After an extensive terrorism investigation in Philadelphia, on Friday, Aug. 11, a jihadi was arrested who was, according to the FBI and Philly officials, planning major jihad massacres, not just in Philadelphia, but around the nation. He had access to guns and was building bombs. Adding to the shock of this was the fact that the young man who was arrested was only seventeen years old, and yet he now stands accused of plotting what the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said was “the most serious alleged terrorist activity prosecuted in Philadelphia County court in recent history.” Even more shocking, it later came to light that he is the son of one of the most prominent criminal defense attorneys in Philadelphia.
The accused terror plotter was arrested at the home of Qawi Abdul-Rahman, a prominent Philadelphia criminal defense attorney who just ran for a seat as a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge. In a “vote for ten” election on May 16, Abdul-Rahman finished fourteenth, with 3.88% of the vote. In a campaign video, Abdul-Rahman wears a djellaba, a flowing robe that is common in North Africa but usually worn in America only by Muslims who are extremely devout. His forehead also sports a superbly prominent zebiba, a dark mark caused by performing the repeated prostrations that are called for in Islamic prayer, and that is generally understood to be a sign of extraordinary piety.
Journalist Victor Fiorillo of Philly Mag noted Monday that he saw the arrest unfold: “I encountered major roadblocks around the 17-year-old’s house when I happened to be out running errands in his neighborhood. The FBI spent hours searching the property, removing box after box of evidence.” What was in some of these boxes could have been literally explosive: According to the UK’s Independent, “the DA’s office said the teen ‘received messages related to construction of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and to have purchased materials online such as chemical cleaners that are used to construct IEDs, as well as outdoor or tactical gear.’”
Fiorillo notes that when he contacted Abdul-Rahman, the renowned attorney quickly became bellicose: “I asked Abdul-Rahman via text if the person arrested is, indeed, his son. He called me right away. ‘You wanna find out what I’m really about?’ he told me. ‘Text or call me one more time, and you’ll find out what I’m really about.’”
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In a Wednesday report in the Daily Beast, however, Abdul-Rahman admitted that it was indeed his son who had been arrested and professed amazement, staking out the position that he had little or no knowledge of what his son had been up to. He said he was “shocked and devastated” by his son’s arrest; the Beast noted that the young man has been “charged with arson, criminal conspiracy, weapons of mass destruction, and risking catastrophe, among other accusations.” Abdul-Rahman insisted, “I didn’t see it coming at all. At all. I go to court because I want people to know that Muslims are out here doing things in the community, for the community. I’m an American like everyone else.”
That is exactly what the Philadelphia DA’s office wants people to know as well. In a Monday press release, it was most concerned with doing all it could to ensure that no one got the idea that this young man’s jihad plot had anything to do with Islam: “The work of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force potentially thwarted a catastrophic terrorist attack in the name of a perverted ideology that in no way, shape, or form represents the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of peace-seeking people of faith, including Muslims.”
This kind of thing has become drearily pro forma after every jihad attack and foiled plot, but in this particular case it’s especially unhelpful. Qawi Abdul-Rahman’s judge campaign page features another video that proclaims that “Black Judges Matter.” In that video, he complains of judges who don’t give him and his clients the same attention and care they give to his “white counterparts.” He complained about judges and court staff “looking at us as if we don’t belong.”
Meanwhile, Abdul-Rahman has adopted a religion that calls for warfare against unbelievers (cf. Qur’an 2:191, 4:89, 9:5, 9:29, 47:4, etc.) and features many prominent global leaders (such as Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei) who view the United States as a hostile power against which Muslims are or should be in a state of war.
Imagine growing up in a household where such views are frequently aired (which is not to say they necessarily are in Abdul-Rahman’s house). We have seen the combination of the left’s hostility toward the U.S. and Islam’s jihad against America before, notably in Urooj Rahman, a Muslim lawyer in New York City who threw a Molotov cocktail into a police car during the George Floyd riots.
Philadelphia officials are insisting that their young terror suspect was “radicalized on the Internet” and that his plans had nothing to do with Islam, but is anyone there looking into the possibility that his determination to strike against America arose from sources closer to home? Or is such a suggestion so far out of the bounds of our leftist-dominated public discourse today that Philly officials wouldn’t dare even allow themselves to think it? Has no one considered the fact that all the hateful and divisive rhetoric pouring forth from the left, as well as from some Muslim leaders, is inevitably going to be taken seriously by someone?
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