Brixton Mosque

Abdullah el-Faisal, a radical Takfiri Muslim cleric who preached in the United Kingdom until he was imprisoned for stirring up racial hatred and in 2007 deported to Jamaica, was associated with the Brixton Mosque in the early 1990s, preaching to crowds of up to 500 people.{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/25/npreach125.xml |title=7 July preacher Abdullah El-Faisal deported |access-date=23 December 2007 |last=Johnston |first=Philip |date=27 May 2007 |work=The Daily Telegraph |archive-date=27 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227161116/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2007%2F05%2F25%2Fnpreach125.xml |url-status=dead }} In 1993, el-Faisal was ejected by the mosque's administration who objected to his radical preaching.{{cite book|editor=Haberfeld, M. R. |editor2=von Hassell, Agostino |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvVqrhVDtp0C&pg=PT256|title=A New Understanding of Terrorism: Case Studies, Trajectories and Lessons Learned |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4419-0114-9 |page=243 |year=2009 }}{{cite news |url=http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/2010/01/10/12412996.html |title=Radical Jamaican-born Muslim cleric returns to Kenya after his deportation fails |newspaper=Edmonton Sun |access-date=16 January 2010 |author=Odula, Tom |date=10 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116065557/http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/2010/01/10/12412996.html |archive-date=2010-01-16 |url-status=dead}} In 2007, the London Evening Standard published an apology for referring to el-Faisal as the "Brixton Mosque preacher", and clarified that el-Faisal only preached at Brixton Mosque in the early 1990s and not after 1994.{{cite web |url=http://www.pcc.org.uk/case/resolved.html?article=NDc1Mg== |title=Resolved Complaints: Brixton Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre and London Evening Standard |publisher=Press Complaints Commission |access-date=11 January 2010 |archive-date=9 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609193607/http://www.pcc.org.uk/case/resolved.html?article=NDc1Mg== |url-status=live }}

The mosque made international headlines when it was reported that Richard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber", had attended the mosque from 1996 to 1998 after converting to Islam in jail.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bd2ARpzU89kC&pg=PA237|title=A pretext for war: 9/11, Iraq, and the abuse of America's intelligence agencies |page=237 |author=Bamford, James |publisher=Random House, Inc. |year=2005 |isbn=9781400030347 |access-date=2016-07-28 |archive-date=2015-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128012857/http://books.google.com/books?id=Bd2ARpzU89kC&pg=PA237 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64H6cylEbF4C&pg=PA47 |title=Islamist and Middle Eastern terrorism: a threat to Europe? |page=47| author=Pinto, Maria do Céu |publisher=Rubbettino Editore srl |year=2004 |isbn=978-88-498-0887-2 |access-date=2016-07-28 |archive-date=2014-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140707041151/http://books.google.com/books?id=64H6cylEbF4C&pg=PA47 |url-status=live}} Abdul Haqq Baker, a former chairman of mosque, told the BBC that Reid came to the mosque to learn about Islam, but fell in with what he called "more extreme elements" in London's Muslim community.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1729022.stm |title=Shoe bomb suspect 'one of many' |work=BBC News |date=2001-12-26 |access-date=2010-03-18 |archive-date=2009-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202171047/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1729022.stm |url-status=live }} "We have been in contact with the police numerous times over the last five years to warn of the threat posed by militant groups operating in our area," said Baker in December 2001 after Reid's arrest.{{Cite web |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41661,00.html |title=London Mosque Leader: We Warned About Radicals |date=27 December 2001 |website=Fox News |access-date=11 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913094302/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41661,00.html |archive-date=13 September 2009 |url-status=dead }} He had warned that terrorist "talent scouts" prey on mosques like the Brixton mosque in search of the young and unstable. Baker warned the congregation, "The recruiting has got out of control. Beware. It's your sons, your teenagers who are plucked into these extreme groups."{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/godscontinentchr00jenk |url-access=registration |title=God's continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's religious crisis |page=[https://archive.org/details/godscontinentchr00jenk/page/224 224] |author=Jenkins, Philip |publisher=Oxford University Press US |year=2007 |isbn=9780195313956}} A Time magazine article in 2002 said: "The Brixton Mosque is an ideal hunting ground for terrorist talent spotters since it attracts mainly young worshipers, including ex-convicts it helps rehabilitate."{{Cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,193661,00.html |author=Gibson, Helen |title=Looking for Trouble |work=Time |date=14 January 2002 |access-date=11 January 2010 |archive-date=27 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227185116/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,193661,00.html |url-status=dead }}

Zacarias Moussaoui, who was convicted of conspiring to kill citizens of the US as part of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, frequented the mosque between 1996 and 1997. Some sources report that it was during this period that he met Richard Reid, though others are less certain.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AOVa_66aS58C&pg=PA276 |title=Al-Qaeda: in search of the terror network that threatens the world |page=276 |author=Corbin, Jane |publisher=Nation Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-56025-523-9}}{{Dead link |date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b8k4rEPvq_8C&q=%22Brixton+Mosque%22&pg=PA271 |title=Encyclopedia of modern worldwide extremists and extremist groups |page=271 |author=Atkins, Stephen E. |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic; Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32485-7 |access-date=2010-03-18 |year=2004 |archive-date=2021-01-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118065213/https://books.google.com/books?id=b8k4rEPvq_8C&q=%22Brixton+Mosque%22&pg=PA271 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1731568.stm |title=Who is Richard Reid? |work=BBC News |access-date=16 January 2010 |date=28 December 2001 |archive-date=27 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727105455/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1731568.stm |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/world/a-nation-challenged-the-convert-shoe-bomb-suspect-fell-in-with-extremists.html?pagewanted=all |title=A Nation challenged-the convert; Shoe-Bomb Suspect Fell in With Extremists |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=16 January 2010 |author=Hoge, Warren |date=27 December 2001 |archive-date=9 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509001705/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/world/a-nation-challenged-the-convert-shoe-bomb-suspect-fell-in-with-extremists.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live}} Moussaoui was expelled from the mosque after he began wearing combat fatigues and a backpack to the mosque, and pressured the cleric to provide him with information on how to join the jihad.{{cite web |url=http://www.isim.nl/files/review_21/review_21-18.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912102013/http://www.isim.nl/files/review_21/review_21-18.pdf |title=The Religious Trajectories of the Moussaoui Family |author=Donahue, Katherine |work=ISIM Review |volume=21 |issue=Spring 2008 |page=18 |access-date=11 January 2011 |archive-date=2021-09-12 }}

{{stack|{{Portal|London|Islam}}}}

• Islam in London
• Islamism in London
• List of mosques in the United Kingdom

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091225133747/http://www.masjidit.co.uk/ Official website]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtjifPRmNME Recent Short Documentary of Brixton Mosque]
• [http://transcripts.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/UK/12/26/baker.cnna/index.html "London mosque leader recalls bomb suspect: Interview with Abdul Haqq Baker", CNN, 26 December 2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604143258/http://transcripts.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/UK/12/26/baker.cnna/index.html |date=4 June 2011 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110715234449/http://www.salafimanhaj.com/pdf/SalafiManhaj_Deception.pdf "The Devil's Deception of Abdullaah Faisal ('Sheikh Faisal'); Critical Study of Abdullah el-Faisal's Methodology"; SalafiManhaj (2007)]
• "A view from the inside: Abdul Haqq Baker provides an account of the Brixton Mosque and the shifting perceptions towards it, since it was founded," Abdul Haqq Baker, Criminal Justice Matters, Volume 73, Issue 1 (September 2008), pp. 24–25
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWzm4o9ChhE Islam in London: Documentary about Brixton Mosque]

{{Mosques in the United Kingdom}}

Category:20th-century mosques in the United Kingdom

Category:Brixton

Category:Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Lambeth

Category:Islamic organizations established in 1990

Category:Mosque-related controversies in Europe

Category:Mosques completed in 1990

Category:Mosques in London

Category:Religion in the London Borough of Lambeth

Category:Salafi mosques in the United Kingdom

Category:Sunni mosques in London