Al-Muhajiroun ( ar, المهاجرون, "The Emigrants") is a
proscribed
Proscription ( la, proscriptio) is, in current usage, a 'decree of condemnation to death or banishment' (''Oxford English Dictionary'') and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The term originated ...
militant network based in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. The founder of the group was
Omar Bakri Muhammad
Omar Bakri Muhammad ( ar, عمر بکری محمد; born Omar Bakri Fostock; 1958) is a Syrian Islamist militant leader born in Aleppo. He was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and heading t ...
, a Syrian who previously belonged to ''
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabicحزب التحرير (Translation: Party of Liberation) is an international, political organization which describes its ideology as Islam, and its aim the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) to resume Isl ...
''; he was not permitted to re-enter Britain after 2005. According to ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', the organisation has been linked to international
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
,
homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
, and
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
. The group became notorious for its September 2002 conference "
The Magnificent 19", praising the
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
. The network mutates periodically so as to evade the law; it operates under many different aliases.
The group in its original incarnation operated openly in the United Kingdom from 14 January 1986 until the
British Government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
announced an intention ban in August 2005. The group preemptively "disbanded" itself in 2005 to avoid this; two aliases used by the group were proscribed by the British Home Secretary under the
Terrorism Act 2006
The Terrorism Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that received royal assent on 30 March 2006, after being introduced on 12 October 2005. The Act creates new offences related to terrorism, and amends existing ones. Th ...
: ''Al Ghurabaa'' and ''The Saviour Sect''. Further proscriptions followed with the
Terrorism Act 2000
The Terrorism Act 2000 (c.11) is the first of a number of general Terrorism Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It superseded and repealed the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 and the Northern Ireland (Emer ...
where ''Islam4UK'' was proscribed as an ''Al-Muhajiroun'' alias
and ''Muslims Against Crusades'' followed in 2011. More recent aliases have included ''Need4Khilafah'' and the ''Shariah Project'', proscribed in 2014, just before prominent members, including
Anjem Choudary were sent to prison (they have subsequently been released).
The organisation and its activities have been condemned by larger British Muslim groups such as the
Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is a national umbrella body with over 500 mosques and educational and charitable associations affiliated to it. It includes national, regional, local, and specialist Muslim organisations and institutions from ...
and similar groups which represent the majority of
Islam in the United Kingdom
Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom, with results from the 2011 Census giving the total population as 2,786,635, or 4.4% of the total UK population,[Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabicحزب التحرير (Translation: Party of Liberation) is an international, political organization which describes its ideology as Islam, and its aim the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) to resume Isl ...]
'', whose
British-based branch does not advocate violence against the United Kingdom and thus has not been proscribed.
Individual members of ''Al-Muhajiroun'' have been implicated in a number of terrorist attacks, including the
murder of Lee Rigby
On the afternoon of 22 May 2013, a British Army soldier, Fusilier#United Kingdom, Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was attacked and killed by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woo ...
(Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale), the
2017 London Bridge attack
On 3 June 2017, a terrorist vehicle-ramming and stabbing took place in London, England. A van was deliberately driven into pedestrians on London Bridge, and then crashed on Borough High Street, just south of the River Thames. The van's three occ ...
(Khuram Butt), and the
2019 London Bridge stabbing (Usman Khan). Some members, such as
Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui (Arabic: زكريا موسوي, '; born May 30, 1968) is a French member of al-Qaeda who pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to conspiring to kill citizens of the United States as part of the September 11 attacks. He is serv ...
, have been implicated in controversies surrounding ''
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
''.
It has also operated a
Lahore safe house for visiting radicals.
Another member,
Siddhartha Dhar, became an executioner for the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
(ISIL).
Names
Since they were forced to disband in 2004–2005, ''Al-Muhajiroun'' network has adopted a variety of different names to try and work around British law; each time their aliases have been subsequently proscribed under the various
Terrorism Acts From 2000 to 2015, the British Parliament passed a series of Terrorism Acts that were aimed at terrorism in general, rather than specifically focused on Prevention of Terrorism Act (Northern Ireland), terrorism related to Northern Ireland. The timin ...
. Typically, the sitting Home Secretary at the time names the specific organisation as proscribed; for example in 2010, Labour Home Secretary
Alan Johnston
Alan Graham Johnston (born 17 May 1962) is a British journalist working for the BBC. He has been the BBC's correspondent in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip and Italy. He is based in London.
Johnston was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip on 1 ...
named ''Islam4UK'' in relation to the
Wootton Bassett
Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major ...
affair.
[bbc.co.uk: "Islam4UK Islamist group banned under terror laws"]
BBC, 12 January 2010 The organisation has used the following names; ''Al Ghurabaa'' (2004–2006), ''The Saved Sect'' (2005–2006), ''Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah'' (2005–2009),
''Islam4UK'' (2009–2010), ''Muslims Against Crusades'' (2010–2011) and since then ''Need4Khilafah'', the ''Shariah Project'' and the ''Islamic Dawah Association''.
[bbc.co.uk: "Ministers ban suspected aliases of banned extremist group"]
BBC, 26 June 2014
History
Origins in ''Hizb ut-Tahrir'': 1983–1996
The network originated in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, as a result of the life and works of
Omar Bakri Muhammad
Omar Bakri Muhammad ( ar, عمر بکری محمد; born Omar Bakri Fostock; 1958) is a Syrian Islamist militant leader born in Aleppo. He was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and heading t ...
.
[Police raid Islamic group]
BBC News , 30 July 2003 , accessed 2 March 2016 Born in
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize =
, map_caption =
, image_map1 =
...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
to a wealthy Sunni family, during his youth the state was taken over by the
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي – قطر سوريا ''Ḥizb al-Ba'th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī – Quṭr Sūriyā''), officially the Syrian Regional Branch (Syria bei ...
; an organisation which promoted
Arab socialism
Arab socialism ( ar, الإشتِراكيّة العربية, Al-Ishtirākīya Al-‘Arabīya) is a political ideology based on the combination of pan-Arabism and socialism. Arab socialism is distinct from the much broader tradition of socialist ...
and
Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language an ...
, rather than an Islamic outlook for the country. Although nominally secular, many of the ruling Ba'athists were drawn from the
Alawite
The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isl ...
(Shia) minority; including
Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1 ...
, who became President of Syria in 1971; despite Syria being a majority Sunni country. Some of the religiously inclined Syrian Sunnis, including Omar Bakri, joined the
Muslim Brotherhood of Syria
The Muslim Brotherhood of Syria ( ar, الإخوان المسلمون في سوريا, translit=al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn fī Sūrīya) is a Syrian branch of the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood organization. Its objective is the transformatio ...
(up to 40,000 Muslim Brothers died in the
1982 Hama massacre, though Omar Bakri himself did not take part in the rising).
Omar Bakri lived for sometime in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
and then
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
. He continued to join a number of Islamist organisations while studying, including joining the ''
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabicحزب التحرير (Translation: Party of Liberation) is an international, political organization which describes its ideology as Islam, and its aim the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) to resume Isl ...
'' while in Beirut (the founder of the organisation,
Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, had died in Lebanon in 1977). Omar Bakri moved to
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
to study at the
Umm al-Qura University
Umm Al-Qura University (UQU; ar, جامعة أم القرى ) is a public university in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The university was established as the College of Sharia (Islamic Law) in 1949 before being joined by new colleges and renamed as Umm Al- ...
in
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
and the
Islamic University of Madinah
The Islamic University of Madinah ( ar, الجامعة الإسلامية بالمدينة المنورة) was founded by the government of Saudi Arabia by a royal decree in 1961 in the Islamic holy city of Medina. Many have associated the uni ...
. In the Kingdom, ''Hizb ut-Tahrir'' was a banned organisation. According to Omar Bakri's account of events, the nearest branch based in
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
would not allow him to create a branch in Saudi Arabia and suspended him from the organisation, despite the fact that, by 1983, he had gathered some 38 followers who endorsed creating a Saudi Arabia-based branch.
[
] Subsequently, at
Jeddah
Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
, he created his own group called ''Al-Muhajiroun'' on 3 March 1983, "the 59th anniversary of the destruction of the
Ottoman Caliphate
The Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire ( ota, خلافت مقامى, hilâfet makamı, office of the caliphate) was the claim of the heads of the Turkish Ottoman dynasty to be the caliphs of Islam in the late medieval and the early modern era. D ...
." Sadek Hamid, a scholar of Islamic politics, has claimed that this was just a front for ''Hizb ut-Tahrir''. While living in Saudi Arabia he worked for ''Eastern Electric'' owned by Shamsan and Abdul-Aziz as-Suhaybi in
Riyadh
Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the R ...
, and then Bakri moved to its Jeddah branch. ''Al-Mahajiroun'' was banned in Saudi Arabia in January 1986 and Omar Bakhri was subsequently arrested in Jeddah, but fled to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
while released on bail. After spending some time in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
to study, he returned to Britain where he became head of ''
Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain''.
[''Hizb ut-Tahreer'', Dr. Abdur Rahman Dimishqia, (Istanbul: Maktabah ul-Ghurabaa', 1417 AH/1997 CE)][
]
''Al-Muhajiroun'' in Britain: 1996–2004
Bakri's involvement in ''Hizb ut-Tahrir'' ended on 16 January 1996 when he was dismissed by the group's global leadership; following this he reinstated ''Al-Muhajiroun'' in early 1996. In the eyes of the Middle Eastern leadership of ''Hizb ut-Tahrir'', Omar Bakri had become a liability to their organisation due to various extravagant statements he had made; justifying the assassination of Prime Minister John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
, stating that Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
would convert to Islam and telling Bosniaks
The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry ...
to reject American food aid during the Yugoslav Wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...
and to "eat Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
" instead. Omar Bakri Muhammad and his group was the subject of a ''Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
'' documentary entitled the ''Tottenham Ayatollah'' in 1997, in which Jon Ronson
Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been desc ...
, an investigative journalist
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
of Jewish-background followed Omar Bakri and ''Al-Muhajiroun'' around for a year. A young Anjem Choudary also featured as the group's Deputy. The documentary mentions mainstream Muslim groups (who felt that their activities were leading to a demonisation of all Muslims), Conservative MP Rupert Allason
Rupert William Simon Allason (born 8 November 1951) is a British former Conservative Party politician and professional author. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Torbay in Devon, from 1987 to 1997. He writes books and articles on the subj ...
, the Board of Deputies of British Jews
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after only the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established ...
and even Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
, President of Egypt criticising the group. The sitting Foreign Secretary in the Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
government; Malcolm Rifkind
Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British politician who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1986 to 1997, and most recently as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from ...
; responded to international concerns by saying as ''Al-Muhajiroun'' had not broken any specific laws they could not be prosecuted. Omar Bakri openly discussed living on Jobseeker's Allowance and the group publicly protested in favour of the Sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
, against homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
and other aspects in contemporary British society that it considered to be immoral. The group claimed that they were collecting donations for groups in conflict with the State of Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, such as Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
, Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
and Egyptian Islamic Jihad
The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...
, but none of these groups have ever confirmed connections or if any money came to them. Yotam Feldner of the ''Middle East Media Research Institute
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI; officially the "Middle East Media and Research Institute") is a nonprofit press monitoring and analysis organization co-founded by former Israeli military intelligence officer Yigal Carmon and ...
'', a pro-Israeli group, cites reports from Egyptian newspaper ''Al-Ahram Weekly
''Al-Ahram Weekly'' is an English-language weekly broadsheet printed by the Al-Ahram Publishing House in Cairo, Egypt.
History and profile
''Al Ahram Weekly'' was established in 1991 by the ''Al-Ahram'' newspaper, which also runs a French-langu ...
'' in November 1998, whereby Omar Bakri is alleged to have presented himself as a spokesman for Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
's "International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders."
During the 1990s, a number of radical Islamists who were wanted by the authorities in a number of Middle Eastern countries sought refuge in the United Kingdom, particularly London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, leading some such as the French intelligence services to ridicule the situation as "Londonistan
"Londonistan" is an Islamophobic sobriquet referring to the British capital of London and the growing Muslim population of late-20th- and early-21st-century London.
The word is a portmanteau of the UK's capital and the Persian suffix -stan, m ...
". Particularly close to ''Al-Muhajiroun'' was the Egyptian Abu Hamza al-Masri
Mustafa Kamel Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى كامل مصطفى; born 15 April 1958), also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri (; , – literally, father of Hamza, the Egyptian), or simply Abu Hamza, is an Egyptian cleric who was the imam of Finsbury Park ...
, who was the imam of Finsbury Park Mosque
The Finsbury Park Mosque, also known as the North London Central Mosque, is a five-storey mosque located next to Finsbury Park station close to Arsenal Football Club's Emirates Stadium, in the London Borough of Islington. Finsbury Park Mosqu ...
from 1997 until 2003 (since that time the mosque has been reopened under new authorities who are not affiliated to these tendencies). Abu Hamza had previously been an adviser to the Algerian Armed Islamic Group and had his own group called "Supporters of Shariah" which held joint protests with ''Al-Muhajiroun''. Abu Qatada; who was associated with the Jordanian group ''Jaysh Mohammad'' and would later write sympathetically about the activities of Osama bin Laden; spoke at a ''Al-Muhajiroun'' meeting in November 1999 to raise funds for ''mujahideen
''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...
'' fighters in Chechnya
Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
(as part of the Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War (russian: Втора́я чече́нская война́, ) took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russia, Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from Augus ...
). Contacts were also maintained between Omar Bakri's group and other London exiles who spoke at ''Al-Muhajiroun'' gatherings; Yassir al-Sirri Yasser Tawfiq Ali El-Sirri (ياسر توفيق علي السري) ( kunya ''Abu Ammar'') is an Egyptian militant connected to the Vanguards of Conquest and al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya, sentenced to death in the 1998 Returnees from Albania trial. Brachm ...
of Vanguards of Conquest The Vanguards of Conquest (''Talaa'al al-Fateh'') is a terrorist organization that was originally founded in 1993 as a branch of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad operating in Somalia but became a separate faction that eventually folded back into the grou ...
and Mohammad al-Massari
Mohammad al-Mass'ari ( ar, محمد المسعري) is an exiled Saudi physicist and political dissident who gained asylum in the United Kingdom in 1994. He runs the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR) and is an adviser to the ...
of ''Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabicحزب التحرير (Translation: Party of Liberation) is an international, political organization which describes its ideology as Islam, and its aim the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) to resume Isl ...
''. In the first two years of its new existence, the group did not advocate violence against the United Kingdom; Omar Bakri claimed in London-newspaper ''Asharq Al-Awsat
''Asharq Al-Awsat'' ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, Aš-Šarq al-ʾAwsaṭ, meaning "The Middle East") is an Arabic international newspaper headquartered in London. A pioneer of the "off-shore" model in the Arabic press, the paper is often noted f ...
'', this was because he had a "covenant of peace" with the British government when they granted him asylum (though while still part of ''Hizb ut-Tahrir'', Omar Bakri had earlier made comments in 1991 about a potential assassination of Prime Minister John Major, during the Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
). In the early days of New Labour
New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...
, Home Secretary Jack Straw
John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...
even appointed ''Al-Muhajiroun'' activist Makbool Javaid (brother-in-law of future Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...
) to a newly formed Race Relations Forum.
This situation changed in September 1998, as seven members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, including Hani al-Sibai
Hani Mohammed Yusuf al-Siba'i (هاني محمد يوسف السباعي) (born 1 March 1961 in Qaylubiyah, Egypt) is an Egyptian Islamic scholar who was a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and now lives in London as a political refugee. Efforts ...
, Sayyed Ajami
Sayyed Ajami (سيد عجمي) was arrested in September 1998 in the United Kingdom, and accused of membership in al-Jihad.Canadian Security Intelligence ServiceSummary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Mahmoud Jaballah 22 February ...
and Sayyed Ahmed Abdel-Maqssuod, were arrested by the Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
's Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
as part of ''Operation Challenge'' for alleged violations of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1989
The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 was one of the Prevention of Terrorism Acts of the United Kingdom related to The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Powers contained in the Acts
The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provi ...
. This was in the aftermath of the 1998 United States embassy bombings
The 1998 United States embassy bombings were attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998. More than 200 people were killed in nearly simultaneous truck bomb explosions in two East African cities, one at the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam, ...
in Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
and Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
, a joint operation by Egyptian Islamic Jihad and ''Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
'' (the two would merge in 2001), killing 224 people. The "Londonistan" situation, as it was known, had long being criticised by some of the leading Arab world governments such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
and others, who regarded the groups as a threat to their national security
National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...
also. After the arrests, Omar Bakri described Britain in ''Al-Ahram Weekly'' as "the spearhead of blasphemy that seeks to overthrow Muslims and the Islamic caliphate" and claimed that the seven men had been "lulled and betrayed into believing they could seek sanctuary in Britain from their corrupt regimes", claiming that Britain was motivated by a desire for "future economic favours" from the likes of Saudi Arabia. Six months after the arrests, ''Al-Muhajiroun'' and others staged a demonstration in front of 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...
to protest the continued incarceration of the seven men and they, including al-Sibai were eventually released. Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
, who was the Labour Party's Prime Minister at the time of the arrests, two decades later in 2017 accused al-Sibai of having radicalised members of the so-called "Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
" group of ISIS militants, including "Jihadi John" (Mohammed Emwazi) and El Shafee Elsheikh.
In 1998, the so-called "Aden Ten" (including eight British citizens) were arrested, while plotting attacks in Yemen. Omar Bakri boasted of connections, but the men were more directly inspired by Abu Hamza and his idea of Yemen as a starting point for an "Islamic Revolution." Two years later in 2000, the first British-born suicide bomber Mohammed Bilal Ahmed of Birmingham, blew himself up at an Indian Army barracks in Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir, killing nine people. Omar Bakri described Ahmed as a student of his. Domestically, on university campuses, Britain's National Union of Students (United Kingdom), National Union of Students banned ''Al-Muhajiroun'' in March 2001 after complaints were made about literature promoted by the group (particularly pertaining to Jews) and the advertisement of militant camps; Manchester University and the University of Birmingham were flashpoints for this. On an international level, closer attention was placed on Islamist groups following the September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
carried out by ''Al-Qaeda'' against the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan which followed to overthrow the Taliban-government which was hosting ''Al-Qaeda'' (the United Kingdom under Blair's leadership joined as part of the ISAF). In the immediate aftermath of the start of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present), War in Afghanistan, ''Al-Muhajiroun'' spokesman Abdul Rahman Saleem (born Rahman Yahyaei) made statements proclaiming that terrorist attacks against government targets in Britain and even killing the Prime Minister would be legitimate acts.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, ''Al-Muhajiroun'' mostly focused on what they claimed was the injustice of the subsequent invasion of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and often held meetings where the flag of the Taliban; a white flag with the ''shahada'' in black; was displayed. According to a report ''Hope not Hate'', a self-described anti-fascist group closely linked to the British Labour Party, Omar Bakri bragged of connections between ''Al-Muhajiroun'' and the so-called "Tipton Three" (Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal (Guantanamo detainee), Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul), who were arrested in Afghanistan fighting for the Taliban and held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Richard Reid the so-called "Shoe Bomber" during the failed 2001 shoe bomb attempt was radicalised at the AM-linked Finsbury Park Mosque. Aftab Manzoor, Afzal Munir and Mohamed Omar who died in Afghanistan fighting for the Taliban and the Pakistan-based ''Harkat-ul-Mujahideen'' had AM-connections. Indeed, ''Al-Muhajiroun'' maintained a safehouse in Lahore for visiting radicals fighting for the Taliban. The most explicit connection between AM and the 9/11 attacks itself was Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui (Arabic: زكريا موسوي, '; born May 30, 1968) is a French member of al-Qaeda who pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to conspiring to kill citizens of the United States as part of the September 11 attacks. He is serv ...
who was radicalised by the group in Brixton during the 1990s; Moussaoui pled guilty to conspiring to carry out the attacks, but was in prison in Minnesota at the time that they were carried out (he was subsequently incarcerated at ADX Florence). On 11 September 2002, Abu Hamza along with ''Al-Muhajiroun'' held a conference which came to be known as the ''"Magnificent 19"'' meeting (a term referring to the hijackers). Promoted as the launching of the "Islamic Council of Britain" (a name chosen deliberately to cause public confusion with the mainstream Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is a national umbrella body with over 500 mosques and educational and charitable associations affiliated to it. It includes national, regional, local, and specialist Muslim organisations and institutions from ...
), supposedly to advocate for sharia law, the conference at Finsbury Park Mosque was entitled ''"September the 11th 2001: A Towering Day in History"'' and posters, showing an image of planes crashing into the World Trade Center (1973–2001), World Trade Center were put up in Stepney, Blackburn and Birmingham. Omar Bakri said that attendees "look at September 11 like a battle, as a great achievement by the ''mujahideen
''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...
'' against the evil superpower. I never praised September 11 after it happened but now I can see why they did it" and described Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
and ''Al-Qaeda'' as "sincere [and] devoted people who stood firm against the invasion of a Muslim country." Anjem Choudary, Omar Bakri's deputy and a spokesman for ''Al-Muhajiroun'' also attended.[
]
"Disbandment", early aliases: 2004–2009
In early 2002, the Metropolitan Police made a number of arrests in regards to the Wood Green ricin plot, an alleged Islamist bioterrorism plot using the poison ricin (derived from seeds of the castor oil plant) by immigrants of Algerian-origin against the London Underground. Later the same month, during a raid on a flat in Crumpsall, north Manchester, DC Murder of Stephen Oake, Stephen Oake was murdered with a kitchen knife by Kamel Bourgass, an illegal immigrant from Algeria. Bourgass also stabbed three other members of Greater Manchester Police. He was wanted in connection to the Wood Green ricin plot, but was not immediately recognised. Bourgass had attended meetings of ''Al-Muhajiroun'' leading up to the incident and in the aftermath, six days later Finsbury Park Mosque was raided. The nature of the plot itself was controversial, no purified ricin was found, though notes and castor oil seeds were and most of the people arrested were eventually released. The only person ultimately convicted in court in 2005 in relation to the ricin plot was Bourgass, this was largely due to having notes in his possession on how to make ricin, cyanide and botulinum. Nevertheless, Colin Powell in his United Nations Security Council and the Iraq War, February 2003 presentation to the United Nations, arguing for commissioning the Iraq War based on alleged connections between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations, Saddam Hussein and ''al-Qaeda'', made reference to a "UK Poison Cell" as part of an international network.
Two brothers from Manchester, Adeel Shahid and Sajeel Shahid opened a branch of ''Al-Muhajiroun'' in Pakistan and ran a "safehouse" in Lahore for Islamists from the West (including the United Kingdom) to back the Taliban and ''Al-Qaeda'' against ISAF forces in neighbouring Afghanistan. One of the more notable individuals whom Omar Bakri and Sajeel Shahid enabled to travel to Pakistan was Mohammed Junaid Babar, who intended to go to Peshawar, but ended up in Lahore. While in Pakistan, Mohammed Junaid Babar came into contact with Mohammad Sidique Khan who would later plan the 7 July 2005 London bombings. These activities of the organisation in Pakistan were controversial to the government there, due to Islamists hostility to sitting President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. A speaker at one of the same meetings as Sajeel Shahid was former Major-General Zahirul Islam Abbasi, who had previously been involved in a coup against the government of Pakistan. Back in Britain, things came to a head for ''Al-Muhajiroun'' in March 2004, with the launching of ''Operation Crevice'' by the Metropolitan Police. A number of the men arrested and later convicted (Omar Khyam, Salahuddin Amin, Jawad Akbar, Anthony Garcia and Waheed Mahmood) had associations with ''Al-Muhajiroun''; 1300 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertiliser was also recovered and the men, mostly of Pakistani-origin, were accused of planning bombing attacks on shopping centres, night clubs and gas works in Britain. Mohammed Junaid Babar testified as a witness against his former associates.
Al Muhajiroun disbanded on 13 October 2004[telegraph.co.uk: "Muslims in police will rise up, Bakri insists"]
21 January 2007 to avoid proscription. However, it was believed that The Saviour Sect was to all intents and purposes Al Muhajiroun operating under a new name. Shortly after the 7 July 2005 London bombings Tony Blair announced the group would be banned as part of a series of measures against condoning or glorifying terrorism.[ Just days after the 7 July 2005 London bombings the Oxford-based Malaysian jurist, Afifi al-Akiti, Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti, issued his landmark fatwa against suicide bombing and targeting innocent civilians, title]
''Defending the Transgressed, by Censuring the Reckless against the Killing of Civilians''
which was written in response to this controversial "Magnificent 19" statement made by Al-Muhajiroun.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke banned Omar Bakri Muhammad
Omar Bakri Muhammad ( ar, عمر بکری محمد; born Omar Bakri Fostock; 1958) is a Syrian Islamist militant leader born in Aleppo. He was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and heading t ...
from the United Kingdom on 12 August 2005 on the grounds that his presence was "not conducive to the public good."[Islamists Down Under]
Assyrian International News Agency, 2006-04-24
Times Online Two other offshoot organisations, The Saviour Sect and Al Ghurabaa had previously been banned for the 'glorification' of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2006
The Terrorism Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that received royal assent on 30 March 2006, after being introduced on 12 October 2005. The Act creates new offences related to terrorism, and amends existing ones. Th ...
.
Islam4UK and Wootton Bassett: 2009–2010
The group was then relaunched in 2009 under the alias "Islam4UK", described itself as having "been established by sincere Muslims as a platform to propagate the supreme Islamic ideology within the United Kingdom as a divine alternative to man-made law" to "convince the British public about the superiority of Islam, thereby changing public opinion in favour of Islam in order to transfer the authority and power to the Muslims in order to implement the Sharia (in Britain)". It was led by Anjem Choudary.
A demonstration it made against returning British soldiers in Luton gained media attention and led to the formation of the English Defence League (EDL).
On 16 October 2009, members of the organisation protested against the visit to Britain by Dutch MP Geert Wilders. They carried banners with slogans such as "Shariah is the solution, freedom go to hell" and "Geert Wilders deserves Islamic punishment".
In January 2010 the group gained widespread media attention by announcing plans to hold a protest march through Wootton Bassett
Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major ...
; an English town where unofficial public mourning takes place for corteges of armed forces personnel killed on active service, as they make their way from RAF Lyneham to Oxford. Reports that the group planned to carry empty coffins to "represent the thousands of Muslims who have died" were denied by the group, although the empty coffins had been proposed by Choudary himself. Choudary said that the event would be peaceful, and that it was not timed to coincide with any mourning processions. The announcement was condemned by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who said that plans for the march were "disgusting" and that "to offend the families of dead or wounded troops would be completely inappropriate". The Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, indicated he would agree to any request from the Wiltshire Police or Local government in England, local government to ban the march under Section 13 of the Public Order Act 1986. Choudary said he chose Wootton Bassett to attract maximum attention and, he asserted, 500 members of Islam4UK would carry 'symbolic coffins' in memory of the Muslim civilians 'murdered by merciless' coalition forces.
The Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is a national umbrella body with over 500 mosques and educational and charitable associations affiliated to it. It includes national, regional, local, and specialist Muslim organisations and institutions from ...
stated that it "condemns the call by...Islam4UK for their proposed march in Wootton Bassett", and continues, "Like other Britons, Muslims are not opposed to Britain’s Armed Forces." The Wiltshire Islamic Cultural Centre stated "We, along with all other Muslim community groups in Wiltshire and the surrounding area, including Bath Islamic Society and Swindon Thamesdown Islamic Association, unreservedly condemn this march," adding, "Therefore we are putting the record straight and letting the media and general public know that the vast majority of Muslims have nothing to do with this group", and asking that Wiltshire Police ban the march. They stated that they, along with Call to Islam Centre and Masjid Al-Ghurabah, would counter-demonstrate against "Islam4UK/Al-Muhajiroon". On 10 January 2010 Islam4UK said it was cancelling its planned march in Wootton Bassett; however, the police had not actually received a request for permission for the march.
Islam4UK was listed as an alias of Al Ghurabaa and The Saved Sect, already Terrorism Act 2000#Proscribed groups, proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2004, by an order on 14 January 2010. In announcing the proscription, the then British Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: "It is already proscribed under two other names – Al Ghurabaa and The Saved Sect".[The Proscribed Organisations (Name Changes) Order 2010]
Opsi.gov.uk (15 July 2010). Retrieved on 2011-04-24.
In the January 2010 order and a November 2011 order, the names Al Muhajiroun, Call to Submission, Islamic Path, London School of Sharia and Muslims Against Crusades were also listed as aliases. In June 2014, Need4Khilafah, the Shariah Project and the Islamic Dawah Association were added to the list. Note that the order is not needed to establish an alias as identical to another name of a proscribed organization, it is enough that the two are to all intents and purposes the same, and that the individual prosecuted has performed a proscribed act.
Islam4UK issued a statement saying, "Today's ban is another nail in the coffin of capitalism and another sign of the revival of Islam and Muslims." They restated their goal: "Therefore, we will one day liberate our land from occupation and implement the Shariah not just in Muslim countries but also right here in Great Britain. This is something that we believe in, live by and hope that in our lifetime we will witness". In a further statement, issued on the same day via their website, they stated that "Islam4UK has been contacted by authorities to (force) shut down its operations, we stress this domain name will no longer be used by us, but the struggle for Khilafah (aka "the Caliphate") will continue regardless of what the disbelievers plot against the Muslims. It is the duty of all Muslims to rise up and call for the Khilafah wherever they may be". The ban has led some ("the left", according to Sunny Hundal writing in ''The Guardian'') to criticise it as a "blow to free expression", which will "serve to undermine the government’s effort to prevent violent extremism". Deborah Orr has commented in ''The Guardian'' that the ban "erodes democratic rights with the intention of defending them".
Muslims Against Crusades: 2010–2011
The network re-emerged as ''Muslims Against Crusades'' (abbreviated ''MAC''), notionally under Abu Assadullah in 2010, featuring members of Islam4UK after their banning such as boxer Anthony Small and Anjem Choudary. Muslims Against Crusades maintained that Muslims are not "obliged to obey the law of the land in whatever country they reside". In 2011 the group proposed that Muslims should set up independent emirates in select cities in the UK, operating under sharia (Islamic law) entirely outside British law. The group suggested the towns of Bradford, Dewsbury, and London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets in the East End of London as the possible first test beds for these entities. The group has often clashed with the English Defence League. Home Secretary Theresa May banned the group from midnight on 11 November 2011, making membership or support of the group a criminal offence. The group was denounced by the Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is a national umbrella body with over 500 mosques and educational and charitable associations affiliated to it. It includes national, regional, local, and specialist Muslim organisations and institutions from ...
, who described MAC as "a tiny, and utterly deplorable, extremist group". Many former MAC activists are currently active in Islamist groups known as 'Millatu Ibrahim' and the 'Tawheed Movement.'
MAC engaged in a number of incidents including protests outside the Royal Albert Hall and in Kensington on 11 November 2010, when two large plastic Poppy, poppies were burned during the Remembrance Day silence. A 2010 Remembrance Day ceremony in London was disrupted by members of the organization, who were protesting against British Army actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. They burnt large poppies and chanted "British soldiers burn in hell" during the two-minute silence. Two of the men were arrested and charged for threatening behavior. One was convicted and fined £50. The same group planned to hold another protest in 2011 named ''Hell for Heroes'', declaring that soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve to go to hell. The group was banned by the Home Secretary the day before the planned protest.
Throughout 2010 and 2011 there were various protests against the imprisonment of Muslims, with calls for their release; and calls for a withdrawal of non-Muslim forces from Muslim countries. There was a protest against pastor Terry Jones (pastor), Terry Jones when he Dove World Outreach Center Quran-burning controversy, burnt a Quran (the holy book of Islam) in Florida, US on 20 March 2011.
They applied to the police to stage a demonstration in London to disrupt the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on 29 April 2011, but this was not allowed. They later cancelled their protest due to a "possible danger to life"
On 2 May 2011 Osama Bin Laden, who had led the Islamist al-Qaeda organization responsible for September 11 attacks, violent attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001, Death of Osama bin Laden, was killed in Pakistan by US forces. On 7 May hundreds of UK Muslims and MAC members held a rally and Salat al-Janazah (funeral prayer) for him outside the U.S. Embassy, London, US embassy in London. When protesters tried to storm the embassy there were clashes with police. Anjem Choudary, who organised the protest, warned of an attack similar to the 7 July 2005 London bombings in response to Bin Laden's death.
On 30 July around 50 members of MAC and Waltham Forest Muslims marched for two hours from Leyton tube station to Walthamstow town square calling for democracy to be replaced by sharia law and chanted slogans such as 'democracy—hypocrisy', 'Sharia for UK' and 'Secularism go to hell'. In August, members of Muslims Against Crusades held a demonstration denouncing the Shia denomination and "anti-Islamic" Shia regimes of Syria and Iran. To mark the tenth anniversary of 11 September attacks, around 100 men linked to the group protested outside the US embassy in London, burning US flags and chanting through megaphones. The protest could be heard by mourners in 11 September Memorial Garden nearby, where a minute's silence was being observed to mark the first aeroplane hitting the World Trade Centre in New York City.
On 10 November 2011 British Home Secretary Theresa May banned the group after it planned to repeat the Remembrance poppy, poppy-burning demonstration; membership of Muslims Against Crusades became illegal at midnight. On 2 December 2011 twenty people were arrested on suspicion of being members of a banned group, and two for obstruction and violent disorder at a demonstration outside the US embassy in London; the police did not confirm a report that the protesters were members of MAC. The group was ridiculed on the television program ''Have I Got News For You'', with Ian Hislop saying "aren't they a couple hundred years late, these Muslims Against Crusades?"
Need4Khilafah and recent: 2011–present
In June 2014, the UK government banned three more groups it suspected of being aliases for the extremist organisation al-Muhajiroun:[
* Need4Khilafah
* the Shariah Project
* the Islamic Dawah Association
]
Ideology
Al-Muhajiroun's proclaimed aims are to establish public awareness about Islam, to influence public opinion in favour of the sharia, to convince members of society that Islam is inherently political and a viable ideological alternative, to unite Muslims on a global scale in the threats facing the Ummah and to resume the Islamic way of life by re-establishing the Islamic Caliphate.[ Members have carried out numerous murders and terrorist attacks. Their general worldview; with a heavy focus on a pan-Islamist-orientated worldwide caliphate is derived directly from its parent organisation ''Hizb al-Tahrir'' (founded by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani) as espoused by ]Omar Bakri Muhammad
Omar Bakri Muhammad ( ar, عمر بکری محمد; born Omar Bakri Fostock; 1958) is a Syrian Islamist militant leader born in Aleppo. He was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and heading t ...
. The organisation is commonly described as Islamist and is sometimes classified as Salafist, however, some Salafists (who follow the line of Rabee al-Madkhali and other Salafists mainstream in the Arab Gulf states), consider ''Al-Muhajiroun'' and other modern "jihadist" groups which focus on politically motivated terrorism (particularly indiscriminate attacks against civilians) as modern day Kharajites, whose ideological line derives ultimately from the Muslim Brotherhood and Sayyid Qutb (supposedly influenced by non-Islamic "Leninist" ideas, these individuals, in their view "appropriated" the Salafi name for means of credibility within Islamic circles), rather than Ibn Taymiyyah.
Terrorism
Statements
Aside from declaring the Hijackers in the September 11 attacks, 9/11 hijackers "the Magnificent 19", controversial statements made by al-Muhajiroun include one warning the British government that it was "sitting on a box of dynamite and have only themselves to blame if after attacking the Islamic movements and the Islamic scholars, it all blows up in their face".[
In 2004 BBC Newsnight quoted one Al-Muhajiroun leader, Sajeel Shahid, Abu Ibrahim, as saying,
]When they speak about 11 September, when the two planes magnificently run through those buildings, OK and people turn around and say, 'hang on a second, that is barbaric. Why did you have to do that?' You know why? Because of ignorance. ... For us it's retaliation. Islam is not the starter of wars. If you start the war we won't turn the other cheek. ... According to you it can't be right. According to Islam it's right. When you talk about innocent civilians, do you not kill innocent civilians in Iraq?[
]
Attacks
On 29 April 2003, Asif Hanif and Omar Sharif, who attended some of Al-Muhajiroun's circles, carried out a bombing of a café in Tel Aviv, Israel, that killed three people and injured 60 others.[New poll shows worry over Islamic terror threat, to be detailed in special FNC Report]
Fox News
In 2006, another individual connected with Al-Muhajiroun allegedly detonated a suicide bombing, bomb in India, killing himself and destroying an army barracks.[
In 2007, five young Muslims with Al-Muhajiroun connections – Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood, Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar and Saladhuddin Amin – were convicted of a Operation Crevice, multiple bombing plot to use fertiliser bombs "which police say could have killed hundreds of British people. The men were caught after police and MI5 launched a massive surveillance operation." The surveillance culminated in a raid called Operation Crevice. The targets included "the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London and Britain's domestic gas network." According to Professor Anthony Glees, director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies:]
The fertiliser bomb trial has given us the smoking-gun evidence that groups like al-Muhajiroun have had an important part in radicalising young British Muslims, and that this can create terrorists.
On 22 May 2013, the murder of Lee Rigby
On the afternoon of 22 May 2013, a British Army soldier, Fusilier#United Kingdom, Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was attacked and killed by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woo ...
was carried out by two members of Al-Muhajiroun, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale. From about 2003, Adebolajo was corrupted by Bakri and then by Choudary,[ after Bakri left the country in August 2005.] One former associate said Adebolajo that "locked himself in this room with this bloke for a few hours and when he came out he was a Muslim convert. He was spouting all kinds of stuff and said he had changed his name." Adebolajo insisted to be called during the Rigby trial "Mujahid".
At least one of the perpetrators of the 2017 London Bridge attack
On 3 June 2017, a terrorist vehicle-ramming and stabbing took place in London, England. A van was deliberately driven into pedestrians on London Bridge, and then crashed on Borough High Street, just south of the River Thames. The van's three occ ...
, Khuram Butt, was a member.
The 2019 London Bridge stabbing, carried out on 29 November by Usman Khan (terrorist), Usman Khan, a convicted terrorist, resulted in the death of two civilians and the wounding of three others. Khan was shot dead by police; he was a supporter of Al-Muhajiroun.
2019 weapons depot
In 2019, a storage of weapons linked to al-Muhajiroun was found in Coventry. It included a sniper rifle and tracer rounds.
See also
* UK Islamist demonstration outside Danish Embassy
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
* al-Ashanti, AbdulHaq and as-Salafi, Abu Ameenah AbdurRahman. (2009) ''A Critical Study of the Multiple Identities and Disguises of 'al-Muhajiroun': Exposing the Antics of the Cult Followers of Omar Bakri Muhammad Fustuq''. London: Jamiah Media, 2009
*
* Catherine Zara Raymond (May 2010)
"Al Muhajiroun and Islam4UK: The group behind the ban"
Developments in Radicalisation and Political Violence Papers, The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, King's College London
Further reading
* R. Watson
BBC – Newsnight article
an
BBC – Newsnight documentary
27 June 2017
BBC – 'Police raid Islamic group'
BBC Newsnight's Richard Watson interviews Al-Muhajiroun recruits
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060117075616/http://www.jamestown.org/news_details.php?news_id=38 10 March 2004, Mahan Abedin of Jamestown.org interviews Omar Bakri Mohammed at his London home]
Telegraph – Al Muhajiroun under scrutiny
Telegraph – Militants of Al-Muhajiroun seek world Islamic state
BBC HARDtalk interview, 5 May 2003, Anjem Choudary refuses to condemn suicide attacks.
''The Guardian'', 19 June 2002
Transplanted Jihadi
Gateway to Terror
by Hope not Hate
External links
Official Islam4UK website, archived at webcitation.org
*
Official MAC website
(archived)
{{Use British English, date=October 2014
Islamic organisations based in the United Kingdom
Jihadist groups
Qutbist organisations
Islamic terrorism in the United Kingdom
Organisations designated as terrorist by the United Kingdom
1983 establishments in Saudi Arabia
1996 establishments in the United Kingdom