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In a September 20, 2024, episode of the Safi Bros podcast on YouTube, Turkey-based Kuwaiti Islamic scholar and Muslim Brotherhood leader Dr. Tareq Al-Suwaidan opened up about his time in the United States. He discussed his role in founding the Arab Muslim Association (AMA) and how he navigated significant pushback, a strategy he later learned from his mentor, the late Sheikh Dr. Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood (for more on Al-Suwaidan's ties to Al-Qaradawi, see MEMRI TV clip no. 10117). Al-Suwaidan also shared insights into his experience establishing the Al-Salam Mosque in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was active for several years.
Al-Suwaidan was dismissed as the director of the Saudi Al-Risala TV in 2013 after publicly declaring his affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. Notably, Al-Suwaidan was an unindicted co-conspirator in the case against the Holy Land Foundation for funding Hamas terrorism and has been banned from entering multiple countries, including the United States and Belgium, due to his ties to terrorism and antisemitic views.
Tareq Al-Suwaidan: "[When I lived in the United States,] we didn't mingle with this corrupt society, because at that time, it was the sexual revolution. You and your time have seen nothing.
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"I cannot be part of that society. I had to keep apart.
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"During that time, I established the Arab Muslim Association in all of America.
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"There was pushback from the Arab nationalists. They hated this. And there was, by the way, some pushback from the embassies. They don't want any Islamic work among the students."
Interviewer: "How do you combat that? How is that?"
Al-Suwaidan: "You just continue! You don't look back. Don't let the resistance stop you. Just continue. I learned this later on from my sheikh, Dr. Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi.
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"I went to Oklahoma to study petroleum engineering, so in Oklahoma I also established a mosque there.
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"This was all walking distance from the university, because the university was the center for our activity.
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"All the neighbors were against us, everyone. [They said:] 'we don't want the mosque here.' And remember this is Oklahoma, Trump people…until today… My lawyer was so weak, so I asked to speak [in court]. [They were] five judges, they allowed me to speak. [I said:] 'You cannot stop us from building a mosque.' I was so strong on this. 'You are violating our constitutional rights.'
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"So they approved.
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"So we owned this mosque which was a church [in the past], and it was a Protestant church so there were no idols or fixed chairs, so it was ready for [becoming] a mosque. It was immediately enough for about a thousand people."
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