• Elon Musk accused 18 Muslim and Arab-linked charities of being “terrorist organisations,” despite no evidence or investigations supporting these claims.
• CAIR and Muslim leaders condemn Musk’s comments as reckless and harmful, urging him to engage in informed dialogue rather than spreading misinformation.
Elon Musk has accused 18 charitable organisations, institutions and foundations linked to Islam, or Arab groups as terrorists. However, none of the organisations which he mentions have ever been linked or even investigated for connections to terrorism. Musk, who owns X, reshared the tweet, with his repost viewed by 13 million people and retweeted 48,000 times.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has strongly condemned Musk’s recent remarks labelling U.S. Muslim groups receiving USAID funds as “terrorist organisations.” The billionaire entrepreneur’s comments have drawn sharp criticism for fuelling Islamophobia and endangering the safety of Muslim Americans.
He added, “As many people have said, why pay terrorist organisations and certain countries to hate us when they’re perfectly willing to do it for free?” The post specifically named over a dozen American Muslim groups, including the Arab American Institute, Islamic Relief Agency, Muslim Aid, and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
In response, CAIR, a civil rights organisation advocating for American Muslims, defended these groups as “duly registered nonprofit organisations” with the same rights as any other charity to seek federal funding. The organisation also noted that several of these groups had previously partnered with the Trump administration. “Anyone who sees the word ‘Islam’ in the name of an American charity and immediately labels it a ‘terrorist organisation’ is acting out of hate and ignorance,” CAIR stated. “These organisations contribute significantly to society, especially in humanitarian work, and should not be disparaged based on baseless accusations.”
Nihad Awad, CAIR’s National Executive Director, directly addressed Musk, calling his comments “reckless and dangerous.” He warned that such rhetoric not only spreads Islamophobia but also puts innocent lives at risk. “This kind of rhetoric undermines the values of justice and equality. Do better,” Awad stated.
CAIR also urged Musk to shift his focus from targeting American Muslim organisations to addressing the use of U.S. taxpayer money in military operations by Israel, particularly in Gaza, where over 46,000 Palestinians have been massacred.
Musk, who also leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is currently overseeing a sweeping overhaul of U.S. aid programs. On Sunday, the Trump administration announced the dismissal of 2,000 USAID employees and the suspension of thousands more worldwide.
CAIR and other advocacy groups maintain that the allegations against these U.S.-based charities are unfounded and harmful.
Musk has well-documented ties to Islamophobic groups. Earlier this year, he made headlines for spreading false claims about so-called “Islamic” grooming gangs in the UK and for publicly supporting imprisoned far-right British anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson. More recently, Musk spoke to supporters of the far-right Islamophobic Alliance for Deutschland (AfD).
Following Musk’s comments regarding the so-called threat of British Muslims, Sheikh Omar Suleiman called on Elon Musk to “stop blowing political dog whistles of Islamophobia” and invited him for a conversation about Islam and Muslims.
Suleiman, a globally renowned theologian, imam, human rights activist and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research stated that Musk was sharing “dangerous” and “dishonest” tweets about Islam.
“When one of your Teslas kills someone while self-driving or explodes on fire and the media charges your vehicles as unsafe, you point out sampling bias, share all kinds of statistics, and allege that the media is either accidentally or deliberately misrepresenting statistics to promote a vindictive agenda,” Sheikh Suleiman wrote on his X handle, tagging Musk, the billionaire CEO of SpaceX space tech firm and Tesla automotive company.
”….Your barrage of tweets aimed at Islam have been as dangerous as they are dishonest about a faith practiced by over 2 billion people.”
“If you don’t know you are doing this and genuinely want clarification, I and many others easily accessible to you are willing to have a conversation. If this is a deliberate smear campaign, then you are indeed every bit the hypocrite you once condemned,” Suleiman wrote.
Musk’s remarks are especially alarming amid a documented surge in anti-Muslim violence:
