Risalah Foundation Endorsements:
Imam Zaid Shakir, Dr. Umar Faruq Abdallah, Ramzy Ajem
Over the years, several popular shaykhs have endorsed Risalah Foundation.
Imam Zaid Shakir helped raise funds for the Foundation. Ramzy had also used his name as a "Resident Scholar" on Risalah's old website. Risalah has re-branded itself and has removed old references from the site. Several witnesses are available that can speak to Imam Zaid's Residency reference on the site. What kind of work was being done as a "Resident Scholar"? Or was it just a branding play to look "big" and "see, we are endorsed by big names." Was he offering Fatwas? Or was he involved in religious counselling within the local community? Imam Zaid doesn't even live in the Greater Toronto Area. I did reach out to Imam Zaid with questions on his Instagram channel but he never responded.
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| "Resident Scholar" - Risalah Foundation Endorsed Risalah Foundation |
"Resident Scholar" - Risalah Foundation Endorsed Risalah Foundation |
Endorsed Risalah Foundation |
Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah also endorsed the Foundation, Ramzy Ajem, and Abdallah El Haddad. He was the guest of honour at Masjid Vaughan's inaugural. He was also closely involved in the Egyptian Sisters case as the sisters first reached out to him about Abdallah El Haddad. According to Mustafa Ghani, Dr. Umar's student in Edmonton, Ramzy's statement in the Egyptian Sisters transcript, "I spoke with Dr. Umar and he said you (Ramzy) are 100% correct" was a "misleading" statement. I asked Mustafa Ghani to clarify what he meant by "misleading", i.e. what did Dr. Umar say. He didn't respond. I also asked Mustafa Ghani if Dr. Umar would issue a written statement to clarify Ramzy's misleading statement. His response was "I don't think Dr. Umar will issue a statement." That was disappointing considering Dr. Umar had endorsed Risalah and was directly involved in the Egyptian Sisters case.
Dr. Walead Mosaad was also one of the "Resident Scholars" Ramzy had used on the Risalah website prior to re-branding. He, too, is not a resident of the Greater Toronto Area. So, what kind of work was Dr. Mosaad doing as a "Resident Scholar" at Risalah?
Endorsements are nice. One can borrow credibility and get a healthy boost in the community. One can even raise a bunch of money for their foundation because of these endorsements. "Look, so and so endorsed us. We are now certified." Endorsements without respectable due diligence, however, can be quite dangerous.
Imam Zaid Shakir, Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, and Dr. Walead Mosaad should all be investigated for their involvement with the Risalah Foundation. Was there any due diligence done prior to endorsing the Foundation, Ramzy, or Abdallah El-Haddad? Someone like Imam Zaid who is effectively the Endorsement Imam of the west, should sit a much broader investigation and answer hard questions about his due diligence system, if he has any. What kind of work was being done as "Resident Scholars" at the Foundation? Were they getting paid by Risalah for endorsements? Did they know Mohamad Mahmud is not a learned man but goes by "Shaykh Mohamad"? Or was Mohamad Mahmud made a "Shaykh" by Ramzy and they weren't aware of it?
The problem is that endorsements in our communities don't have associated liabilities. If I told Imam Zaid that he will be fined $100,000 for failing due diligence, he will think thrice before rubber stamping shaykhs and foundations.
There is a lot to ask. A transparent, independent, and an unbiased investigation must take place to answer these hard questions.