“Extremism”

Muslim who served time for Islamic State plot for jihad bombing in NYC now rejects “extremism,” attends NYU

JAN 18, 2020 9:00 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER2 COMMENTS

This article is heartwarming, and gives the impression that Imran Rabbani turned away from “extremism” and the Islamic State because people were nice to him. That’s wonderful, but why hasn’t it worked with other jihadis, who are shown similar solicitude in prisons all over the U.S. and Europe? It is also unfortunate that the article gives not even the smallest detail of how Rabbani’s understanding of Islam changed, or of what he saw in the Qur’an and Sunnah that made him believe that the Islamic State’s view of Islam didn’t make sense after all.

Also, this is interesting: “Lawrence Outlaw, a recreational officer, taught Rabbani how he could better manage tumultuous relationships through chess. ‘Just like when you play chess, you have to be patient in life and think three steps ahead,’ Outlaw said he recalls telling Rabbani. ‘You can’t be so aggressive.'”

So is this transformation into model moderate Muslim just a change in tactics on Rabbani’s part, but not of his overall goal? Of course the Los Angeles Times would never dare to ask him such a question.

“To this man, Islamic State’s ideology ‘just made sense.’ Now, he rejects extremism,” by Melissa Etehad, Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2020:

On a rainy morning, Imran Rabbani returned to the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center so he could reunite with his former keepers.

Four years before, Rabbani had arrived at the facility in shackles after being swept up in an Islamic State-inspired plot to set off a pressure-cooker bomb in New York. He was 17.

Now, just starting his third semester at New York University, the 22-year-old Rabbani wanted to give thanks to the people who guided him away from Islamist extremism. As he waited in the library last summer, glancing at books that had proved crucial to his transformation, the room slowly filled with city officials, staff and guards.

Rabbani spotted Capt. Robert Woodson and leaned in for a hug. After they embraced, Rabbani began sharing memories. The room quickly fell silent as people fixed their eyes on the pair.

“Remember how you’d allow me and other inmates to eat snacks while we watched ‘The Wire’ inside the library? And that other time you allowed me to pray in private and then call my mom?” Rabbani asked.

“I remember,” Woodson replied. “You and the other inmates were like my children. I love all of you.”

Rabbani placed his hand on Woodson’s shoulder as tears fell down both their faces.

“I never expected a prison guard, let alone a captain, to treat me like that and with kindness,” he said.

Looking back on his time in custody, Rabbani now sees that kindness and education as the keys to what friends, family and law enforcement say was an unexpected transformation — a change that ultimately helped deepen and enrich his identity as an American Muslim.

The son of Pakistani immigrants, Rabbani struggled to fit in while growing up in New York. He felt like an outsider, never fully identifying as American or Pakistani.

Stress was the common denominator in Rabbani’s life. Money was always tight, and Rabbani, his parents and three siblings squeezed into a one-bedroom apartment in Flushing. When Rabbani finally made friends, his father disapproved of them and urged him to abide by more conservative Pakistani traditions.

As he searched for answers, Rabbani met Munther Omar Saleh, who was three years older and lived a few buildings away.

It was 2015 and a U.S.-led coalition was beginning to conduct airstrikes against Islamic State, also known as ISIS, after it took control of large swaths of Syria and Iraq. Federal prosecutors would later allege in court documents that Saleh was researching how to build a bomb to carry out a terrorist attack.

Rabbani would later say he knew nothing of Saleh’s plans, at least not then. Their friendship deepened and profoundly affected how Rabbani viewed the world.

The charismatic Saleh said Muslims were persecuted by Jews and Christians and suggested that Islamic State was establishing Islam the way the prophet Muhammad intended.

At first, such talk made Rabbani uncomfortable. But after a few months, the alarm going off inside Rabbani’s head slowly faded. For the first time, he would recall years later, Rabbani felt someone accepted him. He didn’t want to lose that feeling of belonging.

In 2015, Rabbani and Saleh were often volunteering at Masjid Al-Falah, a mosque in Queens.

Sometimes they spent the night at the mosque, debating different teachings in Islam. They discussed hadiths, written accounts of the prophet Muhammad’s sayings and actions that Muslims use as a source of moral guidance and religious law.

One time, Saleh read a translation of a hadith that he said instructed Muslims to join Islamic State:

“A nation will come from the east with black flags … if anyone of you finds this nation, then you must join them even if you have to crawl over ice,” Rabbani recalled Saleh telling him.

“This isn’t the Islam I know,” Rabbani thought at first.

But Rabbani began reading articles and watching videos produced by Islamic State online, and he continued to turn to Saleh for advice, nicknaming him “Mufti,” a Muslim legal expert.

“I’ve been looking more into it … we should talk in person,” Rabbani texted Saleh one evening, according to court documents. Islamic State’s ideology, he added, “just makes sense.”

“You mean establishing Islam the same way the Prophet … did? We can meet up whenever your free,” Saleh replied.

“Yeah and dude it’s like their doing it step by step and perfectly … the exact ways and rules of the prophet,” Rabbani texted back.

Unbeknownst to Rabbani, federal agents had been tracking him and Saleh for months. They listened to Rabbani’s conversations, followed his moves, monitored his internet searches and bank statements.

They learned Saleh was meeting up with four friends in Staten Island, where they discussed Islamic State teachings and possible locations for an attack, such as Times Square. Rabbani said he never attended those meetings and didn’t know Saleh was planning an attack.

In May 2015, Rabbani and some friends were heading to a mosque in Brooklyn when they spotted a car following them. After they arrived at the mosque, Rabbani and his friends approached the vehicle, but before they could challenge the driver, he drove off. Thinking it might have to do with his religious beliefs, Rabbani called 911.

After weeks of being followed, Rabbani grew frustrated. One evening after prayer services, Rabbani, Saleh and another friend were in the friend’s Jeep Cherokee when they noticed they were being tailed. When they came to a stoplight, Rabbani and Saleh got out and ran toward the car to confront the driver.

The vehicle reversed and within moments several federal law enforcement cars raced up. When agents searched Rabbani and Saleh, they found knives, according to court documents, and the two were arrested. Rabbani maintains it was normal for him to carry a knife….

He came to find a surrogate mom in Pamela Muhammad, a compliance officer. She once went to the cafeteria and cut off the labels of halal hot dogs and brought them to a skeptical Rabbani to prove they complied with Islamic dietary laws. Muhammad, who also is Muslim, gave Rabbani a prayer rug. She recalled gently placing her hand on his back and telling him:

“If you need anything, you can count on me. Read the Quran. It will keep you calm because there are things you are still learning.”…

Lawrence Outlaw, a recreational officer, taught Rabbani how he could better manage tumultuous relationships through chess.

“Just like when you play chess, you have to be patient in life and think three steps ahead,” Outlaw said he recalls telling Rabbani. “You can’t be so aggressive.”

Rabbani also found a father figure in Manazir Ahmed, a Pakistani math teacher at the detention facility who sometimes led Friday prayer for Muslim inmates.

One day, Ahmed called Rabbani into his classroom and handed him a small Quran. He pointed out a comforting passage people often recite when facing difficulties and urged Rabbani to read it out loud three times. After he finished, Ahmed reached for Rabbani’s hand, gripped it firmly and told him in Urdu:

“You’re like my son. Don’t listen to the bad things people say. Just keep praying.”

He let go of Rabbani’s hand and told him to keep the Quran….