Jamal Abaza

"There is no such thing, Gideon. They were infidels. And they were engaged in activities that spread American policies over the entire world. Your incessant need to own things... material things. Your capitalism rests on the back of third-world countries. No one's hands are clean. No one is innocent."

Jamal Abaza, a.k.a. "Jind Allah", is a now-incarcerated terrorist who appeared in Lessons Learned. He is a member of the apparently fictitious Militant Islamic Society.

Background
Jamal was born and raised in Egypt, likely in Cairo, and became an Islamic cleric. In 1999, his son was killed in an airstrike that killed 11 others. The Egyptian government blamed Hezbollah, but a conspiracy theory on the streets claimed it was a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike that went astray. Jamal apparently believed the latter; his protests having made at least one headline in local newspapers. Eventually, he became a sworn enemy of the U.S., adopting the alias "Jind Allah", literally "soldier of God", joined Al-Qaeda, moved to the U.S., became a member of the Militant Islamic Society, recruited more members to the Omega Cell, a sleeper cell, as a prison imam. In 2006, he was caught trying to leave the country using a forged Pakistani passport from the Richmond International Airport, was brought to Guantanamo Bay, and held as a ghost detainee. During his time there, he apparently had a three minute long conversation with a fellow inmate in the shower line. Whatever he told him, it caused him to commit suicide the following night.

Lessons Learned
Two months later, when the DEA raided a suspected meth lab and found a device built by MIS members used to disperse anthrax, a communication radio registered to Jamal's alias was found. This was part of the MIS's plan, as it sent Gideon, Reid and Prentiss of the BAU to Guantanamo Bay to try and trick Jamal into revealing the plan, their arrival signaling to him that the plan was proceeding. Gideon led the questioning and even gave Jamal access to water and permission to pray regularly. They spent the following two days discussing their beliefs and ideologies as well as the Qur'an and Jamal's past. At first, he retold the bombing that killed his son, except he told it as if he was a young boy who saw half of his family get killed in the airstrike.

Later, when a DEA agent was killed during a raid on a fake MIS headquarters, Jamal opened up more and told Gideon the true story. During the whole time, Gideon kept lying about Jamal's prayer times, Islamic prayers being required to be done at certain times of the day. Since he had no clocks available, Jamal trusted Gideon. The shortened intervals between the prayers gave Jamal the impression that the MIS attack had already taken place. This illusion was created by reducing the light and putting together a fake newscast. When Gideon asked to know the reasons for the "attack", Jamal mentioned that it would take place at the grand opening of a shopping center. When he did so, the BAU revealed the bluff, leaving Jamal distraught over having been tricked. He has presumably been kept at Guantanamo Bay ever since.

Modus Operandi
When Jamal killed his only known victim, he manipulated him into committing suicide. It can be assumed that Jamal killed numerous other victims prior to his incarceration, but that remains to be unseen.

Known Victims

 * An unnamed Guantanamo Bay detainee

Quotes
Jamal: Is it your intention, Mr. Gideon, to become a man of faith and revert to Islam?

Gideon: I am a man of faith. I have repented, I pray regularly, and I practice charity. I have never committed violence against you, so how is it that my faith would allow you to live and worship as you please, and yours would take my life and snuff it out?

Gideon: Those people tonight, they were innocent. They never hurt you.

Jamal: They hurt me by existing.

Gideon: How can you ignore the fact that Mohammed preached passivity while he was at Mecca? "Do no violence."

Jamal: His later message from Medina was perfectly clear. "When violence come upon you, you must fight back with violence."

Gideon: (about the dead DEA agent) What do you say to his family?

Jamal: I say, "Where were you to mourn when my son was murdered?"

Jamal: What kind of name is Gideon?

Gideon: American.

Jamal: I forgot, in your culture you put your country first. And your god last.

Gideon: We receive comfort from our prayers.

Jamal: We?

Gideon: Human beings. (pauses) I say something wrong?

Jamal: You placed us on the same level.

Gideon: Aren't we?

Jamal: Well, here, I am thought of as less than human.

Gideon: And in your jihad, I am.

Jamal: Who is your worst enemy, Agent Gideon?

Gideon: It's not a who, it's a what. Ignorance.

Appearances

 * Season Two
 * Lessons Learned