[Guest post by DRJ]

Houston’s ABC affiliate KTRK is investigating Northwest Flight #253 bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s time in Houston:

Abdulmutallab may have signed up and paid for Islamic education classes in Houston during the summer of 2008. It’s not clear if he attended any classes.

The classes were provided by the Al Maghrib Institute, “a non-profit organization aimed at teaching an in-depth study of the Islamic religion” that operates throughout the United States and Canada.

The Al Maghrib Institute notifies the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Transportation Security Administration of any foreign students such as Abdulmutallab.

The Al Maghrib Institute has scheduled a Wednesday morning press conference. Presumably whether Abdulmutallab attended the Houston course will be answered then.

There isn’t much information on Abdulmutallab’s time in Houston yet, but hopefully the media will keep investigating.

— DRJ

UPDATE 12/30/2009: The Al Maghrib Institute confirmed today that Abdulmutallab attended a 2-week summit with 150 other students in August 2008. Apparently Abdulmutallab did not attend the local mosque while he was in Houston:

“Abdur Rahman T. Adesokan, the imam of Masjid-ul-Mumineen, the main Nigerian Muslim association in Houston, said he had not spoken to any members of the Nigerian Muslim community who had met Abdulmutallab. He also said he didn’t believe that Abdulmutallab visited the community’s mosque here.

“We are not happy with this, none of our community is happy with what happened or that he’s Nigerian,” Adesokan said. “It is bad, bad, bad.”

We need more Muslims talking like this.