Ali al-Tamimi

Dr. Ali Al-Tamimi is a biologist and Islamic teacher. He was convicted of inciting terrorism in connection with the Virginia Jihad Network.

Biography

Al-Tamimi was born in Washington, DC, and raised in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood. His father, a lawyer, worked at the Iraqi embassy, and his mother was a noted scholar of psychology. When he was 15 his family moved to Saudi Arabia, where he became interested in Islam. On returning to the U.S. two years later, he attended The George Washington University and the University of Maryland, College Park. He received a doctorate in computational biology from George Mason University on the topic of "Chaos and Complexity in Cancer". In the early 1990's, Al-Tamimi led a five person delegation from the Islamic Assembly of North America in the United Nations 4th World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China. Al-Tamimi contacted Shaikh Abdel Rahaman Abdel Khaliq, who wrote a book about women in Islam, which Al-Tamimi translated into English.

He lectured often at the Center for Islamic Information and Education in Falls Church, Virginia. He was a founding member of the Center, which is also known as Dar al-Arqam.

Prior to al-Tammi's prosecution, 11 members of the Virginia Jihad Network were charged with a number of charges related to their participation in a terrorist enterprise. Although the group trained with paintguns they also were convicted of using and possessing various firearms, rocket propelled grenades and explosives. Nine members of the group were found guilty.

Dr. al-Timimi remained under Grand Jury investigation as an unindicted co-conspirator during the trial of the Network members. After the conclusion of the Virginia Jihad Network trials, prosecutors then successfully proved that al-Timimi was the spirtual leader of the group and had encouraged them to wage Jihad on India and the US.

Federal Prosecution

On April 26, 2005, he was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia of soliciting others to levy war against the United States and inducing others to use firearms in violation of federal law. Soon after the September 11, 2001 attacks he allegedly told a small group of young men to join the Taliban and fight the United States. On July 13, 2005, he was sentenced to life in prison plus 70 years without parole.

Jonathan Turley, who is representing Ali al-Tamimi, persuaded the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to halt appellate proceedings January 24 2006. The appellate court is considering whether to send the case back to the trial court to discover if the NSA warrantless surveillance was used to monitor Ali. If it does, Turley said, "the government would have to establish whether Dr. Al-Tamimi was intercepted under this or any other undisclosed operation, and the court could have to look at the legality of the whole operation." [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/politics/24cnd-wiretap.html New York Times]

Stance on Terrorism

Dr. Al-Tamimi was noted for being against terrorism, both in public and in private. He has been quoted as saying:

"If you consider this, then we can frankly say that certain acts of violence perpetrated by Muslims against non-combatant unbelievers over the last ten or fifteen years clearly contradict Islam. It is exceedingly important that Muslims are the first and foremost to condemn and reject such actions." [ [http://muslimmatters.org/2007/07/01/14-year-flashback-accusations-of-%e2%80%9cfundamentalism%e2%80%9d-and-%e2%80%9cterrorism%e2%80%9d/ muslimmatters.org] - 14 Year Flashback: Accusations of "Fundamentalism" and "Terrorism"]

"As at the time of the sending of the prophet Muhammad, the weapons employed in Arabia were simple sword, javelin, arrows, and so forth. It was only much later that the use of the catapult and the cannon became prevalent in warfare. The Muslim scholars writing at that time were in agreement that it was impermissible to use the catapult or the cannon against civilian populations. Their reasoning was that when laying siege to a city and you bombard it with catapults and cannons, this would necessarily result in the death of non-combatants. So therefore the Muslim army when laying siege to a city of a country to which they were at war, they should not use these weapons that in the modern times we would equate with weapons of mass destruction."

References

External links

* [http://kalamullah.com/ali-timimi.html Download Sheikh Ali al-Tamimi Lectures]
* [http://www.halaltube.com/ali-al-tamimi Ali al-Tamimi Audio and Video lectures]
* [http://muslimmatters.org/2007/07/01/14-year-flashback-accusations-of-%e2%80%9cfundamentalism%e2%80%9d-and-%e2%80%9cterrorism%e2%80%9d/ "14 year flashback: Accusations of "Fundamentalism" and "Terrorism"]
* [http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/April/04_crm_225.htm April 2004 Dept of Justice Press Release]
* [http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200606/viorst-terrorist "The Education of Ali Al-Timimi" (Registration required)] by Milton Viorst, "The Atlantic Monthly", June 2006
* [http://www.pakistan-facts.com/article.php?story=20030803152125503 Tracing the Case of "Virginia Jihad"]
* [http://www.uponsunnah.com/tamimi.php? Ali al-Tamimi Audio Lectures]
* [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/04/26/islamic_scholar_ali_al_timimi_convicted/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News Muslim man convicted of urging holy war]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601548.html Prosecution Called 'Overzealous']
* [http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/26/cleric.trial/ Muslim cleric convicted]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A31402-2003Oct1?language=printer Spreading Saudi Fundamentalism in the US]
* [http://www.hvk.org/articles/0803/96.html Muslim lecturer fits easily in two worlds]
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2123452/ "Prosecuted, Not Persecuted: Why a Muslim scholar probably crossed the First Amendment line"] - by Rod Smolla, Slate.com, July 27, 2005