One London mosque that seems to be fast acquiring a reputation for producing Britain’s most ‘famous’ terrorists has taken steps to distance itself from a recent alumnus, who has demanded equal rights for Jihadists and said she wants to be the first female to execute a UK or US ‘terrorist’.
The Lewisham Islamic Centre in south-east London has been on the government’s radar for the best part of a decade and counts amongst its former worshippers Drummer Lee Rigby killers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, as well as female jihadist Khadijah Dare.
Ms. Dare took to twitter after the execution of American Journalist James Foley to express in her own broken English “Any links 4 da execution of da journalist plz. Allahu Akbar. UK must b shaking up ha ha. I wna b da 1st UK woman 2 kill a UK or US terorrist!”.
The shock at apparent blood-thirst of women in Jihad has again focussed attention on the UK, which by far is the home of more terrorists fighting with ISIS than any other European country.
Despite this the leaders of the mosque insist they are innocent of extremism, and have been made ‘guilty by association’ because of the beliefs of it’s members. The Guardian reports the Mosque made the following statement after Dare’s links to them became apparent:
“It is rather unfortunate that time and time again, the media do not seem to understand that whether or not any individual who has ever prayed in the mosque has gone on to be involved in acts that are considered to be illegal, that this should in no way reflect on the mosque or on the message the mosque imparts.”
According to a Daily Telegraph report from 2013 the mosque is one that ‘attracts radicals’. It’s former Senior Imam Sheik Shakeel Begg who died earlier this year was reportedly close to Woolwich terror killer Muslim convert Michael Adebolajo. Begg had a habit of being caught on tape making controversial statements; the Times reported on a secret recording in 2006 urging University students to “take some money and go to Palestine and fight, fight the terrorists, fight the Zionists”.
Further videos available on YouTube show the preacher praising Jihadists and calling Guantanamo bay inmates ‘inspirational’. The website of Unite Against Fascism, the hard-left authoritarian group also records Imam Begg as having addressed their rallies before his death.
Even if it may lose some of it’s attendees to international Jihad as they get older, the Islamic Centre works to teach the young of Lewisham about Islam. It operates it’s own primary school, academy, Islamic football club, and Scout troop. OFSTED’s 2009 report accused the school, which teaches children from five to eleven years old charges over £2,200 a year of suffering from ‘weak management’.