CAIR, in its 1996 book, entitled 'The Price of Ignorance,' in a section which listed "incidents of anti-Muslim bias and violence," CAIR included the trial of Abdel-Rahman. Cited in the book were Abdel-Rahman's lawyers, who had called the trial "far from free and fair." (Jake Tapper, Salon, "Islam's flawed spokesmen," September 26, 2001)While teaching theology at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, where he received his doctorate in Islamic law, Rahman began to develop a following amongst the school's more radical students. As well, he became a spiritual adviser to Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group), a religiously-charged political institution calling for the violent overthrow of the "secular" Egyptian government and the implementation of shari'a law; he would assume control of the organization in 1980. In 1982, Rahman was charged with being a co-conspirator to the October 6, 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. He had written the fatwa (religious ruling) that sanctioned the murder. (Lawrence Wright, 'THE MAN BEHIND BIN LADEN,' September 9, 2002)
Abdel-Rahman is serving a life sentence in prison for his role as the spiritual leader of the group responsible for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the predecessor of Al-Qaeda, Maktab al-Khidmat (Afghan Services Bureau). He had been involved with the group since the mid-80s, throughout the Afghan jihad, along with Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam (bin Laden's mentor), and Ayman al-Zawahiri (the leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad). (Fred Burton, STRATFOR, "Consequences of the 'Blind Sheikh's' Eventual Death," December 20, 2006)
"Jihad in the name of God is the fountainhead of everything." (Abdel-Rahman's mantra, Caryle Murphy and Steve Coll, Washington Post, 'The Making of an Islamic Symbol,' July 9, 1993)
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