The Birmingham Islamic Society’s own founding documents reveal not an ordinary house of worship but a deliberately built parallel system — one that subordinates its members’ finances, families, and final wishes to Sharia over Alabama law, channels its property into a Muslim Brotherhood–linked trust, and has long entrusted its pulpit to leaders with extremist ties.
The Birmingham Islamic Society (BIS) operates one of Alabama’s largest and most influential mosques. While it presents itself to the public as a standard 501(c)(3) religious organization, its internal governing documents and leadership history tell a very different and troubling story.
BIS’s constitution explicitly places the entire organization under Sharia (Islamic law). The mosque routes its assets and disputes to the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), an entity identified in federal court records as part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s infrastructure for controlling property in the United States. It also promotes an Islamic Last Will and Testament that overrides Alabama law on inheritance and child custody in favor of Quranic rules.
Over the years, BIS has employed imams with documented ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, including one who was named in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial. Two of its original founders have promoted 9/11 conspiracy theories and antisemitic claims on social media as recently as 2026. Most recently, its affiliated Islamic Academy of Alabama tried to expand in Hoover but was blocked by strong community pushback.
This is not a fringe mosque operating in the shadows. This is a major, well-established Islamic institution in Alabama that has deliberately built itself around Sharia and long-term institutional control.