Two Suspects Charged for Alleged ISIS-Inspired Terrorist Attack in Michigan
The complaint alleges that Ali and Person 1 “sought guidance from the father of a local Islamic extremist ideologue (the ‘Islamic Ideologue’)” on when to conduct the attack.
Two men from Dearborn, MI, face federal charges for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack over the Halloween weekend.
They gave the attack the code name of “pumpkin.”
Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, both 20, have been charged under 18 U.S.C. § 924(h): Receiving and transferring, and attempting and conspiring to transfer, firearms and ammunition knowing and having reasonable cause to believe that the firearms and ammunition would be used to commit a Federal crime of terrorism.
The complaint also names a juvenile (Person 1).
According to the FBI Agent Nicholas Czech, encrypted conversations “stated that ‘brothers’ to specifically include Person 1 and ALI are planning to conduct a terrorist attack in the United States on behalf of the designated foreign terrorist organization (‘FTO’) ISIS.”
A confidential FBI source took part in these conversations.
The FBI said he believed the three suspects “traveled together to scout potential attack target locations in Ferndale.”
Why Ferndale? Czech wrote:
The area in Ferndale to which Person 1 and ALI traveled on both September 19 and 20, 2025, and MAHMOUD traveled on September 19, 2025, includes numerous bars and restaurants, including three bars/clubs identified by the FBI based on this data. All three of these clubs are located on Woodward Avenue near East Nine Mile. Many of the clubs and bars in this area intentionally attract members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Given that Person 1, ALI, and MAHMOUD are all under twenty-one-years old and based on what I have learned during this investigation, I believe it is unlikely Person 1, ALI, and MAHMOUD would have traveled to this area at this time to patronize these clubs or drink alcohol.
As referenced above, Co-conspirator 1 stated, “knowing Athari [Person 1], it’s [the attack is] probably going to be at like a club, a disco.” As such, I believe the September 19 and 20, 2025 trips described above could be attempts by Person 1, ALI, and MAHMOUD to “scout” locations of a possible attack before carrying it out.
The complaint alleges that Ali and Person 1 “sought guidance from the father of a local Islamic extremist ideologue (the ‘Islamic Ideologue’)” on when to conduct the attack.
From the footnote:
Based on my training and experience and from conferring with other FBI personnel, I am aware that the Islamic extremist ideologue has publicly proclaimed his support for the Islamic extremist ideology espoused by ISIS. In 2014, the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (“ICSR”) published a report indicating that the Islamic Ideologue was influential in providing legitimacy for ISIS among its foreign fighters and the report referenced direct contacts between this individual and those ISIS fighters. The ICSR report also notes that its analysis of social media accounts assessed to be used by foreign fighters in Syria, most of whom were believed to be ISIS members, revealed that 1.25 percent of his interactions on Twitter were with foreign fighters in Syria and that 60 percent of foreign fighters in Syria with Twitter accounts followed the Islamic Ideologue on Twitter. The ICSR stated that the Islamic Ideologue “does not openly incite his followers to violence nor does he explicitly encourage them to join the Syrian jihad,” but that “he adopts the role of a cheerleader” and his views “can easily be interpreted as offering support, encouragement, justification, and— particularly given his status as a religious leader—legitimacy for the decision to join a jihadist group in Syria. The Islamic Ideologue also issued a series of “Tawheeds (sermons)” that were available on his YouTube channel, including sermons that appear to blame nonbelievers for perceived harms to Muslims and justify attacks by Muslims on non-believers.
Professor Margot Cleveland dug up the ISCR report.
The report names Ahmad Musa Jibril, a Palestinian-American cleric born in Dearborn. If this is the “father” mentioned in the complaint, he found an interesting way to keep himself at arm’s length from people:
Jibril is not a conventional cleric. It should be pointed out that Jibril does not openly incite his followers to violence nor does he explicitly encourage them to join the Syrian jihad. Instead, he adopts the role of a cheerleader: supporting the principles of armed opposition to Assad, often in highly emotive terms, while employing extremely charged religious or sectarian idioms. The general demeanour of his posturing towards the West is confrontational and distrusting, fuelling the perception of a Western conspiracy against both Islam and Muslims. This is not to make a value judgement on Jibril’s views, which he is entitled to hold. It should be recognised, however, that such views can easily be interpreted as offering support, encouragement, justification, and – particularly given his status as a religious leader – legitimacy for the decision to join a jihadist group in Syria.
I wonder how deep this plot goes. One lawyer insisted it’s all a big misunderstanding. The boys love playing video games and are gun enthusiasts!
It sounds like they wanted to pull of another Pulse Nightclub massacre.
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Comments
Send ICE and the National Guard to Dearborn. Oh man,that would be a great pile of pocorn.
If it’s dearborn it has to be poocorn.
It’s worth remembering, and reminding people who don’t remember, that the Pulse massacre turned out not to be targeted at gay people. Or at Puerto Ricans for that matter. For all the breast-beating and hectoring we endured about this “hate crime”, it turned out to be just a pure jihadist attack, with no other motives at all. The attacker had no idea what kind of club it was, and chose it at random. All he wanted to do was attack Americans, and he didn’t care what kind of Americans they were.
Not saying the same is true in this case. If they went all the way from Dearborn to Ferndale to case targets, it stands to reason that they actually did intend to target specifically the kind of people they could expect to find there, so that would be a hate crime and eligible for sentence enhancement. Just saying, don’t let anyone start up again on exploiting Pulse for political purposes.
Wow. Muslims are the religion of peace. It’s so unusual for Muslims to be involved in any sort of terrorist attack.
The late geat Norm Macdonald nailed it when he declared, “blowback against… innocent Muslims would be absolutely terrible.”
they blew up the tt and then stormed in and run the dnc and all the blue cities
not sure why these 2 losers dont see…they are winning
Bravo-Zulu IDF