While the U.S. mourns its 3,000 victims of 9/11 in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania, some Moslem groups are celebrating. The United Kingdom-based Islamist organization al-Muhajiroun is marking the anniversary of the horrific September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with an event entitled "The Magnificent 19," after doing the same last year with "A Towering Day in History."
Al-Muhajiroun was founded by Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, who moved to London in 1986 after being expelled from Saudi Arabia. It now claims 30 offices across Britain, and has branches in Pakistan, Algeria, France and throughout the Middle East. British media report that al-Muhajiroun was linked to attempts to recruit British Muslims to fight in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and to British suicide bombers who struck a pub in Israel this year.
Last year's Muhajiroun 9/11 event, held at Finsbury mosque in north London, led to the removal of the mosque's religious cleric, Abu Hamza. This year, the organization placed posters around Birmingham with images of the Twin Towers aflame, a smiling Osama Bin Laden, and the faces of the 19 hijackers who perpetrated the attacks. The "commemoration," as the organization's literature calls it, was to include "a public invitation to all non-Muslims to embrace Islam so that they will be safe..." and will "examine the driving force and motivation of the 19 men who partook in the [9/11] operation..."
The event was suddenly postponed, according to an al-Muhajiroun announcement, "due to unforeseeable difficulties, including cancellations of venues..." Instead, the Islamists held an "introduction to the Magnificent 19 Conference" last night elsewhere in London.
Al-Muhajiroun was founded by Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, who moved to London in 1986 after being expelled from Saudi Arabia. It now claims 30 offices across Britain, and has branches in Pakistan, Algeria, France and throughout the Middle East. British media report that al-Muhajiroun was linked to attempts to recruit British Muslims to fight in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and to British suicide bombers who struck a pub in Israel this year.
Last year's Muhajiroun 9/11 event, held at Finsbury mosque in north London, led to the removal of the mosque's religious cleric, Abu Hamza. This year, the organization placed posters around Birmingham with images of the Twin Towers aflame, a smiling Osama Bin Laden, and the faces of the 19 hijackers who perpetrated the attacks. The "commemoration," as the organization's literature calls it, was to include "a public invitation to all non-Muslims to embrace Islam so that they will be safe..." and will "examine the driving force and motivation of the 19 men who partook in the [9/11] operation..."
The event was suddenly postponed, according to an al-Muhajiroun announcement, "due to unforeseeable difficulties, including cancellations of venues..." Instead, the Islamists held an "introduction to the Magnificent 19 Conference" last night elsewhere in London.