There are speculations over where and when Umar Farouk, the Nigerian at the centre of the attempted bombing of an American plane, got radicalized. In the words of his family, the recent manifestations are “a very recent development.” According to them, “Farouk, to the best of parental monitoring, had never shown any attitude, conduct or association that would give concern.”

In January 2005, while he was still at boarding school in Lome, he lamented his “loneliness” on an Islamic internet forum, in a post that raises doubts about his family’s claims of “parental monitoring.” “I have no one to speak too [sic],” he wrote. “No one to consult, no one to support me and I feel depressed and lonely. I do not know what to do. And then I think this loneliness leads me to other problems.”

From an early age, Umar Farouk was largely on his own, from the time he left home as a twelve year old in September 1986 to attend boarding school in Lome. “The age of thirteen is the period of adolescence, that period is a very turbulent period for any person, even those who have the privilege of being in the company of their parents all the time,” says Dr. Olayinka Majekodunmi, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Abeokuta. He added that parental deprivation, physical or emotional, could be damaging to the development of a young person.

The online posts, which began in 2005 and continued till 2007 detail Umar Farouk’s fractious emotional development in the final years of his teenagehood, and provide evidence that even as a nineteen year old, he was a committed Muslim, preoccupied with matters of religious duty. “I strive to live my daily live [sic] according to the quran and sunnah to the best of my ability. I do almost everything, sports, TV, books . . . (of course trying not to cross the limits in the deen),” he once wrote.

Anthony Glees, Professor of security and intelligence studies, believes Umar Farouk’s radicalization occurred during his student days in London. He was quoted by the Telegraph as saying, “I believe Abdulmutallab’s radicalization from being a devoted Muslim to a suicide bomber took place in the UK and I believe al-Qaeda recruited him in London. Universities and colleges like UCL have got to realise that you don’t get suicide bombers unless they have first been radicalized.”

Dr. Majekodunmi also points to a potential link between religious fanaticism and mental illness. He said that impending mental illness may be characterised by a “renewed interest in religious issues and philosophical issues.” “It is very common to find young people who are in the budding phase of developing major psychological disorder exhibiting these kinds of beliefs, ideas [and] philosophical thoughts, before the manifestation of the major recognisable psychological symptoms later.”

“44 Ways to Support Jihad”

Investigators are still attempting to determine if Mr.Farouk had any contacts with US-born Yemeni Islamic cleric, Imam and spiritual leader, Anwar al Awlaki, who has been linked to several terrorists and terrorist activities around the world. Mr. Awlaki is the author of the Jihad “manual”, ‘44 Ways to Support Jihad’, which is available on the internet, and has inspired or guided many would-be jihadists, of whom Umar Farouk may be one. “Jihad today is obligatory on every capable Muslim. So as a Muslim who wants to please Allah it is your duty to find ways to practice it and support it,” Awlaki writes in the manual. Analysts wonder if that might have inspired this post by Mr. Farouk on an Islamic internet Forum: “I imagine how the great jihad will take place, how the Muslims will win (Allah willing) and rule the whole world, and establish the greatest empire once again.”

The New York Times described Mr. Awlaki as “an eloquent Muslim cleric who has turned the Web into a tool for extremist indoctrination.” His inciting sermons are widely distributed on the internet, and have reportedly inspired a significant number of terrorists. The latest of these was Nidal Hassan, the American Army psychiatrist who shot and killed 13 people at a Texas army base on November 5, 2009. The two men exchanged emails prior to the shooting. Days after the shooting, Mr. Awlaki put up a post titled, “Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing” on his blog that effusively praised Mr. Hassan’s actions.

After the September 11 bombings, Mr. Awlaki had fled the United States, first for England, and then Yemen, where he has lived since then. Suspicions that he may have had contact with the Nigerian deepened with the release of a statement by Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch claiming responsibility for inspiring, training and equipping Umar Farouk. The Times of London reported that “[Umar Farouk] is understood to have attended talks given by the extremist US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki at East London Mosque.” If this is true, then the paths of the two men must have crossed in the UK, while Umar Farouk was a University student, and al-Awlaki lived in London – where he fled to post-911.

Yemen is what both men, together with the leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, share in common. Awlaki’s father is Yemeni, and so is bin Laden’s. In Umar Farouk’s case, it is his mother who is of Yemeni origin, descended from Yemeni nationals who migrated to Northern Nigeria from the 1920s onwards. Some of them have returned home, while others have made a permanent home in Nigeria. Many of these make regular trips between the two countries.

The Umar Farouk incident has now unfortunately cast a harsh spotlight on these travelers, and reports available to NEXT indicate that travelers to Yemen from Nigeria are facing increased security checks at Yemen’s airports.

A highly placed Yemeni intelligence source however told NEXT that the Umar Farouk incident would not in any way affect relations between Nigeria and Yemen, emphasizing that the Yemeni government has no problems with its Nigerian counterpart. The source however declined to comment on reports of Al-Qaeda activity in Yemen.