FBI probes possible ties of National Guard shooter to Tablighi Jamaat, a ‘catalyst’ for jihad
Late last month, when former Afghan commando fighter Rahmanullah Lakanwal vanished without warning from his home in Bellingham, Wash., his wife, Khamila, called his phone, trying to learn where he...
By Fox News · Fox News
Late last month, when former Afghan commando fighter Rahmanullah Lakanwal vanished without warning from his home in Bellingham, Wash., his wife, Khamila, called his phone, trying to learn where he had gone, according to people familiar with the matter. "Where are you?" she asked in one call, speaking in their native language of Pashto, according to people briefed on the communications. He told her, "I’m busy with some friends." Hours later, she called again. This time, he allegedly answered differently. FOUR YEARS AFTER ABBEY GATE, VETERANS WHO SAVED CIVILIANS DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY "I’m with Tablighis ." He continued, "I’m doing Tabligh," according to sources. To his wife, the word "Tablighi" had immediate meaning, family contacts said, setting off alarm bells that she shared with Lakanwal’s older brother, Ismail Khosti. In Afghanistan, surnames may vary among family members as they choose different tribal or geographical affiliations. The family is from Lakan district in Khost province. Tablighi is an Arabic word that means to "inform" or "convey." It refers today to Tablighi Jamaat , a global Islamic missionary movement established in 1926 in British India as a revivalist wing of the strict Deobandi religious school of thought that today fuels the tyrannical interpretation of Islam practiced by the Afghan Taliban and Pakistani militant groups. Much like its sister group, the Muslim Brotherhood, established in 1928, and other Muslim groups preaching the extremist Wahhabi and Salafi interpretations of Islam, counterterrorism experts say it acts like a conveyor belt to extremism. Based in Pakistan and India, Tablighi Jamaat’s influence is transnational, with networks operating in mosques and informal religious circles in at least 150 countries, including the U.S. It denounces terrorism publicly, but a report , "Tablighi Jamaat and Its Role in the Global Jihad," by Brussels-based think tank the South Asia Democratic Forum warned the group serves as a "catalyst, gatew…