Saudi bank's role in mosque is questioned

The Islamic Society of Boston's effort to build the region's largest mosque has received at least $1 million in financing from a Saudi Arabia-based bank dominated by governments that critics of the mosque project say support Islamic extremism.

The Islamic society acknowledged yesterday receiving a $1 million loan from the Islamic Development Bank in late 2005 -- principal owners of which are Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran, and Egypt -- after opponents of the mosque project provided the Globe with documents showing that the bank paid about $500,000 in mosque construction bills late in 2005.

Work on the mosque, which is being built at Roxbury Crossing, ground to a halt last autumn due to lack of funds. But work restarted this week using the unexpended portion of the loan, $1 million in donations raised locally during last year's Ramadan holiday, and $1,352,500 from the sale of Islamic society property in Cambridge, society spokeswoman Jessica Masse said.

She said that the loan is the first money for the project obtained from the financial institutions of Middle Eastern governments.

Saudi, Libyan, and Iranian government funding for Islamic fundamentalist organizations have been criticized by the US State Department and human rights organizations for contributing to the rise of terrorists who use Islam to justify their actions. The bank has not been targeted separately for such criticism. Attempts to reach bank officials at its headquarters in Jedda were unsuccessful yesterday.

Backers of the mosque say the bank is a legitimate financial institution that supports important projects in the Islamic world.

The 56 members of the Organization of Islamic Conference contribute in varying degrees to the Islamic Development Bank, which uses their money to finance a broad range of agricultural, industrial, and infrastructure projects in the Islamic world. But Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran, and Egypt provide a majority of the funds. The bank also supervises and disburses money from special funds created to support Palestinian families, including the families of suicide bombers. Saudi Arabia is a major contributor to those special funds.

Jeffrey Robbins, a lawyer representing organizations and private citizens raising questions about the funding and leadership of the mosque project, said yesterday that disclosure of the loan from the Islamic bank makes it imperative that the Islamic society disclose its other sources of funding in detail.

"The role of the government of Saudi Arabia in funding Wahabism and other forms of Islamic extremism in the US and around the world is amply documented," Robbins said. "Libya was listed [by the US State Department] as a state sponsor of terrorism at the time the loan was made. The State Department says Iran is the most active supporter of terrorism on the planet."

Robbins said he believes that the Islamic bank's support for the project may exceed $2 million.

Masse said the amount received from the Islamic Development Bank did not exceed $1 million and disputed Robbins' attempts to tie the bank to extremist elements.

"At all times, the ISB had confidence in the Islamic Development Bank's reputation as a legitimate lending institution with longstanding ties to the US government and the UN, and we strongly and emphatically deny knowing of any connections between IDB and organizations of disrepute," Masse said.

She stressed that the bank works with many Western governments and that it cofinanced, with the United States, some projects approved by the United Nations and the World Bank.

The mosque project was originally budgeted at about $20 million. During early fund-raising efforts, according to the Islamic society, all donations came from individuals: about 40 percent from Massachusetts donors, 30 percent from Saudis, 12 percent from other Middle Easterners and 15 percent from Western Europeans.

Donations from these sources dried up, Islamic society officials say, because of what they allege was a conspiracy involving the Boston Herald, WFXT-TV (Channel 25), and individual activists, most of them Jewish, to block the project by accusing the society's leaders of terrorist associations. The alleged conspirators are now defendants in a defamation suit brought by the Islamic society.

The construction-related documents provided to the Globe recently are among thousands being sought as the two sides prepare for trial of the suit.

Earlier documents raised questions about the process by which the Boston Redevelopment Authority negotiated the agreement under which the society is building the mosque on formerly city-owned land.

The project budget has been cut to $14 million because of fund-raising problems, mostly by deferring work on a school to be built within the mosque. The society is $2 million short of its goal.

Helal Al Waz, the Islamic society's on-site project manager, said yesterday that officials of the organization believe they will be able to finish enough work with funds now on hand to obtain occupancy permits from the city before next year's Ramadan festival, which begins Sept. 13.

Charles A. Radin can be reached at radin@globe.com.