Mark Gabriel and the Union of Former Muslims

compiled by Sheila Musaji

Mark Gabriel is identified as a former Muslim, now a Christian Evangelist, and Founder and President” of the Union of Former Muslims, and the author of Culture Clash: Islam’s War on America. 

Although he is often identified as the founder or president of the Union of Former Muslims, that organization has no website and no information about its purpose, members, etc. comes up in a google search.  The Wikipedia entry on Gabriel says:

“He is the author of five books critical of Islam, including Islam and the Jews: The Unfinished Battle and Journey into the Mind of an Islamic Terrorist. While the books have sold tens of thousands of copies, they also constitute the only source of information about the author, and as such, are self-referencing and not verified by any unrelated sources.”

Gabriel does have a personal website http://www.drmarkgabriel.com/ that says about him “Dr. Mark Gabriel was born and raised in Egypt. More than just a practicing, he was a scholar from his youth. His first milestone was to complete memorization of the Quran at age twelve. He went on to attend Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, the oldest, most prestigious University in the world, where he earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in History and culture. He also holds a master’s degree in world religion and a doctorate in Christian education. He travels and lectures for a variety of groups all over the world.”

The report Manufacturing the Muslim Menace by Thomas Cincotta of Political Research Associates includes:

Trainers, Instructors, and Speakers - Mark A. Gabriel, David Gaubatz, Walid Phares, Clare M. Lopez, Tawfik Hamid, Stephen Coughlin, Nonie Darwish, Det. Ebrahim Ashabi, Walid Shoebat. The Industry - International Counter Terrorism Officers Assoc. (ICTOA), Security Solutions International (SSI), Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (CI Centre). 

Mark Gabriel is listed on page 15 as a speaker for the anti-Muslim International Counter-Terrorism Officers Association.  On page 24, the report notes: “Past speakers at ICTOA’s annual conference include founder and president of the Union of Former Muslims Mark Gabriel and Sam Kharoba, president of Counter Terrorism Operations Center, LLC, a Florida-based private training firm. Gabriel, who was invited to speak to the group’s 6th Annual Conference in 2008 on “The Mindset of the Islamic Terrorist,” is known for his conclusion that followers of Islam, if they truly understand the religious, cannot coexist peacefully with non-believers.43 Kharoba, a software developer born and raised in Jordan who now trains law enforcement, was invited to speak at ICTOA’s 7th Annual Conference (2009) at Disney World. Kharoba spoke to ICTOA’s audience on three topics: “Understanding Sharia Law and Militant Ideology,” “Developing Intelligence Assets within Arabic/Muslim/Middle Eastern Communities,” and “Militant Islamist Signs and Indicators—Differencing Moderate Muslims from Extremist.”44 Following his 2009 speaking engagement, Kharoba led a series of seminars in summer 2010 for more than fifty employees of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.45

Gabriel was one of the Islamophobes who jumped on the false “Obama wears a Muslim ring” story. The story originated in an article by Jerome Corsi who cited as his “Arabic-language and Islamic experts” who provided him with the “proof or confirmation” (false information) that Obama’s ring contains the Shahada in Arabic - Mark Gabriel and Joel Gilbert.  Richard Bartholomew thoroughly debunked this Obama Muslim ring story http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/wnd-still-promoting-debunked-obama-wears-muslim-ring-conspiracy as did Snopes.