Wisam Sharieff — online Quran instructor
An online Quran-recitation instructor who used the title Imam. He pleaded guilty in federal court in 2025 to conspiring to sexually exploit a child, conspiring to receive and distribute child pornography, and sexually exploiting a child, and was sentenced to 960 months — 80 years.
Islam Pleaded guilty
- Person
- Wisam Sharieff
- Role
- Online Quran-recitation instructor, using the title of Imam (per the U.S. Department of Justice)
- Institution
- Online instruction; creator of AlMaghrib Institute's Quran Revolution program (affiliation per Religion News Service; the Department of Justice does not name an employer)
- Location
- Euless, Texas; prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
- Status
- Pleaded guilty (June 2025)
- Sentence
- 960 months (80 years); lifetime supervised release; $135,000 Amy, Vicky, and Andy Act assessment
Case in brief
Tier 1 · Court-proven
Wisam Sharieff was, in the Department of Justice’s words, an ‘online instructor who specialized in Quran recitation and professed to have taught over 25,000 students worldwide,’ using the title of Imam. The Justice Department’s account, drawn from court documents, is that in October 2024 Sharieff and his online student Blake Miller Barakat watched and shared pornography with each other online and then influenced a seven-year-old child to watch, and coerced the child to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce child pornography. The child is not named or identified in this file.
In June 2025, Sharieff pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in sexual exploitation of children, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and sexual exploitation of children. In late January 2026, U.S. District Judge Anna M. Manasco sentenced him to 960 months — 80 years — in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, with a $135,000 special assessment under the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Act. (Reporting of record dates the sentencing to January 28, 2026; the Justice Department’s release, dated February 2, does not give the day, and this file does not attribute one to it.)
The institution
No congregation employed him in the record before the court; his reach was the online classroom. Religion News Service reported that Sharieff created the AlMaghrib Institute’s Quran Revolution program, and that on November 1, 2024, after being notified of a serious policy violation, AlMaghrib terminated his employment contract, later stating the alleged communications were by private chat, not on its platform, and that the child was not an institute student. Those are the institute’s statements, reported by RNS; the Justice Department names no employer, and this file attributes the affiliation to RNS rather than to DOJ.
The record
Tier 1 · Court-proven
| Item | Record |
|---|---|
| Guilty plea | June 2025 — conspiracy to engage in sexual exploitation of children; conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography; sexual exploitation of children |
| Sentence | Late January 2026 — 960 months (80 years); lifetime supervised release; $135,000 AVAA assessment (Manasco, J.) |
| Co-defendant | Blake Miller Barakat — pleaded guilty June 2025 to sexual exploitation of children, distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography (a different count set); sentenced October 2025 to 840 months (70 years) and a $30,000 AVAA assessment |
Status
Serving the 80-year federal sentence. The Department of Justice does not name a facility, and none is stated here.
Records requested & responses
This archive has not filed records requests in this case. The file rests on the published sources below and will be updated if court or institutional records are obtained, or if that changes.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama, ‘Two Individuals Sentenced to 70 and 80 Years in Conspiracy to Sexually Exploit a Child’ — plea counts verbatim, 960 months, lifetime supervised release, $135,000 assessment; Barakat’s 840 months: justice.gov
- Religion News Service (January 30, 2026) — sentencing date per federal court documents; the Quran Revolution background: religionnews.com
- Religion News Service (November 6, 2024) — the AlMaghrib affiliation and the November 1, 2024 termination: religionnews.com
Filed October 25, 2026, from the published sources below. Minor victims are never named or identified in this file.