Islamberg, New York

Islamberg is a rural hamlet in the town of Tompkins, Delaware County, New York, United States, founded by Mubarak Ali Gilani, a Pakistani Sufi cleric.

Map of Islamberg, Tompkins, NY 13783, USA

The hamlet was founded in the late 1980s by Gilani and a group of primarily African American Muslims who left New York City, reportedly to escape crime, poverty and racism. They built a community of some 40 family houses, with its own grocery store and bookstore and place of worship, on some land 11 miles (18 km) north of the town of Hancock. Islamberg is the first of a number of communities set up under the direction and tutelage of Gilani. "Holy Islamberg", as residents refer to it, is also the headquarters of the Muslims of America organization.

According to locals, the land previously belonged to a woman from the neighboring town of Deposit, who opened up her home in the late 1970s or early 1980s to disadvantaged young people. Relations with neighboring communities are cooperative.

A number of organizations have made false claims that the community is a terrorist training camp with bunkers, automatic weapons and an airfield. Al Arabiya debunked these claims in the first media visit to Islamberg in 20 years. Law enforcement representatives have spoken on the record refuting these allegations, and attesting to the peaceful nature of the hamlet.

In April 2015, a Tennessee man, Robert Doggart, was arrested for allegedly plotting an attack on Islamberg. In November 2015, Jon Ritzheimer, of Phoenix, Arizona, made news for threatening an attack on Islamberg.