Virtually Islamic Blog

Gary R. Bunt

'The Brighton Jihadists'

The Observer, The Brighton jihadists: bullied brothers who went into battle

"March had been the bloodiest month of the Syrian war with 6,000 deaths. Amer said it was obvious the ummah – the community of Muslims – needed defending. He said that every Muslim in the group, including the converts, had a duty. The gang agreed there was a need to fight back. One Islamic concept was starting to appeal: jihad.
"Over the summer he spent hours studying the cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who two years earlier had been killed in a US drone strike in Yemen’s tribal badlands. Al-Awlaki lived on in more than 70,000 YouTube videos, and part of his potency was that he preached in English. With no Arabic required, just internet access, it gave him enormous reach to Muslims in the west – and all those in the Brothers’ Gym."

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