Al-Muhajiroun
Encyclopedia
Al-Muhajiroun is a banned Islamist organisation that was based in Britain
and which has been linked to international terrorism, homophobia and anti-semitism. The group was proscribed under the UK
Terrorism Act 2000
on 14 January 2010 together with four other organisations including Islam4UK.
The Group operated in the United Kingdom
from 14 January 1986 until the British Government announced an intended ban in August 2005. The group was then relaunched in June 2009. Two other offshoot organisations, The Saviour Sect and Al-Ghurabaa had previously been banned for the 'glorification' of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2006
.
It was also alleged to have run a Lahore safe house for visiting British Muslims.
Omar Bakri Muhammad
and Anjem Choudary
are known to have led Al-Muhajiroun. The group became notorious for its conference "The Magnificent 19", praising the September 11, 2001 attacks
. The former Home Secretary
Charles Clarke
banned Bakri from the United Kingdom
on 12 August 2005 because it was alleged that his presence was "not conducive to the public good." The group has previously clashed with members of the English Defence League
.
, to influence public opinion in favor 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
.
, Saudi Arabia
on 3 March 1983 following "the 59th anniversary of the destruction of the Ottoman Caliphate
," in Jeddah
, Saudi Arabia. According to Bakri, the Hizb ut-Tahrir
leadership did not accept the group. As such, Bakri established Al-Muhajiroun independently from Hizb ut-Tahrir
.
Bakri claims that he studied at the universities of Umm ul-Qura' in Makkah and The Islamic University of Madeenah
. Bakri also studied with, and was assessed by, Dr. Abdur Rahman Dimishqia. Whilst living in Saudi Arabia he worked for Eastern Electric owned by Shamsan and Abdul-Aziz as-Suhaybi in Riyadh, and then Bakri moved to its Jeddah branch. Later he travelled to America to study English after which he went to the UK to assume the leadership of Hizb ut-Tahrir and became their leader.
The Saudi Arabian government banned Al-Muhajiroun in January 1986, prompting Bakri to leave. On 14 January 1986, he arrived in Britain
, where he worked as part of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Bakri's involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir ended on 16 January 1996 when he was dismissed by the group's global leadership. Following the emergence of Al-Muhajiroun in early 1996, Bakri would later become the chief sponsor in Britain of the International Islamic Front, an organization that trained and sent British Citizens to fight in Chechnya
and the Balkans
.
campus that called on the killing of Jews. A spokesman for NUS said that if Al-Muhajiroun did not support violence against Jews then they should change their "highly militant and definitely not peaceful" literature.
created the Islamic Council of Britain to "implement sharia law in Britain," on 11 September 2002, the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks
, primarily through funding from Al-Muhajiroun. Masri celebrated the establishment of the ICB and the 9/11 attacks by holding a conference in Finsbury Park mosque
in North London
entitled "September the 11th 2001: A Towering Day in History." Bakri, who attended the conference, said, that attendees "look at September 11 like a battle, as a great achievement by the mujahideen
against the evil superpower. I never praised September 11 after it happened but now I can see why they did it." Flyers distributed at the conference referred to the 9/11 hijackers as the "Magnificent 19." Bakri said he saw Osama bin Laden
and Al-Qaeda terrorists as "sincere [and] devoted people who stood firm against the invasion of a Muslim country." Anjem Choundary, British spokesman for Al Muhajiroun also attended. Just days after the 7 July 2005 London bombings
the Oxford-based Malaysian jurist, Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti
, issued his landmark fatwa against suicide bombing and targeting innocent civilians, titled 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.
Tony Blair announced the group would be banned as part of a series of measures against condoning or glorifying terrorism.
in January 2010.
In 2004 BBC Newsnight quoted one Al-Muhajiroun leader, Abu Ibrahim
, as saying,
, Israel
, that killed three people and injured 60 others.
In 2006 another individual connected with Al-Muhajiroun allegedly detonated a 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 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 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:
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and which has been linked to international terrorism, homophobia and anti-semitism. The group was proscribed under the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Terrorism Act 2000
Terrorism Act 2000
The Terrorism Act 2000 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 Act 1989 and the Northern Ireland Act 1996...
on 14 January 2010 together with four other organisations including Islam4UK.
The Group operated in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
from 14 January 1986 until the British Government announced an intended ban in August 2005. The group was then relaunched in June 2009. Two other offshoot organisations, The Saviour Sect and Al-Ghurabaa had previously been banned for the 'glorification' of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2006
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. The Act was drafted in the aftermath of the 7 July 2005...
.
It was also alleged to have run a Lahore safe house for visiting British Muslims.
Omar Bakri Muhammad
Omar Bakri Muhammad
Omar Bakri Muhammad is an Islamist militant leader who was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir into a major organization in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and heading another Islamist organisation, Al-Muhajiroun, until its disbandment in 2004.For several years Bakri was one of...
and Anjem Choudary
Anjem Choudary
Anjem Choudary is a British former solicitor, and, before it was proscribed, spokesman for the Islamist group Islam4UK. He is married, has four children, and lives in Ilford, London....
are known to have led Al-Muhajiroun. The group became notorious for its conference "The Magnificent 19", praising the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
. The former Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
Charles Clarke
Charles Clarke
Charles Rodway Clarke is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006.-Early life:...
banned Bakri from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on 12 August 2005 because it was alleged that his presence was "not conducive to the public good." The group has previously clashed with members of the English Defence League
English Defence League
The English Defence League is a far-right street protest movement which opposes what it considers to be a spread of Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic extremism in the UK. The EDL uses street marches to protest against Islamic extremism...
.
Aims
Al-Muhajiroun's proclaimed aims are to establish public awareness about IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, to influence public opinion in favor of the sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
, 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
Ummah
Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
and to resume the Islamic way of life by re-establishing the Islamic Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
.
History
Bakri founded Al-Muhajiroun in MeccaMecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
on 3 March 1983 following "the 59th anniversary of the destruction of the Ottoman Caliphate
Ottoman Caliphate
The Ottoman Caliphate, under the Ottoman Dynasty of the Ottoman Empire inherited the responsibility of the Caliphate from the Mamluks of Egypt....
," in Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
, Saudi Arabia. According to Bakri, the Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international Sunni. pan-Islamic political organisation but keeps it open for all including shias,some of its beliefs are against sunni school of thought, whose goal is for all Muslim countries to unify as an Islamic state or caliphate ruled by Islamic law and with a caliph...
leadership did not accept the group. As such, Bakri established Al-Muhajiroun independently from Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international Sunni. pan-Islamic political organisation but keeps it open for all including shias,some of its beliefs are against sunni school of thought, whose goal is for all Muslim countries to unify as an Islamic state or caliphate ruled by Islamic law and with a caliph...
.
Bakri claims that he studied at the universities of Umm ul-Qura' in Makkah and The Islamic University of Madeenah
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
. Bakri also studied with, and was assessed by, Dr. Abdur Rahman Dimishqia. Whilst living in Saudi Arabia he worked for Eastern Electric owned by Shamsan and Abdul-Aziz as-Suhaybi in Riyadh, and then Bakri moved to its Jeddah branch. Later he travelled to America to study English after which he went to the UK to assume the leadership of Hizb ut-Tahrir and became their leader.
The Saudi Arabian government banned Al-Muhajiroun in January 1986, prompting Bakri to leave. On 14 January 1986, he arrived in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, where he worked as part of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Bakri's involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir ended on 16 January 1996 when he was dismissed by the group's global leadership. Following the emergence of Al-Muhajiroun in early 1996, Bakri would later become the chief sponsor in Britain of the International Islamic Front, an organization that trained and sent British Citizens to fight in Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
and the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
.
NUS ban
In March 2001 Britain's National Union of Students banned Al-Muhajiroun after they received complaints from Muslim and non-Muslim students about the group distributing hate literature and the organization training members in militant camps. Al-Muhajiroun members put up posters and handed out leaflets in Manchester University's campus where the police were called and at the University of BirminghamUniversity of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
campus that called on the killing of Jews. A spokesman for NUS said that if Al-Muhajiroun did not support violence against Jews then they should change their "highly militant and definitely not peaceful" literature.
Islamic Council of Britain
Abu Hamza al-MasriAbu Hamza al-Masri
Abu Hamza al-Masri is an Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism...
created the Islamic Council of Britain to "implement sharia law in Britain," on 11 September 2002, the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, primarily through funding from Al-Muhajiroun. Masri celebrated the establishment of the ICB and the 9/11 attacks by holding a conference in Finsbury Park mosque
Finsbury Park Mosque
North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, London was built in the 1990s to serve the large Muslim population in the area. It has a capacity of 1,800 people....
in North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
entitled "September the 11th 2001: A Towering Day in History." Bakri, who attended the conference, said, that attendees "look at September 11 like a battle, as a great achievement by the mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
against the evil superpower. I never praised September 11 after it happened but now I can see why they did it." Flyers distributed at the conference referred to the 9/11 hijackers as the "Magnificent 19." Bakri said he saw Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
and Al-Qaeda terrorists as "sincere [and] devoted people who stood firm against the invasion of a Muslim country." Anjem Choundary, British spokesman for Al Muhajiroun also attended. Just days after the 7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
the Oxford-based Malaysian jurist, Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti
Afifi al-Akiti
Dato' Dr Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti BA , MA , MSt , DPhil , MSIEPM – also known as Shaykh Afifi – is Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, and Islamic Centre Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford, and is a Fellow of Worcester...
, issued his landmark fatwa against suicide bombing and targeting innocent civilians, titled 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.
Disbandment and after
Al Muhajiroun disbanded on 13 October 2004. 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 bombings7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
Tony Blair announced the group would be banned as part of a series of measures against condoning or glorifying terrorism.
2009 re-launch
In June 2009 the organisation officially re-launched itself in the United Kingdom. However it was banned under the Terrorism Act 2000Terrorism Act 2000
The Terrorism Act 2000 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 Act 1989 and the Northern Ireland Act 1996...
in January 2010.
Statements
Aside from declaring the 9/11 bombers "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, Abu Ibrahim
Sajeel Shahid
Sajeel Shahid is one of the leaders of Al-Muhajiroun, an Islamist group based in the United Kingdomthat endorsed al Qaeda's terror attacks on September 11, 2001....
, as saying,
"When they speak about September 11th, 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 the 29 April 2003, Asif Hanif who attended some of Al-Muhajiroun's circles carried out a bombing of a café in Tel AvivTel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, that killed three people and injured 60 others.
In 2006 another individual connected with Al-Muhajiroun allegedly detonated a bomb in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, killing himself and destroying an army barracks.
In 2007, five young Muslims with Al-Muhajiroun connections — Omar Khyam
Omar Khyam
Omar Khyam is a citizen of the United Kingdom, who led a terrorist plot.He was trained in bomb-making at the Malakand training camp in Pakistan in 2001 or 2002.He was the ringleader of a plot to explode a fertilizer bomb in London.-References:...
, Waheed Mahmood, Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar and Saladhuddin Amin — were convicted of a multiple bombing plot
Operation Crevice
Operation Crevice was a raid launched by Metropolitan and local police in England on the morning of 30 March 2004. It was in response to a report indicating cells of terrorists of Pakistani origin were operating in the Thames Valley, Sussex, Surrey and Bedfordshire areas, the source of which was...
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 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.
See also
- Islam4UK
- Al GhurabaaAl GhurabaaAl Ghurabaa is a Muslim organization which, along with the The Saviour Sect, is widely believed to be the reformed Al-Muhajiroun after it disbanded in 2004 by order of Omar Bakri Muhammad. Other members include Abu Izzadeen and Abu Uzair....
- The Saviour Sect
- IslamismIslamismIslamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
- UK Islamist demonstration outside Danish Embassy
- Operation CreviceOperation CreviceOperation Crevice was a raid launched by Metropolitan and local police in England on the morning of 30 March 2004. It was in response to a report indicating cells of terrorists of Pakistani origin were operating in the Thames Valley, Sussex, Surrey and Bedfordshire areas, the source of which was...
- Islam 4 UK - known Al-Muhajiroun website, see here for plain acknowledgement. http://www.islam4uk.com/current-affairs/uk-news/421--coming-soon--wootton-bassett-march
Further reading
- 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 ISBN 978-0-9551099-4-2
External links
- BBC - 'Police raid Islamic group'
- BBC Newsnight's Richard Watson interviews Al-Muhajiroun recruits
- The Times (London) - 'Preacher of hate' is banned from Britain
- 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.
- Washington Times - British Muslims called to take up jihad
- Militant groups in the UK 'The Guardian, June 19, 2002
- Transplanted Jihadi
- UK Islamic Group, Banned from Campus, Claims Misrepresentation