Al-Awlaki, the Translator of Jihad: How Influential Is Yemen's Mystery Man?

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This is also the way he sees himself. "The only ones who go to the trouble and spend money to translate jihad literature into English are the Western intelligence agencies," he wrote on his Web site in January 2009. "Too bad they don't want to share these translations with us."

Awlaki can help them with that. He has published a manual on the Internet that includes "44 methods to support jihad." The imam has had a Facebook fan community for years, and his sermons are available on DVD and on the Web.

In a speech to Muslim students in London in 2003, he spoke of the "rebirth of a great nation" and the return to a pure Islam based on the example set by the Prophet Muhammad. His audience is believed to have included the London backpack bombers, who killed 52 people and injured 700 in several attacks on the London Underground and a double-decker bus on July 7, 2005. Books and recordings of his sermons were found during searches related to the London bombers.

British terrorist Mohammed Hamid, who planned a second London Underground attack, was one of Awlaki's followers, the Daily Telegraph reported on Friday. That attack, however, failed when the detonators but not the bombs exploded.

A Member of One of Yemen's Most Important Tribes

Awlaki was in contact via e-mail with US military psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, who shot and killed 13 people on the Fort Hood military base in Texas in November. A few weeks ago, he met Abdulmutallab, the would-be Detroit bomber, in Yemen's Shabwa Province. There was "no doubt," Deputy Prime Minister Alimi said last Thursday, that the Nigerian "was in contact with al-Qaida elements, including Anwar al-Awlaki."

But who is this mystery man, of whom only a few photographs exist? A new Osama bin Laden? Or just a fast talker with good English skills?

Anyone who studies Awlaki and his background can quickly gain insights into Yemen's most serious problems, including its corrupt government apparatus, the state's relative lack of resources and the never-ending rivalry among its tribes.

The Awlaki clan is one of the most important in the country. Awlaki's father Nassir was agriculture minister under current President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled Yemen like a patriarch for the last 31 years. In addition to studying in America Anwar, the son, attended the Iman University in San'a -- notorious in the West -- founded by Islamist Abdulmajid al-Zindani, who is known as "the red sheikh." Al-Zindani fought in Afghanistan with Bin Laden in the 1980s and is also a confidant of the president. The graduates of his school give radical sermons in Nigeria and Somali, but also in Malaysia. The influential red sheikh is never absent from official events in Yemen.

The Afghanistan veteran has yet to utter a word about his former student. Yet Awlaki was not only a student at al-Zindani's university, he also taught there and, together with his mentor, ran a dubious charity for several years. The United States added the sheikh to its list of "global terrorists" in 2004.

President Saleh is apparently anxious not to allow the radical scholar hinder his efforts to present a unified front in the fight against terrorism. To ensure this, he is said to have barred his old friend from speaking in public.

'A Very Yemeni Solution'

But negotiations are already underway behind the scenes. The president himself is believed to have made an offer to terrorist recruiter Awlaki through middlemen a few days ago, proposing a "very Yemeni solution" under which the imam could expect mild treatment if he openly distanced himself from al-Qaida.

Awlaki is currently assumed to be hiding somewhere in Shabwa Province, at a location known only to his most trusted followers, and in a region where his tribe has considerable influence.

Members of Awlaki's family insist that the accusations against him are a conspiracy concocted by the media and the enemies of Islam. One of his closest relatives told SPIEGEL that Awlaki's teachings have reached many non-Muslims, and that he has exerted a great deal of influence as a "missionary," precisely because he has been able to preach his message in English. The relative said that Awlaki was a conscientious student and is an enthusiastic champion of Islam today, but that he is not an extremist and is not in contact with terrorists.

But Awlaki's own statements contradict such efforts to paint him as a moderate. In December 2008, he openly promoted solidarity with the Islamist Al-Shahab militias in Somalia, saying: "Their success depends on your support. It is the responsibility of all of the faithful to help them with money and personnel."

In January 2009, Awlaki called upon all Muslims to remain physically fit and to prepare themselves for combat by undergoing weapons training. In November, he declared Nidal Hasan, the now-paraplegic Fort Hood killer, a Muslim hero. In early December, Yemeni journalist Abd al-Ilah Shai met with Awlaki in a remote village that he was told not to identify. He was greeted with open arms, says the journalist. Awlaki, Shai reports, seemed to be in poor health. "He kept taking deep breaths. He wasn't gasping for breath, but it was noticeable."

Shai says that Awlaki told him that he had known Hasan, the Ft. Hood attacker, from his days as an imam at the Dar-al-Hijrah Mosque in Virginia. Awlaki said he even believed that he had played a part in Hasan becoming a devout Muslim eight years ago, because the man had simply "trusted" him.

When international leaders attend the London conference initiated by Prime Minister Brown later this month, they will discuss ways to prevent Yemen from becoming a "failed state." In this context, the governments of the West will also have to address the question of whether to treat President Saleh, their ally in the fight against terrorism, as part of the problem or part of the solution. And perhaps Awlaki will have decided by then whether to accept the president's offer or to continue on his current path, as a translator of jihad.

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• Part 1: How Influential Is Yemen's Mystery Man?
• Part 2: A New Osama bin Laden?