[2] From late 2001 or early 2002, the mosque was under observation by AIVD, the Dutch intelligence service,[2] after links were reported with the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks, including Mohammed Atta.
[3] According to Lorenzo Vidino and Erick Stakelbeck of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, writing in 2003, the mosque had held seminars on Islamic law organized by the Saudi-based al-Waqf al-Islami Foundation.
AIVD classified him as a threat to national security, and minister for integration and immigration Rita Verdonk responded by banning him from the country as an 'unwanted foreigner'[8] one of three imams at the mosque so designated.
[9][10] In 2015, seven imams due to speak at a conference the mosque was hosting were banned by Eindhoven mayor Rob van Gijzel after consulting the counter terrorism watchdog NCTV.
[11] In 2019, the anti-Islam organisation Pegida demonstrated outside the mosque during Ramadan, leading to violence and the arrest of ten counter-protestors including three under-age teenagers, of whom two were released for lack of evidence and one charged with insulting the police.