If they’re really nursing political grievances under the guise of religion, how do they attract converts to their cause? Why do the terrorist cells find a comfortable home in mosques? Why did Muhammad Atta, as he taught classes in Islamic doctrine, not find his views contradicted by the peace and tolerance in the Qur’an? From Expatica, :
HAMBURG – A German who converted to Islam testified Tuesday to a Hamburg court about how he became acquainted with the main 11 September suicide attacker, Mohammed Atta, in a city mosque.
The 23-year-old witness, whose name was withheld in line with ethics guidelines, was testifying at the trial of Mounir al- Motassadeq, a Moroccan student accused for the second time on charges of aiding murder and being a member of the Hamburg terrorist cell.
According to the witness, Motassadeq was in Atta’s inner circle. The group became more and more committed to “jihad” or a holy war on behalf of Islam and regarded suicide attacks as a legitimate form of combat, the witness told the Hamburg state superior court.
Motassadeq denied at the first trial that he was part of the terrorist cell, but has exercised his legal right to remain silent at the re-trial. He was freed from jail after his first conviction was overturned on appeal and is seeking re-admission to university.
The state’s evidence is based mainly on the network of friendships in the mosque group, with prosecutors saying Motassadeq must have had advance knowledge of the 11 September 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania….
The witness said he had converted to Islam while was still attending school in the city, and had made Atta’s acquaintance in 1997 in Hamburg when Atta was giving classes on Islamic doctrine.