Thalib has met with Osama bin Laden, but allegedly turned down offers of funding support because of doubts about bin Laden's piety. However, other members of his militia have accepted al-Qaeda support. Thalib, when asked by Jessica Stern whether he promotes Wahhabism in Indonesia, tried to distance himself from Wahhabism, stating that its literature would rely too heavily on weak hadith "that may not be the word of Allah". However, scholars have noted that fatwas issued by Salafi muftis from the Arab Peninsula played a significant role in the formation of Laskar Jihad. It has also been argued that Thalib's efforts to distance himself from al-Qaeda and anything related to it were made in the context of the September 11 terror attacks when the Indonesian government exerted strong pressure on Laskar Jihad not to exploit anti-American sentiment.