(CNN) Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Egyptian cleric who inspired terrorist plots in New York during the early 1990s and who died in an American prison on Saturday, was also the spiritual guide of key 9/11 plotters. More specifically, he was the source of a laminated card of Arabic script that is critical to understanding why nearly 3,000 Americans lost their lives on the morning of September 11, 2001. The Arabic on the card reads: "A fatwa [religious ruling] of the captive Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman ... To all Muslims everywhere: Destroy their countries. [The Americans, Jews and Christians]. Tear them to pieces. Destroy their economies, burn their corporations, destroy their businesses, sink their ships and bring down their airplanes. Kill them in the sea, on land and in the air."On Saturday, Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman died in an American prisonPeter Bergen: Rahman was the inspiration behind some of the worst modern terrorist attacks, including 9/11Bergen: His death will almost certainly spark calls from al Qaeda leaders for further anti-American attacks
The torso of one of the victims was split open by terrorists who inserted a leaflet calling for the release of Sheikh _. At the same time, Sheikh _, as he had so often in the past, gave his followers his spiritual sanction for terrorist attacks.