U.S. Justice Department Hires Radical Imam Fouad ElBayly to Teach Federal Inmates about Islam

Fouad ElBayly is the imam of the Islamic Center of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He gained national attention in 2007, when he said that Ayaan Hirsi Ali deserved the death penalty for criticizing Islam. Apparently, ElBayly is just the sort of person the Department of Justice wants teaching Islam to inmates. Nothing to worry about here.

Fouad ElBayly

Daily Caller—An Egyptian-born imam who in 2007 said that Somali-born activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali should receive the death penalty for her criticism of Islam is now a Department of Justice contractor hired to teach classes to Muslims who are in federal prison.

According to federal spending records, Fouad ElBayly, the imam at Islamic Center of Johnstown in Pennsylvania, was contracted by the DOJ’s Bureau of Prisons beginning last year to teach the classes to Muslim inmates at Cumberland Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Md.

The records show that ElBayly has two contracts worth $12,900 to teach the classes and to provide the inmates “leadership and guidance.” One of the contracts is dated Feb. 20, 2014, and the other is dated Dec. 8, 2014.

It was April 2007 when ElBayly, the imam at the Islamic Center of Johnston, protested Ali’s scheduled appearance at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown.

Ali, a former Dutch parliamentarian who fled Somalia with her family at a young age, has been vocal in her critique of Islam, claiming that women suffer greatly under the religion.

Those comments have angered many, including ElBayly, who called Ali’s statements “poisonous.”

“If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death,” the imam told a local newspaper ahead of her university visit.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

ElBayly, along with Mahmood Qazi, the Islamic Center of Johnstown’s founder and past president, pressed university officials to block Ali from speaking.

“I don’t want her to poison anyone’s mind,” Qazi said. “She doesn’t believe in God. How can she talk about God?”

The men were unsuccessful, and ElBayly was heavily criticized for his comments, which gained national attention at the time. He apologized in a letter to the newspaper and seemingly resigned his post.

But that resignation was temporary, it turns out.

The federal Bureau of Prisons requires religious services contractors to provide credentials and other background information in their applications. One section asks applicants to list their associations with established religious organizations. According to recent news reports, ElBayly is once again the imam at the Islamic Center of Johnstown. (Continue Reading.)