Twin Tower Theories
What date did Larry Silverstein sign his lease for the World Trade Center?
July 24, 2001
What misused Arabic phrase means “God is the greatest”?
Allahu Akbar
What legislation allowed expanded surveillance of Muslims and Islamic institutions in the U.S.?
The PATRIOT Act
Quran 5:8 warns believers not to let what emotion lead to injustice?
Hatred of a people
In what year did the Taliban capture most of Afghanistan?
1996
Why did Silverstein’s insurance coverage include terrorism before 9/11?
Terrorism was automatically included in commercial insurance policies at no extra charge, as the risk was thought very low
What was the purpose of the CAPS (Computer-Assisted Passenger Screening) system, and how was it meant to address profiling?
To assess risk through passenger data automatically, avoiding explicit ethnic or racial profiling
Who, on 9/11 at 2:40 PM, sent a memo urging staff to find evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks?
Donald Rumsfeld
Quran 2:190 allows Muslims to fight only under what condition?
Against those who wage war against them
Which Taliban leader’s death was revealed two years after it occurred, in 2015?
Mullah Mohammed Omar
Compared to the Boeing 707, how much more fuel could the Boeing 767 carry, and why was this important on 9/11?
4,000 liters more (91,000 vs. 87,000), the extra fuel caused massive, uncontrollable fires
What everyday experience most visibly reminded Muslims of being profiled after 9/11?
Extra “random” screenings at airports
How many documented false claims were made about Saddam Hussein posing a threat to the U.S.?
935
In Riyad as-Salihin 220, what unjust act threatens a believer’s faith and Allah’s mercy?
Shedding blood unjustly
In 1996, what resources did Bin Laden provide to the Taliban while they fought the Northern Alliance?
Troops, arms, and money
Conspiracy theorists argue steel can’t melt at 1100°C. What actually happened to the steel under extreme heat, and how did that lead to collapse?
The heat weakened, stretched, and buckled the steel, compromising structural integrity and causing collapse
Why did visible symbols of faith, like the hijab, make discrimination and hate crimes more likely after 9/11?
They made Muslims easily identifiable, reinforcing stereotypes and targeting
The invasion of Iraq displaced how many civilians and killed at least how many civilians?
9 million displaced; at least 300,000 killed
Both Quran 5:8 and 2:190 emphasize what shared principle in conflict?
Justice and restraint
What arrangement did the Taliban grant Bin Laden in exchange for his support?
Safe haven and a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan
Why did conspiracy theorists expect the top of the towers to “bend off to the side,” and why didn’t that happen?
They believed heat would only weaken the weakest points; in reality, structural failures occurred across multiple levels, making symmetrical collapse possible
Fourteen years after 9/11, which incident showed that Islamophobic misconceptions persisted in U.S. society, and where did it happen?
The 2015 Chapel Hill, NC killings of three young Muslims
Which al-Qaeda figure’s coerced testimony under torture in Egypt was later used to falsely link Iraq with terrorism?
Ibn al-Shaikh al-Libi
Taken together, how do these Quran and Hadith sources contradict extremist justifications for terrorism?
They prohibit unjust killing, limit violence to self-defense, and demand fairness, directly rejecting indiscriminate attacks
After 9/11, what did 1,000 Islamic scholars advise the Taliban regarding Bin Laden, and why was this significant?
They advised he leave Afghanistan voluntarily, showing Taliban uncertainty but refusal to surrender him outright