New York City became the focus of national attention on the 26th of February, 1993. On that day, a bomb exploded in the World Trade Center, killing five people and injuring thousands of others. A few days later, Mohammed A. Salameh was arrested when he tried to get his deposit back for a van that he had rented. This arrest occurred because evidence showed that Salameh's rented van had been used in the World Trade Center bombing. Ibrahim A. Elgabrowny, a friend of Salameh, was also arrested in connection with the bombing. It was quickly discovered that both Salameh and Elgabrowny were members of the Al-Salam Mosque, a fundamentalist Islamic group under the leadership of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. Sheik Omar is also the leader of the Jihad organization, a terrorist group which originated in Egypt. The Jihad is, in turn, a branch of the Moslem Brotherhood, an organization which was founded in Egypt during the late 1920's. Although Sheik Omar has denied any responsibility for the World Trade Center bombing, he and his organization have been linked to many acts of terrorism which have occurred in recent years. In fact, Sheik Omar has been quoted as urging his followers to use violence, if necessary, in order to obtain his goals. This attitude toward the use of violence is shocking to many people; however, it should be noted that the Moslem Brotherhood has had a long history of using terrorist tactics such as those which are being advocated by the Sheik today.
The Moslem Brotherhood, known as Ikhwan al-Muslimin in the Arabic language, was founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928. At that time, Egypt was under the domination of British colonial rule. The Egyptians wanted to be free from British power, and in 1922 the people issued a Declaration of Independence. However, despite this declaration, the British government continued to hold control over the country. This gave rise to a number of resistance movements which were aimed ...