A Pattern of Extremism: Inside ISNA's 2026 Speaker Lineup
The Islamic Society of North America draws thousands to its 63rd annual gathering and a speaker roster that includes figures promoting child marriage, and praising terror, and a senate candidate
The Islamic Society of North America will host its 63rd annual convention at Detroit’s Huntington Place Convention Center over Labor Day weekend, September 4-7, 2026. The four-day gathering is expected to draw tens of thousands of attendees and featured keynote speakers. A related ISNA Day conference in Tampa on October 24 will feature additional speakers.
This year’s speaker lineup includes Pakistani cleric Mufti Tariq Masood, who admitted in a 2021 sermon to forcing his 13-year-old niece into marriage and was denied entry to Canada over what activists called “pedophilic rhetoric.” New Jersey Imam Mohammad Qatanani, convicted of Hamas membership by an Israeli military court in 1993 and currently fighting deportation from the United States, is scheduled for the Tampa event. Also speaking is Abdul El-Sayed, who won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary on August 4 and whose father-in-law served on ISNA’s Founders Committee.
2026 Convention Speakers
Mufti Tariq Masood: Child Marriage Advocate
Pakistani cleric Mufti Tariq Masood is scheduled to speak on a panel about “avoiding mental illness in youth.” In a 2021 sermon, he admitted to forcing his 13-year-old niece into marriage and advised his followers to do the same with their young female relatives. Masood also said it was a husband’s decision whether his wife can attend college, citing Sharia law. He spent the sermon “advising all to engage their daughters in prepubescent marriages,” according to the Pakistan Observer.
Canadian activists urged the government to block Masood’s visa in 2024 over his “pedophilic rhetoric.”
Abdul El-Sayed: Michigan Senate Nominee
Abdul El-Sayed is speaking on a panel titled “Cultivating God Awareness in a Turmoiled America.” His father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, was a member of ISNA’s Founders Committee and served as president of CAIR-Michigan.
El-Sayed has attacked President Trump and Republicans as “pedophile protectors” over Epstein files. Yet he will share a stage with Masood, who admitted on video to forcing a child into marriage. El-Sayed will appear on a panel moderated by Syed Imtiaz Ahmad, ISNA’s president, who also moderates Masood’s youth mental health panel.
Siraj Wahhaj
Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj, confirmed as a speaker at the 2026 convention, was named an unindicted co-conspirator by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White in the trial of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj provided testimony in defense of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh” and former leader of the Egyptian terrorist organization Gama’a al-Islamiyya. Rahman was convicted of conspiracy to murder Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and of bombing conspiracy related to a plot to bomb the FBI headquarters and New York tunnels.
During his testimony, Wahhaj called the terrorist leader a “respected scholar” and praised him as “bold, as a strong preacher of Islam.”
In a November 1991 lecture at the Islamic Association of Northern Texas, Wahhaj advocated for establishing an Islamic state in America: “Where ever you came from, you came to America. And you came for one reason—for one reason only to establish Allah’s deen.” He predicted the demise of America unless it accepted “the Islamic agenda” and said Muslims should be involved in politics because “politics are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.”
Other 2026 Speakers
Imam Mohammad Qatanani, scheduled for ISNA’s Tampa event, was convicted of Hamas membership by an Israeli military court in 1993 and is currently fighting deportation from the United States.
Dr. Arif Alvi, keynote speaker and Pakistan’s president from 2018 to 2023, declined to amend Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws after two Christian brothers were sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Muhammad.
Yasir Qadhi, appearing on several panels, delivered a 2001 sermon recommending a book titled The Hoax of the Holocaust, called the Holocaust "false propaganda," and said "Hitler never intended to mass-destroy the Jews," according to a 2010 report in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
ISNA’s Muslim Brotherhood Roots
ISNA’s speaker choices make sense only when understood in the context of the organization’s founding and structure. ISNA appears at the top of a list of 29 organizations in a May 22, 1991 internal memorandum authored by Muslim Brotherhood operative Mohamed Akram. The document, seized by the FBI and entered as evidence in federal court, describes a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with an explicit goal: “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”
Federal prosecutors included ISNA on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation prosecution, listing it among “individuals/entities who are and/or were members of the US Muslim Brotherhood.” Though U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis ruled the government had violated ISNA’s Fifth Amendment rights by not sealing the list, he found “ample evidence to establish the association between ISNA and Hamas” and declined to strike ISNA from the list.
ISNA’s Plainfield, Indiana headquarters complex was built with $21 million from Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Yusuf al-Qaradawi — who issued a fatwa calling for the killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq — and from Youssef Nada and the emir of Qatar.
Current ISNA board member Muzammil Siddiqi, who also serves on the board of NAIT, has lectured extensively on jihad, telling audiences “when people really carry on Jihad, they carry on the Islam in its peak” and warning that “no people have ever neglected Jihad except they became humiliated.” In a 2001 online exchange, he stated that “once more people accept Islam, inshaallah, this will lead to the implementation of Sharia in all areas.” Siddiqi will also be a keynote speaker at the conference.
This September in Detroit, thousands will gather at Huntington Place Convention Center. Federal agencies will staff recruiting booths. A cleric who forced his 13-year-old niece into marriage will advise parents on youth mental health. An imam convicted of Hamas membership will deliver remarks in Tampa. Holocaust deniers will appear on panels. And Abdul El-Sayed — who won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary three weeks ago — will take the stage alongside them.