And Then I Met the Blind Sheikh

Picture of Omar Abdul Rahman, the Blink Sheikh, wearing dark glasses**

There are moments in life that stay with you forever — moments so intense, so spiritually weighty, that even decades later they still feel close enough to touch. For me, one of those moments came in 1995 when I found myself face-to-face with one of the most feared terrorists in the world: Omar Abdul Rahman, known globally as “The Blind Sheikh.”

But to understand why that encounter affected me so deeply, you first need to understand the world I lived in for nearly two decades before it happened.

Seventeen Years on the Front Lines

During 17 years serving in a country that was 96% Muslim, I encountered spiritual warfare in ways many Americans never imagine. I witnessed demonic oppression, participated in deliverance ministry, and watched lives transformed through the power of Jesus Christ.

One encounter especially stands out. A woman claimed she was married to a spirit — a “jinn.” At times, the spirit would speak through her, declaring, “She is with me.” Together with local Spirit-filled pastors, we prayed over her in the name of Jesus. Within minutes the spirit left, and the woman was calm, clear-minded, and confessing Christ as Lord.

Experiences like that convinced me I had already seen the depths of evil.

I was wrong.

The Arrival of the Blind Sheikh

By 1995, Omar Abdul Rahman had already become infamous across the world. Long before names like al-Qaeda or ISIS dominated headlines, the Blind Sheikh was considered the “Emir of Jihad.” Born in Egypt and blinded as a child by diabetes. The sickly boy was a prodigy, memorizing the Quran at an early age and eventually rose to prominence as a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence, the discipline in which he earned a doctorate, with distinction, at the prestigious al-Azhar University, the seat of Sunni Islamic learning since the tenth century.

His influence extended far beyond scholarship, as he was responsible for much of the last quarter century of terrorism around the world! Sheikh Omar wanted the world to be ruled by Islamic law.  He is renowned for two fatwas or religious edicts.

Rahman issued the fatwa that encouraged the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. He stood trial for Sadat’s death but was acquitted on technicalities because he did not “pull the trigger.”  Later, while working among militants in Afghanistan, he became closely associated with Osama bin Laden, who credited him with the fatwa that approved the eventual 9/11 attacks in New York City in which nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered. Here is an excerpt from that fatwa:

Let Muslims everywhere dismember their nation, tear them apart, ruin their economy, provoke their corporations, destroy their embassies, attack their interests, sink their ships…shoot down their planes, kill them on their land, at sea, and in the air. Kill them wherever you find them.

Inexplicably, Abdul Rahman was allowed to enter America in 1990. Settling in New Jersey, he operated from a mosque there and gradually gathered a group of radical followers, finally convincing them to blow up the World Trade Center in New York City in 1993. This attack killed six people and injured many others. Investigators also uncovered plots to blow up the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and the UN Complex. He was arrested in the summer of 1993, and after a long trial in 1995, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Due to his life-long battle with diabetes, as well as his blindness, authorities decided to send him to the Federal Medical Prison in Springfield, Missouri.

That’s when my phone rang.

A Surreal Assignment

At the time, I was temporarily back in the United States when the warden of the federal prison contacted me. They needed someone who could speak Arabic and help communicate with a new high-profile inmate.

The inmate was Omar Abdul Rahman.

I agreed to help for a few days. Those “few days” turned into three weeks spent side-by-side with one of the most dangerous men in modern history.

I literally guided him by the hand through the prison corridors to his cell. The moment we arrived at his cell, he announced loudly that he had no intention of cooperating with prison authorities.

From the beginning, something felt profoundly dark.

A Presence I Cannot Forget

I struggle even now to describe the atmosphere surrounding the Blind Sheikh. I had encountered spiritual darkness before, but this felt different — heavier, more oppressive, more deliberate.

When he spoke, it was evident that his voice had been taken over by evil spirits. He raged constantly about America, the courts, and his imprisonment. He demanded access to his Quranic tapes and sermons and pressured his lawyers to secure his release.

He was the personification of evil. Yet beneath all of that was something else: intimidation. Every time he attacked Christianity or mocked Jesus Christ, I sensed the Holy Spirit giving me calmness and clarity. Scriptures would come to mind. Words would come naturally. What could have been terrifying became, strangely, a place of spiritual confidence.

Mentioning Jesus as Lord always provoked strong reactions from him. Still, over time, his attempts to dominate the conversations began to fade.

I wish I could say the story ended with repentance or transformation. It didn’t.

Lessons from an Unforgettable Encounter

After three weeks, my assignment ended. Rahman was transferred to another federal facility, where he eventually died in 2017.

Looking back now, what strikes me most is the irony.

After years overseas confronting spiritual darkness in remote villages and unfamiliar cultures, the most intense encounter I ever experienced happened not abroad — but in the United States, inside a federal prison in Missouri.

That season reinforced something I have never forgotten:  Evil is real, but so is the power and presence of God. And even in the darkest places, Christ remains Lord.

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

1 John 4:4

**Image of Omar Abdul Rahman from CNN.com 2017 article entitled, "Omar Abdel Rahman World Trade Center Bombing Plotter Dead:" available at https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/18/us/omar-abdel-rahman-world-trade-center-bombing-plotter-dead/