Abdullah el-Faisal
| Abdullah el-Faisal | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Trevor William Forrest 10 September 1963 Saint James Parish, Jamaica |
| Nationality | Jamaican |
| Other names | Abdullah al-Faisal, Sheikh Faisal, Sheik Faisal |
| Occupation | Cleric |
| Criminal charge | Under the Offences against the Person Act 1861 with soliciting the murder of Jews, Americans, Christians, and Hindus, and using threatening words to stir up racial hatred in English- and Arabic-language tapes of speeches to his followers |
| Criminal penalty | Nine years in prison |
| Criminal status | Released (25 May 2007); deported |
| Spouse(s) | Two currently; one of whom is Zubeida Khan |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Merlyn Forrest (mother); Lorenzo Forrest (father) |
| Conviction(s) | 24 February 2003 |
Abdullah el-Faisal (born Trevor William Forrest, also known as Abdullah al-Faisal, Sheikh Faisal, Sheik Faisal, and Imam Al-Jamaikee, born 10 September 1963) is a Muslim cleric who preached in the United Kingdom until he was convicted of stirring up racial hatred and urging his followers to murder Jews, Hindus, Christians, and Americans.
El-Faisal was sentenced to nine years in prison, of which he served four years before being deported to Jamaica in 2007. He subsequently traveled to Africa, but was deported from Botswana in 2009 and from Kenya back to Jamaica in January 2010. El-Faisal is a Salafi.
El-Faisal was born in Saint James Parish to an evangelical Christian family which belonged to the Salvation Army church, a Christian denomination. He grew up in the small farming village of Point, about 14 miles (23 km) from the city of Montego Bay, in upper St. James, Jamaica. He attended Springfield All-Age, then Maldon Primary and Junior High. At age 16, he converted to Islam, after being introduced to the religion by a teacher at Maldon High School.
He began using the name Abdullah el-Faisal shortly after graduating Maldon in 1980, and changed it legally in 1983. In 1981 in Trinidad, he took a six-week course in Islamic and Arabic studies sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government. He left Jamaica in 1983 for Guyana where he studied Arabic and Islam for a year. He then moved to Saudi Arabia where he studied at Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Muhammad university of Riyadh and then moved to the UK later in the 1980s.
Starting in 1984, El-Faisal studied Islam for seven years on a Saudi government scholarship at the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
El-Faisal was sent to the United Kingdom to preach by Sheikh Raji. He returned to the UK in 1991, became the imam at the Salafi Brixton Mosque in South London, began preaching to crowds of up to 500 people at the mosque and at Brixton Town Hall. He married his second wife, Pakistani-British biology graduate Zubeida Khan whom he met months after his arrival, in 1992, thereby acquiring rights of residence. This meant he had two wives, as his first marriage was still extant. In 1993, el-Faisal was ejected by Brixton Mosque's administration who objected to his radical preaching.
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