They killed a good Muslim

DETROIT (AP) � Federal authorities on Wednesday arrested several members of a radical Sunni Islam group in the U.S., killing one of its leaders at a shootout in a Michigan warehouse, the U.S. attorney�s office said.

Agents were trying to arrest Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, at a Dearborn warehouse on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms. Authorities also conducted raids elsewhere to try to round up 10 followers named in a federal complaint.

No one was charged with terrorism. But Abdullah was �advocating and encouraging his followers to commit violent acts against the United States,� FBI agent Gary Leone said in an affidavit filed with the 43-page criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday.

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said Abdullah refused to surrender, fired a weapon and was killed by gunfire from agents.

In the complaint, the FBI said Abdullah, also known as Christopher Thomas, was an imam, or prayer leader, of a radical group named Ummah whose primary mission is to establish an Islamic state within the United States. He told them it was their �duty to oppose the FBI and the government and it does not matter if they die,� Leone said.

Abdullah regularly preached anti-government rhetoric and was trained, along with his followers, in the use of firearms, martial arts and swords, the agent said.

Leone said members of the national group mostly are black and some converted to Islam while in prisons across the United States. �Abdullah preaches that every Muslim should have a weapon, and should not be scared to use their weapon when needed,� Leone wrote.

Seven of the 10 people charged with Abdullah were in custody, including a state prison inmate, the U.S. attorney�s office said. Three were still at large. Another man not named in the complaint also was arrested.

The group believes that a separate Islamic state in the U.S. would be controlled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, who is serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Colorado for shooting two police officers in Georgia in 2000, Leone said. Al-Amin, a veteran of the black power movement, started the group after he converted to Islam in prison.

�They�re not taking their cues from overseas,� said Jimmy Jones, a professor of world religions at Manhattanville College and a longtime Muslim prison chaplain. �This group is very much American born and bred.�

The movement at one time was believed to include a couple of dozen mosques around the country. Ummah is now dwarfed in numbers and influence by other African-American Muslim groups, particularly the mainstream Sunnis who were led by Imam W.D. Mohammed, who recently died. By evening, authorities still were working the scene near the Detroit-Dearborn border and the warehouse was surrounded by police tape. The U.S. attorney�s office said an FBI dog was also killed during the shootout. Abdullah�s mosque is in a brick duplex on a quiet, residential street in Detroit. A sign on the door in English and Arabic reads, in part, �There is no God but Allah.�

Several men congregated on the porch Wednesday night and subsequently attacked a photographer a Detroit newspaper who was taking pictures from across the street. Ricardo Thomas had his camera equipment smashed and had a bloody lip from the attack. Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Dearborn, said the FBI had briefed him about Wednesday�s raids and told him they were the result of a two-year investigation. �We know that this is not something to be projected as something against Muslims,� Hamad said.

Salams,everytime you say something that against the government you are concidered "radical".Well im radical by there definition if I dont like the government, if I speak out about injustice by the government,This incident is not the first in U.S. history there are many.Imam Luqman gave strong Kutbahs on establishing an Islamic State for the Ummah,He loved his community,he loved Islam.May Allah protect us from those who have no real authority on us.May Allah give him Jannah.May Allah Bless our Ummah.

Edited by Akhe Abdullah - 29 October 2009 at 11:09am

Wa Alaikum As Salam Sister Martha.Im toar up about it,Also they paint such a negative picture of him.When ever he would make the hour drive from Detroit,MI to Flint,MI where I live and give a Kutbah,(Alhamduillah)he really makes you feel so good about being Muslim especially African American Muslim because we were as many is lost people confused,I never heard him say commit violent acts against the government,He very much gave his Kutbah based on Qur'an and Sunnah.May Allah Bless his love ones and ease there pain.May Allah give him Jannah

Regan also questions how an informant could watch his father feed the hungry from the Clairmount Street mosque each week, and believe that his more radical statements weren�t just hyperbole.

�My father is a great guy, but I want to be honest � he was from the '60s,� he said. �He did carry a gun � he�d been shot at three times. My father, he spoke his mind. He spoke out against injustice. And when people speak through emotion, they record that and use it against them.�

Edited by abuayisha - 29 October 2009 at 1:43pm