Abdullah el-Faisal

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Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal is a controversial Muslim preacher most known for being convicted for practicing hate speech.

Contents

[edit] Biography

El-Faisal was born in Saint James Parish, Jamaica as Trevor William Forest to a Salvation Army family of practicing Christians.[1] At the age of 16, el-Faisal converted to Islam,[2] after being introduced to the religion by a high school teacher.[1] El-Faisal studied at an Islamic institution in Guyana,[citation needed] after which he traveled to the UK. El-Faisal trained in Islamic studies in Saudi Arabia for seven years.[1]

El-Faisal returned to the United Kingdom in 1992, married a British biology graduate, and became a preacher at the Brixton mosque.[3] El-Faisal often preached to crowds of up to 500 people.[3] Referred to as "Sheikh",[4] el-Faisal gave lectures to study groups all throughout the United Kingdom.[2] These lectures were taped and sold at specialist bookshops.[2] El-Faisal has also traveled throughout Nigeria giving lectures.[citation needed]

[edit] Controversy

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He has also been associated with the Brixton Mosque, in south London but was ousted from Brixton Mosque by its Salafi administration in 1993, due to el-Faisal's increasing extremism. After el-Faisal's expulsion from Brixton Mosque he began to go even more extreme and this culminated in his lecture The Devil's Deception of the Saudi Salafis in 1996 wherein he pours scorn on the Salafi Muslims (of Brixton Mosque in particular) and makes takfir of the Salafis. Within the lecture, which can still be found on Jihadi websites to this day along with other lectures from el-Faisal, el-Faisal says about the Salafis that "...they are hypocrites....the worst...not to be prayed behind."[5] El-Faisal according to his own testimony left the Brixton area in 1993.[6] El-Faisal in a lecture in the late 1990s entitled The Devil's Deception of the 21st Century House Niggers makes takfir of a moderate African-American Salafi preacher Abu Usamah and calls for his assassination.[7] El-Faisal was jailed for 9 years for urging his audience to kill Jews, Hindus and Americans.[4]

In May 2007 the Home Secretary announced that he had been deported.[8] In a recent 45 minute interview on a Jamaican TV programme entitled Religious Hardtalk in November 2007, el-Faisal described 9/11 and 7/7 as immoral and condemned suicide bombings.[9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Plunkett, Nagra (August 27, 2006). 'Terrorist' preacher was a quiet boy - mother. Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
  2. ^ a b c Muslim cleric guilty of soliciting murder. Special report: Race in the UK. The Guardian (February 4, 2003). Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
  3. ^ a b Johnston, Philip (May 27, 2007). July 7 preacher Abdullah El-Faisal deported. The Telegraph. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
  4. ^ a b Hate preaching cleric jailed. BBC News (March 7, 2003). Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
  5. ^ Video of lecture 'The Devil's Deception of the Saudi Salafis'.
  6. ^ Critical Study of the Beliefs and Statements of Abdullah Faisal.
  7. ^ The Devil's Deception of the 21st Century House Niggers.
  8. ^ BBC News: Race hate cleric Faisal deported.
  9. ^ Jamaican TV Interview with Abdullah Faisal.

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