Prior to Al-Timimi's prosecution, a group of young Muslim men that prosecutors described as a "Virginia Jihad Network" were convicted on charges related to their travels to a militant training camp in Pakistan called Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group that the United States would later designate as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on December 26, 2001. Al-Timimi was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in that case. According to prosecutors, Al-Timimi told his followers at a private gathering on September 16, 2001 that he believed that the 9/11 attacks had been an omen that foreshadowed a looming end-of-times battle between Muslims and the West, and that "the time had come for them to go abroad and join the mujaheddin engaged in violent jihad in Afghanistan." Another attendee at the gathering, Randall Royer, advised the men that they could receive military training from Lashkar-e-Taiba, and put the men in contact with the group. Several of the attendees went on to travel to Lashkar-e-Taiba and participate in military training exercises, though none ultimately did any fighting.