Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - The Christmas Day (Would-Be) Bomber

Nossiter, Adam. "Lonely Trek to Radicalism For Nigerian Terror Suspect." New York Times, January 17, 2010.

This is a great background article on Umar Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day Bomber.

His home was Kaduna, Nigeria. Journalist Adam Nossiter quotes a local about the character of the city, that led to a comment about Umar: "Kaduna city has a long history of religious extremism and intolerance. For 30 years there has been violence here...I don't think all his ideas came from Yemen."

What this means is that "extremist" Islam is not limited to "Af-Pak," al-Qaeda, and Yemen. It is much more widespread and pervasive - more mainstream.

This is what scholars and analysts like Irshad Manji, Robert Spencer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Christopher Hitchens (among others) have been telling us for years.

As a matter of fact, Nossiter also wrote an article about ongoing violence in Nigeria between Muslims and Christians. A few days ago there was a flare-up of violence (in which possibly hundreds are dead), but he says it's been happening since 2001.

This brings me back to my ongoing question about the nature of Islam: does it tend towards violence or is it the "religion of peace" that most claim it to be?

Nossiter acknowledges this tension from the outset of his article. (Remember that Umar's father called American officials to warn us that his son might be a threat.) Nossiter describes the tension as, "the struggle between father and son, between piety and radicalism," and "within Islam itself."

One of the things that compelled Umar's father to call him in, was Umar's note that he had found "the real Islam." This "real Islam" made a murderer out of Umar, even though his attempt was unsuccessful.