Al-Furqaan brands its “Islam in Prison” division as a benevolent effort to secure halal meals, prayer spaces, hijabs, and Qur’ans, promising “pathways to hope, faith, and rehabilitation” for inmates. The pitch is polished; the reality is more troubling. The same umbrella organization runs Furqaan Bookstore — documented selling antisemitic, anti-Western, and 9/11-truther literature at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention — and has been linked by watchdogs to Qatari regime–connected funding streams that U.S. and allied experts have repeatedly associated with extremist networks. We’re not talking about private devotions; we’re talking about who is shaping captive minds behind bars, using tax advantages and institutional access that we approve.
The bookstore that sells hate — then walks into prisons
In 2022, the Middle East Forum published a photo-driven report on Furqaan Bookstore’s sprawling booth at ISNA’s annual convention near Chicago. It wasn’t just Qur’ans and kids’ titles. Their tables included works by Yusuf Qaradawi (the late Muslim Brotherhood ideologue who defended suicide bombings and the execution of homosexuals) and pamphlets glorifying “jihad”-tinged worldviews. MEF also found Furqaan promoting antisemitic conspiracy books like One Nation Under Israel and 9/11 truther screeds such as 9/11: The Great Illusion, blaming the U.S., “the Illuminati,” and Israel for the attacks. When asked for comment, neither ISNA nor Al-Furqaan responded.
These aren’t random flea-market finds. They’re sold by the same ecosystem that now seeks official prison access to “provide resources” and “advocacy” to inmates, per Islam in Prison’s site and Al-Furqaan’s own announcement welcoming IIP as a division. That should set off every red flag for chaplains, wardens, and taxpayers.
The money trail that begs for daylight
Investigations have revealed that Al-Furqaan’s Quran distribution project has not been sustained by grassroots donations alone — it has been bankrolled with in-kind support tied directly to Qatar’s RAF Foundation, a regime-linked charity with documented ties to extremist financiers. IRS records show that in 2016 alone, Al-Furqaan reported receiving $1.6 million worth of Qurans from RAF. This is not philanthropy. It is foreign-funded ideological warfare, funneled straight into America’s prisons under the cover of “religious charity.”
Even without access to every redacted Schedule B detail, the outline is unmistakable: a foreign pipeline of Islamist literature entering the U.S. through a tax-exempt nonprofit, shielded by America’s own laws. What we can verify is that Al-Furqaan is a registered 501(c)(3) (EIN 20-0310701) with years of IRS filings showing a sizable, organized apparatus built around Quran distribution and related projects — the very activities now being leveraged for prison access.
Prisons are uniquely vulnerable to ideological manipulation
U.S. oversight bodies have warned for years that prisons are fertile ground for extremist recruitment. The Department of Justice Inspector General has documented gaps in the Bureau of Prisons’ monitoring of high-risk inmates and communications; GAO has flagged persistent weaknesses in counter-radicalization; and the FBI has testified that “anti-U.S. sermons” from religious providers are a key vector.
But here’s the scandal: none of those official warnings ever names the real source of the problem — Islam. They wrap it in generic language about “extremism,” while the reality on the ground is that the Qur’an itself, distributed en masse by groups like Al-Furqaan, is the primary driver of prison conversions that spill over into violence.
The deeper scandal: Islam itself is the driver
The Qur’an Al-Furqaan floods into prisons is not a neutral devotional text — it is laced with commands to strike unbelievers, wage jihad, and subjugate until all religion belongs to Allah. It reads less like scripture and more like a military manual, and it has been the ideological engine for centuries of violence.
Making matters worse, the very chaplaincy roles meant to filter and protect inmates are being filled by imams steeped in this ideology. Instead of safeguarding inmates, they act as a delivery mechanism — waving through the very supremacist texts and groups that should be blocked at the gate. This is how indoctrination, not rehabilitation, becomes the daily reality of America’s prisons.
Bottom line
A nonprofit that (1) markets a prison-ministry division, (2) operates a bookstore documented as pushing antisemitic and conspiracy literature, and (3) has been linked in investigations to regime-connected in-kind support should never be waved past the sally port simply because it dresses itself in the language of “rehabilitation.” Islamic literature and its militant propaganda have no place in American prisons. Allowing them inside disrespects victims, endangers inmate safety, and abandons common sense.
It is shameful that the halo of a 501(c)(3) has blinded officials to basic vetting. Until Al-Furqaan proves — with full transparency, independent audits, and a cleaned-up catalog — that it deserves access, the door must remain shut. Every radical Islamic text smuggled in under the guise of religion is not rehabilitation. It is recruitment.
