Editing Anjem Choudary (section)

==Views==
Choudary referred to the 11 September 2001 terrorists as "magnificent martyrs".<ref name=WTC/> In 2003 he said that al-Muhajiroun would "encourage people to fulfil their Islamic duties and responsibilities", although he also said that the group was a political movement and not responsible for individual actions. In 2004 he said that a terror attack on British soil was "a matter of time". He refused to condemn the 7 July 2005 London bombings, but accused the Muslim Council of Britain (who had) of "selling their souls to the devil". He blamed the 2013 [[murder]] of Lee Rigby, an off-duty British soldier murdered by Islamic extremists [[Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale]], on British foreign policy and declared that Rigby would "burn in Hell".<ref>[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2335575/Anjem-Choudary-fresh-vile-rant-Lee-Rigby-burn-hellfire-Muslim.html Hate preacher Anjem Choudary in fresh vile rant: 'Lee Rigby will burn in hellfire because he was not a Muslim... but accused Adebolajo is a nice man'], ''The Daily Mail''</ref>

Choudary has voiced support for the Muslim community in Somalia, who, he claims, have been "violated" by Christian-backed Ethiopians, and has also called for other members to fight jihad.

''The Wall Street Journal'' describes Choudary as a supporter of "the fundamentalist strain of Islamic teaching known as Salafism". He believes in the primacy of Islam over all other faiths, and the implementation of Sharia Law, in its entirety, in the UK. In 2001 he stated that his allegiance is to Islam, and not a country. He believes that, for a true Muslim, "a British passport is no more than a travel document." In October 2006 he addressed an audience at Trinity College, Dublin to oppose the motion that "This house believes that Islamist violence can never be justified". In February 2008 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, commented that "as a matter of fact certain provisions of sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law". Choudary responded by saying that Sharia "has to be adopted wholesale", and that "it will come either by embracing Islam because it is the fastest growing religion in the country, or by an Islamic country conquering Britain or by elements embracing Islam and imposing it."

In 2008 he spoke of the "flag of Sharia" flying over Downing Street by 2020, claimed that some Muslim families in east London were having "10 or 12 children each", and that hundreds were converting to Islam each day. Choudary has spoken against elements of the Christian faith. In December 2008 he posted a sermon on an Islamic website, in which he stated: "Every Muslim has a responsibility to protect his family from the misguidance of Christmas, because its observance will lead to hellfire. Protect your Paradise from being taken away – protect yourself and your family from Christmas".

In an interview with Iran's Press TV (which was subsequently posted online on 11 April 2013), Choudary stated "As Muslims, we reject democracy, we reject secularism, and freedom, and human rights. We reject all of the things that you espouse as being ideals ... There is nothing called a republic in Islam. When we talk about the shari'a, we are talking about only the shari'a. We are talking about rejecting the U.N., the IMF, and the World Bank."

In 2013 the British pressure group Hope not Hate presented a report which identified Choudary as "a serious player on the international Islamist scene", saying that although there was no evidence that he was directly responsible for instigating any terrorist plots, "he helped shape the mindset of many of those behind them" and "through his networks linked them up to terror groups and supporters across the world."<ref>[https://www.bing.com/search?q=hope+not+hate+anjem+choudary&cvid=264a0b63b6594e39819f4219d7e4e802&aqs=edge..69i57.9972j0j4&FORM=ANAB01&PC=HCTS Anjem Choudary: the UK’s most dangerous extremist], ''Hope not Hate''</ref> Choudary dismissed the claims as "fanciful", saying that if they were true, UK security services would have arrested him.

In September 2014, Choudary described [[Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi]], leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as "the caliph of all Muslims and the prince of the believers". This was in a video in which he pledged allegiance to IS and performed the IS salute, for which he was later jailed.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37098751 Radical cleric Anjem Choudary guilty of inviting IS support], ''BBC News''</ref>

Secretly filmed by The Sun, Choudary said it is normal to take money from the kuffar (non-Muslim) and use it to fund jihad, which he called "Jihad Seeker's Allowance." Himself, he claimed more than £25,000 a year in benefits, £8,000 more than the take-home pay of some soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and totalling up to £500,000. Facing a court sentence for inciting terrorism, he wanted to move to the Islamic State, but explained that the reason was that it is a much better society in terms of welfare benefits and other factors.