to the flesh that grows on one's body out of unlawful sustenance.

-Hadith of Muhammad ﷺ

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said thrice, "Shall I not inform you of the biggest of the great sins?" We said, "Yes, O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)" He said, "To join partners in worship with Allah: to be undutiful to one's parents." The Prophet (ﷺ) sat up after he had been reclining and added, "And I warn you against giving forged statement and a false witness; I warn you against giving a forged statement and a false witness." The Prophet kept on saying that warning till we thought that he would not stop. 

-Hadith of Muhammad (ﷺ)

A scam is often only as successful as the scammer's ability to make others complicit in it. Ponzi and Pyramid schemes work this way, more people than just the scammer may benefit from the scam. The following article focuses on the ‘Muslim political organization’ Emgage to demonstrate how scams rely on a broad ecosystem of support for their survival. The scam may not rip anyone off or even be illegal, but is often far worse, nonetheless.

In our present moment, purported Muslim leaders aid Muslim business people in obtaining Department of Defense contracts, many of which are offered in service of killing Muslims in other parts of the world. Those same people work to influence politicians and nonprofits to build ‘Muslim political power’ in Washington D.C.

Other Muslim leaders and even Islamic scholars aggressively support this state of affairs, plastering their faces and names on the flyers of corrupt organizations, grabbing the microphone at their events to offer their blessings, and smearing all who find this repugnant as causing fitna. 

There is a con taking place in the Muslim community in the United States. It is a moral and spiritual scam in which Muslim organizations and leaders—even so-called “scholars”—are sometimes complicit. Actors perpetuating this con include the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), some CAIR chapters, as well as the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), to name only some. As I illustrate in this article, other Muslim organizations and individuals are drafted into this con against their will, so it is always important to verify information when possible. 

Let’s walk through how this scam against the Muslim community works. 

War and Genocide Profiteering a Major Goal

Emgage was founded by and is currently controlled and funded largely by non-Muslims. This is reflected in the organization’s apparent priorities. 

In a message from April of this year, Emgage’s CEO underscored his desire for Muslims and Arabs to get their ‘fair share’ of Department of Defense contracts. Another Emgage co-founder and chair bragged about providing the Department of Defense with equipment that can “see through clouds.” Indeed, Emgage has evangelized war and oppression-related profits by taking advantage of a principal founder's position heading the Department of Defense’s Office of Small Business Programs. Just last month, a board member organized a conference in Detroit aimed at attracting more people to the defense contracting sector. Emgage has directly promoted this kind of work. 

A visit to Emgage founder Farooq Mitha’s Department of Defense website reveals the types of contracts Muslims can bid on. Here are examples accessed as of this writing:

Emgage was expelled from the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) in 2020 (Emgage said they withdrew) and has been repeatedly banned from several Muslim spaces, primarily because of Emgage’s leaders’ record on Palestine. Even so, the organization maintains allies that continue to grant it legitimacy, providing the “halo effect” needed to get ordinary Muslims to trust it. Indeed, Emgage cannot operate within the American Muslim ecosystem completely alone. It requires help and legitimization from Muslim leaders. 

The Danger of Muslim Leaders Helping Emgage 

When Ahmad ibn Hanbal was imprisoned, one of the prison guards came to him and asked him:

"O Abu' Abdillah! The hadith that is narrated regarding the oppressors and those that aid them – is it authentic?"

He said: "Yes."

The prison guard then said: "So, I am considered to be an aide of the oppressors?"

Imam Ahmad replied: "No. The aides of the oppressors are those that comb your hair, and wash your clothes, and prepare your meals, and buy and sell from you. As for you, then you are one of the oppressors themselves!"

There is no nuance on the question of profiting from the murder of innocent people in Islam. All Shariʿa-compliant investing guidelines in the United States avoid profiting from mass murder. 

While it is commonplace for Muslims to criticize those in the community who earn their living from owning liquor stores or perpetrating Medicare fraud, it is less common to hear criticism of other ethically questionable endeavors, like profiting from industrial-scale murder. The difference between the former examples and the latter example is that there is no collective Muslim voice or organization actively encouraging Muslims to pursue other lines of work. And for the most part, no scam framework allows Muslim leaders to benefit from liquor stores and health insurance fraud. 

There are, however, incentives for Muslim leaders to work with Emgage. 

The Anatomy of a Con: 

Emgage's playbook borrows heavily from classic con artists, who manipulated other people into investing in their scams—making victims complicit by benefiting them—and then incentivizing those people to help create even more victims. In the case of Emgage, the scam involves making Muslim leaders and the community at large complicit in violence and war profiteering, even if those complicit leaders are not directly paid for these things. Like any good con, it relies on a network of enablers and a veneer of legitimacy.

Part 1: The Halo Effect and Leadership Complicity

By associating with respected Muslim leaders and organizations—whether genuinely or through false claims (more on that below)—Emgage borrows their credibility. This tactic conceals their corruption behind a facade of community representation. 

The Muslim leaders who play this role offer endorsements, speak at Emgage events, or simply remain silent about Emgage's promotion of war profiteering and other transgressions at crucial moments. In return, they may receive access to political connections, funding opportunities, or a share of Emgage's perceived influence. Sometimes, the benefit may only be an honorarium or a platform at which to speak. 

Part 2: Silencing Critics

Attacking whistleblowers and silencing critics is a classic technique of scammers. This was a technique used by Bernie Madoff, Charles Ponzi and others. It is a great way to deflect and distract from the scam being perpetrated against the community. A source at the USCMO told me that recently, an Emgage CEO demanded removal of a 4 year-old statement announcing Emgage’s expulsion from the group, implicitly threatening legal action. 

Part 3: Becoming the Muslim Gatekeeper to Power

By positioning itself as a gateway to power and “Muslim representation” in politics, Emgage exploits the community's desire for influence, and a strain of sycophancy endemic in much of the Muslim community’s leadership. Muslim leaders have long been under the impression that Emgage has the ear of the Democratic administration and campaign infrastructure. This allows them to sell a marriage of political activism and war profiteering as a path to community empowerment, despite its moral and spiritual implications. Muslim leaders can simply ignore Emgage’s habit of endorsing pro-genocide candidates, so long as Emgage can provide access to important people. 

Part 4: A Self-Perpetuating Cycle

The more legitimate Emgage appears, the more leaders associate with it (or to the extent ordinary Muslims think they are), further cementing its perceived legitimacy. This cycle makes it increasingly difficult for community members to question Emgage’s activities in the Muslim community.

As long as organizations like Emgage are allowed to masquerade as legitimate representatives while promoting morally questionable practices, they undermine genuine efforts at ethical community organization and political engagement. Fortunately, many responsible Muslim leaders have too much self-respect and regard for the ummah to have anything to do with Emgage. So, to fill the gap, Emgage needs to start taking liberties.

Part 5: Fraudulent Name-dropping 

Emgage’s annual reports contain a section on ‘partners’ that makes it appear as though many Muslim organizations work with the organization, Emgage claims these partnerships are growing. In 2023, they proudly touted 21 “partners,” down from 38 in 2022. Notable for being “partners” in 2022 but not 2023 (according to Emgage) were Islamic Relief, MPower Change, Pakistan American Foundation and Muslim Advocates. There is more going on here than arithmetic errors or marketing puffery. A number of organizations that Emgage claims as “partners” did not agree to that.

Take the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), listed as an Emgage partner for years. ISNA confirmed to me they have no partnership with Emgage. 

In 2023 Emgage boasted 133 “Muslim Civic Table Partners” (the report is inconsistent). It's an impressive number until you start fact-checking. Many of these “partners” have no discernible connection to Emgage. Some, like CAIR Michigan, have told me they do not work with Emgage. Others are so vaguely named (“Masjid Name,” for example) that they could be anyone (or no one).

Emgage is operating a two-pronged con here. For the Muslim community, it’s about legitimacy. For non-Muslim funders, however, it’s about demonstrating reach for the dollars they are asking for. Emgage will not get much funding from outside the Muslim community if they cannot show they are influential within it. 

While it is a credit to the Muslim community that Emgage is reduced to bragging about working with organizations with which it does not actually work, the more important problem is that Emgage does have actual partners in the Muslim community. They include notable nonprofit leaders and even imams.

Islamic Leadership Malpractice 

There would be no point in speculating about why any individual imam or Muslim community leader would debase themselves by publicly working with Emgage and providing false testimony to the Muslim community about the organization’s value. The result is the same regardless of the reasoning at play: a scam in the Muslim community is perpetuated because trusted Muslim leaders mislead ordinary Muslims. 

Flyer from Joint Emgage / CAIR-CA PAC event co-hosted by CAIR California CEO Hussam Ayloush. Note as a general rule, not all named in Emgage documents necessarily agreed to co-branding with Emgage.

Hussam Ayloush (named in the flyer above who co-hosted the event) is well known in Southern California’s large Muslim community. For a group like Emgage, having Ayloush’s stamp of approval is useful validation. Ayloush did not disappoint. Soon after Emgage became a presence in Southern California, he co-signed an Emgage event, lending the organization credibility to his donor network and the wider Muslim community. Ayloush was well aware of Emgage’s work promoting defense contracting in the Muslim community and concerns specified in USCMO’s statement (of which CAIR is a leading member). He decided to ignore those concerns and tied himself to Emgage’s mast. 

Another example is Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed, who spoke at an "Emerging Leaders Training" at Emgage Michigan. Emerging Leaders programs are by definition for youth. Parents unaware of what Emgage is, were likely assured by the presence of a religious teacher. His participation provided crucial religious legitimacy to an organization that actively promotes profiting from murder. I am informed Waheed was warned about Emgage. This did not appear to matter. 

Muslim Leaders Should Consider the Harm that Comes from False Testimony

The problem is not Emgage per se. Technically speaking, they have every right to do what they are doing as Americans, so long as what they are getting away with is legal and they are not committing crimes like wire fraud or mail fraud to secure grant money. They can evangelize war industries and support genocidal politicians all they want. As an astroturf operation founded and funded largely outside the Muslim community with a demonstrably poor reputation among Muslim organizations, Emgage lacks the capacity to lead Muslims to spiritual or moral bankruptcy. Emgage or groups like it will exist as long as there is a Muslim community. 

The people with the capacity to lead Muslims to moral and spiritual bankruptcy are the ones who lead Muslims into following scams. Complicity comes from false testimony, by word or deed. 

Postscript: New Developments

Since the publication of this article a few different things happened:

1. Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed claimed on Twitter that he did not know what Emgage was and would not participate in the future. I was unable to speak to him about this despite multiple efforts.

2. Farooq Mitha is no longer on the board of Emgage, per the website. However, filings at various government agencies have not confirmed this yet, or the continued involvement of his father.

3. Emgage has endorsed Kamala Harris for President in 2024, over the objection of now former Board Member Farrukh Shamsi, who resigned from the Emgage Board over this.