The Unraveling of a Cult-like Empire: The Story of Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings
TheFacade of Charity and the Shocking Reality
For decades, Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) presented itself as a beacon of Islamic values, operating a vast network of businesses that catered to millions worldwide. The conglomerate, which included restaurants, grocery stores, and laundromats, claimed to support thousands of disadvantaged children in care homes across Malaysia. However, beneath this charitable facade lay a disturbing truth: GISBH was allegedly a cult-like organization that exploited its followers, forced them into labor, and subjected children to unbearable abuse. In September, Malaysian police raided over two dozen GISBH-run care homes, rescuing more than 600 children and uncovering a web of crimes, including child trafficking, sexual abuse, and organized crime. The group’s leaders now face charges, but they maintain their innocence, dismissing the allegations as slander. This is the story of how one of Malaysia’s most secretive organizations operated undetected for decades, leaving devastation in its wake.
Police Raids and the Horrors Uncovered
The raids on GISBH care homes revealed a grim reality. Police found children who were malnourished, physically and emotionally abused, and exploited for labor. Health screenings of 392 children showed that all had suffered abuse, with some forced into sodomy and others locked in dog kennels as punishment. The perpetrators were not strangers but their own caretakers, who instilled fear and compliance. As the raids unfolded, GISBH’s once-thriving businesses vanished overnight—restaurants closed, logos were stripped from walls, and social media accounts disappeared. Members fled to their hometowns, awaiting instructions from their leaders, who remained in hiding. The case has shocked Malaysia, exposing a network of abuse that few suspected existed, despite the group’s ties to a banned Islamic cult from the 1990s.
The Resurgence of Al Arqam’s Legacy
GISBH’s ideology traces back to Al Arqam, an Islamic group banned in 1994 for its deviant teachings. Founded by Ashaari Muhammad, or "Abuya," the group envisioned a self-sufficient Islamic community with Malaysia at its center. After the ban, Ashaari spent a decade under house arrest and died in 2010. However, his followers continued his legacy, rebranding themselves as GISBH. The group claimed to promote Islamic values through education, farming, and charity work, but secretly, they operated with cult-like control. Police raids uncovered books, photographs, and propaganda linked to Al Arqam, buried in riverbeds to hide their origins. GISBH’s care homes, which claimed to house orphans, were actually populated by the children of GISBH employees, forced to live in isolation and indoctrinated with the group’s teachings.
Life Inside GISBH:Control, Exploitation, and Abuse
Life within GISBH was tightly controlled, with members cut off from the outside world. They had no access to cellphones, and their only source of information was Ikhwan TV, an in-house channel that glorified the group’s leaders and promoted its ideology. Men and women lived in gender-segregated dorms, and even married couples needed permission to meet. Conjugal visits were scheduled, and Viagra was often provided to encourage procreation, as the group sought to populate its care homes with more children. Followers were taught to devotionally worship their leaders, with children instructed to disregard their parents and submit entirely to GISBH’s authority.Former members revealed that many children were convinced they were orphans, isolating them further from their families.
The Human Cost: Scabies, Sodomy, and Secrets
The stories of those who escaped GISBH are harrowing. Farid, a former member, joined the group in 2010 after struggling with drug addiction, hoping to rebuild his life. Instead, he was forced into an arranged marriage and had two daughters, who were sent to a care home at a young age. When he visited his daughter, he found her malnourished and infected with scabies, her spirits broken. Another former member, Amir, recalled his son being locked in a dog kennel and returning home with stitches on his face. Such abuses were widespread, with caretakers normalizing violence and silencing victims. Health screenings confirmed what survivors already knew: every child rescued from GISBH care homes bore physical or emotional scars.
A Legacy of Abuse and the Road to Justice
The aftermath of the raids has left Malaysia grappling with how such a group operated undetected for so long. Lawyers and activists argue that GISBH’s ties to Al Arqam should have raised red flags, but the group’s charitable image and financial power shielded it from scrutiny. Ummu Atiyah, Ashaari’s daughter, condemned the group’s practices, stating that her father’s teachings had been corrupted to serve the greed and lust for power of GISBH’s leaders. The group’s CEO, Nasiruddin Mohd Ali, admitted to isolated incidents of sodomy but dismissed broader allegations. His trial, alongside other leaders, is ongoing, seeking justice for the countless lives destroyed. The case serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked power and the importance of protecting vulnerable communities from exploitation.
