SMF Meets with Governor Moore's Office of Homeland Security to Address Safety of Shia Muslim Communities in Maryland

SMF Calls on State to Take Proactive Measures to Protect Shia Muslim Centers Amid Elevated Threat Environment

The Shia Muslim Foundation (SMF) announced the successful conclusion of a high-level meeting earlier this week with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security, led by Director Marcia Deppen. The meeting, convened at the request of SMF Executive Director Rahat Husain, brought together senior officials from Governor Wes Moore's administration to address the growing security concerns facing Shia Muslim centers across the state.

"This meeting was a pivotal moment for the American Shia Muslim community," said Rahat Husain, Executive Director of the Shia Muslim Foundation. "For too long, the unique vulnerabilities of Shia Muslims have gone unaddressed at the state level. Governor Moore's administration has demonstrated genuine commitment and leadership by engaging with our concerns directly, swiftly, and at the highest levels. We are deeply grateful for the seriousness and urgency with which Director Deppen and her team approached this conversation."

A Broad Coalition at the Table

The meeting included Director Deppen and a multi-agency team from the Governor's Office. Director Deppen was appointed as the direct point of contact for SMF, ensuring a dedicated channel for ongoing communication and coordination.

Participants discussed concrete measures the state can take to proactively support the security of Shia Muslim centers in Maryland, including enhanced threat monitoring, improved coordination with local law enforcement, and direct outreach to center leadership. SMF will be participating in monthly security meetings with state law enforcement agencies, a significant step toward institutionalizing the partnership and ensuring the Shia Muslim community has a consistent voice in statewide security planning. The Governor's Office indicated its commitment to follow-up action and ongoing engagement with the Shia Muslim community.

"Idara e Jaferia has served the Maryland community for decades, and our members deserve to feel safe in their place of worship," said Dr. Ghulam Abbas, President of Idara e Jaferia. "We are encouraged by the responsiveness of the Governor's office and look forward to working together to ensure that Shia Muslim centers across Maryland are protected."

Background: A Community Under Heightened Threat

Maryland's Shia Muslim community has faced an escalating pattern of threats and harassment in recent years. Idara e Jaferia, the state's most prominent Shia Muslim center, has been the target of a bomb threat, as well as sustained online harassment from organized right-wing anti-Muslim groups. These incidents have created significant fear among worshippers and center leadership.

The ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict has dramatically elevated these concerns. Shia Muslim communities occupy a distinct and uniquely vulnerable position in the current threat landscape.

"UMAA is proud to stand with the Shia Muslim Foundation in calling on government at every level to take the safety of our community seriously," said Dr. Azmat Husain, President of the Universal Muslim Association of America. "The meetings this week are an encouraging sign that our voices are being heard."

As geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran continue to intensify, SMF has warned that Shia Muslim centers across Maryland and the nation face an elevated and insufficiently acknowledged security risk. The Foundation has called on state and local governments to develop proactive, community-specific security protocols that account for the unique threat profile facing the American Shia Muslim community.

SMF Builds Law Enforcement Partnership with Montgomery County Police

The meeting with the Governor's Office followed an equally significant in-person meeting earlier this week between SMF and officials of the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD). Executive Director Husain met with Commander Jason Cokinos and Officer Brandon McCloud of MCPD's 3rd District, facilitated by Kate Chance, Faith Liaison of the County's Office of Community Partnerships. The meeting, held at the MCPD's 3rd District station in Silver Spring, was aimed at establishing a proactive, ongoing relationship between Idara e Jaferia and local law enforcement.

Commander Cokinos and Officer McCloud expressed strong support for the partnership and commitment to working with the Shia Muslim community to address security concerns. "It was a pleasure speaking with you," Officer McCloud wrote to SMF following the meeting. "I look forward to our partnership and future collaborations." SMF views the MCPD meeting as a critical foundation for the kind of local law enforcement coordination that will be essential to protecting Shia Muslim centers in Montgomery County.

The MCPD engagement builds on SMF's prior relationship with MCPD's Community Engagement Division, including earlier contact with Captain Jordan Satinsky, and reflects the Foundation's strategy of building multi-layered partnerships with law enforcement at every level of government.

About the Shia Muslim Foundation

The Shia Muslim Foundation (SMF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for the rights, safety, and well-being of the American Shia Muslim community. SMF works to build bridges between Shia Muslim communities and government agencies, law enforcement, and civil society to address discrimination, promote civic engagement, and ensure the protection of vulnerable communities. SMF also serves as legal counsel for Idara e Jaferia, one of the most prominent Shia Muslim centers in Maryland.

Shia Muslim Foundation Meets with Montgomery County Police to Discuss Community Safety

SMF praises county's commitment to protecting Muslim institutions amid rising national wave of Islamophobia

(April 6, 2026 - SILVER SPRING, MD) The Shia Muslim Foundation (SMF) today met with Montgomery County Police Department 3rd District Commander Jason Cokinos and Officer Brandon McCloud to discuss community safety concerns affecting the local Shia Muslim community.

Discussions focused on the security of Idara-e-Jaferia, one of the largest and most established Shia Muslim institutions in the Washington metropolitan area. Located in Burtonsville, Maryland, Idara-e-Jaferia has served the Shia Muslim community for decades as a center for religious practice, education, and civic engagement. In recent months, the institution has been the target of threatening communications and harassment, prompting SMF to escalate outreach to law enforcement and government officials at the local, state, and federal levels.

SMF commended Montgomery County and the Montgomery County Police Department for their longstanding responsiveness to the concerns of Muslim communities. The county has consistently demonstrated a willingness to engage with faith communities, treat threats to Muslim institutions seriously, and act with urgency when those communities are at risk.

"Montgomery County has been a model for how local government should engage with Muslim communities," said Rahat Husain, Executive Director of SMF. "Commander Cokinos came to this meeting prepared, attentive, and serious. The Shia Muslim community is fortunate to be in a county whose law enforcement reflects the values of inclusion and public safety for all."

A Pattern of Threats and a Worsening National Climate

The concerns raised today did not emerge in isolation. Idara-e-Jaferia has faced a documented pattern of security incidents in recent years. In December 2023, the institution was evacuated during Friday congregational prayers after a caller phoned in a bomb threat. CAIR called on state and federal law enforcement, including the FBI, to investigate and pursue hate crime charges against the perpetrator. That incident was part of a broader spike in threats against American Muslim institutions that intensified following the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza conflict in October 2023.

The national backdrop has only grown more alarming since. A 2025 CAIR report documented 8,658 complaints about anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents in 2024, a 7.4 percent increase year over year and the highest number recorded since CAIR began collecting data in 1996. The ongoing U.S.-Israel war with Iran has accelerated this trend. Civil rights experts have noted a troubling rise in Islamophobia reaching the highest levels of government, with members of Congress publicly stating that "Muslims don't belong in American society" and amplifying dehumanizing rhetoric online. A data brief from the Center for the Study of Organized Hate found posts online framing American mosques as enemy infrastructure and calling for their destruction, language that researchers warn has historically preceded real-world violence against targeted communities.

Shia Muslims face an additional layer of vulnerability in this environment. As a minority within the broader Muslim community, Shia institutions have at times been targeted not only by generalized Islamophobia but also by sectarian animus and by those who conflate Shia religious identity with Iranian state politics. The current conflict has sharpened that risk considerably. SMF has raised these concerns directly with federal, state, and local officials as part of a sustained outreach effort that includes congressional offices and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security.

About the Shia Muslim Foundation

The Shia Muslim Foundation is a Maryland-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2020. SMF advocates for the civic rights and welfare of Shia Muslims and works to foster meaningful engagement between the Shia Muslim community and government institutions, law enforcement, and civil society.

SHIA MUSLIM FOUNDATION APPLAUDS POPE LEO XIV'S CALL FOR CEASEFIRE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

SMF Joins the Pontiff in Urging an Immediate End to Violence and a Return to Dialogue

WASHINGTON, D.C. The Shia Muslim Foundation (SMF) today praised Pope Leo XIV for his bold and morally unambiguous call for a ceasefire in the ongoing U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. Speaking during his Sunday Angelus prayer at the Vatican, the Pope delivered his strongest statement since the conflict began seventeen days ago, and SMF stands fully behind it.

“On behalf of the Christians of the Middle East and all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict. Cease fire so that avenues for dialogue may be reopened. Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace that the people are waiting for." — Pope Leo XIV, Angelus Address, March 15, 2026

The Pope’s remarks arrive as civilian casualties mount across the region. Iranian authorities and rights organizations estimate that between 1,200 and 1,300 civilians have been killed since hostilities began on February 28. Among the most devastating incidents was a missile strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, on the first day of the conflict, which killed an estimated 165 to 180 people, most of them children. The Vatican’s own newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, ran an aerial photograph of the mass grave being dug for those young victims under the headline “The Face of War.” The Pope specifically referenced attacks on schools, hospitals, and residential areas, and renewed his closeness to the families of those killed.

As an organization rooted in the Shia Muslim tradition and committed to the dignity of all human life, SMF echoes the Pope’s appeal without reservation. The killing of civilians, regardless of nationality, religion, or political affiliation, is intolerable. The destruction of schools and hospitals is not a military strategy; it is a moral catastrophe. We call on the United States, Israel, and Iran to heed this call for a ceasefire and to pursue every available avenue of diplomacy before more lives are lost.

“The Pope has said plainly what many world leaders have been unwilling to say: this violence has to stop,” said Rahat Husain, Executive Director of the Shia Muslim Foundation. “We share his conviction that no lasting justice, no genuine stability, and no real peace can emerge from the barrel of a gun. The people of Iran, Lebanon, and the entire Middle East deserve better than this. We add our voice to the chorus rising from every faith and every corner of the world: the bloodshed must end.”

SMF also shares the Pope’s deep concern for Lebanon, where the spillover from the Iran conflict has triggered what aid organizations are describing as a humanitarian crisis. More than 800,000 people have been displaced. The Pope called for paths of dialogue that can support Lebanon’s authorities in finding lasting solutions, and SMF joins in that appeal, particularly on behalf of the vulnerable civilian populations caught in the crossfire.

The Shia Muslim Foundation was founded in 2020 and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to Shia Muslim civic rights, policy advocacy, and humanitarian welfare. SMF urges all parties to the conflict to immediately pursue a ceasefire and return to the negotiating table.