“The Islamic Association in Norway”… the MB hatchery of extremists in Europe

In Europe, the Muslim Brotherhood operates through a group of Islamic organizations that bid to gather supporters.

The brotherhood started its activity in Norway in 1987 with the foundation of “Det Islamske Forbundet i Norge (DIF)” (The Islamic Association in Norway).

The DIF often got mentioned in many investigations with extremists who carried out terrorist attacks in Europe and other countries around the world.

According to a 2011 estimation, members of Islamic congregations in Norway represent 2.3% of the population in Norway, which amounts around five million people.

The Norwegian government, like the rest of Scandinavian countries, provides financial support to organizations that target minorities, including the DIF.

However, due to a misuse of this financial support by the DIF’s management, Norway decided to halt its support to the organization.

The DIF is currently chaired by Jordan-born Basim Ghozlan, who delivers Friday prayer ceremonies and religious lessons at the Rabita Mosque, which is also known by its organizational name “The Islamic Association”, in Oslo.

Media outlets in Norway have criticized Ghozlan’s deep relation with MB Mufti and scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

In 2017, Gozlan took part at a dispute between organizations of the Islamic Council in Norway, an umbrella organization for Muslim congregations and organizations in Norway, regarding the appointment of a spokesperson for the council without their consent; but as the dispute got fiercer, these organizations withdrew from the council and founded a new one.

As the Norwegian prosecution were investigating the activities of the terrorist cell of Mikael Davud, who bombed the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, the name DIF was mentioned.

Davud was a Norwegian citizen of a Chinese origin who converted to Islam after marrying a Muslim woman of Moroccan origins, and he often would go to the DIF’s mosque before he traveled to Arab countries, where he communicated with Al Qaeda.

Davud planned for a terrorist operation in Denmark with an Iraqi-Kurdish man called Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, but the Norwegian authorities managed to arrest them before carrying out the operation.

Both Bujak and Davud were sentenced to several years in prison for plotting a terrorist operation in collaboration with Al Qaeda.

Another Norwegian terrorist, Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, was member of Al-Shabaab terrorist cell in Somalia and one of four perpetrators of the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya that killed at least 67 people. Dhuhulow also used to go to the DIF’s mosque more often.

It was also mentioned that as Jordanian MB leader led the Islamic Council in 2006, the MB foundation expanded its social activities and organization seminars and events with the participation of MB leaders.