In July 2002 Anwar al-Awlaki, believed to be a senior talent recruiter and motivator for al-Qaeda who had contact with three of the 9/11 hijackers, the Fort Hood shooter, and the Christmas Day bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, spoke at a joint ICNA/MAS convention in Baltimore with Siraj Wahhaj. ICNA says that until 2007, many American Muslims enthusiastically listened to lectures by al-Awlaki. It also says that at that time al-Awlaki was "level headed". After evidence was brought against al-Awlaki in 2010, the ICNA Shariah Council strongly denounced al-Awlaki's views, actions, and connections to terrorism, repudiating his ideology as a "call of hate" and called upon American Muslims to reject al-Awlaki's views.