Jun 16, 2025
A mosque in Dearborn, Michigan, long associated with Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, has received nearly $1 million in U.S. taxpayer funding while simultaneously engaging in ideological indoctrination. The Islamic Institute of Knowledge (IIOK), a tax-exempt Shiite institution, recently held a mock Hajj event where children as young as four were dressed in religious garments and taught to perform Meccan rituals. Though billed as an “educational” activity, this reenactment included rituals from Mecca—one of the most religiously segregated cities on earth, where non-Muslims are legally banned. While American parents might assume this was harmless multicultural exposure, the deeper issue is that these rituals are rooted in exclusivist theology that mirrors a system of religious apartheid—now repackaged as childhood education and subsidized by federal programs like the National School Lunch Program.
Beyond its activities with children, IIOK has long served as a platform for anti-Israel rhetoric and promotion of Iranian regime propaganda. Founded by a disciple of Ayatollah Khomeini, the mosque has openly honored terrorist-affiliated clerics and continues to echo messages hostile to Israel and the West. In recent sermons, IIOK leadership compared Israel to ISIS and called for its “removal”—a sanitized phrase that thinly veils genocidal intent. The mosque’s political and religious messaging aligns closely with the ideological goals of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, yet it operates freely on U.S. soil with taxpayer support. What would be considered unacceptable if practiced by a Christian institution is permitted in the name of religious tolerance. But this is not coexistence—it’s the quiet normalization of an exclusionary worldview, and the implications for America’s future civic and cultural landscape are serious and far-reaching.
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SOURCE: RAIR Foundation