• Subsidiary of the Islamic Society of North America
• U.S.-based Islamic trust that holds the titles of hundreds of Islamic properties
• Has had close ties to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and the Muslim Brotherhood

The Illinois-based North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) is a waqf --an Islamic trust or endowment -- which serves U.S.-based Muslim institutions. A not-for-profit entity that qualifies as a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, NAIT is a financial subsidiary of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). NAIT functions as a safeguard for mosques, Islamic centers, and Islamic schools by holding the mortgages on their facilities, raising funds for them, and offering them limited interest-free loans. The organization currently holds the titles to hundreds of Islamic properties across the United States. (Some sources claim that NAIT owns 27 percent of U.S. mosques; other sources place the figure much higher.)

Because NAIT controls the purse strings of these many properties, it can exercise ultimate authority over what they teach and what activities they conduct. Specifically, the organization seeks to ensure that the institutions which fall under its financial influence endorse the principles of Shari'ah (Islamic law) and Wahhabism (an extremist form of Islam).

According to NAIT's self-description, "Placing a center in trust with NAIT ensures that a third party of national scope and stature is responsible for the preservation of the center for the Islamic aims for which it was founded. The trust document between the Islamic center and NAIT leaves the administration of the center to the local community, but requires NAIT to preserve it to serve the Muslim community in the cause of Islam…. In addition to this main goal, being a part of the NAIT family of centers provides a platform for the unity of Muslims, which Islamophobic forces are aiming to subvert."

NAIT was founded in 1971 by the Muslim Students Association of U.S. & Canada (MSA), which is the parent group of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Both MSA and ISNA function as key lobbying organizations for Wahhabism, and both have close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

NAIT's Board of Trustees includes such notables as current ISNA President Ingrid Mattson and former ISNA President Muzammil Siddiqi.

NAIT oversees two Islamic literature-based entities -- American Trust Publications and the Islamic Book Service -- which distribute books, DVDs, and CDs that focus on Islamic teachings and culture.

NAIT also manages the Dow Jones Islamic Fund (DJIF), a no-load mutual fund offered by a NAIT subsidiary called Allied Asset Advisors. The DJIF invests in "Shariah-compliant companies, in response to the needs of Muslim investors, who not only want to have a financially rewarding investment, but a Shariah-compatible one as well."

At the 2007 trial investigating allegations that the now-defunct Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development had engaged in the financincing of terrorism, both ISNA and NAIT were named as "unindicted co-conspirators" and as "entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood." Prosecutors presented copious evidence that ISNA had used NAIT to divert funds to top Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook and to a number of Hamas-run institutions (such as the Islamic University of Gaza and the Islamic Center of Gaza, the latter of which was founded by the late Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin).