When Americans consider “charity” they picture their contributions providing clothing for the poor or food for the hungry. When they hear the word “missionary" they picture Christians going abroad to save souls. However, these terms mean very different things to the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that President Trump has twice attempted to label as terrorist. In radical Islamist teaching, zakat (charity) is not simply about helping the poor; it is about advancing Islam. The aim is to expand the ummah -- the worldwide Muslim community -- through dawah (proselytizing).
Americans are right to be deeply concerned about what is happening in our own country. Radical Islam is now embedded here at home, cloaked in citizenship and political power.
In Dearborn, Michigan, the city’s Muslim mayor publicly berated a Christian pastor -- one of his own constituents -- labeling him “Islamophobic” and declaring him unwelcome in Dearborn. The pastor’s supposed offense? A respectful protest at a City Council meeting against renaming a major road after an open supporter of terrorism.
In Washington, D.C., one of President Trump’s rare outings to a local restaurant was disrupted by protesters waving “Free Palestine” placards in the streets. Months earlier two civilians were gunned down at a public event by yet another pro-Palestinian agitator repeating the same slogan.
And who can forget October 8, 2023 -- the day after Hamas terrorists butchered Israeli families in their homes? Before Israel could even count its dead, or bury its bodies, America’s elite universities -- including Columbia -- erupted in demonstrations supporting Hamas.
This is the America we are living in: where radical sympathizers are not just chanting in the streets but are increasingly wielding power in city halls, disrupting civic life, and excusing terror on our campuses. The threat is no longer “out there.” It’s here.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Dawah Network
This is not speculation. It’s history. Time and again, so-called “charities” tied to the Muslim Brotherhood have been exposed as funding arms for terrorism. Born in Egypt in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed there in 2013 for fueling extremism. It helped give rise to Hamas, al-Qaeda, and ISIS -- and has since been banned by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan.
Yet in America, where it set up operations in the1990s, it operates freely. The most infamous case of the Brotherhood’s use of charitable fronts was the Holy Land Foundation, once the largest Islamic charity in America. In 2008, after a lengthy trial, its leaders were convicted of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas under the guise of humanitarian relief. The trial produced massive evidence linking the Brotherhood’s American network to overseas terror financing -- with organizations such as CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) labelled as "unindicted co-conspirators.”
Even so, years later, CAIR enjoys legitimacy, cloaked in the language of “civil rights” and “community service.” Politicians court them. Corporations partner with them. Universities give them platforms. And Obama and Biden hosted CAIR at the White House. All the while, their own documents -- seized in FBI raids -- describe their mission in America as a “civilizational jihad,” designed to “destroy Western civilization from within.”
Other Brotherhood fronts have, however, been shut down but reemerged with new names. In 2024 the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) was forced to disband following convictions for providing material support to Hamas through its propaganda efforts. Its successor organization, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and its campus arm, Students for Justice in Palestine, push the Brotherhood’s ideology into American institutions, with 2023’s pro-Hamas riots at America’s elite universities showing how dawah mobilization translates into unrest. AMP in March 2025 faced a Congressional investigation into its ties with Hamas.
In many cases, charity monies flow through layers of seemingly respectable institutions before arriving in the hands of militants. This is not accidental -- it’s their business model. The Brotherhood understands that Western societies instinctively respect religious charities. They exploit that instinct, counting on Americans’ good faith to bankroll causes that undermine our own security.
Meanwhile, the dawah side of the Brotherhood’s work advances in parallel. Outreach centers, mosques, and campus groups present themselves as cultural or religious organizations. However, the same hardline ideology is frequently promoted by their programming and materials: the delegitimization of Israel and the West, the primacy of Islam, and the certainty of sharia. This explains why pro-Hamas demonstrations, frequently led or coordinated by organizations with close organizational or ideological ties to the Brotherhood, erupted not only in Gaza but also on American campuses following the October 7 Hamas massacre. Clearly, the Muslim Brotherhood uses what Americans perceive as "charity" and "outreach" as tools of soft power, including subversion, infiltration and, ultimately, terror.
The Way Forward
President Trump is right to press again for a formal designation of the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, allowing Treasury and Homeland Security to freeze assets, cut off financial pipelines, and hold U.S. donors responsible if they send money to Brotherhood fronts.
The legal tools to act are already in place. Nevertheless, a formal designation of the Brotherhood would allow Treasury and Homeland Security to freeze assets, cut off financial pipelines, and hold U.S. donors responsible if they send money to their fronts. However, “The Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act” introduced in the Senate in July 2025 is bogged down in Congress. Critics warn this designation might be too broad or alienate moderate Muslims. Some Democrats even see the group’s adoption of "social justice" language as well as their “victim” status as aligned with progressivism. But doing nothing is far riskier. Every year the Brotherhood’s U.S. affiliates grow their influence under the charitable mask, embedding deeper into schools, nonprofits, and lobbying networks.
The way forward is simple. When “charity” is a mask for jihad, it is not charity. When “outreach” is designed to conquer, it is not dialogue. America cannot afford to keep pretending otherwise. Trump is right to demand that the Muslim Brotherhood be treated for what it is: a terrorist organization. If our leaders fail to act, this Trojan horse will continue to advance.
The authors are co-editors and contributors to BEYOND JIHAD: Critical voices from inside Islam (Academica Press).
Image: Public Domain