The newly appointed global leader of the Islamic State terror network abandoned his British wife and three children in the UK to pursue a violent jihadist vision, an investigation can reveal.
Abdul Qadir Mumin, now the supreme commander of ISIS, is currently based in a remote, mountainous region of northern Somalia, directing the group's worldwide terror campaign. He commands an estimated 1,200 hardened fighters from his hideout in the Cal Miskaad mountains of Puntland.
From Greenwich to Global Jihad: A UK Radicalisation Hub
Mumin's extraordinary connection to Britain stretches back years. He lived in the UK from approximately 2003 to 2010, during which time he married British Somali woman Muna Abdule in Leicester in 2003. The couple had three children together: a son and two daughters.
They resided in a flat in Greenwich, southeast London, but Mumin was rarely at home. He preferred to frequent local cafes, attempting to recruit young Somali men to the al-Qaeda-aligned jihadist movement, al-Shabaab. When not recruiting, he delivered radical sermons at Greenwich Mosque.
It was at this mosque that he crossed paths with two of Britain's most notorious terrorists: Mohammed Emwazi ('Jihadi John'), who oversaw the execution of Western hostages, and Michael Adebolajo, the murderer of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in 2013.
A Family Abandoned in the Home Counties
In stark contrast to Mumin's life of militant leadership, his wife and children lead an ordinary existence thousands of miles away. Muna Abdule, 43, lives with their three children in a two-bedroom council flat in Slough.
Their son is now 20, while their two daughters are 18 and 17. Mrs Abdule drives to work each day at a local health company, returning in the evening to make dinner, as her husband plots to revive ISIS's caliphate.
In a heartbreaking account, she revealed how Mumin abandoned the family in 2010. "He left me with three children. It's not been easy for me," she said. "He didn't even tell me where he was going. He just came home one day and said he was leaving... We have not seen or heard from him in more than ten years."
A family friend, Deqa, stated: "He wasn't a good father and husband... He prioritised jihad over his family."
A Meteoric Rise Through Extremism
Mumin's path to the top of ISIS was forged in the UK and Europe. After fleeing Somalia's civil war, he first went to Sweden as a refugee in 1990. He left Sweden in early 2003 after being secretly filmed stating he would genitally mutilate his own daughter.
After becoming a British citizen, his radical activities in London attracted the attention of security services. Complaining of being "harrassed," he fled the UK in 2010 without warning his family, travelling to Kenya before crossing into Somalia.
There, he publicly burned his British passport and swore allegiance to al-Shabaab, rapidly becoming its chief ideologue. In October 2015, he defected to ISIS, pledging loyalty via an audio message online.
His ascent is notable as he does not claim lineage from the Prophet Mohammed, typically a prerequisite for an ISIS caliph. Security experts now believe ISIS's global base is in Somalia, with Mumin funding attacks like the 2021 Kabul airport bombings.
Security forces in Puntland, backed by US troops, are actively engaged in operations to kill Mumin and dismantle his network. Captain Omar Yusuf Mohamed of the Puntland Maritime Police Force said: "The day we kill Mumin will be the happiest day of my life."
Meanwhile, his estranged family in Slough continues their life, deliberately detached from the man who chose global terrorism over them.
