Excerpt:
The Chicago-based Zakat Foundation of America, a 501©3 non-profit, was founded in 2001, and presents itself in a benevolent light:
Zakat Foundation of America (ZF) is an international charity organization that helps generous and caring people reach out to those in need. Our goal is to address immediate needs and ensure the self-reliance of the poorest people around the world with Zakat and Sadaqa [acts of worship] dollars of privileged Muslims and the support of other generous donors.
Does the Zakat Foundation of America merely help, in an innocent charitable way, "the poorest people" or is it a front for jihad? Part of the answer comes in the identity of the Muslim thinkers the foundation promotes. Chief among them is Yusuf al-Qardawi, spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who in 2009 declared his hope that before his death, even if he was wheelchair-bound, he would be able to "shoot Allah's enemies, the Jews, and they will throw a bomb at me, and thus, I will seal my life with martyrdom."