It isn’t just the case of Aafia Siddiqui aka “Lady Al Qaeda” that is bizarrely radically supported by so called mainstream American Islamist groups, but there been a long series of radical cases including Tariq Mahanna (now serving 17 years since 2012), Imam Luqman, and Cop-Killer Jamal Amin to name a few. Zuhdi looks at the commonalities in these cases and also the larger phenomena that defines Islamist groups who through conspiracy theories support these radicals as martyrs as they also use their narrative to denigrate American institutions. Dr. Jasser also takes a critical look at the odd continued popularity of the radical come counter-terror expert. These “former Islamist radicals” add a great deal to the discourse but when it comes to role models and public leadership, American Muslim communities are generally ill-served by lifting high up, those former radicals regardless of how enamouring is their story of metamorphosis. There is no doubt that patriotic American Muslims should be able to do a lot better than the often convenient former radical when it comes to causes for justice and certainly with our role models patriotic anti-Islamist leadership. 

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