“This was an unpredictable and isolated episode, impossible to anticipate and guard against.” - Muqtedar Khan, University of Delaware.

Men like Professor Khan single out Major Malik Hasan as being a unique case; unpredictable and inexplicable.

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times shows that if we look to the root causes of incidents like this, they may not be as impossible to foresee as Professor Khan believes. Sometimes, an influential cleric, mixing political and spiritual messages, can influence others to commit terrible crimes in the name of God. Such is the case with Anwar al Awlaki, an American born cleric now living in Yemen.

Anwar al Awlaki is an extremist whose sermons have helped radicalize terrorists from Atlanta to New Jersey to London, including cases in which the U.S. military was targeted. A well-spoken Yemeni American, Awlaki has emerged as the leading ideologue for a homegrown generation of young militants who conspire over the Internet.

As reported in the Times, Major Hasan had an email relationship Awkaki; a cleric with whom he worshipped in 2001. Although it is not claimed that there was anything suspect in their emails, Hasan was apparently familiar with Awlaki’s politically charged religious teachings. These teachings are known to have influenced other men convicted of terrorist plots, including the men convicted in the plot against the U.S. Army Base at Fort Dix. Additionally

London extremists transcribed Awlaki lectures while plotting bombings, and an Atlanta man who filmed potential terrorism targets — including Washington landmarks and U.S. military bases — praised the cleric during his trial this summer. Awlaki’s extremist materials also were found in the possession of accused accomplices of the suicide bombers who hit London’s transport system in 2005.

The article cites other cases where terrorists in North America are known to have listened to the imam’s teachings.

Awlaki is not an isolated case, wherein a terrorist threat has emerged from an environment where these kinds of teachings were present.

Omar abu Ali, convicted of plotting with Al-Qaeda to kill President George Bush, was a valedictorian of the Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia. Among the teachings found in the school’s textbooks are passages promoting jihad, Anti-Semitism, and the murder of those who convert out of Islam.

Ali was also a congregant in the mosque of Sheikh Abdul Malik Johari. Sheikh Johari taught one congregation that

people see even within all of this struggle it is better to be a Muslim under these conditions than to be a kaffir [infidel] under any conditions… before Allah closes our eyes for the last time you will see Islam move from being the second largest religion in America-that’s where we are now- to being the first religion in America.

There was also Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, currently serving a life-sentence for his role in plots including the 1993 World Trade Center (WTC) bombing. Sheikh Rahman was the imam of three New York mosques where he preached a militant form of Islam. His followers would go on to commit crimes congruent with his teachings. They include several others convicted with him in the New York plots. Sayyid Nosair, who murdered Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane, was also a follower of the cleric.

Sheikh Rahman has continued to inspire and galvanize Islamists following his imprisonment.

On a related note, there are other clerics currently preaching across America who are known to have mixed an anti-American political agenda with their teachings. This includes Siraj Wahhaj, who reportedly told followers they could take over America and place an Islamic emir at its head.

“Take my word, [if] 6 to 8 million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us. Strong Muslims, strong and free, firm believers in Allah, I’m telling you, the rest of the world will come to the Muslims.”

Wahhaj, who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 WTC bombing, stood before one audience waving a Koran, telling them that it should be the goal of every Muslim to replace the Constitution with the Koran.

Although there may not be terrorist activity tied to the preaching of Sheikh Wahhaj, in light of precedent from Sheikh’s Rahman and Awlaki, it presents a serious concern.

Professor Khan indicated that it’s impossible to foresee isolated cases like that of Major Hasan. In truth, if Muslims and non-Muslims were to make a concerted effort to uproot political messages when they appear in the mosques, then it would go long ways towards preventing cases like this in the future.