Luqman Ameen Abdullah was remembered as a caring man who followed the tenets of his faith as an imam, or prayer leader, of a small mosque north of downtown. Fellow imams said he was generous and a good brother, and no one mentioned the FBI’s claim that he had a violent, anti-government ideology. The FBI says Abdullah, 53, was fatally shot inside a suburban warehouse last Wednesday after firing at agents and resisting arrest. Agents wanted him on charges of weapons violations and conspiracy to sell stolen goods, one of 11 people named in a criminal complaint.
“We ask Allah to reward him with the promised reward of those who are martyred,” Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid of New York told mourners at the Muslim Center in Detroit.
As is custom, men sat on the floor, shoulder to shoulder, during the service, with women watching and listening in the rear of the large room. Prayers were given in Arabic and English during the 30-minute service.
Some speakers demanded an independent investigation of Abdullah’s death, saying the fatal shooting seemed excessive.
Imam Abdullah El-Amin asked people to decline to speak to reporters and avoid news cameras outside. No terrorism charges have been filed against Abdullah, formerly known as Christopher Thomas, or the 10 others accused in the complaint. According to the FBI, Abdullah was a leader of a national radical Sunni group that wants to create an Islamic state within the US Most members are black. That Islamic state, investigators said, would be ruled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, who is serving a life sentence for killing two Georgia police officers.
Abdullah’s mosque has dismissed as “utterly preposterous” the allegations that he was part of a radical group. Meanwhile, the last of the 11 defendants were arrested Saturday in Windsor, Ontario, where they live across the border from Detroit. Authorities said Mohammad Philistine, 33, and Yassir Ali Khan, 30, were taken into custody without incident.
