Anwar al-Awlaki: Difference between revisions

Anwar al-Awlaki
Born	(b. (1971-04-22) April 22, 1971 (age 53))[1][2][3]
Occupation	lecturer/former Imam
Employer	Iman University
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[4]

Anwar al-Awlaki (also spelled Aulaqi; Arabic: أنور العولقي Anwar al-‘Awlaqī; born (1971-04-22) April 22, 1971 (age 53)) either in Las Cruces, New Mexico, or in Aden, Yemen)^[3][4][5][6] is a Muslim lecturer, spiritual leader, and former imam who has been accused of being a senior Al-Qaeda recruiter and motivator linked to various terrorists.^[7]

Originally trained as a civil engineer, al-Awlaki later became an imam. He is currently associated with Iman University in Yemen. Students of the university have allegedly been linked to assassinations, and it is headed by Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, who has been designated by the US and UN as associated with terrorism and Al-Qaeda.

Al-Awlaki's sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, as well as by accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. In addition, US intelligence intercepted at least 18 emails between Hasan and al-Awlaki from December 2008 to June 2009, including one in which Hasan wrote "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife. Directly after the Fort Hood shooting, al-Awlaki praised Hasan's actions on his website, and then again a few days later in an interview.^[8][9]

Al-Awlaki is currently being sought by authorities in Yemen with regard to a new investigation into his possible Al-Qaeda ties. The authorities have not been able to locate him since approximately March 2009.

His parents are from Yemen. Al-Awlaki's father, Nasser al-Aulaqi, earned his master's degree in agricultural economics at New Mexico State University (1971), received a doctorate at the University of Nebraska, and worked at the University of Minnesota from 1975 to 1977.^[6][10]

The family returned to Yemen in 1978,^[2] where al-Awlaki lived for 11 years. His father served as Agriculture Minister and as president of Sanaa University.^[6][10][11]

Al-Awlaki returned to Colorado in 1991 to attend college, and holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University (1994), which he attended on a foreign student visa and Yemeni government scholarship, and an M.A. in Education Leadership from San Diego State University; he also worked on a Doctorate degree in Human Resource Development at George Washington University Graduate School of Education & Human Development from January to December 2001.^{[4][10][12][13][14][15]} His Islamic education consists of a few intermittent months with various scholars, and reading works by several prominent Islamic scholars.^[16]

Al-Awlaki has been accused by a number of sources of Islamic fundamentalism and encouraging terrorism.^{[11][12][17][18]} According to Harry Helms and an independent Yemeni political analyst who insisted on anonymity, Al-Awlaki is an adherent of the Wahhabi fundamentalist sect of Islam; Helms also said his sermons were extremely anti-Israel and pro-jihad.^[17][18]

Al-Awlaki has also been tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2003, Louise Ellman, MP for Liverpool Riverside, mentioned in Britain's Parliament the relationship between al-Awlaki and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), a Muslim Brotherhood front organization founded by Kemal el-Helbawy, a senior member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.^[19]

He is often noted for targeting young US-based Muslims with his lectures. Terrorism consultant Evan Kohlmann calls al-Awlaki "one of the principal jihadi luminaries for would-be homegrown terrorists. His fluency with English, his unabashed advocacy of jihad and mujahideen organizations, and his Web-savvy approach are a powerful combination." He calls al-Awlaki's lecture "Constants on the Path of Jihad", which he says was based on a similar document written by the founder of Al-Qaeda, the "virtual bible for lone-wolf Muslim extremists."^[20]

Al-Awlaki served as an Imam in Fort Collins, Colorado, and then of the Masjid Ar-Ribat al-Islami mosque in San Diego, California, from 1996-2000.^[12][21][4] Al-Awlaki was arrested in San Diego in 1996 and 1997 for soliciting prostitutes.^[11][22][23] In 1998 and 1999 in San Diego, he served as Vice President for the Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW), founded by Abdul Majeed al-Zindani.^[12] During a terrorism trial, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Brian Murphy testified that CSSW was a “front organization to funnel money to terrorists,” and US federal prosecutors have described it as being used to support Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.^[12][24] The FBI investigated al-Awlaki beginning in June 1999 through March 2000 for possible fundraising for Hamas, links to al-Qaeda, and a visit in early 2000 by a close associate of "the blind sheik" Omar Abdel Rahman (now in prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center attack), but was unable to unearth sufficient evidence for a criminal prosecution.^{[4][12][16][17][23][21]}

While he was in San Diego, witnesses told the FBI he had a close relationship with two of the 9/11 hijackers (Nawaf Al-Hazmi and Khalid Almihdhar) in 2000, and served as their spiritual advisor.^[12][23][25] Authorities say the two hijackers regularly attended the mosque Al-Awlaki led in San Diego, and Al-Awlaki had many closed-door meetings with them, which led investigators to believe Al-Awlaki knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance.^[21][23]

In his last positions in the US, he headed east and served as Imam at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in the metropolitan Washington, DC, area beginning in January 2001, and was also the Muslim Chaplain at George Washington University.^[12][4][26] Fluent in English, known for giving eloquent talks on Islam, and with a mandate to attract young non-Arabic speakers, "he was the magic bullet," according to mosque spokesman Johari Abdul-Malik; "he had everything all in a box."^[27] Shortly after this his sermons were attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers (Al-Hazmi again and Hani Hanjour), and by Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.^[21][23][28] The September 11 Commission concluded that two of the hijackers "reportedly respected al-Awlaki as a religious figure".^[18] The FBI also learned he may have been contacted by a possible "procurement agent" for Osama bin Laden, Ziyad Khaleel.^[12] When police raided the Hamburg, Germany, apartment of Ramzi Binalshibh (the "20th hijacker") while investigating the 9/11 attacks, his telephone number was found among Binalshibh's personal contact information.^[4][12][29]

Writing on the IslamOnline.net website six days after the 9/11 attacks, he suggested that Israeli intelligence agents might have been responsible for the attacks, and that the FBI "went into the roster of the airplanes and whoever has a Muslim or Arab name became the hijacker by default."^[12] He left the US for Yemen in March 2002, following extensive FBI investigations.^[12][23] Weeks later he posted an essay in Arabic titled "Why Muslims Love Death" on the Islam Today website, praising the Palestinian suicide bombers' fervor, and months later at a lecture in a London mosque that was recorded on videotape he lauded them in English.^[12][23] By July 2002 he was under investigation because a subject of a US Joint Terrorism Task Force (Joint Terrorism Task Forces are FBI-led, multi-agency teams made up of FBI agents, other federal investigators—including those from the Department of Defense, and state and local law enforcement officers) investigation was discovered to have sent money to al-Awlaki, and his name was placed on an early version of what is now the federal terror watch list.^[23][4][30]

In October 2002, a Denver federal judge signed off on an arrest warrant for al-Awlaki for passport fraud, but just days later, on October 9, the Denver U.S. Attorney's Office rescinded it.^[4][23] The prosecutors withdrew the warrant because they ultimately felt they lacked evidence that al-Awlaki had committed a crime, according to U.S. Attorney Dave Gaouette, who authorized its withdrawal.^[3] While al-Awlaki had listed Yemen as his place of birth (which the prosecutors believed was false) on his original application for a US social security number in 1990, which he then used to obtain a passport in 1993, he later changed his place of birth information to New Mexico.^[3] Prosecutors could not charge him for his initial lie, because a 10-year statute of limitations on lying to the Social Security Administration had expired.^[31] "The bizarre thing is if you put Yemen down (on the application), it would be harder to get a Social Security number than to say you are a native-born citizen of Las Cruces," Gaouette said.^[3] As a result of the withdrawal of the warrant, agents were unable to arrest him when he returned to JFK airport in the US on October 10, 2002—the following day.^[4][23] ABC News reported that the decision to cancel the arrest warrant outraged members of a Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego who were monitoring al-Awlaki and wanted to "look at him under a microscope", but Gaouette said there was no objection to the warrant being rescinded during a meeting attended by Ray Fournier, the San Diego federal diplomatic security agent whose allegation had set in motion the effort to obtain a warrant.^[3] Gaouette opined that if al-Awlaki had been convicted, he would have faced about 6 months in custody.^[32]

Al-Awlaki then returned briefly to Northern Virginia, where he visited radical Islamic cleric Ali al-Timimi, who is now serving a life sentence for inciting followers to fight with the Taliban against the US, and asked him about recruiting young Muslims for "violent jihad."^[12][23] Al-Awlaki left the US before the end of 2002, because of a "climate of fear and intimidation" according to Imam Johari Abdul-Malik of the Dar al-Hijrah mosque, and moved to the UK, giving a series of lectures in December 2002 and January 2003 at the London Masjid at-Tawhid mosque, describing the rewards martyrs receive in paradise, and developing a following among ultraconservative young muslims.^{[4][10][12][23][33]}

Al-Awlaki returned to Yemen in early 2004, and lived in his ancestral village in the southern province of Shabwa with his wife and five children.^[12][23] He became associated with and lectured at Iman University, headed by al-Zindani (who was designated a terrorist in 2004 by both the US and the UN).^{[10] [12]} While al-Zindani promotes the school's science department, it is believed by some that its curriculum deals mostly if not exclusively with radical Islamic studies, and that it is an incubator of radicalism.^[10][34] Students are suspected of having assassinated three American missionaries, and "the number two leader for the Yemeni Socialist Party, Jarallah Omar".^[35] John Walker Lindh, now serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with his participation in Afghanistan's Taliban army, is a former student of the university.^[10][12]

On August 31, 2006, Al-Awlaki was arrested by Yemeni authorities with regard to what he claimed was a "secret police investigation" over "tribal issues", but what has been reported as charges of kidnapping a teenager for ransom and being involved in an al-Qaida plot to kidnap a US military attaché.^[6][23] Al-Awlaki blames the US for pressuring the Yemeni authorities to arrest him, and says that in approximately September 2007 he was interviewed by FBI agents on subjects including the 9/11 attacks. Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen expert, noted that his name was on a list of 100 prisoners whose release was sought by al-Qaida-linked militants in Yemen.^[18] After 18 months in prison in Yemen, he was finally released on December 12, 2007.^[11][18]

The East London Mosque provoked the outrage of The Daily Telegraph by hosting a video-teleconference by al-Awlaki in 2008, and former Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve expressed concern over al-Awlaki's involvement.^[36] On August 23, 2009, al-Awlaki was banned by local authorities in Kensington and Chelsea, London, from speaking via videolink to a fundraiser for Guantanamo detainees.^[37]

FBI agents have identified al-Awlaki as a known, important "senior recruiter for al Qaeda", and a spiritual motivator.^[18][38]

Al-Awlaki's name came up in nearly a dozen terrorism cases recently in the US, England, and Canada. In each case suspects (including suicide bombers in the 2005 London bombings, radical Islamic terrorists in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case, and convicted radical Islamic terrorists in the 2007 Fort Dix attack plot) were devoted to al-Awlaki's message, listened to on laptops, audio clips, and CDs.^[11][23][39] In addition to his website, al-Awlaki had a Facebook fan page, with a substantial percentage of "fans" from the US, many of whom were high school students.^[16]

In October 2008, Charles Allen, US Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis, warned that al-Awlaki "targets US Muslims with radical online lectures encouraging terrorist attacks from his new home in Yemen."^[40][41]

Fort Hood shootings suspect Nidal Malik Hasan was investigated by the FBI after intelligence agencies intercepted at least 18 emails between him and al-Awlaki between December 2008 and June 2009.^[42] Even before the contents of the emails were revealed, author Jarret Brachman said that Hasan's contacts with al-Awlaki should have raised "huge red flags". According to Brachman, al-Awlaki is a major influence on radical English-speaking jihadis internationally.^[43]

In one of the emails Hasan wrote al-Awlaki: "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife. "It sounds like code words," said Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, a military analyst at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies. "That he's actually either offering himself up or that he's already crossed that line in his own mind." Hasan also asked al-Awlaki when jihad is appropriate, and whether it is permissible if innocents are killed in a suicide attack.^[44] In the months before the attacks, Hasan increased his contacts with al-Awlaki to discuss how to transfer funds abroad without coming to the attention of law authorities.^[42]

A DC-based joint terrorism task force that operates under the FBI was notified of the emails, and the information was reviewed by one of its Defense Criminal Investigative Service personnel. Army employees were informed of the emails. But they didn't perceive any terrorist threat in Hasan's questions. Instead, they they viewed them as general queries about spiritual guidance with regard to conflicts between Islam and military service, and judged them to be consistent with legitimate mental health research about Muslims in the armed services.^[45] The assessment was that there was not sufficient information for a larger investigation.^[46] Despite two Defense Department investigators on two joint task forces looking into Hasan's communications, Defense Department higher-ups said they were not notified of such investigations before the shootings. ABC News has reported that another government said that Hasan also had contact with other people being tracked by the FBI, who have not been publicly identified.

Charles Allen, no longer in government, said: "I find it difficult to understand why an Army major would be in repeated contact with an Islamic extremist like Anwar al-Awlaki, who preaches a hateful ideology directed at inciting violence against the United States and the West... It is hard to see how repeated contact would in any legitimate way further his research as a psychiatrist."^[47] And former CIA officer Bruce Riedel opined: "E-mailing a known al-Qaeda sympathizer should have set off alarm bells. Even if he was exchanging recipes, the bureau should have put out an alert."^[47]

Al-Awlaki had set up a website, with a blog on which he shared his views.^[47] On December 11, 2008, he condemned any Muslim who seeks a religious decree "that would allow him to serve in the armies of the disbelievers and fight against his brothers."^[47] The NEFA Foundation noted that on December 23, 2008, six days after he said Hasan first e-mailed him, al-Awlaki wrote on his blog: "The bullets of the fighters of Afghanistan and Iraq are a reflection of the feelings of the Muslims towards America".^[48]

In "44 Ways to Support Jihad," another sermon posted on his blog in February 2009, al-Awlaki encouraged others to "fight jihad", and explained how to give money to the mujahideen or their families after they've died. Al-Awlaki's sermon also encouraged others to conduct weapons training and raise children "on the love of Jihad." ^[49] Also that month he wrote: "I pray that Allah destroys America and all its allies."^[47] He wrote as well: "We will implement the rule of Allah on Earth by the tip of the sword whether the masses like it or not."^[47] On July 14, he criticized armies of Muslim countries that assist the US military, saying, "the blame should be placed on the soldier who is willing to follow orders ... who sells his religion for a few dollars."^[47] In a sermon on his blog on July 15, 2009, entitled "Fighting Against Government Armies in the Muslim World," al-Awlaki encouraged Muslims to fight against American soldiers, and wrote, "Blessed are those who fight against them and blessed are those shuhada [martyrs] who are killed by them."^[50][51]

A fellow Muslim officer at Fort Hood said Hasan's eyes "lit up" when gushing about al-Awlaki's teachings.^[52]

After the Fort Hood shooting, on his now temporarily inoperable website (apparently because some web hosting companies took it down)^[11] al-Awlaki praised Hasan's actions:^[8]

Nidal Hassan is a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people. This is a contradiction that many Muslims brush aside and just pretend that it doesn’t exist. Any decent Muslim cannot live, understanding properly his duties towards his Creator and his fellow Muslims, and yet serve as a US soldier. The US is leading the war against terrorism which in reality is a war against Islam. Its army is directly invading two Muslim countries and indirectly occupying the rest through its stooges.

Nidal opened fire on soldiers who were on their way to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. How can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done? In fact the only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the US army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal. The heroic act of brother Nidal also shows the dilemma of the Muslim American community. Increasingly they are being cornered into taking stances that would either make them betray Islam or betray their nation. Many amongst them are choosing the former. The Muslim organizations in America came out in a pitiful chorus condemning Nidal’s operation.

The fact that fighting against the US army is an Islamic duty today cannot be disputed. No scholar with a grain of Islamic knowledge can defy the clear cut proofs that Muslims today have the right -rather the duty- to fight against American tyranny. Nidal has killed soldiers who were about to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in order to kill Muslims. The American Muslims who condemned his actions have committed treason against the Muslim Ummah and have fallen into hypocrisy.^[53]

Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Hider Shaea interviewed al-Awlaki in November 2009.^[54] Al-Awlaki acknowledged his correspondence with Hasan, and said he "neither ordered nor pressured Maj. Nidal M. Hasan to harm Americans". Al-Awlaki said Hasan first e-mailed him December 17, 2008. He described Hasan introducing himself and writing: "Do you remember me? I used to pray with you at the Virginia mosque." According to al-Awlaki, Hasan said he had become a devout Muslim around the time al-Awlaki was preaching at Dar al-Hijrah, in 2001 and 2002, and he said 'Maybe Nidal was affected by one of my lectures.'" Al-Awlaki said, "It was clear from his e-mails that Nidal trusted me. Nidal told me: 'I speak with you about issues that I never speak with anyone else.'" Al-Awlaki said Hasan arrived at his own conclusions regarding the acceptability of violence in Islam, and said he was not the one to initiate this. Shaea summarized their relationship by saying, "Nidal was providing evidence to Anwar, not vice versa." Asked whether Hasan mentioned Fort Hood as a target in his e-mails, Shaea declined to comment. However, al-Awlaki said the shooting was acceptable in Islam because it was a form of jihad, as the West began the hostilities with the Muslims. The cleric also denounced what he described as contradictory behavior by Muslims who condemned Hasan's actions and "let him down."^[55] Referring to the post on his blog praising the shootings after they occurred, al-Awlaki said he "blessed the act because it was against a military target. And the soldiers who were killed were not normal soldiers, but those who were trained and prepared to go to Iraq and Afghanistan".^[54]

Yemeni authorities are now trying to locate al-Awlaki, who according to his father disappeared approximately March 2009. He is believed to be hiding in Yemen's Shabwa or Mareb regions, which are part of the so-called "triangle of evil" (known as such because it attracts al-Qaeda militants seeking refuge among local tribes that are unhappy with Yemen's central government).^[29]

The Nine Eleven Finding Answers Foundation says Al-Awlaki's ability to write and speak in straight-forward English enables him to be a key player in inciting English-speaking Muslims to commit terrorist acts.^[16] As al-Awlaki himself wrote in 44 Ways to Support Jihad:

Most of the Jihad literature is available only in Arabic and publishers are not willing to take the risk of translating it. The only ones who are spending the time and money translating Jihad literature are the Western intelligence services ... and too bad, they would not be willing to share it with you.^[16]

Al-Awlaki has also written for Jihad Recollections, an English language online publication published by Al-Fursan Media, an apparent collaboration of online terrorist sympathizers.^[56]

• Numerous lectures have been posted to YouTube on various channels such as this and this
• 44 Ways to Support Jihad—Essay (January 2009)—asserts that all Muslims must participate in Jihad in person, by funding it, or by writing. All Muslims must remain physically fit and train with firearms to be ready for the battlefield.^[16]
• Lectures on the book Constants on the Path of Jihad by Yousef Al-Ayyiri—concerns leaderless Jihad.^[16]
• The Battle of Hearts and Minds
• The Dust Will Never Settle Down
• Dreams & Interpretations
• The Hereafter—16 CDs—Al Basheer Productions—describes the women, mansions, and pleasures of paradise.^[4]
• Life of Muhammad:Makkan Period—16 CDs—Al Basheer Productions
• Life of Muhammad:Medinan Period—Lecture in 2 Parts—18 CDs—Al Basheer Productions
• Lives of the Prophets (AS)—16 CDs—Al Basheer Productions
• Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA): His Life & Times—15 CDs—Al Basheer Productions
• Umar ibn al-Khattāb (RA):His Life & Times—18 CDs—Al Basheer Productions
• 25 Promises from Allah to the Believer—2 CDs—Noor Productions
• Companions of the Ditch & Lessons from the Life of Musa (AS)—2 CDs—Noor Productions
• Remembrance of Allah & the Greatest Ayah—2 CDs—Noor Productions
• Stories from Hadith—4 CDs—Center for Islamic Information and Education ("CIIE")
• Hellfire & The Day of Judgment—CD—CIIE
• Quest for Truth: The Story of Salman Al-Farsi (RA)—CD—CIIE
• Trials & Lessons for Muslim Minorities—CD—CIIE
• Young Ayesha (RA) & Mothers of the Believers (RA)—CD—CIIE
• Understanding the Quran—CD—CIIE
• Lessons from the Companions (RA) Living as a Minority'—CD—CIIE
• Virtues of the Sahabah—video lecture series promoted by the al-Wasatiyyah Foundation

• al-Awlaki, Anwar, "Understanding Ramadan: The Muslim Month of Fasting", The Washington Post, November 19, 2001
• "The powerful online voice of jihad; Shadowy cleric revered by disenchanted Muslim youths throughout West," Toronto Star, October 18, 2009
• Ragavan, Chitra, "The imam's very curious story: A skirt-chasing mullah is just one more mystery for the 9/11 panel," US News and World Report, June 13, 2004
• "Exclusive; Ray Suarez: My Post-9/11 Interview With Anwar al-Awlaki," PBS, November 11, 2009