Florida Terror Mom: My Son a 'Good Boy'; 'A Force for Good'
Mother of Adnan Shukrijumah says al Qaeda trying to 'wake up' US with attacks.
Sept. 10, 2010 — -- The Florida mother of one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists, Adnan Shukrijumah, says her son is a "good boy" and that al Qaeda attacks are justified as a "wake-up" to America for its failure to respect God.
"Is okay for anybody to do something to wake up a nation or a person when they see them go wrong," Zurah Adbu Ahmed told ABC News.
"The intention is to alarm America," she said, "to recognize that America has forgot about God Almighty and he is the one in rule and control."
US law enforcement and intelligence officials say her 35-year old son fled his Broward County, Florida home one month before the 2001 terror attacks and has since emerged in Pakistan as a top commander for al Qaeda.
The United States has posted a $5 million reward for information on his whereabouts and he was recently added to the FBI's most wanted terror list.
Shukrijumah's mother said she is not bothered if her son is part of al Qaeda because it is a "force for good."
In July, Shukrijumah was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York for his alleged role in "a terrorist plot against New York city's subway system" and other targets in the US and the United Kingdom.
US officials said Shukrijumah met with Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad in Pakistan and other "Western operatives."
Shukrijumah's mother, 49, who still lives in the Broward County city of Miramar, says she has not seen or heard from her son since he left the United States but is confident he is being falsely accused by the FBI.
"They want to do mischief in the land and they stick it on my son," she said.
She said her son was born in Saudi Arabia and grew up there before the family moved to Florida in 1996, when Adnan was 21.
He attended a community college in Broward County but became upset with the way women dressed, his mother said.
"He said, 'The woman's body is something very treasureable. You're not supposed to let it open so anybody and everybody could look to it.'"
In 2001, several of the 9/11 hijackers attended a Broward County mosque run by her now-deceased husband, according to US law enforcement officials. Her son Adnan was reported to have spent time with hijack team leader Mohammed Atta prior to the attack.
Mrs. Abdu Ahmed disputes any connection with her son and, in fact, denies al Qaeda was behind the 9/11 attacks.
"I think the USA itself did it," she told ABC News.
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She said she wants to tell fellow Muslims and others in her community to stand up for al Qaeda.
"You should not believe that al Qaeda or my son is a terrorist. This is something to scare you and make you hide under the table."
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