It turns out the man arrested for running a Muslim terrorist training compound in rural New Mexico is the son of an influential Democrat-connected jihadist imam who was close to the Blind Sheikh who orchestrated the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 that left six people dead.

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj Jr., who is 39 or 40, of Clayton County, Ga., was arrested after authorities found 11 hungry, filthy children living in squalid conditions in a remote part of New Mexico. Wahhaj, who has been charged with felony child abuse, had reportedly been training the children to commit school shootings. The remains of a three-year-old disabled boy, since identified as Wahhaj’s son, were discovered on the property which was filled with weapons. Two of Wahhaj’s sisters and two other adults were also arrested.

Investigative reporter Paul Sperry reports that Wahhaj “has been on the radar of federal counterterrorism officials for the past 13 years on suspicion of jihadist activity.”

Despite abundant evidence of suspicious activities, timid FBI officials refused to raid the compound, instead sending a neighbor in wearing a hidden camera. The reluctance of the agents of the embattled law enforcement agency to act may be based on fear of being accused of so-called Islamophobia. Fortunately, local police did their duty and entered the property and discovered the children in what some described as Third World living conditions.

Wahhaj’s father, who shares his name, is deeply involved in Democrat politics. Wahhaj is the imam of Brooklyn, New York’s At-Taqwa Mosque and used to be a member of CAIR’s national board of advisers.

Imam Wahhaj offered an opening prayer at an event called “Jumah at the DNC” at the Democratic National Convention in 2012, as blogger Israel Matzav and others reported at the time.

Wahhaj the elder has been called the spiritual adviser of jihad sympathizer and Bernie Sanders supporter Linda Sarsour. Sarsour co-chairs the Women’s March organization and openly admits being a member of America’s largest Marxist group, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Sarsour, who in 2017, urged Muslims to wage jihad against the Trump administration and refuse to assimilate into American society. She praised the imam effusively last year at the annual convention of the terrorism-linked Islamic Society of North America (ISNA):

And to my favorite person in this room, that’s mutual, is Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been a mentor, motivator, and encourager of mine. Someone who has taught me to speak truth to power, and not worry about the consequences. Someone who has taught me that we are on this earth to please Allah and only Allah, and that we are not here to please any man or woman on this earth. So I am grateful to you Imam Siraj, and you might think this is weird, but every once in a while, when I get into that deep dark place, Imam Siraj comes and talks to me. And he helps me to emerge out of those places, so I’m grateful to you Imam Siraj, and may Allah bless you and protect you for a long time for our community, because we need you now more than ever.

Imam Wahhaj, 68, was a keynote speaker at two fundraising banquets held by the Florida chapter of the terrorist-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) at the end of 2016. He was invited to speak by Florida CAIR chief Nezar Hamze, who is also one of Israel’s deputies in Broward County.

Wahhaj Sr. was reportedly an honored guest at Hillary Clinton’s Department of State and the Obama White House. He is said to have been the first Muslim to lead prayer at the U.S. House of Representatives in 1991. Citing Islamic law, he has called for death for gays and lesbians. He previously predicted U.S. democracy would “crumble” and be supplanted by Islam, adding it is “our duty as Muslims to replace the U.S. Constitution with the Quran.”

The Muslim cleric was previously named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 bomb attack on the World Trade Center that was carried out by Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as the Blind Sheikh, who died in a U.S. prison last year while serving a life sentence. Wahhaj Sr. was a character witness for the sheikh, who has been tied to several Muslim terrorist organizations, at his trial. In his testimony, he said Rahman was a “respected scholar … bold … [and] a strong preacher of Islam,” and that he felt honored to have hosted Rahman at his mosque.

Not long after the trial, during a sermon Wahhaj said, “I’m not frightened by no list, by no government! I thank Allah. I’m honored that they thought enough of me to put me on a list.” Several congregants from his mosque were charged and convicted of providing material support for Muslim terrorists in the period leading up to the 1993 bombing.

According to Discover The Networks:

[Imam] Wahhaj has been a longtime supporter of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organization that seeks to create a worldwide Islamic caliphate, or kingdom, governed by Sharia Law. In the summer of 1994, Wahhaj attended a Hizb ut-Tahrir conference in London, where Islamists openly called for jihad, denounced democracy, and declared that “the Islamic system is the only alternative for mankind.” Less than a week later, back in the U.S., Wahhaj lauded Hizb ut-Tahrir’s “scholarly brothers” for their “good insight” and “their pushing for the Khilafah [Caliphate].”

The sordid activities of Siraj Ibn Wahhaj Sr. have already been well-documented.

The investigation into Siraj Ibn Wahhaj Jr. is only just beginning.

This article by Matthew Vadum first appeared August 13, 2018, at FrontPageMag.