Imam who called for Worshipers to “grab onto the gun and the sword” Headlines Boston Beheading Plot Press Conference

A Boston Area Imam who once instructed worshippers to “Grab onto the gun and the sword” was given a leading role in the Police press conference following the death of Usaama Rahim, who was shot by police after he attacked members of the Boston Joint Terrorism Taskforce with a large knife.

The Press conference was Law enforcement’s response to the apparently fallacious claim by Rahim’s brother, Imam Ibrahim Rahim, formerly of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, that Usaama Rahim had been shot in the back. In response to the claim, the Hamas-linked Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a demand for an investigation:

A Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization is calling for an “independent and thorough” investigation into the fatal shooting of a man under surveillance by terrorist investigators in Boston.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations made the request Wednesday, a day after 26-year-old Usaama Rahim was killed after police say he lunged at members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force with a knife. Police say the task force had approached him to question him about “terrorist-related information.”

CAIR Director Jennifer Wicks says the group also wants the public release of a video that police say shows officers did not have their weapons drawn when they approached Rahim and that they backed up when he initially lunged at them.

The Boston Police acquiesced to that request showing surveillance video to a collection of Muslim community leaders. Featured prominently at the press conference which followed was Imam Abdulllah Farooq, the former Muslim Chaplain for Northeastern University, and current Imam of the Boston Mosque for Praising Allah in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Farooq described the surveillance video of Rahim as “vague,” and said he would not be satisfied until the case was “fully vetted.”

Back in 2013, Farooq was recorded speaking about the imprisonment of convicted Al Qaeda operative Aafia Siddiqui, also member of the Islamic Society of Boston, and a cause celebré among Boston Islamists. Farooq warned listeners that what happened to Siddiqui could also happen to them, and instructed them not to be afraid, “grab onto the gun and the sword, go out into this world and do your job.”

That appears to be exactly what Usaama Rahim was preparing to do.

“I just got myself a nice little tool. You know it’s good for carving wood and like, you know, carving sculptures … and you know …,” Rahim apparently told Wright in a recorded phone conversation days before he was shot and killed by terror investigators, according to court papers.

​On May 25, Rahim purchased a 15-inch-long Ontario Spec Plus Marine Raider Bowie fighting knife with a ​9.75″ blade, according to the affidavit, filed by FBI agent J. Joseph Galietta.

“In guarded language, Rahim told Wright about a plan, in which he was involved, to kill a person outside of Massachusetts,” according to the affidavit.

It’s important that the investigation not end with Rahim, but begin an in depth examination of those who indoctrinated and educated him to perform violent jihad. Boston’s law enforcement community has long been the test case for the “Counter Violent Extremism” efforts of the Obama Administration. As the Center has repeatedly noted, permitting those who openly call for violent jihad, who defend terrorists, and who oppose law enforcement at every opportunity, to serve as community partners is a recipe for disaster.