Omar Bakri Muhammad

Omar Bakri Muhammad is a prominent Sunni Islamist cleric who has a long record of supporting terrorism.“Cleric Omar Bakri ‘On the Run’ in Lebanon,” BBC News, April 2, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26847794. He was the leader of U.K.-based Islamist organizations Hizb ut-Tahrir and the now proscribed al-Muhajiroun.Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=290&no_cache=1#.VTatGvnF8no. Under Bakri Muhammad’s leadership, al-Muhajiroun celebrated terrorist attacks and praised the perpetrators of the September 11, 2001, attacks as the “magnificent 19.”Dominic Casciani, “Profile: Omar Bakri Muhammad,” BBC News, August 12, 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4144892.stm. In October 2015, Lebanese authorities sentenced Bakri Muhammad to six years of hard labor on terrorism charges.Jenny Stanton, “Son of ‘Tottenham Ayatollah’ hate preacher Omar Bakri is killed fighting for ISIS in Iraq,” Daily Mail, December 29, 2015, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3377973/Son-Tottenham-Ayatollah-killed-Iraq-sources.html. He was released in March 2023.Rebecca Camber, Duncan Gardham, and Hannah McCarthy, “Notorious hate preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad whose group inspired Lee Rigby killers and London Bridge attackers is seen in family photo after Lebanon prison release,” Daily Mail (London), April 3, 2023, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11934319/Notorious-hate-preacher-Omar-Bakri-Muhammad-seen-family-photo-Lebanon-prison-release.html.

Bakri Muhammad has influenced jihadists including Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebolawe who murdered British soldier Fusilier Rigby in May 2013 in London.Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik, “Hate cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad preaches killing of women and children on Facebook,” Telegraph, November 29, 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11262996/Hate-cleric-Omar-Bakri-Muhammad-preaches-killing-of-women-and-children-on-Facebook.html. Bakri Muhammad reportedly helped convert Adebolajo. After Adebolajo and Adebolawe’s arrests, Bakri Muhammad justified the murder to British media.Kim Sengupta, “Exclusive: Woolwich killings suspect Michael Adebolajo was inspired by cleric banned from UK after urging followers to behead enemies of Islam,” Independent (London), May 24, 2013, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/exclusive-woolwich-killings-suspect-michael-adebolajo-was-inspired-by-cleric-banned-from-uk-after-8630125.html. Bakri Muhammad is also rumored to have ties to al-Qaeda and has called for the group’s flag to be flown over Lebanon’s presidential palace.Anne Barnard, “Lebanon Arrests Radical Cleric Who Backed Militants,” New York Times, May 25, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/26/world/middleeast/lebanon-arrests-radical-omar-bakri-muhammad.html?_r=0.

Bakri Muhammad has been imprisoned in Lebanon since May 2014.Ian Johnston, “Banned radical cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohamed arrested in Lebanon over ‘links to terrorism,’” Independent, May 26, 2014, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/banned-radical-cleric-sheikh-omar-bakri-mohamed-arrested-in-lebanon-over-links-to-terrorism-9434213.html. From Lebanese prison, he maintained an incendiary Facebook profile on which he supported the killing of “kuffar” [non-believers] women and children, and preached that Christians and Jews are the enemies of Muslims. Facebook deleted the page in November 2014 after the British Telegraph newspaper alerted the social media company to its existence. Nonetheless, the page had remained up for a year before its deletion.Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik, “Hate cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad preaches killing of women and children on Facebook,” Telegraph, November 29, 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11262996/Hate-cleric-Omar-Bakri-Muhammad-preaches-killing-of-women-and-children-on-Facebook.html.

Bakri Muhammad was born in Syria and joined the Muslim Brotherhood there in the early 1970s at the age of 15. At age 17, he joined Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) in Lebanon. In a 2005 interview with the Jamestown Foundation, Bakri Muhammad said he had become disgusted by the Brotherhood’s transformation into a state political party in Syria and other countries. From Lebanon, Bakri Muhammad traveled to Egypt and then Saudi Arabia, where he created multiple cells of HT. By 1983, he claimed he had recruited 38 people to HT in Saudi Arabia. Because HT was officially banned in Saudi Arabia, however, he worked with HT organizers in neighboring Kuwait. But the HT leaders there did not approve of Bakri Muhammad’s activities and suspended him from the organization in 1983. In response, with the 38 HT members he had recruited in Saudi Arabia, Bakri Muhammad created al-Muhajiroun on March 3, 1983, the 59th anniversary of the dissolution of the Ottoman caliphate.Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=290&no_cache=1#.VTatGvnF8no.

Bakri Muhammad arrived in the United Kingdom on January 14, 1986. In coordination with HT’s leadership in Germany, Bakri Muhammad began to build the group’s U.K. chapter while also building up his al-Muhajiroun organization.Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=290&no_cache=1#.VTatGvnF8no. In the 1990s, Bakri Muhammad met Anjem Choudary at a mosque in Woolrich, England. The two would go on to build the al-Muhajiroun network in the United Kingdom.Robert Mendick, “Hate preacher Anjem Choudary to be freed from jail despite remaining ‘genuinely dangerous,’” Telegraph (London), September 11, 2018, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/11/notorious-hate-preacher-anjem-choudary-released-prison-despite/. On January 16, 1996, Bakri Muhammad resigned from HT in response to what he called “a violation of Islamic rules” by HT’s global leader.Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=290&no_cache=1#.VTatGvnF8no. Following his resignation, Bakri Muhammad devoted himself to building al-Muhajiroun independently of HT. According to Bakri Muhammad, al-Muhajiroun sought to establish a global Islamic caliphate and believed that both proselytization and jihad were necessary to establish this goal.Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=290&no_cache=1#.VTatGvnF8no. British terrorism analyst Raffaello Pantucci linked al-Muhajiroun to half of the terror plots in the United Kingdom between 1995 and 2015.Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith, “Radical Islamist group al-Muhajiroun linked to half of British terror attacks in past 20 years,” Independent (London), March 23, 2015, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/radical-islamist-group-al-muhajiroun-linked-to-half-of-british-terror-attacks-in-past-20-years-10128492.html.

Bakri Muhammad has denied that he or al-Muhajiroun recruited anybody to fight abroad. He claimed that he encouraged people to travel abroad to help their Muslim brothers but not to engage in violent activities.Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=290&no_cache=1#.VTatGvnF8no. Nonetheless, he has been linked to multiple violent jihadists, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind of the January 2015 Paris attacks. Abaaoud has been connected to the banned Islamist group Sharia4Belgium, for which Bakri Muhammad helped transport fighters to Syria.Jay Akbar, “Mastermind of Paris terror attacks was linked to at least six UK hate preachers including ‘Tottenham Ayatollah’ Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Daily Mail (London), November 22, 2015, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3329327/Mastermind-Paris-terror-attacks-linked-six-UK-hate-preachers-including-Tottenham-Ayatollah-Omar-Bakri-Muhammad.html. Mohammed Bilal, who blew himself up in Kashmir on December 25, 2000, was also reportedly one of Bakri Muhammad’s students.Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith, “Radical Islamist group al-Muhajiroun linked to half of British terror attacks in past 20 years,” Independent (London), March 23, 2015, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/radical-islamist-group-al-muhajiroun-linked-to-half-of-british-terror-attacks-in-past-20-years-10128492.html. In 2016, an ISIS data breach revealed the names and information of 22,000 ISIS recruits. According to the leak, Bakri Muhammad had acted as a sponsor for multiple British jihadists who had gone on to join the terror organization.Josie Ensor and Raf Sanchez, “Islamic State leaks reveal banned cleric Omar Bakri recruited British jihadists,” Telegraph (London), March 10, 2016, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/12190513/Islamic-State-leaks-reveals-banned-cleric-Omar-Bakri-recruited-British-jihadists.html; Lexi Finnigan, “Isil leak of 1,736 top secret documents names ‘16 British terrorists,’” Telegraph (London), March 10, 2016, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/12189582/Isil-leak-of-1736-top-secret-documents-names-16-British-terrorists.html. Khuram Shazad Butt, one of the attackers in the June 3, 2017, London Bridge attacks, also allegedly belonged to al-Muhajiroun.Mark White, “London Bridge attackers were part of banned jihadi network,” Sky News, June 6, 2017, http://news.sky.com/story/london-bridge-attacker-khuram-butt-was-part-of-banned-jihadi-network-10906091.

Bakri Muhammad and Choudary dissolved al-Muhajiroun in 2004 ahead of a pending government ban. They reorganized the group under various aliases, including Islam4UK, Muslims Against Crusades, Call to Submission, Islamic Path, London School of Sharia, the Saved Sect of Savior Sect, Ahl ul-Sunnah Wa al-Jamma, and Al Ghurabaa. In 2010, the U.K. government banned al-Muhajiroun and its other iterations.“Ministers ban suspected aliases of banned extremist group,” BBC News, June 26, 2014, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28049374; “Proscribed Terrorist Organizations,” Home Office, accessed August 16, 2016, 6, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/538297/20160715-Proscription-website-update.pdf; “London cops sweep up 9 terror suspects,” CBS News, September 25, 2014, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/london-cops-sweep-up-9-terror-suspects-anjem-choudary/; Eilish O’Gara, “Radical UK Preacher Anjem Choudary Charged With Inviting Support for ISIS,” Newsweek, August 5, 2015, http://europe.newsweek.com/radical-uk-preacher-anjem-choudary-charged-inviting-support-isis-331221.

Bakri Muhammad left the United Kingdom for Lebanon in 2005, after which the U.K. Home Office permanently banned him from returning.Anne Barnard, “Lebanon Arrests Radical Cleric Who Backed Militants,” New York Times, May 25, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/26/world/middleeast/lebanon-arrests-radical-omar-bakri-muhammad.html?_r=0; “Britain Bars Cleric From Returning,” New York Times, August 12, 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/12/international/europe/12cleric-wire.html. In 2010, Bakri Muhammad was arrested in northern Lebanon on charges of terrorism. He was sentenced to life in prison, but released on bail after multiple witnesses recanted their testimonies.Ian Johnston, “Banned radical cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohamed arrested in Lebanon over ‘links to terrorism,’” Independent, May 26, 2014, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/banned-radical-cleric-sheikh-omar-bakri-mohamed-arrested-in-lebanon-over-links-to-terrorism-9434213.html. Lebanese authorities arrested Bakri Muhammad again in 2014 for founding an organization affiliated with the Nusra Front and building training camps in Lebanon. He was sentenced the following year to six years of hard labor.Jenny Stanton, “Son of ‘Tottenham Ayatollah’ hate preacher Omar Bakri is killed fighting for ISIS in Iraq,” Daily Mail (London), December 29, 2015, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3377973/Son-Tottenham-Ayatollah-killed-Iraq-sources.html. He was released on March 30, 2023. Lebanese authorities confirmed his release on April 2 after images appeared on social media of Bakri Muhammad sitting on a couch with his family. A pro-ISIS Telegram channel and multiple pro-ISIS Twitter accounts praised Bakri Muhammad’s release.“Pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Media Outlets Celebrate Release Of Al-Qaeda-Linked Jihadi Figure Who Spent 10 Years In Lebanese Prison On Terrorism Charges,” MEMRI, March 30, 2023, https://www.memri.org/jttm/pro-islamic-state-isis-media-outlets-celebrate-release-al-qaeda-linked-jihadi-figure-who-spent; Rebecca Camber, Duncan Gardham, and Hannah McCarthy, “Notorious hate preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad whose group inspired Lee Rigby killers and London Bridge attackers is seen in family photo after Lebanon prison release,” Daily Mail (London), April 3, 2023, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11934319/Notorious-hate-preacher-Omar-Bakri-Muhammad-seen-family-photo-Lebanon-prison-release.html.

Also Known As

Extremist entity
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Read Threat Report
Type(s) of Organization:
Political party, transnational
Ideologies and Affiliations:
Islamist, jihadist, pan-Islamist, Salafi, Sunni
Position(s):
Cleric

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international Islamist movement seeking to unite Muslims under one Islamic caliphate. Hizb ut-Tahrir members have been linked to violent acts in multiple countries. The group itself has been banned in at least 13 countries, including many Muslim-majority countries.

Extremist entity
Al-Muhajiroun
Type(s) of Organization:
Islamist, transnational, political organization
Ideologies and Affiliations:
Islamist, jihadist, pan-Islamist, Sunni
Position(s):
Cleric, Inciter, Propagandist

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international Islamist movement seeking to unite Muslims under one Islamic caliphate. Hizb ut-Tahrir members have been linked to violent acts in multiple countries. The group itself has been banned in at least 13 countries, including many Muslim-majority countries.

  • Rhetoric

September 10, 2003

“[The 9/11 hijackings were] completely justified…[and] quite splendid.”Sean O’Neill, “Rallies will highlight 'Magnificent 19' of Sept 11,” Telegraph (London), September 10, 2013, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1441070/Rallies-will-highlight-Magnificent-19-of-Sept-11.html.

Nov. 2014

In reference to the allowance of killing women and children: “…one must distinguish between killing women and children and the Mujahideen fighting the Kuffar [non-believers] enemies wherever they find them, whether that be in a school or hospital or elsewhere.”Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik, “Hate cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad preaches killing of women and children on Facebook,” Telegraph, November 29, 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11262996/Hate-cleric-Omar-Bakri-Muhammad-preaches-killing-of-women-and-children-on-Facebook.html.

Nov. 2014

In reference to the religious authority to kill fellow Muslims: “Anybody who allies with a taghoot regime [non-Muslims] whether Sunni or Shi’i has no sanctity and his blood is permissible.”Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik, “Hate cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad preaches killing of women and children on Facebook,” Telegraph, November 29, 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11262996/Hate-cleric-Omar-Bakri-Muhammad-preaches-killing-of-women-and-children-on-Facebook.html.

Nov. 2014

In reference to Jews and Christians as enemies: “That animosity is exposed, clear, explicit, there is no doubt about it.”Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik, “Hate cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad preaches killing of women and children on Facebook,” Telegraph, November 29, 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11262996/Hate-cleric-Omar-Bakri-Muhammad-preaches-killing-of-women-and-children-on-Facebook.html.

December 2012

“Those that make films, pictures or caricatures of the prophet should watch out! Islam promises death to anyone that insults the prophet’s honour. Anyone that insults the prophet should be killed.”“Danish Muslim group supports Syrian hate preacher,” Copenhagen Post, November 18, 2012, http://cphpost.dk/news14/international-news14/danish-muslim-group-supports-syrian-hate-preacher.html.

2012

“The head of the snake is America, so al-Qaeda is looking for big targets in the United States, but smaller organizations settle for smaller targets.”“A Profile of Syrian Jihadist Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, December 21, 2012, http://mlm.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=40259&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=591#.VU-iktpViko.

Nov. 2010

“I will not hand myself in to any court. I do not believe in the law in Britain as in Lebanon.”“Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad arrested in Lebanon,” BBC News, November 14, 2010, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-11579274.

August 2005

“Why [would] I condemn Osama Bin Laden for? I condemn Tony Blair. I condemn George Bush. I would never condemn Osama Bin Laden or any Muslims.”Dominic Casciani, “Profile: Omar Bakri Muhammad,” BBC News, August 12, 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4144892.stm; “Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad arrested in Lebanon,” BBC News, November 14, 2010, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-11579274.

May 2005

“The fact that Americans were attacked was no surprise, what was surprising is that they came under such a devastating attack in their own country. The attacks were really a magnificent operation in every way. They were magnificent terrorists.”Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=290&no_cache=1#.VTatGvnF8no.

May 2005

“[F]or me “terrorism” is not necessarily a bad word; it depends on the context and whether it is based on the commands of Allah.”Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=290&no_cache=1#.VTatGvnF8no.

May 2005

“I believe this phenomenon of al-Qaeda is not going to stop. The phenomenon of martyrdom operations is contagious as the Prophet Muhammad correctly said.”Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=290&no_cache=1#.VTatGvnF8no.

September 13, 2001

“When I first heard about the September 11, 2001 attacks there was some initial delight about such an attack. I received a phone call and said, ‘Oh, wow, the United States has come under attack.’ It was exciting.”“A Profile of Syrian Jihadist Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, December 21, 2012, http://mlm.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=40259&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=591#.VU-iktpViko.

Unknown

“When you meet [infidels], slice their own necks. And when you make the blood spill all over, and the enemy becomes so tired, now start to take from them prisoners. Then free them or exchange them until the war is finished.”Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik, “Hate cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad preaches killing of women and children on Facebook,” Telegraph, November 29, 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11262996/Hate-cleric-Omar-Bakri-Muhammad-preaches-killing-of-women-and-children-on-Facebook.html.

Unknown

“Al-Qaeda are so clever, they can make so many weapons from nothing. They can go to any kitchen, make a very nice pizza bomb and deliver it fresh,” Bakri claimed. He described the regional uprisings that rocked the Middle East as “al-Qaeda's victory.” The Arab Spring and “the dismantling of authoritarian regimes and ruthless intelligence services have given Salafist groups room to breathe; and the thousands of jailed Islamists in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, released as the dictatorships crumbled, have been perfect for recruiting.”“A Profile of Syrian Jihadist Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, December 21, 2012, http://mlm.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=40259&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=591#.VU-iktpViko.

Unknown

Echoing the rhetoric of other jihadists, Bakri warned the West against staying in the Middle East. “In the future if anybody puts a finger on our nations we will fight back, we have our own men, our own power.”“A Profile of Syrian Jihadist Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, December 21, 2012, http://mlm.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=40259&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=591#.VU-iktpViko.

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Daily Dose

Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.

Fact:

On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers. 

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