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Revision as of 15:47, 10 January 2007 by Aaliyah Stevens (talk | contribs) (→Condemnation)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Al-Muhajiroun (Arabic: المهاجرون; The Emigrants) was an Islamist organisation that operated in the United Kingdom from 14 January 1986 until the Blair administration banned it under new anti-terrorism legislation. Omar Bakri Muhammad and Anjem Choudary led Al-Muhajiroun. It became notorious for its conference "The Magnificent 19", praising the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. Home Secretary Charles Clarke banned Bakri from the United Kingdom on 12 August 2005 because the British government considered his presence in Britain "not conducive to the public good."
History
Bakri, along with 39 others, founded Al-Muhajiroun in Mecca, Saudi Arabia . The founders announced the creation of the organization on 3 March 1983, "the 59th anniversary of the destruction of the Ottoman Caliphate," in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia . The Saudi Arabian government banned Al-Muhajiroun in January 1986 , prompting Bakri to flee Saudi Arabia. On 14 January 1986, he arrived in Britain, where he founded the British branch of Al-Muhajiroun and joined Hizb ut-Tahrir in parallel. Bakri was expelled from Hizb ut-Tahrir on 16 January 1996. In 1999 Bakri became the chief sponsor in Britain of the International Islamic Front, an organization that trains and sends British Muslims to fight in Chechnya and the Balkans. In October 2000 the Bakri and others issued a "Warning to All Jews... in the UK" that if they supported Israel "financially, verbally or physically" they would be killed.
Islamic Council of Britain
Convicted terrorist Abu Hamza al-Masri 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 devoted people who stood firm against the invasion of a Muslim country." Anjem Choundary, British spokesman for Al Muhajiroun, also attended.
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. Al-Muhajiroun members put up posters and handed out leaflets in Manchester University's campus in Birmingham, England that called on Muslims to kill 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. Earlier in 2006, Russian government officials asked the British government to ban Al-Muhajiroun because members who attended the London School of Economics were fighting against the Russian army in Chechnya.
Aims
Al-Muhajiroun's proclaimed aims were to establish public awareness about Islam, to institute Islamic law, influence public opinion in favor of Islam, increase membership in Al-Muhajiroun, convince non-Muslims to convert to Islam or accept it as the political norm, to unite Muslims in facing threats to the Ummah on a global scale, to increase al-Muhajiroun's influence in societies throughout the world, to create a "fifth column" community pressure group to push for Islamization of the non-Islamic world, and to recreate the Caliphate globally.
Disbandment
Al Muhajiroun disbanded on 13 October 2004. However, it is believed that The Saviour Sect is to all intents and purposes Al Muhajiroun operating under a new name.
Controversial statements
In a statement, al-Muhajiroun warned 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".
Abu Ibrahim said, "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?"
On Friday 3 February 2006, in response to the publication of editorial cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, around 400 protestors from two groups widley suspected of being re-branded branches of Al-Muhajiroun, al-Ghurabaa and The Saviour Sect staged a protest march. The protesters waved placards advocating violence against those who published the cartoons, including placards reading "Kill Those who insult Islam".
Alleged Terrorist attacks
It is suspected by some, that the two terrorists who bombed a café in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2003 had links to Al-Muharjiroun. In 2006 an al-Muhajiroun terrorist committed a suicide bombing in India, destroying an army barracks.
Condemnation by other Islamists
Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council for Britain, described Al-Muharjiroun as a fringe which is "totally unrepresentative of British Muslims...They have no grassroots support and could only muster a few hundred supporters out of a Muslim community of over two million in the U.K.,"
The day after after the demonstrations by suspected Al-Muhajiroun successor groups about the cartoons in the Jyllands-Posten, Hizb ut-Tahrir held thier own demonstration attacking the suspected Al-Muhajiroun demonstration:
"While strongly condemning the publication of these caricatures, we in no way condone the conduct of those who are urging violent protests or inciting hatred against others as stated at yesterday's demonstration, the Muslim community in Britain must be vocal in protest, but should not stoop to the level of those who have provoked our community... We would like to point out for the record that we will not tolerate the incitement of violence or hatred. At this juncture, the way forward is... in sincere and robust intellectual debate and dialogue regarding Islam and the West."
See also
- Al Ghurabaa
- The Saviour Sect
- Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom
- Hizb ut-Tahrir
- Islamism
- UK Islamist demonstration outside Danish Embassy
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
- The Landscape of Islamic Extremism in London: Possible Players in the Attacks of July 7, 2005
- Transplanted Jihadi
- UK Islamic Group, Banned from Campus, Claims Misrepresentation
- ^ Islamists Down Under Assyrian International News Agency
- ^ Police raid Islamic group BBC News
- 'Preacher of hate' is banned from Britain Times Online
- UK Islamic Group, Banned from Campus, Claims Misrepresentation CNS News
- Al-Muhajiroun BBC News
- The Landscape of Islamic Extremism in London: Possible Players in the Attacks of July 7, 2005
- Official HTB Website