Taliban Crackdown on Shia Institutions in Kabul Raises Alarm Among Shia Muslims in the United States

A widening Taliban crackdown on prominent Shia religious institutions, scholars and community leaders in Afghanistan is raising serious concern among Shia Muslims in the United States, following the forced evacuation of one of Kabul’s leading Shia seminaries and a series of reported detentions.

Taliban forces surrounded the Khatam al Nabiyyin Seminary in Kabul on September 5, ordering officials, teachers and students to evacuate the complex. Afghanistan International reported that members of Kabul’s Shia community gathered outside in protest as Taliban personnel and military vehicles surrounded the institution. Source: Afghanistan International.

The confrontation was followed by widespread detentions. Mohammad Jawad Mohseni, head of the Khatam al Nabiyyin complex, said 28 instructors and students were detained. Four were subsequently released, leaving 24 reportedly in custody at the time of his statement. Source: Amu TV.

Two days later, the confrontation escalated.

On September 7, Taliban forces forcibly removed students from the seminary and took control of the premises. KabulNow reported that students were ordered to leave with their belongings and that Taliban forces had effectively taken control of the religious school. Source: KabulNow.

The crackdown has not stopped at the seminary.

Afghanistan International reported that Taliban forces subsequently detained members of the Hazara and Shia Elders’ Public Relations Office after scholars and community representatives gathered in Kabul to discuss the crisis at Khatam al Nabiyyin. Those reportedly detained included Sayed Sufi Gardizi, Sayed Hassan Sharif Balkhabi and Hussain Sangardost, along with other people who were present at the meeting. Source: Afghanistan International.

According to KabulNow, the meeting itself was intended to discuss efforts to secure the release of the detained teachers and students and pursue discussions with Taliban authorities. Source: KabulNow.

That fact makes the arrests especially disturbing. Shia community representatives were reportedly detained while attempting to respond peacefully to the detention of other members of their community.

Then, on September 8, Taliban forces surrounded the Kabul office of Afghanistan’s High Shia Council. The reason for that action was not immediately clear. Source: KabulNow.

Taken together, these incidents raise a far more troubling possibility: what Taliban authorities have presented as a dispute involving one institution may be developing into a broader campaign of pressure against organized Shia religious and community life in Afghanistan.

A Property Dispute Cannot Explain What Is Happening

Taliban authorities have claimed that the Khatam al Nabiyyin complex was constructed on government owned land and should come under state control.

Officials representing the seminary strongly dispute that claim. They say they possess legal documentation supporting private ownership and maintain that the property dispute remained before a court without a final judgment when the Taliban ordered the evacuation. Source: KabulNow.

The Taliban has also alleged political connections involving institutions associated with the complex. Mohammad Jawad Mohseni has rejected those allegations and characterized the actions against the institution as politically and religiously motivated. Source: Amu TV.

Whatever the merits of a property dispute, the events now extend far beyond a disagreement over ownership.

Armed personnel surrounding a religious seminary is not an ordinary property proceeding. Detaining teachers and students is not an ordinary property proceeding. Arresting Shia community figures reportedly meeting to discuss the release of those detainees is not an ordinary property proceeding.

And surrounding additional Shia organizations makes it increasingly difficult to view these events in isolation.

An Institution at the Center of Afghan Shia Life

Khatam al Nabiyyin is not an obscure religious school. The institution was established in 2007 by Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Asif Mohseni, one of Afghanistan’s most prominent Shia scholars. It developed into a major center for Shia religious education, scholarship and community activity in Kabul.

The wider network associated with Mohseni has included Khatam al Nabiyyin University and Tamadon TV, one of Afghanistan’s most prominent Shia oriented religious and cultural broadcasters.

Tamadon TV has itself faced Taliban restrictions. The broadcaster’s operations were halted by Taliban authorities before the current confrontation at the seminary, part of a pattern that now takes on greater significance in light of the September actions.

The cumulative picture is difficult to ignore: a Shia television network silenced, a major Shia seminary forcibly emptied, teachers and students detained, Shia elders arrested and additional Shia institutions surrounded.

The Detention of Sheikh Mohammad Hassan Mohseni

The situation became still more concerning with reports concerning Sheikh Mohammad Hassan Mohseni, the eldest son and successor of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Asif Mohseni.

Afghan media reported that Mohseni was detained near his home in Kabul following the evacuation of Khatam al Nabiyyin and taken to an undisclosed location. As of September 10, no credible public reporting located by the Shia Muslim Foundation has established that Mohseni has been released or publicly confirmed his present location and condition.

That uncertainty should command immediate international attention. When authorities take a prominent religious scholar into custody, the minimum expectation is that his family and the public know where he is being held, the legal basis for his detention and his physical condition.

Why Shia Muslims in America Are Alarmed

For Shia Muslims in the United States, these developments cannot be dismissed as a distant administrative dispute.

Afghanistan’s Shia population has endured generations of sectarian violence, discrimination and attacks. Mosques, seminaries, schools, media organizations and community institutions provide the structure through which a minority community can educate its children, train its scholars and preserve its religious traditions.

Pressure on those institutions therefore affects far more than buildings.

When a government can forcibly empty a major Shia seminary, detain its teachers and students, take a prominent scholar to an undisclosed location and arrest community representatives reportedly attempting to discuss those detentions, the issue becomes one of religious freedom and basic human rights.

Shia organizations inside Afghanistan are already sounding the alarm. Shia councils in Kandahar have called for the release of detained Shia elders and urged Taliban authorities to treat citizens without discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or language. Source: Hasht e Subh Daily.

Those concerns should not remain confined to Afghanistan.

The Shia Muslim Foundation believes the developments demand immediate attention from the United States government, the United Nations, international human rights organizations, religious freedom bodies and elected officials.

Taliban authorities should immediately disclose the whereabouts and condition of Sheikh Mohammad Hassan Mohseni and every scholar, teacher, student and community representative detained in connection with these events.

They should explain the legal basis for each detention and permit access to families and appropriate legal safeguards. Anyone detained solely for peaceful religious, educational or community activity should be released.

There must also be international scrutiny of the seizure of Khatam al Nabiyyin and the expanding actions against other Shia organizations.

For American Shia Muslims, what is at stake is much larger than one seminary or one scholar. It is the ability of an already vulnerable religious minority to maintain its institutions, educate its scholars, organize peacefully and practice its faith without intimidation.

Shia Muslim Foundation Meets with Maryland Homeland Security Leadership to Discuss Muslim Community Safety

SMF raises concerns regarding recent Maryland incidents, increasing anti Muslim rhetoric, manufactured confrontations, and the security environment surrounding the November 2026 elections

MARYLAND — This week the Shia Muslim Foundation (SMF) met with the Director of the Maryland Governor’s Office of Homeland Security to discuss emerging safety and security concerns affecting Muslim communities across Maryland and opportunities for continued coordination between state officials, law enforcement, and community institutions.

The meeting continued an ongoing dialogue between SMF and Maryland officials regarding the safety of Muslim residents and houses of worship throughout the state. The discussion focused on recent incidents involving Muslim Marylanders, the broader increase in anti Muslim rhetoric nationally, changing methods of harassment and intimidation, and concerns that tensions could increase as Maryland and the country approach the November 2026 elections.

SMF expressed appreciation for the opportunity to engage directly with Maryland homeland security leadership and emphasized the importance of proactive communication before concerns develop into serious security incidents.

“Maryland has a strong tradition of religious diversity, and we appreciate the willingness of state officials to listen directly to the concerns of Muslim communities and engage with us constructively,” said Rahat Husain, Executive Director of the Shia Muslim Foundation. “Our objective is to strengthen relationships now so that government, law enforcement, and community institutions are communicating with one another before a crisis occurs rather than meeting for the first time after something has already happened.”

Recent Incidents in Maryland

During the meeting, SMF discussed several recent developments involving Muslims in Maryland that have contributed to concern within the community.

In Baltimore County, the discussion included the recent controversy surrounding comments about Sharia law shared by a member of the Baltimore County Board of Education. The board member subsequently apologized and met with Muslim community leaders. During that meeting, a Muslim student described experiencing anti Muslim harassment because she wears hijab.

SMF also raised reports from Montgomery County involving Muslim women wearing hijab who were allegedly followed and confronted while shopping, as well as a reported incident in Howard County involving a Muslim woman wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh who said she was confronted while walking in her neighborhood.

The conversation also addressed the broader security concerns faced by Maryland houses of worship. Religious institutions across the state continue to invest significant resources in cameras, access control, security personnel, coordination with local police, and other protective measures.

SMF emphasized that these incidents vary significantly in severity and circumstance and do not, by themselves, establish the existence of a coordinated threat in Maryland. They nevertheless contribute to a broader environment in which Muslim individuals and institutions are increasingly attentive to their physical safety and to the possibility of escalating confrontations.

A Changing Security Environment

A major focus of the meeting was what SMF described as a changing threat environment facing Muslim communities.

Traditional security planning for Islamic institutions has often focused on direct threats, vandalism, hate crimes, or the possibility of an armed attack. SMF explained that a growing concern involves a different form of activity: deliberately manufactured confrontations.

In incidents around the country, individuals have approached Muslim institutions or visibly Muslim individuals, initiated provocative encounters, recorded or livestreamed the interaction, and subsequently distributed the footage online. Such encounters may be intended to generate confrontation, attract attention, or create material that can then be amplified through social media.

SMF stressed that this type of activity presents unique challenges for Muslim institutions.

A person engaged in inflammatory speech or filming outside a mosque may be exercising constitutionally protected rights. At the same time, community leaders must be prepared to recognize when lawful expression begins moving toward harassment, trespass, threats, intimidation, or conduct that could create a genuine safety concern.

“We are increasingly concerned about situations in which the objective may not initially be to make a direct threat, but to manufacture a confrontation,” Husain said.

SMF emphasizes the importance of training mosque leadership, volunteers, and security personnel to recognize these scenarios, de escalate encounters when appropriate, document suspicious behavior, and communicate effectively with law enforcement.

Anti Muslim Rhetoric and the November 2026 Elections

The meeting also addressed concerns surrounding the political environment leading

into the November 2026 elections.

SMF noted that Muslim communities across the country have experienced periods in which political and geopolitical developments have been accompanied by increases in hostile rhetoric directed toward Muslims, immigrants, and religious minorities.

The Foundation expressed concern that election season messaging could further increase anti Muslim rhetoric or encourage individuals to target Muslim communities with harassment or deliberately provocative activity.

SMF emphasized that political disagreement and criticism are protected parts of American civic life. The concern arises when political rhetoric crosses into broad hostility toward Muslim Americans as a group or contributes to an atmosphere in which intimidation and harassment become normalized.

Maryland officials discussed the importance of remaining attentive to the security environment as the election approaches and indicated that they would coordinate with law enforcement regarding emerging concerns.

SMF welcomed that commitment and stressed that early information sharing can help both law enforcement and community organizations distinguish between constitutionally protected political activity and situations that may present legitimate public safety concerns.

The Importance of Public Leadership

The meeting also included discussion of the role elected officials can play in reinforcing Maryland’s commitment to religious freedom and the safety of its Muslim residents.

Participants discussed the possibility of Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller issuing a public statement addressing the current climate and affirming support for Maryland’s Muslim community.

SMF believes that clear statements from elected leaders can be particularly meaningful during periods of heightened rhetoric.

“Public leadership matters,” Husain said. “Muslim Marylanders should hear clearly from their government that they are an integral part of this state and that harassment, intimidation, and religious hatred are inconsistent with Maryland’s values. Those messages are especially important when national rhetoric becomes increasingly divisive.”

SMF emphasized that such statements are not intended to limit political debate or criticism but rather to reaffirm basic principles shared across political lines: religious freedom, equal protection, public safety, and the right of every Maryland resident to participate fully in civic life without intimidation.

Moving Forward

The Foundation also emphasized the value of continued engagement among homeland security officials, local law enforcement agencies, Muslim community organizations, and houses of worship.

“Our goal is not to create alarm,” Husain said. “It is to build preparedness, communication, and trust. Maryland’s Muslim community wants to work constructively with government and law enforcement to keep our institutions, our families, and our neighbors safe.”

SMF thanks Maryland homeland security leadership for the constructive discussion and for its willingness to remain engaged with concerns affecting Muslim communities.

The Shia Muslim Foundation looks forward to continuing its work with Maryland officials and law enforcement partners to help ensure that Muslims throughout the state can worship, gather, participate in civic life, and exercise their constitutional rights safely and without intimidation.

About the Shia Muslim Foundation

The Shia Muslim Foundation is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the civil rights, security, representation, and civic engagement of Shia Muslims in the United States. Through government engagement, community partnerships, education, and advocacy, SMF works to ensure that Shia Muslims are represented in the institutions and conversations that affect their communities.

After SMF Files Formal Complaint, Baltimore County Board Member Apologizes Over Anti Sharia Post

Baltimore County Board of Education member Maggie Litz Domanowski publicly apologized Tuesday night after the Shia Muslim Foundation filed a formal complaint with the Board over her decision to share and endorse a social media post portraying Sharia law as a threat to women. The apology came after SMF submitted its complaint and as criticism of the post continued to grow.

Domanowski had shared a Facebook image stating, “If you fear MAGA will take away women's rights, then you should learn about Sharia law,” and added her own endorsement, writing “not wrong.” The incident was reported publicly earlier this week and quickly drew concern from Muslim families and community leaders.

SMF Filed a Formal Complaint With the Board

SMF submitted a formal complaint to the Baltimore County Board of Education explaining that the concern went well beyond an offensive social media post. The complaint focused heavily on what rhetoric from an elected education official can mean for Muslim children who attend Baltimore County schools.

When an elected official responsible for public schools shares a message that presents Islam as something threatening, that message reaches far beyond a political discussion on social media. Muslim students see it, their parents see it, their classmates see it, and teachers and staff see it.

The complaint also addressed the effect such language can have on non Muslim students and the atmosphere inside schools.

When those adults publicly use a religious community as a symbol of something dangerous or frightening, it can make stereotypes, jokes, exclusion, and bullying directed at children from that community seem more acceptable.

SMF told the Board that Muslim students throughout Baltimore County include children who wear hijab, fast during Ramadan, attend mosques with their families, observe Muslim holidays, pray, and openly identify with their faith. Those students should not have to wonder whether an elected official responsible for their education views their religion, their families, or an important part of their identity with suspicion.

The complaint also raised a broader issue of trust between Muslim families and the officials responsible for the county school system, stating:

For Muslim families who now have to question how she views them and their children, the damage to that confidence cannot simply be dismissed as disagreement over a Facebook post.

Domanowski Apologizes at Board Meeting

At the conclusion of the August 25 Board of Education meeting, Domanowski publicly apologized after hearing directly from Muslim community members and others who addressed the controversy. The Baltimore Banner reported the apology following the meeting.

I understand now. And I am truly sorry.

The apology is a new development in the controversy, but SMF is not treating it as a declaration that the matter has been resolved, nor is the Foundation accepting the apology on behalf of the Shia Muslim community.

Shia Muslim Community Remains Deeply Upset

The Shia Muslim community remains deeply upset by the original post and by the fact that an elected education official publicly endorsed language that many Muslim families understood as portraying their faith as something Americans should fear. An apology does not immediately erase the hurt or restore the trust that was damaged.

For parents, the concern is especially serious because this involves a public school system. Muslim children should be able to enter Baltimore County classrooms without wondering whether their faith makes them less welcome, less trusted, or more likely to be viewed through stereotypes. Their parents should be able to expect that the officials overseeing those schools understand the weight their public words carry.

SMF will continue listening to Shia Muslim families and monitoring how Baltimore County Public Schools and its elected leadership respond to the concerns raised by this incident. What happens after an apology matters, particularly when rebuilding trust with children and families who felt targeted by the original message.