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Expert: Orlando Gunman Fits Profile Of Unstable ISIS Sympathizer

CHICAGO (CBS) -- An expert in Islamic studies says the gunman in the Orlando nightclub massacre fits the profile of an ISIS-supporting terrorist.

Fatima Rahman, an assistant professor of politics and chair of the Islamic World Studies program at Lake Forest College, said Islamic State supporters who carry out terrorist attacks usually have a violent past, are unstable, and tend to be non-religious.

"ISIS affiliated individuals, they claim to be doing all of this in the name of religion, but that's actually quite far from the truth," she said. "They really have no understanding or awareness of their religion. They typically did not go to any kind of a Sunday school, didn't have much of a religious education at home."

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Rahman said that's why terrorists like Omar Mateen find the ISIS ideology so attractive; they don't know their own religion, and how it does not condone that kind of violence.

She also pointed to Omar Mateen's ex-wife saying he was unstable and had beaten her while they were married as two characteristics ISIS recruits and supporters share.

According to Rahman, Mateen is an example of an apparent "lone wolf" who does not work in connection with a network to carry out a terrorist attack. By definition, she said, lone wolf attacks are difficult to predict or prevent, because the terrorists are working on their own, and "under the radar."

Rahman said an "unfortunate repercussion" of incidents like the one in Orlando is that they are usually followed by an increase in hate crimes against Muslims.

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