The Blind Sheikh, convicted for the plot behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The 2005 opening tied him to “two of Egypt's most dangerous terrorist organizations”, Egyptian Islamic Jihad among them. Jihad today: 0 in the opening, 18 in the body.
Read line by line and written up by hand.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “jihad” appeared 4 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 18.
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The opening as it read in 2005
Omar Abdel Rahman / Umar Abd al-Rahman / the ‘Blind Sheikh’ was a professor at Al-Azhar and taught Dr. Gabriel Ph.D. in freshman Qur'an . He was convicted in 1996 with several others for conspiring to bomb a number of New York City landmarks. He was the center of a terrorist cell in New York during the early 1990s that awoke America to the dangers of Islamic terrorism within their borders. Rahman was born in Egypt in 1938 and lost his eyesight to childhood diabetes at a very young age. He was driven to study a Braille version of the Qur'an as a child and soon developed an interest in the works of Islam purists Ibn Taymiyah and Sayyid Qutb . After graduating in Qur'anic studies from a university in Cairo, Rahman became a prominent and at times outspoken Muslim cleric who denounced Egypt’s secularism. During the 1970s he developed close ties with two of Egypt’s most dangerous terrorist organizations, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya . By the 1980s he had emerged as the leader of Al Gamma’a Islamiya, although he was still revered by followers of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which at the time was being lead by future Al Qaeda principal Ayman al-Zawahiri . Rahman spent three brutal stints in Egyptian jails for endorsing the deaths of General Nasser and President Anwar Sadat , the latter of whom was assassinated by members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in 1982. Rahman made his way to Afghanistan in the mid-1980s where he connected with his former university lecturer Abdullah Azzam , co-founder of Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK) along with Osama bin Laden . It is reported that Rahman built a strong rapport with bin Laden during the Soviet-Afghanistan war and following Azzam’s murder in 1989 assumed control of the international jihadists arm of MAK/Al Qaeda. In July 1990, he was sent to New York City to gain control of MAK’S financial and organisational infrastructure in the United States . Rahman was reportedly issued a visa by CIA agents in Sudan in appreciation for his assistance in defeating the Soviets in Afghanistan, despite being on a US State Department terrorist watch list.1
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Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman ( , ‘Umar ‘Abd ar-Raḥman ; born 3 May 1938), commonly known in the United States as "The Blind Sheikh" , is a blind Egyptian Muslim leader who is currently serving a life sentence at the Butner Medical Center which is part of the Butner Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina , United States .Formerly a resident of New York City , Abdel-Rahman and nine others were convicted of " seditious conspiracy ", which requires only that a crime be planned, not that it necessarily be attempted.His prosecution grew out of investigations of the World Trade Center 1993 bombings .Abdel-Rahman was accused of being the leader of Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (also known as "The Islamic Group"), a militant Islamist movement in Egypt that is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Egyptian governments.The group is responsible for many acts of violence, including the November 1997 Luxor massacre , in which 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians were killed.Abdel-Rahman has declared that the United States "certainly will kill me" in jail.
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Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman ( , ‘Umar ‘Abd ar-Raḥman ; born 3 May 1938), commonly known in the United States as " The Blind Sheikh ", is a blind Egyptian Muslim leader who is currently serving a life sentence at the Butner Medical Center which is part of the Butner Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina , United States . Formerly a resident of New York City , Abdel-Rahman and nine others were convicted of seditious conspiracy , which requires only that a crime be planned, not that it necessarily be attempted. His prosecution grew out of investigations of the World Trade Center 1993 bombings . Abdel-Rahman was accused of being the leader of Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (also known as "The Islamic Group"), a militant Islamist movement in Egypt that is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Egyptian governments. The group is responsible for many acts of violence, including the November 1997 Luxor massacre , in which 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians were killed.
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Leader of Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya For the Emirati footballer, see Omar Abdulrahman .Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman ( , Umar 'Abdu r-Raḥman ; 3 May 1938 – 18 February 2017), commonly known in the United States as " The Blind Sheikh ", was a blind Egyptian Muslim leader who served a life sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Butner in Butner, North Carolina, United States. Formerly a resident of New York City, Abdel-Rahman and nine others were convicted of seditious conspiracy . His prosecution grew out of investigations of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing . Abdel-Rahman was the leader of Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya (also known as "The Islamic Group"), a militant Islamist movement in Egypt that is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Egyptian governments. The group was responsible for many acts of violence, including the November 1997 Luxor massacre , in which 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians were killed.
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The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Egyptian Islamist militant (1938–2017) For the Emirati footballer, see Omar Abdulrahman .Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman ( ), ( ʾUmar ʾAbd ar-Raḥmān ; 3 May 1938 – 18 February 2017), commonly known in the United States as " The Blind Sheikh ", was a blind Egyptian Islamist militant who served a life sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Butner near Butner, North Carolina , United States. Formerly a resident of New York City, Abdel-Rahman and nine others were convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1995. His prosecution grew out of investigations of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing . Abdel-Rahman was the leader of Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya (also known as "The Islamic Group"), a militant Islamist movement in Egypt that is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Egyptian governments. The group was responsible for many acts of violence, including the November 1997 Luxor massacre , in which 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians were killed.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1175770426.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Egyptian Islamist militant (1938–2017) For the Emirati footballer, see Omar Abdulrahman . Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman ( Arabic : عمر عبد الرحمن ), ( ʾUmar ʾAbd ar-Raḥmān ; 3 May 1938 – 18 February 2017), commonly known in the United States as " The Blind Sheikh ", was a blind Egyptian Islamist militant who served a life sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Butner near Butner, North Carolina , United States. Formerly a resident of New York City , Abdel-Rahman and nine others were convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1995. His prosecution grew out of investigations of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing . Abdel-Rahman was the leader of Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya (also known as "The Islamic Group"), a militant Islamist movement in Egypt that is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the Egyptian government. The group was responsible for many acts of violence, including the November 1997 Luxor massacre , in which 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians were killed. The official 9/11 Commission Report mentions his lectures as an inspiration for the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat .
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Egyptian Islamist militant (1938–2017) For other people with similar names, see Omar Abdul Rahman (disambiguation) . Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman ( Arabic : عمر عبد الرحمن ), ( ʾUmar ʾAbd ar-Raḥmān ; 3 May 1938 – 18 February 2017), commonly known in the United States as " The Blind Sheikh ", was a blind Egyptian Islamist and jihadist militant who served a life sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Butner near Butner, North Carolina , United States. Formerly a resident of New York City , Abdel-Rahman and nine others were convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1995. His prosecution grew out of investigations of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing . Abdel-Rahman was the leader of Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya (also known as "The Islamic Group"), a militant Islamist movement in Egypt that is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the Egyptian government. The group was responsible for many acts of violence, including the November 1997 Luxor massacre , in which 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians were killed. The 9/11 Commission Report mentions his lectures as an inspiration for the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat .
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Today
“jihad” appeared 4 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 18. Read the current article and compare.
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jihad
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terror
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massacre
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Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2015.
Then
professor at al-azhar and taught dr
Now
blind egyptian muslim leader who is currently serving a life sentence at the butner medical center which is par
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
