Abu Hamza al-Masri: what Wikipedia removed
An Egyptian-born cleric and former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in London, now incarcerated in a US federal prison. The 2010 opening described his preaching of “a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism.” The word survives once in the article today but is gone from the opening, which now says he “preached Islamic fundamentalist views.” A reader today learns he held fundamentalist views, and not that the opening once named that preaching militant Islamism or jihadism.
The word “militant” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 1. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| militant | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| terror | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| islamist | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| jihad | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- The description of his preaching as militant Islamism or jihadism is gone from the opening, replaced with Islamic fundamentalist views.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2005 (revision 16064533):
File:38707025 hamza 300.jpg Abu Hamza al-Masri Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri (born 15 April 1958 ) is a fundamentalist Islamic cleric and one of the most distinctive radical Islamic figures in the United Kingdom . Condemned by many Muslims as too extreme, he denies any involvement in terrorism . His Finsbury Park Mosque has been linked with Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid .
2025 (revision 1296382210):
Egyptian-born British Islamist terrorist incarcerated in a US federal prison In this Arabic name , the name “al-Masri” is a laqab , not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given names “Abu Hamza” or “Hamza” (but never “Abu”). Mustafa Kamel Mustafa ( Arabic : مصطفى كامل مصطفى ; born 15 April 1958), also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri ( / ˈ ɑː b uː ˈ h ɑː m z ə ɑː l ˈ m ɑː s r i / ; أبو حمزة المصري , Abū Ḥamzah al-Maṣrī – literally, father of Hamza, the Egyptian ), or simply Abu Hamza , is an Egyptian cleric who was the imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in London , where he preached Islamic fundamentalist views. The UK tabloid press nicknamed him “Captain Hook” in allusion to th…
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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