Islam's Insidious Two-Front Strategy to Conquer America: Internal Sharia Fortress, External Infiltration
The Internal/External Strategy is a ruthless two-front jihad: internally forging isolated cradle-to-grave Sharia enclaves that sever Muslims from Western society and law, while externally infiltrating institutions with smiling radicals who exploit tolerance, freedoms, and “Islamophobia” cries to...
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The Internal/External Strategy is a ruthless two-front jihad: internally forging isolated cradle-to-grave Sharia enclaves that sever Muslims from Western society and law, while externally infiltrating institutions with smiling radicals who exploit tolerance, freedoms, and “Islamophobia” cries to secure cover and drive unchecked expansion until submission is forced.
In the study of modern Islamic movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, RAIR Foundation USA founder Amy Mek describes a bifurcated strategy designed to isolate Muslims from the Western nations they inhabit, while building a world where Islam will dominate. This is known as the Internal/External Strategy – a method of building a self-sustaining parallel society while systematically engaging with the existing infrastructure of a host nation.
This strategy was touched on in RAIR’s recent appearance at the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government’s hearing held on February 10, 2026, titled “Sharia-Free America: Why Political Islam & Sharia Law Are Incompatible with the U.S. Constitution”.
Here is how it was described in RAIR’s statement:
The “Internal Society“ shields citizens from the non-Islamic world. Here, Muslims live from cradle to grave under full Sharia rule: Sharia-compliant food and halal consumption, Sharia-compliant clothing and dress codes, Sharia banking and Islamic codes for commerce, Sharia schools, Sharia personal hygiene, Sharia healthcare, Sharia rulings and courts, and even Sharia burials.
Once these parallel societies are developed, it becomes very difficult for the citizens within to be influenced by the Western societies in which they live. Conversely, it is difficult for Western officials to enter and operate freely in many of these areas.
The “External Society” forms the second prong of this insidious strategy, aimed at penetrating every facet of Western society to propagate Islam and seize power. These networks deploy what RAIR calls “radicals with a smile” – polished front-facing organizations, charismatic Islamic leaders, and sympathetic legislators – who cloak their agenda in the rhetoric of inclusion, diversity, and tolerance to exploit America’s constitutional freedoms, democratic institutions, and cultural norms.
Specifically, the Internal/External Strategy is referred to as “a ruthless two-front war: an internal front building isolated Sharia enclaves, and an external front infiltrating society to force submission.”
Phase I: The Internal Society (The Parallel State)
The goal of the “Internal Society” is to create a closed ecosystem that governs every aspect of a citizen’s life under Sharia principles. By providing services that the host state typically handles, it fosters deep-seated dependency, ideological isolation, and resistance to assimilation into Western society.
The “Cradle to Grave” Infrastructure
Within these parallel societies, the influence of the non-Islamic world is minimized through a comprehensive network of Sharia-compliant institutions that govern Muslims from cradle to grave:
Education & Healthcare: Sharia schools and clinics ensure that the first points of contact with society are filtered through a specific ideological lens.
Finance & Law: Sharia banking and informal Sharia courts manage the community’s wealth and resolve disputes, effectively bypassing the host nation’s legal and economic systems.
Daily Life & Social Cohesion: Sharia-compliant food and halal consumption, Sharia-compliant clothing/dress codes, youth groups, marriage rites, and burial societies handle every social milestone internally, making integration into broader Western culture exceedingly difficult.
The Strategic Shield
This internal structure serves a defensive purpose. By creating “no-go” zones – whether literal geographic enclaves or cultural/ideological barriers – it becomes increasingly difficult for Western officials or law enforcement to enter, operate freely, or gather intelligence within these communities. Once established, these self-sustaining parallel states shield residents from external (non-Islamic) influences while enabling the broader strategy to unfold.
Phase II: The External Society (The Diplomatic Front)
While the Internal Society builds a fortress, the “External Society” builds bridges. This prong is characterized by a sophisticated outreach program aimed at the host country’s government, media, and civil society.
“Radicals with a Smile”
This phase utilizes leaders and organizations that master the vocabulary of the Western world. By adopting the language of inclusion, civil rights, and religious freedom, these actors can:
Exploit Constitutional Protections: Use the legal system of a democracy to protect the growth of the Internal Society.
Lobby and Legislate: Influence policy and public opinion to favor the organization’s goals under the guise of “interfaith dialogue” (a one-way tactic: pushing Islam into every non-Islamic system while giving nothing back in return) or “community advocacy.”
Neutralize Criticism: Label any scrutiny of the Internal Society’s activities as “intolerance” or “bigotry,” and more commonly, “Islamophobia”, effectively silencing debate in the public square.
Reverse Victim and Aggressor Roles: Frame any institution that refuses to adopt Islamic customs or Sharia principles as victimizing Muslims, while giving no consideration to those within Western institutions who do not wish to adhere to these principles. This role reversal is a key component of outward-facing Islamic attacks on secular society, recasting legitimate resistance to asymmetrical demands as oppression and shielding aggressive influence efforts behind a protective narrative of victimhood.
The Synthesis: A Symbiotic Relationship
These two societies feed each other. The Internal Society provides the demographic and financial base – a loyal, captive audience. The External Society provides the political cover and legal defense necessary for that base to expand without interference.
By the time the host nation recognizes the depth of the parallel system, the External Society has often become so embedded in the political fabric that extracting or challenging the movement becomes a significant legal and social challenge.
The effectiveness of this strategy lies in its ability to use America’s own strengths – its openness and tolerance – as a mechanism for its demise.
The Explanatory Memorandum (1991)
The Explanatory Memorandum (1991), an internal Muslim Brotherhood document titled “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America,” provides a foundational blueprint for what aligns with the described Internal/External Strategy.
It outlines a long-term “Civilization-Jihadist Process” focused on “settlement” of Islam in North America, which involves building a robust, self-sustaining Islamic infrastructure internally while engaging externally to influence and undermine the host society.
The document emphasizes creating comprehensive, parallel Islamic structures that encompass every aspect of life – mirroring the “Internal Society” or parallel Sharia-compliant ecosystem (from cradle to grave).
Key quotes illustrate this internal foundation:
The core goal is “Enablement of Islam in North America, meaning: establishing an effective and a stable Islamic Movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood which adopts Muslims’ causes domestically and globally, and which works to expand the observant Muslim base, aims at unifying and directing Muslims’ efforts, presents Islam as a civilization alternative, and supports the global Islamic State wherever it is.”
Settlement is defined practically as making “Islam and its Movement become a part of the homeland it lives in,” with establishment meaning “That Islam turns into firmly-rooted organizations on whose bases civilization, structure and testimony are built,” stability as “That Islam is stable in the land on which its people move,” enablement as “That Islam is enabled within the souls, minds and the lives of the people of the country in which it moves,” and rooting as “That Islam is resident and not a passing thing, or rooted ‘entrenched’ in the soil of the spot where it moves and not a strange plant to it.”
The process requires a “grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”
It calls for building “firmly-established ‘organizations'” as the basis for Islamic structure, including comprehensive ones in education, politics, media, economy, science, culture, social services, youth, women, administration, security, and law. Examples include Islamic schools, universities, banks, endowments, courts, media outlets, and social clubs – creating a self-sustaining parallel system that minimizes non-Islamic influence and fosters dependency.
The Islamic center is envisioned as the “axis” of the Movement, becoming a “small Islamic society” and “beehive” for all activities: “The center ought to turn into a place for study, family, battalion, course, seminar, visit, sport, school, social club, women gathering, kindergarten… the office of the domestic political resolution, and the center for distributing our newspapers, magazines, books and our audio and visual tapes.” This parallels the “cradle to grave” infrastructure, including Sharia-compliant education, finance, law, daily life, and social cohesion.
Externally, the Memorandum stresses outreach, coalitions, and influence to protect and expand this internal base:
A shift to “the mentality of the popular Movement,” “the art of coalitions,” “absorption,” and “cooperation” to unify Muslims and absorb others into the orbit.
Building public-facing organizations and using “the art of dealing with the others” to present Islam favorably, exploit alliances, and direct efforts toward settlement.
The success of settlement in America supports the global Islamic Movement, providing a base while engaging institutions to neutralize opposition.
This dual approach – internal isolation and self-sufficiency via parallel structures, external penetration via polished engagement – lays direct groundwork for the bifurcated strategy of building Sharia enclaves while infiltrating society.
Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North AmericaDownload
The Project (1982)
A Muslim Brotherhood planning document titled “Towards a worldwide strategy for Islamic policy,” (Largely known as “The Project”) offers an earlier, global framework that complements and predates the Memorandum’s North American focus. It emphasizes parallel efforts to build Islamic power internally while engaging externally through institutional action, flexibility, and influence – aligning with the “Internal/External Strategy” on a broader scale.
“The Project” was discovered by Swiss authorities in November 2001 during a raid on the home of Youssef Nada, a financier linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and founder of Al Taqwa Bank. A 12-point master plan, it outlines a long-term, gradual strategy for advancing Islamic influence worldwide – particularly in the West – through non-violent means like building institutions, alliances, education, media engagement, and cultural infiltration to eventually enable Islamic governance, rather than through direct confrontation. Analyses from sources tracking Muslim Brotherhood activities view it as evidence of a deliberate “civilizational jihad” rooted in the 1977 Lugano meeting initiated by Mahmoud Abu-Saud that helped establish Western Islamic networks.
The document’s “points of departure” support an internal parallel society through dawah (propagation), education, institutions, and jihad support, while externally pursuing political engagement, alliances, and control of power centers:
Point of Departure 5: “To be used to establish an Islamic State; parallel, progressive efforts targeted at controlling the local centers of power through institutional action.” This explicitly calls for parallel efforts – building Islamic structures alongside gradual infiltration of existing power centers.
It stresses constructing “permanent education and institutional action,” including social, economic, scientific, and health institutions to serve people “by means of Islamic institutions” and penetrate social services – echoing the internal “cradle to grave” ecosystem and defensive shield.
Point of Departure 4 reconciles “political engagement” with “avoiding isolation” while maintaining “permanent education and institutional work,” allowing liberty to function politically per local circumstances without contradicting Sharia, and inviting participation in parliaments, unions, etc., “in the interest of Islam and of Muslims.”
Procedures include creating economic, social, health, and educational institutions using available means within an Islamic framework, and influencing centers of power “both local and worldwide to the service of Islam.”
Loyalty to Islamic groups, temporary cooperation with others (e.g., nationalists against common enemies like colonialism or the “Jewish state”), and mastering “the art of the possible” without confrontation – enabling “radicals with a smile” to exploit freedoms, lobby, and neutralize criticism.
Support for jihad movements, surveillance, and adopting the Palestinian cause via jihad as a keystone – providing ideological fuel for internal cohesion and external advocacy.
Overall, it advocates a global vision where local policies follow guidelines, with flexibility for internal institutional building (parallel society) and external engagement (diplomatic front, coalitions, institutional penetration).
The ProjectDownload
Together, these documents show continuity: The Project sets the worldwide dual-track strategy of parallel Islamic development and institutional control/influence, while the Explanatory Memorandum adapts it specifically to North America through settlement via comprehensive organizations and civilization jihad. This groundwork enables the parasitic relationship in which the internal base (a loyal, isolated community) gains strength from external political cover and expansion without interference.