al-Muhajiroun was a Salafi Islamist terrorist group that operated in the United Kingdom from 14 January 1986 to August 2005, when the British government banned the group. On 22 May 2013 they murdered fusilier Lee Rigby in their most infamous attack.
History[]
al-Muhajiroun was formed on 14 January 1986 with the goal of establishing public awareness about Islam, influencing public opinion in favor of sharia, convincing people that Islam was inherently political, re-establishing the Islamic caliphate, and uniting Muslims against threats to the ummah. It was led by Anjem Choudary and Omar Bakri Muhammad after its foundation 3 March 1983 in Mecca on the 59th aniversary of the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the last caliphate. Bakri was independent from Hizb ut-Tahrir when he founded the group, and on 14 January 1986 the group arrived in the United Kingdom after Saudi Arabia banned the group; Bakri left in 1996 when the group's global leadership ousted him. The organization trained members in militant camps, leading to the UK banning the group in March 2001, and Abu Hamza al-Masri created the Islamic Council of Britain to implement sharia law in Britain, working with al-Muhajiroun. On 13 October 2004 the group disbanded, banned by Prime Minister Tony Blair. In 2005 Bakri was banned from the United Kingdom, and in June 2009 it was reformed as Islam4UK. The group operated a Lahore safehouse for visiting British Muslims, and Michael Adebolajo attended their meetings and protests before murdering fusilier Lee Rigby in 2013.