The Memphis Islamic Center is gearing up to create "a multipurpose Islamic Center to serve the needs of Muslims in the Memphis area and beyond," according to its website. But critics wonder exactly what that means, especially given the center's newest hire: Sheikh Yasir Qadhi.
Qadhi, the dean of academic affairs at the AlMaghrib Institute, a weekend seminary where instructors travel to teach advanced Islamic studies, made headlines in 2001 with a speech in which he referred to the Holocaust as "false propaganda" and pointed to Jewish people's "crooked nose and blond hair" as evidence that they "are not a Semitic people."
In 2006, Qadhi admitted to being on a terror watch list, saying he had no idea why. His name has since been removed.
Three years later, Qadhi was again thrust into the spotlight when it was discovered that his institute's list of alumni included accused "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and reportedly includes convicted terrorist Daniel Maldonado, also known as Daniel Aljughaifi.
Aljughaifi's public profile is still available on the AlMaghrib Institute website.
Qadhi, who acknowledged last year that Abdulmutallab had attended AlMaghrib seminars, did not reply to messages left for him at the institute. He himself studied under terrorist Imam Ali al-Timimi, who was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of encouraging some of his followers, soon after the 9/11 attacks, to join the violent jihad against Americans in Afghanistan, and who offered them a recommendation on a terror camp where they could get training and instructions. Al-Timimi also famously celebrated the crash of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, saying "his heart felt certain good omens" and "Muslims were overjoyed because of the adversity that befell their greatest enemy," according to the indictment.
In a letter issued in defense of his former teacher, Qadhi said Timimi "played an instrumental role in shaping and directing me to take the path that has led me to where I am today."
That path has apparently led Qadhi to the Memphis Islamic Center, where he will be preaching regularly as its resident scholar, according to the center's website.