A teen accused of helping to plan a terrorist attack for Halloween in Michigan was a follower of an extremist Dearborn-based Islamic preacher, according to the FBI.
The unnamed juvenile co-conspirator in the plot reposted content from a local “Islamic ideologue” on social media and consulted the man’s father on when to conduct the attack before federal agents made arrests Friday, the FBI alleged in a Saturday complaint. The FBI referenced research from a think tank that identifies the man as Ahmad Musa Jibril, an ISIS supporter whom the FBI previously named as ideological inspiration for others convicted in an ISIS funding scheme in New York.
Our newly unsealed complaint reveals a major ISIS-linked terror plot with multiple subjects arrested in the Eastern District of Michigan targeting the United States.
According to the complaint, subjects had multiple AR-15 rifles, tactical gear, and a detailed plan to carry out…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) November 3, 2025
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges on Monday against two Michigan men who allegedly planned a pro-ISIS attack “involving AR-style rifles, shotguns, handguns, and other tools for a tactical assault” on Halloween. The FBI’s complaint described alleged conversations and planning steps involving the juvenile and two other unnamed co-conspirators, who were not charged with crimes in the document.
Jibril did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. The DCNF could not reach his father. The elder Jibril was born in Haifa, Israel, “under brutal and unlawful [Israeli] occupation” and founded a mosque in Dearborn, according to his personal website.
The younger Jibril posted a video on X in January in which he said a day will come when Muslims will “dismantle the cross and burn the Christmas trees in the lands in the lands of the Muslims that they liberate.”
“When they liberate, they will also govern by the Sharia of Allah … with no compromise and no excuses, with unwavering resolve,” Jibril said.
Jibril and his father, Musa Abdullah Jibril were convicted of money laundering and other financial crimes in 2004. The younger Jibril later boasted publicly about converting fellow prison inmates to Islam, according to news coverage and the Middle East Media Research Institute.
The juvenile co-conspirator in the alleged Halloween plot “has posted content from [Ahmad Musa Jibril] on his Instagram account, thus demonstrating that [the teen] is aware of and supports the Islamic Ideologue’s views,” the FBI wrote. The teen also called Jibril’s father on the phone to say that he intended to “do [a] good deed” but was unsure of “what day to do it,” after which they prayed together, the FBI alleged.
“The father of the Islamic Ideologue then told [the juvenile] that [he] should not wait and should do the ‘good deed now,’” the FBI said, alleging that this was referring to the Halloween terrorist conspiracy. One of the defendants later told the juvenile that the scholar would not have “said what he did” if he knew precisely what they were planning, according to the bureau.
Jihadist radicals Seema Rahman and Mohammad Hashimi of New York also consumed Ahmad Musa Jibril’s extremist materials before they were arrested for conspiring to send money to ISIS, the FBI said in a December 2022 complaint. The two were convicted of charges in January and October, respectively.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
