The Shooting of Luqman Abdullah

18 Pages·2009·1.05 MB·English

November 20, 2009
ISSUE 2:
The Shooting of Luqman Abdullah
the luqman
abdullah shooting
and the darul “Police, so what? Police die too! Feds die too!...Do not carry a
islam movement pistol if you’re going to give it up to police. You give them a bullet.”
— Luqman Abdullah, the late imam of Masjid Al-Haqq1
The Shooting of Luqman Abdullah A
Page 1 n October 2009 shootout at a warehouse in Dearborn, Michigan,
claimed the life Luqman Abdullah, the imam of Detroit’s Masjid al-Haqq,
Jamil Al-Amin and in the process garnered national attention. Abdullah had been a Detroit
The Former H. Rap Brown representative to al-Ummah, which the Muslim Alliance in North America
Page 6 (MANA) describes as “an association of mosques in several cities in the U.S.
that coordinates religious and social services primarily in the Black American
The Darul Islam Movement in the
community.”2 In contrast, a criminal complaint filed by an FBI special agent
United States
describes al-Ummah as “a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group
Page 10
consisting primarily of African-Americans.”3
Cause Célèbre Islam: Racism,
Revolution, Black Nationalism
Page 14
The Center for Terrorism Research
(CTR) is a project of the Foundation
for Defense of Democracies. CTR
studies terrorist movements and
Masjid Al-Haqq in Detroit (center), surrounded by empty lots; served as
the ideologies that drive them, and
the home base for Detroit’s branch of al-Ummah
seeks to identify how major trends in
these areas will affect terrorism and
counter-terrorism activities The shootout occurred during an FBI raid designed to disrupt a variety
in the West. of illegal activities being carried out by Abdullah and at least ten of his
associates—activities that were uncovered by an undercover investigation
stretching back for about three years, and a series of transactions pursuant
to a Group I Undercover Operation.4 According to local news reports, the
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shooting came after FBI agents and police from the day-to-day operations for some time: he is currently
Joint Terrorism Task Force “surrounded a warehouse serving a life sentence at the Supermax prison in
and trucking firm on Miller Road near Michigan Florence, Colorado, following his 2002 conviction for
Avenue where Abdullah shooting two police officers
and four of his followers in Georgia.
were hiding.”5
In May 2009 in
Abdullah did not Alabama, Luqman Abdullah
surrender when ordered claimed while under
to; instead, he opened fire. surveillance that al-Amin
He was shot to death, as had created al-Ummah
was an FBI K-9, a three- out of fear of government
year-old Belgian Malinois interference. Two years
named Freddy. Although before Abdullah became
press reports do not detail Imam Luqman Abdullah part of the movement,
how the dog was shot, it is common practice for the several Darul members were killed in a shooting in
FBI to introduce a K-9 to “locate and detain” a suspect New York. “Jamil Al-Amin said they had to divide
who refuses to surrender. The four men with Abdullah the group because having too many people in one
did lay down their arms and allow themselves to be organization made them an easy target,” the criminal
arrested, although the DOJ’s press release leaves complaint against Abdullah recounts. “According to
some ambiguity as to whether they did so before or Abdullah, the group is still Dar-Ul, but this is not widely
after Abdullah was killed.6 known because of the United States government. The
Ummah is a cover name for Dar-Ul.”8
The FBI has arrested ten of Abdullah’s
associates, most of whom were members of his Multiple sources estimate that al-Ummah
mosque and the al-Ummah movement. Three of under al-Amin had “approximately thirty branches
them—Yassir Ali Khan, Mohammad Philistine, and in America and the Caribbean.”9 Muslim journalist
Abdullah’s son Mujahid Carswell—were arrested in Steven Barboza stated that al-Amin’s “followers are
Windsor, Ontario following the raids.7 Windsor is said to number around 10,000 Muslims.”10
located directly across from Detroit, over the U.S.-
Canada border. Detroit’s Masjid Al-Haqq, which had been
located at 4118 Joy Road, was an al-Ummah mosque.
The arrested men face charges that include It was not only used for prayer services but also
conspiracy to receive and sell goods that the for weapons and combat training. Abdullah also
defendants believed were stolen from interstate lived on the premises with his family. In January
shipments, conspiracy to commit mail fraud through 2009, Abdullah and his followers were evicted from
an insurance scam involving arson, providing the mosque for nonpayment of property taxes.
firearms to a known convicted felon, and tampering Authorities recovered firearms, knives and martial
with motor vehicle identification numbers to further arts weapons from Abdullah’s apartment in the
the theft of a vehicle. mosque, and observed “empty shell casings on the
basement floor, and large holes in the concrete wall
The Al-Ummah Movement of the ‘shooting range.’”11 Although the mosque was
located in an urban environment, it was surrounded
by empty lots on all sides, and was thus relatively
Al-Ummah—which is either a splinter from,
secluded.
or a cover for, the Darul Islam movement (see this
issue’s article on the history of Darul Islam)—had
been led by Jamil al-Amin, who was formerly known In addition to describing al-Ummah as a
as 1960s firebrand H. Rap Brown. Though al-Amin nationwide fundamentalist group, the criminal
is reportedly still considered al-Ummah’s leader by complaint filed against Abdullah asserts that it has
the group’s members, he has not been involved in the goal of establishing “a separate, sovereign Islamic
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state…within the borders of the United States, their practice of idol worship. Abdullah said that just
governed by Shariah law. The Ummah is to be ruled as “the government plots and plans against them so
over by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin.”12 MANA, which had they need to plot and plan in return and ‘do whatever
Luqman Abdullah on its majlis ash-shura, claims it takes.’”18
that this depiction of al-Ummah “is an offensive mis-
characterization.”13 What would replace the U.S. government?
Abdullah was rather unclear on this point, although
It is difficult, from available open-source he clearly endorsed the idea of revolution. In this
information, to make a definitive judgment about al- way, he was similar to his associate Jamil al-Amin.
Ummah’s religious ideology. However, the three-year Before al-Amin’s conversion to Islam, when he was
criminal investigation of Luqman Abdullah and his still known as H. Rap Brown, he spoke often of the
associates yielded a great deal of information about U.S.’s inherently evil nature. Though Brown said that
Abdullah’s ideas. “America’s very existence offends me,” and suggested
that he endorsed a Communist-style revolution,
Luqman Abdullah’s Teachings he never discussed in any detail the new order he
wanted to impose.19
Luqman Abdullah seemed to blend
One thing the agents and officers
Islamist ideology with black nationalist grievances,
charged with arresting Abdullah must
supplemented by a healthy dose of criminality that
have had in mind was his promise that if
was afforded a thin veneer of religious justification.
law enforcement came after him, there
would be a reckoning.
Abdullah saw the world as sharply divided
in a struggle between good and evil. He understood
those concepts not in racial terms, but rather saw
Abdullah at one point suggested that perhaps
Islam as good and the forces of disbelief as the evil
small Islamic states could separate from the U.S., “like
that must be opposed. To him the entire system of
the Amish and the Mormons in Utah.”20 Of course,
the United States was of the kuffar (infidels; singular,
neither the Amish nor the Mormons are actually
kafir). “The U.S. government,” he said, “is nothing
separate from the United States. Abdullah echoed
but Kuffars.”14 In October 2008, when the black
this theme of separatism in August 2008, stating
community was abuzz with excitement over Barack
that “just as states and cities are separate entities
Obama’s impending victory (as was the U.S. Muslim
under the U.S. Government, the members of Masjid
community writ large), Abdullah emphasized that an
Al Haqq are also a separate entity independent of the
Obama presidency would change nothing: “Obama
government under their own set of laws.”21 At other
is a Kafir. McCain, all the rest of them Kuffar, are
times Abdullah suggested that rather than separating,
Kuffars. You can’t make them a good Kafir, bad Kafir….
the Muslims should seize power. An FBI confidential
The premise of Allah, and Islam said, ‘the worst of
source stated that in a May 2009 sermon, Abdullah
[unintelligible], the worst Muslim is better than the
said his followers “should make America like Saudi
best Kafir.”15
Arabia, where the Muslims took control by fighting
and dying.”22
In the face of this corrupt, kafir system,
Abdullah insisted that violence was necessary. “[W]e
Abdullah expressed his approval for
should be trying to figure out how to fight the Kuffar,”
transnational jihadi movements. He told his
he said. “You see, we need to figure out how to be a
followers in February 2009 that “they need to be
bullet.”16 He has also emphasized that “you cannot
with the Taliban, Hizballah, and with Sheikh bin
have a non-violent revolution.”17 In part, he taught
Laden.”23 This was based on his binary view of the
that violence was needed because the system was
world: that Muslims are the party of God, while all
conspiring against attempts to establish Islam. He
else is the party of the devil. He likewise gave one FBI
compared Washington to the Quraish, a Meccan tribe
source a CD that the source described as “pro-Taliban
that had viciously opposed the Prophet Muhammad
propaganda.”24
because his strict monotheism posed a challenge to
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A special place was reserved for law who were between ages 9 and 11, and “told them
enforcement in Abdullah’s teachings. He encouraged stories about his shooting people with a 9mm gun.”32
his followers to always be armed, even though many Surveillance also revealed that he had handguns
were convicted felons, to on him, even though this
prepare for a confrontation with was illegal because he was a
law enforcement. In April 2008 convicted felon.
he described law enforcement
as “being the devil and evil.”25 In addition to possessing
He also suggested to an FBI and training with firearms,
source that they should stalk Abdullah also expressed an
and kill FBI “super Agents.”26 interest in creating TNT-based
And in January 2009, Abdullah explosive material, which
told the same source that if they he believed one of the FBI
wanted a bullet proof vest, they informants could make for
should shoot a police officer him. Abdullah later expressed
in the head and take it. He an interest in C4 or another
proceeded to jump around the Masjid Al-Haqq type of explosive that could
room making shooting motions with his hands, while help him do “what he needed to do.”33
shouting “shoot cops in the head” and “pop, pop.”27
Abdullah helped arrange for a new VIN for a
One thing the agents and officers charged truck that he believed to be stolen. He even justified
with arresting Abdullah must have had in mind was this on religious grounds, arguing it was a form of jihad
his promise that if law enforcement came after him, “because the kuffar would harm them if they were to
there would be a reckoning. At one point he said that get caught.”34 Likewise, Abdullah provided religious
if law enforcement tried to arrest him, it would be sanction for an arson orchestrated by Ummah
worse than Waco—“a straight up war.”28 He also said: member Mohammad Abdul Bassir: in order to collect
“These pigs don’t even know, their department will insurance money, Bassir hired his neighbor’s nephew
have a bad day when they deal with me.”29 to burn down his house while he was working as a DJ
at a cabaret (and thus had an alibi).35
Criminal Activities
Based on this pattern of criminal activity,
Though there are several disturbing aspects as well as several mosque members’ expressions
to Abdullah’s teachings and ideology, this was not of willingness to fence stolen merchandise, the FBI
a terrorism case. Rather, the criminal complaint obtained the necessary approval to conduct a Group
describes a pattern of criminal activity culminating I Undercover Operation. The operation was designed
in a major undercover operation. to give members of Masjid Al-Haqq the opportunity
to fence merchandise that they believed to be stolen.
Some of this criminality involved crimes of At first Abdullah gave religious sanction to these acts,
violence by Abdullah and his followers. One FBI source insisting repeatedly that he should be given one fifth
testified that he saw Muhammad Abdul Salaam, who of the proceeds because “they need to keep Allah first,”
is believed to be Masjid Al-Haqq’s First Emir, murder and by giving 20% to Abdullah “the ‘dirty’ money is
a person whom he thought had killed his brother.30 purified.”36 Later, he became more directly involved
Abdullah loved to boast about murdering people. In in the process. Overall, the undercover operation
May 2009 he visited another al-Ummah mosque in featured ten transactions, with the merchandise
Montgomery, Alabama, and prior to a study session that Masjid Al-Haqq members were involved in
that he was to lead he told the attendees about his fencing including stolen furs, laptop computers, LCD
experiences shooting other people. Abdullah, quite television sets, and loads of cigarettes.
animated, illustrated how their bodies reacted when
shot.31 At another al-Ummah mosque in Gainesville,
Georgia, Abdullah sat with the imam’s children,
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Controversy Subject Fatally Shot During Arrest,” Oct. 28, 2009.
7. Canwest News Service, Nov. 2, 2009.
Following Abdullah’s death, some American 8. Leone, Criminal Complaint, ¶ 67.
Muslim organizations jumped into the fray. MANA, 9. Richard Brent Turner, Islam in the African-American Experience
for example, issued a press release: (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2nd ed. 2003), p. 233.
10. Steven Barboza, American Jihad: Islam After Malcolm X (New
York: Doubleday, 1994), p. 48.
To those who have worked with Imam Luqman
11. Leone, Criminal Complaint, ¶ 13.
A. Abdullah, allegations of illegal activity,
12. Ibid., ¶ 5.
resisting arrest, and “offensive jihad against
13. MANA, “The FBI Raid and Shooting Death of Imam Luqman.”
the American government” are shocking and
Abdullah is listed as a member of MANA’s majlis ash-shura on its
inconsistent. In his ministry he consistently
web site. See http://www.mana-net.org/subpage.php?ID=about
advocated for the downtrodden and always
(accessed Nov. 16, 2009).
spoke about the importance of connecting
14. Leone, Criminal Complaint, ¶ 22.
with the needs of the poor…. We urge the
15. Ibid., ¶ 18.
Muslim community and all Americans
16. Ibid.
committed to justice to actively monitor both
17. Ibid. See also ibid. ¶ 24, in which Abdullah states: “We are
the investigation and trial of the accused.37
going to have to fight against the Kafir.”
18. Ibid., ¶¶ 20, 37.
The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights
19. H. Rap Brown, Die Nigger Die! (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books,
and Elections (AMT), a coalition of major U.S.-
1969), p. 135. For examples of Brown’s endorsement of the
based Islamic organizations, has also called for an
need for revolutionary action, without a specific revolutionary
independent investigation into the shooting that
program, see pp. 128-29. Another intellectual thread that the
“makes[s] public the exact circumstances in which
Brown in his black nationalist days and Abdullah had in common
he died.”38 The AMT is an umbrella organization
is the idea that necessary change could only be obtained through
that includes such groups as the American Muslim
“long, protracted, bloody, brutal and violent wars with our
Alliance (AMA), American Muslims for Palestine
oppressors.” Ibid., p. 128.
(AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations
20. Leone, Criminal Complaint, ¶ 22.
(CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), and
21. Ibid., ¶ 41.
MAS-Freedom.
22. Ibid., ¶ 61. Abdullah also stated in this sermon “that they hate
the Jews and that God hates the Jews.” Ibid.
23. Ibid., ¶ 48.
1. Quoted in Gary Leone, Criminal Complaint, United States v.
24. Ibid., ¶ 53.
Abdullah, No. 2:09-MJ-30436 (E.D. Mich., Oct. 27, 2009), ¶ 11.
25. Ibid., ¶ 29.
2. Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), “The FBI Raid and
26. Ibid., ¶ 25.
Shooting Death of Imam Luqman,” Oct. 29, 2009.
27. Ibid., ¶ 47.
3. Leone, Criminal Complaint, ¶ 5.
28. Ibid., ¶ 38.
4. Unlike a Group II Undercover Operation, which can be
29. Ibid., ¶ 45.
approved by the Special Agent in Charge in the relevant FBI field
30. Ibid., ¶ 92.
office along with the local U.S. Attorney, a Group I Undercover
31. Ibid., ¶ 66.
Operation requires “painstaking planning, substantial amounts
32. Ibid., ¶ 70.
of documentation, lots of coordination, and minute review
33. Ibid., ¶ 65.
by a panel of senior FBI Headquarters and Department of
34. Ibid., ¶ 33.
Justice officials.” Joseph W. Koletar, The FBI Career Guide: Inside
35. Ibid., ¶¶ 85-88.
Information on Getting Chosen for and Succeeding in One of the
36. Ibid., ¶ 149.
Toughest, Most Prestigious Jobs in the World (New York: AMACOM,
37. MANA, “The FBI Raid and Shooting Death of Imam Luqman.”
2006), p. 77.
38. American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections,
5. Paul Egan, “Detroit Mosque Leader Killed in FBI Raids,” Detroit
Press Release, “Coalition Calls for Probe into FBI Shooting Death
News, Oct. 28, 2009.
of Imam,” Oct. 30, 2009.
6. See U.S. Department of Justice, Press Release, “11 Members/
Associates of Ummah Charged with Federal Violations; One
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jamil al-amin on the name Rap because of his “ability to talk,” and
even claimed that rap music was named after him.3
the former h. rap brown
We could not, however, find any credible sources
to corroborate this claim. Prior to his conversion
to Islam, al-Amin did rap (“signifyin”),4 often in a
boisterous and sexually explicit tone:
I’m sweet peeter jeeter the womb beater
The baby maker the cradle shaker
The deerslayer the buckbinder the women finder…
I’m the bed tucker the cock plucker the motherfucker
The milkshaker the record breaker the population maker
The gun-slinger the baby bringer
The hum-dinger the pussy ringer
The man with the terrible middle finger.5
In 1967, at age 23, H. Rap Brown became the
The criminal complaint against Luqman
chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Abdullah and his associates states that when al-
Committee (SNCC). He was preceded in this position
Ummah succeeds in establishing a “separate,
by Stokely Carmichael. Rep. John Lewis (D.-Ga.),
sovereign Islamic state,” they intend for it to be led
who had once chaired SNCC, recalled: “Some people
by Jamil al-Amin, who is currently serving a life
thought that Stokely was too moderate. But after they
sentence after being convicted of shooting two police
asked Rap, Stokely told me: ‘This is a bad cat. They’re
officers.1 Further underscoring al-Amin’s importance
going to wish they had me back.’”6
to the movement, an al-Ummah mosque, Atlanta’s
Community Masjid, still lists him as its leader despite
his incarceration.2 This article explores al-Amin’s Brown, a towering figure at 6-foot-5 and
a naturally gifted athlete, did indeed generate
background, and how the framework for al-Ummah’s
enormous controversy. He had a notable ability to
ideology was built.
package revolutionary slogans in a pithy, memorable
way; his most famous such statement held that
Al-Amin, the former H. Rap Brown, made
“violence … is as American as cherry pie.”
the transition from black nationalist firebrand to
nationally prominent Sunni imam. In the 1960s, he
In July 1967, Brown delivered a fiery speech in
issued scathing indictments of America and called
Cambridge, Maryland, saying: “This town is ready to
for violent revolution. After his conversion to Islam,
explode … if you don’t have guns, don’t be here … you
al-Amin adopted a more measured tone in his
have to be ready to die.”7 After a school and two city
societal criticism, but remained attached to the idea
blocks burned the next morning, he was charged with
of revolution. Though he focused on a more inward-
incitement to riot. A supporter of Brown’s described
looking revolution, one that would transform his
the legal maneuvering that followed as “Kafkaesque,”
community morally, al-Amin continued to believe
writing: “It seemed like every few months he would be
that the system writ large was sick and broken.
hauled into court in a new jurisdiction on a different
Some analysts have questioned how far al-Amin
charge and held under an oppressively large bond….
truly progressed from the violent ideals that he once
Rap would eventually come out and in a matter of
openly proclaimed.
days be reported somewhere else making even more
‘incendiary’ utterances and be back in custody, there
H. Rap Brown
to begin the dismal cycle all over again.”8
Jamil al-Amin was born Hubert Gerold Brown
Brown’s militant orientation, though, was never
in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Oct. 4, 1943, and was
in question. He was critical to SNCC’s decision to
known during the late 1960s as H. Rap Brown. (He did
renounce non-violence and remove the word “Non-
not adopt the moniker of al-Amin until his jailhouse
Violent” from its name, and its ill-fated attempt to
conversion to Islam in 1971). He has said that he took
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merge with the Black Panther Party.9 Brown was Brown continues: “This country is the world’s slop
named the Panthers’ Minister of Justice; and though jar. America’s very existence offends me…. The animal
he was only a Panther for five months or so, “it that is america [sic] must be destroyed.”13
remains the tie for which he is best known.”10 In 1969
Brown published his political memoir, Die Nigger Die! Despite these commonalities, Brown does
not come across well in his own book. For one thing,
Malcolm X was a towering figure within the there is his anti-intellectualism, something he did
black nationalist movement whose autobiography not abandon as an imam. Explaining his refusal to
is regarded as a literary classic. A comparison of study Shakespeare, for example, he rattles off several
his book with Brown’s is interesting both for the bawdy verses from games of dozens (a competition
commonalities they share, and the differences. One that is part of the African-American oral tradition
commonality that Brown’s book has with Malcolm wherein two competitors go head-to-head in often
X’s, in light of Brown’s later conversion to Islam, is its coarse trash talk): “I fucked your mama / For a solid
critique of Christianity as a tool of racial subjugation. hour. / Baby came out / Screaming, Black Power.”
In the book’s first chapter, Brown writes: After three such verses, he triumphantly concludes:
“And the teacher expected me to sit up in class and
White nationalism divides history into two study poetry after I could run down shit like that. If
parts, B.C. and A.D.—before the white man’s anybody needed to study poetry, she needed to study
religion and after it. And “progress,” of course, mine.”14
is considered to have taken place only after
the white man’s religion came into being. The A more serious flaw is that Brown leaves his
implication is evident: God is on the white experiences with racism nebulous. This is different
man’s side, for white Jesus was the “son” of from Malcolm X’s book, the first sentence of which
God.11 describes his mother being intimidated by hooded Ku
Klux Klan riders while pregnant with Malcolm,15 and
which provides enough richness of experience that
the reader can empathize with how he was driven
to extreme conclusions. In contrast, some of Brown’s
examples of discrimination seem petty and contrived.
He writes that he “began to see where ‘the man’ was
at” while employed as a neighborhood worker with
“the poverty program.” The program apparently
sought to financially incentivize good performance;
but to Brown, this exposed the sinister stratagems of
“the man.” He wrote: “It was the whole trick of the
stick and the carrot in front of the mule. If you do
a better job than this other dude, then you get this
carrot.”16
Brown at a SNCC news conference, 1967

Despite the dubious nature of many of
Brown also sarcastically refers to how whites Brown’s complaints, the reality of racism—pervasive,
try to “[c]ivilize the savage through Christianity,” and often deadly racism—was undeniable during this
states that one of the problems a black child has is that period. Just as undeniable is the fact that Brown was
“the big white world … forces a white God and a white personally stung by it. Yet his attitude in Die Nigger
Jesus on him and has him worshipping somebody Die! seems to be that this justifies virtually anything
that doesn’t even look like him.”12 Also like Malcolm X, on his part: Brown writes of his open insubordination
Brown believes that the U.S. is flawed to its very core, toward every employer he had before SNCC,
beyond redemption. He writes that it “represents assuming the reader will side with him because they
everything that humans have suffered from,” and the were his employers, rather than showing any kind of
fact of its existence “appals [sic] most of mankind.” injustice or racism on their part. He feels justified in
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threatening whites physically, or lying about them to first year in Atlanta al-Amin “opened a one-room store
their managers; and he endorses the idea of collective across from West End Park, and in that neighborhood
racial guilt, stating that after some whites attacked a of danger and drugs became an imam.”24 Indeed, he
black man in Fort Deposit, Alabama, “I thought that helped clean up the neighborhood where he made
we should at least jack up 10 or 12 crackers.”17 Even his new home, something that both Muslim and
theft is justified under this worldview as an act of non-Muslim residents deeply appreciated. As West
“liberat[ing] food.”18 End resident Barbara Jordan told the Atlanta Journal
Constitution five years later, al-Amin’s followers “laid
Conversion to Islam the law down” when they confronted drug dealers
and other undesirable elements that were then
ubiquitous in the neighborhood.25
In March 1970, Brown skipped his trial date
for the Cambridge riot and disappeared for about 17
months. During his time on the run, the FBI placed
him on its Most Wanted List. He was apprehended
in 1972 after robbing the Red Carpet Lounge, a bar
in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Time reports that
Brown and his three accomplices “ordered about
25 customers to lie on the floor, assaulted some of
them, took their wallets and laid down a barrage of
fire as they left.”19 After leaving the bar, the robbers
were chased by six carloads of police. The ensuing
“running gun battle” left two policemen injured, and
resulted in Brown being wounded by two shots to the
abdomen and ultimately captured.20 Though Brown’s
Community Masjid in Atlanta, at which al-Amin was the imam
standing declined after this because he “seemed
to have crossed the line between militant political
defiance and flat-out criminality,”21 some of his Al-Amin became the leader of Darul Islam/
supporters have attempted to justify the episode by al-Ummah, and multiple sources estimate that
arguing that the bar was targeted for its exploitation “approximately thirty branches in America and
of the local community. the Caribbean” fell under his leadership.26 Muslim
journalist Steven Barboza stated in 1994 that al-
Amin’s “followers are said to number around 10,000
Brown converted to Islam in 1971 while in
Muslims.”27 Al-Amin also cultivated relationships
prison, and adopted the new name Jamil al-Amin.
with a variety of nationally prominent Muslim
He later explained that he found Islam through the
organizations. He was elected Vice President of the
Darul Islam movement: “I was in prison in New York.
American Muslim Council in 1990, and became a
The Dar-ul-Islam movement had a prison program
member of the Bosnia Task Force, USA in 1992. He was
and brothers would come in to conduct juma and
later elected chairman of the Islamic Shura Council,
for dawah purposes.”22 Ihsan Bagby, who currently
an umbrella group that also included the secretary
is an associate professor of Islamic Studies at the
generals of the Islamic Society North America (ISNA)
University of Kentucky, told the Associated Press in
and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA).
2000 that “the Dar-ul Islam movement appealed to
Al-Amin and many other black militants because it
blended the rhetoric of black power with a call for The most comprehensive expression of al-
strict devotion to Islam.”23 Amin’s Islamic thought is his 1994 book Revolution
by the Book. The first five chapters are themed
around the five pillars of Islam—tawheed, prayer,
Islamic Activism and Ideology
zakat, fasting, and hajj. They make clear that al-Amin
is theologically situated within the Sunni tradition,
After leaving prison, al-Amin went on hajj to
and is not part of one of the quasi-Islamic movements
Mecca, then moved to Atlanta. In a 1995 profile of him,
that is more black nationalist than it is Muslim (such
the Atlanta Journal Constitution explained that in his
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as the Nation of Islam). You may be totally “out-of-pocket” in terms
of what you see or perceive after you drink
Al-Amin makes clear that he continues to chemicals.34
embrace revolutionary struggle, that his
To al-Amin, the U.S. Constitution is a
conversion to Islam was “a continuation
part of the problem by reinforcing secular
of a lifestyle” rather than a 180-degree
culture, being “diametrically opposed to
transformation. “See,” he explains, “most
what Allah has commanded upon us.” Its
people don’t have a true picture of what
concept of freedom is “unique,” blinding us
Islam is. Islam is not nonviolent. There is a
to “our relationship with our Creator” and
right to self-defense, and there is [a] right
thus blinding us “to true freedom.”35
to defend your faith. Allah says that fighting
is prescribed for you.”28 He argues that
Past revolutionary movements in
success in revolutionary struggle “requires
the United States failed because their
a spiritual consciousness,”29 and that the
understanding was limited. Al-Amin is
problem with social movements in the
particularly critical of the movements of
1990s was that they had been reduced to
the 1960s, of which he was a part. Though
sloganeering:
1960s era social movements “rebelled against the
unnatural way human beings were being treated,” the
It is criminal that, in the 1990’s, we still
revolution “was defused because it was not based on
approach struggle on the basis of sloganeering,
a Divine program. In many ways, it was itself artificial,
saying, “by any means necessary,” as if that’s a
based on man-made solutions and personal agendas,
program. Or, “we shall overcome,” as if that’s a
devoid of truth and sincerity.”36
program. Slogans are not programs.30
Al-Amin sees Islam a methodology for
What did al-Amin want to overthrow? Though
revolution, and the Prophet Muhammad’s life as “a
his tone was far more measured, he continued to see
clear blueprint for changing a society, for bringing
the entire system as overrun by sickness. The cause
about revolutionary change even under the most
of the malady seemed to be secularism, “the distance
difficult conditions.”37 Much of what he advocates is
from the Word of God that keeps an individual in
inner struggle designed to remove ignorance, to help
darkness.”31 This is manifested in a polluted and
Muslims curb their appetite. “The Qur’an,” he writes,
degraded natural environment, and citizens who
“is either an argument for you or against you. Islam is
pollute and degrade themselves. This occurs even in
a cutting force; it is a vanguard movement that sets a
the diet, wherein preservatives and the hormones
standard for people.”38
we give to animals disrupt the digestive process.
Moreover, al-Amin claims that when males eat these
Conclusion
hormones, “the male begins to take on feminine
characteristics. He takes on an affinity for feminine
Throughout the 1990s, al-Amin was seen by
things. He wants to pierce his ears, he wants to get
many who knew him as having changed from violent
manicures.”32
to non-violent revolutionary, from focusing on the
outward struggle to the inward one. As Nation of
“If a person takes LSD, he might hallucinate,”
Islam spokesman Wendell Muhammad told the local
al-Amin writes.33 But noting the artificiality of Tang,
press: “He did a 180-degree turn on that. He was the
al-Amin likens the breakfast drink to LSD:
epitome of the peace of Islam.”39 However, there were
I often think of Tang, the breakfast drink that clues that this was not the entire picture of Jamil al-
they have out there for you to buy. Tang does Amin. Some of these clues came from his followers. In
not have even one natural ingredient in it. Not the criminal complaint filed in the Luqman Abdullah
even one. It is a totally chemical drink that is case, for example, Mohammad Abdul Bassir told an
flavored with a chemical orange flavor, that is FBI source that “he learned from Jamil Al-Amin that
sweetened by processed sugar. And when you one does not have to appear angry in order to let
consume it, there has to be some effect on you.
9 www.defenddemocracy.org/ctr
ctr vantage the luqman abdullah shooting
somebody know that you would kill them.”40 20. Ibid.
21. Thelwell, “Foreword,” p. xxiv.
The biggest clue, of course, is his 2002 22. Barboza, American Jihad, p. 49
conviction for shooting two police officers in Georgia, 23. Justin Bachman, “Who is Al-Amin?,” Associated Press, May 12,
one of whom died. Following the shooting, al-Amin 2000.
was again on the run, again placed on the FBI’s Most 24. David Kindred, “Imam Jamil Al-Amin Has No Regrets,” Atlanta
Wanted List, and eventually arrested in White Hall, Journal Constitution, Aug. 16, 1995.
Alabama. He is now serving a life sentence at the 25. John Blake, “Mosque a Stabilizing Influence,” Atlanta Journal
Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Constitution, Mar. 17, 2000.
26. E.g., Richard Brent Turner, Islam in the African-American
Experience (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2nd ed.
His supporters maintain his innocence to this
2003), p. 233.
day, and there are web sites dedicated to freeing Jamil
27. Steven Barboza, American Jihad: Islam After Malcolm X (New
al-Amin. He will continue to be regarded as a leader
York: Doubleday, 1994), p. 48.
within al-Ummah, and his imprisonment one of the
28. Jamil al-Amin, Revolution by the Book: The Rap is Live
perceived injustices around which its members rally.
(Beltsville, MD: Writers’ Inc., 1994), p. xvi.
29. Ibid., p. 6.
30. Ibid., p. 119.
31. Ibid., p. 103.
1. Gary Leone, Criminal Complaint, United States v. Abdullah, No.
32.. Ibid., p. 47.
2:09-MJ-30436 (E.D. Mich., Oct. 27, 2009), ¶ 5.
33. Ibid., p. 56.
2. This statement can be found at http://communitymasjid.org/
34. Ibid.
home.html (accessed Nov. 18, 2009).
35. Ibid., p. 126.
3. Quoted in Steven Barboza, American Jihad: Islam After Malcolm
36. Ibid., p. 153.
X (New York: Image/Doubleday, 1994), p. 49.
37. Ibid., p. 10.
4. “Signifyin occurs when one makes an indirect statement about
38. Ibid., p. 144.
a situation or another person; the meaning is often allusive and,
39. Blake, “Mosque a Stabilizing Influence.”
in some cases, indeterminate.” Cheryl L. Keyes, Rap Music and
40. Leone, Criminal Complaint, United States v. Abdullah, ¶ 85.
Street Consciousness (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press,
2002), p. 24. “[S]torytelling, ritualized games” like signifyin and the
dozens “provided a foundation for rap.” Ibid.
5. H. Rap Brown, Die Nigger Die! (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books,
The Darul Islam Movement
1969), p. 27.
in the United States
6. Richard Lezin Jones, “Conflicting Images of a Former Panther,”
Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar. 22, 2000.
7. Quoted in Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, “Foreword,” in Die
Nigger Die! (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2002), p. xx. The 1960s were a time of great social upheaval
8. Ibid., p. xxi. in the U.S. Within the African-American Muslim
9. R. Robin McDonald, “Spiritual Ministry Replaces Rhetoric from population, young organizations trumpeted
Earlier Era,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, Aug. 9, 1995. separation from mainstream American culture. Of
10. Jones, “Conflicting Images of a Former Panther.” these groups, Darul Islam “was the largest indigenous
11. Brown, Die Nigger Die!, p. 4. Muslim group until W. Deen Mohammed transformed
12. Ibid., pp. 14, 47. the Nation into a more inclusive Sunni Islam.”1 This
13. Ibid., p. 135. article explores the evolution of Darul Islam.
14. Ibid., p. 26.
15. Malcolm X with Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X The Islamic Mission to America and Darul Islam’s
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1964), p. 1. Founding
16. Brown, Die Nigger Die!, p. 75.
17. Ibid., p. 93.
Darul Islam’s founding members came from the
18. Ibid.
Islamic Mission of America, which was founded in
19. “Cherry Pie,” Time, Oct. 25, 1971.
1924 by Sheikh Daoud Ahmed Faisal and based out
10 www.defenddemocracy.org/ctr