The Golden Child: Abu Usamah Ath-Thahabi

This is a cross-post from the Salafi Burnout blog

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The next entry into our rogue gallery is the one mockingly called “Goldie” by the late Abu Uwais Ahmed Abdullah Ali (May Allah have mercy upon him) Abu Usamah Khalifah Ath-Thahabi. Abu Usamah is a fast talking, intelligent and very talented individual (especially for manipulating women) that never lived up to his potential because of his love for the opposite sex and the ensuing scandals that caused a lot of brothers to distrust and in some cases to even hate him. His impulsive nature also caused him to bounce around a lot (New Jersey, England, Florida, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Peoria, England again). However along the way, he would marry a lot, and there are at least two women that have written in and confirmed to have had fully sexual relationships with him that were not his wife. He used his fame within salafi circles and position as Imam to swoon women.

His time here in Philly should have been a great match as an Imam was needed over at Germantown Masjid at the time and Abu Usamah seemed to be the perfect man for the job when he came in 1999. The Salafi Dawah was flourishing, Germantown Masjid had recently been taken over by the Salafis and all that was needed was a public face. Abu Usamah was the man for the job. However, it turned out to be a disaster when a brother in the community found out that Abu Usamah was exchanging sexually explicit emails with his wife and calling her when he wasn’t home. That was the tip of the iceberg as more stories came. He was also accused of regularly receiving and giving oral sex in the Islamic library (the Imam’s office) from some of the women in the community. One witness in Philly who wrote me said that he regularly performed oral sex on her as well as also exchanged explicit emails and had phone sex. This has been corroborated by others here in Philly. The old administration at the Germantown Masjid knows all of this information, but largely kept it quiet. They silently fired him “under a cloud of accusations and suspicion” but failed to warn other communities of the evil way that this man used his position of power over vulnerable women. In just two years he was forced to leave or be completely humiliated. Abu Usamah can not openly show his face in Philly to this day. And further, if he were to come to the US, he would have to take a que from Khalid Yasin and do it quietly, then run back to the UK for cover before anyone can find him and make a big deal about it.

Abu Usamah is a true narcissist as he once openly bragged to a group of brothers that he managed to hook up a marriage while he was leading a group of Hajjis. For those that are unaware, it is not permissible to get married during Hajj. No problem. He didn’t actually get married during the Hajj. He simply saw one of the women and noticed that she was “eyeing” him, so he inquired if she was single and “handled his business” after the Hajj. This incident demonstrates just what kind of man we are dealing with here. In constant pursuit of women and extreme selfishness. Many brothers who hung out with him noticed that being “Imam” or “daee” seemed to simply be a 9-5 job to him (which he was very good at). Many of us noticed that he just didn’t seem to live by his knowledge. He only lived by it inside the masjid and giving the classes. One brother even calls him “the entertainer” because that is how he seems to see himself. He comes and gives the class or khutbah, gets a rise out of the crowd, leaves and gets a pay check. In spite of railing against going to the movies and listening to music in his lectures, khutbahs and classes, he was known to personally engage in both. He was also known for breaking promises and to quote a variety of classical Islamic figures and use scholarly facts to back up his actions (or use them to obfuscate and hide his evil).

Another trait is that he is very calloused. He once remarked that he needed to “downsize” his family so he got rid of a couple of wives. One of his wives was crying every day and it was bothering him, so he sent her back to New Jersey so that he did not have to look at her cry anymore. So much for the ruling of the woman remaining in the man’s home! He had no regard for his wife at all. He needed to “downsize” and that was that.

As “imam”, he was also responsible for advising troubled women and would use this position to get close to them going as far as they were willing to go. Sometimes he would string women along with the promise of marriage only to get what he was after and flee. One witness reported in an email:

Well, I know now that he works on different levels according to the women. Also, that its not just about sex with him, some people he thrives on the conversation, the way they make him feel,etc..sex also but it is included amongst other things. This is how I was so thrown off.

He came to see me, he fed me a fantasy, to say the least. Years later, I still remember his visit like yesterday. He even met my parents, talked to my friends. By the end of the trip, I started sensing something, funny. He started to say stuff like, If I do decide to marry you, when at first, it was wallahi! (and the only thing preventing it was he needed to get a fatawa on my situation) he kept saying I gotta talk to some Sheikh. I know now, that, that would not have been that hard. Among the confusion of was he intending to marrry me or not, that is one thing that verified it for me. He used that as the only reason for not being able to marry me when we first started talking, so he knew that he had no intention on doing so, because he can talk to scholars easily, but he knew I didnt know about that. He was acting funny, some way he just left, he called, and told my mom that he made it, and after that, I heard nothing from him. Excuse my french, but he came, he f***** me and left. I also remember how he took me to get the morning after pill, and he made sure I took both doses. That also let me know where he was going.

She also said:

He had sex with me in his office, but that was just the beginning of that nonsense. I also have to say that, I know I had my role in this situation. I just dread that anyone would go through this, like I did. I was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. I can tell you that I am not the type of women to be beat for a man like that.

Unfortunately, he seems to be keeping this up as a source in the UK reports that as recently as a few months ago, Abu Usamah had sex with a Moroccan woman while visiting Dubai much like other “joyriders” who are known to see prostitutes there as well as in Egypt. With him being in the UK now, the good news is that no one else here in the US will be hurt, however, what of those in the UK?

I ask again. Is this the kind of leadership you want???