Word: sherzad
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...became a naturalized U.S. citizen.) Once in New York City, Najibullah proved to be an indifferent student at Flushing High School in Queens, more interested in basketball than in books, and he was a silent watcher at the Hazrat-i-Abubakr Sadiq mosque. His imam in those days, Mohammed Sherzad, remembers Zazi's visits to the white two-story building topped with a blue dome and minaret: "Every Saturday and Sunday, I had a class for the younger generation. Some students would ask me questions, but Najibullah never asked - he was listening...
...When Zazi was 16, bin Laden's army delivered a stunning attack on New York City and Washington. The destruction of the World Trade Center towers drove a wedge into the community of Afghan immigrants in Queens, Sherzad recalls, and the mosque was torn apart over the imam's criticism of the Taliban government that shielded bin Laden in Afghanistan. The Zazi family sided against Sherzad, he recalls, and afterward Zazi refused to meet the imam's gaze when they passed each other on the street. Still, an acquaintance told the New York Times that Zazi was baffled...
...Though gregarious with customers, Zazi grew stern with his friends, chastising them for their interest in popular music and expressing other fundamentalist views. On certain occasions, he replaced his Western clothing with a traditional tunic, and he let his whiskers grow. "Najib is completely different," a neighborhood man told Sherzad a few years ago. "He looks like a Taliban. He has a big beard. He's talking different...
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