Islamic group's motives debated

Scholar, FBI disagree on whether group advocates violence

Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News

Detroit --Federal agents and a prominent Muslim scholar agree: The brand of Islam practiced by an imam killed in a gunfight with FBI agents was anti-government and anti-establishment.

But authorities and Muslim leaders disagree on whether Luqman Ameen Abdullah's brand of Sunni Islam advocated the violent overthrow of government or merely worked to improve the downtrodden.

The debate is raging after the imam of the Masjid Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit was shot by agents Wednesday during a raid of a Dearborn warehouse. FBI agents say he was killed after opening fire.

In a federal complaint, Abdullah, 53, is labeled the local leader of a predominantly black Muslim group called "Ummah" or the brotherhood, who sought a separate state within the United States governed by Sharia law.

"This is a very hybrid, radical ideology," said Andrew Arena, special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit. "Mainstream Muslim groups would not recognize this ideology with what they view their faith is."Nationally, Ummah is led by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown. Al-Amin, who is in prison for the murder of two police officers in Georgia, is a former Black Panther leader.

Ihsan Bagby of the Muslim Alliance in North America agreed the Ummah is anti-government, but disputed the group advocates violence.

"They always have advocated for establishing Muslim communities," Bagby, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky who has written extensively on mosques in Detroit and nationwide.

"They have worked in various cities to establish a mosque that is a hub and influences the neighborhood in an Islamic fashion." He took issue with the government's characterization of Abdullah as "a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group" and said he is shocked by such "hateful rhetoric."

dnichols@detnews.com (313) 222-2359