He converted to Islam while in college shortly after the September 11 attacks , and left Texas to study Arabic in Damascus , where he developed a proficiency in that language . He met his wife Tania , ( also pro-jihadi ) online and married in March 2003 , before leaving for Texas , then Syria , and London where he followed a Jordanian who had proclaimed himself a caliph , known as Abu Issa , before falling out with him and returning to Syria . Returning to Texas he worked at a server company , Rackspace , but was arrested in April 2006 and sentenced to 34 months in prison for accessing the passwords of a Rackspace client , the American Israel Public Affairs Committee , intending to hijack its website . Relocating in Egypt , he conducted online seminars in Arabic and English that did " much to ' prepare ' Westerners " for ISIL 's declaration of a caliphate , and had sufficient prestige that European jihadists came to Egypt to learn from him in person . After the fall of the Islamist Morsi government in 2013 , he and his family moved to northern Syria , where jihadis were fighting the Syrian government . In the harsh wartime conditions , his wife and children became sick and his wife demanded they leave . Al-Bahrumi continued on in Syria but his wife and children left and settled in Texas with Al-Bahrumi 's parents . His wife later divorced him , having renounced jihadism and attends a Unitarian church
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Yahya al-Bahrumi